Wednesday Worktable

FIrst off, as I hope you know - the Iolite Fringe Necklace isn't on my worktable anymore, because I finished it! Yay!

Last weekend I started working on a pattern ("Slip Sliding Away") in the August/September 2012 issue of Beadwork. I work with herringbone a lot, and love it, but had never done twisted herringbone, so this was new to me.

This is the bracelet this morning:

I am working on the 2nd of 4 tubular twisted herringbone ropes that will comprise the bracelet. Nothing hard about it, but it is just slow going, lots of repetition (to the point that I'm bored now.)

Happy Wednesday!

An agonizing decision

As I told you yesterday, the workbench photo in that post was NOT an accurate representation of what my workbench looked like when I first arrived at the shop yesterday.

This is what my worktable actually looked like first thing yesterday morning:

Well, almost - the 100% truth is that the portable DVD player that you can see at the far back left was actually very close to the left front edge of the table, because I don't see very well, and in order to see the DVDs, I need the player to be pretty close to my face. And that is why the iolite fringe necklace is lying precariously close to the edge of the workbench - that was the only place it would fit (plus I needed it pretty close to me, too, just so I could see my work!)

So, let's pretend there is an imaginary clock face superimposed on the picture above, and I'll give you some explanation of all the stuff on the bench.

Let's say the DVD player is at 11:00. Right in front of the DVD, on the left? A black and white cabochon I am close to finishing - I finished beading the bezel about 10 weeks ago, glued the ultrasuede on the back, and then got distracted by other projects, and the cabochon has laid there, untouched, for months. Now it, too, has become a zombie! I don't even know where the ziploc bag containing the seed beads I was using on it are. Story of my life.

In front of the right side of the DVD? An amethyst heart paperweight - I found it when I was cleaning out the back room a few months ago, and decided it was too pretty to be in a box. So now it is cluttering my workspace.

At 12:00? The ziploc bag that all the various components for the iolite fringe necklace were stored in.

Immediately to the right of that ziploc bag, on the paper towel? The pile of copper headpins I enameled on April 17. They are all cleaned up, and ready for use. They need to be put in their box (and yes, I have a box ready for them) until I'm ready to use them. But, alas, I am a hopelessly lazy piler. No telling how long they will lie there on my bench, in my way. And I wonder what's under that paper towel? I didn't look.

From 2:00 to 4:00? My optivisor and glasses, right where I threw them down when I went home Tuesday night. Underneath them? The piles of seed beads ready to be stitched into the Iolite Fringe Necklace.

At 5:00? The custom-ordered Cubic right angle weave (CRAW) bracelet I am currently trying to finish. I carved out a teeny tiny corner of my huge workbench so I could meet the deadline on this bracelet. I'm sure none of you can relate to having to carve out a tiny space to work in, when you have such a nice big work area at your disposal!

From 5:00 to 7:00? The dreaded Zombie Iolite Fringe Necklace, perching precariously on the edge of the table. If you look over at the far left side of the necklace, you can see the unfinished ends, with the 28g sterling silver wires hanging out in space, just begging to get caught in my Fireline, or to latch on to a passing Golden Retriever - a disaster waiting to happen!

And filling the middle of the table: all the various seed bead tubes and findings, etc that I need to work on the fringe necklace. Except for that pile of black seed beads to the left of my Thread Heaven - those are for the cubic right angle weave bracelet, but I moved them over closer to the DVD player, so I could reach them more easily while I was beading (while watching movies, of course).

At 9:00? Three Swarovski crystal Christmas Tree earrings that don't have mates - I intend to take them apart and put the crystals with the ones that I have for sale. "Intend" being the operative word. Taking apart those earrings, putting the crystals where they belong, and recycling the sterling - all of this would take maybe 5 minutes. But those earrings have been sitting there for months. And right beside them? A needle file I used on April 17 when I needed to slightly enlarge a few holes in some beads so they would fit on the mandrels on that studio day when we were last enameling - would you believe that that file goes in the drawer whose handle you can see right below the iolite fringe necklace? But no - it sits on my workbench, because I'm lazy. In my defense (sort of), the Christmas tree earrings and the file have actually been hidden underneath the DVD player all this time, but, still. And I suppose I should be saying all this clutter is because I am so busy, not because I am so lazy - but the truth is the truth. So there it is.

