You can make a Friendship Band in 15 minutes or less, in super fast time.
Here’s how : Kumihimo Kumiloom Braiding Instructions - Video demo.

I came across this video demo from YouTube and tried my hand at it. Looks like a very traditional Japanese Art in simplified form. I succeeded in making a wrist band.
Amazing! It turned out to be a great way to braid a friendship band.

Making A Friendship Band For My Best Friend.

For my first try, I used a small paper plate as the kumiloom.
And it works fine for this simple design.

1. Using a color marker, mark the edge of the paper plate like a compass, North, South, East, and West. There! You have 4 quarters.
2. Then, divide again till you get another 4 segments in each quarter. Altogether you will have 16 segments. fine for this easy to follow video demo.
3. Make a hole in the middle of the paper plate.
4. Next, cut 2cm slits on all the markings around the edge.  The paper kumiloom is ready for use.

I used 2 colors for a start and quite happy with the completed friendship band.

By changing the colors and the number of strings, I would probably get very interesting results. 
You can see that I have added a large focal bead to make it more attractive. Actually, I had trouble finding a large bead with large hole, so I made my own focal bead using 4mm crystal beads. It turned out quite nicely.

So What is Kumihimo?

Interesting answer from Wikipedia :
“Kumihimo is a Japanese form of braid-making. Cords and ribbons are made by interlacing strands.

Kumihimo cord was first created by a form of finger-loop braiding. Later tools such as the Marudai and the Takadai were employed to make more complex braids in shorter time. The most prominent historical use of the cords were by Samurai as both a functional and decorative way to lace their lamellar armor, and that of their horses’ armor (barding). Kumihimo cords are now used as ties on haori jackets and obijimes, which are used for tying on an obi (kimono sash).”.
 

Want to make your blog the best marketing tool for your jewelry business?  This is “How to Sell More Jewelry Directly from Your Blog” by Rena Klingenberg. Excellent tips from her right here:

Your blog is an excellent tool for selling your jewelry online. In fact, many jewelry artists sell their work exclusively from their blogs.

You can stir up your readers’ interest in your work by blogging about how your jewelry is created, what’s unique about a particular piece or component, what the piece signifies to you, what happened while you were creating it, etc.

Basically, give the piece of jewelry a history and an interesting story. Let the tale unfold over a few blog posts.

Stories sell jewelry. And stories told in episodes gain more readers with each new episode.

Use your blog to build up anticipation for each new piece of jewelry or new design you’re working on. Build suspense and desire – and then unveil the piece. Launch it with a bit of fanfare. Invite readers to comment.

You can put a discreet “buy now” button right there in your blog, directly beneath the photo of the newly unveiled piece of jewelry. Many artists are able to sell each new piece they make, directly from their blog, with these techniques.

Remember that your jewelry blog visitors don’t just want information; they want to be entertained. And the better you entertain them, the more they’ll bring other people to your blog – and to your jewelry.

It’s sort of the modern version of being a traveling artist in Medieval days – you gather an interested crowd by spinning stories and entertaining your audience as you make jewelry.

When the jewelry is finished and its story has been told, there’s always a well-entertained customer eager to buy it. And the rest of the crowd spreads the word to tell their friends and family about the entertaining jewelry artist.

Repeat this process indefinitely. And once you really develop a following and people see how fast your new stuff disappears, your new pieces will go even faster.

People will pay for things they love, regardless of the price. Your job is to help them fall in love with it, and feel the urgency to buy it before someone else does.

Occasionally post blog entries to tell stories about other things that your audience would laugh about or care deeply about. But make it into a personal conversation with them, putting your own words and heart into it.

This kind of story can be triggered by something you saw in the news, or in another blog or forum. For example, if you’re making mothers’ bracelets and your market is moms, you might share an emotional story you read about saving childhood memories.

Make your readers laugh, make them cry, make them feel.

Emotions are powerful, and if you can make your audience feel something, they’ll come back for more – and share it with their friends.

