May Curated Bead Collection

Welcome to my May 2022 maiden curated Bead Collection!

I just listed it today in my Etsy shop. It contains over 375 pieces and 20 different items. It has a retail value of $50, however, I'm offering up the collection for $25 plus shipping.

I've named the collection Spring is in the Air and it features shades of green, purple and gold. The variety of shapes include druk round, leaves, teardrops, faceted puffy rondelles, chip and rice beads, daggers, potato, and two Tierra Cast findings. 

I've begun placing some of the items from the collection in my Etsy shop individually as well and will continue adding more each day. As I list them for sale, I'm featuring them on my Bead of the Day page.

I've had a lot of fun putting this collection together and I plan to showcase some jewelry designs here made from this box in the next few weeks.

 

 

Czech Glass Beads

 There are many types of glass beads available to the jewelry crafter. One type is made in the Czech Republic and are known as Czech glass beads. These beads are considered by many to be the highest quality glass bead you can purchase.

History

The Czech Republic was once known as Bohemia and in the 3rd century, Celtic craftsmen began to make the first glass beads. Many of these beads were considered to be very valuable and were used for trade as well as adornments. Over time, glass making techniques progressed. These methods were perfected by the Italians and were adapted by the Czech artisans and through experimentation were able to discover all the secrets to the glass making techniques. 

It was these early Czech glass makers who began molding the glass into pressed glass beads and began applying fire-polished finishes to the beads. This was done by placing the hot glass into a mold, cooled it then polished and drilled the beads. This method was perfected in the 18th century. It was during this time that Czech glass making dominated all the markets of the world. Throughout the subsequent centuries they have continued to improve and advance their methods.

Preciosa is the primary manufacturer of Czech glass beads today. 

Today I will illustrate two of the most common types of Czech Glass beads, Pressed Glass and Fire Polished. I have a fair collection of these for sale in my Etsy Shop.

Pressed Glass

Pressed glass beads come in hundreds of shapes and sizes. A few of the common shapes are round, daggers, leaf, oval, heart, drops and nugget. There are many, many more shapes as well. 

4mm Round Duk

11x3mm Side Drilled Dagger

13x18mm Etched Leaf

 

Fire Polished

Fire polished beads are faceted and sometimes are called crystals, however, true crystals contain lead and can be quite expensive. These faceted fire polished beads are wonderful at reflecting the light. They can be either hand or machine cut, then heated to smooth out the edges. These beads have a smoother look then the lead crystals. They come in many colors and are quite beautiful. 

Fire Polished beads may be multi-colored and sometimes also contain metal components at their core. A popular finish is known as "AB" which stands for Aurora Borealis which gives the beads a rainbow effect as the light is reflected. The beads made in the Czech Republic are of an excellent quality. Fire polished beads also come in a variety of shapes and sizes. A few of my favorite shapes are round, donut or rondelle, bicone and rectangle.

14mm Round

15x12mm Oval

12mm Round

Back Again After a Long Hiatus

It's been more than ten years since I've posted, wow, how time flies when life is happening!

During the past six months, I find I have quite a bit more time on my hands, so after a very long hiatus from beading activities, I decided to jump back into it all.

I am in the process of putting together a curated bead collection which, if all goes as planned, will be placed for sale in my Etsy shop on or around May 1, 2022. I hope to put together a new collection of approximately 20 items or so each month. Each collection will be color coordinated.

I've seen many examples of these curated collections elsewhere and most of them are subscription related and also what you receive inside is usually a surprise. I am choosing to do neither of those, so no subscriptions and in my Etsy shop you will be able to see exactly which items the collection will contain. The collection will be at a price point that offers the beads at two to three times cheaper than the retail value if the items are purchased individually.

I will be selling the items individually in my Etsy shop. Anyone who purchases a curated collection from me will receive a discount coupon code good towards all items in my shop.

I have begun placing some of these items for sale and will be featuring these items on my Bead of the Day Blog. 

The color theme for May consists of greens, golds and purples. Here are the first two items I've placed for sale so far.

I've quite enjoyed putting this collection together and while it has been a bunch of work, it is also a loads of fun! I am so excited for the launch in just 2 weeks!

I also plan to challenge myself to create some jewelry from the items in the collection and will feature them on my Nyx Enchantments jewelry blog as well as place them for sale on my Etsy jewelry shop. 

Stay tuned and I hope you will enjoy the posts related to my new venture!

 

Playing With Color

I've been having some fun with my camera. I recently purchased a big notebook full of colorful paper and decided it might be fun to add some color to my photos. Supply photos don't usually seem so interesting and they needed some jazz. So here are a few of my favorites that I just finished up within the past month. I hope you like them as much as I do.

Not Just For Jewelry Artists

These slow times have given me the time to start organizing my work space. While doing this long overdue activity, I re-discovered a plethora of old, forgotten, yet very useful Cross Stitch magazines.

I love cross stitch! In one of my past lives, I was an avid cross stitcher, embroidery girl, sewer, crocheter, knitter, to name a few. The result is, as is many times the case, a nice collection of Cross Stitch magazines. I find myself with all these magazines, and while they all have so many very wonderful patterns for a huge variety of items, I could really use the extra space in my "craft area" now.

Whether it's because I'm environmentally conscious or just have a hard time parting with them, I want to see them go to a good home. I've placed them on sale for a price reduced from the original list price on my Etsy shop in hopes that someone out there can get good use out of them.

These slow times are good for activities like this, and hey, who knows, I may even find a sale in there somewhere too! I invite every Cross Stitch lover out there to have a look. Maybe you'll find a long lost issue that you are missing from your collection and find a must have in the process.

Happy stitching every one!

Getting Down to Business

The holidays have come and gone, and so now it's time for me to get busy listing all these great new beads I've been collecting the past couple of months.

Lately, I've found myself drawn to the very large beads. Beads that are 16mm, 18mm, and 20mm in size. These can be difficult - and expensive to obtain, but so much worth it!

I've also collected a wide variety of red beads over the past weeks and as soon as I can get all those beads photographed, I'll be sure to post as many examples here as I have time for!

Time For a Short Vacation

Every time I take a vacation, I have the intention of not working at all during the time away. But when it comes to beads and bead stores, I cannot stay away! Technically, the visits to bead stores would fall under the category of work, but, is it really work when it's fun? I also find myself unable to resist the handing out of business cards when appropriate.

So far, I haven't had the chance to look up the bead stores in the location I'm visiting, but as soon as I do, I'll make a post and review the store. Look for it within the next week or so!