Remember our DIY Sweet Jewellery post? Quite fun wasn’t it? This time we want to share a few great polymer clay tutorials with you. Polymer clay is a type of hardenable modelling clay, usually put in an oven to harden and typically used for making decorative arts and craft items. We sell a wide range of Fimo clay on our website for £1.80 per block or £16 for a pack of ten blocks.

Here are some of our favourite polymer clay tutorials!

Faux Knitting

We found this tutorial on Creator’s Joy. The technique is very simple but oh so clever Try mixing two colours together for the strands to make a “woolly” effect or simply paint on knitting patterns like they do in the tutorial. I can see this design working nicely as a  brooch or even as a bracelet!

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Persian Style Beads

This is a tutorial from the Jewelry and Polymer Clay Heaven blog and it teaches you to make complicated patterns in beads. The outcome is quite impressive! We would recommend experimenting with different colours and to finish the beads off with a clear varnish like they do in the tutorial.

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Leaves

One would never guess how the even pattern on the leaves is created! Have a look at the tutorial on the Step By Step Tutorials page and see for yourself. Simply brilliant!

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Mini Flowers

This is a basic flower making technique, but can be applied to many different polymer clay designs. This one is a must to master! Thanks Sugar Bee Crafts for sharing this tutorial with us.

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Variegated Leaf Cane

Simple Inspirations by Sandy posted this nifty tutorial on how to make mixed colour leaf canes. Impressive outcome but the process is actually a lot easier than it looks 

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Carved Beads

Carved polymer beads tutorial from the fab Aesthetic Outburst blog. This method is very on trend at the moment – we see these carved beads everywhere! All you need is a sharp knife, the clay and a wooden skewer! The tutorials on Aesthetic Outburst are really diverse and fun (not all bead or Fimo related but well worth the look).

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Geometric Necklaces

You might not necessarily gain a brand new fancy skill from having a go at this geometric necklace from The Lovely Drawer. But it is a neat over all method and could be applied to so many interesting things.

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Birds

And last but not least, we’d like to share with you this beautiful tutorial from Geninne’s Art Blog. With this one, the outcome is all in the detail – smooth shape, fresh colours and delicate paint. Geninne is a professional artist, so don’t put yourself down if your final outcome is not exactly the same as hers  She also has another birdie tutorial that you might want to have a look at too before you have a go.

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With the Halloween turmoil well and truly over and the really high standard ‘Spooky’ themed Readers Gallery behind us – it’s time to announce this month’s carefully chosen theme.

Minimal

Bang on between Halloween and Christmas we feel it could be a good idea to regain one’s composure and embrace the simple…So this month’s Readers Gallery theme is ‘Minimal’!

It can be immensely challenging to sit down and try to make something plain yet striking and clever, so this theme might be frustrating for some of us who are used to more busy patterns and designs. Never the less it should be a very interesting task for everyone

How to enter

We encourage all of you to give this one a go! Either post your design/designs directly onto our Facebook wall or simply email to creative@beadsunlimited.co.uk. The deadline is the 30^th of November and the winner will be revealed Monday the 2^nd of December. Maximum two entries per person!

Now prepare to be exposed and create a unique piece that you can be proud of and share with your friendly and talented beading buddies. The winner will receive a £15 Beads Unlimited voucher to spend on our website PLUS a bag of our new super sweet polymer Christmas charms 

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It’s time to announce the winner of this month’s ‘Spooky’ Readers Gallery challenge. Thank you so much for all your entries, well done for all the spookiness!

The use of material was diverse as usual, great to see all the polymer clay work! We selected the following runners up from the many complicated and cleverly executed pieces entered. The names are in no particular order.

The runners up

A spooky bracelet by Vicky Sugarbean

Vicky Sugarbean entered a couple of brilliant pieces, but we were notably excited about her impressive black and pink beaded bracelet. Great work!

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Scary necklace by Kelly Barfoot

Kelly Barfoot sent three great items into this months Readers Gallery, but we were especially inspired by her ghostly wirework necklace. Such a clever piece of jewellery, great finish and the ghost’s eyes follow people around the room by moving from side to side!

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A chilling bracelet by Fiona Tate

And last but not least, we chose Fiona Tate’s spider web bracelet. Both her entered bracelets were absolutely fabulous, but we were just completely dazzled by the sharp beadwork on this one.

