Congratulations

Get yourself showcased

The Best of the rest

Lovely long danglies from Stella Jean Hulot

Nature style from Sarah Mark

A hat trick from Linden Guerzoni

Classic Pat style from Dani's Handmade Jewellery

One for Dot? by Design By Orla

More from Design By Orla

A button bonanza from Caroline Banks

Sparkly fun from Gill Colling

Enormous and gorgeous set from Bobbie Le Page

Heartfelt tribute from Aleksandra Diamante

A fruity design from Bead House

More from BeadHouse

Big and bold entry from Curran Craft

Jolly green giants from Deborah Foord

Greetings from the Bead Doctor

Loving the new rhinestone beads!

Well the decorations are down, the last of the chocolates are gone and the New Year’s resolutions are broken. I’ve really been trying to be good by dragging myself to Boot camp at the crack of dawn but, in the grim dark mornings, it’s just so tempting to sit with a steamy cup of coffee and a good mag. Anyway, it’s good for research, at least that’s my excuse! As I’ve been trawling through the glossies, there’s one trend that keeps appearing and that’s Shamballa bracelets. We recently started stocking a range of pave rhinestone beads at Beads Unlimited. They are deliciously sparkly and perfect for the job, so I thought I’d give it a go. If you fancy making a Shamballa bracelet here’s my tutorial, complete with links to all the materials incase you’re missing any ingredients.

Giving it away

If you’d like to try your hand, you could win all the materials needed to make my bracelet. All you need to do is tell us what tutorials you’d like to see on Bead Barmy in the comments box below. Please post by midnight Sunday 19th February 2012. One lucky beader will win this project. The winner will be contacted by email and asked for their postal address. Good luck everyone.

Here we go!

Ok everyone, cord at the ready, and let’s go.

Materials

240cm x 1mm waxed cord (I have used 180cm of red WXC11 and 60cm of black WXC01)
7 x 10mm rhinestone beads black (MTKA1001)
2 x 8mm rhinestone beads black (MTKA0801)

Order all materials

Step 1

Step 1

Cut two 60cm lengths of cord and one 120cm. pin one end of one 60cm length to a bead mat by tying a small knot in the end of the cord (or you can pin the bracelet to the knee of your trousers).

Step 2

Step 2

Tie on your long length (this is the knotting cord) 20cm along the pinned cord. Make sure each side of the long length is equal. The centre cord is called the lazy cord.

Step 3

Step 3

Place the left-hand cord over the lazy cord and underneath the right hand cord. Take the right hand cord behind the lazy cord and through the left hand loop. Pull tight.

Step 4

Step 4

Now place the right-hand cord over the lazy cord and underneath the left-hand cord. Take the left hand cord behind the lazy cord and through the right hand loop. Pull tight. Repeat this knot, making sure you alternate between left and right, to make the desired length of knots. Add a bead and continue the knotting.

Step 5

Step 5

Add as many beads as you require with Macramé knots in between. To finish, add a dab of glue on each side where you have left over knotting cord. Trim the excess when the glue is dry. Leave the lazy cord.

Step 6

Step 6

To make the closure for the bracelet. Take your remaining 60cm length of cord. Overlap your ends of the lazy cord. Tie on the remaining cord in the same way as before and make around fourteen knots. Glue and trim the excess of this knotting cord. Be careful as the lazy cords need to slide to adjust the bracelet.

Step 7

Step 7

Thread a bead onto each end of the lazy cord. Knot to keep the bead in place, add a dab of glue and trim the excess when the glue is dry (PVA or any similar craft glue will do the job).

More ideas

Learn one simple technique to make many styles

Once you’ve learnt this basic technique why not try using different cord and bead colours for a whole range of styles.

