I received a Twitter request for some assistance from an Etsy Seller. Now, our sister company Designs by M'Ayanna is an Etsy shop and I always like to help others whenever possible. Seller Bethenia asked me this: " Can you recommend a website for someone who knows absolutely nothing about beading/jewelry making but wants to start?"
I'm a self-taught beader and stringer, so it was an interesting question. I've picked up patterns and techniques from all over the web, through books and magazines and even other crafters. By no means do I consider myself an expert, just some who loves this stuff. That being said I thought I'd give it a whirl!
First off I want to establish that beading and stringing are related, but not identical, ways to make jewelry. For starters, below is an example of simple stringing, where beads mostly of the same size are strung in a simple one-or two strand pattern.
Now here are few examples of bead weaving. These are simple designs because they contain a single stitch pattern repeated over rand over.
About.com seems to be a good starting point. They cover the basics of beading/stringing, tell you about the tools you'll need and offer some patterns to try. They are not personally trying to sell you anything, like many of the other sites I found. This will take you to a page with links that should answer many bead weaving questions. There are also stringing tips and techniques here plus some finishing techniques http://beadwork.about.com/od/beadingstitchtutorials/u/user_path_basics.htm#s3
So I hope that answers your question and I wish you the best of luck!
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Pat K.
The Jewelry Craft Shop http://twitter.com/#!/JewelCraftShop
