Last Minute Gifts for Christmas Delivery - The US Postal Services has stated that all packages mailed within Continental United States by Tuesday December 21 will be delivered by Christmas Day. Get your order in before 2pm PST and we will get it to the post the same day. Order a special gift, such as a crochet starter jig kit, a thread burner, a needle safe, a pair of gold plated scissors or a collection of thread & cord for a special someone on your list. We will even gift wrap by request and add a special holiday box if applicable. Please add your gift wrap request at checkout!
Best Wishes for the Holidays and for a Fabulous New Year! - Marion Jewels in Fiber
December 20, 2010 - New Colors of C-Lon Tex 400 Heavyweight Bead Cord Mahogany arrived today. All the pre-orders were sent today. Just in time for the Holidays!
The heaviest weight of C-Lon Bead Cord has expanded to 48 colors. It is wonderful news to all of us who have discovered great uses for this cord. Some use this cord for beading, for micro macrame, for square knot or kumihimo bracelets or fashioning shekere skirts with beads for percussion instruments.
16 colors arrived on October 8. Grey, Marigold, Orange, Peacock, Sepia and Violet arrived on November 10, Olivine on November 23. More info > C-Lon Tex 400 Bead Cord
Workshop at BABE! 2010 - November 12, 2010
Crown knotting or the crown knot sennit is an elegant solution for stringing beads with larger holes such as antique beads and keeping them from touching each other. The crown knots have many advantages over traditional overhand knots. The knots are completely symmetrical. They are easier to keep snug against the beads and are especially well suited when stringing beads with large holes or uneven holes as the ratio between the cord going through the beads and the actual size of the knot is much larger than with overhand knots.
This class will teach how to tie 4-strand crown knots with the use of a kumihimo disk, a method that makes this process much easier to learn and master especially when working with multiple cords. The class project will integrate the clasp with a button and loop seamlessly with no loose thread or thread ends remaining.
The workshop went very well. It was sold out with 17 students, but with the help of Alice who assisted me for the day it went smoothly. Most students finished their project other than one student who had to leave early. I will be teaching this class again next year on November 11, 2011. BABE 2011, the actual show will take place on November 12-13, 2011. Sign up early for classes as they sell out and plan to come to the show!
October 29, 2010 - Just in - Chinese Knotting Cord in Micro-Extra Fine Size Other than some dealers bringing spools in their luggage or adding a few rolls to a load of beads... Chinese knotting cord is hard to find in any sizes other than the Medium and Fine. See the new colors in the new micro size > Chinese Braided Nylon Cord
October 21, 2010 - New Colors of Kanagawa 1000 Denier Embroidery Silk Lots of new colors are in stock, so we are back to more than100 colors. I played musical chairs and adjusted the jpegs of all the colors to make them more accurate. > Kanagawa Silks
September 28, 2010 - New Leather Cord & Braids Leather cord is enjoying a new popularity for jewelry, especially when mixed with beads and nylon cord. Great primitive and modern designs include leather cord or thong as well as braided leather cord.
Have fun and experiment! > Leather
September 13, 2010 - New Colors of C-Lon Tex 135 Fine Weight Bead Cord The next installment of Tex 135, Beige & Light Blue are here bringing the collection to 16 colors. This new size, right in between the standard size of C-Lon Bead Cord and the C-Lon Micro Cord Tex 70 is especially good for working with fine bead, for crochet ropes or kumihimo with seed beads size 8/0s and smaller. More info > C-Lon Fine Weight Bead Cord
September 8, 2010 - Just arrived: Motorized Bead Reamers by Eurotool. A must if you work with a lot of beads... Plus Griffin twisted stainless steel wire needles > Tools
August 25, 2010 - New Jewelry Silk Bead Cord
Silk is getting harder to get and it is still sometimes the best choice for projects requiring the soft hand of silk. This silk is specifically produced for stringing beads. It is very smooth and strong and has just enough colors to work with many gemstones and bead.
