Handmade Beaded Jewelry
Increase Jewelry Book Sales with Gift Token
Jun 19th
We found that an occasional promotion would add a boost to book sales. A gift token or a discount as a kind of advertisement to make your product stand out from the crowd and build a brand name along the way.
I was helping a dear friend to market her jewelry book and picked those tips from her. It cost her a bomb to publish a book. Profit from book sales is nothing to shout about as I realised when I tried to clear a consignment for the author. The transport and delivery charges, free gifts given out at promotions, rental of a booth for autographing, time and efforts putting up free demonstrations, ate almost every cent that was earned. However, the experience was most rewarding, fun and worth the cause, the passion of promoting a hobby we love so much.
So, if you come across a bargain, immediately recognise it. It is a rare offer!
I made some rings like the one shown here. By varing the color combination, each ring appeared very unique by itself. Very simple but very attractive. Swarovski 4mm crystal bicone beads and 2mm metal beads or sead beads for the finger band. You can try this project on your own.
This is my sketch and I hope that it helps you get started. The star* marks the starting point and end point of this project. The ring is completed with a secure knot.
Try your hand at designing too. There are lots of ideas from “Wonderful Handmade Jewellery”, a source for inspiration, simple instructions and beautiful detail drawings.
You are welcome to share your ideas too.
Beaded Wire Crafts and a Lady Bug for you.
May 24th
Beads and wire crafts is something that I am experimenting while I was away from my blog. I intended to create a brooch but the end result was a bit heavy. It became a good alternative as a paper weight. A great gift idea for a guy. Yes, at least there is something here for the guys too.
This is the Lady Bug created with wire and beads.
I used brass wires to create a frame and work beads over it.
I hardly write my blog these days. I will try for to write more often and if the words don’t come easily, I will post more pictures next time. Hope this will light up your day. Cheers.
Wonderful Handmade Jewellery
Sep 11th
There are very few Jewelry Artistes in Singapore who publish DIY books on handmade jewelry making. Jestina M Hong is one person whom I would declare, has distinguished herself by putting her designs on print, providing us with a great source of inspiration. I bought her first book ” Enchanted Handmade Jewellery Making” and her second book “Wonderful Handmade Jewellery”. They are books to treasure. The photographs were very well taken in vivid colors. The instructions are in simple English and every step is easy to follow. Probably she had very carefully tested each design. The illustrations and graphics are very beautiful and clear. All you need to do is follow diagrams step by step visually, an advantage even if you are foreign to English.
I refer to her books as a source of inspiration ever since I first began my hobby making beaded handmade jewelry. After 4 years, I find myself referring to the same books time and again, despite ready resources that I can get from the internet and whatever I can lay hands on at our local libraries and bookstalls. In “Wonderful”, there are useful references to local DIY jewelry shops too.
Start the hobby and start bonding with your loved ones. You will be surprised how you can touch their hearts with your first creation that is made with lots of love. This book can be found at major book stores in Singapore. I also found it at one convenient location at “Artica“, The Cathay, Singapore.
Tiger – Stained Glass Project
Aug 27th
While learning how to create glass jewelry, I got intrigued by stained glass at the same time.
You don’t have to be a great artist to create a stained glass design.
Here is a Simple Way to Design a Stained Glass Project that I wish to share with you.
I created my design by selecting a photograph of the tiger from the internet, enlarged and printed it on A4-size paper. I taped the corners of this copy on my window pane. The light coming through the window gave a see-through that is perfect for tracing.
By placing another A4 paper over the print, I traced the outlines with a pencil. Starting from the edges and included some distinctive features like the eyes, the nose, ears and some stripes and it’s done!
To refine the design, compare it with the photograph, smooth the contours and add a few more lines to get the right number of contrasting color segments. For a beginner, the ideal number of segments should not exceed 30 pieces. Otherwise it will require more time and patience to complete the project.
This will be your individualistic approach to a design that is uniquely you.
The rest is stained glass technique!
Of course, if you prefer something run-off-the-mill, you can find ready templates from the internet and the library.
Keeping My Blog Alive!
Feb 26th
I’m back to keep my blog alive! It’s been a long time since my last update on this blog.
Thank you so much for coming back again and again. I am very encouraged by that kind gesture.
I took an assignment that required certain amount of confidentiality, so it would be prudent to stop blogging in order to avoid any conflict of interest during the contract. My dedication to the job hardly left me much time for blogging anyway. It was a very memorable period of time and experience gained was invaluable.
There were so many things I would like to blog about other than work of course. It was such a long break, I found it very difficult to write again. The words just don’t come easy. The story does not flow, the paragraphs just don’t connect. Does this sound familiar? It’s time to do something about it and break through this impasse.

