Beading.com.my Final Storewide Sale!

Ok, final not as in closing down final "Final" sale but as in the final sale in 2010, yeah. :P In other words, if you miss this one out, you probably gotta wait until next year for their next sale. I know next year is only a couple of months away but if their next sale is gonna be in Sept 2011, well, you technically do have to wait for 12 months! :P

So, what are you waiting for? Head on down to check it out! =D

Just a quickie one here.

 I know it's been some time already since my last entry. Work has been a bit busy and tiring at the moment. I'm stealing some time off my lunch break to post this entry. I've got about half an hour to do this. So, let's see how fast I can type how much I can cramp in. LOL.... XD

Yes, as I was saying, Beading.com.my's sale.

Remember how I used to have a list of the online stores that I go to to buy my materials listed on the sidebar? Ok, no need to look at the sidebar. I said "used to" i.e was here but not now anymore. :P Some people ask me where did that list go. Well basically because  I'm now getting most of my stuffs from Beading.com.my that there just doesn't seem to be any need to look elsewhere.

Only for those odd items, I'll hit this eBay store. Otherwise, Beading.com.my is pretty much the "one-stop".

Got the above Labradorite from Beading.com.my. I haven't got the slightest idea what I'm going to do with them yet but they're just too pretty to turn now.

I've just got a knack of buying buying and buying but when it comes to using it, I have this slight nudge at the heart not to part with it! LOL...... Like a beads collector more than a jewelry maker when really, the practise should have been the latter!

Look at that 'flash' ! Seriously, I think the picture just don't do it justice!



If you're into gemstones, they've got more in store. And the best part is, they also ship worldwide! So, yes, everybody can buy! =D

Oh, did you know that Steve from Beading.com.my in collaboration with Emi Kaz is conducting Metalsmithing workshops also? Well, actually, they've got a lot more workshops available!

I think the inaugural workshop was held last Saturday on the 25th I think. I of course hadn't the opportunity to attend given the fact that I stay so far away from them. Mastura from whimsicalandquirky. blogspot.com attended and wrote a post about her experience. So, you might wanna go check it out.

Alright, lunch time's up! Gotta dash off now. I'll try to put up a more long-winded proper post later tonight IF I'm not too tired. :P

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Beadalon Deluxe Thing-A-Ma Jig Review

 

When I first come across this jig the first thing that came to mind was, "What a catchy name!" Well, catchy name aside, a jig is actually a wire shaper.  The set comes with.......

 

an instructional leaflet

and a metal board with holes and different sizes of pegs. I specifically have to say that it's a metal board because there is this other non deluxe version, i.e. just Thing-A-Ma jig that comes in plastic. So, now you know why it's now a 'Deluxe' version! LOL....! 

Okay, lame jokes aside. :P Basically, what you do is, like the picture above, placed the different sizes of pegs onto the board and then twirl your wire around it to shape it.

I got mine ages ago, not too long after I started making jewellery in 2007. I got it off eBay Malaysia. It came with a set of 16 mini spools of Darice craft wire with missing two spools. Well, not exactly missing but I think the seller wanted to keep the two spools for herself but didn't want the rest. I bought it from a private seller.

Okay, I know 4 spools appear to be missing here. But then again, I've used 2. :P By the way, if you think the packaging looks old, it is not. It's just the pattern on the paper backing that appears to make it look like some old packaging on photos. :P

It was VERY expensive when I got it at that time. I paid a total of RM105.00 for the whole set! Almost twice of what you need to pay to get it in Malaysia today! Well, it's not like the price got bid up to that high, it was under the Buy-It-Now option, if I was not mistaken. I decided to pay for it nevertheless because

1. I've been searching high and low for a jig for a while already. Not specifically Beadalon's but just any jig.
2. It was sheer fate that I 'bumped' into it on eBay Malaysia.
3. It was not sold in Malaysia at that time at all! 

If I wanted to get one, the only option I had at that time was to order from overseas but when you are only a beginner, you really don't wanna go that far. My last option was to ask Sa Kor to buy it  for me in the UK and pass it to me when she comes back to Malaysia.

