Free Polymer Clay Beading Project: Mashed Up Hearts

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Although I've tried my hand at bead making using polymer clay, I've never considered myself to be particularly good at it. Especially after seeing a friend of mine who created an entire Lord of the Rings chess set out of polymer clay -- I just don't need that kind of intimidation while I'm trying to make my polymer clay beads look like beads!
But with all the new polymer clay bead-making tools, powders, and embellishing products available, I've started to take an interest in polymer clay again. Polymer clay is starting to look more and more attractive to this former lampwork artist, especially since I don't have lots of hours to sit at the torch anymore. One of the great things about polymer clay bead making is that it's something I can even do with my four-year-old son: he loves to make loads of little polymer clay balls for me to embellish and bake!
Today on Beading Daily, I'm thrilled to present to you a free, exclusive polymer clay project from Iris Weiss, the Education Manager of Polyform Products. Polyform Products distributes Sculpey and Premo! polymer clays as well as a whole line of tools and embellishments for polymer clay. These beautiful Mashed Up Hearts can be used as either pendants or pins!

Materials:
(1) 2oz. package Premo! Sculpey black clayAssorted glittersPearl Ex powders18 gauge jewelry wire in colors to match your glittersPin back, if desired
Tools:
Sculpey Super Slicer bladeClay conditioning machineWork matTools for adding texture to your clayCraft knifeFlush cutterRound nose and/or chain nose pliers
Step by Step Instructions:
Aren't these little polymer clay hearts great? The thing I love about these is that there's no wrong way to make them! For someone who doesn't do a lot with polymer clay, a project like this makes me think that there's hope for me yet!
Have you mastered the basics of polymer clay and want to start making jewelry that's both refined and organic in nature? Then you'll definitely want to check out Enlightened Polymer Clay. Each of the twenty-nine projects takes basic polymer clay techniques and shows you how to use them to create light, ethereal polymer clay jewelry. Get your copy of Enlightened Polymer Clay and take your polymer clay bead making projects a step further!
Do you have a favorite polymer clay bead making tip? Share your tips and techniques here on the Beading Daily blog!
Bead Happy,

Jennifer
P.S. For a Raku variation on this fun polymer clay project and a giveaway from Polyform products, head on over to our Beading Instructions blog!
Filed under: Pearls, Bead Making, Glass Beads, How To Bead, Beading Tools, Ceramic Beads, Polymer Clay Beads
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The Bead & Boutique Arts Show - San Francisco Chronicle
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The Bead & Boutique Arts ShowSan Francisco ChronicleThe vast range of beads includes artistic, contemporary handmade glass beads, hand cut crystal and stone beads; vintage, antique, tribal and ethnographic beads; clay, dichroic, resin, gold, silver, ...

wibrrrr
RT @chainmaille: Swarovski Pink Clay Flower Bracelet PDF Tutorial Special Offer #HAS #HAF #HAFshop #handmade http://t.co/x9S96klm
Monday, February 27, 2012 12:13:42 AM

Beading Business: Tips for Setting Up and Running Your Online Jewelry Shop, Part 1

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Taking a look at the recent threads in the Beading Daily forums, I see the same question over and over: I just set up my online jewelry shop, but no one is ordering anything from me! What am I doing wrong? It's easy to look at successful sellers on Etsy, ArtFire and other sites like Big Cartel and think that all you have to do for your online jewelry business is list a few items and then watch the sales start rolling in.

In reality, setting up and running an online jewelry business takes a little bit of work, some persistence, and a lot of time. While it's true that some online sellers find success fairly easily, the rest of us have to make a serious effort at running our online jewelry business. The things you need to do to run a good online jewelry shop aren't necessarily difficult, but they do require a little bit of thought.

Tip #1: Before you set up shop! Before you even set up your online jewelry business, it pays to do your homework.Contact your local chamber of commerce to find out what you need to do to collect sales tax and obtain any required business licenses. Even if your jewelry business is just a hobby, you are most likely required to collect sales tax when selling jewelry and then will have to turn that tax over to the state. If you have any questions about collecting sales tax or business licenses, make an appointment to sit down with a small business adviser from your local chamber of commerce. You'll be thankful that you did!
Tip #2: Have clear store policies. This probably requires more thought than any of the other things you will do before you even set up your online shop! What are your store policies? Do you accept returns? Will you do custom work? What kind of deposits do you require? Will you set up lay-away payments for your customers? Take a look at the store policies of other online jewelry shops and make notes on what you like and what you don't. Think about what works best with your business model before writing up your own policies. You can always change them later if you find that your original set of policies doesn't work for you, but make sure that any changes in store policies are well-advertised.

