cynthia: hi, i’m cynthia from artbeads cafe,and candie cooper joins me today. candie: hello. cynthia: hi, candie. candie: good to be here. cynthia: always a pleasure to have you here. always. candie: thank you. cynthia: today, candie’s showing us someearrings, but in a special way. candie: in a special way, one of my favoritetechniques, which is making your own tassels.
tassels – are they ever going to go outof style? cynthia: no. candie: okay, good. cynthia: i don’t think so. candie: good. at least not in our world. so we’re using some really special componentsby our friend, anne gardanne, gardanne beads – anne lichtenstein. these are unique because they’re all handmade.
they’re hand-enameled. if you’re unfamiliar with enameling, it’sessentially metal that’s been covered in glass and put in a kiln, and it makes thatbeautiful glaze over the finding. cynthia: yeah, beautiful. candie: i really love them, and i love her,and i’m thrilled to be using her components. so then we’re going to add some chains underneaththem, some crystals, string whatever beads you want – and even though the samples idid are with earrings, you can just make them as a pendant and put it on a long chain oreven a short; something strung with some beads and crystals.
so to get started, i’ve already startedmine here, but i’ve got a pile of chains. this is a great project to use up all thosescrap chains. do you end up like – cynthia: oh yes. candie: i can’t throw them away. craft hoarders unite! cynthia: we don’t want to throw them away. candie: no. and i especially love this chain that youguys have on the artbeads.com site, this leafy
chain. this is so beautiful. cynthia: i love it because it’s such aneasy chain to work with, actually. candie: yeah, and it’s got great movement. you could even work this into your tasselpieces. it would look great with these flower beadcaps. but anyway, just pick your poison and thengo to town. so we can’t leave chains unadorned at theends, so i’m going ahead and stringing some beads onto some crystals.
do you want to do one just for fun? cynthia: okay, yes. candie: i need a couple more. here’s some large. and i’m using your new – these are new,right? these new designer blends with the crystalsand pearls? cynthia: yes. candie: i love them. candie: and some balled head pins.
i think that’s the thing with this; i loveusing head pins that aren’t flat on the bottom because it gives it even just a little bitmore of a finished look. cynthia: do you do a simple loop or do youdo a wrapped loop? candie: i’m doing a wrapped loop. i’m just making a little bend and then wrappingit around, and then i’m going to hook in my chain. cynthia: oh, right. candie: and then finish the wrap. cynthia: yeah, don’t forget to hook thechain first.
i almost did. candie: i’ve done that so many times. but sometimes you can get lucky and your lastlink of chain is unsoldered, and you can sneak it in there like a jump ring. and then i always do messy loops. i’m not too particular on my – that kindof is what gives your work your style or your thumbprint. cynthia: right. candie: these go together just really fast.
i’ve got one – this is pretty, look atthis head pin. looks so good at the end of the crystal. cynthia: it’s sterling silver, too. candie: yeah. but when i do my tassels, i like to use oddnumber pieces of chain. three, five, seven pieces of chain. what do i have here? one, two, three, four. we need one more.
cynthia: and you mixed also different stylesof chain. this is two different ones. candie: yeah, two different ones. that’s where using the scraps – and evenmultiple metal colors look good. especially with these earthy, bright beadcaps, you can get by with some antique brass. it would look really good with your oxidizedmetals. cynthia: that’s true. it’s all about playing and blending. i think too many rules makes creativity notso much fun.
okay, so last one, and then we can start thinkingabout how we’re going to layer up the bead cap with some other beads. i brought along some little rondelle crystalbeads. those always look good. and then i love the bird beads. candie: i’ve been using those for years. they’re so cute. okay, so we’re just going to open up aneye pin. you could also make your own with a wire orwhatever.
sometimes that’s helpful if you’re attachinga bunch of chains because sometimes eye pins aren’t large enough, really. cynthia: yeah, the loop on the eye pin ispretty small, too. candie: right. cynthia: so i can see how you’d have tomake your own, too. and then you’re just going to stack andlayer these things on. then just close your loop, and i’ve goteverything in a nice little spot now. i think i loaded that up as much as i could. so then you have something like that, andthen the beautiful thing about these bead
caps is that’s going to hide that connectionpoint. i mean, you can do these – there’s thislook, if you want to have it come down like that. i’m going to use this more – i don’tknow what shape this is, like a little petal-y tulip look. it looks so cute with those crystals. cynthia: it goes really well. candie: and then, let’s see. a little bit of crystal, rondelle metal spacer,and then i like these with the birds, especially
because it almost creates like a sparkly nest. cynthia: oh, that’s true. candie: yeah, it’s just a cute little finish. and now we’re going to make a 90 degreebend. you could do a simple loop here, but i thinkgiving it a wrapped loop just makes it a little bit more secure. and with the wrapped loop, you can tie itreally close to the bird, and then the bird doesn’t move at all. candie: no, exactly.
and then from here, i’ve got my wrappedloop, trim, and you could hang it on an ear wire like those, or you can string it on – evensliding that on a ball chain. so easy. cynthia: that’s a really cute pendant, too. cynthia: thank you so much for showing usthis project. candie: fun little project. if you need to go out very quickly and youdon’t have any pair of earrings, here you go. candie: i know.
did i ever tell you i made the earrings thati wore in my wedding in the car on the way to the wedding? candie: another time. cynthia: we want to hear that, right? cynthia: thank you so much for coming today. cynthia: and thank you for joining us todayat artbeads cafe, and make sure to subscribe to our email newsletter to see all our greatprojects, great promotions, and to see candie again with us. thank you.
candie: thanks, cynthia. cynthia: merci beaucoup. au revoir, a bientot! candie: bye bye.
