bit of advice please from beady jewellery makers :)

[milknosugar]

would really like to make some hair jewellery like a tiara and a couple of hair slides. but i dont understand how you attach the wires to the base. do you just twist the wires or do you use something to stick them aswell? and what size wire do you use to stick up from the jewellery and for bending to shape? yes i am a beginner, no i havent bought anything yet! all help appreciated

Hi - I make tiaras! I would say - get .4mm wire for use with Swarovski-type crystals and pearly beads. Put the bead/s at the centre of a section of wire and twist both ends together (not too tightly). Stop twisting when the twisted section is as long as you want it to be from the base to the bead, then twist the separate ends round the base neatly. You can make nice clusters of beads in this way. Experiment by making 'trees' from the wire by branching off while you're twisting the ends together and adding another bead, then twist the wire on itself back to the main 'trunk', IYSWIM.

Oh god! It's getting too involved, isn't it! The Bead Shop in Nottingham (google it) has an excellent online store incl. bases, wire, cheap cutters and beads. They also sell a book on how to make tiaras!

thanks elliekat, thats really helpful. how do you fix it to the tiara band, do you just twist or would you solder it (guessing that will look a bit messy). was thinking about getting some hair slides aswell for more every day use, would you use a gluegun to stick things to them or is there some clever jewellery glue you use?

i wandered round the v small bead shop in our town today to have a look but left without anything cos it was all so lovely, i just wanted to stroke things and keep them all to look at

what do you do with your tiaras, are they just for yourself or do you sell them? would love to see some pics

Nope, if you leave a long enough 'tail' of wire you can twist it neatly round the base and it'll stay put! If I've layered lots of twisted wire on the base, sometimes I wrap a silver or gold coloured ribbon - the narrowest I can find - around the base to hide the twists. TBH, the base will be hidden in the hair for most 'dos!

I wouldn't use glue with beads - they will fall off with most sorts (they're mostly going to be non-porous beads) or discolour with stuff like superglu. Try using wire and surprise yourself with what you can achieve! Most hairslides and combs have places you can anchor wire. Or you could sew a pad of fabric to a metal hairslide (the large sort, not kirby grip) and sew beads to it.

Bead shops are the crack cocaine of the crafty world! Well done for staying strong!

I've made tiaras to order for about 5 of my friends (and their bridesmaids) but only at cost. I started when looking for nice stuff for my own wedding and as someone who already made jewellery, realised that I could do (nicer, cheaper) tiaras myself! Always meant to start online business selling them (how twee is that?!) but haven't got round to it yet (baby currently attached to boob, am working on what crafts I can do while bfing!) and market is pretty saturated with tiara makers.

(don't have any pics on current computer, they were all on old laptop which went belly up, but search for tiara makers online - there are a lot of talented makers out there!)