I have just gotten interested in beading and jewlery making. If anyone has this kind of work I would love to see what you are working on. While I have found quite a few resources for beads I haven't found a lot of sources for chains or various findings yet. Your input most welcome.

My sister in law does this and she makes some really cool things. I don't, so I couldn't help you with sources..If you have the interest, time and energy, I think you'll really enjoy it.

Have you checked places on the internet..

my daughter does that and she uses hemp
my older sister does every now and than
and my other sister she used to travel with the gem shows
but she has been making her own jewerly for many yrs
she has several places wher she sells her jewerly she has one place in hawaii that buys from her
she has had several truck shows from her home around or before xmas
and yea she has made alot of money

she had one neckless she gave my mom one yr that she could had easyly sold for $3,000

I like to make hemp necklaces and there are so many different styles for tying the hemp. I just have a hard time finding unique beads, especially for the center. There are books on tying hemp.

I used to do this. Have you checked out Fire Mountain Gems for supplies?

Michael's puts out a 50% off coupon, usually every week in the /sunday paper.

They have a beautiful selection of beautiful coloured glass beads. They'd also point you in the direction of other materials they don't carry, findable in your vicinity.

Might be a local venue to supply dabblin' materials until you know you wanna order/buy in bulk, etc.

... GL and have fun ...

I started making jewelry when my husband was sick.. Found it very relaxing.. Started with southwestern style things and then got into crystals, gemstones, ect.. I also took some classes on beading on a loom and beadweaving( off loom) I did sell my things for several yrs and made a lot of money but the economy is not good for selling right now. People need other things more..I will be taking some silversmithing classes this winter and I also work with PMC clay...Lots of beads available on Ebay, Fire Mountain Gems is a good place, also Michaels, also individual sites where people make their own glass beads, some are very beautiful!! Have fun and enjoy!

I have found that Rio Grande and Fire Mountain Gems have a good selection of chains/findings. Have fun with your new hobby

Wow Thanks for all the positive input.

Will look for the formentioned.

I found recipe for making beads out of rose petals that I would like to try when the fall roses set on. Right now it is still pretty hot and dry.

Thought the idea of making my own beads from clay or even small copper pipe/wire sounded interesting. Find carved wooden or bone beads pretty awesome too.

Would like to see how they make the tiny holes for the stone beads. like painting the ceramic beads.

Working with minatures has always interested me so painting or shapeing various flowers as beads seems interesting. Made a lot of ribbon flowers that I think could cross over in styleing beads.

Found some interesting beads in thrift shops.

Honey...do the clay thing....very economical $12 for 25 lbs of ceramic/terra cotta/porcelin and you can make crosses or any other thing you want with it...drop $20 on a clay past roller (it is the actual name of the tool. It rolls clay out into perfect sheets of varying thickness...you can then make tubes, use cookie cutters, put leaves on it and cut out perfect replicas after pressing it in (the clay needs to be wet to get a perfect impression, you can also just write on the clay sheet, (calligtaphy looks great on it), furl the edges then antique it....then you will see that the sky is the limit. Your jewelry can be completelly unique with just a little imagination and experimentation. Also a clay gun (looks like a big steel hypodermic with no needle) is AWESOME! I would give up my home before I would give up my clay gun.

The holes for beads are made by using a WET toothpick....it has to be wet or it catches the clay and pushes one side of the bead in and pulls the other side out along with it...thereby distending the bead making it oblong.

Hope you find it relaxing, peaceful and fulfilling.

Look on ebay for bead supplies, sometimes you can find good deals. You can buy vintage necklaces at Thrift shops, and tear them apart.

There are namy bead companies with catalogs, if I can remember, I will ask my beader friend, the one she uses most-its cheap and amazing selection.

Also, if you go to arts/ craft shows, you will usually find a beader selling retail for those special center and larger beads you want- watch out- its very addicting :)

i have a friend who does beaded artwork but i'm talking the hardcore detailed stuff... like i cannot believe she even has the patience to commit herself to this kind of detail oriented time consuming art. she creates some of the most beautiful paintings/embroidery/beadery on one canvas.

Welcome to the wonderful world of beading. I have been working with beads of all shapes and sizes for about 10 years. In the past I have ordered from Firemountain Gems and Shipwreck beads. Both are wonderful. Also, don't be afraid to take apart older jewelry for findings. Those can be the most unique special touches!!
I've always been pretty lucky with having bead shops close to where I live. Most of them also have classes too that can be a lot of fun. Nothing better than a bunch of people sitting around beading and talking.
Currently I am doing lampworking and making glass focal beads. It's an amazing hobby! There are soooo many techniques to use with beads. My favorite was always making spiral ropes.
Good luck!!

Heather

LOL Crafter's Unite!

Spent all night making a necklace and earrings. The earrings were of seed beads. I found the mixed tubes gave me some variety of colors at a lower price and I just sort them onto wires.

Working with the clay making beads sounds like fun. I could see where my cake decorateing tools would be very useful in shapeing.

I did a little of makeing minature porcelien flowers and beads glazeing them years ago and someone told me locally there is a senior center where I can go that has a kiln; very excited about that.

Being National Breast Cancer month I have seen several " Think Pink for the Cure" patterns which gave me some ideas about doing some crafts for the cause. Thought I would make some earrings and put them on pink card stock and donate them to the Cancer thrift shop.

Has anyone done any competitions with their crafts?

I am a big time beader i have lots of photos of some of the stuff i have made would love to chat with u about if you are interested. It can be a lot of fun and very relaxing.

Hey dont forget flea markets and farmers markets...they offer a great selection of older jewelry that can be bought cheaply and taken apart. This works great for me..I use lots of wood an glass beads in my peace pipe decor. Good luck