Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you’ll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.
Welcome to the studio of Cindy Gimbrone!
Back in May, I debuted my Word Beads on ABS Studio Saturday. Here’s a set of earrings I made for a good friend using my favorite Vintaj findings and the 12-13mm Word Beads in purple. I titled these earrings, Well-Loved. I share the tutorial with you today so you can make your own set of earrings for a friend, a family member or yourself.
Supplies:
Ally word beads
Two (2) Vintaj pearl headpins
Two (2) Vintaj kidney earring wires
Two (2) Vintaj 8mm foliage bead caps
Four (4) vintage 3.5mm orange firepolished Czech glass beads
Tools:
Dapping Block/punch set
hammer
roundnose pliers
wire flush cutters
file
1. Open the Vintaj 8mm foliage bead caps to fit the 12-13mm Ally word beads. Place in the dapping block and hammer with the punch to widen the 8mm bead cap. Start with a size just slightly larger than the 8mm bead cap. Go up to the next size and tap with the punch to widen the bead cap more. Keep gradually widening the cap until it is able to fit over the 12mm Ally word bead. Do this with all four beadcaps.
2. String in this order onto the Vintaj pearl headpin: vintage orange Czech bead, foliage bead cap, Ally word bead, foliage bead cap, vintage orange Czech bead.
3. Cut the headpin down to approximately 1/2 inch from the top of the orange Czech bead. If the end of the wire is sharp, file to make it smooth.
4. Use your round nose pliers to make a loop. Do steps 2-4 to make the matched pair.
5. String onto the kidney wires.
There you have it! Your own set of “Well Loved!”
Have you made something using a tutorial recently? Share with us and you’ll be entered to win one of Cindy’s Word Beads.
Tutorial by Cindy Gimbrone first appeared on her blog, Lampwork Diva. She shares it with the Art Bead Scene Community by permission.
EB Bead and Metal Works
September 3, 2011 at 1:42 pmDoes it count that I make mom learn from tutorials and then teach me 🙂 I have a friend, who is one of our best customers, and she asked us to make her a tree of life pendant out of wire. Neither mom and I do much wire work, unless you count Viking Knit. Mom and I found a wonderful tutorial out on YouTube on how to make a tree of life pendant. The woman who did the video was very detailed and made it easy to learn from. Mom made two tree of life pendants to show my friend and this lead to some changes which we will implement when we make her "real" one.
Love the beads and the earrings you created out of them and the tutorial is very clear and something even I could follow (I don't follow directions well). Have a wonderful weekend!
Shel
September 3, 2011 at 4:04 pmLove these word beads – really cool!
I learned several versions of the popular leather wrap bracelets that have been around for a few years now but I think my fave version is from Tracy over on Make Bracelets blog.
http://makebraceletsblog.com/make-bracelets-video/
Pearl and Pebble
September 3, 2011 at 7:20 pmThank you for the tutorial! Very sweet little beads there. Such pretty orchids! I have been playing around with seed beads and making up some beaded beads to incorporate a little more texture in some of my creations. The last tutorials I have used came from Crimson Moon on Etsy.http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheCrimsonMoon
gailwhitehead55
September 3, 2011 at 7:56 pmHi Cindy!I love the earrings,also,but when I make them today following your tutorial,I have to use what I have on hand.I learn from tutorials often,right now I'm working with resin alot,had to read about it again,it had been so long since I'd last used it.So,my answer is yes.
CraftCrave
September 4, 2011 at 1:18 amJust a quick note to let you know that a link to this post will be placed on CraftCrave today [04 Sep 01:00am GMT]. Thanks, Maria
Cindy Gimbrone
September 4, 2011 at 11:51 amYes it does count, EB 🙂 Cool you learned how to do a tree a life from a tutorial! Thanks for commenting!
Cindy
Cindy Gimbrone
September 4, 2011 at 11:52 amHi Shel,
You picked a good site to learn the leather bracelets from. I like that site too! Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy
Cindy Gimbrone
September 4, 2011 at 11:54 amThanks P and P! I've used alot of tutorial to try seed bead work but I find with seed beads classes work better for me. I go take a class and then I can follow tutorials better. Glad you stopped by!
Cindy
Cindy Gimbrone
September 4, 2011 at 11:56 amHi Gail!
Glad this tutorial helped you use up beads you had in your stash! Glad to hear your exploring a new-old material – every trend seems to come back and is re-interpreted!
Thanks for commenting!
Cindy
Cindy Gimbrone
September 4, 2011 at 11:56 amThanks, Craftcrave! I'll go over and check it out!
Cindy
Erin S
September 4, 2011 at 4:55 pmneat word beads! I like how they are 3 dimensional instead of flat!
I don't use tutorials much, except for chain maille. I really NEED those pictures and instructions. I also really like Shannon LaVart's colored metal tutorial, which has lots of good information that is totally beyond my range of expertise.
Erin S
patodat
September 5, 2011 at 1:00 amI picked up a CD on "Learning to Saw"at the Bead and Button Show in Wisconsin, back in June…I just got around to watching the DVD. Thomas Mann is amazing..his love of metalcrafting is evident in the enthusiastiic way he teaches. I am a polymerclay artist, but love to try new things….Next in line a tutorial on copper etching..Yeah!
Pam Chesbro
September 5, 2011 at 1:43 pmI had not thought about "enlarging" a bead cap in this way. Great idea and such cute earrings!
Beadroe
September 5, 2011 at 1:49 pmNo, but I have several waiting in line to try. First up will be one on animal print glass beads oh and I think I will buy one to make a fabric
bust display.
The word beads are so cute.
Malin de Koning
September 5, 2011 at 5:04 pmYour word beads are super awesome Cindy! SUPER! And the earrings wonderful. I love them!
Following tutorials is not really my thing. But sometimes … So yes, I made a bracelet from beaded rope in RAW technique the other week. Followed a tutorial for the rope that I got from BeadingDaily. It was so much easier than I had ever imagined. It depends a lot on the actual tutorial. I've tried it before, but given up. This one was great.
http://www.interweavestore.com/Jewelry/Projects/Beaded-Rope-Chain.html
Cynthia
September 6, 2011 at 5:22 pmI did use Heather's tutorial of making a birds nest bail (as seen here on ABS). I have used it several times, and always like how it turns out!