Restringing Beads

I am very often asked to restring beads in the shop for customers, today I re-threaded these vintage Czech pressed glass beads.

The beads had previously been strung on cotton thread which was old and rotten and just fell apart when I started handling the beads. The string of beads had already broken and the lady had knotted the thread to save the beads, she also brought me a little grip seal bag with the beads that had escaped! These vintage Czech glass beads had collected a little bit of dirt and grime over the years, so the first thing I did was take a photo so I knew what the pattern was!, Then I cut all the beads off the thread and removed any bits of thread and fluff, then I put them in some warm water with some washing up liquid and left them to soak for a while, then I gently brushed each bead with a soft bristled toothbrush, to remove the grime. I rinsed the beads in clean, fresh, warm water and left them to dry on the radiator.

Once they were dry I re-threaded the beads on the 7 strand Beadalon flexible beading wire, securing the ends by squashing a crimp tube with chain nose pliers and re-using the original barrel clasp, as the customer had requested.

I really can't believe how much cleaner and whiter they are in the second photograph, they looked and felt amazing when the necklace was complete.

New Website

I am excited to tell you that after many months of planning and hard work, our new website is almost ready to be published and share with you all. The overall look and feel of the website is very similar to our current website, so it will look very familiar to you. The magic and power of the new site is what goes on behind the scenes at GJBeads HQ! There is all sorts of technical wizardry going on with our IT guys, which means that the new site will have lots of new features, the search functions are going to be really good, meaning that you can really narrow your search to exactly what you are looking for.

We will of course still be stocking beautiful beads and accessories from all of your favourite manufacturers such as Japanese seed beads from Matsuno & Miyuki, Beadsmith, Beadalon and Swarovski products.

I have recently enjoyed working with Miyuki Size 11 Seed Beads, I designed and made a bracelet on the Ultimate Beadloom as a Christmas present for my friend. The Miyuki Seed Beads were such a joy to work with and there are so many colours in the Opaque Duracoat range that it took me ages to select my colours! I find that the best way to finish off these beadloom bracelets is with one of those Toob clasps, I went for the 35mm one with two loops and attached two small magnetic clasps. I wanted the texture of the finished beadloom bracelet to be quite soft and fluid, so I used 6lb Fireline for the warp threads and 4lb Fireline for the weft thread in my needle.

Caris Bracelet

I used a beautiful 12mm Swarvoski Rivoli for the centres of these elements, they are bezelled with 3mm Bicones and 4mm Firepolish. The pattern is called Caris Bracelet.

Odila Necklace

I do enjoy designing and beading a good spiral, this is a variation on the Dutch Spiral, it is a very large spiral and is not for the faint hearted! If you do decide to make the Odila Necklace I hope you had as much fun as I did.

 

 

 

 

 

Pashmina Pin

I love to make beaded beads and usually I create a necklave with them, but this week I decided to make just one special beaded and use it to make a Pashmina Pin.