AdornmentCraft

This is a subject of some controversy among decor enthusiasts. Some believe that beautiful, old wood pieces should never be painted. They say it ruins their beauty and is a travesty against solid wood - a material rarely used in household furniture anymore because of its scarcity and expense.

[The chair. Originally uploaded to Flickr by La Belle Avenue]

Some folks (including my husband) go even farther, arguing that old wood furniture should never be refinished in any way, even if it’s in bad shape. (Someone’s been watching Antiques Road Show.) As a consequence, we have several pretty scratched-up, but nice, old hand-me-down pieces throughout our house.

Then there are the artsy, reclaiming types, who can’t resist the challenge of turning an old, worn-out piece of furniture into something colorful, unique, and eye-catching.

I’m a bit torn on the issue. I agree that valuable, ornate, antique pieces should be preserved as close to their original state as possible. But I’m also ok with updating pieces that are otherwise not worth much because of their poor condition or unpopular style.

What’s your take?

Shortly I’ll post in AdornmentCraft on techniques for repainting old wood items. If you have any tips or questions along those lines, post them in a comment and I’ll try to address them.

If you’ve read through the December issue of Bead & Button, the interesting-looking beads in this add may have caught your eye. (They certainly caught mine.)

Handmade by Debbi Austin, they feature metal from all kinds of kitshy vintage found-objects, including old toys, games, and photographs. (Take a look at the top of the bead in the add - it’s actually a beautiful old coin, which works perfectly in the design.)

Debbie was selected as a Finalist for this technique in the 2007 Bead & Button Bead Dreams Contest. To find out which of her one-of-kind beads are currently available for purchase, visit the Glass Onion website.

Jewelry Television, the cable-TV and online seller of jewelry, is now offering a series of instructional DVDs on making jewelry with gemstones. It might sound strange that these purveyors of fine and highly-commercialized jewelry would teach jewelry making. What you may not know is that in addition to finished jewelry, they also sell loose gemstones, including lots of cabochons - which, of course, can be handcrafted into pendants pretty easily.

Accordingly, the introductory DVD, Basic Wire Wrapping, covers basic techniques for wrapping cabochons with wire. The instructor is expert wire-worker Dale Armstrong.

Currently, the DVD alone is $24.99. You can also buy it as a kit with basic wire-wrapping tools and supplies for $99.99.

Example clips of the video are available on the Jewelry School website (a nice touch). From what I can tell, it looks pretty well put-together. I look forward to seeing what topics they cover in the next DVDs in the series - and how beginning jewelry crafters respond to them.

If you decide to give either a try, let me know what you think of it!

Artistic Wire Ltd. (who recently ran this add in Bead & Button), has some cute holiday wire projects to download for free on their site. (Now’s a good time to get started at least thinking about holiday projects.)

Here are the ones that caught my eye:

• Mini Tri-Colored Christmas Trees, by Ed Sinclair
• Holiday Tri-Fold Card, by Lauren Johnston
• Wire Snowflake, also by Lauren Johnston

Artistic Wire is permanently colored copper wire - which means the color doesn’t normally rub or wear off, and it’s very easy to bend and shape. (As with all colored wire, the color can scratch off however, so always be gentle on it with your pliers.)

By the way, if you’re a Bead & Button reader, get a free 8-yard spool of 22 gauge red wire with an online purchase of at least $10.00 now through December 31 using coupon code BB1207.

If you don’t have the energy to tackle anything major this season, consider using colored wire to make quick and easy ornament hooks.

Here’s my personal method:

Make Your Own Holiday Ornament Hooks

Enjoy!

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~ Shop for Artistic Wire on eBay ~

~ Just getting started? Learn the basics of jewelry wire-work with my book
Teach Yourself Visually: Jewelry Making & Beading ~

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For those of you who string beads - especially seed beads - there’s good news in the world of Bead Stoppers: they’re finally available in a smaller size. The new Mini Bead Stopper is about 1/2 the size of the original. The smaller size makes it lighter-weight and less likely to get in the way while you work.

I find Bead Stoppers especially handy for making multi-strand necklaces, bracelets, and beaded tassels. If you need to string several strands before finishing their ends, use Bead Stoppers to keep your beads in place until you’re ready to pull them altogether.

Get them on the Bead Stopper site or grab some on eBay.