All things bright and beautiful

We are enjoying a lovely summer here in the UK and the sun makes all colours pop beautifully. I have taken a break this week from sewing and put together a little set using glass beads instead. Here it is...

This is easy to make and it is a wonderful way to use up single beads. I love buying job lots of beads with mystery mixtures in them and then seeing what I have. The trouble is that it is rare to get more than one or two of each.
The good news is that matchy-matchy is not so stylish. The trick is to avoid a pattern like the plague. Enter our mixed bag of beads.

So, what do we need this time?
You will need some very basic tools - chain nose (pointy) pliers and some flat ones. You will need some wire cutters too. They are not too expensive if you haven't got them and they look like this....

1- chain nose 2-flat 3-wire cutters

-a large silver lobster clasp
-4mm silver spacer beads
- tiger tail wire
- 2.5mm silver crimps
-a couple of small split rings
-BEADS! Colourful and varied but stick to a couple of colours so that the look is not lost.


I am going to make a bracelet to show you the technique but rest assured, it is the same as the necklace exactly. Just use more of everything to make the necklace! Okay, here we go....

Measure your wrist and then add about 8cm more. My wrist is 17cm and to add 8cm makes the measurement of the tiger tail wire 25cm. This will give long ends for security and I poke these back through the holes in the beads. Cut the wire and thread a crimp bead on and thread through the lobster clasp...

Now poke the wire back through the crimp bead....

Slide the crimp bead up to the base of the clasp and give it a squeeze with the pliers to flatten it....

We are using tiny crimp beads so that you don't need special crimping pliers. These tiny beads can be flattened with the flat pliers. Double duty saves a bit of money.

Fun bit next! Thread on your chosen beads, keeping an eye on your wrist measurement. Too small and it will not fit comfortably and too large and it will dangle onto your hand and that can become very annoying.

As you thread the beads on, pay attention to the wire end...this would be wrong...

Poke that end into the beads (it will fit) so that your bracelet looks like this...

Neater? You will notice that the beads are alternated with a silver spacer. this helps with flexibility and endurance (don't really want glass grinding on glass as you move). Aim to begin and end with a spacer too because it looks better.

When you have finished and the bracelet fits your wrist, do the same thing with the crimp bead but this time use a split ring. 

So finish with a silver spacer, thread a crimp bead on, thread the wire through the split ring and then back through the crimp and the wire end goes into the beads. Flatten the crimp bead.

By the way, normally, you would use a jump ring and not a split ring. I prefer the split ring for added security. The choice is yours though. If you are a professional beader, you will know what to use. For newbies, this gives a nice secure and quick to make set with a minimum of tools.

That's it! You have achieved a bracelet!

Very pretty - like something made of sweets. Thank you all so much for stopping by.  I am going to mix things up a little and put the earring mini tute onto my Facebook page and you can find that by clicking here.

Have fun and happy crafting!

Love and hugs

Debbie xxx