Learn How To Use Ammonite Czech Glass Beads In 3 Different Jewelry Designs

Kristen Fagan and I had a blast filming a Live Beading Party on Zoom. We streamed it to the Soft Flex Company Facebook page. We had fun hanging out with the amazing and talented Jill Wiseman of  JillWisemanDesigns.com. 

Jill is an excellent bead weaving artist, author and teacher. She has an incredible  YouTube channel with several hundred free project ideas. 

Here is her channel description: 

"My goal is to bring you great new designs, and to make beading easy and fun. I have tutorials and patterns appropriate for both beginning beaders who are looking to dip their toes in for the first time and test the waters, and expert beaders who are on the look out for the next amazing design.

I became a full-time beadweaving jewelry designer and teacher in 2004, and have had the pleasure of teaching at national bead shows like Bead&Button and Bead Fest ever since, as well as traveling to bead stores and bead societies across the world. My home is in Austin, Texas, with my mother (June), as well as my two dogs (Winston & Poppy) and two cats (Josie & Piper) who only occasionally eat the beads.

I am also the author of Jill Wiseman's Beautiful Beaded Ropes, a book released by Lark Publishing in 2012, and was proud to be selected as one of Beadwork Magazine's Designers of the Year for 2013."

Jill opened our Serenity Shores Design Kit (Sold Out) and then created a necklace using a mix of kit components and some dainty beaded beads that she created using super duos and seed beads!

From Jill:

I finally got my quick beaded bead video filmed today! I promised this video when I showed the bead in the Soft Flex Company FB Live Bead Party on Tuesday with Sara Oehler & Kristen Fagan! I hope you enjoy making them!

Here is the link to Jill's quick beaded bead video on Facebook.

I love how Jill's design turned out. She pointed out that if you are using a colored Soft Flex Beading Wire, you don't have to bead up the entire design. The wire can be left exposed and become part of the design. 

Then, I broke open my Ammonite  Czech Glass Beads in Jade color and strung a fun bracelet. I used the .019 Medium Soft Flex Beading Wire in Fluorite that came in the kit and a few of my leftover beads from the mix. 

I love these TierraCast toggles. Jill and I talked about what a great job TierraCast does with their metal components. The plating is so sturdy, even on the most acidic skin. 

Jill shared samples from her latest YouTube video. I am not a seed bead weaver, but even I want to try these earrings. You can find her new pattern on her YouTube channelYouTube channel! 

Knitting on a spool with Soft Flex Beading Wire in Medium .019 is one of my favorite techniques. When I realized that I had one Ammonite Czech Glass Bead left, I knew that it would be a perfect centerpiece for this style of bracelet. 

The knitting spools come in 3, 4 or 5 peg varieties. If you use a 3-peg knitting spool, the output will be smaller than a 4 or 5. For this design, I used a 4-peg knitting spools, but you could use 3 or 5 to make it thinner or thicker. As you knit the wire, it will weave down the middle of the knitting spool. 

And eventually the weave will come out of the bottom. I have a 6 inch wrist. I knitted 6 inches of woven wire to get the right size for me. 

Although Soft Flex Beading Wire is a stainless steel wire, when knitted, the netting will stretch! So you can actually stretch this bracelet right over your hand and onto your wrist. 

When you are ready to pull it off of the knitting spool, string the wire end into each loop on each peg. Then gently pull the design off of the spool. When you pull the wire end, it will cinch up the loops like a gunnysack. 

Finishing it is easy! String an end cap, a 2x2mm crimp tube, an Ammonite Czech glass bead and a 2x2mm crimp tube. On the other side, string an end cap and then pass back through the last crimp tube. Crimp the tube and cover with a 3mm crimp cover. Now, crimp the second tube on the design and cover with a 3mm crimp cover. Trim excess wire. 

Isn't it pretty!? We have the Ammonite Czech glass beads in 4 colors and I started to imagine all of the fun color combinations between all of the wire color options and beads. You can also use a connector or a clasp if you prefer. 

Beading with these Ammonite Czech glass beads is a dream. They are just SO pretty! For this design, I mixed a Serenity Shore bead strand (Sold Out) with them to make a sparkling beach design. 

Sometimes, I love to just create a simply strung design. I feel like the gorgeous toggle clasp in this really brings it all together. 

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Sara Oehler (pronounced Ay-ler) is a well-known jewelry designer living in the Bay Area. Sara is the author of several beading books, including her latest title, written with Kristen Fagan, Seed Bead Revolution. She has designed and written for numerous publications including: BeadStyle, Bead&Button, Bead Trends, Stringing, Jewelry in Fashion Trends, Simply Beads, The Flow and Today's Creative Home Arts. Currently, Sara is the Sales and Marketing Manager for Soft Flex Company.Ask Sara Bead Expert
Blog: softflexcompany.com/beading-blog
Email: Sara@SoftFlexCompany.com