Tucson 2012

Hey again - just wanted to post some new Czech glass shapes and Firepolish goodies that we found in Tucson this year. Also, be sure to Like Us on Facebook and/or check our website for more!



http://www.facebook.com/?sk=welcome#!/pages/StonesNSilver-Studio/264532973564227

http://www.stonesnsilverstudio.com/calendar--events.html

Polyester Chain

Hey, check this out! We just got awesome colors in Polyester Chain!

This is the hottest new product out there! You can combine it with pearls for a dressy look, or other metallic chains for a texturized, steampunk look! Here are some pics for inspiration!

Brag on a Customer!

Hey, been a long time again...sorry for that...anyway, I just wanted to brag on one of our customers. As you all know, I love Show-And-Tell, and I was very impressed by the works of one of our local customers who, after taking the Polymer Clay Workshop with guest teacher Randee Ketzel, has gone absolutely wild making fabulous jewelry! Talk about artistry and creativity, our friend Sharon W is truly inspiring to us! I warned everyone that Polymer Clay can be addicting . . we hope you enjoy her project too!

These NEW colors of Premo Polymer Clay just came in today . . . spanish olive, ecru, orange, turquoise and sunshine.

This past weekend was our Anniversary Sale, if you missed it, well, then next time you come in be sure to sign up for our email list. Also, you can now follow us on Facebook! Just search, StonesNSilver, one word. Thank you to all who made it out!

TUCSON!!!!

NEW BEADS EVERYDAY!!!! We just got back from Tucson and we are still getting stuff out everyday!

Actually, as a little "dogtrail", I have a funny story to share! Ok, so, in Tucson we shopped the really big shows the first part of the week...like the Gem Mall, which has two tents. One is almost three football fields in size full of vendors from China, Australia, Russia, etc and one tent that is one football field in size (full of the same). So, we usually dedicate two full 8-hour shopping days to that show...I know, shopping as a career...kinda sick in an AWESOME way...LOL

Anyway, I got side-tracked from my side-track....so, the story is that we did that show and the other major ones Monday-Thursday, and then shipped four GIANT, HEAVY boxes from the UPS Store on Friday morning. These four boxes had almost our entire trips worth the stuff in it...which under normal circumstances, we have a lot of faith in UPS, because normally they are very expedient and we've never had anything lost or damaged! So, kudos to UPS!

Those boxes went out Friday morning, to arrive Wednesday, Feb. 9th, and then we shipping another HUGE, HEAVY box on Saturday morning to arrive Thursday or Friday the 10th-11th. Well, Friday, the 11th came and went...no boxes. The website said "Delayed shipment due to ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS" which you can't blame then because it was like OMG....BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! that week, Tucson was in the 20s with a windchill in the teens, and at least it was sunny because I heard that Columbus was rainy, sleety, snowy, icey...or a combination thereof...with roof damage and rolling blackouts....YIKES!

So, Sat the 12th, I called the UPS store in Tucson. The lady was very helpful, and she checked on them and called me back...with nothing to say, other than what the website had already mentioned...but, after checking the website again, it said that it would come Monday, which y'all know we're closed on Mondays. So, Mom and I came up and opened the store monday afternoon, in case there were any travelers that wanted to check us out, while we waited with baited breathe for the UPS guy. He never came. I also forgot to mention that he was already informed about the boxes because the lone box that we shipped on Saturday, after the first four, had already arrived on Friday....go figure....

Well, they finally came yesterday, the 15th. Making that the most time UPS has ever made us sit on pins and needles and loose sleep ever. In conclusion, UPS is 99.9999999% reliable....

Enough with the excursion....I want to talk about our NEW CLASSES and NEW BEADS! Or I could just show you...here's some pix, hot off the press....

NEW CLASS: Tilas (and NEW Two-Hole Czech glass beads) with Two-Hole Daggers! I found some really COOL colors in Tucson....

Yes...those are MOO COW and PIGGY BEADS! With horses, and pig and cow bracelet bars, too!

GIANT BALL CHAIN means 6MM! Great for MEN!
And the vintage skeleton keys go great with it!

This is not an optical illusion...that is, in fact, CAMO chain...it's aluminum, so it's lightweight, and it's CAMO, so just about any man will wear it...but, not to worry ladies...camo is for girls, too!

FAIRY KITS!
among others...we have some great projects and the kit includes everything you need!

I gonna be doing a FREE DEMO on Resin...among others on March 26th, 1pm-4pm...come check it out! In the mean time, here's some sites to check out!

http://www.nunndesign.com/technique_center/2010/tech_diamond_glaze.html

http://www.nunndesign.com/technique_center/2010/tech_2part_resin.html

January Special, and NEW BEADS!

Our January Special is 40% OFF all Christmas and Holiday beads!

