Bead For Life - Custom Made Bead Order Received!

Hand Rolled, Custom, Unique Beads

I was so excited to go to my mailbox and find the custom, hand made beads I had ordered from the Bead For Life website. If you aren't familiar with Bead for Life, please look at my older posts and watch the video or check out their website.  Bead for Life is an organization that gives women in Uganda the ability to learn a trade and earn money to sustain their families and in some cases, start their own businesses. 

I wanted to follow up with my first post and say that I am extremely satisfied with the beads that I received.  The shipping was quick and there were also tags included to send with my own custom made jewelry using the beads I bought from Bead for Life.  I took some pictures and wanted to include them with this post and I will be making jewelry soon with these great beads!!  I chose the multi-colored and the natural colored loose beads, but you can pick from many different styles and colors already made by the talented Ugandan women of  Bead for Life.  I hope you let me know if you have looked at the site and would love to hear your comments!!  Please check back for my custom made creations featuring Bead for Life beads and like always, thanks for reading!!

Beads come with tags for your own custom made creations

 Earth Tone Beads from Bead For Life

Custom Hand Made Jewelry That Makes A Difference

www.beadforlife.org

 Custom hand made jewelry is making a difference for quite a few in Uganda.  Bead for Life is an organization that enables Ugandan women that have been affected by poverty, starvation, AIDS and civil wars to create an income and sustain their families and homes.  I was so touched by this video, so I really hope you take the time to watch it.

I also have placed an order for beads from Bead For Life, so I will be featuring unique, custom made designs of my own made with these great beads!!!  Stop back soon for an update!!  Pictures by  Charles Steinberg.

One of the creators of the beautiful

necklaces for Bead for Life.

Custom made necklaces hand made

by women workers for Bead for Life

BeadforLife Overview (2011) from BeadforLife on Vimeo.

Beads For Life helps women to

become self-sufficient providers.

Using Odd Shaped Beads in Your Custom Jewelry Making

Green saucer shaped glass
hand wrapped beads. - $5

.925 Sterling Silver hand wrapped
green saucer shaped earrings. - $5

Custom hand wrapped blue
square glass beads. - $5

Using odd shaped beads in your custom made jewelry can prove to be challenging. If you have been custom making jewelry for awhile or you are just getting started, you may run into a problem with beads that you really love and want to make a necklace or other piece of custom jewelry out of, but you don't have any way to drill holes in your beads. The way to get around this obstacle is by wire wrapping the beads.

I know, easier said than done!! Trust me, I know the difficulty that you may have trying your hand at wire wrapping. It can be definitely frustrating to try to hold the bead and then get your wire where it needs to be, wrap it and then when you get done wrestling with it, it falls to the ground with a defiant thud! Just breathe deep, remember it isn't mocking you on purpose and don't throw things and swear! (Just a little advice...I've been there!)

The best way to get the hang of wire wrapping beads, of course, is to practice, practice, practice! And the best way to do that is get some of the cheaper wire and find some beads of different shapes and sizes and just keep trying until you are comfortable with it! The pictures that I've included here are of beads that I have wire wrapped and turned into earrings. Another good tip is that beads without holes are a lot of times cheaper than the regular beads.

Double .925 Sterling Silver
custom wrapped earrings. - $5

Making Your Own Pendants For Your Custom Made Necklace

Coral & Lampwork Glass Necklace - $30

Silver Leaf & Clear Glass Crackle Bead

Necklace - $25

Swarovski Starfish Necklace - $30

Custom made necklaces may require that you make your own pendant to match. Sometimes, you will be in the unique position that you have all the other components of your custom made necklace complete, except for one small problem.

 You don't have a pendant that you want to use with it or you can't find a pendant that fits what you have in mind. One easy way to get around this problem is to make your own pendants. You can make a pendant from any kind of assembly of beads and the only limit is your imagination.

I have included some pictures of necklaces that I have made the pendant out of several smaller beads that are included in the main design of the necklace. As you can see, you can be simplistic, as in the case of the ruby and Swarovski crystal necklace or you can be more detailed as see in the Swarovski crystal starfish pendant that I created.

 If you would like to purchase any of these necklaces or you have an idea of your own that you want me to recreate, please let me know!

Ruby & Swarovski Crystal

Necklace - $30

Choosing a Jewelry Tag for Custom Made Jewelry

Tags for my Custom Made Jewelry

If you are custom making jewelry and you have decided that you are at the point where you are going to enter into the world of marketing it to sell to the public, you need to think about a lot of different things and custom jewelry tags are just one of them. I have found a site that I have gotten my jewelry tags from in the past.

The site is Dolphin Bead Designs and their pricing is quite fair. The have a lot of different choices and styles and a multitude of fonts and bells and whistles. They also feature a really neat interface on their site that you can design your own tags, pick a logo, choose colors and styles of both the tag and font, and a lot of other cool little features. Check out their site and let me know what you think!! You can find them at www.dolphinbead.com/

Custom Jewelry Projects for Friends and Relatives

Custom Bracelet and Earrings to
Match Blue Glass Necklace

Custom Made Blue Glass Necklace

Turquoise & Silver Custom Made

Earrings

Some of the best custom made jewelry that I have produced has been for friends.  When I first started custom making jewelry, which has been about 2 years now, I had a neighbor that I had met when I first moved to Florida. She and her family kind of took us in and I became very close to her and if I needed to talk or needed her to help, she has done her best to be there. Her birthday was coming around and I decided to make her a special custom made jewelry set for her present from me. Her favorite color is blue, so of course, that's what color I decided to make her jewelry set.