- Get Past Impasse
What Impasse? I got a much better picture from “Feeling stuck? Get past Impasse” by Martha Lagace.
Where am I now? Where shall I start?
I had a wonderful holiday in South Korea with my daughter to celebrate her graduation in May 2009; I helped my teacher with her autographing / workshop sessions at a book fair at Changi International Airport Terminal 3 in Nov 2009; My family enjoyed a stay at a 5-star hotel suite at the Venetian, Macao while on a short holiday in Hong Kong / Macau in early Feb 2010; I was attending a course in Dec 2009 and another course in Jan 2010; Ups and Downs in between: Blah, blah, blah….
Make A Friendship Band in 15 Minutes in Super Fast Time
Aug 27th
You can make a Friendship Band in 15 minutes or less, in super fast time.
Here’s how : Kumihimo Kumiloom Braiding Instructions – Video demo.
I came across this video demo from YouTube and tried my hand at it. Looks like a very traditional Japanese Art in simplified form. I succeeded in making a wrist band.
Amazing! It turned out to be a great way to braid a friendship band.
Making A Friendship Band For My Best Friend.
For my first try, I used a small paper plate as the kumiloom.
And it works fine for this simple design.

- Using a color marker, mark the edge of the paper plate like a compass, North, South, East, and West. There! You have 4 quarters.
- Then, divide again till you get another 4 segments in each quarter. Altogether you will have 16 segments. fine for this easy to follow video demo.
- Make a hole in the middle of the paper plate.
- Next, cut 2cm slits on all the markings around the edge. The paper kumiloom is ready for use.
I used 2 colors for a start and quite happy with the completed friendship band.



By changing the colors and the number of strings, I would probably get very interesting results.
You can see that I have added a large focal bead to make it more attractive. Actually, I had trouble finding a large bead with large hole, so I made my own focal bead using 4mm crystal beads. It turned out quite nicely.
So What is Kumihimo?
Interesting answer from Wikipedia :
“Kumihimo is a Japanese form of braid-making. Cords and ribbons are made by interlacing strands.
Kumihimo cord was first created by a form of finger-loop braiding. Later tools such as the Marudai and the Takadai were employed to make more complex braids in shorter time. The most prominent historical use of the cords were by Samurai as both a functional and decorative way to lace their lamellar armor, and that of their horses’ armor (barding). Kumihimo cords are now used as ties on haori jackets and obijimes, which are used for tying on an obi (kimono sash).”.
Your Blog, The Best Marketing Tool For Your Jewelry Business
Jun 15th
Want to make your blog the best marketing tool for your jewelry business? This is “How to Sell More Jewelry Directly from Your Blog” by Rena Klingenberg. Excellent tips from her right here:
Your blog is an excellent tool for selling your jewelry online. In fact, many jewelry artists sell their work exclusively from their blogs.
You can stir up your readers’ interest in your work by blogging about how your jewelry is created, what’s unique about a particular piece or component, what the piece signifies to you, what happened while you were creating it, etc.
Basically, give the piece of jewelry a history and an interesting story. Let the tale unfold over a few blog posts.
Stories sell jewelry. And stories told in episodes gain more readers with each new episode.
Use your blog to build up anticipation for each new piece of jewelry or new design you’re working on. Build suspense and desire – and then unveil the piece. Launch it with a bit of fanfare. Invite readers to comment.
You can put a discreet “buy now” button right there in your blog, directly beneath the photo of the newly unveiled piece of jewelry. Many artists are able to sell each new piece they make, directly from their blog, with these techniques.
Remember that your jewelry blog visitors don’t just want information; they want to be entertained. And the better you entertain them, the more they’ll bring other people to your blog – and to your jewelry.
It’s sort of the modern version of being a traveling artist in Medieval days – you gather an interested crowd by spinning stories and entertaining your audience as you make jewelry.
When the jewelry is finished and its story has been told, there’s always a well-entertained customer eager to buy it. And the rest of the crowd spreads the word to tell their friends and family about the entertaining jewelry artist.
Repeat this process indefinitely. And once you really develop a following and people see how fast your new stuff disappears, your new pieces will go even faster.
People will pay for things they love, regardless of the price. Your job is to help them fall in love with it, and feel the urgency to buy it before someone else does.
Occasionally post blog entries to tell stories about other things that your audience would laugh about or care deeply about. But make it into a personal conversation with them, putting your own words and heart into it.
This kind of story can be triggered by something you saw in the news, or in another blog or forum. For example, if you’re making mothers’ bracelets and your market is moms, you might share an emotional story you read about saving childhood memories.
Make your readers laugh, make them cry, make them feel.
Emotions are powerful, and if you can make your audience feel something, they’ll come back for more – and share it with their friends.
*Discover more ways you can sell your jewelry directly from your blog, in Rena Klingenberg’s ebook “Social Networking: Sell Your Jewelry Online the New Way”.
Butterflies for Inspiration In Your Beaded Jewelry Creations.
Jun 7th
“Butterflies” is another great source of inspiration from Nature. From ColorLovers.com,
a beautiful presentation of color palettes inspired by the natural beauty of butterflies. Great inspiration for Fashion Designers as well as Beaded Jewelry Artists. Awesome!
I have to thank NHBeadLady at “Create Your Style” Community for this link. www.ColorLovers.com

