Background for Jewellery Photos

Happiness Necklace I was recently a judge in a beading competition and there was one entry that I thought was stunning and should have been the winner. Unfortunately, because it was an internet competition, the photograph played a major role in the judging and this is where the entry fell short. The necklace was white and the participant took the photo on a white bust. I had to look carefully to see the details of her work against the white background. I understand her dilemma, since one usually only find white or black busts for jewellery display. Yet both white and black are often the worse backgrounds to use for jewellery photography especially if you are photographing jewellery with white beads. Even a professional photographer has told me that it is a problem when you are trying to take a photo of white beads on a black background. The exposure is a problem because the camera seems to adjust to the black background and then overexpose the white colour. Even when you try to correct this with a graphics program on the computer, it is not always successful. The other colours in the jewellery often gets distorted. To solve this problem, I have started to paint my plastic busts with a mat acrylic paint. The mat colour also avoids the bust from reflecting the light, the way plastic usually does. The colour that I find most practical is grey. I have actually painted 3 bust in 3 different shades of grey to cater for various shades of beads. This gives me room to experiment. I usually take photos on a variety of differently painted bust and then decide which photo I like best.

Maths and Beading

People often wonder how I can combine maths with beading. I actually find that my maths knowledge comes in very handy when beading. I recently designed a necklace which consisted of two concentric circles with some feature in between them. It was crucial to the way the necklace would hang, that the circles were the right length and had the correct curvature. It took quite a bit of calculation but I did manage to get it right. Fortunately bead weaving are fairly flexible and you do not need to do the calculations as accurately as in other fields of use of maths. Here are some guidelines of calculations that come in handy: Circumference of a Circle The circumference of a circle is a little more than 3 times its diameter. Therefore if you want to make a clasp by using a bead and make a loop with seed beads, times the diameter of the big bead by 3. Then divide your answer by the diameter of your seed beads. Add a few beads (about 2 or 3 depending on your size seed beads) to the answer and that should give you the number of beads you might need. To work out the curvature of a necklace, I usually estimate the circumference on the inside of the necklace to be 46cm. That gives me a diameter of about 15cm. If your pattern is 4cm broad, the diameter of your outside circle will be 15+2x (the width of your pattern) which in my example will be 15+2x4cm = 23cm. If you multiply this by 3 and add a bit on, you will have the length of the outside circumference. In my example it will be 23x3 = 69cm plus a bit. The exact calculation will bring you to 72cm. Remember to make allowance for the clasp which is about 3cm. Number of Beads Required I am sure that most bead weavers have at some stage experienced the frustration of running out of a specific type of bead they were using in a project. So how can you calculate the number of beads you will be needing for your project before you start? It is in fact a simple ratio calculation. First determine the length that you would like your project should be. I usually make my necklaces 46cm and bracelets 18cm. A normal toggle clasp uses about 3cm of that length. You will therefore need beads for about 43cm for a necklace and 15cm for a bracelet. If you are going to repeat the same pattern all the way around the project, you first need to work out the length of one repeat. Count the number of each type of bead you used in that single repeat of the pattern. Then calculate the number of repeats you will be doing by dividing 43cm or 15cm by the length of one repeat. Now multiply each type of bead used in one repeat by the total number of repeats you will be doing and this will give you the amount of beads of each type you will require. Note that 43 is a prime number and therefore cannot be divided without a remainder but 42 = 6x7 or 3x14 or 2x21. A pattern with any one of these digits will therefore repeat into a neat whole number. The 1cm that are missing can either be compensated for in the clasp part or a centre feature. Alternatively you can make a slightly longer necklace and use 44 = 4x11. For the bracelet you can use 3x5 = 15 or make it slightly larger and use 16 which gives 4x4 or 2x8.

Size 8 seed beads and I

Bird in Flight

When I started with my bead weaving career, I used to buy patterns from the web. I would look at the picture on the computer, then buy and make the pattern. Often I would be disappointed with the results. After a lot of effort, the final product would be a tiny version of this picture I had seen on the computer. Most bead weavers seems to prefer using these tiny beads. I find these tiny beads require double the effort to get any reasonable sized necklace and you have to use tiny needles which are virtually impossible to thread. You are also limited in your designs, since you can only pass through the holes of these tiny beads, a limited number of times.

