BeadStyle : wedding jewelry

Beaded bouquets

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:58:00 GMT

As a soon-to-be-bride, I’ve got my finger on the pulse of the wedding industry, and I’m especially on the lookout for fun ways to add a beaded touch to my big day. So were Alanna and Benjamin of Morristown, New Jersey, whose wedding is featured at marthastewartweddings.com. Check out their photo album to see Alanna’s beaded bouquet (photo 6), the beaded boutonnieres (photo 7), and the beaded stems of the bridesmaids’ bouquets (photo 8). I think those boutonnieres are just the cutest!

Let’s talk about wearability

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:13:00 GMT

“Wearability” is a word I frequently hear when working with the staff of Bead&Button magazine, BeadStyle’s sister publication. In Bead&Button, beaders stitch together the tiniest of beads to create the biggest and boldest of jewelry. While many beaders enjoy this work for the sake of creating art and have no intention of ever wearing it, others want their efforts to have a practical outcome – a piece they have occasion to wear, a piece that flatters an outfit, a piece with wearability.

Strung jewelry, like the kind we publish in BeadStyle, is usually quite wearable in this sense, but wearability can have another equally important meaning: how well does this jewelry look and feel when worn? Does this multistrand bracelet drape well on the wrist? Does this pendant flip backwards when it bumps against the collarbone? Are these earrings too heavy to be comfortably (and safely) worn all day?

Just like I won’t wear ill-fitting clothing (contrary to the theory that owning smaller clothes will help you keep your weight down), I won’t wear a piece of jewelry that has wearability issues.

For instance, a few weeks back I blogged about this necklace that I made to wear to my brother’s wedding. Shortly after the blog, I wore the necklace around the office as a test drive. Wearability alert! The beautiful toggle clasp constantly flipped backwards and the coin beads did not lie flat but twisted and turned unattractively on the strand. I imagined myself at the wedding having to adjust the piece every time I was asked to be in a photo – annoying! Not my idea of a well-made design.

So I restrung it with two strands of faceted rounds. The double strands add more weight to the piece, making the toggle clasp stay put. And the round beads can twist and turn all they want and nobody will ever know.

Also, notice the spacers at the end of each strand – those are the product of another wearability discovery. When I restrung the necklace with just faceted rounds, the rounds at the ends of the strands bumped against each other, preventing a graceful convergence of the strands. I added small spacers to eliminate the “bump” factor.

The end result is a necklace that won’t require putzing during the wedding, a piece with wearability. To me, that’s totally worth the extra time, effort, and materials it took to restring. Plus, the lessons learned will help me make more wearable jewelry next time, and hopefully on the first try.

Great wedding jewelry resource

Stacy Hillmer — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:52:00 GMT

I recently got an email from Fire Mountain Gems and Beads highlighting their special Beads & Brides section of their Web site. Here I found a great guide to classic wedding jewelry materials, like pearls and precious metals, but that’s not all. On the right-hand side of the page, there are all kinds of great wedding jewelry tools:

The Wedding Design Ideas tool contains 185 wedding jewelry projects. There are plenty of pieces designed in white for the bride, and even more in colors to match your bridesmaids dresses. Some of the projects are quite elaborate and would stand out best against a simple dress design. Others are dainty for the dress that already speaks for itself.

The Guide to Wedding Jewelry talks about the latest trends in bridal jewelry, like flower and vine motifs and cameos.

My favorite tool is Wedding Pearls of Wisdom. This section of the site contains how-to articles for making wedding accessories, like hair vines, cake jewelry, and Swarovski-studded bouquets.

The Swarovski-Inspired Wedding Accessories tool has instructions for projects ranging from from a bead-embroidered ring pillow to a hair comb.

Finally, the Countdown Checklist tool tells you everything you need to do (and I do mean everything, not just making wedding jewelry) before your big day.

If you have any other cool wedding jewelry resources to share, leave a comment below!

