Giveaway!!!

Happy Holidays, Everyone! 

I want to thank all of you for your wonderful support for our book project and our new blog! Thank you for following along on our journey! We hope to share some things you will find interesting, inspiring and informative...

I thought it would be fun if I shared with you a sampling of some of the beads and materials I've been working with! Doesn't that sound fun? You can bead along with me! I hope you will!

Above are a few of the items I've been working with lately. Not in this particular combination, mind you, BUT you certainly could use these materials all together to make a fabulous project! I'm giving away the above to one lucky reader!

My giveaway package includes the following:

A yard length of genuine real suede lace from Leather Cord USA
Some Vintaj brass fold-over cord ends (that fits the suede lace) from Bello Modo
A set of colorful ceramic spiral beads from Elements Pottery and...
A pair of ceramic elliptical raku beads also from Elements Pottery!

If you would like to win my giveaway package, please follow the blog and leave a comment on this post by: December 31st! I'll choose a winner by January 2nd. And...if you feel so inclined, please share the news of this giveaway with your friends!

Thank you and good luck!!!

Introducing: Tracy Statler

Tracy has been creating jewelry for over 7 years, and enjoys using cordings of all types in her jewelry designs. I find myself attracted to the simple, bohemian feel to her designs and can imagine myself wearing any one of them! I look forward to Tracy writing posts for the blog with cool tutorials, she's a great teacher! Check out her blog for recent tutes on jewelry making techniques!


Tracy Statler is a self taught jewelry artist. After taking a few basic stringing classes, jewelry making started as a casual hobby then became a passion over 7 years ago. Her creative drive comes from being raised participating in the arts. Choir, madrigal, piano, dance, musicals, she did them all. Her mother was an art teacher so Tracy's kitchen table was always "Mom's Studio" full of all kinds of artistic mediums. Tracy naturally finds beauty in unusual things and loves to use small unexpected elements to make a piece of jewelry stand out.

After her second child was born, she left the corporate world to pursue her creative interests
full time. She is a wife and a mother of two great kids. Other than quiet moments with her family and maybe after a good yoga or pilates class, she is the happiest when making jewelry and teaching and sharing her interest with others. 
For more about Tracy and her creations you can visit her blog at http://www.makebraceletsblog.com or contact her at tjstatler@comcast.net

When we asked Tracy what her favorite material was to work with, she claimed
"My favorite material to work with is a tough call.  I love working with Waxed Irish Linen because of the maleable quality it has  - almost like clay. There are so many colors to choose from.  It knots well and really stays put.   I love working with leather lace because of it's beautiful feel and it's ability to soften the look of any piece of jewelry.  I am drawn to a variety of different cording materials because they lend an element of the unexpected to any design."

I am definitely looking forward to seeing Tracy's projects for the Jewelry Accord book! I think we will all learn some really cool things from her design process!

Technique Tuesday: Wire-Wrapped Leather Ends

Here's a tutorial to show you how to wire wrap leather ends! Use this technique to attach leather to a clasp or other finding in your jewelry design. This particular technique works great for flat leather and suede laces!

 

Step 1: Cut about 5" of 22 gauge wire. Bend the wire over about 1/8" for the end, creating a hook.

Step 2: Fold the leather around the clasp and back onto itself. Place the wire hook so that the wire end is tucked in between the folded leather. Crimp the wire down with chain nose pliers.

Step 3: Wrap the wire tightly around the doubled thickness of leather and continue wrapping 5 or 6 times.

Step 4: Bring the wire underneath the leather tail so that the wire lays in between the folded leather.

Step 5: Snip the wire with wire cutters, leaving a 1/8" tail.

Step 6: Crimp the wire down with chain nose pliers, making sure that the wire end is tucked tightly in between the folded leather.

Finished wire-wrapped end.

Thanks for stopping in today! 

Please let us know what you think of this technique and tutorial!!! 

 Is this information helpful?

Would you like to see more tutorials like this? 

What other techniques using cording materials would you like to see?

Leave us a comment and let us know!

Materials Monday: Hand Dyed Ribbon

I got one of those email updates last week, from one of my favorite online shopping sources, LimaBeads.com. They have a brand new hand-dyed Silk Ribbon selection that is to die for! I ordered several as soon as I saw it! I'm still waiting for it to arrive, I can't wait!  Here are some of my favorite colors.

The ribbons come in 2 widths,  7/16" and 1".  They come with unfinished edges- but that's ok! I like the fraying edges lately, it adds a nice organic feel to any jewelry design. Check out the whole selection at Limabeads.com.

Findings Friday: Fold-Over Cord Ends

Use fold-over style ends to finish off cording in your jewelry designs. Fold-over ends have loops at the top with flaps on either side and a point at the bottom to help the cord stay in place. These findings work great for suede and leather lace, round leather cord and other types of cord as well as some ribbons, too.

To use, simply set the cord's end into the fold-over finding.

 Crimp the ends one side at a time. 

Use chain nose pliers to gently fold one flap of the end down over the cord.

Then fold and crimp the other side down.

 And there you have it! 

Now, you can attach your beading or a clasp to the loop of the fold-over end.

Try using some of these on your next cord jewelry project! Cord end findings can be purchased from 

Fusion Beads and Ornamentea.