Newsletter, September/October 2011 Welcome to our First International Online Newsletter! We are pleased and excited to bring to you our first international jewelry artist’s newsletter, “Jubili’s Jewels”. We are proud to have customers from all over the US, as well as from such countries as England, Australia and Russia! From near and far, we appreciate our customers, who we consider our new friends, and through this newsletter, we’ll share our common enjoyment of jewelry arts and crafts with you! We’ll feature product news, helpful tidbits, project samples, and on our web site...FREE patterns! Let us know what you like that you’ve seen, and what you’d like to see! We aim to please, to educate, and to spark your creativity and enthusiasm! We love to hear from you, so let us know what you think! We hope you’ll be pleased with our newsletter and our ever-expanding web site. Please spread the word about our fabulous e commerce web site to your beading, knitting, and mixed media hobbyist friends and family. We hope to be your premier source for inspiration and supplies on the internet! Miyuki’s Newest Beads In case you haven’t seen these new Miyuki additions, we’re excited to showcase them for you here! Tila Beads Left: Sku# TL-2008 Right: A Jubili Jewelry original Tila Bead Matte Met Patina Iris by Jes Lynch, a former employee This great new addition to the Miyuki collection is a flat rectangular bead (measuring 5 mm x 5mm x 1.9 mm), with two parallel holes, each measuring 0.8 mm. We’re having great fun designing jewelry for Tila beads, and judging from all the magazines featuring Tila bead designs these days, so is everyone else! Look for next month’s FREE TILA BEAD PATTERN! Long Magatamas Sku# LMA-140FR Long Magatama Matte Tr Red Orange AB If you like the look of daggers, you’ll probably love Miyuki’s new “Long Magatama”. Shaped somewhat like a dagger, the Long Magatama’s hole is slanted. Because of the slanted hole, the beads will all lean in one direction when strung. Long Magatamas are a good choice for fringes and as bead groupings. Jubili Beads & Yarns® Newsletter September/October 2011 Page 1 “The BEST place anywhere to nurture your creative spirit!” www.jubilibeadsandyarns.com The Beader’s Angle Jubili Beads & Yarns® Online is a proud source of Miyuki brand seed beads! Now with over 2,000 different colors, shapes and finishes in our online store, we make it easy to find your favorites! Why did we choose Miyuki? Not only for the huge variety of different beads. Miyuki beads also offer consistently reliable uniformity of size, shape, & color of all of their beads, from batch to batch. For those new to beading, the Japanese and Czechs make the largest variety of seed beads, although other countries such as Taiwan, India and France make them as well. What are the important differences between Japanese and Czech seed beads? Nomenclature Color, Size & Shape Uniformity The Japanese and Czech beads both have a number system for naming the bead sizes, but the systems are different. Miyuki bead size numbers range from size 2/0, (read as just “2”, and also written 2/0), to 3/0, 5/0, 6/0, 8/0, 11/0, & 15/0. It’s important to remember that, the smaller the number, the bigger the bead. Therefore, Miyuki’s largest seed bead is the 2/0, and its smallest is the 15/0. Japanese beads, especially those made by Miyuki, are known for their high degree of uniformity between different beads of the same type. That includes uniformity of color between batches, bead width & shape, the measurement and smoothness of the bead’s hole, (or “lumen”), and the consistency of size between beads of the same size. This small range of variation in Miyuki beads makes them excellent for hand or loom bead weaving, as your “bead tapestry” is smooth, neat, and unrippled. Czech Beads Left: Sku# J8-147FR 8/0 Matte Tr Emerald AB Right: Sku# J11-151FR 11/0 Matte Tr Cobalt AB The Czech bead numbering system is slightly different, and includes sizes 9/0, 10/0, 13/0, etc. Some bead books will offer a chart of the different beads from both countries, and the conversion or comparison sizes between the two types. Take a few Czech seed beads, such as the 6/0 beads, and look at any two seed beads of the same size side by side. You’ll notice the bead widths and even slightly irregular shapes look totally different. Use this to your advantage! Although not always desirable for a bead weave pattern, the non-uniformity of Czech beads can give you a fun, eclectic look to your bead creations, such as free-form designs, bead stringing, and even bead embroidery. Coming Next month in The Beader’s Angle: What ARE Delicas?! Left: Sku# DBL-0325 Right: Sku# DBLC-0056 8/0 Delicas Matte Met Blue Iris (F) 8/0 Raspberry Lined Crystal AB Cut Jubili Beads & Yarns® Newsletter September/October 2011 Page 2 “The BEST place anywhere to nurture your creative spirit!” www.jubilibeadsandyarns.com Mixed Media Maven Mixed Media Maven Tip #1 Now 58 years old, I still remember sitting on the couch with my mother, Eleanor, when she taught me how to knit at the age of 8. Born left-handed, she