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Bead Class Links - Useful links for Nancy's students Home: greenlightwrite.com featuring |
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2009 Diary - previous 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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Our new bead society is not quite a club. The group has decided to start as a few friends getting together to learn skills and have fun. It's a great foundation for the future.
February 13, 2010: Meetup.com in OKC has several jewelry groups that have never gotten off the ground because no one wanted to pony up the connection fee to the website. That changed recently and a meetup is scheduled. The newest bead books make my mouth water. The metal clay world has been enriched once again by Irina Miech, who has written Metal Clay Rings. This gives us all the opportunity to fashion intricately detailed rings to wear forever.
Even easier gorgeousness comes to us from "BeadStyle" magazine in Chain & Metal Jewelry. A semi-beginner can make stunning chain jewelry that will make everyone drool using this book. My wire students will be so excited!
March 14, 2010: I've been practicing my beading by making multiple spiral bracelets. All with flaws, but I am learning thanks to Deb and her teacher, Julie, and Lynn and Alanna. I appreciate each of you.
April 13, 2010: Just read Carly Wickell's article about ear piercing guns in her Jewelry/Accessories column for about.com. I've let my second hole close up, but both ears were done with guns, and I always thought it was a better way to pierce than with a needle. Now, I think not. Last week's trip to Boston led to several hours at the Museum of Fine Arts (photos to follow someday soon). There was some lovely Egyptian and (especially) Etruscan jewelry on display. Oh, to be a curator ... I am in the process of donating a pearl necklace to the American Heart Association for a silent auction in Oklahoma City in May. Please consider making a donation to your local chapter or the national folks.
April 18, 2010: To my joy, the world's most wonderful book for beginning jewelry makers has arrived. It's The Absolute Beginners Guide: Stringing Beaded Jewelry. If you've never bought a bead book, and you will, get this one first. Not only that, my appetite for clever seed bead ideas has been fed by Your Seed Bead Style. The editors have pulled together all kinds of fun ideas using non seed beads like pearls and metal. But wait, there's more. Patricia Kimle has written the book I've been waiting for, Perfectly Paired: Designing Jewelry with Polymer and Metal Clays. Life is full and rich. More on these books and others on our Bead Book page, of course. They are all better reads than the zombie-infested stuff I've been attempting like Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (very dark) and Joe Schreiber's Death Troopers of the Star Wars series.
April 29, 2010: I continue to obsess about learning new jewelry techniques (to the detriment of my screenplay). Sort of like little girls who transform themselves into princesses by will power rather than birthright or conquest. And we support every one of them. What a country. This jumble of thoughts began during last night's conversation with my mother-in-law about restringing her pearl necklace (my restringing experience is limited - and I need to get a knotting tool to do it right, I think). Bur first I need to get some sand to make a stable base for metal stamping and some more crystals, so I can take advantage of the design ideas in Anna Elizabeth Draeger's book, Crystal Brilliance. So, acquire sand and ultra suede to make sort of a pin cushiony base for stamping, get a knotting tool, and buy crystals for spiral bracelets and Draeger's designs. And support all the princesses in my life by making jewelry for them and by learning to draw them thanks to the imaginative 1-2-3 Draw Princesses by Freddie Levin. Sounds like a full life.
May 11, 2010: I've heard some people rip the pages out of bead magazines to save the projects they like for easy access. I would NEVER do that because I've found that as my skills and interests grow, I now like things I wouldn't have looked twice at in the past. Instead, I tear long strips of blank paper from junk mail and mark every single project that appeals after having written a word or two about the project on the inch or so of the paper that will stick out of the book or magazine. For example, the copy of Easy Beading volume 6 [a must have - it's the best book in a very fine series] that came yesterday sports markers that read "chips," "briolettes," "donut," "ring," "wire pendant," and well, you get the idea. This system works for me - although it gets tricky when I take books to bead class and fear for my bookmarks. But since the other part of my book usage plan is to leaf through a book or three when I need inspiration, I have (or I think I have) my bead books under control.
May 24, 2010: A gang of us went to Tulsa last week for the bead society bead show. You can always find something to buy at the smallest show, but what I really should have bought was a hammer at a bead shop we visited afterwards. Now, how can I get one because I really really need it?
June 8, 2010: It's here! It's here! Well, it's gone now, but it was here. I finally finished the world's first International Beer Necklace and it looks great. Too bad I don't drink beer (please drink responsibly). More beer necklaces are in progress in case you need one. And you know you do.
June 24, 2010: Fear of baldness drives London's Philip Levine to daily applications of Swarovski® crystals on his head. I just opened a VeryShinyObjects store at http://veryshinyobjects.efreeme.com/. I expect great things.