*Discover more ways you can sell your jewelry directly from your blog, in Rena Klingenberg’s ebook “Social Networking: Sell Your Jewelry Online the New Way”.

“Butterflies” is another great source of inspiration from Nature.  From ColorLovers.com,
a beautiful presentation of color palettes inspired by the natural beauty of butterflies.  Great inspiration for Fashion Designers as well as Beaded Jewelry Artists. Awesome!

I have to thank NHBeadLady at “Create Your Style” Community for this link. www.ColorLovers.com

From the same source of Nature, the inspiration for naming your creation comes naturally too.  Are you curious to know how popular is this naming convention? 
I googled for Beaded Jewelry and Butterflies, and Voila! (vwa LAH!) There were at least 400,000 results from these 2 keywords.

My imagination could not have been more vivid until I stumbled on this jewelry site.
This particular creation by Cathy Dailey is very a beautiful interpretation of a butterfly. She had given it a name that very aptly captures my imagination. This is truly a great inspiration from Nature that gives more than life to a creation in color, shape and texture.

I can feel the mood and an influence of culture in the making of a trademark that could be so unique to each individual.

Enchanted Butterflies created by Cathy Dailey

5 Great DIY Jewelry Sites : Tips and Tricks to Handmade Beaded Jewelry.
5 Great Treats for all Beginners in Handmade Beaded Jewelry, fantastic web sites to visit.

Treat No: 1
Jewelry Making at About.com  
Great articles by Tammy Powley.  Free tutorials for beginners, large database of resources.  Free Jewelry Making E-course emailed weekly.

Treat No: 2
Fire Mountain Gems and Beads  is America’s Favorite Beading and Jewelry Supply Company. For more advanced designs, beautiful free catalog, how to, free tutorials and Design Gallery.  Huge traffic volume can be frustrating, just got to be patient and take a little longer to load the site.

Treat No: 3
Auntie’s Beads
Great instruction videos, basic technicques and interesting projects on video.
You can also find these videos on Youtube too. 

Treat No: 4
This beautiful project is from Wig Jig University.

Wiring techniques, choosing the right tools, how to use the jig, beginners instructions and many great projects.

Treat No: 5
Bead Online
Basic Jewelry Making techniques.  Graphics to show the steps to beautiful free projects.

Have a wonderful time! Happy Beading!

I bought this beautiful Royal Copenhagen porcelain plate from a flea market at Clark’s Quay almost 10 years ago. On it, the artist’s impression reads “Mors Dag, 1972″.
So I thought Mors Dag is the name of the artist who painted the plate in 1972.

I was just wondering how much it is worth today as a collectible item. So I started searching the internet for information.  I had a good laugh when I found out that Mors Dag is not a person.  Haha, “Mors Dag” is “Mother’s Day” in Danish and Swedish.

In Singapore, we celebrate Mother’s Day on the 2nd Sunday of May as in Denmark, US and Japan.  Sweden honors all mothers on the 4th Sunday of May as in UK. 

~ Happy Mother’s Day! ~

When I first joined the Swarovski “Create Your Style” Community, there was a contest running.  Though not prepared,  but for the sake of participation, I submitted 2 designs.

Jade Forever Bracelet and Pearl Bling were submitted for the January 2008 Contest. 

Jade Forever created by Evelyn Lim of Amethyst Crystal.

Jade Forever Bracelet is a free-style concept, re-designed from a simple single strand of oval-shaped select, beautiful green Jade beads.  

At my sister-in-law’s request, I transformed the beautiful single strand of Jade Beads of classic beauty into something more contemporary.  In creating Jade Forever, I added emerald green Swarovski crystals and some copper beads to create a more casual style so that it looks great for any occasion.

I used the stringing method, weaving 3 nylon cords of 0.3mm thickness.  4mm Emerald Green Swarovski Crystals to compliment the jade.  The string of copper beads is inter-twined around the main strand for a final touch. 

Pearl Bling created by Evelyn Lim of Amethyst Crystal.