Special treat

And much respect to Kathy Lake, Jools Jewels and Janet Sherret for their exceptional jewels!

And the winner is…

Threads’n'Beads spider web choker!

Threads’n’Beads with their stunning Halloween choker! Well done Threads’n’Beads, splendid craftsmanship. Wonderful to see the choker photographed while someone was wearing it, it certainly did the piece justice. We hope this makes you happy, may your Halloween evening be as scary as can be! Drop us a line (on Facebook or creative@beadsunlimited.co.uk) with your email, and we will reward you with a £15 Beads Unlimited online voucher.

Featured entries on Facebook

Have a look at all our best of ‘Spooky’ album on Facebook, it looks like you are all geared up for a gory and spooky All Hallows’ Eve wwwhooooohoooo…… Have fun!

The post Spooky Readers Gallery – the winner appeared first on Bead Barmy.

Offer stands till midnight 17th of October 

We are offering a fabulous quarter off our gorgeous range of Shamballa style beads this week – so we thought we’d re-visit this simple Shamballa bracelet tutorial our beloved Bead Doctor made for us  little under a year ago.

Shamballa bracelets are really fun and easy to make once you get the hang of the technique, and they look great on just about anyone.

Experiment with different beads, threads and textures – and don’t forget, they make excellent Christmas gifts!

So, here’s the tutorial:

Bang on-trend and steeped in history, Shamballa bracelets are hot, hot, hot!

Materials you will need

You will need the following materials for this project:

2 x metres waxed cord any colour (WXC)
1 x metres waxed cord any other colour of your choice (WXC)
7x 10mm rhinestone beads (MTKA1001)
2 x 8mm rhinestone beads (MTKA0801)
1 x project sheet (BLOG1201PA)

You will also need: Cord nippers (PRNPR)

Happy making!

Related posts

If you have enjoyed this tutorial, you may enjoy these:

• The Bead Doctor – Box Chain Explained
• The Bead Doctor Tutorial – Crystal Chain Necklace

The post Shamballa Bracelet Tutorial re-visited appeared first on Bead Barmy.

We’ve been debating whether to be really predictable and do a Halloween theme – and resulted in the answer YES. It is just too tempting, so enjoyable to go a bit off the route and make something dramatic and extravagant.

So the theme for this month’s Readers Gallery challenge is ‘Spooky’

Be as creative as possible and don’t forget to think about the display and the description. It’s the whole package that sells!

How to enter

We are looking forward to receiving your ‘Spooky’ entries. Either post them onto our Facebook wall or simply email them to creative@beadsunlimited.co.uk. Enter before midnight on the 30th of October and the winner will be announced on the Day of All Hallows, the 31st of October. Now get those creative minds and fingers working! You can always look at Etsy or Folksy for inspiration.

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Here, we will regularly feature inspiring tutorials that we stumble upon on the Tinterweb. There are countless good concepts out there, so many creative folks sharing their brilliant ideas. And will most certainly always give full credit to the original designer of all the projects we feature.

So this time just for fun, sweet jewellery! Not cute sweet, but sugary sweet

The kids being back at school, doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t need regular entertainment and creative guidance. We love doing projects with children, and they enjoy the pride of making objects that last. Well… in this case, they might not last very long.

Here are some cool ideas on how to make yummy jewellery with your kids. They could be a fun party activity, or simply a good creative project for a rainy day. Click on the images to see the tutorials. Enjoy!

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Sweets On A Ribbon

These fab necklaces are really easy to make. Any sweets will do, as long as they’ve got a hole and they can be threaded on to a ribbon. We found this tutorial on The Red Barn blog but it is originally from Courtney Dial Whitmore’s book, Candy Making for Kids.

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Make Your Own Meringue Beads

Yes! Simply whip up the meringue and pipe away. And you can make these cute sugary circles in any colour you like. We found this clever tutorial on the lovely Lilyshop blog.

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Plain And Simple

These jewels that we spotted on the Kids Parties 1-2-3 blog are really fun, so many variations to be made and not too much to prepare. Fab idea for a kids birthday activity or even to be handed out as little kits in the party bag.

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Gumdrop Garlands

Not technically jewellery, but such a cool idea nevertheless.  We discovered these sweet garlands on the Martha Stewart blog. They can hang anywhere, on a Christmas tree, above the fireplace, in a window or be used as a party decoration – just make sure they get eaten before getting too dusty! Any pierceable sweets will do and one can use dental floss or waxed twine for stringing.