]]> http://www.beadbarmy.com/2012/01/the-bead-doctor-tutorial-shamballa-bracelet/feed/ 28 http://www.beadbarmy.com/2012/01/the-bead-doctor-tutorial-shamballa-bracelet/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BeadBarmy/~3/Uz4m2RdFPY4/ http://www.beadbarmy.com/2012/01/hobby-to-business-mad-mogs-purrfect-designs/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:20:38 +0000 BeadsUnlimited http://www.beadbarmy.com/?p=5442 Jules Holbrook aka Mad Mog Jewellery constructs intricate chainmaille jewellery. We asked Jules to tell us how her passion has turned from hobby to business. 

Finding the missing link

Something of beauty from little rings

I know it’s a cliché, but I’ve loved art and craft all my life. However it wasn’t until my four children became more independent that I decided to get serious about it. In my late thirties I went back to college, starting right at the bottom with a GCSE in Art and Design, and culminating in a BA (Hons) in Craft Design. After finishing my degree I had big ideas about earning a living as a ceramicist. Real world finances intervened and I started looking for other materials that didn’t need quite such a big initial outlay. I played around with resin, mosaic, textiles, bead weaving…you name it I’ve probably tried it. I had so much fun, but still didn’t feel I’d really found my ‘thing’. Then by chance I picked up a chainmaille kit at one of the Hobbycraft shows in Birmingham, and that was it. The magic of combining little rings of wire and making something beautiful still amazes me.

Keeping a paw in

Mad Mog's mad mogs - Radar, Willow and Smokey

I’d been chainmailling for a couple of years before deciding to take the plunge in June and starting up Mad Mog Jewellery. Friends and family kept saying I should sell my work, but it’s a very scary thing to think about. My business name was inspired by my totally delinquent cats. Radar and Smokey are the Bonnie and Clyde of the cat world, and Willow is a little cross-eyed tortoiseshell who can melt the hardest heart with a look.

She who dares

Copper tones for Autumnul style

The first thing I aimed at doing was getting a presence on the web. I don’t drive, so I am restricted as far as craft fairs are concerned. I set up a shop on Folksy and Etsy, made a Facebook and Twitter page, got a domain name, web space and suchlike. I am working on my website and hope to have that live soon. I have done a few local fairs. I only sold a few pieces, but the experience and feedback made them worth doing. Getting your name out there so that people actually know you exist is the number one priority. I aim to do more local fairs next year. It’s slow going, and I often feel totally out of my depth, but it’s also very exciting and I’m really glad I plucked up the courage to give it a go.

Showcase your concern.

Intricate chain maile close up

We will be keeping an eye on Jules’ progress and are sure that she will be a great success with her stunning style. We’ll be sending her a little parcel of goodies for her contribution to the Bead Barmy blog.

Have you managed to turn your beading hobby into a business? We’d love to hear about it, whatever stage you’re at, whatever size and however successful it’s been. Tell us about reasons why you started, the ups and downs and what the future holds. Please send us a bit about yourself to creative@beadsunlimited.co.uk in an email entitled ‘Bead Barmy Hobby to Business and we’ll be in touch. Ideally, we’d like a few pictures of your work included and one of yourself. Please ensure that the pictures are no more than 5mb in total for each email.

The winter festivities may be on the wane but we see no reason to stop celebrating. It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day and we’re feeling good. Your party makes have been pouring in to our Facebook page for the last few weeks so here they are in all their glory in our first Reader’s Gallery of 2012. Happy New Year everybody!

Congratulations

Summer vibes from Louise Richardson

You all sent in so many lovely designs. Some of them are decidedly Christmas and will make beautiful keepsakes to bring out year after year. Others will add a touch of glam in any season. It was, as ever, a hard decision to make but in the end, we chose Caroline McCreesh’ gorgeous, sparkly jewellery set. Like magpies, we couldn’t resist those shiny beads! We will be sending Caroline a £10 gift voucher to spend on Beads Unlimited goodies. We will also be sending a £10 voucher to Louise Richardson. Her fab bunting necklace is so effective and we’d never seen anything like it.