True enough Beading.com.my is very well stocked these days but back then, their website was only at it's infancy because I've never really heard of them at that time! I got most of my stuffs off eBay Malaysia, not only due to the geographical barier that I was in but also the physical barrier. I wasn't as mobile as I am now. It was somehow by sheer fate that I found out sellers selling findings and beads at eBay, which is also how I decided to start making jewellery. At that time, I only wanted to kill time while recuperating back home but I ended up loving it more than what I initially intended to so and the rest they say, is history! LOL.... XD It was later on that I found out that it was a huge trend in big city Kuala Lumpur at that time to make your own jewellery which is how all these private sellers crop up in eBay, given that eBay Malaysia started only not too long ago. E-commerce in Malaysia was only at it's infancy at that time. Comparing it now and back then, it's so much more convenient these days! (OMG! Did I just say that?! Makes me sound like some been there, done that ..... isshh.... hey, it was only over a short span of 3 years ok! My point is the growth is fast! :P)

I used to have this little list of e-shops here, where I got my materials from but which was removed much later on. I started the list because I knew how difficult it was to look for the materials online and I thought it would be a good idea for everyone to share where to get the stuffs to make your pieces. But Beading.com.my is already so well stocked that there is really no need to look elsewhere, and most importantly, they are very reputable seller. ( No, Steve did not pay me to say this. Hhhmm, maybe I should bill Steve for my earlier sentence! LOL..... XD)

Now, a little demo on how to use this.

First, choose the shape that you want to create from the instructional leaflet. Well, diagram to be exact. And I chose this shape.

  

The circles with a black dot at the centre represent the peg as as you can see from the diagranabove you placed 3 at the top, 2 bottom, 2 left and 2 right. The number and size of the pegs will determine the size of the 'arms'. So, if you want bigger or wider arms, you can either use bigger size pegs or places the pegs further apart from one another.

Before you start shaping the wire, the first step is to make a loop at the end of the wire.

What this loop does is to act as some kind of hook to keep the wires in place as you shape them as well as the bail for the shape for you to finish off.

When you twirl the wires around the pegs, it is done only at one go as seen from the diagram above. Just follow the arrows shown and you have the numbers at the side to guide you along. You start from one point and finishes back at that point as well. There will be no joining of wires whatsoever.

So, here we go .......

Remove your wire from the jig and the is what you get.

 

Okay, don't be alarmed with the misshapen wires. It can be corrected. Hhhhhm, I think 'corrected' is not the right word to use. Rather, it's unfinished. You have yet to finish shaping the wire. What you are going to do next is the complete the shape and this you will do with the help of your fingers.

Press the wires on the two sides of the last 'arm' closer together. And with the help of your pliers, wrap the excess wire around the loop which you first made.

And you're done! :D

BUT......... I've only used this three times.

Twice to give it a try and the last one, for this post. I've already not quite like it the first time I used it but decided to nevertheless give it another shot before I come to the conclusion that I do not like it. I've never touched it ever since until for this post.

I'll tell you why I do not like it.

Personally, I feel that it's very clumsy. These are the reasons why.

No doubt the pegs fit nicely into the holes on the board (jig?) but in my opinion not snug enough. Therefore, as you are working the wires around the pegs, the pegs tend to move around a little. So, to make sure that the pegs stay put, you need to hold the pegs down with one hand while you work the wires with the other.

I'm not sure if it's only me who is experiencing this or if this IS the correct way of working the jig but this just spells clumsy to me. I think I might have been much happier had the pegs were made 'dead' stuck in the hole once you slide them in.

Another thing is that as you are twirling the wires around the pegs, I always
 have the wires moving further up the pegs as I work along. In other words, the wires doesn't stay put.

But then of course, this is not something that you loose sleep over la.

This is easily solved with one hand pressing the wires down as you move the wires along with the other hand.

Okay, while one hand moves the wire along, the other need to not only pressed the peg down but also the wire? So, it's like, press peg down, move wire, stop, press wire down, stop, press peg down, move move wire, stop, press wire down, stop, press peg down..........

Clumsy, clumsy, clumsy.

You see, you've got to understand the context in which I was searching high and low for a jig back then as well as the reason for my dislike for it now.

I wanted a jig so badly back then when I was still a beginner. I don't know how but for some reasons, I got the impression that the only way to shape wires was by using a jig. Well, looking back, that was partially true anyway. For a beginner to make well formed wires, a jig helps a lot! The board (jig?) and pegs all add up to help you form a proportionately even shape.

But as you gain more experience working with the handheld tools, specifically the round nose pliers, you'll come to realize that a jig is not necessary at all. Well, to me at least. If you ask me, I think the round nose pliers is a very powerful tool. I believe you can create all that you can do with a jig with a round nose pliers.

The extra work here is in the measurement. You need the manually measure all the turning points and what not before looping. This inevitably will cost you more time. A jig without a doubt wins hands down in this department.

