Thursday, October 31, 2013

THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL



How to Make a Pendant from 3-Hole Connectors

3-hole connectors are usually used to keep multi-strand designs tidy.  But you can use them in a totally different way. Making your own pendant from 3-hole connectors is relatively easy and results in a unique design.  I used the connectors I received from Prima Bead




You only need a cord necklace (I used a leather one), some ball end head pins, a bail and different sized jump rings.  Begin by feeding 2 head pins, in opposite directions, through the holes of the 3 connectors as shown here :


I would be lying if I said the next step is easy. It is tricky. What you have to do is wrap the tail end of one head pin around the balled end of the other. You will actually need to grip the other ball head pin with fingers (ouchy) or some pliers otherwise you'll end up just going round and round with the wrapping.  Once done wrap the other end.  If things are not going well, trim the wire end leaving just a little bit jutting out so you can do the next step which is tucking the ends in.


Once the wire ends are trimmed, tuck them in somehow.  You could use a chain nose or bent nose pliers.


Or use a pair of crimping pliers - I prefer this method.  This was a tip I learned from Beading Daily.


Continue the same process.  Also use the same headpin work for the exta holes at the top and bottom even though they don't facilitate the connection process.  Just for looks!


You can connect the pendant to the bail with some wire work. To keep things simple, I used some jump rings instead.  Use several jump rings at the pendant end. If you use only 1 jump ring, it will not stay straight.


You could also attach the pendant to the bail the other way as shown below.  But remember the bottom connector with the 2 pairs of unconnected holes will move more.


Once attached to the bail, the next thing to do is to string it on the cord necklace and that's it!


 Before You Go:
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips 


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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL



Prima Bead's Beader's Choice Jewelry Inspirations

It's Beader's Choice month! The  Prima blogging team 's assignment in October has been all about us.  Prima Bead asked each of us to complete a short survey describing our designing technique preference, favorite colors  and so forth.  So our packages are all different as the supplies were tailored to our liking.

Copper Spool Knitted Wire Necklace
My box contained all sorts of pendants, glass and metal beads from their Jewelry Basic collection.  I was particularly taken with the luscious colors as I do so love rich hues.  They were all so tempting but I finally settled on 2 pendants and the metal connectors.



Red is one of my most favorite colors.  So I was immediately drawn to the round copper pendant with colored discs. I found some glass beads in my own collection to match and whipped up a spool knitted necklace.  I made a coiled wire bail and the clasp. 



Black is my personal choice for a neutral color. I also like blue. So the lovely crystal adorned flower pendant also caught my eye.  I used the 20G black coated copper wire I received to wrap around some of my own blue crystals for the focal portion.  A tiny glass blue star from Prima Bead's Tis the Season collection from last month's design challenge was used as the charm at the clasp end.

Night Flower Necklace

It's always fun to use components in different ways.  What I did with the 3 -hole connectors was to link 4 of them together for an unusual pendant. The tiny metal charm also came from the Tis the Season collection.  I also used a coordinating bail and a leather cord necklace I had in my own supplies.  I think you can guess how I did it.  The tutorial for this design will be posted tomorrow.

Connected Necklace

The first and third designs are available for sale in my Etsy store.  100% of net proceeds go to cancer research.

Our collective designs are also pinned on the Prima Bead Bloggers Pinterest board.
Disclosure

Before You Go:
______________________________
Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips 


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Contact MePast IssuesJoin This ListUnsubscribe




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