Pearl Bling Bracelet is also a recreation from a treasured momento of hers.  It was previously an elegant 0-0-0 formation.  I was fortunate to be given this opportunity to re-design it and give it a fresh look.  Metal findings, metal beads and crystal beads were added to enhance the string of pearls and gold tubular links. 

If you are a beginner, you will find this site at Swarovski Create Your Style very informative. Look for Beading Techniques.
Have fun making your own handmade beaded jewelry!

I have been spending time looking for jewelry creations that has appeal, something that grabs my attention at first sight.  It is just a way of drawing inspiration from the artistic geniuses who created them. Most of them got their inspiration from Nature itself.  It is the way to go, and in Spring, go for the Colors of Spring in Your Beaded Jewelry Creations.

From Color Palette and Inspirational Images
[Image courtesy of the contributers of Morguefile]

Focusing on certain themes helps a great deal.  When the inspiration comes, imagination runs wild.  The great challenge comes when you start to choose combinations of shapes and colors to mix it on your very own palette.

I am not very good at choosing colors for my Beaded Jewelry projects.  Most of the time, I would prefer to stay with monochromes to be on the safe side.  Purple is my pick and it turns out to be most appealing to my friends too.  Different shades of purple is monochromatic.  However, after some time, the color becomes a little boring.  Then it’s time to be more adventurous to try the complementary colors that are opposite colors, and analogous colors that are adjacent colors found on the Color Wheel.

I was checking out the Colors of Spring.  Photos of the flowers found in the garden at my condominium.  Spring brings bright and cheerful colors.  The flowers are so beautiful, so close that you can see, smell or touch.  How I wish I could see the beautiful flowers in your garden too.  A great inspiration to start a new day, whether the roses, orchids, lilies or tulips that are carefully arranged in a vase, or put on canvas or refined accessories.

Flowers for Inspiration in Beaded Jewelry is a wonderful excuse to get back to nature and away from the workshop and computer for a pleasant break. 

Did a lot a amatuer photography with my faithful Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P73.
It was a lot of fun time with friends and family with just point and shoot no-brainer effort.

When I had to get down to photograph my beaded jewelry, I started to appreciate the macro function icon represented by a little tulip.  Digital photography is fun.  It is certainly a luxury to be able to shoot and delete. When I get lucky,  I get a few good shots.

My WinZip has expired!  

The headache turned out to be a blessing.  It helped me to unearth a treasure, IZArc! 

I thought WinZip is the ultimate until I started a desperate search for an alternative. The point is that I hardly use WinZip.  Is it not worth buying a copy when I seldom make use of it?  Both evaluation copy of WinZip on my desktop and laptop expired and failed me at the most critical moment. It was frustrating. It was holding up a simple step like trying to unzip a plugin for my blog.

I googled for similar problems faced by many people and the opinions on program features that they liked most about their archive software.  It identified popular archive software 7zip, Winrar, Power Achcive, Tugzip, Universal Extractor, Win Ace, WinZip and IZArc.

For the first time, I discovered that IZArc is a favorite choice from popular reviews and there is no need to look further. I tried IZArc and find it extremely user friendly. I’m so excited to share with you.

Wikipedia search defines  IZArc (pronounced like “easy-arc”) as a file archiver developed by Bulgarian programmer Ivan Zahariev.  The program is freeware which is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee.

Some Features extracted from IZArc :

IZArc is integrated in Windows so you can perform all archiving operations by using right-click menus in Windows Explorer.  

If you have broken archives IZArc can help you to repair them with ease.  

IZArc is 100% virus free and it doesn’t contain any spyware or adware.

IZArc is the most complete archive utility available today.

IZArc has also built-in multilanguage support.

It is a long list of features at IZArc .
Check it out. You will love this!

We get fresh air in the early morning while sparing a few minutes to listen to the birds singing in the garden. I craned my neck to look for the birds singing the same song.

I was there looking for some refreshing background pictures and got a few quick compositions right from the garden below.