This month: New Jewelry Making Tool, Free Valentine's Day Jewelry Design Project, How To Photograph Jewelry, Designer Spotlight Ruby Wire Wrap Pendant and Pearl Necklace, Jewel School Outlet
Greetings, Jewel Schoolers!
Winter is upon us and it’s a great time to stay indoors, brush up on your jewelry-making techniques and explore some new mediums. Here at JTV, we are beyond excited about all of the fantastic new products coming in the next few months. Designer Stephanie Eddy will be demonstrating her Lazee Daizee Viking Knit tool (JST448) on the Thursday, February 24 Jewel School show. It turns wire into a knitted tube, how cool is that? You can insert beads into the tube and create bracelets and necklaces. You are going to love it!
Our resident chain maille aficionado and newest member of the Jewel School team, Christiane Ross, has already created some stunning projects with this tool, like this cool bracelet. Christiane is so enthusiastic about the Viking knit tool, saying, “I always tell myself when learning anything new that the first few tries don’t really count because there’s always a learning curve. This one was just as pretty and just as smooth as all of those magazine photos that had intimidated me years before. Now I can do it too!” Watch for Christiane on Jewel School demonstrating how easy it is to add a new dimension to your projects.
Polymer clay queen Lisa Pavelka is coming on Sunday, February 27 with some amazing kits for mixed media jewelry. Make sure you tune in to learn from a master artist and get some new toys for your studio! February is going to be a busy month at Jewel School!
Our Jewel School buying team recently made a merchandising trip to LA and brought back some lovely new beads. Look for them to appear on upcoming shows on Jewelry Television or shop the latest selections on JTV.com. We have a bevy of beautiful gemstone hearts here just in time for Valentine’s Day. They’d be absolutely perfect for a romantic charm bracelet.
Get your torches ready...Art Clay™ is returning to Jewel School with the Sunday morning show on February 6! We’re bringing all new exclusive kits just in time for Valentine’s gift giving. It will make a great gift for you, too! Jackie Trudy from Art Clay™ will be here and personally show us great techniques for using the new products.
We’ve heard from many of our customers about the successes they are having with our first Art Clay ™ kit (ARTCLY0001). In her review, Queenofsand proclaims, “Just what I’ve been waiting for!” She goes on to say she has seen silver used on craft shows requiring a kiln and that’s not compatible with apartment living. “Getting a kit with all the basics is wonderful.” We think so, too! From Arizona, Sam123 writes, “The kit is a tremendous value!” After browsing the Art Clay™ inventory, Sam123 is convinced lot of creativity is packaged in the beginner’s kit. “This is going to be an exciting adventure! Awesome!” Awesome indeed! We simply can’t wait to see your creations! You can send photos of them to us at JewelSchool@jtv.com and we’ll share them on a future Jewel School show!
Speaking of sending us your pictures, we’ve got some helpful hints for taking great pictures of your jewelry including some from a very talented customer, Fred Thornberry. We love highlighting your talents and sharing your stories, knowing we’re inspiring your creativity is what motivates us here at Jewel School. This month our customer spotlight is on Cathy W. from northwest Texas. She shares her excitement for working with wire and her exquisite wire and gemstone cross. Finally we have a lovely and simple valentine card and earring set we hope will inspire your creativity.
There’s more Jewel School on JTV! It’s so very exciting news to share with you that. Show Hosts Kim Prentiss and Katie Rooke are now hosting a third weekly Jewel School show for our West Coast customers! Tune in from 12 a.m. - 2 a.m. every Tuesday for Jewel School After Dark.
Until next time, happy beading!
- The Jewel School Team
Valentine's Day Jewelry Design - Queen of Hearts Earrings Design by Margot Potter for Jewel School
Ah, Valentine’s Day. Love it or lump it, you can’t escape it! We love each and every one of you and are so grateful to have such a great group of creative people engaged with us here at Jewel School. Why not remind your best girlfriend how much she means to you this year with a lovely pair of wire and crystal earrings and a funny card to make her smile?
I’d put this image I added text to in Photoshop on a card that opens up with the earrings hanging inside. It’s a fun way to present jewelry.