Tip #3: Take great photographs. I can't stress enough how important photographs are as part of providing an excellent online shopping experience for your customer. No one is going to buy a piece of beaded jewelry if the photograph is fuzzy or underlit, or if it doesn't show enough detail. It takes practice to be able to take great photographs, but if you're serious about running a successful online jewelry business, it's a skill that you must learn. Poor photographs gives customers the impression that you are not serious about your work!

Tip #4: Write good descriptions. This is the part that seems to be difficult for many online sellers. Writing effective descriptions can be tough, but it's well worth the time you spend on it. Think about including popular keywords like "beaded necklace" or "beaded earrings" in your descriptions so that search engines can pick up on your listings. Include accurate measurements for necklaces and bracelets, and highlight any special gemstones, beads or other materials that you used when creating the piece. Have a little fun with your descriptions, too: I've seen (and written) some item descriptions that sound like a short story, revolving around that particular piece of beaded jewelry.
Tip #5: Maintain excellent communications with your customers! Keeping in communication with your customers lets them know that you take your online jewelry business seriously. When someone makes a purchase from your online shop, it's a great idea to send them a quick message to acknowledge the order, thank them, and let them know when the item will be shipped. If you ship with a confirmation number (which is always highly recommended), send that number to your customer so they can track their package, too. Buyers are more likely to come back when you stay in touch and communicate with them!
Running a successful online shop for your jewelry business doesn't have to take a lot of time, but some people find it easier to set aside a block of time every day to complete their tasks like updating inventory, adding new items and promoting through social media. Remember that it takes time for your online shop to get noticed, so don't feel bad if you set up your online shop and aren't suddenly overwhelmed with orders! Keep at your online promotion, offer superb customer service, and you just might find that your little "side business" is turning into a successful online jewelry business!
Have you looked at your product photos and decided that you need a little help? If you have an hour to spare, you can learn everything you need to know about taking great photographs of your finished beaded jewelry from professional photographer Jim Lawson. Jim has spent many years photographing the jewelry featured in Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine. In the new video How to Photograph Your Jewelry, Jim shows us how to create a professional photography setup, how to get the most out of photo editing software, and even how to achieve a professional graded background to bring out the best in your finished jewelry pieces!

Are you ready to learn more about photographing your finished jewelry? Download How to Photograph Your Jewelry onto your laptop or desktop computer and start learning what the pros know about taking great photographs of your finished jewelry. Since it's available for instant download, you can have your video ready to go in just minutes and start working on improving your photographs today!
Do you have an online jewelry business? What tips for running your online jewelry business would you recommend to someone just starting out? Did you find that your first sales took a while, or did you start seeing items selling right away? Share your tips, thoughts and comments here on the Beading Daily blog! (And if you have a link to your online shop, share that with us, too!)
Bead Happy,

Jennifer
P.S. Come back tomorrow for Part 2 with tips on organizing and managing the inventory on your online shop!
Filed under: Lapidary, Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist Magazine
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Beading Business: Three More Tips for Running Your Online Jewelry Shop, Part 2

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Yesterday, I wrote about five tips for setting up your online jewelry business. Once you have your online shop set up and filled with inventory, it's time to manage that inventory effectively so that you get the most out of your online jewelry business.
Like I said in yesterday's blog, running an online jewelry business can be time-consuming, but it doesn't have to be difficult. Once you have taken and edited your photographs and created your listings, now it's time to let your customers know that you are open for business.
Promote, promote, promote. There are lots of great Facebook share and Twitter buttons in most online marketplaces, and you should be putting these to good use! "Like" your own items in your online shop so that your friends on Facebook see what you have available in your shop, or blog about them with links back to your online shop. Getting more links out there in cyberspace means you can be driving more traffic back to your shop.
Another way to promote your online jewelry business is to create a Facebook page for your business and use it every day to promote one or two items from your shop. Some folks even offer a special discount on the featured items of the day in order to get more sales. You can also promote your business page through your personal Facebook page to get more followers.