Silk is traditionally the material used for stringing valuable pearls and softer beads, such as coral, amber and jade. It is soft, so it does not damage pearls or beads. It drapes well. The Beadsmith silk bead cord is made from 100% high-grade filament silk tightly twisted into a 3 ply cord. See how it compares to Gudebrod Champion Silk... > Jewelry Silk
August 20, 2010 - The 104 C-Lon Bead Cord Color Chart has been reshuffled into a full spectrum chart to include the 40 new colors. Talk about playing musical chairs, with 8 colors across each 13 rows. It is as logical as I could make it... and may still need improvements... > C-Lon Bead Cord
The C-Lon Bead Cord Color Mixes now has 5 sections: New Colors, listing the 5 sets of new colors by dates; Seasons, 4 collections of 16 colors from the original 64 colors matching for color type by seasons; Color Spectrum, collections of 12 colors. Plus two new sections have been added.
Artist Color Sets: At Adrienne Gaskell's suggestion I added this new section with her recommendations for her students. If you have a color mix you want to recommend, please send it in for consideration. Adrienne combines kumihimo, bead weaving, and metal fabrication. I just saw her work in person. It is quite beautiful and inventive > To see her work and teaching schedule
DIY Sets: In addition you can now make your own sets of 8, 12 or 16 C-Lon Bead Cord, so have fun and get a discount by buying in sets > C-Lon Bead Mixes & Collections
August 20, 2010 - New Colors of C-Lon Tex 135 Fine Weight Bead Cord The next installment of Tex 135, Chartreuse & Sage just arrived. 2 more colors, Beige & Light Blue are scheduled to arrive this summer.
Light Copper and Shanghai Red arrived in July, Rose & Purple in June. This is the newest size of C-Lon Bead Cord and it has already gotten the attention of many designers and crochet artists... It is the cord used for the bead crochet rope shown right below, although it is possible to work the crochet rope with size 8 beads with the standard size of C-Lon Cord or any nylon #18.
This new size, right in between the standard size of C-Lon Bead Cord and the C-Lon Micro Cord Tex 70 is especially good for working with fine bead, for crochet ropes or kumihimo with seed beads size 8/0s and smaller.
14 colors are now available > C-Lon Fine Weight Bead Cord
May 30, 2010 - Tools for Crochet + Tubular Bead Crochet, the Easy Way!
The tubular bead crochet jig and tutorial from StudioDax, patent pending, is not widely available. If you have struggled with this technique, had a hard time with the beginning of the tubes, or always wanted to learn, find out about this method. For more info read my latest blog entry.
Plus steel crochet & tools perfect for making jewelry with the C-Lon Bead Cords and the other bonded nylon brands, such as Tuff, Mastex or Conso, are also now available in the new crochet section... Go to >Tools for Crochet
May 7, 2010 - Conso Nylon #18 is going through a major change under the leadership of Wright Co...
First, the good news: the manufacturing of Conso Nylon #18 may have been brought back to the U.S...
The main differences are in the bond finish and the actual dye lots. The new colors already in stock do not match the old colors precisely, and some have a very light bond. The application of bond does not seen even across the 4 new colors received. Is it a fluke or just the hiccups of a new manufacturer? We will see. Of course if you use this thread for stitching a couch, it may not be very important, however if you use it to make a jewelry collection, quality and color becomes critical. So for a while the supply of nylon #18 from Conso will be mixed as the available stock is from different manufacturers. Ah, the topsy turvey world of thread! > Conso Nylon #18
May 6, 2010 - I just added a new Taiwanese Black Cord in the Fine weight size. It is blacker than the regular black and very evenly braided. It is available only in 10 yards cards as I got a very large spool from one of my gemstone dealer, so much more than my lifetime supply as I only occasionally use Chinese Knotting Cord. She had two spools, she kept one for her designs and sold me one. > Chinese Knotting Cords
April 26, 2010 - 8 NEW COLORS of C-LON BEAD CORD
The newest 8 colors C-Lon Bead Cord are here - This brings the full collection to 104 colors! Wow, all the color choice s... I remember the days of 12-25 drab colors for the upholstery industry. This is really beyond my wildest dreams. The up side of all these choices is the ability to find the exact color desired. The down side is keeping track of all the colors. It is getting harder to keep track of all the color names. Most orders are accompanied by a color sheet with all the colors listed. I highly recommend that you mark the colors you purchase and/or keep a swatch with the color names. Another option is of course to buy a set of samples cards.