Coming full circle: Wedding bouquet jewelry

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:39:00 GMT

The more I read about weddings, the more I find unusual uses for jewelry! If you missed my blog on wedding cake jewelry, that’s where my sojourn into bizarre bridal jewelry began. Then last week, for something a little less saccharin, I wrote about exboyfriendjewelry.com, the premier site for selling unwanted jewelry from your ex.

Well, today I come full circle and it’s back to wedding-related jewelry, this time jewelry for…your bridal bouquet?

Using jewelry similar to pieces used as cake jewelry, Bel Aire Bridal offers “bouquet jewelry.” This includes rhinestone-studded monograms (although, I am still uncertain whose initials make up the monogram – the bride and groom’s or the wedding attendant’s?) and crystal-coated flowers, bumble bees (cute), butterflies, dragonflies, and hearts. There’s even a flowerless bouquet that consists of a spray of pearls and Swarovski crystals on long silver stems. It looks a little like holding semi-precious fireworks.

All of this got me thinking about other places one could sneak jewelry into a wedding. How about the reception? I think Steven James’ “vacelet” (below, from our March 2009 issue) would look stunning around the neck of a floral centerpiece. Making note to self now…

Cake jewelry? The sweet side of Swarovski

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:24:00 GMT

While beginning the wedding-planning process, I came across a concept that stopped me in my tracks: cake jewelry. As an editor at BeadStyle, I of course love jewelry, and as an amateur cake decorator, I am enamored of cake. So naturally, I had to research this trend.

Cake-jewelry.com offers silver-plated cake-top jewelry studded with Swarovski rhinestones, including blingy monograms, sparkling cake picks (think bobby pins for pastry), distinctly broochlike flowers, sprays of stars and butterflies, wirework spirals, even cake tiaras!

Wedding cake charms are another kind of cake jewelry I had never heard of before. In Victorian tradition, silver charms are tied to lengths of organza ribbon, then inserted into the cake so only the ribbon is visible. Each member of the wedding party pulls out a charm. In some traditions, this is done for good luck, while in others the charm says something about the personality or future of the person who selected it. There is no shortage of vendors that sell wedding cake charms (weddingcakecharms.com, weddingdepot.com, and exclusivelyweddings.com to name a few), but you could easily purchase charms from your local bead store and attach ribbons to them yourself.

Most brides worry about overdressed guests and brides maids showing them up on the big day, but with cake jewelry you might just have another competitor!

More crafts and creativity in 2009!

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:04:00 GMT

Last week, I gave you a look into the crafts I’ve completed since the New Year. Now, on to the projects I have simmering on the back burner.

With my wedding a year and a half away, I’ve come to recognize that now’s the time to start and complete any crafting projects I’ve been itching to do. This time last year, I was finishing my first T-shirt quilt. Now I’m ready to begin a second.

As a kid, I wore all kinds of cutesy, whimsical holiday sweatshirts that I loved to pieces until high school convinced me they weren't "cool." Luckily, the shirts managed to stay safe, packed away under my bed. Now I’d like to give the shirts new life by sewing them into a holiday throw in the same fashion as I did my T-shirt quilt.

I’m also thinking about the necklace I’ll wear for my wedding. Clearly, I won’t know the design for sure until I have a dress (and a neckline) selected, but I’ve been inspired by this necklace by Deb Huber (below) from the March 2007 issue of BeadStyle, also the featured project for the month of January in the BeadStyle 2009 calendar.

I imagine this necklace as a lightly twisted multistrand necklace (and you know I’m partial to multistrand necklaces) with Swarovski pearls, round gemstones, and perhaps a few stray crystals in shades of white, off-white, and beige. But it’s just an idea. I’m looking forward to hitting the Bead&Button Show to hunt for more inspiration as well as potential materials.

Other crafts I’m looking forward to: My fiancé bought me a big book of cross-stitch designs for Christmas, so I see some framed needlework or a decorative towel or two in the future. I'm also experimenting with embroidering greeting cards.

