Free Beaded Jewelry Patterns: Beading Q And A (10/5/2011)

BeadGal answers:

Here’s just a few:

http://www.firemountaingems.com/

http://www.bellaonline.com/subjects/311.asp

http://www.stumbleupon.com/tag/beading/

http://www.hobbylobby.com/

http://www.sunshinecrafts.com/

http://www.auntiesbeads.com/

BeadGal answers:

Http://www.goder.com/beads/f_pat.htm

http://www.beadedimages.com/patterns.htm

The two above are great sites, but below is the search pattern.

Http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=free+patterns+for+beaded+jewelry&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAggEAaOpLMiaXLxgw4fV9r8azKIX%2FSIG%3D111gjvvgj%2F*-http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAmqQ11v4hUxpbDZQtMZxVpAazKIX%2FSIG%3D11ia1qo58%2F**http%253a%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&p=free+patterns+for+beaded+jewelry

BeadGal answers:

You might try Fire Mountain Gems. I love their ideas, and if you get a free catalog that they send you, they have a project idea with just about everything they offer right there in print. It’s awesome because it not only shows what they offer, but what you can make out of that particular bead. They also have an online gallery, so you can look at that in the meantime!

BeadGal answers:

Try:

http://jewelrymakingprofessor.com/shop/home.php
http://www.beaducation.com/vids/all_in_category/7
http://www.beadalon.com/beadTV.asp

You may have a local bead store that teaches classes. Look in our retail bead store directory to find a store near you, then call to see if they have classes. If not, check to see if there is a Michael’s or Hobby Lobby near you,they may offer a one evening course for beginners.

The basic things you need to know: get a pair of round nose jewelry pliers, chain nose jewelry pliers, a crimping tool and a jewelry wire cutter. Other basic supplies are tiger tail ( a stainless steel cable jewelry wire for stringing that is covered with clear vinyl and crimping tubes or beads. These are what holds the ends of the wire on the clasp and prevents your beads from slipping off. It took me awhile to find out about tiger tail and crimp beads so you are that much farther ahead. Once you learn how to crimp the first end of the stringing wire to the clasp,you just string beads on in a pattern you like then repeat the crimping attachment on the other part of the clasp. This is a craft that you learn from doing and the more you do,the better you will get.

BeadGal answers:

Http://beadwork.about.com/od/freebeadpatterns1/a/_Free_Pat_Links.htm

http://www.beadstudio.com/projects.php

http://www.wigjig.com/index.html – there’s some cool ones on here, but you need their product (a wig jig kit) to complete them

http://www.instructables.com/home – some really good ideas on here if you can find what you’re looking for