BeadStyle : Bead&Button magazine

Dancing the night away in the world of jewelry

Linda Augsburg — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:47:00 GMT

Hi. I'm Linda and I am a swing dancer. Whew, I feel better getting that off my chest! During daytime hours, I work on the Web sites and behind the scenes on our three jewelry titles--BeadStyleMag.com, BeadAndButton.com, and ArtJewelryMag.com. And in the course of my day, I run across various projects in print and on the Web site and very often have that "Oh yeah, I was going to make that" moment. Well, this is one of those moments, so I thought I'd share it with you.

As a swing dancer, this Tiny Dancer piece called out to me when it was published in August 2007 in Bead&Button magazine. "Make this for Christmas gifts for your dancing friends," it said. Of course, I didn't do that at the time, but with the Bead&Button Show coming up in just a few months, I'm going to keep an eye out for good flat, rectangular beads for this purpose.

Much more timely than Christmas gifts, with this being the season for Spring dance recitals, the ballerina figures also included in this article would make a great gift for your little one's dance teacher. There are even square dancers to honor that special do-si-do-ing duo you know. If you've got the August 2007 issue of Bead&Button, the project is on page 66. If you don't, you can order a copy or purchase a pdf of the project. I know I've got this issue at home. Now I just have to find it and get out the pliers and some wire and get busy!

The reason I'm sharing this project with you BeadStyle readers to see this easy wirework project and start thinking about expanding your wirework skills. Of course, BeadStyle has a bunch of great wirework projects available too; check out these wire projects from BeadStyle magazine! Let me know what wirework projects you've loved or that you try from the site--I want to know what you're creating.

September 26 Jewelry Gems of the Web

Linda Augsburg — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:19:00 GMT

Melissa from Strands of Beads wins my inspiration award this week (not that I don't love everyone's posts this week--they are all gems after all). First, her clever headline made me smile. Second, her story got me thinking and it suddenly occurred to me that it's been a decade (can it be?) since I really got interested in beading. So after I share the gems this week, I'll share my "how I got started making jewelry" story. But first, the gems:

About.com Jewelry Making
For those in the jewelry biz, Tammy has a collection of jewelry business topics up for discussion in the Jewelry Making Forum.

Art Bead Scene
Fall Foliage as Seen Through The Trendy Bead

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Barbe talks about Personal Imagery-what says YOU in your work?

Crocheted Pillow Pendant
Carmi saves a pillowcase's trim by turning it into wearable art.

Jennifer Jangles Blog
Halloween Project

Jewelry & Beading
Repurposing autumn-colored beads gives you a stylish new necklace!

Katie's Beading Blog
Hear all about Katie's experience on The Big Idea. Check it out!

Linda from BeadStyleMag.com
An Oktoberfest-inspired bracelet complete with step-by-step photos and instructions

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean's got some earring designs in this elegant looking book, due out soon!

Strands of Beads
Melissa reminisces about her first time.

And since Melissa ends the list with her first beading project post, her story is a nice bridge for me to tell you about my first jewelry project. Let me see--it was 1998. (Imagine hearing the TV backflash music here.) I was living in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, managing a quilt shop three blocks from the ocean. (I know, sweet gig, but my personal life was in turmoil, so paradise isn't always what it seems.) The building that housed the quilt shop adjoinened another shop--an antique store. Somewhere down the beach, a bead shop owner decided to leave the business about the same time the antique store owner decided to close her shop. Enter Susan Hawkins, a plucky gal who likes making jewelry and was ready for a career change. Next thing I know, antique china cabinets exit and glass display shelves filled with glassware in all shapes and sizes filled with sparkly, shiny, matte, and exotic beads fill the space. And then the Bead Hawk officially opened its doors in the late summer or early fall 1998! We had kept the door between the two shops open to encourage traffic, and the next thing I knew, Susan overheard the quilters in class talking about needing coconuts for their palm trees and she popped in with the perfect beads. The quilters purchased the strand, split it up, and everyone was thrilled including Susan, who wasn't sure how she's ever sell those beads!

