using nail polish on beads & 2 fun bracelets

hey ----- wait a minute, this was supposed to be auto-posted 26 days ago.... it was set up and it did not post?grrrrrrr, this has happened a few times and at first  I thought it was just me.


 I have been successful with using nail polish on beads.... it's really sticking on there! Hopefully I'll find the correct photos of the process of this before I publish this post. If you wash and dry most plastic beads, then using a good nail polish - Sally Hansen or wet n wild - the polish should last on the beads.

left plain black plastic bead - right after sponging on silver chrome nail polish

On the left, I used small black plastic beads along with silver embellished plastic beads. I painted the black beads silver, using the brush from the nail polish after I wired them. The polish dried very fast.

On the right, I used a craft sponge brush from Micheal's to apply the silver polish, I wanted some of the original black bead to show through. I also added 4 large clear faceted beads to this bracelet.

I haven't seen fancy plastic beads like this available in stores for a few years...... I would love to find more drum shaped and other squat round shaped plastic beads in the future. It seems like Micheal's is really into glass beads at the moment. I like plastic stuff! They are just as pretty to me.

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Charm bracelets

Here is a few charm and button bracelets I have made over the last month or so. I used silver toggle clasps and chain from a necklace. The buttons came from the thrift store or from the fabric-land, and many of the charms came form re-fashions from Necklaces that I picked up at a 5 for $10 deal at a mall jewelery store.

so here is what I started out with. My goal was to make 4 bracelets in 2 weeks.....

These gold buttons were purchased from a thrift store, I think I got them all for 75 cents. I used a short piece of gold chain from a necklace

these crosses were from a necklace I picked up at a 5 for $10 sale. The chain came from the same necklace.

these charms were also part of a necklace that I picked up at a 5 for $10 sale at a mall jewelry store.

These black and silver beads were part of a necklace that I had from 2 or 3 years ago that was ridiculously bulky...... I re-fashioned them into a bracelet.

I found these pretty buttons at a thrift store, and some came off of a jacket that I changed the buttons on. I painted the small silver ones with holographic nail polish because the center area looked weird and murky/tarnished silver

♥

experimets and happy accomplishments November 2010

 I have made much more jewelry than what is posted here in the last month. I seem to create a pair of earrings or a bracelet, and then I don't like it or it just doesn't work out so I either take it apart and start over or dissemble and quit it entirely.

Oh well- Sometimes a necklace just doesn't sit right, or a pair or earrings do not dangle the way I want them to..... I did whip up some pieces I am very proud of and loooooove that I am posting today; a few from a necklace I purchased that I did not get alot of wear out of as it was just too much metal ( lol) so I re-vamped the actual necklace and made some earrings from the remnants.  I am very happy about a few wire and bead pieces, and alot of unfinished pieces which are not pictured here -  yet.

Next time I get started on my jewelery I will be timing myself from start to finish and share that, somethings I have made took -ALOT- of time and it makes me wonder how it is possible for the costume jewelery stores to sell their products so cheaply?

Up first - I whipped up some pieces from wire - these were so simple I am embarrassed I haven't thought of this yet. I snipped pieces of wire in graduated lengths ( no measurements - sorry!) and made eye loops at each end. I layered one end and attached it to a jump rings, and added beads to jump rings and attached those to the opposite eye-loops ( make sense? ).

also; I knocked this jewelery display over and so these are not sitting right and look wonky but I assure you that each pair of earrings is symmetrical...lol, I snapped pics without straitening them out♥

BELOW: Here I have cut wire into different lengths, I gently BENT THEM over a hairspray bottle to get that uniform curve before I made an eye-hoop at each end . I made sure that they were flat before putting the earring together or else they will bed all over the place....and wont lay flat.

REMEMBER = cut - bend - loop- straighten before assembling

 you can use any round object to make that slight bend, and you can make your bend much rounder or as straight as you like.... these 4 pairs were experiments, and I am soooo happy I tried this out.

I made these spirals by wrapping wire around a wooden spoon ( lol ) and then made eye-hooks on each end.... I need to tweak this technique as they are not exactly the same. I still need to add some beads, one dangling in the middle of the spiral and a few hanging off the bottom, too. I think that the spiral 'technique with wire is a very easy way to make a pair of earrings with impact by adding plastic/glass beads and other embellishments. This design will be top priority when I sit down and start making stuff.

The other pair of earrings in the above photo are made with chain, and wire and gems that I found at the fabric land for .50 Cents CAD for 18 of them in a package..... I still need to mess around with this design, and these plastic gems.


These are a bunch of earrings I whipped up using a package of multi sized seed beads  that I found at a dollar store in my town called a buck or two. That big bag of beads was only $1.50 CAD, they are multi-sized seed beads and some long cylindrical beads in there too! I also picked up those earring ear wire things at this same store.

I love the look of adding a few beads to jump rings and stringing them together looks.... its so simple and looks so pretty. I am trying to figure out how to create *nice* hoops and other base's for my earrings, the last pair on the right is an experiment, I am not so sure how they will hold up as I haven't worn them for the day yet.


The clusters of blue beads on some of these earrings kinda reminds me of fish eggs in the ocean... I am not sure if that is good or bad... hmmmm...

The necklace that is hanging second from the end in these next few photos is where I got the chain to make many of the earrings in these next photos. I will try to find a photo of the origional necklace. It was just to much going on so I scaled it down and used the remnants to make some earrings. I still have alot of material to work with so I will definitely be making alot more earrings from that 1 necklace. Sometimes it is more economical to buy fugly jewelery and re-vamp it; than it is to go to the craft store and buy jewelery components.....

I purchased those eye shaped black crystals at Fabric Land.. they were .50 cents CAD for a package of 10 in a clearance bin. I initially bought those to sew into some tank-tops in summer-time, but they are working out great from my jewelery ( I totally stockpiled a million packages of these things..... maybe I will post a photo of that in the future....)

The graduated chain earrings are sooooo fabulous and are super easy to make. It is a large jump ring with graduated chain... easy-peasy and they look *and feel* soooo good when I wear them!♥

These are some earrings I made in summer, they are alot smaller than what I usually make, and like to wear, but I am planning on making some smaller pretty chandelier style earrings over X-mas break. I made most of these with black wire from Joanne's Fabric  (USA), some black chain and plastic and glass beads.

My office right now.........

♥