Tutorials: Economical Beading

"Yes, Ali, I'll work on those earrings this weekend, too."
-D.B.

All this talking with D.B. about her venturing into the beading world has gotten my brain wheels turning. I keep trying to think about whatever tricks, shortcuts & techniques I've learned and how they might be helpful for other folks. So, I've decided to work on some tutorial-type posts for anyone who's interested in beading or simply curious about putting stuff together.

One of the things that D.B. has mentioned is how quickly beading can become expensive. Tell me about it. There are plenty of times when I'll walk into a bead shop thinking, "okay, I'm only getting X" and then walk out with fifty or more dollars of merchandise. There are, however, a few things I like to do to make my beading dollars stretch.

Tools
Having the right tools will make life a ton easier. However, you don't need too many. My essentials are a good pair of round nose pliers, crimping pliers (for finishing necklaces) and beading needles. I also have a pair of side cutting pliers, but I'd say these aren't essential. Instead, try a pair of toe nail clippers. They cut just as well, and their shape actually makes it possible to trim your wire a little closer.

Beads: Cannibalism
One of the nicest things about beading is the recycling potential. I've undone a ton of necklaces and other jewelry to reuse the components. Thrift shops, garage sales, and friends who are getting rid of old jewelry are great and cheap sources for beads. As an added bonus - recycled beads are usually those you'd never find anywhere else, so there's an added level of uniqueness. The necklace below was made from a few brass bugles I had, a couple of seed beads, and parts of a broken rosary someone gave me. It was especially handy because I was also able to salvage some of the chain - premade dangles.

Beads: Getting Better Mileage

Seed beads are your best friend. Any time you can only afford a few gorgeous beads, seed beads can step in and make those dozen beauties into a whole necklace. Also, I always make sure to have metallic seed beads on hand because they make a great substitution for more-expensive metal spacers. Unless you're looking really close, it can be hard to tell the difference.

Beads: Semi-Precious

Two things to keep in mind here: cut and substitutions. A lot of the time even less expensive stones can cost a lot because of the size and/or cut of the bead - faceted = more $. Sometimes it's more than worth it, but ask yourself whether you're in love with the beads because of the cut, or if it's really the stone itself. Buying a less expensive cut can get the same effect for less wallet pain. My favorite example of this is using stone chips - you still get the beautiful color of apatite, but with less cost.

At the bead shop near my house there are these lovely red and green pendants made out of ruby embedded in zoisite. They're about fifteen dollars. Not far away are fancy jasper pendants which have similar colors, but only cost three dollars. While there's definitely a difference, I'm not quite ready to pay the extra money when I can get an almost same look for much less. When you find a pricey stone you love, look around a bit more, there's a good chance there's something similar nearby.

An example of ruby in zoisite (over $70 for a 7 inch strand -firemountaingems)

One of the fancy jasper pendants I bought. $3.00

Bonus tip:

To start off, D.B. is going to do earrings as her first projects. Keep these in mind if you really want those pricey beads because you only need two to get a finished product.