was in the generation that was forced to change to right-handedness; but she could not change only 2 things: eating and knitting! I remember being fascinated by the look of concentration on her face as she watched her every hand motion, thinking out loud as to how she would transpose each and every step from left to right-handedness. Dying to knit or crochet with beads but don’t know the secret? Here it is…. Somehow she did it, and to this day, knitting, and to a lesser degree, crocheting, still have a big role in my gallery of crafts. I have knitted everything from sweaters, to ponchos, bedspreads, (great wedding present I was tempted to keep!), a lacy blouse and skirt set that I wore to several weddings, a ski sweater for my husband, (still known by his buddies as “The Sweater”!), and countless little things like headbands and baby clothes. So it was a natural progression of my love for knitting and crocheting when, seeing the new “novelty yarns” for the first time as a new beader, my immediate thought was…”WOW! BEADS with these yarns”!!! That was the beginning of what we now know as “mixed media”, and I’m proud to say that Jubili Beads & Yarns®, which opened its retail doors in June, 2003, was one of the first stores in the country to combine the two media. Since then, we have had several of our mixed media designs &/or products published. These include my original design, “The Jubili Scarf”, (Beadwork Magazine, October/November 2004), our Jubili Fiber Hanks & Cards, (Beadwork Magazine, “Cool Stuff” column, 2005), Crazy Quilt Pendants, (Beadwork Magazine, “Cool Stuff” column, February/March 2006), and Kris Buchanen’s Edition 2 of her wonderful MicroMacramé book series, in 2006. Web Site Updates In our web site update section, we’ll let you know what’s new at Jubili Beads & Yarns® Online, from news to new inventory, a new YouTube video, or a Jubili Contest! You won’t want to miss out on any of our online specials, so be sure to open our Jubili Jewels Newsletter when it arrives at your computer! If you like what you see, tell your family and friends about us, so they too can enjoy our monthly jaunt into the joyful realm of your creative spirit! The Big Eye Needle! Sku#: JBY4876 2.125” and 5” Big Eye Needle Sold in two sizes, short (2.125”) or long (5”), this versatile needle is what you’ll use to string your beads onto the fiber you choose to use. Use the Big Eye for stringing beads on ribbon, novelty yarns, macramé cord, leather cord, etc.. Take to heart these helpful hints, and your Big Eye Needle will last quite a while! 1. Use the Big Eye for stringing beads on ribbon, novelty yarns, macramé cord. 2. Each soldered end can be rough on fibers and strings, so don’t use it if you need your stringing material to be double-stranded. The string at the soldered corners can get eroded and break or fray. 3. If you have resistance to pulling your Big Eye Needle and stringing material through something, such as plastic canvas or another bead, don’t pull on it and put stress on the soldered end. It can break off while you’re pulling. Instead, take a piece of plastic shelf liner cut into a small strip, and gently pull the whole needle through. Then, support the soldered end by holding it with your plastic shelf liner and pulling the joint and fiber or string out together as a unit. 4. The needle can get pretty banged up if you repeatedly try to force it through tight spots. 5. It can be hard to find your needle because it’s so thin. After use, tape it back on a piece of paper or store in a recycled plastic bead tube, so you know where you can always find it! Jubili Beads & Yarns® Newsletter September/October 2011 Page 3 “The BEST place anywhere to nurture your creative spirit!” www.jubilibeadsandyarns.com Great New Finds! For your jewelry-making pleasure, we’ll let you know of great new inventory finds, and show you some new ways how to use them. You’ll find them for purchase on our e commerce web site. Just click the photos below! Dangle Twist Drops: Swarovski lovers rejoice! Available in silver, antique brass and gold finishes, these twists give your jewelry a fabulous look of dimension and depth! Get ready to drool when you see our fabulous assortment of Swarovski crystal filigree flowers, in sterling, gold plated, or NEW gunmetal finishes! Spiral Cages: Come in silver, gold and antique gold finishes, small and large sizes. Fun finding whether you put any beads in the center of the spiral, or you sit your beads above and below the spirals using head pins. Snap Clasp: Available in Antique Copper, Gold & Silver finishes and single and double strand clasps. Push nubbin out to open and “pop/snap” it in to close tightly. Click Here for FREE PATTERN We hope you’ve enjoyed this first edition of our newsletter, Jubili Jewels! Let us know what you think, and the items you’d like to see online! See you next time! Best regards, Judy Weinstein, Owner Jubili Beads & Yarns® Jubili Beads & Yarns® Newsletter September/October 2011 Page 4 “The BEST place anywhere to nurture your creative spirit!” www.jubilibeadsandyarns.com