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For The Love of Beads BlogThe adventures of Suzanne, Emily, and friends in the world of beads and jewelry making crafts

Have you ever seen one of those artisans who sell their beautiful jewelry on the streets? These guys are in the streets of almost every large city in the world and yet you can´t help wondering why they prefer to be selling such nice things outside rather than in a store.

Well, today we are going to present to you an interview with one of those enigmatic guys. He lives in Mexico City, but you can find him almost anywhere. He´s that kind of artisan who likes to travel around the country selling his stuff at the main public squares or in the Zocalos. I met him one particular weekend when he came to my hometown. His name is Pedro Lopez and he sells semiprecious gemstones hand coiled in silver wire. He likes to use amethyst rectangles, black agate coins, coral beads, lapis lazuli beads, turquoise beads, jade beads, among other stones. Sometimes he mounts the stone in a silver frame with a loop at the top for stringing. He sometimes uses chamois leather or silver wire when he adds more little stones.  His prices range from a few pesos to hundreds and despite the simplicity of his designs they are made with good taste. He seems to balance perfectly the color, size and quantity of stones.

So, we approached to ask him a few questions about his work.

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Posted by Antonio 1 comment


One day, my wife and I had decided to expand our beading business and we came up with the idea that the best way to do it without neglecting our booth, or our jewelry making was to approach to a retail store. We soon found out that it was more complicated than we thought; putting your things in another place where you are not going to be selling them personally requires from you a lot of organization, even before going to talk to the store’s owner or the manager-in-chief.

For starters, you need to realize that you are going to attach yourself to a big promise that, in some cases, could involve legal liabilities. Therefore, you must be very serious about this. First of all, it´s very important to establish what kind of jewelry you are making and its potential market. From this, it decides what kind of store you want to approach. Once that´s settled, go to pay a visit and look around, but don´t make any appointments yet. Your goal here is to check out if they already have similar items to what you are trying to sell. Store owners always want to sell originals products.

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Posted by Antonio 1 comment


Displaying jewelry is always a process as creative and fun as the jewelry making itself.  There are so many possibilities doing so that we need to determine several factors beforehand.  What kind of market do we want to target?  Are we selling on the Internet or at a craft show?  Are we going to start selling among friends and family or delivering to a local retailer?

Whatever the case might be, we need to look for a big contrast between our jewelry and the display case in order to accentuate the beauty of our work.  This is not a moment to be shy, rather be bold and audacious.

Displaying Your Jewelry

Rustic Log Jewelry Display

Since my wife and I started working in this craft we have found out that either you are selling at your own booth or you are delivering to someone else’s.  The way you display your jewelry is a very important issue.  We are always looking for that eye-catching and sometimes dramatic look.  The other day we delivered to a very important local retailer and we had a display case made to exhibit our merchandise.  That case actually turned out to be more attractive by itself than the products exhibited in it.  But it worked out perfectly in selling the goods.  Unfortunately, we don´t have any pictures of it.

You can also make a statement through the way you display your own products.  Say you are concerned about global warming and want to avoid buying necklace and bracelets in plastic displays and packaging.  In this case, going green and getting an organic and earthy look would be your best option.  Grab some dry sprigs to hang up your necklaces and your bracelets and you can even use branches like fingers for showing off your rings.  Here is a picture with the same idea by sculpture-design.com

We came across with this idea, when we went to sell at the beach in Puerto Escondido, Mexico and we weren´t able to carry our cumbersome display case.  We figured out that the best way to show our products was using what Mother Nature had in that place.

But, if you think it´s more suitable to have commercial displays, our advice would be to wrap them up with contrasting colors and fabrics to bring out the colors in your jewelry.

Displaying Your Jewelry jaela d3ti

The Economy Necklace by Amber Stone Pets

If you are selling by Internet then the options are unlimited.  Of course you need a good camera but mostly a great deal of imagination.  Taking pictures using members of your own family or friends of yours is a lot of fun and you can create the appropriate environment for specific items.

Take for example this picture of man´s best friend modeling a nice necklace by http://amberstonepets.com/

Take a look at these sites for some more great ideas:
http://jewelrydisplayideas.com/

http://www.jewelrybyannalea.com/Jewelry_By_AnnaLea/Home.html

We hope these ideas are useful for you and send us pics of your own ideas about how to display jewelry.

Posted by Antonio


New Vegan Ivory   Stars, Squares, & Hearts! thumb dsc 3256 New Vegan Ivory   Stars, Squares, & Hearts! thumb dsc 3286 New Vegan Ivory   Stars, Squares, & Hearts! thumb dsc 3298

New Vegan Ivory   Stars, Squares, & Hearts! thumb dsc 3294 New Vegan Ivory   Stars, Squares, & Hearts! thumb dsc 3266 New Vegan Ivory   Stars, Squares, & Hearts! thumb dsc 3272

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Click more to grab our button!
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Bead Storage


Bead Storage lc301b

Double Snappin' Organizer Mega from JewelrySupply.com

Let´s first talk about how to organize the stash. This is a problem we all come across when we decide to start beading whether it is as a hobby or professionally. Some people find creativity when they are immersed in a big ocean of beads and like to have them all over the house, inside whatever imaginable, even old shoes. (I don´t wanna think about the smell of that jewelry). Others prefer to store their stuff in plastic bags sorted by type, which by the way, is a method we don´t recommend. Plastic bags are prone to snag and rip at times, not to mention how much of a hassle it is to pick them all up when it eventually does break.

