Beadwitched, But Not Beadwildered, An Introduction, Jewelry - Basics for Beginners |
 Aug 22 2006, 10:23 AM
Post
#1
|
|
The Crafty Witch  Posts: 4,519 Joined: 10:02pm March 9, 2005 Location: Québec, Canada   |
© Cindy Wells Bead Substitutions Feel free to make substitutions and play with the patterns as much as you like. The most important thing is to keep the size of the beads the same. This may be simple in theory, but it's a bit more complicated than it sounds. For instance, if you're weaving beads together within a design, try not to mix Japanese seed beads with Czech seed beads. While both beads may be listed as the same size – for illustration purposes let's say 11/0 – the two different types have a slightly different shape. Japanese Beads The Japanese beads are slightly thicker in the middle and are more even in shape, as well as having a slightly larger hole. These are great advantages, but the color variety is different, and the likelihood of finding many colors of Japanese seed beads in garden variety bead stores is low. Czech Seed Beads Czech seed beads are less expensive and are offered in many great colors, but they do vary in thickness, so your woven piece might not be perfectly even unless you carefully toss out the thinnest or thickest ones. All of the projects illustrated here required no tossing out of beads, so if they're good enough for you, you should be fine. Delica and Other Beads Finally, the wonderful but definitely expensive alternative to seed beads are the Delica beads and other Japanese cylinder beads. You are welcome to use these luscious large-holed wonders, but be forewarned: while they are beautifully even in size, they are a different shape and proportion than Czech seed beads. The finished product will definitely look different, and will either be squashed or elongated, depending on whether you're using brick stitch or peyote stitch. Beads in the Author's Designs Delicas are great, but as the designs submitted by the author are meant to be as accessible as possible – both supplies and expense-wise – the supplies listed are Czech seed beads, which are available in most bead stores. Larger Beads As far as the larger beads, particularly if you stay in the same size range, feel free to substitute plain round glass beads (often referred to as druks) instead of fire polished rounds, crystal instead of fire polished rounds, semi-precious stone instead of crystal . . . well, you get the idea. Bead Colors The issue of colors also needs to be dealt with. This is a rather sticky one which has caused the author no end of expense when she has ordered through the mail. The color that one kind of seed or glass bead is listed as in a catalog or over the Internet may be listed under a different name or not offered at all by another vendor. Ordering From the Same Vendor When the author decided to try a different color of blue for the movie version of Ravenclaw, she liked the looks of the colors "Capri Blue" and "Montana Blue", so she ordered seed beads and fire polished rounds in both colors. To her surprise, she found that the only ones that matched each other were the Montana Blue seed beads with the Capri Blue fire polished rounds, while the Capri Blue seed beads and Montana Blue fire polished rounds were the odd ones out. And this is all from the same vendor! Ordering From Different Sources If you order from more than one source it's even more confusing, as there is no guarantee that a bead listed as a particular color from one vendor will match at all the same named color from another. An Emerald Green the author got from one vendor was perfect for Slytherin, but Emerald Green from another source was too blueish, and Christmas Green not only looked better, but was almost the exact same color as the Emerald Green from the first source. Colors in the Author's Designs Due to what has been explained above, the author has a giant dilemma when listing the bead colors in her projects, because you might not get something that looks like what's in the picture even if you order the exact same color of beads that the author has listed. Unless you have the funds to order several shades of colors of beads and then use the ones you like best, the wisest idea is to make your choices in person at a bead store where you can see for yourself whether it matches what you want. Bead Finish In terms of choices there's also the finish of the bead to consider, particularly with seed beads. In terms of the beads listed in the author's designs, there are no likely discrepancies: silver-lined is silver-lined, although the author vastly prefers square-holed to round-holed. Instead, here is the part where you get to fiddle with the design. For instance, the author chose to use metallic gold in her Gryffindor House color designs when the color gold is indicated. My reason goes back to my knowledge of heraldry, where the color yellow represents the metal gold, and the color white represents the metal silver.However, in the Hufflepuff design she used yellow or gold silver-lined seed beads instead, which was an artistic choice. So in short, it's up to you. For instance, say that the silver-lined beads are a bit too shiny to go with your hand-knitted POA House scarf, choosing a transparent seed bead would lend a more subtle tone to the jewelry, possibly highlighted with a silver-lined for the secondary color to liven it up a little bit. Similarly you might disagree with using a metallic as the secondary color. If so, you can perhaps use a gold silver-lined instead of the metallic gold. This is fine, and makes a fun experiment. The author personally experimented with using silver-lined beads for both the primary and secondary colors of Gryffindor, but found that it looked a little flat in comparison to the depth and contrast of using two different finishes. Also, if you want to add some extra flash to the beads, you can use a rainbow iridescent finish to the seed beads, not to mention an AB finish on the fire polished rounds or the crystal. So long as you can afford to buy the beads, feel free to play. Bead Findings & Threads The last issue is in the findings category. For instance, on several of the earrings, the author used long-shank French ear-wires to make custom beaded ear wires for the earrings. However, you can skip that and use regular French ear-wires, lever-back earrings, or post earrings with a loop below the ball. Although the author favors the use of pre-waxed Silamide thread to weave beads, you can substitute it to Nymo, or any other beading thread you favor, as long as it's not too thick or stiff. Also, in any project that uses eye-pins, if you're accustomed to making the loops yourself you can substitute regular wire and do both loops yourself. You also have the option of doing wrapped loops for greater security if you have the skill to do so. Also, although the author use Sterling Silver and Gold-Fill findings frequently, you can substitute items in gold or silver-plate to reduce costs. Color Suggestions    This post has been edited by As_Weasley_as_I_wannabe: Jun 17 2008, 01:59 PM -------------------- |
 |
  
 
|