Get yourself showcased

Thanks for all your great entries and sorry if you didn’t make it into the gallery this time. The current theme running is ‘The End of an Earring’. In homage to Pat Butcher’s exit from Eastenders, we thought it would be fun to see all your over the top earring designs! For a chance to be featured, please email creative@beadsunlimited.co.uk or post up your photos on our facebook wall by midnight, Sunday 29th January 2012.

If you have your own website, blog or facebook page that you would like linked to if you are showcased, please let us know with your entry. All we ask is a mention with a link to www.beadsunlimited.co.uk on your page.

The best of the rest

Traditional Indian hand jewellery from Incantation

Pretty hairslide and matching necklace from Curran Craft

Stunning flat spiral stitch bracelet from Gill Colling

Unique, beaded baubles from Paula Winchester Hisel

Keepsake, polymer baubles from Lynne Shorey

Classic jewellery set for any occasion from Jewellery by JH

Leaves full of passion from Boodles and Noodles

Unique styling from Bea Bellerby

Stunning creations from Aleksandra Diamante

Beautiful beaded bracelet from Zeynep Guven

Facebook can be a fantastic platform for testing the waters with a new business venture and maintaining a rapport with customers when running an established concern. This is what, regular Bead Barmy reader, Helen Bowen, told us about her experiences, both good and bad.

Selling for free on Facebook – what’s not to ‘like’?

Helen Bowen - speaking from experience

Up until about a year ago, making jewellery had been nothing more than a hobby for me.  I was a busy stay-at-home mum just snatching time whenever I could to make gifts (and the odd commission) for friends and family.  I loved my hobby and feedback on my work had been fantastic so starting up my own small business seemed a logical step.  I think it was at a local beading group that I first heard about selling on Facebook.  I didn’t have the time or money to invest in building my own website or the knowledge to dive straight into setting up a shop on Etsy or Folksy, selling for free on Facebook seemed a great way to dip my toe in the water.
With limited free time available, Facebook provided the ideal platform for me to create an online presence.  I didn’t need any technical skills and building a page was so quick and easy. The third party applications available provided all the functionality I needed to upload photos of my jewellery and I could take payments via Paypal.  I had a basic business page up and running within a matter of hours!

One step at a time

Helen Bowen's stunning beachcomber bracelet

Those early days seem such a long time ago now.  I remember the initial struggle to reach the first 25 fans needed to secure a user name for my page and the excitement of my very first sale.  It was hard work and meant a lot of late nights working on new jewellery pieces and maintaining my page, but it was also extremely rewarding.  I loved the real-time interaction with fans and the ability to get immediate feedback on my work as well as give and receive advice on all manner of things.  My Facebook sales were financing my hobby but the best thing of all, was that I was growing my business at my own pace.

A sound investment

On trend, vintage style

Before I knew it, my page was celebrating reaching 800 and then 1000 fans with lots of repeat customers, some great reviews and a new network of Facebook business friends to boot. You see, the real joy of running a business from Facebook (aside from it being free and easy to do!) is that you become part of a community.  If you invest the time and effort to interact with your fans, posting useful and interesting content, gathering opinions, seeking advice as well as providing it, your time will be rewarded not only in increased sales and referrals but in new friendships. Use Facebook simply as a marketing tool, continually spamming fans with offers, posting your page links on other business’ walls and growing your fan base artificially through untargeted networking such as ‘marches’ or ‘silent tagging’ and it’s unlikely that you will see the same returns.

Blank faces

Autumn tale bracelet - a seasonal delight from Helen Bowen

The trouble with Facebook is that, from a business point of view, nothing about it is actually ‘face’ to ‘face’ at all.  In fact, it really is a very faceless market in which to try and trade. As a customer, you may not be able to easily identify an individual behind a business page or work out how to communicate with a trader aside from posting publicly on their wall. For the business user, balancing the professional business image that will win the trust of potential customers with the desire to interact informally with fans can prove problematic.

