Be Bold Jewelry REVIEWS

I love forums. Even if you live in the middle of no where you can find a community where you can ask questions, share your own knowledge, and participate in show and tell.  I’ve even made “offline” friends after meeting them online through a forum.  Here are my favorite lampworking forums. (Many of these also have tutorials)

1. Wet Canvas

2. Lampwork ETC

3. International Society of Glass Beadmakers

4. Hot Glass Forum

5. Angry Mandrel (a consumer report on suppliers relevant to lampworking)

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There are several different programs out there for designing beading patterns and quite a few of them are free. Here are my top picks:

1. Easy Bead Patterns – Downloadable application for a variety of weaves. Lots of functionality including photo conversion. You can see my review here.

2. DB-Weave & DB-Bead - Downloadable application for loom patterns and rope crocheting respectively. Available in English and German.

3. Beader.org – Online application for peyote, brick, or loom patterns. Very simple interface, but that restricts you to pretty simple designs.

4. e-perle.com – Online application for stringing with lots of great shapes ; in French  but pretty easy to figure out even with no knowledge of French. (Tip: select Fichier  then Imprimer to print)

5. PatternsForYou.com’s Pattern Maker - Online application for converting photos into loom, brick, peyote or right angle weave patterns.

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1. Jewelry Supply (free)

2. Aunties Beads (free)

3. Art Jewelry (free)

4. BenchTube (free)

5. SmartFlix (crafting DVD rentals, large selection)

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1. Bead-Patterns (free & $$)

2. Robyn’s Tutorials

3. Beadwork.About

4. Jewelry Lessons (free & $$)

5. Beaducation (free & $$)

What are your Top 5?

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These are in no particular order.

1. The Clay Store

2. Polymer Clay Central

3. PC Polyzine

4. Sculpey

5. Poly Clay Play (includes some videos)

Have a different Top 5?  Use the comments button to add share your list.

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Here 5 great ways to bead around a cabochon and online tutorials each method. 

1. Using Peyote stitch on fabric. (or watch a video.)

2. Using Peyote stitch without fabric backing.

3. Using Netting on fabric.

4. Using Netting without fabric backing. (Turn it into a ring here.)

5. Using beads and wire.

Another great way to bead around a cabochon on fabric is to stack two rows of backstitching (the second row is stiched between the base row and the cabochon so that it sits snuggly where the base row and cabochon meet). This is the method featured in Jamie Cloud Eakin’s book Beading with Cabochons. Unfortunately I have not seen a free online tutorial that shows this method. If you know of such a site, please add a comment with the link. Thanks!

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Lots of great projects, inspiration, and “how to” information on glass fusing, especially for jewelry.

1. Warm Glass Forum and Website 

2.  WordPress Blogs’ Fused Glass Tutorials

3. Fusedglass.org

4. Glass Fusing Made Easy

5. UGotGlass?

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In no particular order, because they are all wonderful resources:

1. Guide to Beadwork (r)

2.  Jewelry Supply Video Tutorials

3. Auntie’s Beads Video Tutorials

4. Beadwork.About

5. Sage’s Encyclopedia (r)

Have a different list in mind? Post your Top 5 in the Comments section!

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