NEW BEADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Czech Glass Fire Polish - more than 40 new colors in 3mm and 4mm

Czech Glass Shaped beads - many new fancy shaped beads,

plus tiny teardrop and dagger beads in a nice assortment of colors.

New line of high quality Ceramic Beads - BIG shapes & sizes

Rhodium Plated over Pewter - "Hill Tribe" style metal pendants
at a fraction of the cost!

Bead Brain's Anonymous New Year's Resolution!

12 Steps for Bead Brains Anonymous (or not so Anonymous):
(based on the original 12 Steps as published by Alcoholics Anonymous)

1. We admit that we are powerless over our addiction - that our lives have become controlled by beads.
2. We have come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity
3. We will make a decision to turn our will and our beads over to the care of our organized pull out bin
4. We will make a searching and fearless inventory of beads and tools
5. We have admitted to ourselves and to our beading cohorts the exact nature of our imagination and obsession
6. We are entirely ready to learn to control and channel these creative defects of character
7. We humbly ask our family to never remove our Bead Stash
8. We will make a list of all persons we need to make jewelry for, and become willing to take classes to achieve this
9. We will make direct attempts to create such jewelry wherever possible, except where doing so could injure self or others
10. We will continue to take personal inventory of Bead Stash and when we don't have enough beads, we will make a trip to StonesNSilver Studio
11. We will seek through application and reflection to improve our conscious beading techniques, petitioning only for full knowledge through more classes of all ways to make jewelry for us and others and the power to carry that out
12. Having been captivated as the result of making jewelry (and other beadable objects), we will try to spread this obsession to other bead brains, and continue to practice these "blingy", flamboyant tendencies.

Created by Shelby Rich of StonesNSilver Studio and Bead Shop
Inspired by Kathy Cass of Columbus, TX

Merry Christmas Y'all

Wow! I didn't realize that it's been so long since my last post! I'm sure you can relate that during the holidays, everyone is a busy little bee!

We have a new seed beading workshop scheduled for Jan. 1st. Well, I say "new" but actually it's a class that Kathleen Lynam taught when she was here for our Anniversary Celebration in August. She has given permission to teach this class, and it is a wonderful bracelet! You'll be suprised how fast it goes, and the best part is it's reversible! So, you can wear one side to match one outfit, and then flip it over to match another outfit!

We also have a guest teacher coming Jan. 15th, Debbie Williams. The morning class is an really cute and easy pair of wire earrings, and in the afternoon is a Wire Wrapped Pendant, which many of you have asked about in the past. Hurry, because the classes are filling up quickly!

Wait! There's more! Then, on Jan. 29th, Debbie Koopman, our resident Chainmaille master, will be teaching her really awesome Beaded Ladder Weave Chainmaille Bracelet! It's an awesome way for you "just stringers" that want to branch out into another area of jewelry making! (and, you still get to use beads!)

Please check out all of our class information at: www.StonesNSilverStudio.com/Classes.htm

IN OTHER NEWS: We have a couple of new products in the store, including a new Beadalon Spiral Maker! I used it, and once you get your wire in, you can make beautiful and fast spirals that are larger than you can make with a pair of pliers! Another handy wire working tool Exclusively from Beadalon! This little Spiral Maker creates perfect spirals out of Artistic Wire size 20Ga. and smaller. Use small pieces of the diameter wire you intend to make the spiral as a washer on the three screws. Tighten wing nuts and insert the same gauge wire into the device. Center the wire in the center hole and insert the twister handle so the wire is inside the slit on the handle. Twist the handle until the desired size of coil is reached (maximum of 16.0mm 5/8”) Tip: count the number of turns to re-create the same size coils for multiple coils, or perfectly matching earring dangles. Wire not included.

Just for winter, until March, we will be closing @ 5pm, except for Wednesdays, which will be the norm, 5:30pm. Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Tila Beads!

Hello again - we have this exciting new Miyuki bead in the store called a "Tila". We found some cool patterns for y'all to try until I can get a class going.





Some links to more websites with patterns to check out:





http://www.miyuki-beads.co.jp/english/tila/

http://smadarstreasure.blogspot.com/2010/09/cube-delight-bracelet-with-tila-beads.html

http://www.beadandbutton.com/Videos/From%20the%20Pages%20of%20BNB/2010/08/Elegance%20square.aspx

http://www.dianefitzgerald.com/Classes/Tila%20Bead%20Duluth%202010%20class%20proposal.pdf

http://www.manabeads.com/beadinformation/tilasampler.pdf

Ring - Making a Bead Ring

Hello again! - I have quite a few customers that have taken our ring class and come back in wanting me to help them remember how to do it, and I don't do notes, because I think it takes away from the artistic value of what you are learning. Jewelry making is free-form, and is only confined by meticulously breaking down every step with notes. That's just my personal opinion.

