Monday Tea and Videos: Resin Jewelry Revealed

Take a look into how some resin jewelry is made with John W. Golden:



Want to learn more about resin jewelry from a Philadephia resin artist? Check out Helen Ethel's blog.





Happy Tea and Videos!

<3 Melissa

Attention Jewelry Crafters-It's Bead Week at Michaels!

Whether you like to create jewelry for friends and family, rework your own jewels, or have a serious crafting business, you might want to check out this Michaels Arts and Crafts this week.  Michaels actually offers a great alternative to buying in large bulk, especially if you only have a piece or two to make or spruce up. 

The craft giant will be offering an even better value this week during its "Bead Week" celebration in which it will have sales on items throughout the store particularly jewelry components.  Bead week will run from this Sunday October 24th to Sunday October 31st.  During this event all Bead Gallery (tm) strung beads will be on sale for purchase at 50% off.  Bead Gallery offers over 1,500 styles of strung beads including glass, naturals, pearl, semiprecous, and metal beads.  Pendents will not be marked down during "Bead Week." 

Other Bead Week Events:
-Free jewelry travel case with $25 Purchase (while supplies last we're assuming)
-Learn how to make a Crystazzi® Crystal and Pearl ring, a sea breeze necklace and a ribbon bookmark. While supplies last. (October 24 1-4pm)
- Bead Night at Michaels (Friday, October 29  6pm–8:45pm)

If you decide to check out this event at a participating Michael's near you, I want to know about it!  Let jewelry dose daily know if you came up with any good finds or found any hard to beat deals.  Also, we're always THRILLED here to see any pieces you've come up with.  Send us links to your craft blogs and we'll be very happy to check it out. <3 <3 <3 Melissa

Want More details about Michael's Bead Selections? We've Linked You Up Here. 

Price of Silver Hits Two Year High!

Commodity investors can delight today as jewelry designers, silversmiths, crafters, wholesalers, retailers, and jewelry buyers will all feel the sting of silver's recent high.  This morning CNBC reported that silver is now back to a whopping $20 per ounce.  Changes like this can slow down silver jewelry sales forcing artisans and retailers (especially small businesses who haven't pre-bought very large quantities) to yield much lower profits.  The silver market has been a roller coaster over the past two years.  If you are a jewelry crafter, you may have noticed that an earring finding that costs $1 one day may cost $3 the next.  This winter offered some reprieve when silver went down to less than $15 an ounce, but today silver has gone back up reaching a two year high.   In order to make up for this hit, designers will need to work extremely hard to come up with creative solutions to keep their business going as jewelry buyers aren't always aware, willing, or capable of bearing the price of (justified) price increases.  Now I'd start giving stock advice here if I didn't fear the legal reprucussions (disclaimers take a long time to revise and lawyers are pricy)...so in the mean time, designers hang in there!  How high can it go?  Will it go back down?  These things (depending on who you ask) are nearly impossible to predict, but fun fact: Silver reached an all time high of $50/ounce in 1980. OUCH!

Hip Folk Fashion - Basted YoYo Necklaces

Yo-Yo Necklace by Cookoorikoo on Etsy

Obviously on jewelry dose daily, we're a little bit country...a little bit rock and roll.  The handcrafted trend in jewelry is huge right now, so when I found this picture, I felt like I needed to share it with you.  By the way, word to the high fashion wise, it's a little bit country... but in its own way, that's so rock and roll.

When I saw this picture, I couldn't resist putting it up, mostly because one of my grandmothers used to make beautiful quilts out of these basted "yo-yo's."  She actually taught me to do the same and believe me, you can too.  I honestly Never thought I'd see them as a necklace but here they are.  This particular assortment is available through Cookoorikoo on Etsy and was shown at the famous Renegade craft fair in San Francisco this summer. 

The funny thing about these necklaces is that, although this white backboard background is a little distracting, they would look gorgeous with a boho chic maxi or shorts, tank, and high tops complete with chunky bangs.  You may not be into vintage patterns or less refined pieces, but I couldn't resist thinking that the clustered composition and prospect of doing it yourself/buying handmade was neat!  Cookoorikoo is an expert at mixing colors and composing necklaces, earrings, hairpieces and other goodies of of yo-yo's and other things.

A darker take on the Yo Yo necklace by Cookooriko on Etsy - Fun!

*to make a "yo-yo" simply cut a piece of fabric into a circle using a stencil.  Fold all the sides into the center point and "baste" around the center edge with a needle and thread.  In other words, sew the folded in center together.  Once you have made one, the others will come out even better.  Before you know it you'll have several to sew together in any way that you's like!  You can vary the sizes or keep them uniform.  This tutorial courtesy of Melissa's grandmom M.

No time to do it yourself - Cookoorikoo on Etsy does it quite well for you!