Beaded Jewelry

January 27, 2010- Handmade beaded jewelery is the best gift a friend can get! You just need some beads of different colors, shapes, sizes and stringing material plus a lots of imagination to make such jewelery. You can get jewelery beads in your local crafts store. In fact, they are just a click away from you, thanks to the beads suppliers who have made online shopping so easy. Here are some tips for you to select beads and get started to make amazing jewelery!

• Make a sketch of your imagined design using a graph paper and colored pencils. Color each square to represent a bead. This will bring clarity to your imagination.
• If you experience a “jeweler’s block” and you can't imagine about any pattern, just lay some beads of different colors, sizes and shapes in front of you and experiment by contrasting or complementing them with each other. Soon, you'll see that you've started making patterns in your mind.
• To begin with, you can make simple necklaces, earrings, pendants, and wrist bands.
• Take some crystal beads, metal beads, clay beads and seed beads. Mix and match them to see the creative effect. As soon as you like some pattern, draw it on the graph paper.
• When you start off, its natural that some beads may go wasted in trial and error learning procedure. Try to use inexpensive alternatives. Glass beads are a good alternative to crystal beads at this stage. Both the varieties give almost similar look to the finished product. Larger beads are less expensive than smaller beads, they are also good for practicing with beads weaving. Once you are comfortable with the art, you can switch to smaller beads.

• Beads Necklace

• Experiment with different beads shapes. Differently shaped beads give different effect. Round beads give more traditional look whereas square beads or cube beads give more contemporary look to the jewelery.
• Give wings to your imagination. For instance, try traditional beads and off beat shapes to create a unique effect to your handmade jewelery. For example, use crystal beads while combining them with animal beads to make some exciting designs.
• Wirework is the easiest method for making beaded jewelry. Once you've gathered experience, you can then go for loom beading.