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Marshmallow Pendants

And last but not least, yummy marshmallow pendants. These are really simple to make, but a real treat. Great if you don’t want the the kids to go wild from too much sugar consumption, since it is not loaded with sweets. This tutorial is from the Cute Food For Kids website – such a brill website for all things food related for children. Have a look here.

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So it is time to announce the winner of our ‘Leaves’ themed Readers Gallery! We are absolutely thrilled with how many high quality pieces we received this month – our customers are so talented.

What we look out for when choosing a winner are things like: clever use of material, impressive craftsmanship, polished finishes and original ideas. A clear description of the piece, why you made it, how etc, adds depth to the product. We are super happy when we see good quality photographs, and it’s very pleasing when we can see that the participator has made extra effort in displaying the jewel in a attentive manner.

We ended up with six very strong runners up, a winner had to be chosen – so in the end we picked two!

And they are…

Helen Bowen, with a stunning set of autumnal earrings. She simply ticked all the boxes with her polished approach, and the way the earrings are displayed is very inspiring indeed. 

Helen Bowen

And Helene Llewellyn, with her amazing entry ‘Turning Leaves’. The set consists of a necklace, earrings and a brooch, bold and elegant. A very original piece of jewellery.

Helene Llewellyn

A big congratulations to both of you, you receive a £10 voucher from Beads Unlimited to spend on our website. We will contact you with further info.

Our favourite entries

We have made an album on Facebook with our favourite leaf themed entries – see here! And if you are not already a fan, this is our Beads Unlimited Facebook page. Don’t forget to like us!

Next theme

We will disclose the October Readers Gallery theme in the next couple of days, so watch this space. We will of course also let you know on our Facebook page. And just to remind you, if you sign up for the Beads Unlimited newsletter, you will receive weekly exclusive offers straight to your inbox.

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The summer is officially over with a strange monsoon like downpour in Brighton yesterday, followed by hail! The summer was kind to us, so we’re hopefully embracing autumn, lovingly getting our warmer items of clothing out of the storage. The smell in the air is different, the colours changing all around.

This month’s theme.

This brings us to the September’s Readers Gallery. The theme of this month is ‘Leaves’. Leafy patterns, shapes, even autumn inspired colour combinations.

Please post your designs onto our Facebook page or email to creative@beadsunlimited.co.uk by the end of September. The winner will be announced on Tuesday the 1st of October, and a best-of gallery will be published. Many of you will be featured here on the blog and on our Facebook page, and one lucky beader will win a £10 Beads Unlimited online gift voucher.

We are super excited to see what you come up with!

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You are now the owners of a brand new Craft Multi Pliers!

Three functions – one tool!

Remember our Craft Multi Pliers Competition? The following lucky winners have been drawn from a hat: Amelia Pitt, Gill Colling and Jacqs.

1) Amilia’s favourite Beads Unlimited items are the Small Wooden Hearts, the Professional Pliers Wallet Set and the Swarovski Bicone / Xilion.

2) Gill’s best-of selection is the Swarovski Drops, our fabulous Beaders’ Gift Pack (now half price!) and the Metallic Czech Rocailles.

3) And Jacqs’s favourites are the funky Acrylic Newspaper Beads, the Spiky Rubber Beads and the very popular Ceramic Owl Mix.

Big thanks to everyone who commented and listed their favourite Beads Unlimited items! The Craft Multi Pliers, can be purchased on our website for £4.95.

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We were so impressed by your Carnival themed entries for our Readers Gallery. A big thank you to everyone who took the time out to send in a piece.

Congratulations

Our winner this time is jewellery maker Faye Moffatt, with a lovely set of earrings – copper wire wrapped with turquoise beads. We love the dynamic but simple design – a very sophisticated piece of jewellery. Faye sells her creations on Facebook and Etsy.

Favourite entries

We have made an album on Facebook with our favourite entries, have a look here! And if you are not already a fan, here is our Beads Unlimited Facebook page. Like us!

Next theme

We will disclose the next theme very soon, so get yourselves into creative mode and watch this space! Prepare by looking at the  Beads Unlimited online shop and browse through our fab range of beads and jewellery making essentials. And don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter to receive regular offers straight to your inbox.

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