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KRISTAL: Kristal Wick here with Artbeads Café, where we have all things caffeinated, blingalicious,
beady, and canine. Can you believe it? Cynthia, our fabulous Grand *** Designer and Chief
of Everything here at Artbeads Café and Artbeads in general, we decided to do some Halloween
delights. Cynthia, I think you should start and show us some Halloween jewelry.
CYNTHIA: I wanted to show the collection of Halloween from TierraCast.
KRISTAL: Oh, TierraCast, one of our favorites.
CYNTHIA: Yes. They came up with some really cool charms that really are Halloween themes.
KRISTAL: Yes, I see that.
CYNTHIA: I love the little witch on the broom. I think it's really cute. The bats are just
wonderful and they hang on the side like that.
KRISTAL: That's nice.
CYNTHIA: That's nice, and I love those tombs. Two sides have different patterns. Like this
one says "R.I.P." and on the other side it says "Nevermore."
KRISTAL: Oh, that's cute. They're like little baby tombstones that you can wear on your
jewelry. Oh, fun.
CYNTHIA: They have also some owls and a ghost. I think the ghost is really, really neat.
KRISTAL: That ghost is adorable for sure.
CYNTHIA: Some zombies. Zombies are not my favorite. [laughs]
KRISTAL: Well, you know, zombies, there's a whole line of folks out there that do enjoy
the zombie scene. So we can't leave them out.
CYNTHIA: Exactly.
KRISTAL: That's cute.
CYNTHIA: So I made here a necklace to show how you can put them together. I did a chain
that is a little dark to match with the pendant, with the charms.
KRISTAL: Perfect for Halloween. Spooky.
CYNTHIA: Yes, and of course, you need black and orange, right?
KRISTAL: Oh yes.
CYNTHIA: So that's why I did the crystal.
KRISTAL: Nice. That's a nice touch, because it's not over-the-top orange like most Halloween
costumes, but it's just enough. That would be perfect to wear to the office on Halloween.
CYNTHIA: Exactly. Yes, exactly.
KRISTAL: Oh my goodness, I love it.
CYNTHIA: Then I wanted to show some more charms that are not part of the Halloween collection,
but I thought they were so cute that you can still wear them for Halloween. Like the skeleton
here; you have a man and a woman, and here playing guitar. I thought they were so cute.
KRISTAL: Those are cute. Those are adorable. And then the skull, of course, the sugar skull,
which is all popular all the time, but perfect for Halloween especially. Oh, those are cute.
TierraCast does it again. Thanks for sharing, Cynthia. Those are really cute.
KRISTAL: Cynthia, now it's time for Kristal Wick's Picks, where we have everything caffeinated,
beady, and canine today. I thought it would be really cool to show what to do with Swarovski
flatbacks on costumes, on masks, on a little bit of everything -- and especially Halloween.
So I have used hotfix and I have used non-hotfix, and you can see some of the beautiful
things that I did on my doggies' costumes.
I also used some unusual shapes, like right up here I used a different kind of shape.
There's a lot of times that we use the rounds, because they're the most common, but I thought
it would be interesting to show different kinds of things. So I used different shapes
up there, and then down here -- again, let's take a little shot here of the bat. Oooh,
look at that.
CYNTHIA: That is really cute.
KRISTAL: A lot of the costumes come with appliqués on them, so the appliqué is perfect for
hotfixing crystals right on top of them because the hotfix will make them adhere to the appliqué.
So we have this cutie over here, and she has a nice little pirate outfit, and I thought
it would be very fun that I blinged that up, and then fun to have this little, cute ribbony
thing here. It's just ribbons tied to an elastic, and then I blinged up on some of the ends.
So the theme is Halloween, and of course, the costumes are Martha Stewart costumes because
they're our favorite. I also did our lovely fascinators. As you can see, I blinged those
up as well and added a lot of extra color. (to dog) Yes, you look so cute.
And masks. Everybody, if they don't want a whole costume, they can certainly just wear
a mask. And I did some blingage here as well. Again, I used some unusual shapes like the
marquise, and I think that's a really nice, elegant, fascinating shape to use for some
of these beautiful things.
