On Hiatus

Beadware will be on hiatus until September! In the meantime here are 2 more new designs. The brown one has a jasper pendant, $40. The green one has an agate teardrop with green jasper accents, $35. Also all my new items are in the slide shows on the right. Happy shopping! Enjoy the rest of summer! All have been SOLD.

Blue Chalcedony

This blue chalcedony stone sits amid a cloud of white moonstones. Sapphire blue seed beads and silver plated accents complete the piece. $40 All have been SOLD.

Peruvian Opal

A Peruvian Opal hangs from a strand of satin brown seed beads. $35 SOLD

More new items

I am on a roll today - these new necklaces use chocolate, red, snakeskin and green jaspers along with amber and hand carved green and red serpentine beads from Afghanistan. All are $49. All have been SOLD.

Agate and Satin

The pendant is agate and the necklace is strung with satin brown seed beads. The clasp and rings are gold plated. $49 SOLD

Moss Bangle

If the previous necklaces are not to your liking but you love the mossy green and browns here is another option. A bangle bracelet made with satin brown, matte green, smokey grey, and iris bronze seed beads. Copper circles dangle from the ends. And no clasp to hassle with! $12 All have been SOLD.

Green and Snakeskin Jasper Choker

This beauty combines a snakeskin jasper focal piece with assorted shapes of green jasper. Smokey grey, matte green and metallic brown seed beads wrap around your neck with copper accents. The clasp and links are hand shaped and hand hammered copper. $49 SOLD

Jasper Choker

Hand shaped and hand hammered copper links allow you to adjust the length of this choker. The focal piece is snakeskin jasper surrounded by smaller jasper beads. Smokey grey, bronze iris and matte green seed beads make up the rest of the necklace. The findings are copper. $49 SOLD

Moonstone and Snakeskin

This choker is made with Snakeskin Jasper and Moonstones. The gold chain and clasp at the back allows you to wear it at different lengths. $49 SOLD

Snakeskin Jasper

This piece features a pendant of snakeskin jasper and copper. It hangs on a double strand of satin brown, smokey grey, matte green and bronze iris seed beads. I handcrafted the clasp and links out of copper wire. $49 SOLD

Updated slideshows

I have updated all the slideshows that go along with the links on the right side of my blog with some new pictures! New necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Enjoy!

Everyday, affordable,and fun

Friday I attended a Business of Beads class - all about selling your jewelry. The instructor said that even with the recession, folks still want to adorn themselves and buy things. So one of the most important things you can do is to take a good look at your price points.

Beadware fits right into this trend. When I created Beadware I wanted to design and sell jewelry that my friends could afford to buy and would enjoy wearing. That led to Beadware's company motto: "everyday, affordable,and fun". I strive to keep my prices reasonable while using quality components. You will find most everything is less than $50.

I buy items in bulk for discounts or on sale. I often make limited editions, which means I make several of each item, although usually I change a small detail on each one. You will find many one of a kind designs too. I use a formula to determine price which takes into consideration my time, overhead and cost of materials. I design and print my postcards and tags on my home computer and printer. And you thought all I did was bead!

Snakeskin Jasper

Friday I went to the Puget Sound Bead Festival. A whole ballroom of beads! I bought some beautiful snakeskin Jasper - here are pictures of 3 stones - works in progress to whet your appetite! I am handcrafting links and clasps out of copper for these. I will post more pictures when they are done.
All have been SOLD.

Right click to see them a larger size and then use to back arrow to return and look at the next picture.

The last brown stone is chocolate jasper that I am mixing with amber and antique gold.

Color Cubed

Bright colors say fun to me - perfect for summer!

These simple, bright bracelets are made with glass cubes and rounds, various gold and silver filled clasps and accents. Bracelets $20, earrings $8. All have been SOLD.

Sale Prep

One of the first things I do prior to a sale is go through my inventory and see what is missing. I do not require folks to buy things in sets, so I may have a necklace or bracelet that no longer has matching earrings or perhaps someone bought a bracelet but not the matching earrings.

I also restock popular items. Purple earrings are one of my top sellers, so that supply was pretty low. Here are a few of the things I made yesterday and today.......

All have been SOLD.

Returning to MN!

Beadware will be having a sale in MN this summer! This month I am busy making new items, designing the invitation and making a list of things to pack. Invites will go out this week via snail mail and email so watch your mailboxes!

Repair

Many clothes these days have beaded accents. A friend had a tankini swimsuit that had beaded accents on the straps. One trip through the washer and they were history! She salvaged a few of the main beads from the bottom of the washer and I was able to put them back together.

Amber and Turquoise

Another custom piece. I was given a plain amber necklace and 3 large chunks of turquoise to work with. The customer wanted a choker. I doubled the amber to match the scale of the turquoise. I made links and a clasp to finish the necklace out of fine silver. I am just learning how craft these and used a small dremel tool with buffers and polishes to add a nice finish to the findings. With the leftovers I created a bracelet and two pairs of earrings.

Boxes

On a whim I decorated some small boxes. My favorite is the black one with multi-colored curly ques. All have since sold and I am considering making more. Which is your favorite?