From the same source of Nature, the inspiration for naming your creation comes naturally too. Are you curious to know how popular is this naming convention?
I googled for Beaded Jewelry and Butterflies, and Voila! (vwa LAH!) There were at least 400,000 results from these 2 keywords.
My imagination could not have been more vivid until I stumbled on this jewelry site.
This particular creation by Cathy Dailey is very a beautiful interpretation of a butterfly. She had given it a name that very aptly captures my imagination. This is truly a great inspiration from Nature that gives more than life to a creation in color, shape and texture.
I can feel the mood and an influence of culture in the making of a trademark that could be so unique to each individual.
5 Great DIY Jewelry Sites : Tips and Tricks
May 23rd
5 Great DIY Jewelry Sites : Tips and Tricks to Handmade Beaded Jewelry.
5 Great Treats for all Beginners in Handmade Beaded Jewelry, fantastic web sites to visit.
Treat No: 1
Jewelry Making at About.com
Great articles by Tammy Powley. Free tutorials for beginners, large database of resources. Free Jewelry Making E-course emailed weekly.
Treat No: 2
Fire Mountain Gems and Beads is America’s Favorite Beading and Jewelry Supply Company. For more advanced designs, beautiful free catalog, how to, free tutorials and Design Gallery. Huge traffic volume can be frustrating, just got to be patient and take a little longer to load the site.
Treat No: 3
Auntie’s Beads
Great instruction videos, basic technicques and interesting projects on video.
You can also find these videos on Youtube too.
Treat No: 4
This beautiful project is from Wig Jig University.

Wiring techniques, choosing the right tools, how to use the jig, beginners instructions and many great projects.
Treat No: 5
Bead Online
Basic Jewelry Making techniques. Graphics to show the steps to beautiful free projects.
Have a wonderful time! Happy Beading!
Mors Dag, Happy Mother's Day
May 11th
I bought this beautiful Royal Copenhagen porcelain plate from a flea market at Clark’s Quay almost 10 years ago. On it, the artist’s impression reads “Mors Dag, 1972″.
So I thought Mors Dag is the name of the artist who painted the plate in 1972.

I was just wondering how much it is worth today as a collectible item. So I started searching the internet for information. I had a good laugh when I found out that Mors Dag is not a person. Haha, “Mors Dag” is “Mother’s Day” in Danish and Swedish.
In Singapore, we celebrate Mother’s Day on the 2nd Sunday of May as in Denmark, US and Japan. Sweden honors all mothers on the 4th Sunday of May as in UK.













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