I don’t teach formal classes in how to make beaded jewelry, but I do sometimes sit down with friends or family members and explain some of the basics of how to put together a piece of bead jewelry. Technical skills aside, I find that some people simply get “stuck” on how to put together a well designed beaded necklace or bracelet. By the same token, there are times when we all have “jeweler’s block” and can’t think of what to do next or how to properly design the particular beaded piece we’re working on. For those times I like to pick out a single bead or small cluster of beads and go back to the three ways that beads can compliment and contrast against each other in a piece of jewelry!

I made this beaded bracelet which demonstrates beads of complimenting and contrasting color, sizes and shapes all used together!

Bead Color: Color is often the first property most people talk about when describing a single bead or a beaded piece of jewelry. Colors are what first catch our eye and direct our attention to many things, and jewelry is no different. When you’re making beaded jewelry you have the choice between choosing beads whose colors all compliment each other or using beads who contrast against each other to bring visual interest. A beaded bracelet consisting of 30 beads all made out of various shades of red will more than likely compliment each other and a necklace with alternating yellow and purple beads will likely contrast. Of course, you can mix both of these methods in a single piece of beaded jewelry. If you’re stringing together five red beads and you don’t know what would make those beads really stand out you may want then then string five orange or dark blue beads next to them. By having some beads compliment one another and some beads contrast with one another you’re adding in an element of surprise to your jewelry. I classify a bead’s material, or what it’s made out of, as a type of color. So in my mind “dark wood” is a color as is “yellow gold” and “bright silver.”

Bead Size: The next ceative property that separates one bead from the next is the size. The size of the beads you use when making a piece of jewelry can be all the same, they can grow or shrink in size or they can alternate from small to large and back again. Seed beeds often help to serve as “small” beads while more ornate and colorful beads serve as “large” beads on most pieces. I have gotten myself “unstuck” from many jewelry design blocks by using beads that were similar in color but varied in size.

Bead Shape: When beginner bead jewelry makers think of beads, they almost certain think of most beads as being “round” or spherical in shape. After you’ve been working with bead jewelry for a while you start to realize that there are just as many different shapes of beads as there are colors. The shape of the beads you use can dramatically change the overall tone of a piece of jewelry. Round beads lend a traditional or classic feel to jewelry, rectangular and square beads can add in a tone of modernality and I’ve learned that the more facets there are on the beads I use the “fancier” a jewelry piece feels to me.

When you remember that you can vary the size, color or shape from one bead or collection of beads to the next you can almost always find a way to break through those mental blocks you have when you are stuck. You can even design a new piece based entirely on changing up these three properties.

Try this: sit down in front of an empty beadboard and lay out some of your beads. Pick two that are the same. Now mentally classify them by color, size and shape. Let’s just say they are green (perhaps some sort of jade), large (relatively) and round. Now just move the properties around in your head to see what you could use next to them. How about if we move to a dark red color, move down to a medium sized bead and then change them to a more rectangular shape? Put two of each on both sides and you’re on your way to building a beaded bracelet that has a little bit of an Far East feel.

So the next time you get stuck designing a piece of beaded jewelry remember the three “B’s” of beads: bead color, bead size and bead shape!