Chris Franchetti Michaels

With the prices of precious metals going completely through the roof, it's no wonder that more of us are turning to non-precious metal components. The most popular choice is brass, and especially brass that's been antiqued or darkened...

Here's an interesting new take on artistic pearl jewelry, invented by Chi Huynh of San Dimas, California: The Galatea Mercy Pearl, a cultured pearl with a gemstone bead at its center. What are cultured pearls? Cultured pearls are grown in mollusks that live in either saltwater  or freshwater....

If you'd like to participate in the 2010 Your Designs Rock Contest, now's the time to start planning your entry. This popular event is sponsored by Rings & Things, a big supplier of beads and jewelry making components...

A jewelry company has introduced a strung-bead dog leash that it says is strong enough to serve as, well, a dog leash. It's a difficult concept for us beaders to grasp, but the makers of FabuLeash claim to have invented a patent-pending technology that makes it work...

If you sell on Etsy, you may be aware that the site has had some challenges when it comes to search engine ranking. Controversy erupted earlier in the year when changes to shop code temporarily caused shops to violate some important search engine rules...

The Beads of Clay blogging group is holding a collaborative open studio tour on Sunday -- and all you need to attend is an Internet connection. The Beads of Clay Studio Blog Event will begin at 10am Pacific time on October 25 and run until 1pm Pacific. At least seventeen artists will participate...

I've been meaning to write about Michaels for a while now, at least since they announced a strategic change to focus more heavily on jewelry making. At the same time, they're rearranging store layouts and ramping up community events such as free demonstrations and lessons...

I wanted to post about the latest free downloadable project from Bead & Button magazine, because it does a great job of demonstrating a very artful free-form peyote technique...

This weekend I gave each of my craft books its own page on the site, with author notes and the complete table of contents...

Since I regularly post about the Use the Muse contest, I want to make sure everyone's up-to-date on its status this round...

I have mixed feelings about plastic. I love some of the vintage plastics, like Bakelite and Lucite, but I worry about newer products labeled "plastic" or "acrylic." If I'm going to put hours into crafting a design, it better not be something I can pick up at Walmart for five dollars...

Wow - Interweave Press is serious about making sure you don't miss out on the great projects, tips, and informative articles in upcoming issues of Jewelry Artist. If you subscribe today, you'll receive 24 issues for the normal price of only eight...

Think you'll be ready for a getaway next March? How about three days of personal instruction from three top beading instructors? Another perk: You get to visit beautiful, breezy San Francisco, our northern California city by the Bay...

Beaking Bead News: Interweave has announced that its zine Step by Step Beads will soon be no more - but that its content will be "merged" into Beadwork magazine (one of my personal faves). The Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Step by Step will officially be its last...