Organize your inventory. Put your finished jewelry into categories that will allow buyers to easily find what they are looking for. If you have a hundred items in your shop, buyers aren't going to want to sift through each item to find a pair of earrings or a beaded bracelet. Getting creative with your categories is okay, as long as it's still obvious what buyers will find there. Try using "Beaded Art for the Neck" instead of "Necklaces", or "Wrist Adornments" instead of just the generic "Bracelets".
Wire and bead RING TUTORIAL!
Here is a really easy and simple ring design tutorial. Simple enough for any beginner, learn how to make a seed bead and wire ring! In this tutorial, I will show you step by step and all of the supplies you need to make your pretty new ring. Its an a...

Keep your inventory up to date. If you give away or donate an item from your inventory, make sure you remove it from your online shop, especially if the item is a one-of-a-kind piece of beaded jewelry! You really don't want to have to cancel a sale and email a customer to tell them that the item they ordered is no longer available. When I sold my finished beaded jewelry at local craft shows and farmer's markets, I always made sure to close my online shop or put it in "vacation" mode to avoid this.
You should also keep your online shop well-stocked. A recent thread in the Beading Daily forums suggests that you need to have a minimum of one hundred items in your online shop! It might seem like a lot, but really, that's about the number of items you should have when you set up at a craft show or market.
Keep at it. Don't be discouraged if you set up an online shop and don't sell out within the first few days. Building up a customer base takes time, just as it does when you have a brick-and-mortar jewelry business. But stick with it, do your homework, and keep producing quality pieces of handmade beaded jewelry. Like anything worth doing, building a successful online jewelry business takes time and effort, but the payoff is priceless: getting to do what you love and earn money doing it!
Do you have any other questions or advice for someone who wants to set up and run an online jewelry business? Are there any other aspects of running a jewelry business that you'd like to see addressed in future blogs here on Beading Daily? Leave a comment and let us know!
Bead Happy,

Jennifer

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Beading with a passion - What's On Thorold
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What's On ThoroldBeading with a passionWhat's On ThoroldTina LaSelva has been in the beading business ever since she could remember as a hobby. Trying something different has turned into a full blown beading network across the region. “I always have ...

EloisSpan
Beading And Jewelry Making Home Based Business
Thursday, March 01, 2012 10:23:48 PM

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Tucson Beading Challenge: Lisa Kan Botanicals Handmade Lampwork Bead

So there we were, me and Jewelry Making Daily's Tammy Jones at The Best Bead Show in Tucson, Arizona. We happened to stop by and see talented bead artist and lampwork artist Lisa Kan. Tammy's eye went to a tray of beautiful little glass flower beads that Lisa calls her Botanical Floral Series. Each one was slightly different, just like a real flower in nature. I was admiring them, too, when we got an idea: what if we each picked out one of these beautiful handmade lampwork glass flower beads and made something with it? No rules, other than it has to be a piece of jewelry. What would we do with it? It sounded like a fun challenge, even more so for me because we chose our beads in a color that I don't usually use.

When we got home, I thought maybe we should have some more fun and invite our readers on Beading Daily and Jewelry Making Daily to play along with us! Are you up for a little jewelry-making challenge to usher in spring? Here's how it will work:

Starting today, February 23, 2012, head on over to Lisa Kan's website and purchase one of her Botanical Floral Series beads. You can either choose the same color that Tammy and I chose (a beautiful deep red), or choose whichever color speaks to you. Then, make a piece of jewelry with it! Anything goes -- make a bracelet, a pendant, a necklace, a ring, a brooch or anything else that you can wear as a piece of jewelry. (Hair clips, tiaras, anything! Get creative!) Take a picture of your creation made with the Lisa Kan Botanical Floral bead, and then we'll reveal all of our creations on Saturday, March 17!

You can post a picture of your creation in the Reader Photo Gallery using the tag "LKBOFLO" or blog about it and post the link as a comment on this blog or in the Forums.

Tammy and I think it's going to be great fun to see what everyone does with these little beads! Lisa's Botanical Floral beads are sweet, simple and beautiful and that's why they lend themselves so well to so many different kinds of designs. What will YOU do with one?

Are you up for a little spring challenge? Get your beady thinking caps on and see what you can come up with for these charming little handmade lampwork glass beads!

Bead Happy,

Jennifer

Filed under: Glass Beads

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I Gotta Have That Beading Tool!

I came home from the Tucson gem, mineral and bead shows with more than just a new stash of beads. I came home with loads of new ideas! One thing is for certain as I look at my new goodies - I need some new beading tools!