Anyway, here is the dissected steps to making a bead ring:

Supplies:
Ring Mandrel (with sizes)
Plastic or Rubber hammer
20g wire
a flat (M&M shaped) bead

Step 1: Measure and cut 20-25 inches of wire for small or medium sized bead, 30 inches for larger beads. String your bead, and move to approximately the center of the wire. (Just eyeball it...you perfectionists! lol) Next, you want to bend the wires down parallel to each other so that the bead will not slide. Then, bend the wires back straight out to make a Z on each side of the bead. This is a "notch" that will later hold the wire that you wrap around and underneath the bead.

Step 2: Hold the bead towards the top (smallest part) on the backside of the ring mandrel (furthest away from the numbers - in the groove). Wrap one wire around the mandrel (be careful not to let it cross over itself or another wire. Then, take the ring off the end of the mandrel, flip over and put it back on so that when you wrap the other wire around the mandrel, it will not get crossed with the other wires. When wrapping the second wire, you should be rotating your hand the same direction as you did with the first wire. (It's the opposite direction because you flipped the ring over.) What you have now should be two wire, parallel, pointing towards you and two wires, parallel, uncrossed, on the number side of the ring mandrel.

Step 3: SIZING. Before you move the ring down the mandrel, make sure that you are confident of the size that you want, because if you don't start with the correct number, the ring will not fit. I recommend that you take off a ring that you are currently wearing, or wear often, and put it onto the ring mandrel, because even if you know that you are a size 7, it may not necessarily be a 7 on the mandrel. Like, I usually wear a 9, but on the mandrel, it's more like an 8 3/4. Once, you have the size number you need, you can push your bead ring down with the bead on the number side, so that you can see the numbers. You want the wire that is going thru the bead, to rest on the notch that is one notch larger than the size you want (1/4 a size bigger than what you want).

Step 4: Keeping the bead on the number side, hold the fatter end of the mandrel between your knees, and rotate the two long end wire around the bead. DO NOT go around the mandrel, you want to stay above the mandrel, but underneath the bead. You are making a nest for the bead. (The motion you make is kinda like driving a car, your hands rotate the same direction at the same time.) NOTE: whatever you do to one wire, you must do the same exact thing, simultaneously. The first wrap around the bead should be very tight and the wires should fit into the "Z" that you made in Step 1. After that, you can wrap the wires more loosely, even to fill in gaps. Be creative, you are making a nest, do it like you think a bird's nest should look like. You want to end up with at least 3 inches of wire sticking out on each side of the ring.

Step 5: Take one wire on the side it is on, and wrap around the two wires that make the ring band, twice (two wraps). Repeat on the other side with the other wire. Now, the ring should be too tight. If it fits now, it is too big, so continue wrapping both sides, one wrap at a time, until you achieve tightness. Now, make your spirals, or cut the wire flush on the outside of the ring, so that it will not rub your skin. Lastly, put the ring back onto the mandrel, with the BEAD IN THE GROOVE, and push down to your size or slightly bigger is better, and hammer the two band wires and spirals, but be careful not to hammer your bead. This is very important, because it hardens the wire. Take it off, flip it over, and repeat.

Double Strung Beaded Necklace

Y'all know that I do custom designs and repairs...well, after all of the necklaces that I've strung of the past three years, I've come across alot of problems which needed troubleshooting. Well, I have a customer, and she'll laugh when I tell you, that has come in at least seven times to have her bracelet restrung, because it kept breaking. I was so dumbfounded because the nylon coated cable (Flex-rite) is very high quality, and should not be breaking so easily, unless she was catching it on something, etc. Well, I finally figured out what it was...larger silver beads are hollow, as you know, and they have this sharper edge on the inside on both sides that is hard to reach with a reamer, and the beads were eating right through the cable!

So, I finally thought, "Why not string it with two strands of the Flex-rite?". The only problem with that is figuring out how to finish the ends, because it looks bad to fit two cables through the wire guardians...

So, here's what I came up with...

Step 1: String a crimp bead or tube (your choice) onto both strands. Followed by a bead (I used silver, but you can use one of the already strung beads, just take it off before one crimp/tube bead), and then another crimp/tube bead...all onto both strands.

Step 2: Separate the cables, put your wire guardian onto one of them followed by one side of your clasp. Now the next part is tricky because you have to feed the cable that just went through the wire guardian and clasp back through the first crimp/tube, the bead, and second crimp/tube. Don't let the other cable confuse you. You will end up with two cables inside the crimp/tube closest to the clasp, and THREE cables inside the other crimp/tube. Refer to pix.

Step 3: Finally, pull tightly both cables away from each other (this will tighten everything up against the beads), and then squeeze both crimp/tube beads closed (I used just my chain nose pliers, but you are welcome to use your Crimping pliers on the crimp bead, not tube). After you have sqeezed everything nice and snug, cut both ends that are sticking out.

Tada! - You have a finished piece that will hopefully last longer against those hungry silver beads that want to eat your cable!