Comments on: Necklaces from Leftover Beads

By: Catherine

Catherine — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 01:28:19 +0000

By the way….I kept my beads in all my dishes, pill bottles, etc…too expensive to buy the organizers on jewelry supply companies. I now go to Lowe’s or Walmart in tool department and get organizers with 30 drawers for beads and 9 drawers for charms, jump rings, etc..they re only around $7.00,..they come in unsightly manly colors, but I’m spray painting mine white…maybe even pink! ?

By: Catherine

Catherine — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 01:10:30 +0000

Kathy, I know what you mean about leftover beads. I have so many that I forget about them. I love the pink beads…also the orange bead necklace! I have a lot of clear acrylic beads in different shapes and sizes. I find that paired with black beads , silver beads, actually any color is pretty with the clear acrylic. To me they look like diamonds,, and every girl loves the diamond look without the cost?

By: Joybelle Malcolm

Joybelle Malcolm — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 17:29:16 +0000

I love making charms while watching TV, especially the single beads. Instant gratification! (smile) The rust/orange colored is my favorite because those are my color. Great job! Thanks for sharing.

By: Debra Lowe

Debra Lowe — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 14:10:23 +0000

These are great and no one would know they were originally orphans…I will look at my “orphans” with more respect now~
Great ideas and beautiful work!

By: Sue Shade

Sue Shade — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 20:52:16 +0000

Oh they are so pretty. Who would think they were made from left over beads.

By: Karen Watson

Karen Watson — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 15:50:42 +0000

So Pretty! Love your website!

By: Ellie

Ellie — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 21:27:03 +0000

etsy.com/listing/192460428/boho-bracelet-layered-bracelet-bohemian?

Here’s an example of a memory wire bracelet made with left over beads.
I just bought some memory wire and sorted the leftovers into colors and came up with three colors, orange, green and yellow to combine.

Very quick and easy.
Thank you for the suggestion of the chain necklace, I know I have chain lying around and I’ll try out your method.
Ellie

By: kathy Zee

kathy Zee — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 00:06:29 +0000

Val, I just made two new necklaces and sent them in. One is in black and white. I am sure it will be posted shortly. Thank you for the suggestion. let me know what you think of it when it shows up here. If anyone has other suggestions, please let me know. I have so many beads in plastic containers all mixed together and a shoe box of odds and ends. That’s going to be my next one, one using all those weird beads…

By: Val

Val — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 10:42:41 +0000

Beautiful color combinations. A perfect way to use up those odds and ends. That respond to your request for color combos, black and white would be cool. Those colors together are classic!

By: Christa

Christa — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 15:42:03 +0000

I love the pink and orange one, beautiful.

By: Pam

Pam — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 12:23:15 +0000

PS – LOVE the pinks and tangerines on the antique copper/bronze chains! Would never thought of pink with the dark contrast – what a GREAT look! (Feminine and earthy at the same time! – so modern and pretty!)

By: Pam

Pam — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 12:21:30 +0000

I love this idea, it’s a GREAT way to downsize the odds-‘n-ends we all have! I’ve done this some with wire crochet necklaces. Sometimes adding those few “extra” beads to a design, really adds a special “pop” of a different color, size, shape or texture. If there are only a few of the beads available, I’ll either distribute them evenly across the length of the pattern, or focus them toward the front center – whichever works better with the piece. Wire crochet lends itself really well to pumping up with a good variety of complimentary colors and textures – but I LOVE the necklaces shown here, and will keep this in mind now when working different kinds of projects! 😀

By: Rena Klingenberg

Rena Klingenberg — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 12:13:39 +0000

In reply to Timmi. Timmi, I love your daughter's "fairy findings" name for leftover beads! :)

By: Timmi

Timmi — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 12:09:55 +0000

I love this. Each one is beautiful and unique.
I use my leftover beads (my daughter calls them “fairy findings”) with copper wire to make cuff bracelets. I use 14 gauge round wire to make the cuff and then wire on the beads with a 22-26 gauge wire. This works great with any beads in most any combination, especially those tiny loners in the bottom of my bead soup box. ..and customers love them.

By: Rae

Rae — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 11:51:26 +0000

I like the bone beads necklace the best! I love ethnic looks. I don’t use much chain in my work, but I have plenty of orphan beads, so maybe I’ll just have to buy some chain and get started. Great use of beads!

By: Rena Klingenberg

Rena Klingenberg — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 05:29:00 +0000

Kathy, great idea to focus on using up leftover beads instead of buying more! I should follow your example. 🙂 With the designs you’ve made, no one would think these beads were odds and ends. I really like your mixing the beads with chains – my favorite is the one with pink glass beads and dark leftover chain. I’m not surprised several of these have sold already!

By: kathy Zee

kathy Zee — Sat, 31 May 2014 21:04:30 +0000

I had pieces of chain in several drawers. Some pieces were one link, some three, some four, just odds and ends. I made them all three links then used artistic wire to make the beads in between. The orange beads were just tossed in a shoe box. When i took anything orange out of the box, I had enough to make that necklaces. It was fun to get creative…Same with the pink one. That chain was from a different project that i did a few yrs ago. The pink beads were ones that I did get on sale. They are all different sizes/shapes. Give it a try. I would love to see what you come up with…ok.

By: Arely

Arely — Sat, 31 May 2014 19:56:20 +0000

Wow love them all, great way to put them together, love the color combination, the bead combination and how delicate they look.

By: kathy Zee

kathy Zee — Thu, 29 May 2014 03:25:00 +0000

I have been making jewelry for years and have a shoebox and several plastic small containers of leftover and or orphan beads as i call them. Lots of odds and ends and a drawer full of chains of different lengths, sizes etc. I am so glad you like what I made. I am working on some other pieces and will post when I get then done. Its fun to take a handful of beads and try to do something with them. I spent a whole week just organizing all the colors. Then there is the shoebox of orphans…so stay tuned. I appreciate your comments. Thank you.

By: TessaGems

TessaGems — Thu, 29 May 2014 02:42:56 +0000

Oooh, I wish I had this kind of stash as leftovers. Love the orange glass and the howlite chains best.

By: Faith

Faith — Thu, 29 May 2014 02:35:54 +0000

Love these. I’d never think they were made from “leftover” beads.