OK - on to my agonizing decision.  This zombie iolite fringe necklace. I love the concept, and I want to have the completed necklace. But getting from Point A (where the project is today) to Point B (completion) is making my stomach churn. As I've talked about before, my beading style has evolved in the last 5 years, and I just cannot, to save my life, replicate the stitching I was doing back then.

Believe me, I have tried. I have added 2 more inches of fringing to this necklace, and if you click on the above pic to enlarge it, and then look at the portion of the necklace that is between the 2 bead mats, where the wooden bench is the background - this is the part I have been working on. For about 2 weeks.

That's only partly true - I worked on it for a week, and got so frustrated that this project has been lying on my bench, absolutely untouched, for over a week now.

If you look at the enlarged picture above, you may be able to tell that the segment of the necklace I have been working on looks different from the portion to the right of it. It is much fuller.

And this bothers me. A lot. And it is not a matter of taking out some stitches - because I worked back and forth, back and forth, around and around. Plus the thread ended, and I had to start another one - all these threads, as you weavers know, are intimately connected now, and just taking out some stitches is no longer an option. And I don't want to add more fringe to the already finished part, because it is perfect! The density of the fringe is perfect.

Detail:

The blue arrow indicates the completed fringe - the perfect fringe. The fringing I did 4-5 years ago. The look I am trying to replicate.
The pink arrow is the portion I have been working on for the last 2 weeks.
The green arrow indicates the portion of the necklace that has 2 passes of fringe - also completed 4-5 years ago. This fringe was so thin that it looked ... wrong... prompting me to add the 3rd pass - resulting in the portion under the blue arrow. Confusing? I hope not.

The area indicated by the pink fringe is noticeably fuller. You're probably saying, "it looks fine to me - I don't see any difference." But you see, I can see it. And truthfully, you probably know that pictures don't tell the whole story - because this fullness is VERY obvious in person. Trust me - I have shown it to several people!

I vowed to myself (and to my readers - but the vow that counts is the one I made to myself!) that I wouldn't start any new projects until I finish this necklace. (The black CRAW bracelet doesn't count - it was a custom order I am getting paid for!) I really, really want to finish the fringe necklace, and the rest of my zombies! But I come in everyday, and see the fringe necklace lying there, and just inwardly groan. I am not doing it right. I am not making the necklace I want, and I can't figure out how to make it work.

So here is the agonizing decision I reached about 3AM yesterday morning. I don't know about you, but I tend to obsess about stuff that is unresolved, especially in the wee hours of the morning, when my insomnia kicks in. And the obsessing doesn't help me sleep, believe me!

So I was worrying about this necklace, agonizing over how I was going to force myself to work on it. I had been making all sorts of promises (and threats) to myself - just do an inch, come on now - just an inch a day! But I just couldn't. And since I had vowed not to start anything else, I have had the most unproductive 8 days of my beading life - I have gotten nothing done, creatively. I have balanced the books, vacuumed, dusted, cleaned the bathroom, played on the computer (Pinterest, I'm looking at you!) - but no jewelry design! I even had to tackle a huge pile of do-over jewelry (repairs) one day last week, and I actually got up and moved to a whole other table, with a brand spanking clean bead mat, bringing all my tools with me, since there was no room on my own workbench! Sad.

And with typical 3AM clarity, it came to me - I have to take ALL the fringe of the necklace, and start over. All the fringe - not just the last round. And it has to be done carefully, so as not to cut or damage the underlying sterling silver crochet structure. And then, all those seed beads will have to be sorted, so I can start fringing again. Sigh. That's a LOT of seed beads.

I have such a mental block about this necklace right now - I don't want to take it apart, but it isn't working the way it is now, and it never will. Once I accepted this, the decision was so clear. Doesn't make the decision any easier, but it has to be done. I think the fringing will go SO much easier once I can start fresh!

So I packed up the whole fringe project yesterday so I can finish the black CRAW bracelet comfortably. Then I am going to clean off the workbench, really. For real. Then I will start de-fringing the fringe necklace, probably tomorrow, get it down to the silver crochet skeleton, and start anew! Yay!

Wednesday Worktable

Today's worktable involved a custom order of a slightly different nature, and I decided to turn it into a pictorial tutorial. (sorry, unintentional rhyme)

The customer brought in a strung bracelet and asked for it to be turned into earrings. This, in and of itself, was not unusual. However, she wanted big swinging hoop earrings with the same flexibility as the bracelet; essentially, she wanted me to cut the bracelet in half and make 2 smaller "bracelets" out of it, and hang them from earwires. And incidentally, she wanted each earring to be about 3/4 the size of the bracelet. (3/4 plus 3/4 equals 1.5, we'll just ignore that math for now)

This is the bracelet I had to work with; she also brought in the matching, broken earrings, so I would have a couple of additional beads. The green beads are plastic, in a pretty peridot AB, and the metal beads are base metal.