Materials
JSWR89B 20 gauge black Artistic Wire
JSWR88D 22 gauge gun metal Artistic Wire
JLW2507K 6 8mm fuchsia SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS faceted rounds
Tools
10mm dowel
PLIER22 2 pairs chain nose pliers
PLIER27 Round nose pliers
PLIER25 Flush cutters
JST439 Steel bench block
1. Cut off a 5” segment of 20 gauge black wire.
2. Use chain nose pliers to bend a sharp bend in the center (this is the pointed side of your heart.
3. Round the wire ends into a heart shape, use a dowel if necessary to maintain the curve.
4. Use round nose pliers to turn a loop in both ends.
5. Use 22 gauge gun metal wire to bind the loops together as in photo. I wrapped them three times, cut the excess wire and tucked the tail under with chain nose pliers.
6. Hammer the shapes flat using your chasing hammer and steel bench block.
7. Create matching ear wires bending a 1.5” segment of wire over a 10mm dowel. Turn a loop in one end and make a small curve in the other using round nose pliers. We have a video on demand you can access from the Jewel School page on JTV.com that shows you how to make ear wires.
8. Hammer front side of ear wires flat with chasing hammer and bench block.
9. Thread each crystal with 22 gauge gun metal wire, loop one end and coil the other. If you don’t know how, you can see video of how to do this on the Jewel School video on demand page.
10. Use the 10mm dowel to create two jump rings with the 20 gauge black wire.
11. Attach the ear wires to the top of each heart using chain nose pliers. Attach them on opposite sides to create a left and a right earring.
12. Attach the jump ring and dangles to the bottom of each heart using your chain nose pliers to open and secure the ring closed with tension.
How to Photograph Your Jewelry by Margot Potter for Jewel School
If you’re selling your jewelry online or creating a portfolio, you need to know a few tricks to produce the best possible photos of your work. It took me years of practice to get better at taking what are known in the business as beauty shots but what I call romance shots. Doesn’t romance shot sound so...romantic?!
The key to making images that enhance your work is to keep your designs the focus of the picture, show them off to their best advantage, light them so they sparkle and shine, and use a background that doesn’t drive attention away from your fabulous work. That all sounds good on paper, but it can be frustrating to attempt to make it happen. I’m going to share a few tips from my own experiences and we’ve also asked Fred Thornberry to share his tips after viewing so many of his lovely and well photographed submissions to Jewel School.
A few little pointers that will help you immensely are the following:
Whenever you can, use natural light. I find the perfect light is not too sunny and not too cloudy. I turn my flash off when I’m in this kind of light so I don’t get shine coming off of the beads or metal.
Example of a poor shot
Example of a nice shot
Get a good camera. I upgraded to a Canon EOS two years ago and it has made a world of difference in my photographs. If you’re selling your jewelry and using pictures to help sell it, you can write off anything you use for your business if you itemize your taxes. If you don’t have a steady hand, invest in a tripod.
Use simple and pretty backgrounds and refrain from props and coins in the shots. You want your designs to be the star, not a wrinkly sheet or a clumsy prop. I have a small pile of scrap book papers with texture on them that lets my designs really stand out and be the star of each picture. Some folks use old book pages, distressed old wood...get creative!
If you can afford a table top light box, it’s another great investment. Some designs like crystal and faceted gemstones look much better in this kind of white, crisp lighting. If you search the internet, there are lots of tutorials on how to build your own light box. When you see the product shots on air at JTV, they’re all shot in a room full of light boxes.
I use photo editing software, particularly Photoshop, for anything that needs a little fix like the lighting balance, stray things that accidentally got into the shot and sharpening focus. You can do a lot to correct with just a few minutes and a few tools. I use the eraser tool, sharpen focus function and auto contrast function on a regular basis. This is where you can also shrink your photos. For the web, 72 dpi is a good resolution, if you need things a little crisper you can go to 150 dpi. For print the standard is 300 dpi. (DPI is dots per inch.) You can also size your photos to a manageable size for emailing or uploading. I try to keep files under 1 MB for emailing.
One of our regular Jewel School contributors Fred Thornberry always sends in terrific pictures of his work. I reached out to him to share some of his pointers with the class. Here’s what Fred does to create his great project photos:
“I purchased a kit that includes the light box, side lights and a light stand in front that uses a "sparkler" LED bulb. The photos are taken with a Canon EOS 7D digital camera and a Canon EF macro 100 mm lens. I don't use any editing software since I strive to show the gemstones as natural as possible. I usually take my time trying different shutter speeds to get the exposure that looks the best. Some set-ups also require depth of field increases to focus a greater amount of the finished piece.