I haven't specifically created a piece of jewellery with a jig. To be honest anf if you've noticed as well, I don't even do a lot of wire shaping in my work. So, it's no surprise that I'm not a fan of the jig. Well, I don't hate it either. Let's just say that I don't particularly favour it. Not because of what, it's just not quite my style of work.

Sa Kor attended one of the jig workshops in UK and according to her she was not particularly in awe either. But I think it was largely to do with the number of students in that particular workshop. She didn't tell me the exact number but according to her, the class was quite big that she feels that there wasn't enough attention for the students such that it's as though the class was over already after the instructor was done making one round around the table! Okay, I don't know if that was exactly how it was but I believe it's just figures of speech. I think it was more about the big class than the jig itself. LOL......

Either way, it doesn't sound as though the jig left much of an impression on her also. But then again, she's a busy woman. She's too preoccupied with work to be bothered with the impression she got from these classes. LOL.....

The only piece of work I've done in the jig-style is this, which was created early last year. This piece was however done entirely using the round nose pliers.

So, to like the jig or not? I'll leave it up to you.

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Standard sizing

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Work Room chat:
I think I can safely announced the 'events' that I told you was going to happen this month, now that everything at this stage seems to be confirmed already, barred any unforeseen circumstances. The one non jewellery making and three jewellery making 'events' I was talking about, remember?
Okay, I'll tell you about the non jewellery making event first. It's going to Shaunee's graduation play (or something like that) of the musical Annie, happening this week. LOL....very Mat Salleh's style of schooling experience! She is leaving primary school and will be beginning her secondary schooling in Sept, of what they call it the senior year la.
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When you are making jewellery for yourself, it is easy to decide on the size because you can try the fit on them as you are working along. However, if you are making them to sell, size seems to be a major concern; to come up with a size that fits all. Not only to save you the headache of alteration to say the least, but to also reach out to the general masses out there. Which is why elastic stringing material and memory wire has got the upper hand in this area.

Size adjustment is no doubt a consideration that would go into the design because certain designs such as beadweaving/beadstitching or wireweaving may face a hard time in adjustment after completion but it might be much easier when it comes to simple loop wirework jewelleries.

Despite the idiosyncracies of sizes of the general masses, there are nevertheless some standard sizing which are meant to fit everyone anyway. In this discussion, I'll try to touch on each piece of jewellery here although the focus is mainly on women's jewelleries.

Earrings
Okay, I seriously don't think theres a standard sizing for earrings.... LOL. It pretty much depends on the design. It can go as short or as long as the artist want! Although I do think it's probably interesting just to touch on the types of earrings that we have here.

Alright, let's see. There's the very common stud earrings.



And then, we have the once-crazed-after chandelier earrings. I still remember when the trend first make a comeback after the 80's. It's like almost everywhere you turn, everyone's donning this huge pair of earrings and all that everyone's selling is chandelier earrings! LOL..... It's still in trend now but just maybe not as 'hot' as it was a couple of years back.



There's also this drop/dangle earrings. Someone once asked me what's the difference between the two. I would say that there are not much difference between the two; which is why I group them together. Although I personally think that you call the shorter one; which hangs just below the earlobe, drop and longer ones hanging below the earlobes, dangle. Drops are not very long, are they? And you do need longer dangles to facilitate the dangling movement, don't you? ;)



Bear in mind that as far as chandelier earrings and drop/dangle earrings are concern, the hangers for these style of earrings can be either a hook or stud.

One last type of not so common or popular but very unique type of earrings is the ear thread. They go by a few different names; ear threads, ear threaders, threader earrings, earthreads. Just like what the name suggest, the wearer actually “threads” through the ear hole. Designs may vary, but basically ear threads consist of a small metal bar on one end, a few inches of thin chain connected to the metal bar, and then on the opposite end you can attach beads.



And so, that's about earrings.


Bracelet
I would say that the average size for women's bracelet would be 7". Those with bigger wrists might require a 7 ½" to 8" sizing. Those with smaller wrists on the other hand would require a 6" to 6 ½" sizing. In any case, if you want to avoid the hassle of adjusting, make a 6" long bracelet and attach a 2" long extension chain. That way, it can fit the smallest size wrist to the bigger ones! LOL..... XP

But on a personal note, I'm not in favour of the use of extension chain for bracelet because I feel that the extra chain if not in use is in the way and spoils the overall look of the design. Well, that's just my take on bracelet.



