Monday, March 24, 2008

Working out what Size to make your jewelry

Hi everyone!

Hope you had a great Easter, and managed to make progress on your latest beading project.

One question I get asked a lot is how to decide what length to make a piece of jewelry. If you're making jewelry to sell, you can make a range of sizes.

But if you know who you're making a bracelet for, then measure their wrist. Use a flexible tape measure and then add 1/2-inch for a child's measurement, 1 inch for an adult.

For children, on average bracelets range from 5-6 1/2 inches for 3-7 years and from 6 1/2 - 7 1/2 inches for 8-12 years.

When it comes to necklaces, children's sizes range from 12-14 inches for 3-7 years and 12-16 inches for 8-12 years.

For adults, it really depends on how long you want the necklace to be. Again, measuring is a good place to start, or check out some jewelry in a shop to get an idea of lengths.

Keep smiling
Felicity 8-)

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

An amazing story

I get lots of emails from people all around the world, and sometimes I find it frustrating that I can't answer them all. My kids like to spend time with me!
Occasionally, I get an email that is incredibly touching, and this one from Bobbi Jean is one of those. For many of us beading is a bit of fun, something to do to fill in an hour or two, or maybe even make a small income from. And yet for some people, like Bobbi Jean, it's a whole lot more than that. Sometimes stuff happens in life that's pretty lousy, but if we look to the future and focus on making the most of where we're at, it's amazing where life can take us.
Thanks to Bobbi Jean for allowing me to share her story. I hope you all get something from this.
Keep smiling
Felicity 8-)

Dear Felicity:
I discovered my love of beads when I was a little girl and my cousins and I would sit on the floor, spread them out, hold them up to the light and string them on actual fishing line. (What can I say, we lived in North Carolina on a military base, hardly a center of artistic expression).

Anyway, I rediscovered beading when I was hospitalized for four months only able to lay face up flat looking at the ceiling as my spine had been shattered along with both my legs. I had very little fine motor control.

Needless to say I could only make one or two items at a time. I was, however, blessed with 5 children. I would design things for them and give them as presents.

Little did I know that my kids were walking advertisements. My sons always had the best presents for their girlfriends who showed them off to their sorority friends and my girls always wore unique pieces.. My younger daughter was in college and I had made her a particularly different necklace to match her formal dress. She told me that strangers would approach her wanting to know where she got her jewelry.

Years later I made my eldest daughter's wedding tiara and the jewelry for the wedding party. I did the same for my younger daughter. The same scene played out with the others. Pretty soon I had built up a client base without going to one show.

Believe me, I'm not suggesting everyone be run over by a drunk driver, but it just goes to show that sometimes if we are paying attention we don't have to look very far for the road that is given to us. God bless, Bobbi Jean

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Getting Ready to Bead

Hi everyone
I love this practical suggestion from LuAnn. In a busy household like mine, I don't always get the time to sit down for hours to do some beading. Most of the time I snatch 1/4 hour here or there. The problem is that by the time I get organised to start, I need to do something else! So this idea of LuAnn's is a great one for making the most of the time you have available. Thanks for sharing LuAnn!

"My problem is finding time to do the projects that I see in magazines or think up during my rare creative moments. Since I am always on a diet, I purchase the single serving "Lean Cuisine Meals" and I hate throwing the little serving trays away. I realized they are just the perfect size to store my future projects in. I pick out the beads that I want to use as well as the spacers and other findings. I choose what I'm going to string them on and place that in there with a picture of what I'm making or a sketch. These stack very nicely. Then, when I have a little time to bead--instead of dragging out all of my beads and beading supplies (which takes about 1/2 hour). I just go to my stack of projects and pick one that I can finish in the space of time that I have. This saves the time of deciding what I want to use and dragging out all of my supplies and then having to put everything away when I'm done. I usually put extra beads/spacers in just in case I don't like the way the beads look when strung. Then the next time I have all of my beads out, I just go get the leftovers in the containers and put them all away at once.

Hope this might help some of my fellow beaders.

LuAnn