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2007 Diary - previous year 2009 Diary - next year About Us - Find out more about Nancy Kamp and Jane Marie Beading - Main page and Table of Contents Books about Beads, Beading and Jewelry VeryShinyObjects.com - Watch Nancy's jewelry business grow! |
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January 3, 2008: I've been watching the Elyse Ryan program on QVC. The kits seems reasonably priced, but the components are super expensive. This may not make sense since you don't get a lot of stuff in a kit, but the thing is, you get what you need to make a good design with no waste. That's why kits are good for beginners and those who don't trust their design sense.
January 15, 2008: JCK Online has a story about the color in the beautiful blue Hope Diamond, which says red light phosphorescence dominates. In some blue diamonds, the dominant color is blue. Blue diamonds can now be identified by their spectrum of light. This could provide a way to track the theft and recutting of historic gems.
March 5, 2008: I've been researching medical alert jewelry. The stuff is expensive and generally not that attractive. Here's what I've come up with so far: americanmedical-id.com - They offer engraved choices, but you have to pay the same price whether or not you get the bracelet or necklace with the charm. laurenshope.com - Lots of style choices, but maybe their products are too busy - people might not notice the engraving firemountain gems.com - You won't get engraving and you have to buy 200 of something to get the best price, but if you want charms, this is a place to look hahoriginals.com - Their finished jewelry is better looking and they sell engraved charms separately. This is my site of choice.
March 8, 2008: With Jill in China, I've been dreaming about bead markets, and now I have a wealth of new ideas in Easy Birthstone Jewelry from Bead Style Books. There are 38 projects in this book and the birthstone theme, which of course you don't need to follow colorwise, gives me ideas for coordinating jewelry sets to match birth months. A nice plus is the sourcing of hard to find components. Another must have book for those of us who are thrilled by the development of metal clay and its design possibilities is Carol A. Babineau's Metal Clay Beyond the Basics. Once you get started in metal clay, it's great to have trailblazers like author Babineau to lead you to new possibilities - my favorites - centerpiece silver knots and letter stamping. In short, any day is a better day when a bead book comes in the mail, but today was outstanding.
April 18, 2008: Just got back from bead shopping in China to find not one, but two (count 'em) new bead books in the mail! Since I failed to find a bead book I wanted to buy over there in either Chinese or English, this was a wonderful surprise. Life is good. Cynthia B. Wuller's Inspired Wire is billed as a beginner book for wire wrappers, but the projects progress nicely into that intermediate stage beginners crave. The content is original and tempting. Who could ask for more?
Well, any beader could because we all want new ideas, and the BeadStyle magazine editors have given us that in Jewelry Just for You. The idea is not just to make jewelry, but to make jewelry that flatters based on face shape and neckline. We all know about this concept going into jewelry making, but it's easy to get distracted by a new bead or technique and end up with a bunch of pretty stuff no one wants to wear. No more. And now for my China Bead Shopping Report: Unless you have a bead shop and can buy in massive quantities and go wholesale, you are not going to be thrilled by the prices you will find. I ended up buying beads only for my own use and not for resale as I had planned because the deals just weren't good enough. I bought most of my beads from three stalls in the Pearl Market in Beijing:
I do not think I made super deals, but I got beautiful beads at reasonable prices. I also got made a very bad deal there, so beware. (I did not get her card and never made it home with the small, overpriced "jade" (yeah, right) rat I purchased in a fit of insanity.) I visited the wholesale pearl floor in the pearl building on Nanjing Lu in Shanghai (north side of the street, east of the tram stop). This was actually my first day in China first stop in terms of bead shopping. I was initially thrown off by the small stall concept with a relatively limited choices of beads. On my second visit, I realized some stalls had more variety than I first thought, but I saw mostly pearls and pretty much the same gemstones wherever I went in China. That night, we went to the Shanghai Ya Tai Xin Yang Clothing Gift Market [No. 2002, Shi Ji Da Dao Pu Dong Xin Qu, Shanghai, a "fake" market where you will find brands of dubious origin, in subway line #2 at the science and technology building stop, where I made a few small purchases from ZhejiangZhu JiClassic Hua Shi Jewelry, space C1-44. Almost any market seems to have several bead stalls. There is also a pearl market on the third (?) floor of the pearl building in the Great Dragon Mall (don't miss for the architecture alone) that's more or less attached to Shanghai's Fu Gardens. Bead shopping in Beijing took me to the fourth floor of the Silk and Pearl Market building, another "fake" market at No 8, Xiushui Dong St. and Jian Guo Men Wai St. in the Chaoyang District. I made most of my purchases at D4-0041, Suny Jewellery. I also bought from Mary's Pearl at D4-0061 and the very sweet woman at D5-0090. In my greed /need to obtain a Chinese zodiac charm, I was majorly ripped off by two women in a booth around the corner from D5-0090. I knew I was paying too much and couldn't figure out how to leave politely, so I stupidly did not get a receipt or a card with a stall number - beware and be wary. Guidelines:
Bottom line: Bead shopping in China is not a you-get-what-you-pay-for experience. I wouldn't have missed it for the world and hope to go back, a better and wiser consumer.
