Beaded jewelry making and designing is becoming more popular in the crafting community across the United States. This art form can be very frustrating but very rewarding as well. You may feel overwhelmed by the many patterns and designs that beaded jewelry making has to offer but stick with it. A dilemma can be your best friend. No truer words were ever said!
Remember to choose your colors ahead of time. This will save you valuable time later. Next, choose the beads that support those colors, or come the closest to those colors. When your supply is limited you may find a beautiful blend or variation of colors that you like as well or better than what you originally chose.
When you have finished choosing your beads, choose your findings. Your findings should compliment the colors of your beads. If you have mostly earth-toned beads, then go with earth-toned findings, it always looks better. One thing you might try in your findings is making your own jump rings. It is easy and a very economical way to incorporate various metals into your work.
Once you have all these elements done, then work up your design. Decide if there is any, what I call, prebeading that needs to be done. This is any bead or beads that need to be strung on wire with a loop on both ends. If any of these pieces are going to be connected to a clasp then connect only one side of the clasp, leave the other to be connected at the very end when you have the rest of the beads strung.
In the end if you take your time, observe how others have constructed their pieces, ask questions when your unsure about something and just have some patience and allow youself to make mistakes you'll be fine. There are many techniques and styles of beading, and which one you choose is up to you. My advice is to try them all. If you keep beading long enough, you will. Don't forget to add some decorative touches such as wire wrapping to your pieces too. Just be creative, you never know where your mind will take you!
