This last week has been crazy-busy as I’ve been preparing to give a presentation to the Bead Society of Greater Chicago. I drove down last night after work and spent some time with their beaders talking about design and how really knowing the basics allows you to be more creative and get better finished pieces.

I had a hard time narrowing down one topic to talk about. Originally, I was going to go “three miles wide and an inch deep” and go through 50 tips for better beading. But the more I worked on the presentation, the more I realized that everything was leading back to the basic premise that to create your best work you need to know the basics. Not just basic design concepts, like line, shape and movement, but the basics of your tools, materials and techniques and actually consciously choose how you’re using all these elements.

Of course, in the end, I ended up talking about publishing designs, working on a magazine, and copyright. Maybe next time I’ll plan to start there!

In my last post, I mentioned adding a few beads at each end of the strand to make the necklace easier to clasp. Then, I went on to make another necklace and promptly forgot that rather elementary beading rule. The result:

(I know, I know, the photo is terrible. I’m without a digital camera at the moment, so a blurry iPhone pic is all I have to work with.)

Do you see the problem? There’s not enough room for the toggle bar to swivel and fit through the clasp loop. I even tried stretching the strands to increase the length, but as I used DandyLine, that didn’t help at all.

I had to make a choice: Cut the thread, or cut the clasp. Yep, I said cut the clasp.

This is a nine strand necklace, and it took me about 5 hours to string (if not a little longer). Restringing it would be a little faster, because the pattern is already set, but the holes on some of the round beads are really small (so I couldn’t just run a needle up the strands). It would probably take me about 2 1/2 hours to restring.

Cutting the clasp would mean I’d be out a clasp, and, if I couldn’t slide the thread loops on another clasp loop or wire, I’d have to restring anyway. Now, if this was an expensive clasp, I wouldn’t even consider it. But this was a $2.00 base metal clasp* I got on clearance, so I didn’t think it was a big deal to wreck it.

I went with option 2. First, I cut a piece of wire, and attached it to the loop on a new clasp with a wrapped loop. I slid a matching bead on the wire and made the first half of a wrapped loop. Then, I slid the end of the wire through the first loop of thread on the necklace. I very carefully clipped the clasp loop on the old clasp, and one by one slipped the thread loops off the old clasp and onto the wire. Then I finished with a wrapped loop.†

I did the same thing on the other side. I think the end result turned out very nice, and it’s actually possible to close the clasp, which is a nice feature in jewelry, don’t you think?

* I’m usually an advocate for high-quality materials (they look better and last a lot longer!), but this necklace was made entirely out of demonstration leftovers and bargain bin glass. I don’t spend a lot on demo materials, since I give them away. Since the clasp and black rounds were purchased for demonstrations, and the wire was leftover from another project, the only materials I bought for this project were the faceted rondelles ($1 a strand) and two tubes of seed beads ($6). I pretty sure that if there’s a time to use a base metal clasp, this is it.

† Anytime you are combining thread and wire remember to use a soldered or wrapped loop. Even if you’re an expert at closing jump rings, thread can slip right between the wire ends.

Remember these?

I purchased these strands at the Bead&Button Show a few months ago, and I actually have a finished piece to show for it.

My sister is heading off on a vacation to Napa this evening (her first real vacation as an adult, lucky girl), and I made her a necklace to go with one of the summery dresses she packed. Did I go with beachy peach and green? Sea colored blue? Nope. I chose the black-latticed white agate beads to go with a stark white sundress she was taking along. Then I separated the beads with tiny faceted glass rondelles in an opal-like white. I added a few smaller beads to each end of the strand to make it a little easier to clasp, and voilà:

Two things I like about this project: 1) It was very easy. I strung the entire piece and attached the clasp in about an hour. 2) The strand of gemstones was too short to make a necklace on its own, but adding the rondelle spacers not only increases the length, it enhances the colors, distributes the weight of the necklace more evenly, and helps it curve more smoothly. All good things.

Have you made any unexpectedly simple projects lately? Isn’t it great how something so easy can be such a great impact piece?

I’m still recovering from bead show week. So many people to catch up with and things to do. I haven’t seen some of my former coworkers in a year, and I was able to meet some of the designers I worked with as an editor for the very first time. My students were all awesome—not a bad one in the bunch—and I walked away with some great ideas to keep me beading throughout the year. And probably enough materials to keep me going throughout the year too!

Today, I’m going to share some of the great things I found at the show. Now, I usually try to be frugal, and I’ll admit I blew my budget this year. Why? Because while there are some world-class bead stores right here it town, the show gives me an unparalleled opportunity to see everything that’s out there and compare prices. I got a number of bargains, so I’ll probably be diving into this stash for quite a while. Maybe until next year.

One of the very first booths I stopped at had these lovely agate strands in a wide variety of colors—some natural, some dyed. And the price was pretty great. I love gemstones, and I think that there’s something classic about strands like these that make them easy to adapt to a variety of projects.

Next, I went on the hunt for something a little more lightweight (those heavy gemstones can be a literal pain to wear!). Glass seemed to be everywhere, and in a wide range of styles. At Unicorn Beads and Sonoran Glass, I saw a few variations of similar ideas. And some of them made it home with me. I also found some treasures while rummaging through the piles of pressed glass at Raven Imports (where I bought all the pressed glass used to make this necklace for Bead&Button a few years ago), and found some great rondelles and vivid green drops.

My other great finds includes some very inexpensive Swarovski bicones, strands of mercury-colored faceted glass, and lots of wire and headpins.

I also found plenty of dollar strand sales. Normally, I don’t trust ultra-cheap beads—when you get used to working with quality materials, you appreciate them. But I have some stitching experiments I want to try, and I need bulk. So dollar strands seemed like a great idea. But believe me, I spent time examining each strands for regular shapes and sizes, uniform finishes, etc.—all the things you want when you are stitching with small beads. Where was the lack of quality in these dollar beads? Well, there are some slight variations in shape and size, but nothing I can’t work with. Where I really thought the dollar strands were lacking was in color. There just weren’t that many colors that excited me. Most of the time I was look through rows or piles I was thinking, “I guess this could work…” Trust me, that’s not what I usually think when I buy beads!

What am I planning to do with them? Here are a few of the combinations I’m planning to work with:

Were you at the 2011 Bead&Button Show? What inspired you?