JEM Library gathers and provides craft and jewelry making related information. Use us to learn or use us to drool ~ just Enjoy!

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DOB: 17 June 2009

This site is the new version of Jewerlry Making Beads Library. We will be migrating all content over to here. The process should take about year. Meanwhile, you may see a number of duplicated info until we have completed the (manual) migratioin. We will be adding new articles here as we go.

Felt Balls from Wool Roving

Making Felt Balls from Wool Roving

my first felt ball

Making Felt Balls from wool roving ~ I had so much fun with this and it is so easy to do! I was shopping for felt wool so I could learn how to crochet and knit felt. And I saw all these funny looking wool that was not yarn.

Felting and Beading

Felting & Beading

As I contemplate my fist felting project, I know I want to add some bling and beads to the felted project. (What actually happens in the end is anybody's guess at this stage!) But I cannot decide whether to bead and then knit/crochet and then felt, or whether to complete the felting project and then embellish.

A few of the questions I want answered before I start in earnest are:

Felt Knits vs Felt Crochet

Knitting and Crochet Felting Samples

I read that felting shrinks your pieces more lengthwise than it does widthwise, so I decided to do some experiment as soon as my new felting wool arrived. All yarn shown here are 100% wool. This was done by hand felting.

I also did both knitted and crochet swatches as there is not a lot of literature on Crochet Felting and I wanted to see for myself what the difference was and why it seems less popular than felt knitting.

My first Nepalese Sari Silk Yarn

My First Nepalese Recycled Sari Silk Yarn

I just got my first buy of Nepalese Recycled Silk Yarn and oh my my! It is fascinating!

I don't know what I am going to do with it yet. I got it as a by-product of shopping for felt yarn. Not that this is felting yarn but I got "distracted" during my shopping spree! I could always embellish my felting project (provided it turns out right). Or make ... oh I don't know .. so many ideas are teeming around right now just looking at the gorgeous yarn.

Cubic Zirconia

Cubic Zirconia

As Good As Diamonds!!!

Cubic Zirconias, often referred to as CZ, are the most successful simulated diamond. They are more reflective than glass, rhinestone, or crystal and sparkle much more brilliantly.

Crystal Beads

Sparkling Crystal Beads

The wondrous joys of a plentitude of glamorous sparkles

Crystal is glass with more than 30% lead. Crystal beads produce wonderful sparkles. It is this lead that produces the high refractive quality so sought after in crystal.

Cabochon

What is Cabochon?

An ingenuous cut that highlights your stone

Shaped, Polished, Not Facetted

Cabochon, traditionally, was a gemstone that had been shaped and polished, but not facetted.  Nowadays, it also comes in other materials like cat's eye (optic fiber) and polymer clay.

A cabochon, sometimes spelt as cabouchon, sometimes incorrectly spelt as cabochan is often also referred to as a cab

Bone Beads

Bone Beads

from bone comes such unique beauty

bone beads

Modern Beads from Bone

Most modern bone beads are made from cow or sheep or camel bones. Bone is a durable material that is hard enough to wear well, but soft enough to be worked with nearly any hard tool.

Bali Beads

Metal Bali Beads

Soul-Touching Ethnic Charm in Jewelry

Metal Bali Beads

The term 'Bali Beads' arose because this style of beads was originally only handcrafted in Bali, Indonesia. Due to their individually handcrafted nature, they are fairly pricey.

Wool Felting Tips

Wool Felting Tips

Handy list of checklist and tips you should at least once to make sure you get a smile and not a frown on your face when your felting is done.

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