As you can see, I made the set from blue and white glass beads. Once she received the necklace, bracelet and earrings, she had shown them to her step-daughter and she said she really liked my work. She then commissioned me to make another custom jewelry set for her step-daughter with the request that she loves turquoise. I have included some of the pictures from the turquoise set as well.

The main point to this story, is that revenue can come from a number of different sources, sometimes unexpectedly, so if you are trying to sell your jewelry, try to network with friends and family. Get them to wear your jewelry to different functions, events, etc. You may be surprised with the feedback!

 Also, as always, if you have a request for anything custom made, or you see something that I have already made that you like, contact me and let me know, I'd be happy to work with you! Good luck!

Custom Made Turquoise & Silver

Necklace, Earrings and Bracelet

Making Unique Findings for Your Custom Made Jewelry

Custom Made Finding for Necklace

Custom Made Jewelry Finding

Unique findings can elevate a piece of custom made jewelry over and above expectations if the right one is selected. Since I have started making jewelry, one of the issues that I have faced is when I am getting ready to put a custom made necklace together, I get to the pendant and then I have to decide what kind of finding that I want to use on it. Just a quick note - Findings are basically any component that is used to put your custom made jewelry together. I.E. - clasps, hooks, pins, etc.

Sometimes, just a simple "O" ring is not quite what you looking for in the WOW factor, so you may have to create your own findings. I have included some pictures of some of the different custom made necklaces that I have made findings for in the past to try to achieve the look that I wanted.

 As you can see from the pictures, you can be as imaginative as you want, as long as you can get your pendant on the wire. I suggest using a cheaper metal than .925 sterling silver, since it is pricey to start out with. I have a spool of cheaper wire that is about the same density and strength as the .925 sterling silver wire that I use to make all my custom findings from and I do a trial run of an idea first with that wire to make sure that it will work for the final process.

If you see any ideas that you would like to have on your necklace or have any suggestions, please contact me and let me know!! Hope to hear from you soon and happy beading!!

Recycling Pre-Owned Beads for Custom Jewelry Making

Necklace found
in thrift store.

Example of great necklace found in thrift store shopping.

 In today's economy, money is definitely hard to come by. So, just a tip for those of you out there that want to make your own jewelry or make jewelry for a friend or relative but don't have a lot of cssh. A great way to make your budget stretch is by hitting the thrift stores or second hand shops to find used jewelry. There are some fantastic beads out there sitting on racks in the midst of throw aways.
                                                                                     

Recycling Beads and Pendants is a smart
way to custom make jewelry.

Once you find the ones that you want, it is relatively easy to get them apart. Usually, just a snip or two and they will fall loose. However, some of the older beads may have been either glued in place or separately tied into place. Sometimes it can prove to be tough to get them apart. Basically, if you really like the beads and you know you want to use them for a project, then there is usually a way to get them apart without ruining your find. Just keep in mind what material the bead is made from before using any solvents or other materials that may damage them. With a little effort, someone else's trash may be your treasure!

What Defines a Swarovski Crystal?

Picture of my assorted Swarovski Crystals that I use to
custom make my jewelry.

Swarovski Crystals are just about every where in today's jewelry culture.  In fact, you can't go online many places and look at jewelry without Swarovski coming to your attention.  For those of you that don't know what the difference is besides a name, I thought I would post some information for those interested.

Daniel Swarovski's father owned a glass factory in Bohemia (now Czech Republic) where he studied as an apprentice and learned glass cutting.  In 1892, he patented an electric glass cutting machine used to make crystal glass.  Daniel went on to establish a glass cutting factory in Wattens, Tyrol (Austria) where he started making sculptures, jewelry, chandeliers and more.

Swarovski Crystal Color Chart

The company's patented techniques allow the crystals to be made with stunning sparkle and clarity.  There are several other crystal manufacturers on the market, but the highest quality crystal is still Swarovski.  With unparalleled beauty and luster, the best selling of Swarovski's line are the bicone beads, which means they are diamond cut on both sides as seen above and in the color chart below, so they have a very high shine factor.

If you would like a piece of custom made jewelry using Swarovski crystals, please email me your request and I'll be happy to help you find just the right color, shape and ideas for your very own creation.

Choosing the Right Beads for Custom Jewelry Projects

Bead Organizers Help Keep Custom
Making Your Own Jewelry Easy

Choosing the right beads for your custom made jewelry projects is essential.  Beading or jewelry making is a fun and relaxing hobby, once you get the hang of how things work.  If you are just starting out, sometimes you can get lost in the details when making jewelry.

My basic rule of thumb is to start out with a definite idea of what color beads it will be, the length of the necklace, and what pendant will be used and then have fun filling in the blanks with your imagination.

I always use a bead layout board, which is usually a plastic tray with grooves so that you can layout your beads in the shape that they will be once it is strung on jewelry wire; this gives you an idea of what it will look like when its complete.  You can pick the layout boards up in most major craft stores for around $5.  With these easy tips, you can be on your way to making your own jewelry in no time! 

Bead Board Used to Make
Custom Made Jewelry