My first step was to cut everything apart, and divide all the beads into 2 equal piles:

There were 5 extra beads, reflecting the odd number of beads and spacers in the bracelet. I just couldn't figure out a comfortable way to make these earrings asymmetrical, so I decided to do without the unpaired extra beads.

Using flexible beading wire, I played around with different stringing designs for over 2 hours before I finally got something I liked. This sounds like an awful lot of time to spend on this project, but the customer didn't want me to add any additional beads (she wanted to avoid any extra cost), and no matter how I strung the beads, the result was simply too short, and caused the earring to hang in a pronounced, squared-off, "shelf" type of pattern - the large bead at the bottom of the loop flattening out the design at the bottom.

I ultimately gave up, added some 3mm Czech firepolish glass to the design, and am much happier with the nice soft, rounded loop that forms now. They just needed some additional length! This picture shows the 5 extra beads I couldn't use - I'm just not ready to make asymmetrical earrings yet! But I sure could have used them to add length to my design!


Once I was happy with the strung design, I put the free ends of the beading wire through a 2x2 crimp tube:

Don't crimp yet!


Now, place the free ends, one at a time, through the opposite "legs" of a wire guardian:

The picture above shows the free ends of the beading wire extending up through the legs of the guardian, with a little closer detail in the next pic:

Next, cross the free ends over each other, and bring each free end down through the opposite leg of the guardian. This step is a little complicated to explain in pictures, so I added a little text to the next picture. The earring on the left shows the first part of this step, with one free end taken up the right leg of the guardian and then down the left leg. The earring on the right shows both free ends brought back down through the guardian:

Next, bring the free ends of the beading wire down through the crimp bead:

Here is a slightly different angle of this same step:

Next, bring each free end down through a few of the strung beads on each side, if desired:

You'll notice that in the process of manipulating the ends of the beading wire through the wire guardian, your beading wire may slip out of the top of the wire guardian temporarily. This is OK - just keep an eye on it, and remember to tighten down all this slack before you crimp.

And speaking of crimping, that's the next step. Tighten both ends of your beading wire, carefully pulling, in small increments, first on one, and then the other, until they are both tightened to the degree you desire. I like to leave about 1mm of empty beading wire above and below my crimp, as shown below, because I like to cover my crimps with crimp covers. If you aren't going to cover your crimps, you probably don't want to leave this much space!

When I crimp, I use my chainnose pliers to squeeze the crimp as flat as possible, and I also crimp the hollow tube ends of the wire guardian, so that I get a "double crimp" effect. I used to use a crimping tool, but was thoroughly unsatisfied with the results, and ever since I switched to completely flattening the crimp tubes, I have not had any slippage. And I don't have to worry about the crimp's sharp corners, because I cover it with a crimp cover, and get a pretty result, to boot!

Next, I placed a jumpring through the wire guardian, and then placed the jumpring into the loop on the earwire. My original intent had been to hang the wire guardian directly on the earwire, but it was a little too thick to fit in the earwire loop, so I had to resort to jump rings. (If I had known ahead of time, I would have slid a soldered ring into the guardian before looping the beading wires back around, as the soldered ring would have added a bit more security to the earring).

I actually had to use 2 jumprings for each earring, in order to get the earring oriented correctly when it hung from the earwire.

Not a bad little earring, and really quite a short, simple project. As with all stringing projects for me, the most time consuming part is settling on the design!

I have also sketched out a graphic representation of the crimp and wire guardian steps - I am painfully aware that I can't draw, but I did my best! Please feel free to ignore these sketches if they only confuse the issue - it really isn't meant to be complicated! Many apologies for my handwriting!

Step 1: Put both free ends of the flexible beading wire through one 2x2 crimp; do NOT crimp:

Step 2: Put each end of the beading wire through an opposing "leg" of a wire guardian:

Step 3: Crossing the free ends over each other, bring each back down the other leg of the guardian. First, the right-sided free end goes down the left leg (in this diagram)

Step 4: Now the left-sided free end crosses over and goes down the right leg:

Step 5: Tighten up the beading wire, getting out all the desired slack, and crimp!

