I just created a new jewelry making video of a pattern I call Serpentine Necklace.

This beading design is very easy to create and uses the same basic pattern as the Serpentine Bracelet, but with a little twist added.

I first made the necklace with the same design as the bracelet and I liked the result but I just thought it was a little too simple and could use a little something extra, so I added a picot design using seed beads.

The interesting part was I had to make the picot at the center of each 5mm swarovski pearl so it required an odd number of size 11 seed beads around each pearl to make the picot be centered on the pearl.

The picot gave a triangle accent to the necklace making a very delicate bead weaving design that I really liked.

I first tried the design with reddish colored pearls and dark purple seed beads and I liked it, but I also made one with white colored pearls and I liked it the best.

With the white colored pearls this design would look very nice being worn as bridal jewelry.

It would also be very easy to use this design to make a matching bracelet.

Here is a preview video of the video class:

If you are interested in taking this jewelry making class it is available both as an online video and as a DVD.

You can find more information by clicking on this link:

Serpentine Necklace Jewelry Making Class

After a lot of thought and many requests from customers, I have decided to start offering written beading patterns at Jewelry Making Professor.

Our expertise will continue to be on video education, so why written patterns?

I still believe that videos are by far the easiest way to learn jewelry making, especially for beginners and especially for complex patterns.

But many of my more advanced students told me that once they had mastered basic beading techniques that written patterns weren’t as difficult for them to decipher any more.

Speaking from my own experience, I can understand where they are coming from.

I’m still not a big fan of written patterns, but after years of making jewelry it is much easier for me to quickly pick up on the design flow of written jewelry making patterns.

So if I offer written patterns for intermediate and advanced students, they will have more options available to them and will be able to create even more wonderful jewelry pieces.

As I started looking in to offering written patterns I discovered something else.

There are many very talented jewelry instructors out there who have created patterns for teaching at bead shops but they are limited to offering them only to students that take jewelry making classes where they teach.

So by offering their patterns through Jewelry Making Professor they will be able to expand their market to a worldwide audience.

So it’s a win for both jewelry makers and jewelry making instructors.

I have already put a few patterns in the jewelry making store and will continue to add in the future.

You can check them out here:

Beading Patterns

I just released a new jewelry making class on video that shows how to make a Serpentine Bracelet using 8mm Czech Fire Polished round beads.

Using czech beads is a little unusual for me because I prefer to work with swarovski crystal beads most of the time.

But when I tried this design with swarovski 5000 beads they just seemed a little too round and I didn’t like the result very much.

However, the czech beads had more of an oval shape which I thought made the design much nicer.

On top of that, though I usually like the shiny reflection of swarovski crystals I preferred not to have that with this design because I was trying to use colors that gave a feeling of fall weather.

Fall and sparkling just don’t seem to go together for me!

This is a very basic criss-cross technique but I wanted to show beginning jewelry makers that even with very basic techniques you can create some very nice designs.

The only thing you have to remember with this technique is that one side of the string will always have seed beads and the other will always have the czech beads.

Also, I normally use monofilament string when weaving but this design is so simple that I decided to use nylon coated wire from Beadalon.

I also used a shorter extender because the normal size extender would look too long on a bracelet. So I just cut my extender down to just a little over one inch long.

Here is a preview clip of the video lesson: Serpentine Bracelet Jewelry Making Class

If you are interested in this jewelry making video you can get it here:

Serpentine Bracelet Video

I just finished a new jewelry making video that shows how to make a Gemini Choker Necklace.

I was at Joanne’s a couple of weeks ago and was browsing around while my daughter was off searching for something.

I came across a section showing many different lace ribbon designs and I started thinking about how I could use those ribbons to combine with swarovski beads to create a choker necklace.

I decided to purchase a black ribbon with small loops hanging off the bottom to see what I could create to hang from those loops.

I toyed with putting a drop in the middle as the focal point but it was too heavy and pulled the ribbon out of shape.

So I used some 4mm bicone beads in two colors, black and topaz, and used double right angle weave to create a small flower shaped focal point.

After that, I hung small 3mm beads off loops surrounding the focal point just three on each side. I looked at going even further up the ribbon but I didn’t like the look when it got too far toward the top of the necklace.

One thing I learned quickly was that if you do your pinwork and connect directl to the loops on the ribbon, the pinwork can get easily hung up in the fabric.

What I did instead was use jump rings through each of the loops and then attached the beads with pinwork to the jump rings.

I think the design lends itself to using some lighter color beads as well to create a different look. For example, using pink and red beads might make a cute choker necklace for a younger girl.

One thing I would recommend though is to stay with the black colored ribbon because keep in mind that you will not be able to wash the jewelry and the lighter color ribbons will probably start to look a little dirty after prolonged use.

Here is a preview of the Gemini choker necklace jewelry making class:

If you are interested in this jewelry making video, you can get it at this link:

Gemini Choker Necklace Jewerly Making Video