Thursday, January 8, 2009

A Bit of Success, a Bit of Failure, but Learning Is Always Like That, Isn't It?

Lots of experimentation going on trying to figure out small things. I've broken a couple calottes trying to finish off a knotted necklace - I need to bend them back fairly far to get a good tight knot but when I bend them back to close the calotte, they break at the hinge. Either I need to find stronger calottes or figure out how to get the knot flush without opening it too far.

In the process of experimenting I've wasted a bit more silk thread than I would have liked, as well, since getting the knots un-done isn't worth the effort sometimes so I just cut at the knot and start over. Now and then I'll search the web for tutorials and hints, but mostly it's just trial and error, patience and persistance.

I have found that nail polish at the tip of the thread makes the beading easier since I don't use a needle. I have also tried beeswax, which doesn't always work with the smallest beads, since it seems to come off and cause a bit of blockage as it's going through smaller beads, but does keep the tip from fraying.

Got a package from Rings & Things today with some gunmetal chain, assorted 4mm Czech glass spacer disks and assorted pressed Czech glass shell beads, which I thought would be fun for summer lanyards.

Between experiments and the day job extending into my evenings, I've missed a few days updating, I'll try not to do that too much.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Dave Robertson said...

Hi Dawno, glad you got your package from us! Enjoy the gunmetal chain, it's a big best-seller. I'm looking forward as always to seeing what you create with our Czech beads and things. :)

--Dave
at Rings & Things

January 13, 2009 at 8:37 AM  
Blogger ohdawno said...

Hi Dave! You'll want to look at the 3rd picture in this post then, to see some of the new Rings & Things Czech beads in use. The shell beads were the major inspiration for the piece, I was looking at them and thinking of how I wanted to use them, when I decided to make it, and I use some of the Czech spacers I got, as well.

One of the color samples in the assortment pack has a little bit of brown striping in it, I'm not sure what the name of that color/pattern is, but I'm going to have to get more of those, since I have an idea that would use them but not enough from the selection to do the entire piece.

January 13, 2009 at 8:44 AM  

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