When things were slow at the shops, we'd chat about retailing, and about customer and their shopping habits. And while we chatted, I'd poke through her orphan bead cup. Since I often made Christmas ornaments that needed a little something, I was drawn to large drop beads to dangle from the bottom, so I'd purchase the strays as they turned up. And one day, I spotted a copy of Bead&Button magazine. It was the October 1998 issue with the leaf candlestick on the cover (see right) and I was intrigued. So I bought it. I never did make the candlestick, but I did buy beads at Bead Hawk to make my mother a necklace for her birthday, which was that fall. But I kept that issue, and after I moved to Illinois and considered looking in Wisconsin for a publishing job, I remembered that the magazine was published in the Midwest, so I sent them a resume. That resume led to a different opportunity at the company, but I improved my jewelry-making skills thanks to a small group of us that met after hours to learn more about beading. I went to another company for a while, but I ended up returning to Kalmbach Publishing Co. to work on the jewelry magazines we have here.

I think my mom still has that first necklace. I made a necklace for myself around that same time, so I'm not sure which was first, but I think of hers as the first attempt. If I turn hers up when I visit this weekend, I'll try to take a picture and post it in a future blog post. The necklace I made fell apart. Several times. But I've gotten better. They hardly ever fall apart now.

Melody and me in Bead&Button!

Stacy Hillmer — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:11:00 GMT

While I was out of the office and under the weather, the October 2008 issue of BeadStyle's sister magazine Bead&Button hit newsstands. This was particularly exciting for me as I am the subject of the staff profile on page 26 of the issue. My coworker Tea Benduhn wrote many kind words about me (including a nice plug for my children's book, "An Armadillo on My Pillow"). I especially like how she describes my love of cake decorating as an artistic pursuit, when in reality, about 50% of my passion comes from eating the cake!

Also in the issue is a fantastic article by Melody MacDuffee, a regular Bead&Button contributor, whose beadwork caught the attention of Krobo bead makers in Ghana, West Africa. The bead makers contacted Melody, asking that she come and teach them jewelry-making techniques and help them market their work in the U.S., and guess what? She did it! Melody and the bead makers have since formed a business, Soul of Somanya, and are producing truly beautiful jewelry that gives work to local young people who have otherwise limited employability. Their jewelry features colorful Krobo beads and wirework Adinkra symbols (visual representations of Ghanaian words of encouragement, like "grace under hardship" and "strength and humility"). To learn more about the Soul of Somanya project or to purchase the jewelry, visit soulofsomanya.org. Here is just a sampling to whet your appetite:

BeadStyle's all-access pass for one weekend only!

Linda Augsburg — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:57:00 GMT

This weekend only! Online subscriber access for everyone!

From Friday, July 11 at 5:00pm Central Time, through Sunday, July 13, take a free tour of all the great online content that's usually available only to BeadStylemag.com registered users or subscribers to BeadStyle magazine. Take a look around and see what you've been missing, and if you like what you see, come back and sign up Monday, July 14.

What are you missing, you ask? Well, registered users of Beadstylemag.com get access to all these great online features: reader forums, editor blogs, how-to videos, free projects, and the magazine's gallery.

In addition to all of the great registered-user features listed above, subscribers also gain online access to:

Post your most recent projects in our Subscriber Gallery
Download exclusive projects
Learn specific beading tips and techniques with our new online videos

Please Note: During the times mentioned above, you will not be able to register for a new account or logon to any of our Jewelry sites with an existing account. Reader forum users will be able to post as long as they've logged in and have a cookie set prior to the times mentioned above. The site will be back to normal and open for new registrations on Monday, July 14.

Bead&Button magazine and Art Jewelry magazine will also have all-access weekends this weekend. So if you've ever wondered what's behind that firewall, now's your chance to find out what you've been missing. And then Monday, you can register and even become a subscriber!