Today, in the era of automation and mass production, hand-made products are highly valued.
This may surprise those people for whom the words hande made are associated with socks knitted by a grandmother from a loose old sweater.
The manufacture of clothing and jewelry, interior decor and gifts allows craftsmen to express their inner world and feel the magical creative flight. In addition, many bead jewelry (you can create a real masterpiece with your own hands) are becoming an excellent alternative to factory mass jewelry.
What determines the price of materials
The flip side of the development of technology in the production sector can be considered a significant reduction in the cost of most goods. Huge factories, which include many workshops and production lines, can produce a large number of products per unit of time. Its cost is reduced by reducing the time and cost of processing raw materials, manufacturing blanks and their assembly.
Natural beads today have very little cost precisely because they have become much easier to produce. For mining, escalators are used, not shovels, pearls are grown in shells of mollusks on special farms, and do not dive into the depths of the sea with a risk to life. Of course, there are valuable stones that are relatively rare or have some unusual properties (malachite, ruby, diamond).
Crafts from beads can be extremely cheap. This is especially true for those who choose plastic, wood or acrylic materials and purchase them at a wholesale store.
If you want to create jewelry for an elegant or evening look (hats and flowers from beads), the craftswomen use glass materials, as well as elements coated with a layer of some precious metal (gold, silver, rhodium). Their cost is also affected by their size, shape, cutting and grinding technology.
Types of beads
Most domestic craft stores offer a fairly standard set of materials that craftswomen use to make bead jewelry with their own hands. Among the popular ones you can list:
- Plastic and acrylic.
- Wooden.
- Glass.
- Ceramic.
- From natural stones.
- Metal.
- Textile.
Their size and shape are extremely diverse: round, square, rectangular, teardrop-shaped, flat, in the form of a ring or disk, as well as many others. Despite all the splendor of choice, many beadworks have a classic design. It implies the use of round or oblong elements of restrained colors.
Decorative materials from polymers
Plastic beads are the most inexpensive, and their assortment is the most diverse. Here you can find small elements, larger and very huge. Their advantage is light weight and a wide range.
Of plastic, imitations of wooden and stone materials are often made. Such simple bead jewelry is great for children, teenagers or for going to the beach. This material is not so hot in the sun as metal, and does not burn the skin.
In addition, plastic can be recommended to novice craftswomen, because cheap beads are not a pity to spoil. And when skills and experience are gained, you can make crafts from beads and other materials more expensive.
Glass beads
Glass is one of the most appreciative materials when it comes to the production of beads. It allows you to create elements of literally any shape and color.
The strength and durability of such beads is much higher than plastic. They do not overwrite, do not get dirty, do not peel. True, bead earrings can fall and break, but a drop can be “fatal” for almost all materials.
The easiest way to find glass elements of factory production, they can be monochrome or multi-colored. But there is such a technique as "lampworking", whose adherents make glass beads on their own. This is an amazing skill, the result of which are unique and inimitable decorative elements. The art of the master is the ability of a craftsman to enclose a miniature object (flowers, other beads, golden drops) inside a glass bead. This technique is not given to every performer.
As a rule, to make a necklace from handmade beads, just a few of these elements are enough. They are placed in the product, combining with simpler materials (glass or natural). If the craftswoman wants to get an interesting jewelry and at the same time save money, the best option would be to buy two identical elements to create earrings.
Natural beads: types and applications
Having set out to buy beads of natural origin, you can find that there are three varieties of decorative stones:
- Whole.
- Pressed.
- Artificial.
The first were indeed mined from the earth's interior, faceted and polished. This is the most expensive type of stones.
The pressed material is obtained by mixing fragments and dust left after processing the extracted stones with an adhesive solution. The resulting substance is subjected to high pressure, as a result of which a substance is formed that is similar in appearance and characteristics to the original minerals.
Artificial stones are completely made by man. The plant mixes the chemicals from which natural stones form in nature, and accelerate the process significantly. Thus, not only turquoise, amethysts and other semiprecious materials are made, but even diamonds.