Beware of other costs to your business

Hot under the collar - Tropical Nights necklace

At all times, a business page must abide by the Facebook terms of service, contravention of which could see it closed down without discussion.  Your page exists also at the mercy of the Facebook developers who may add or remove functionality without warning so if you are a creature of habit, the ever-changing world of Facebook is probably not for you!  A business on Facebook does not own the content or the data on its page and if Facebook disappeared tomorrow, so would your business and your customer base. And this is not the only risk to your revenues.  Whilst the informal nature of the Facebook platform can make interacting with customers easy and fun, you can also find yourself the victim of some less friendly attention because of it. The copying of jewellery designs, content and marketing ideas from a Facebook page happens more than you might think. I’ve learned from my own tough experience.  Some rival page-owners are happy to steal your hard work without a second thought and it is very difficult to protect a Facebook business particularly if you do not have measures in place from the outset.  Strategies for dealing with such online copycats are varied and numerous but I’ll write about those another time.

Learning from the Facebook experience

Out and about - Helen's afternoon tea shop display

I suspended my Facebook page in early December. It was a difficult decision but one that I don’t regret. I get a real buzz from creating new pieces but the stress of having my business ideas and designs stolen caused me to lose my creative spark for a while. My growing business was also starting to impact negatively on family life. The dining room had become a workshop, all but basic housework activity had ceased and dog walks had become necessary sprints around the common rather than the old rambles in the woods.

My page was still there, a link sitting on my profile page that led to bizarre place, frozen in time. Still 1064 fans and yet a weird eeriness about the page that came with being the only person interacting with it.

Over the following weeks, I came to some decisions about my business and its future ‘face’ on Facebook.  It’s all too easy to convince yourself that boosting fan numbers and gaining feedback on every status update and new photo is the sign of a healthy business.  Facebook is a wonderful environment for building brand awareness and networking, but it does not have the flexibility or functionality that will allow your business to truly differentiate itself.  It will also never reach those potential customers who don’t like or trust Facebook as a social media let alone as an online shopping site.

A different outlook

Pleasing Precious Peacock bracelet

Ring O’ Roses – Handmade Jewellery now has a very different Facebook presence.  I still share my love of jewellery and creating with friends, fans and even my competitors and I have a beautiful gallery of some of my work on my page.  But, I now preview my latest pieces on my blog and sell my items through other channels including a local craft centre and Etsy.

So, if you are thinking of starting a jewellery business, it definitely pays to use a Facebook business page, especially if you enjoy interacting with your customers.  Just be aware of the potential pitfalls and don’t become consumed by it.  And if you already run a business on Facebook, take some time out occasionally to reassess your page.  You’ll be amazed what you can achieve in the time not spent chasing fans, comments and likes or waiting for the photo uploader to work.  You might even find you ‘like’ it

About the author

Helen Bowen is a member of the Guild of Jewellery Designers and a Self-Representing Artist in Jewellery Designer (SRAJD). She is owner/creator of Ring O’ Roses – Handmade Jewellery and writer of the ‘A Pocketful of Posies‘ blog.  From her home in Warwickshire, she designs and makes beautiful individual pieces with a strong reference to nature and a real eye for colour and detail.  She works on commission but also creates for general sale.

Greetings from the Bead Doctor

Happy new year from The Bead Doctor!

Well, I hope you all had as lovely Christmas as I did. This year was full of novelty for me as I cooked my first turkey ever in my brand new oven for just the two of us and our cat, Edmund. I got quite carried away with my sparkling appliance and made a ton of mince pies too. I still keep producing one or two from the freezer at an opportune moment on unsuspecting friends! Anyway,  this year, I am determined not to get the post Christmas blues. I’ve designed a sparkly crystal necklace in turquoise and gold, which I’m hoping will keep me in the party spirit until Spring. If you fancy looking glam through the dark months why not give my tutorial a go? I’ve included links to a printable project sheet and all the materials incase you’re missing any ingredients.

Giving it away

If you’d like to keep sparkling through the winter you could win all the materials needed to make my necklace. All you need to do is tell us what your first make of 2012 will be in the comments box below by midnight Sunday 5th February 2012. One lucky beader will win this project. The winner will be contacted by email and asked for their postal address. Good luck everyone.