CYNTHIA: Like you said, we keep forgetting that there are other shapes than just the
rounds.
KRISTAL: Exactly. Everybody uses the rounds, and that's cool, but oh my goodness, it comes
in lots of different shapes. So I wanted to point out some of the unusual ones to use
for your costumes this year. Then also, again, I flatbacked our fun little bat kits. As you
can see, I have some bat earrings and a bat necklace on, and those again are using the
flatbacks. And we have kits, Artbeads kits.
CYNTHIA: Yes. What kind of glue did you use to put the crystal on the crystal?
KRISTAL: The crystal on the crystal. E-6000, and it comes in the kit. So you have everything
that you need to make these little guys. I thought they would be absolutely great for
office attire. Again, if you just want to wear something a little fun for Halloween,
but not go all out with the costumes, they would be adorable for the office attire. As
well as I have a kanzashi ring here and flatbacked that. Just keep flatbacking away.
Again, this is Kristal Wick's Picks. Fun to share it with you guys.
KRISTAL: Okay, Cynthia, it's time for a Q&A session, and Arlene in Florida asks, "How
are the half-drilled pearls used?" I know this is a really, really, really common question.
People do not know what to do with half-drilled pearls.
CYNTHIA: To use the half-drilled pearls, you need to use the setting that goes with.
KRISTAL: Oh, good to know.
CYNTHIA: The setting is a post, and you have a little cup at the end, and inside you have
a teeny post. What you do with it, you put glue in there.
KRISTAL: What kind of glue do you recommend?
CYNTHIA: I use the two-part epoxy again.
KRISTAL: Two-part epoxy, we love it. We drink it. [laughs] Just kidding. Don't drink it
at home. Do not drink it at home.
CYNTHIA: So the half-drilled, you just take the pearl end to just slide on the cup. You
have to make sure you have enough glue, and of course, the glue will go around the pearl,
so you just take a toothpick and you can wipe it off before it dries.
KRISTAL: Oh, that's good to know.
CYNTHIA: I find that you cannot put your pearl -- while the glue is drying, you have to put
it somewhere. So I use this little block.
KRISTAL: That's worth the price of admission right there, that tip right there. Yes. That's
great.
CYNTHIA: You just pick your ear post in there.
KRISTAL: That's a florist block, so you can get those at craft stores, right, just little
blocks?
CYNTHIA: Exactly.
KRISTAL: Oh, right, because it has to dry standing up or you'll get a lopsided pearl.
CYNTHIA: Exactly. And let it dry overnight. It's better to not touch it for awhile.
KRISTAL: Okay, 24 hours minimum.
CYNTHIA: Yeah. Like that, you're sure.
KRISTAL: That's what I say, too. Even if it doesn't say that on the instructions, I still
let it dry, because it's better than them falling apart. That's great.
CYNTHIA: The setting comes in different sizes, depending on the size of the pearls of course.
So you have some really, really small, teeny, teeny pearls here, and then medium-size, and
then you have bigger size for the big pearls. And here -- I don't know if you can see -- those
are very small with a teeny loop.
KRISTAL: Oh, that's adorable.
CYNTHIA: It's really cute, so I made those pair of earrings where I added some drops.
KRISTAL: Nice. Wow, I love that. So now you have movement in addition to your half-drilled
pearls.
CYNTHIA: Exactly.
KRISTAL: Very cute.
CYNTHIA: One more thing is the bail. I think it's really elegant, really striking to just
glue one pearl, and you have this beautiful bail, and you add just a simple silver necklace.
KRISTAL: That's really pretty. It's great for people that want something really small,
maybe to wear in the office.
CYNTHIA: Exactly.
KRISTAL: Oh, that's really pretty. I like how you combined the different colors with
the silver bails. Nice.
CYNTHIA: Very easy to do, very quick, and that's it.
KRISTAL: Great. Oh, thanks for sharing that, Cynthia. I really enjoy it. I'm sure you guys
enjoy it, too, because we don't know what to do with half-drilled. Goodness. Well, thanks
so much for everybody that joined us here at Artbeads Café, and if you have any questions
for us, please feel free to write us at Artbeads.com. Otherwise, enjoy yourselves and happy beading.