April 29, 2008: The Louvre has just reacquired a 141 carat diamond brooch belonging to the Empress Eugénie. The museum sold the brooch and other pieces in the French crown jewels in 1887 after Eugénie's husband, Napoleon III, lost his crown. The original sales price was $135,000. The latest price was over $10M.
May 14, 2008: "When that sad day comes when I leave this earth for the great bead show in the sky, I'm reasonably certain the word 'frugal' won't be mentioned in my eulogy." Cathryn Jakicic, Editor, BeadStyle Newsletter Amen. In the interest of going green, I've been looking at the No Dirty Gold campaign. It was started several years ago because gold mining is a nasty toxic business that pollutes and often harms the locals. While most suppliers don't give details (even when it's legally mandated) behind the products I've been buying for jewelry making, the more disclosure, the better for all of us. I'm certainly going to pay more attention.
May 16, 2008: I just found out Herkimer Diamonds are mined quartz from Herkimer County, New York. This info and much more crystal lore can be found in Marlene Blessing and Jamie Hogsett's book, Create Jewelry Crystals. The book also includes directions for some lovely jewelry, so it goes on my shelf.
May 22, 2008: Swarovski's www.create-your-style.com sent me a gorgeous book of bead designs with crystals. The site is part community and growing, so do visit.
June 21, 2008: Just got back from a small bead show here in OKC - we only have small shows because my friends and neighbors haven't discovered the joys of beads. I spent $28, and was disappointed with two strands of dyed howlite, aka fake turquoise, when I got home. I'm still trying to match the beads I got in China. I did, however, find a strand of lava beads (very dark gray with holes like lacey Swiss cheese) and can't wait to make up a lava necklace just for me.
July13, 2008: Even as the economy tightens, this is an exciting time to be making jewelry. New stones and other products - many of these inexpensive - seem to be on offer every month, more and more people are discovering joys of beads, and publishers are producing bead books that make us drool. I can't buy everything I want, of course, but I find myself innovating my heart out to use up the supplies I have on hand in a creative way. That's where the books come in. Though I treasure my old bead books, I've come to expect clear directions and excellent photos the newest books provide. Easy Beading, volume 4, just came into my hands, and I am as pleased with it as I am with volumes 1 and 3, which I also have. The Easy Beading series features the best ideas from BeadStyle magazine, and that sets it apart because they have so much good material to draw upon. If you haven't explored Easy Beading yet, don't hesitate. The series is outstanding.
August 12, 2008: Somewhere in my office is resource material on Bakelite jewelry I wanted to pass along, but that must wait for the day I unearth it. One of the popular bead blogs recently ran a series of disorganized beading workspaces. I didn't attempt to outclass (a total misuse of the word) them all, though it would have been no contest. And when you combine my personal mess with a kitchen stuck in mid-remodel and the disaster left behind as my daughters moved back to school, well it's a wonder I can function at all. Never fear. As the days grow cooler, my energy level will rise and I will, perhaps, conquer all. In the meantime, I got another great book. It's called Jewelry Savvy by Cynthia A. Sliwa and Caroline Stanley. I cannot recommend it enough for everyone - not just jewelry makers - and indeed, the subtitle is What Every Jewelry Wearer Should Know. The authors give us the facts about style, material, care and ownership as well as what to wear and how to wear it. It is practical. It is excellent. It is a must have. The only reason, I don't rate Jewelry Savvy 5 bears is because there are no color photographs.
August 14, 2008: Here's that Bakelite jewelry info I couldn't find the other day, straight from the pages of Lucky magazine: Bakelite was the first "synthetic plastic." (Aren't all plastics synthetic?) It was very popular during the 1930s and '40s, and looks better than other plastics for jewelry purposes. Bakelite sounds "clunkier" than other plastic when tapped. It smells like formaldehyde. Don't store it in plastic.
August 20, 2008: According to the Associated Press, about 1/5 of all gold comes from primitive bush mines in Africa, South America and Asia where individuals, including "many thousands of children." These kids are way underpaid and very much overworked.
October 8, 2008: The computer meltdown is over, and I'm baack. Jewelry.com says black diamonds are almost always irradiated. Seems like every stone is treated some way. Or perhaps it's only stones I see. Ask if they don't tell you. Thanks to creat-your-style.com for my Crocheting Bracelet kit. I love Swarovski crystals, and recommend this online community. The fall craft show season is heating up. Will the economy affect shoppers? YES!
November 10, 2008: I give up on craft shows, so it's back to ye ole website for Nancy. I think it will take two years to properly redo our jewelry pages, but perhaps by then the economy will be in better shape. Let's hope so for all our sakes.
November 18, 2008: Just got an email from one of my students that she had lost the dangle she made in class last night. Fortunately, I have more of the beads she'll need to make a new one, but a single earring dangle on headpin makes a nice pendant necklace, so if you are in Susan's position and there are no more beads ...
November 23, 2008: I found a place to recycle gold-filled scrap, but I removed the link when it stopped working. I made a purchase (ghost beads, I think) from them several years ago with no problems.
December 9, 2008: Carly Wickell, about.com's Jewelry/Gems editor, wrote an important article about fake/faux gemstones. While some suppliers/jewelers might be ignorant about what the product they are selling actually is, most simply expect the buyer to be aware. Check it out before you make your next purchase.
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