Here we go!

Ok all, let’s get going and keep it glam in 2012!

Materials

1m x light chain gold plated (CHLGP)
48 x eyepins gold plated (EPGP)
4 x 8mm jump rings gold plated (JR8GP)
1 x trigger clasp gold plated (TRGGP)
24 x 6mm faceted glass turquoise (GLPA0618)
24 x 8mm faceted glass turquoise (GLPA0818)

Order all materials

Step 1

Step 1

Step 2

Step 2

Step 3

Step 3

Add the desired lengths of chain to the beaded section. Attach an 8mm jump ring to one end of the chain and a jump ring with trigger clasp to the other.

Since we began our reader’s gallery it has been such a popular feature, so this year, we handed over the judging to you and asked you to vote for your favourite so far. We were overwhelmed with the response as the votes came pouring in. So, thank you to all of you who took part in the voting.  We would also like to give very special thanks to all of you who have posted up your pics on our facebook page. You have all helped to create a really lovely, beady community who are so suportive of each others work. Without you our galleries would be empty, so do please, all of you keep posting in 2012! Anyway, without further ado, in reverse order, here are the winners.

Kathy Lake's beautiful, beaded mosaic

Lovely nature

In third place, you voted for Kathy Lake’s stunningly beautiful beaded mosaic. We absolutely loved this entry and thought it was one of the most unnusual uses of beadwork we saw all year. Kathy’s design was the star attraction in our ‘Nature Gallery‘ back at the end of June. Congratulations Kathy, we will be sending you a £10 online gift voucher

Lynne Shorey's polymer clay Reader's Gallery opener

Moulded to perfection

In second place you chose Lynne Shorey’s gorgeous polymer clay necklace. We love the boldness of this design. We also think it’s very fitting that Lynne is in the final three as this piece set the all rolling by being the star in our very first Reader’s Gallery!

Curtain call

And now (roll of drums), the moment you’ve all been waiting for!

A sweet win for Caroline Banks

In early August, our Food, Glorious Food Gallery proved to be one of the most popular themes of the year.  Caroline Banks posted up tons of entries and it seems her perseverance has paid off! Caroline’s sweetie curtain tie backs have earned her the prestigious title of Bead Barmy, Beader of the Year 2011! Congratulations Caroline, we will be sending you a £50 online gift voucher to spend on some very special Beads Unlimited goodies.

Witty remarks

This competition is now closed. We asked you to write a suitable caption in the comments box below. You all had us tittering through Christmas and into the new year!

Congratulations

All of your comments were great! We will be sending a £10 gift voucher for Beads Unlimited to Jane Marley who posted on 22nd December. ’

Geoff failed to notice that when using the outside loo that the black dalek was aproaching from behind, if he turns round he will poop himself

We chose Jane’s comment for her powers of observation. We hadn’t even noticed the marauding dalek until she pointed it out!

Thanks for giving us a laugh and a Happy New Year to you all!

All dressed up

Party time!

You may have imagined that being surrounded by beads, we’d all be dripping in jewellery on a daily basis. However, with the regular tasks of unpacking shipments, packing orders  and generally keeping everything ship shape a more casual attire is how you’d normally find us. So, to inject a bit of glamour into our workplace we decided that a ‘Dress Up Friday’ would be both a great way to spend an afternoon and keep up the momentum on our RNLI fundraising. 

Party time

Party preparations and a spot of baking

Beads Unlimited became a hive of activity as hair was tousled, make up applied and party frocks were dusted off  for the occasion. Kelly became chef and cooked up some delicacies for us all to enjoy. Okay, they were actually bought from the supermarket and just needed heating through but it’s the thought that counts! 

Boss becomes butler

Woah, steady! I've got beads to pack you know!