Another way to store your beads is to put your stash in glass jars. We see two big inconveniences with using glass containers. Firstly if you need to work on your project somewhere else you can´t take them with you easily since glass is just too cumbersome. Secondly there´s always the possibility you drop the jar and it breaks to smithereens. What a drag! Some people use old mint or candy tins in order to avoid breakages. That´s good, but you can´t see what is inside so you have to label them which is double the job and no fun at all.

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Posted by Antonio 1 comment


Hello! My name is Antonio and I have been invited to work on this wonderful web site. I am from Mexico and I have worked, along with my wife, as an artisan for many years. We have worked with many different crafting materials and let me tell you, beading has just been the most fun. It’s more than a simple job and a way of living. It´s like a game and we enjoy playing with colors, shapes and styles a lot. (more…)

Posted by Antonio 10 comments


Spring Comes! (eventually) oodlesofbeads blog

Spring Comes!

I have been doing far too much looking at pretty things and not enough making of pretty things lately so, over the past few nights (while waiting on video game buddies) I have been working on this charm-heavy bracelet. I love the little blue fiber optic stars; the pink flowers with their fossil bead centres, and the silver butterflies add a lovely touch of spring to my otherwise dull, chosen-purely-for-warmth, ensemble. Just looking at it sitting around my wrist is enough to remind me that the winter won’t last forever! Of course it will be a lot more comfortable once this long-sleeve weather is over but I can’t help but wear it anyway -  there is something really nice about bracelets because you can see them as you wear them; the rest of my jewelry feels like it is for everyone else to look at and admire whereas this bracelet is for me.

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Posted by Emily 1 comment


Having spent all week doing the unfun stuff, counting, pricing, etc, I am happy and relieved to get to the fun part of new inventory – sharing it with others!  The pictures below represent a small part of the new products we have just added and more is coming soon! In fact, we have so many new beads to add to the store that you’ll be seeing new stuff pop up every week for the next little while, as I get to it. I do hope you like them!

New Products! thumb dsc 3162 New Products! thumb dsc 3183 New Products! thumb dsc 3160

New Products! thumb dsc 3169 New Products! thumb dsc 3161 New Products! thumb dsc 3174

Posted by Emily 1 comment


Photographing Jewelry Part 4: Best Photos from the Blogosphere red%26blackearpend
Heather Cote of Azure Island Design
Photographing Jewelry Part 4: Best Photos from the Blogosphere
Kelley of Kelley’s Bead Studio
Photographing Jewelry Part 4: Best Photos from the Blogosphere ClearanceOrangeSunkissdWeb

Cindy Gimbrone of Lampwork Diva

Photographing Jewelry Part 4: Best Photos from the Blogosphere

Lorelei of Inside the Studio

After writing our photography series, I decided it would be fun to pick out some of my favorite jewelry photographs from the various blogs that I read regularly and thoroughly enjoy.  So, I did!

It wasn’t easy narrowing it down to just  these four but I didn’t want to have too many pictures all at once. There will certainly be a part 2. In fact, I might even make this into a bit of a series if I have the time and remember.

To take a look at any of these fine blogs, simply click on the picture – you’re sure to find

hours of entertainment, helpful jewelry tips and tutorials as well as lots more pretty pictures!

I love the use of beautiful props, interesting backgrounds, lighting, and focus demonstrated in these photos. They each demonstrate the ability of good photography to really make a beautiful pieces shine.

Heather’s starfish and column not only add some detail to the background, but they are also distinctive enough that, looking at her photos, one instantly recognizes the artist and thinks of the name of her blog!

The rich color of the background in Kelley’s picture really sets of the stunning combination of black and white, something which the dramatic shadow also helps to enhance.

Cindy’s use of the light slanting across these gorgeous orange beads is just beautiful! By placing the translucent beads in the suuny part, she really made them sparkle, while the rich color of the opaque beads is enhanced by the slight shade.

Lorelei’s distinctive style really shows in this lovely closeup of a

bee button.  Her use of apeture makes clear the focus of the photo without detracting from the overall beauty of the piece.

Thanks go to these lovely ladies for allowing me to include these images here as well as for their creativity which is an inspiration to those of us aspiring to perfect our photography style!

I hope you enjoyed this brief look at awesome photography, if there is a photo you think deserves to be in the next post, let me know by email or in the comments and I will be sure to include it!

Posted by Emily 12 comments


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