When natural stones are cut, waste (chipped and cut fragments) inevitably occurs. If they are quite large for dust, but not large enough for cutting, they are sanded and sold as chipped. This is the cheapest type of natural materials for needlewomen. Chipping is used to make beads, necklaces, earrings and rings. It is also actively used for the manufacture of interior crafts (paintings, trees of happiness and others).
Ceramic beads are a good alternative to natural beads. However, their disadvantage can be considered heaviness and fragility.
Stone jewelry
Crafts from beads of natural origin have a specific design and a characteristic appearance. As a rule, manufacturers of such materials emphasize the layered structure of the stone and its uneven coloring.
True, there are stones the color of which is extremely even and monophonic (quartz, amber, some types of agate and other materials). Being faceted, they are very similar in appearance and weight to glass.
A necklace made of beads often contains an element such as a cabochon. This is a large decor with a flat base and a machined front side. Cabochons are fixed on some base, and around the edge they are braided with beads or enclosed in a metal frame. This is a classic version of the medallion.
Wooden bead jewelry
Wood is one of the most malleable materials. Everything is made of it, including beads. They can be of very different shapes, sizes and colors.
In the wake of the craze for ethics and folk style, wooden beads are in high demand. They are used for earrings, beads, necklaces, bracelets, as well as for accessories (belts, bag handles, various fasteners).
These materials for creativity have a small cost, because the tree is easy to process and paint. In addition, it is quite light.
Such beads can be used for creativity with children, as well as for the manufacture of slingobus. The tree goes well with bone, some types of stones and plastic elements of appropriate colors.
Accessories for jewelry
When working with beads, that is, with decorative elements that have a hole, it is impossible to do without several tools and auxiliary materials. In the simplest case, you will need a cord and a needle of the appropriate size for stringing.
However, to create more complex objects (necklaces, earrings, bracelet with clasp, jewelry for bead hair) you will need:
- Pliers, pliers and wire cutters.
- Scissors and needles.
- Basis for beads and bracelets: cord, thread, fishing line, string, ordinary wire or “with memory”, elastic.
- Blanks for earrings (earrings).
- Basic metal fittings (studs and hinges, rings of various sizes, stoppers).
- Clasps.
- Additional decorative elements suitable for color and style (beads, beads, buttons and the like).
How to make a simple bracelet
In order to make such a bracelet, as in the picture below, you should prepare such materials:
- One large bead.
- Medium-sized items as the main material (in this case, turquoise).
- Medium in size beads with a contrasting color (red).
- Small metal elements to dilute the dullness of the product and add a little shine to it.
- Very small beads (can beads). Its color may be the same as that of one of the base materials (turquoise or red), interspersing beads with metallic shades (gold, silver, copper or bronze) also look good.
Accessories that will be used in the work: bijouterie string, metal rings and clamps for tips, clasp.
We begin to make bracelet
Three fragments should be cut from the coil of string, the length of each of them should correspond to the girth of the wrist minus two centimeters per fastener.
Connect the ends of the segments and secure with a latch. Then string beads on each piece of string in the order shown in the photo. You can come up with your own scheme. It is best to start with small beads, then move on to medium sized elements.
When all three segments are ready, they should be threaded into one of the middle beads, and then into the large one. Next, you need to repeat the order of the set of beads in a mirror order.
Shutdown
When the previous stage is completed, you should go to the final stage: collecting the product and fastening the fastener. It is important to observe a few points:
- Avoid loose hanging string fragments (without beads).
- Do not allow the bracelet to be tightened, otherwise it will be too stiff.
- Do not drop the entire structure, as it will instantly scatter into components that will have to be pulled out from under the sofa and armchairs.
Having connected the ends of the string, they are cut with nippers, then put on and fasten the clamp. The last step is the clasp.
Here is such a simple way to make a bracelet from beads of different sizes.