Big chief Geoff agreed to be waiter for the afternoon and serve Bucks Fizz and canapés. Entering into the spirit, he came suitably attired in a suit, complete with bow tie. We were treated to an hour or two of being waited on in our finery. A small disaster struck at about 5pm when an overzealous bottle of fizz emptied itself over the floor. Geoff admirably changed roles and became the office cleaner for a while!   

It's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it

More in the pot

All in all we had a great time and managed to raise over £40 to add to our fundraising pot, not bad for a couple of hours festivities. This brings our total so far to well over £7000, something we’re very excited about. 

We’re on our way

All dressed up

We still have a way to go but we’re determined to make it to £10,000 by 5th March 2012. This is when our Silver Jubilee year officially comes to a close. To find out more about our fundraising activities for the RNLI, please visit our Giving page.

Thank you

At the beginning of 2011, we asked if any of you would like to hold Sea and Cakes parties to help us with our RNLI fundraising. We were delighted by how many of you agreed to give up your time and help us with this fantastic cause.

Truly scrumptious fare at The Brighton Bead Shop

To those of you who opened up your houses and those of you who plied your work mates with cake in offices across the land, we would like to say a very big thank you! Your response was truly fantastic and parties stretched as far as the west of Ireland! The money raised from these jolly dos has contributed a huge amount towards our fundraising. We would also like to express our gratitude to all of you who came along to our various cake and jewellery parties held at The Brighton Bead Shop.

Many of you added an extra dimension to your events by selling jewellery and giving a donation from the profits to the RNLI. Quite a few of you shared your lovely days with us by sending photos in of your events. We loved looking at these, even though they made us hungry! Here’s a small round up of some of your parties.

Delicious delights from Tracey Mallaby

The great beadish bake off

On February 3rd 2011, Tracey Mallaby from Darlington kicked off the Sea and cake parties with a bang. Tracey very kindly shared some of her recipes with us and even divulged her own secret pumpkin cake recipe!

Linda decorated her party with RNLI flags

In May, Linda Peace held a hugely successful event raising a fantastic £205! Linda managed to borrow some ‘props’ from the RNLI. An RNLI flag was used as a table cloth and the ladies sported life jackets for the event. Linda sold a range of jewellery at her party to raise extra funds.

Mad Hatter's tea party anyone?

Mad as a hatter

Laura Jones held her event in a tea shop in Faringdon. She designed her own fantastic poster for the do based on The Mad Hatters Tea Party.  

We have been bowled over by our supporters creativity and different ideas, that have gone to make each and every Sea and Cakes parties unique.    

A great day out for Thane Safari

Bringing the party to us

Thame Safari (Self Advocacy for Adults Requiring Independence), an organisation from Oxfordshire, were keen to see where the money they raised was going, so they came for a great day out at Brighton Lifeboat Station. The group enjoyed a fish and chips lunch followed by a visit to the station where they enjoyed trying on the uniform and were treated to a talk on the history of the RNLI. Beads Unlimited big chief Geoff went along to join in the fun and handed out some beady goodie bags to the members.

Alternative ways to wear your RNLI badge!

Even some of the beading mags joined in. The lovely people at Making Jewellery and GMC Publications took time off from their busy schedule and brought cakes to the workplace to help us out.

Alternative jewellery

Al Loveday in the West of Ireland held our farthest flung party. Her eldest son agreed to pose for this picture to show alternative ways to wear your RNLI badge! 

It’s never too late

There were so many of you who helped us out we can’t show them all but do be assured that we are extremely grateful for every penny raised.

If you are interested in holding an event, there’s still time. Our fundraising will go on until the end of our Silver Jubilee when we officially turn 26 years old on the 1st March 2012. If you would like to hold a party please send an email entitled ‘Sea and Cakes’ to creative@beadsunlimited.co.uk and let us know. Please include your postal address so that we can send you an information pack.

Grab a pin up

If you’ve already helped us out and would like to shout about it on your website, we have some special RNLI badges for you to copy and paste. Please visit our badges page and scroll down to the bottom to choose your RNLI badge.

If you would like to find out more about our RNLI news, please visit our fundraising page.