Let's get fit for summer! Hold on, we are not talking about curling weights and doing deadlifts. Let's leave that to the pros! Beads are vitamins for healthy creativity! We are talking about flexing our creative muscles and training our jewelry making skills. Let's grab a healthy handful of beads and workout a plan to make earrings that are perfect accessories for a summer dress. Let's make a beach necklace from a collection of beads that evokes the hottest season. These videos are a warm-up for better beading. Tone up a sloppy crimping style. Let's stretch those artistic hamstrings and find inspiration!
You need some conditioning if you want to be on top of your game this summer. You are going to need to trim the fat and nail your beading techniques. Hone your crimping skills. Learn how to use a theme to make earrings look amazing. Kristen is your first instructor. She has some jewelry design ideas that will punch up your earrings. Use carrier beads and charms to make amazing earrings. Next on deck, Sara is going to show you how to burn calories creating the perfect necklace with summer colors. She also adds a quick dash of bee themed beads. Bee the most beautiful beach jewelry designer! But before we get to the main events, we are going to warm up with a look at our upcoming Customer Appreciation Week. You are not going to want to miss this exclusive event. Join our VIB beading group on Facebook for an all access jam with nine bead stores we love. Customer Appreciation Week is free to take part in. If you want to elevate your game, each presenter is offering limited availability kits on their sites. Make-Along with your favorite instructors! Let's make jewelry!
Customer Appreciation Week Butterfly Garden Design Kit
Join us for Customer Appreciation Week (July 26th-30th). We will be hosting a week long celebration for our favorite people - our community and YOU! There will be live jewelry making demonstrations and sales. Each company participating in this event will offer kits and supplies so you can make-along as they create. The live content for this kit will be exclusively available to members of our Soft Flex VIB Studio Facebook Group. Join the group to see the event schedule. If you opt out of purchasing the kit, you can still visit the group and watch our presentations for free - join us for a free online beading class!
Don't miss out! Supplies are limited so be sure to grab your kits early!
This kit includes beading wire, components, and beads. Everything you need to make a bunch of lovely jewelry designs. You will just need basic tools to finish - cutters and crimping pliers.
Jewelry Making Videos
Learn How To Make Jewelry In 30 Seconds
Check out our 30 second jewelry tutorials on Soft Flex Company's Instagram Reels! Master a new technique in minutes. These videos move quick but are easy to follow. You will get a sense of how to use your tools and finish your crimps securely. If you need more assistance, make sure you check out our YouTube catalog for deeper dives into jewelry making education. Become a better beader today!
Customer Appreciation Week
Customer Appreciation Week, hosted by Soft Flex Company, is a week-long virtual event that takes place in our Soft Flex VIB Studio Facebook Group from July 26 - 30, 2021. There will be FREE live jewelry making classes all week, just buy the make-along kits from each presenter! We teamed up with local bead stores across the country to bring you multiple fun and unique classes each day. We curated this event as a way to say THANK YOU to you, our amazing customers and beading community as well as 9 of our loyal bead store customers, who work hard to sell our products.
Meet the presenters:
Andrew Thornton and William Jones of Allegory Gallery
Joyce Trowbridge of Just Bead It!
Rebecca Combs of Design & Adorn
Kellie Sutton of Kellie's Bead Boutique
Jamie Yoshida of The Bead Gallery
Nealay Patel of SilverSilk & More
Sara Oehler and Kristen Fagan of Soft Flex Company
Buy a kit and make-along with the presenters or just enjoy the instructional videos. You are sure to learn a new jewelry technique. Join our VIB group so you do not miss any of the fun! Learn how to use a loom. Learn how to use a kumihimo disk. Learn how to make jewelry with mixed media. Learn how to finish your jewelry securely and with a high quality clasp. This is going to be a week of celebration.