C-LON BEAD CORD - April 2010 - THE NEXT 8 NEW COLORS
CLC-PG
CLC-BLS
CLC-MAH
CLC-CC
CLC-WT
CLC-LMG
CLC-BLM
CLC-IND
Peach Glow
Blush
Mahogany
Chinese Coral
Wheat
Lemongrass
Blue Morning
Indigo
Order all 8 colors - 1 spool each - $28.00
Peach Glow is in between White and Sea Shell. It is a warm off-white or ecru as we say in French with a soft pink glow. Renamed as Heavy Cream matched the samples but not the produced color.
Blush is in the same color range, a stop darker than Sea Shell with antique rose undertones. Heavy Cream, Sea Shell and Blush make a beautiful ombré.
Mahogany has some of the same tones, but much deeper. It also fits well as a deeper tone right after Ginger & Nutmeg. Brown or Sienna would be the next step deeper or redder respectively.
Chinese Coral is very distinctive. It is darker than Pink Lemonade.
Wheat fits right after Vanilla and Cream. Dark Tan is the next darker color in this group.
Lemongrass is a great fashion color, lighter and more gold than Olivine, softer than Chartreuse. When compared to the other gold tones, Gold would a coppery gold, Marigold brighter, Antique Gold softer, Light Maize a bit greener, whereas Lemongrass has a definite green tone.
Blue Morning is a light blue, lighter than Light Blue. Indigo belongs to the same blue family as Blue Morning and Light Blue, with Navy as the darker tone. These are four blues have no greens or yellow undertones. Another nice group is Pearl, Indigo and Navy. Indigo is a washed down tone reminiscent of denim, a great choice for bead crochet ropes as it will blend in easily... Ah, so many possibilities. New color groups and a re-shuffled color chart are next my C-Lon agenda. To buy individual colors > C-Lon Bead Cord
THE C-LON TEX 135 FINE WEIGHT BEAD CORD
The new C-Lon® Fine Weight Bead Cord is the latest addition to the C-Lon family as of Feb 2010. As its siblings, the C-Lon Bead Cord (standard weight), the C-Lon Micro Cord (extra fine weight) and the C-Lon Tex 400 Bead Cord (heavy weight), it is a bonded 3 ply twisted multi-filament thread with diameter of 0.4mm and a 24 lb breaking strength. Good for micro macrame, stringing beads and other techniques such as bead crochet, finger weaving, kumihimo, tatting as well as many other uses where a strong bonded nylon is required. Especially good size for fine bead, for crochet ropes or kumihimo with seed beads size 8/0s.
8 colors are available > C-Lon Fine Weight Bead Cord
New color sample cards of all the 104 C-Lon Bead Cord colors are now available. They represent a tremendous amount of work by C-Lon and minimal mark-up all around, well a labor of love at the $42.00 price for 100 cards. If you already previously ordered the set without the latest 8 colors, complete your collection for $4.00.
