Feminizing Chainmaille with Beads

Sometimes the look of chainmaille can be a little harsh, adding small beads to the jump rings can create a more light and feminine look. 4mm lead-free acrylic beads adorn the larger jump rings of this summer necklace.

Since it is so lightweight and sparkly, I'm going to complete this set with an anklet. Bright Aluminum rings weigh next to nothing, paired with the almost weightless beads make this combination great and won't make you feel lopsided.

New Tutorial - Twinkle Twinkle Bicone Star

It's been a long week, and this tutorial was quite finicky to produce, but it's done, and might I add... fantastic!! It better be - after the long hours of finding problems, tweaking fonts, remaking diagrams and it was all pour vous!!

What you get:
Learn how to create a simple basic building block cluster made from bicone beads which can be combined into any number of possible shapes including my favorite, the 5 pointed star. Also learn to create custom hand-turned ear wires along the way.

The tutorial is packed with step by step color photographs of the beaded shape in progress plus 2 printer friendly pages full of easy to follow diagrams to get you through these stars, one cluster at a time!

The beads pictured are 5mm Jet Czech bicone crystals with rainbow blue finish (a purchase from one of my favorite destash suppliers -- HeartworksByLori.etsy.com), but any uniform double coned beads will work just as nicely.

Since Czech, Chinese and Austrian (Swarovski) crystal beads usually contain lead (which enhances sparkle, but can also be heavy and is toxic), I have some inexpensive bead kits available in high quality lightweight lead-free acrylic in a rainbow of popular transparent colors with metallic kits coming soon.



The tutorial and 300 pc bicone bead kits are available at my etsy shop