DIY Earrings: How To Make Earrings Using TierraCast Succulent Charms
This week on Free Spirit Beading, we got another lesson on how to think out of the box. Kristen loves to explore new ideas and make jewelry in fun and creative new ways. For this episode, Kristen grabbed some of the new carrier beads on our shelves. Carrier beads are commonly used by peyote stitching jewelry makers. Carrier beads carry or hold a loop of peyote stitch. This bead allows a designer to skip some of the headache of this craft. You can also use these 2-hole beads for regular bead stringing designs. Kristen took it a step further and created earrings with these lovely beads. She paired her carrier beads with succulent charms from TierraCast. Follow along and make the earrings Kristen made. Or just take cues from her and create your own fabulous earrings!
From Kristen:
We are "succa's for these new charms from TierraCast! These sweet components are cast from actual Echeveria Elegans plants! Fire resistant, drought resistant, adaptable and resilient. This charm is part of TierraCast's Renewal collection of uplifting and encouraging elements for our times, symbolizing transformation, strength and connectivity. They are perfect for the succulent and plant lovers in your life.
Lakeside Bead Mixes (Sold Out)
Czech Glass Bicone Beads
Czech Glass Carrier Beads
TierraCast Succulent Charm, Antique Metal Plate
Soft Flex Beading Wire, .019 Diameter in Your Favorite Colors
2x2mm Crimp Tubes
Ear Wires
Magical Crimping Pliers
Cutters
Chain Nose Pliers
Jewelry Making Tutorial With A Summer Vacation Beading Collection And Bee Kind Bead Strand
Sara jumped on cam for a live show on Wednesday. She wanted to make a necklace with our Summer Vacation beading collection. She was also abuzz about our Bee Kind beading colorway and wanted to use the bead strand in a design. Sara announced our upcoming Customer Appreciation Week before beginning her jewelry making demo. This was such a fun live show. As she started her the demonstration, other presenters from the upcoming Customer Appreciation celebration swung by and visited us on chat. If you would like to join us for Customer Appreciation Week, this is a great place to get a preview of what you have to look forward to.
Make sure you swing by our limited summer category - Summer Vacation. We have themed tools and beads that will help you make that perfect beach necklace for a friend or for yourself. Sara made a necklace while she filmed this video. Afterwards, she took to Instagram and filmed a Reel. She made a lovely set of earrings to complement this stunning necklace. A Reel is a thirty second jewelry demonstration. Learn how to make an easy set of earrings and complete your jewelry set!
This necklace will look great on any color. Our Lakeside Trios are a great design choice. Sara put the color option to a vote and Yellow Lemon Quartz color Soft Flex Beading Wire won. Yellow is back! Our Yellow is a perfect color match for Pantone's Color of the Year - Illuminating Yellow. If you want to design a necklace that is firmly in step with the world of fashion, check out our colors! You can also use our Satin Silver as a color match for Pantone's other Color of the Year - Ultimate Gray!
Lakeside Bead Mixes (Sold Out)
Bee Kind Bead Strand
13mm Faceted Round Blue-Green Fire Polished Czech Glass Beads
Trios Lakeside Special Collection Beading Wire Pack
Soft Flex Beading Wire, .019 Diameter in Illuminating Yellow or Ultimate Gray
2x2mm Crimp Tubes
Magical Crimping Pliers
Chain Nose Pliers
Cutters
Join our Facebook group – VIB. Stay in the know. Stay up to date. From our bead shows to our video shows and sales, you can stay in touch with us. The community is full of artistic and helpful beaders and crafty people. Inspire and be inspired. Share your pictures and get the beading bug from others!
Visit the Soft Flex Company YouTube Channel!
Blog contributor Thomas Soles loves Jazz Age writers and crunchy french fries. His favorite gemstones are Lapis and Pietersite. His favorite hobby is day dreaming. And his favorite mustache is Freddie Mercury's. As you can see, he has a healthy (or possibly unhealthy) sense of humor. You can write to him at Thomas@SoftFlexCompany.com