104 cards with actual samples of each of the C-Lon Bead Cord colors, plus 4 comparison cards with each of the thickness of cords available, Micro Cord, Tex 135 Fine Weight, standard or regular Bead Cord and the heavyweight Tex 400. Organized alphabetically by codes, not names, and bound in 4 sets: AB-Antique Brown to CST-Chestnut, CT-Chartreuse to LMZ-Light Maize, LO-Light Orchid to PO-Pointsetta, PRL-Pearl to WN-Wine, plus the 8 newest colors. Each group is attached by Black C-Lon Tex 400 Bead Cord. > Color Sample Set
C-LON BEAD CORD - February 2010 - THE NEXT 8 NEW COLORS
CLC-AZ
CLC-VIO
CLC-IB
CLC-PRL
CLC-STL
CLC-EGG
CLC-DKT
CLC-FE
Azalea
Violet
Ice Blue
Pearl
Steel
Eggplant
Dark Tan
Fern
Order all 8 colors - 1 spool each - $28.00
Azalea, Violet, Ice Blue and Pearl are bright colors. Steel, Eggplant, Dark Tan and Fern are more subtle muted tones. They are beautiful additions to the incredible color line offered by C-Lon. This bring the collection up to 96 colors, a dream come true for artist like myself who had to work with the limited drab palette made for the upholstery industry. 8 additional colors are planned for 2010, for a complete collection of 104 colors. Wow, that is beyond my wildest dreams... To buy individual colors > C-Lon Bead Cord
New 2010 Workshop
Occasionally a workshop get initiated under unusual circumstances. I came in contact with Dawn, the creator of intricate knotted creations a few years ago, when she was looking for mentor in the art of Cavandoli knotting. Then again when she was looking for thread. We have corresponded by email since. I included some of her beautiful creations in the presentation on 'Cords, Thread and Fiber Jewelry'. This visual presentation premiered last August to the Bead Society of Northern California. It was received positively and described as a feast for the eyes, or pure 'eye candy'. See August 18, 2009 entry. Last October somehow the subject of teaching a workshop in Bemidji came up, and Dawn became the local coordinator, organizing the partial funding from the local arts council, making this weekend workshop and the presentation on Friday evening possible. - Marion
More about this story > See the latest entry on my blog or to see > Dawn's Creations on Etsy
March 26, 2010 - 'Cord, Thread and Fiber Jewelry'
Trunk Show and Digital Presentation - Bemidji, Minnesota
This visual presentation will tell you all about cords and thread, from how they are made to the different types available, then take you on a tour of some of the stunning works being done by artists worldwide with a variety of techniques. Sponsored by Region 2 Arts Council and Dawn Standera. 7:00 pm. No entry charge, open to anyone interested. Beltrami Electric Cooperative Room, Bemidji, NM.
March 27-28, 2010 - 'Braids, Cordmaking and Knotting Techniques for Fiber, Jewelry and Bead Artists' 2-Day Workshop - Bemidji, Minnesota
This class will combine the program of Cords & Braids, plus many aspects of How to End Kumihimo Braids, and Turk Head Knot. The program description is available in a pdf format.
Class $85 + Kit $15.00. Sponsored & funded in part by the Region 2 Arts Council. Organized by Dawn Standera. The student kit is payable at the workshop. To register send a check in the amount of $85.00 to Region 2 Arts Council, 426 Bemidji Avenue. Bemidji, MN 56601. You are registered once R2AC receive your check.
For more information, class description, to download program description and sign-up
> Workshops
While learning silversmithing in the mid 70's, I came up with this method of setting Cabochon into a fiber setting. I refined the process over many years. This method is especially interesting at this time as there is a renewed interest in micro macrame and in cabochons. The workshop will take course over 2 days. Originally planned to take for CNCH, this workshop has been rescheduled as a pre-event workshop and will take place at my studio for a very small group. If you plan to travel to California, we also normally have pretty good weather by April, so plan a visit around this workshop and of course plan a visit to CNCH 2010. I will have a booth at this event! - Marion
Cabochon Setting with Leaves & Flowers - April 6-7, 2010
2-Day Workshop - Redwood City, CA
Learn how to set a cabochon in a micro macrame setting with nylon & silk thread and how to add free form knotted leaves, flowers and stems. This workshop will teach a method to set cabochons without the use of any glue, by caging it with double half hitches, thread and one wire. It will also introduce free-form Cavandoli knotting. Knowledge of double half hitch is a prerequisite. Several tutorial are available to download.
Class $200 + Kit $25.00. Space is limited. $100.00 deposit to sign-up, balance due at workshop.
Email or call at (530) 774-2244 for more info.
For class description, to download tutorials and sign-up > Workshops
