A lot of bead jewelry designers focus on the “usual” jewelry pieces like necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Those are the standard designs, but you really want to expand your sales you might want to look at creating pieces for a wider audience or items that no one else is even offering!

One possibility is beaded bookmarks! They’re easy to create, they make great gifts and they’re perfect for both men and women, though your choice of beads can obviously be slanted towards one gender or the other. Even if you don’t want to make your own beaded bookmarks then you can always shop online and buy your own beaded bookmarks.

There are two different types of beaded bookmarks I’ve seen, both of which are easy to make.

The type we’ll cover now is the beaded string bookmark. It is essentially a small strand of beads attached to each end of a length of cord. The middle “cord” section can be nylon cord or a fancy ribbon or just about anything soft and flat. The middle is usually about 12 inches long and the two beaded strands are usually only a few inches long. I’ve seen long beaded strands in the middle, but unless you’re using very small and very “rounded” beads, I’ve noticed that beads and sometimes tear the pages of some books.

You’re really only limited by your creativity and skill level for these. Here’s a short Better Homes and Gardens tutorial on how to create these sort of bookmarks. There’s also a good step-by-step tutorial on making beaded bookmarks with rope at About.com. If you want to create something with nylon cord, then you’ll need some cord ends to attach the beaded strands to.

SobrietyStones.com has some beautiful beaded bookmarks with nylon cords you can order or use for inspiration. There is also a pretty big collection of beaded bookmarks with a beaded strand in the middle over at BeadWizardryDesigns.com.

Be creative with these! If you really want to get fancy you can think about stringing multiple ribbons or cords from one length of beading and make a “multi-page” bookmark for people who are researching information in larger books. I have a friend who has a multi-page Bible bookmark (just multiple strands of ribbon) and I always thought it was a great idea and just begging for a beaded version!

If you make something great and want to show it off here, just email me. I’d be glad to display some of the amazing work out there!