July 25, 2010: My fascination with brass continues. I made a necklace for my daughter's 21st birthday and one for myself for the 100th anniversary of the Kamp family in the food business in Oklahoma City (great party last night at Bill Kamp's Meat Market - special thanks to John and Emmanuel for the food, Bill and Deanna for hosting, and of course, those who made everything possible: William F., William H. and Jo Ann Kamp.
Kamp's 75th anniversary necklace
As if yesterday wasn't special enough, I also got two new books from Kalmbach Books. Making Mixed-Media Art Charms and Jewelry, by Peggy Krzyzewski and Christine Hansen, is right up my alley. My friends, Deb and Bobbi, and I recently made resin pendants and are talking about coin charm bracelets for a future get together. (I used a screw down hole punch to make the hole in the coin above. It's a thick coin and was very difficult to pierce. Also, some governments take a dim view of the defacing of their coins.) Once you've considered the hazards, you can expand your horizons with this book. The authors use everything from brass gun shell casings to wooden rulers and you will be inspired to make something wonderful when you look at all the options they offer.
Creative Beading, volume 5, from "Bead & Button" magazine is full of seed beading ideas and much more. My new copy is already bristling with bookmarks for a beaded bead, spiral beaded gorgeousness and wire ideas. Love it.
August 22, 2010: The Israeli Diamond Institute sends out the most fascinating jewelry news. Today, I saw a picture of an 18k gold prayer rug with over 200,000 gemstones. Imagine kneeling on that. Shortly after, while listening to Fareed Zakaria's GPS on CNN, I contributed to the Red Cross. I'm pretty sure some cause and effect was going on.
October 5, 2010: I've got an earring class at Deer Creek High School in Edmond, OK today. It's the perfect place to introduce Helen Harle's Create Colorful Aluminum Jewelry to my students. I have a feeling teens will be very receptive. When I first saw the book, I was leary, but by the time I finished up with the rose bracelet, I was hooked. Harle's book is fun and easy to follow and I think the girls in class (it's almost always girls) will love it.
The interesting thing about jewelry making is that once you get started, you want to learn more. And what better way to get started with beading than The Absolute Beginners Guide to beading, Stitching Beaded Jewelry. Like Stringing Beaded Jewelry, this book is a must have. I can't wait to see the other books in the series because I'm willing to bet they will form a very strong foundation of any jewelry makers library.
October 25, 2010: I spent a part of yesterday stamping letters and designs into brass and silver. My new short handle two pound hammer is making a big difference in accuracy and clean strikes, but now I need more chain to hang pendants and coins on. Sue Ripsch's book, Classic Chain Mail Jewelry to the rescue. While I've dabbled in chain mail/maille, I have to say, this book was the first to truly get me excited about doing more. You will, as I do, love the variety and the 30 included projects. This book is a must have. And if you happen to watch Russell Crowe's poorly scripted, lame and historically inaccurate (shudder) but well acted attempt to present the legend of Robin Hood, please note all the chain mail people were sleeping in. Each garment had to be made by hand, link by link. Oddly, the kings in the movie wore golden chain mail, which is surely an annoyingly stupid attempt to show they were royal and doesn't seem at all likely given the inability of gold or brass to resist the impact of an iron sword.
On the positive side, the versatile Irina Miech strikes again with a second volume of Beautiful Wire Jewelry for Beaders. My copy bristles with markers for projects I want to try. One unique idea shows what you can do with a real skeleton key (not one of those small replicas). This book is a perfect gift for anyone who makes jewelry since the projects run the gamut from easy to advanced. Of course, you'll want to check a copy out for yourself, too.
December 6, 2010: It's hard to believe 2010 is winding down. I've learned so many new jewelry making skills this year, but this site still needs a ton of work. And those screenplays, well, hopefully they will be in good shape and on the market next year. One of my new skills is serious wire wrapping, so I was thrilled with the arrival of Melody MacDuffee's Lacy Wire Jewelry. The bezels MacDuffee shows us how to create are delicate loops and the results are intriguing. I still have one jewelry class left to teach this year as well as (hopefully) several sessions of my jewelry making group, and this book is appropriate for both of them. Alanna, in particular, will love it. But wait, there's more. BeadStyle Magazine has just released Making Elegant Jewelry. This one is personal since a dear friend is expecting a marriage proposal and gorgeous jewelry is in order - not that gorgeous jewelry isn't always in order. But I can safely say my copy of this book is full of bookmarked ideas.
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Caryn's birthday necklace - her design 