Of course, I think the joy of crafting comes from its spontaneity. If I don’t get to any of the above, I’m sure I’ll be doing something else creative instead!

Wedding jewelry revisited

Erin Dolan — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 21:04:00 GMT

Happy new year, everyone! I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday. My New Year's Day was spent sitting with my craft supplies surrounding me. Only one day into 2009 and already so much to get done! Belated Christmas presents, birthday cards, an oil painting that's due January 6 to the person who commissioned it from me...I am thrilled to have excuses to be creative, though, so I am not complaining!

Adding to my Crafty To Do List, I need to get serious about my friend Rachel's bridal party jewelry, which I posted about a few weeks ago. Rachel's wedding isn't until August, but we both want to get the jewelry at least started in the next month or so. With everything else going on in my life, crafting wise, I confess I haven't given too much thought to Rachel's jewelry. Luckily, a few of our trusty blog readers have given me some advice!

Kathy (username: too cool) was nice enough to email me a few pictures of wedding jewelry she designed recently. For this particular wedding, Kathy was commissioned by the groom's mother to make necklaces for the bride and the bridesmaids.

The bride wanted something she could wear every day, so Kathy decided to make a multistrand necklace that could be converted to three single-strand necklaces with jump rings.

The necklace at left is the finished piece Kathy made for the bride. The first strand consists of chain and crystal (the crystals are from a necklace groom's mother owned!). The second strand has rice pearls, rhinestone rondelles, and heart chain. The third strand is made from seed pearls, crystals, and a handmade crystal, pearl, and rhinestone pendant.

Kathy finished each strand with a soldered jump ring, so the individual strands can be removed or added to the clasp as desired.

Kathy touched on some great ideas for bridal party jewelry. I love the idea of using components that have a personal meaning, like Kathy did with the crystals from the mother-of-the-groom's necklace. Also, if you are dealing with a practical bride (Rachel is nothing if not practical), making a versatile necklace like Kathy's will mean the bride can wear jewelry from her special day again and again.

Thanks for the great ideas, Kathy! If anyone else has any suggestions or examples for me, please post them here, or email me at edolan@beadstylemag.com!

A birthday, a graduation, a holiday, an engagement: The true story of a diamond

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:07:00 GMT

When I was 16 years old, my maternal grandmother gave me a gift I would not soon forget – a diamond set into a donut bezel (all the rage at the time) on a sturdy gold neck chain. The necklace was a birthday present meant to commemorate one of the first milestones of my adulthood, but it meant much more than that. My grandmother had recently beaten terminal cancer, so this gift was one that I might never have received.

Over the next few years, I wore the necklace whenever I could: piano performances, holiday parties, and in my high school senior photos. I graduated from high school wearing it, then wore it again for my college graduation party. Still, it was not every day that I could wear this special occasion piece. I felt bad for the many months it lay in its blue-velvet jewelry case unseen.

But last week, on Christmas Day, the stone that was the star of that necklace emerged from the pocket of my boyfriend who, on one knee, offered it to me in an engagement ring. “Stacy Anne Hillmer, will you marry me?” Accepting my man, and the ring he held, I watched my special diamond take up a new home on my left ring finger for all to see every day.

And so our jewelry makes its way into family traditions and legends…What are some of the stories behind your most prized pieces?

Bridal party bling

Erin Dolan — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:25:00 GMT

Two of my best friends from college are getting married this summer. I am the personal attendant in Erin's (yes, my friend/college roommate's name is also Erin!) wedding to Brett, and for Rachel and Hank's wedding, I am the D.D.: Designated Designer.

Rachel asked me to help her design and make jewlery not only for her, but for her four bridesmaids. No pressure! The great thing about Rachel is that she's honest without being cruel, so I know she will be a fun and efficient person to collaborate with! She's also just an all-around nice person that is enthusiastic about everything, so even if I totally mess this up, she will be appreciative and happy! It's a win-win.

