Ask the experts - making jewellery
Welcome to Ask the Experts, where you can learn how to do just about anything local people can demonstrate in a short film on lep.co.uk.
Jewellery teacher Samantha Taylor shows how to make a beady bag charm, and shares handy hints and tips for making other simple items.
My passion for bead jewellery began as a teenager with a love of unusual dangly earrings.
I would visit craft fairs and shops to hunt down handmade beaded jewellery, as at that time there was a very limited range available to buy in the shops.
Twenty-five years ago it wasn't that easy to learn how to make your own bead jewellery, there weren't many guidebooks or shops selling beads and the internet wasn't around back then.
I bought my first beads and tools at the bead shop at Covent Garden in London, but still didn't really know how to start.
I learned by trial and error and taught myself how to make bead and wire earrings and gradually my skills improved.
Over the years I've experimented with a few different types of jewellery making, but making bead jewellery is still my favourite.
Jewellery-making is a rewarding and creative hobby. It's great, as you can make jewellery to your own taste and to match any outfit or for a special occasion.
It's also ideal for making personalised gifts for friends and family.
You can recycle your old bead jewellery, give a new lease of life to sentimental pieces or items that you don't wear any more by
incorporating them into a new piece of jewellery.
Making accessories with beads is not that difficult to learn and it's something you can do at home or on holiday. You don't need much equipment, just a few hand tools, some beads and components.
The easiest way to start off is to attend a jewellery-making class where you can learn the basic techniques with support and guidance; also you will learn about the best tools, beads and components to use.
Alternatively there are many books and magazines out there if you want to teach yourself.
Samantha teaches jewellery-making classes for Lancashire Adult Learning at Lancashire College in Chorley and also runs her own classes at Cedar Farm in Mawdesley. Visit www.bebeady.co.uk and www.lancashire
college.com for course details.
Next week: Rascals Party and Play centre's Louise Wright gives an essential guide to organising a children's party.
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Or write to: Josie Hill, Lancashire Evening Post, Oliver's Place, Fulwood, Preston, PR2 9ZA
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Friday 03 September 2010
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