Necklace
I intentionally left the discussion for necklace last because there's more to say about them!

Alright, to begin, there's many different lengths of necklaces but did you know that there are different lengths of necklaces are categorized accordingly? Well, I didn't untill I flip to the last page of The Basics of Bead Stringing: A Complete Illustrated Approach for Beginner and Advanced Designers by Debbie Kanan.



This was my very first beading book which I got as a gift from Sa Kor when I first got into jewellery making. Well, as much as they say that it's an illustrated approach, the illustration here unfortunately are drawn illustration rather than pictorial illustration.

So, if you are one of those visual learners, there is a high probability that you may not like this book at all. Otherwise, it is a fairly okay book for beginner. But seriously, reading The Work Room might be just as good if not better! Ahaks! XP

Anyway, as I was saying......

The last page of the book actually gives an illustration of the different categories of necklace according to their length.

See what I meant by drawn illustration?

You will realize that it also lists down for you the approximate number of beads of specific size needed for the specified length. Which is what people would normally use a bead board for.



Bear in mind however that these numbers can only hold true if you are doing bead stringing. That is to say you string on one bead after another, with no use of any other findings. This would also mean that the use of wires are also discounted since the loop you make and the connection between two loops would also take up a good amount of the total length of the necklace.

I have something to say about the stated size though. I don't they are by any means conclusive but at best only a guide? I find that the stated size range for the different categories of necklace may be a bit too long for asians. And this I am saying based on the comparison I made of the commercial jewelleries that I used to have. I said 'used to' because I have since gave them away to my cousin sis and ever since I started making jewellery, I don't see the need of buying them anymore. :P

Take the size of choker for example. I think it should be 14" with 2" extension.

A princess necklaces; which hangs somewhere around your collarbone, should be 16" to 18".

A matinee necklace; which hangs somewhere around the chest area, should be somewhere between 20" to 25"

Opera necklaces; which hang below the chest area, should be somewhere between 27" to 35".

As for anklets, 10" might be too long. 9" might be more appropriate.

This is also by no means conclusive. Just a little something I draw from my experience of jewellery making so far.

One other thing that I would like to add here is the allocation of 1" for clasp. I find that no matter what sizes of clasps I use, I always allocate 1" for it to make up the total length of the necklace and they more often than not come up to the right total length.

Okay, take for example you want to make a 16" necklace. What you need to do is to subtract 1" for the allocation of clasp, which is to say the necklace length that you will be making is only 15". The clasp will make up the final 1" for the necklace.

On the very rare occasion that they don't end up the final length that I want, I only needed to make minor adjustment here and there.

I also find that this only seems to hold true if the clasp is attached externally with an extra finding. That is to say you are connecting the clasp to your piece with a finding and not directly the clasp to your piece. What I normally use for the connection is a jump ring.

So, for bracelet, standard size of 7" means to make a 6" bracelet with 1" allocated for clasp.

Once again, this is also not rules carved onto stones. Just something which I have found to have worked for me which you can use as reference.

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Wire rounder

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Work Room chat:
Here is an interesting page I found from WigJig on filing wire using,.... surprise, surprise....a wire rounder and bead reamer. :) LOL...... seriously..... even if they are useful, they are quite time consuming to use!
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This is a new toy which I acquired a few months back.



Pretty neat,huh? :D



What it is used for is to eliminate sharp points and burrs at the end of wire

If you have realized by now, when a flush cutter cut into the wire into two, one side of the wire will end up flat whereas the other side a bit sharp due to how one of the side is sliced diagonally, hence, creating that sharp edge. I've mentioned about this before in one of my previous post.

And so, I will be experimenting with the sharper end since I think any changes would be more evident.







What you will be doing with this tool is to insert the end of wire in the cup end and rotate the wire rounder.

Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?

Let's take a closer look at the tip.







And now, the cup.







So you see, it's not just a cup. Notice how the inside of the cup is rigged, which I presume is what will be doing the grinding filing work.

Anyway, let's give it a try now, shall we? :)

So, into the cup the wire goes.....







And let's start grinding filing away.....







Alright, now let's take a look at what happens to the wire.



Tadah!



From the picture, it does seem that the sharp edge is gone and what we have now is a filed down edge. But for this price.....







not worthy to be bothered about. You might as well just snip off the sharp edge by cutting the sharp edge off using the flat side of the flush cutter. This tool is not necessary at all.

It seriously does make me wonder now......exactly when do people use this anyway or why would they even bother with this tool in the first place considering it didn't do anything spectacular to begin with?

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