Some Halloween Earring patterns on About.com

Coming Craft Shows and Festivals

CraftExpo – Melbourne Date: 07-OCT-10 to 10-OCT-10
Venue: Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

CraftExpo  is Australia’s newest craft event, ito provides the opportunity to meet and talk with the artists and see their latest celebrated work.  There will be artists working in a range of media including ceramics, glass, fiber decorative and wearable art, wood-turned and carved objects, distinctive furniture, marvelous metals, exquisite jewelry and more.

The chance to meet some Jewelry Artists and learn from them would be amazing, and with wood and metal artists you may even be able to persuade other members of the family to go along.

Events in  the United States

It seems that there are a number of Jewelry Shows this weekend in the states,  I found a list here, some are jewelry and fashion rather than jewelry making, but in either case you will get some great inspiration if not some beads.  This linked website had date venues and maps, but I didn’t find websites for the actual shows.  

Later events

The Craft and Quilting Show in Brisbane this month, so if you think you can get there start planning now.

October 20 – 24, 2010
Brisbane Exhibition Centre

Belfast Show

The Belfast Creative Arts show will be at the beginning of November so start planning now if you are in that corner of the globe.

Interesting article on About.com – How to Bead Around a Cabochon

Basically its a tutorial on using bead weaving to create a frame to hold a stone, or other item that has no hole for stringing.  A very useful technique. 

How to Bead Around a Cabochon

Just found a website on Polymer Clay Techniques.

You can purchase single tutorials on a specific techniques.  Anyone can submit tutorials and each one is a different price.  Paying for someone’s intellectual property is fair enough if they have developed a particular technique that you like. 

Clay Lessons .com

I may do a review of this site after reviewing a book on making polymer clay beads, since a book is a more economical way of learning.

Came Across A Tutorial on How To Make an Opal Glass Cabochons

I came across this tutorial on Ask.

A  cabochon or cabachon, (from the Middle French caboche – head), is a gemstone which has been shaped and polished as opposed to faceted. The resulting form is usually a convex top with a flat bottom.

Dichroic glass is glass containing multiple micro-layers of metal oxides, usually  aluminum, chromium, silicon, zirconium or titanium. The result is a mirror like finish that reflects a specific color and which changes as the piece is viewed at different angles.  The colors are almost holographic in appearance.

I have never tried anything like this, the result is very appealing and worth considering for the future. It would certainly be fun to learn the process.

Its a book.

Its a book!

Me talking about the Competition!

Listen!

Using Flowers to Choose Colors for Jewelry Design

I have drawn together my thoughts on using ColorPalette FX to get colors from a picture of a flower for use in jewelry design.  There are step by step instructions on using the facility, showing how I achieved the results that I did.

http://su.pr/2h0YFH

Competition – Prize “A Jewelry Making Book”

I have decided to run a competition to win a Jewelry Making book.  I asked the question on my Facebook page and got a great response, so I have posted the competition on my main website.  Please read the rules, this is just me running this competition so the idea is for us to have a bit of fun.  If all goes well I will do it again in the future.

http://su.pr/1qWr0T