coolheadclan

© Svadilfari

The Innovative Beads Expo was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel, in Marlborough from January 13 to January 15, 2012. This Expo is similar to any retail exhibition where the general public is free to purchase products. Apart from the retail trade, designers, bead shops and other organizations could also purchase beads in wholesale quantity. However, to purchase beads on a wholesale basis, one needs to have an applicable Re-sale Tax ID Certificate from one's state. The Expo also hosts eminent experts of the industry who provide courses on beading for the masses. The Exhibition has been correctly promoted as "The favorite Bead Show in the Northeast".

The Beads Expo provides a platform to 29 vendors to showcase their products. Debra Huber from the Clever Treasures, an online bead store, has been displaying her products in the Beads Expo since many years. As per Debra, the Exhibition is a perfect ground since it has been serving as a great market for their ceramic beads, large-hole beads, and leather-and-magnet clasps. Another vendor – Meg Fillmore and her mother, of another online store called Bead My Love, also echoed the voice of Debra. According to Fillmore, Marlborough has been a great place with great audience, and that the Exhibition has helped them to realize their hobby into a dream.

© Urban Woodswalker

Portrait beads, also called face beads, are beads made with an image of a human face on them. These type of beads have ancient origins going back over 1600 years, and have been used to make beaded bracelets and other jewelry in locations including Scandinavia, Poland, northern Hungary, and southern Germany.

Their origin is traced back to the late Roman period, A.D. 400-600, when skilled craftsmen of the Roman Empire used glass canes to detail facial features on the beads. Modern versions of portrait beads use photographs as a guide, and are constructed with a process known as millefiori can technique with polymer clay. The facial features on the beads are sculpted individually from thin sheet of polymer clay, made into tubes, and the successive layers are built up from the center to the outside to render the face or hair.

© Claire Dancer

The most simple of beaded necklace designs is a beaded rope. One can use the peyote stitch, herringbone stitch, or versions of brick stitch and right angle weave to make beaded ropes.

After making a beaded rope, one can attach a pendant and clasp to make it into a unique beaded necklace. A beaded fringe can make simple beaded necklace designs appear quite intricate.

One can make a fringe necklace by attaching clasps at each end of an 18 inch beading wire that is strung with size 8 or size 6 beads. Combining seed beads and accent beads can lead to the creation of interesting beaded necklaces.

Bead embroidery is another fun technique for designing personalized beaded jewelry and beaded necklaces. Beaded embroidery gives one artistic freedom to do whatever is pleasing.