I can't wait to start working on embellishing these vintage copper neck pieces from The Beadin' Path!These wonderful textured copper neck pieces from the Beadin' Path just called out to me while I was browsing. I've always had a thing for beaded necklaces, and I'm particularly drawn to beaded collars ever since I first saw the work of bead artists like Sherry Serafini and Heidi Kummli. Of course, I loved the texture of the collars and didn't want to cover them up with a piece of bead embroidery, but in order to get something on those collars, I think I'm going to need to poke a few holes in them. Ah-ha! An excuse to buy a new beading tools.
I get the feeling that this combination hole punch and rivet setting beading tool is going to get a lot of use!I talked to Jewelry Making Daily's Tammy Jones while we were in Tucson, and she showed me this wonderful little hole punch that she'll be using in some of her projects. Lightweight and compact, it can punch holes of two different sizes in several different thicknesses of metal. I'm sold! This beading tool can also be used to set semi-tubular rivets. (Cold connections, anyone?) I can already imagine a dozen projects where this will come in handy!
Fortunately for me, the other must-have beading tool that I need for some of my newly-planned beading projects is one that I already own: a cup file.
I had asked Tammy about this a few weeks ago when I decided that I wanted to start making more of my own ear wires. While we were shopping in Tucson at Whimbeads, I came across these absolutely amazing, sparkly vintage Swarovski crystal rounds. Tammy kept calling them "disco balls" and on my flight home, I sketched out a couple of earring designs using them, both of which would look fabulous with some handmade sterling silver ear wires.
I've already had lots of practice using the cup file. While working on a pair of crystal earrings designed by Rachel Nelson-Smith, the ear wires I had purchased for the project broke. Since I don't have a local bead shop near me where I could buy a comparable pair of ear wires, I decided to make my own ear wires using sterling silver wire. Using the cup file on the ends of the wire made these ear wires go in so smoothly, I barely noticed them! (I now understand that I have absolutely no excuse for buying ear wires anymore.)
These wonderful filigree bending pliers give me so much more control when using brass filigrees to make my own custom settings for beaded cabochons!One thing I saw everywhere in Tucson were lovely brass filigrees, both new and vintage. I've been wanting to try my hand at using those brass filigrees to make settings for beaded cabochon rings, earrings and pendants, but I was afraid to try bending the filigrees with my regular chain nose pliers. So one of my purchases while in Tucson was a pair of filigree bending pliers, also sometimes known as bail making pliers. These wonderful tools have uniform, round jaws, each one a different size to create a different bail or bend in your filigree. I've only used them once, but already I can tell they give me far superior control over my filigree-bending than my regular chain nose pliers!
Sometimes I think that the beading tools are one of the best parts of jewelry-making! I love opening up my tool bag and looking at my array of pliers, cutters and crimpers, and adding a new tool (and a new jewelry-making skill) to my collection is always a thrill. If you're thinking that it's time to add a few new beading tools to your collection, or even if you just want to use the tools you already have, check out Katie Hacker's Hip to Bead, now in electronic format! You can download this book instantly on your desktop or laptop computer, pick a project, and start creating right away! You'll find all the instructions you need right there, along with fabulous color photographs and illustrations for each of the thirty-two beading projects that cover jewelry, accessories and more. Download your copy of Hip to Bead and start creating with your beading tools tonight!
Is there a particular beading tool that has been on your wish list lately? What is it? Why do you want it? Leave a comment and share your thoughts here on the Beading Daily blog!
Bead Happy,

Jennifer
Filed under: Bead Embroidery, Crystals, Beading Tools, Earring Making
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Beading Tool Kit - Jewelry Making
www.jewelrysupply.com A quick JewelrySupply.com jewelry making video on what tools come in a basic beading tool kit.

Fashion and Beauty: Beading together - the Hoilme Valley crafty jewellers - Huddersfield Examiner
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Fashion and Beauty: Beading together - the Hoilme Valley crafty jewellersHuddersfield Examiner“I saw some dichromatic beads (which change colour) and thought they looked really lovely. I bought a necklace to bring home and started to think how I coul ...
Oscars 2012 - Best Dressed List - Jessica Chastain, Michelle Williams, Gwyneth Paltrow & more - MLive.com
http://blog.mlive.com/18h ago
The intricate beading of gold on black really made her shine this year and had many fashionista's heads turning. Print Email Story tools. Virginia Madsen arrives before the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb 26, 2012, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.

EllessonBeads
Kreuz in pink/schwarz Glasperle lampwork Bead http://t.co/1KE6pqKi #vondir
Monday, February 27, 2012 7:30:43 AM