Maybe some of you have some insights into designing bridal party jewelry. Naomi made a necklace-bracelet-earrings set for a friend back in August. I'm thinking of doing necklace-bracelet-earring sets as well.

Here's my starting information:

Rachel's bridesmaid dresses are a shimmery jade green with bright blue sashes. They're cocktail length (just above the knee) with thin straps - very simple and classic. Her own dress is strapless with a form-fitting bodice and a skirt that floats away from the hips. It has very little detailing but is exquisite and, again, simple and classic.

I think the jewelry needs to reflect this classic elegance that Rachel is going for. The colors she selected for her bridesmaids shows her funky, modern side, however, which I think also needs to be displayed in the jewelry. But the jewelry can't overwhlem or compete with the colors. There really is a lot to think about when you're designing jewelry for a specific person, especially when that person is a bride!

I currently am thinking about emphasizing the blue over the jade green color. Perhaps something with saphhires? Plus, then if the jewelry has some blue in it, it can be Rachel's "something blue" AND "something new!" Maybe just simple silver chains with a sapphire drop?

Any suggestions would be most appreciated! Have you ever made bridal jewelry? Email me your pictures at edolan@beadstylemag.com. This will be an ongoing project, so stay tuned for Rachel's Wedding Jewelry updates!

Viva Las Vegas

Naomi Fujimoto — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:04:00 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, Tom and I designed jewelry for his fiancee, Meg. They got married on September 6 in Las Vegas. Here she is, getting ready Saturday morning at the Paris (I love this photo).

If you have Real Player, you can see them tie the knot in front of a Tom Jones impersonator at the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel!

How an editor and an art director design jewelry together

Naomi Fujimoto — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:36:00 GMT

Tom (the art director for Kalmbach's books department) is getting married in Vegas next Friday. His fiancée, Meg, wants some simple jewelry to go with the dress she's wearing. She likes Celtic designs and wants a combination of silver and green in a necklace, bracelet, and earrings.

I looked over the JPEGs she sent, then called Eclectica and asked if they had any silver Celtic knot pendants. Luckily, they did: Sandy found one and set it aside for me.

Tom and I went to Eclectica over lunch, and we both liked the pendant (thanks, Sandy!). This was a good sign and by no means a given; we tend to disagree over aesthetic matters — e.g., I like the Palatino font, he doesn't. You can never take design stuff for granted.

Eclectica has a huge selection of chain, but of course I wanted the simplest one I could find. I strung a few different cable chains through the bail, and we agreed on a style with 2.5mm flattened oval links. The chain is pretty and understated but also sparkles. Tom also liked how it matched the pendant.

I suggested we use the same chain in the bracelet and earrings. Because we weren't including anything green in the necklace, I didn't want a bracelet that was too bead-y.

Next, we looked for beads. My first choice: table-cut faceted glass drops in an erinite shade. Again, agreement from Tom — this was going better than I expected. I found a few options in 6mm Czech fire-polished round beads, and we picked a darkish erinite shade, ruling out others as being in the wrong color family.

How about a chain bracelet with two bead dangles? Sure. Three or five strands? Three. He likes odd numbers.

I found a lobster claw clasp for the necklace and suggested a heart-shaped clasp for the bracelet. Does Meg like hearts? Tom thought it'd be okay because this is her wedding jewelry. Sweet. (By the way, he is picky about clasps. When I showed him my "Pearls for girls" necklace from Cool Jewels, he told me he didn't like the finish on the clasp. Good eye. I changed it to — you guessed it — something simpler. A straightforward gold toggle.)

Another design detail: I hammered the soldered jump rings on the necklace and bracelet finishing. Tom likes the flatness of the pendant, the chain, and the jump rings. (This is also a design default for me: I prefer hammered jump rings because I think they look nicer and they're easier to clasp.)

Because the design process was so easy, it didn't take me long to whip up these pieces. So here they are.

Best wishes to Tom and Meg!