I also like to experiment with different techniques including hanging the finished pieces on neck stands and laying necklaces on white and black acrylic sheets that came with the kit. Another technique that adds interest and color to the photos is the use of silk flowers tucked to the side of necklaces. I also give credit to JTV's production crew because they make my photos look so good on high definition television. “ Fred Thornberry
Fred's Light Box Setup
Like everything, practice makes perfect and good tools make for better results. I always suggest you buy the best tools that you can afford. If you can get a decent digital camera and some nice backgrounds, that’s a great place to start. It’s exciting to make something beautiful and take a beautiful picture of it. We are excited when we open the Jewel School email and see your beautiful creations. Keep ‘em coming!
- Margot
Jewel School Show and Tell: Ruby Wire Wrap Necklace by Cathy W. from Texas
Cathy W. sends along images of a beautiful wire wrapped cross with rubies she made after viewing the JTV DVDs she had originally purchased as a gift for her very creative daughter. In her own words, Cathy explains. “One day I was bored and decided to watch the wire wrapping DVD’s and as soon as I saw how it was done, I knew I could do it. I had absolutely no doubt about it, which was a little weird since it is not the easiest thing in the world to do. This was about six months ago and I have been doing it every chance I get since that day. The cross pendant featured is a design I came up with one day when I was in my car driving to work. I quickly drew the design on paper so I would remember how I wanted it to look. The piece is called “Celebration”. The cross is a celebration of life (birthdays) and faith. I made this cross for my sister because her birthday is in July.”
Cathy’s first adventure in wire wrapping came with a priceless family moment. “I began by making the cabochon link bracelet featured on one of the DVD’s that Dale “Cougar” Armstrong teaches. I was getting very frustrated because I am a perfectionist and it wasn’t looking as good as I wanted it to look. You have to understand that my son and my husband are NOT INTO jewelry because they are rough and tough cowboys. They came in from riding horses and immediately came to the table where I was working. They looked completely fascinated. It was really funny to me. Just then, my son’s girlfriend called and he told her to hang on because he was going to send her a picture of what I had made. He then took a picture on his phone and texted it to her. She called back to say it was very pretty and he agreed with her. It was a moment that made me feel good and gave me inspiration to continue and not give up.”
Family is important to Cathy, a mother of two, and she plans her life under the wide open Texas sky around her husband and two sons. “My family and I travel the rodeo circuit as my son is a calf roper and team roper. We live in the country and have horses, cattle as well as other animals. I love cooking and baking for them. I’ve been performing since my teens and playing guitar and singing are relaxing moments for me. Absolutely anything can inspire my jewelry designs. Now that I make jewelry, I really pay attention to what others I am around wear. I love anything sparkly and I like the history of gemstones. I have immersed myself in learning as much as I can about jewelry so that I can design better and be better at selling my pieces. I have done a couple of craft fairs and want to do more. I have an etsy.com website. The hardest thing for me is finding the time to take and edit quality pictures. I would rather create jewelry than take pictures, so I am just doing the best I can do right now. My goal is to get a couple hundred pieces on my website.”
Our creative legacy is important as jewelry makers and may mean so much to a granddaughter, perhaps not yet born. Cathy shares her thoughts about what stringing and wire wrapping and creativity mean to her. “I like the thought of my jewelry being passed on and living on after I’m gone from this earth. I hope my jewelry creates smiles and years of enjoyment.”
Materials suggestions for Cathy's Necklace
JSWR45 20g 14k GF Square 1/2 hard 5' wire
JSWR40 18g 1/2 rd wire
BKS764 set of 2 6mm rd lab rubies
JLW2601 gold beads
JLW3344A 4mm rd red cracked quartz substituted for red bicone Swarovski beads or
JLW241A 4-5mm rd ruby
Tools:
Flush Cutters- Plier25
Chain nose pliers - Plier22
Flat nose Pliers- Plier23
Round nosed - Plier26
Pin Vise: JSPV03
Jewelry Making Supplies At a Huge Discount - The Jewel School Outlet
Whether you’re making an heirloom piece for a family member or designing jewelry for the annual craft show, quality workmanship is a high priority. When creating a very special piece, consider browsing the Jewel School Outlet. Here we keep an assortment of strands, focal beads, and other jewelry making supplies at reduced prices because in most case we no longer have enough left for a Jewel School show. Real gemstone beads, for example, can turn your next project into a stunning eye catcher. Be sure to check back often as new products arrive in the Jewel School Outlet on a regular basis.
