Beaders Blog

We’ve had a busy couple of weeks around Beadaholique HQ, and I’m always looking for a way to relax, chill out, or kick back. I figured it was high time to set out on a journey toward transcendental enlightenment. Unfortunately, my idea of taking a six week yoga retreat to India didn’t pass muster, so I’ve investigated a symbol known from Antarctica to Timbuktu, whose origins are little known among the legions who seek to create a world where its meaning is realized. Climb aboard the magic bus, put some flowers in your hair, and pass the wine skin; it’s time to talk peace!

The peace symbol’s roots lie not in the anti-war tumult of 1960s America, but in the British anti-nuclear  movement of the late 1950s. It was designed in early 1958 by Gerald Holtam, a professional designer and artist, for a protest against the construction and proliferation of atomic weapons led by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. When the letters N and D are represented in semaphore, a Naval sign language, and then imposed over each other, they form the easy to recognize symbol. Holtom later expanded on the idea, saying he drew inspiration from Goya’s “The Third of May, 1808″, with its exasperated subject throwing his hands in the air as his captors level their rifles.

The symbol crossed the pond in 1960 when Philip Altbach, an American student, brought a bag of peace symbol buttons to the campus of the University of Chicago. He convinced the Student Peace Union to adopt the symbol, and over the next decade its popularity would soar. Quickly, it became the ubiquitous badge of the anti-war movement. The humble emblem began appearing everywhere; if it wasn’t dangling from a strand of hippie beads around the neck of a flower child during the summer of love, it was scrawled across the nose cone of a bomb in the sweaty jungles of Vietnam.

Instantly, the peace symbol was implemented into the bohemian fashions of the 1960s. It didn’t matter if you were in a halter top and drawstring skirt or a tie dyed t-shirt and patchwork bell bottoms, odds were there was a peace symbol in one place or another. Never before had a single design so defined a generation. However, the symbol didn’t stop there; it kept on truckin’ through the 70s, and into the 80s. Even now, the peace sign remains a steadfast reminder of what could be. Sure, a couple of lines inside a circle might not solve the world’s problems, but it’s nice to show the world there’s at least one person who believes in the idea of peace. If you’d like to do your part, take the long, strange trip to our website for some groovy peace symbol jewelry components 

By Zachary

In the game of rock, paper, scissors you almost always know where you stand. Paper always smothers rock, scissors always slice paper, and rock always crushes the shears, but what happens when rock meets rock? Well, that depends on the type of mineral your hand represents!

While settling playground disputes was probably not his inspiration, German mineralogist Friedrich Mohs created a scale to gauge the hardness of minerals. The process is simple– if one mineral can scratch another, it is harder. Although the Mohs scale is very useful, it is not linear. The minerals chosen were only selected because of their popularity at the time. For example, number ten on the scale, diamond,  is 140 times harder than number nine, corundum, whereas number four, fluorite, is only 1.11 times harder than number three, calcite. A proportional measurement, called absolute hardness, was more recently devised, but is only used by scientists who need extremely accurate results. The Mohs scale satisfies the needs of almost all mineral enthusiasts.

Since most of us don’t carry samples of each mineral on the scale, there is a simple test you can perform in your workspace, or deep within your backyard gypsum quarry if you don’t have a material. It involves these convenient standards of hardness: soft (can be scratched with a fingernail), medium (can be scratched with a knife or glass but not by a fingernail) or hard (cannot be scratched by a knife).

Sure, you might have to wrestle your best friend if they don’t accept that your hand is made of diamond and theirs is talc in a game of rock, paper, scissors, but you’ll never have to grapple with worries that a gemstone in your collection is anything but the genuine article.

Here is a reference for the Mohs Hardness Scale:

↓ Mohs hardness               Absolute Hardness  ↓

1         Talc                             1
2         Gypsum                       3
3         Calcite                         9
4         Fluorite                        21
5         Apatite                        48
6         Feldspar                      72
7         Quartz                        100
8         Topaz                         200
9         Corundum                  400
10       Diamond                    1600

by Zachary Frazee

If you were planning on starting your own retail jewelry mega-chain, it might be wise to reconsider. Sales of fine jewelry are off 34% compared to a year ago, and even diamond giant DeBeers is getting a little uneasy. The entire precious stone industry has taken a huge hit recently, but their loss is the independent crafters gain. Craft jewelry, once relegated to the jewelry boxes of girl scouts with crafts badges, is more popular than ever thanks to online sales at sites like Etsy, Amazon and eBay. According to a recent New York Times article about the craft boom, “On eBay, people bought 13,137 handmade crafts over the last 60 days for an average price of $8.21, and sales of handmade crafts climbed 34%, the company said.”

Jewelry crafters with a compulsion to stay on top of fashion trends and a dedication to thrift might feel more inclined to create their own versions of contemporary designs, others may use their crafting hobby as a means of supplementing their income. 
“My friends see the earrings I’m wearing and place orders with me to create more for them” says Lydia Ramos, from the Beadaholique shipping department.  No matter what your reasons, odds are someone is out there looking to buy a piece of your imagination.
Who wouldn’t want to make a few extra bucks doing something they love?

Hi everyone!  I’m Anna, Beadaholique’s first (and favorite, in my opinion,) employee.   I’ve watched this company grow from a shoebox of headpins and jump rings into the vibrant warehouse it is today.  I am a reluctant beader, not because I don’t love jewelry but because I have 5 thumbs on each hand.  The delicate intricacies of peyote stitch, wire looping, and beads smaller than 4mm are completely lost on me.

At the same time, it’s hard not to be inspired by all the goodies around me.  I write all the descriptions, so I get my hands on everything and not a day goes by when I don’t put aside a little goodie bag to buy for myself.  I’m attracted to bolder, larger beads.  I love the blown glass, the faceted briolettes, and especially all the chunky metal findings.  I will admit that I browse jewelry and craft sites for inspiration, and one term that keeps coming up when I explore a design I like is “steampunk”.

Despite this aggressive sounding moniker, steampunk is a style that incorporates the simpler times of the Victorian era with the excitement of industrial design.  As with most fringe movements, there is no one accepted definition of what steampunk is.  You know it when you see it, and it’s not for everyone.  It’s design with a dichotomy of looking to the past for futuristic ideas. Here is an example I found on Etsy:

But how do I take this big idea and scale it down to my own tastes and skill level?  I was able to pin down what I liked the most about the steampunk pieces I have seen on other sites:  the combining of several small items into a mixed media piece that is completely unique.  To get a real steampunk look, lots of metals can be mixed, preferably with antiqued finishes.  When we first got in the plated pewter frames, I didn’t want to put a simple photo inside, I wanted to get a few tiny watch gears, some small, flatter bali beads, and some black fabric.  Layering the items in steps gave the Art Gel time to set, making it look like everything was under glass.  Another idea I had was to take one of our antiqued chains in a longer length and hang several small metal items from some of the links.  I’m not talking delicate fairy charms here, I’m talking old bent brass screws, a small magnifying glass, small nuts and bolts, and even a heart made of stiffened black lace.

Today I’m wearing a cute necklace I made from amethysts and moonstone with a sweet flower pendant.  I’m not always in the dark, steampunk mood, but it’s a style that keeps me inspired, so I continue to embrace it.