Size 8 seed beads just seem to be that much easier to work with. They are small enough to make fairly complicated designs without the necklace becoming clumsy, yet big enough to use a reasonable sized needle (I use a size 9 needle). Because the holes are bigger you have more scope to do designs and reach an effect that much quicker. This Bird in Flight necklace is one of the designs I made using size 8 seed beads.

White Magic

My most recent design called White Magic

Shapes of Necklaces

Maybe it is my mathematics background that causes me to enjoy the challenge of making necklaces. Unlike a bracelet, a necklace that you weave, needs to be carefully shape to provide for the curve in the front. Here are some ideas from my experience:

• A round shaped necklace has the advantage that it is usually easy to show off with any neckline of a dress. The disadvantage of a round necklace is, it could make you look a bit more round, especially if you are on the plump side. To get the rounding of a round neckline right, add one or more extra beads to the bottom of each section of your bead-weaved necklace. This will depend on what your sections look like. If it is a large section, you will add more beads than when you have lots of small sections.
• A V-shaped necklace is always very flattering. It emphasizes your curvaceous and makes you look slimmer. The length of a v-line is rather crucial and a personal taste. Be careful that the point of the v does not disappear under your dress. If you are making it for a specific gown, decide beforehand whether you are going to wear it over the gown or above it. It will obviously be longer if worn over the gown. This shape is often more difficult to design in bead weaving than the round shape. The St Petersburg stitch is ideal for this shape.
• I find a bulky pendant type necklace useful to wear with winter clothing, when you do not have your neckline exposed. The smaller the pendant, the shorter you can make it. A pendant is often less work to make and also easier since it doesn't have to be shaped around your neckline. 
• Not many people can wear a choker and look good. You have to be quite slim and have a long neckline to look good in a choker. It is an easy necklace to weave, since you do not have to make provision for the rounding in the neckline. It is a bit like a bracelet. I am one of the many people who can't wear it and have therefore never made one.
• The off-centre accent necklace always gives an interesting twist to your necklace and can attract attention. One way of achieving this effect is to weave a straight 'strap' and then joining the one end of the strap to the side of the other end. This will form a right angle and give you the off-centre effect. 

I hope you find something useful in this article to use. Let me know what you think.

Cecilia Rooke

Playing with colour

Doesn't colour just make such a difference to jewellery? I know of some amazing beaders who just don't seem to get their colour combinations right. Here are a few guidelines that I usually use in my beadings.

• Seasons of the year: I find combining colours of the same season of the year more useful than the colour wheel. For example combining your muddy autumn colours like brown, olive green and rusty orange or your summer pastels like pink, pastel blue, pastel green, etc. For a more dramatic effect the winter colours combine well like black, red and white.
• Clothing: If you are making something for a special outfit, a good idea is to combine colourful clothing with a simple necklace or simple clothing with a colourful necklace. It makes it easier to chose your colours and get the colour combination right. Also useful to know, is that a colourful necklace can be combined with many different coloured clothing while a simple coloured necklace could pick up a less dominant colour in your clothing and emphasize it. A simple necklace can also look good with a simple dress. Depending on the effect you wish to create.
• Purpose of the jewellery: If you are making jewellery to sell, try not to stick to your own personal favourite colours. For example I am an autumn person but my pink jewellery sells best. I try to experiment with all the colours in the patterns that I make. If I make jewellery for a specific person I  make sure I know what colour code they are, in other words what colour hair, eyes and skin they have and then classify them into a season. This is particularly useful when it is a surprise present. 
• I find shades of the same colour also very useful to use, especially if you do not have a broad choice of colour (for example when you make something for a colourful dress).  Shades of the same colour often give the impression of a third dimension to a necklace.
• If I have a background feature, like a strap, and a main feature, I always make sure I add a colour of the background feature in my main feature. When you do that the two features blend in and become a single unit instead of being two separate features. 

Enjoy your beading

Cecilia Rooke

Don't silver pearls just have class

This design was an inspiration from Africa

I called this Egyptian Flower 

Flowers for inspiration

Flower wreath

Abstract spirals