BeadStyle : jewelry designers

New Xilion bead

Cathy Jakicic — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:48:00 GMT

Though there’s been buzz about this for awhile, the official press release arrived this week about the new Crystallized – Swarovski Elements Xilion bead.

Called an enhancement of the popular bicone shape (5301), the Xilion (5328) has more facets and a hole with rounded edges to “amplify sparkle” and protect threads.

According to the release, the Xilion’s “harmonious design and dimensions make possible beautiful combinations with its predecessor, the bi-cone bead 5301.”
Good news for bicone fans, especially those with a stash. More good news – you can call your bicones ”vintage” soon. That makes a sexier label for the jewelry designs you sell!

The Xilion,which will be phased in gradually, will be available in 66 colors, 20 effects, and in sizes from 3 mm to 10 mm. The 2.5 mm bicone will still be available.

Master class mastered!

Cathy Jakicic — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:49:00 GMT

These picture are from the master class I took at this year's Bead&Button Show and the resulting graduation ceremony. I took Valerie Hector's Chinese bead weaving class. It was wonderful!! I though after three day my brains and all urge to bead-weave would just leak out of my ears when I went to bed, but I was completely energized by the experience and can't wait to do more.

Most of the credit for this goes to Valerie. She's a remarkable teacher. Intelligent, funny, patient, prepared, and very encouraging.

And her knowledge and curiousty in the area of Chinese bead weaving and culture was really impressive. I also have to give a lot of credit to my classmates.

As anyone who takes (or teaches) a lot of classes can tell you, the students are always the big wild card. I'm happy to say that every single person in the master class was delightful - creative, generous, and fun.

For those of you at the show - what was your favorite class?

It's my lucky day

Erin Dolan — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:55:00 GMT

It's not really my lucky day, but it is the eve of my half-birthday, a day I completely support celebrating.

As luck would have it, I remembered that it was my half-birthday just moments ago. Also as luck would have it, I just came across this gorgeous four-leaf clover necklace by jewelry artist Jennifer Meyer. I recently saw some of her work in InStyle magazine, and was browsing her website for ideas and inspiration.

I am a fan of simple, classic jewelry, and her chain-and-charm necklaces are right up my alley. Plus her shamrock charm speaks to my Irish heart. These kinds of simple pieces never go out of style, and you can wear them so many different ways with different outfits. I'm trying to embrace the layering look, too. I feel like I'm a little late on that trend but we'll see how it goes!

Naomi's blog post about making charm jewelry to memorialize pets (or another loved one) is also a great inspiration point for creating simple, personalized jewelry.

I think this shamrock necklace would make a great half-birthday present, don't you? I'll just alert my family and friends and I'm sure they'll get right on purchasing this for me...If only I weren't being sarcastic. It's that good ole Irish wit ;)