Here is a picture of wire guardians - these are the most fantastic finding! They are small, horseshoe-shaped findings, with legs that resemble crimp tubes, and the top of the horseshoe being open, for easier manipulation of the beading wire. I use these for all my strung projects, in basically the same way as outlined in this tutorial, except the beading wire just has one free end at each end - The free end goes through the crimp, then up one leg of the wire guardian, over the top, and down the other leg. You then slide your clasp on (or chain), snap it into the horseshoe portion of the wire guardian, and glide the free end of the beading wire through the crimp tube. Then crimp as above. I always crimp both the crimp tube AND the very ends of the wire guardian, for a double crimp effect. Followed by a crimp cover over the crimp.


I placed some copper headpins through the legs of a couple of the wire guardians, hoping to better display their tubular, crimp bead-like nature, and to show how the top of the guardians is an open tunnel.

Wednesday Worktable

Well, it can't always be about the fun beading, folks...today, I have to coil, cut, and tumble several thousand jumprings.

So, we travel back into the deep, dark recesses of my shop, to the back corner of my back room, where my ring-coiling equipment is set up.

These are my jump ring mandrels. I have an English set and a metric set, because you never know which system a pattern will use (and often, one pattern will mix sizes from both the English and the metric systems, because the sizes ARE slightly different!)

My 6.5mm mandrel is MIA because I pulled it one day to use in lieu of a dowel for a Viking Knit project - couldn't find my dowels anywhere. It's been over a year now .... probably should finish that Viking Knit!

After choosing the correct mandrel, I load it into the coiler and start coiling:

That's my spool of sterling silver wire hanging from the mandrel.

Close-up:

The coiling phase is rough on me, physically. My set up is nice and ergonomic - it is at chest height, so it isn't awkward, and I don't have to bend, stoop, or reach to wind the handle. But, I have to wind that handle one full rotation for every jump ring I coil, and with large batches of rings, that's a lot of strain on my shoulder.

Once all the rings are coiled (which they aren't yet - I had to take a break!), we head out to the classroom, where my saw is set up.

Each coil will be lubricated, then placed in the coil holder, and then cut with the saw blade which is inserted in my Flex Shaft.

And once all the coils are cut, the rings will go into the tumbler for awhile to be polished and work-hardened.

That's Jump Ring 101, and now you know what I'll be doing most of the day!

Wednesday Worktable

Here is this morning's Worktable:

4 projects, which I'll show larger pics of below. And my iPad, streaming a Netflix movie. Couldn't make it through the day with some video entertainment! And speaking of making it through the day, there is my ubiquitous Diet Coke - this particular one is number 2 so far today.

So, from left to right, here's what I'm working on:

A blue and silver dragonscale (chainmaille) bracelet - almost done; about 3/4 inch to go!

A beaded cabochon - the beading itself is finished, but I need to glue the ultrasuede to the back and finish the edges.

More repairs, or as I now call them (thanks, Maggie!): Do Over Jewelry! I don't get good color when I take photos at my workbench, because the necklace on the left is made with beautiful, stop sign-red bamboo coral, yet it looks Halloween orange here. And the triple-strand necklace on the left is made with huge chunks of rose quartz (and freshwater pearls and Czech glass), and was simply too heavy for what it was originally strung on (as was the bamboo coral necklace, for that matter).

Once the Do Overs are dispatched, I can move on to my own projects.

Happy Wednesday!

Worktable Wednesday

Here's what's on the workbench today:

On the left: a 3-strand necklace repair I just completed for a customer - it is just waiting for me to call her to come pick it up. This one was a toughie - it had been originally strung on thread, which had broken. What I thought were size 15 seed beads (making up 2 of the 3 strands) were actually even smaller than 15s, and were seamed beads. The slightest pressure on these seamed beads, such as merely sliding them off the worn thread, caused the seams to pop open - so I have my fears for the longevity of this necklace. The equivalent of about 6 inches of these beads were lost due to this fragility, since once they popped open, they would no longer stay on any beading material.

On the right: a rectangular cab I am creating a beaded bezel for. I have never done anything other than an oval, so this will be a new challenge. Black and white is a favorite combo for me, and this stone is gorgeous. It is a deep snow white (opaque) and a deep opaque black, and I have absolutely no idea what the gemstone is. I'd love to know, if anyone has ideas. It is definitely not snowflake obsidian. It looks very similar to this picture I found on the www - called "black and white jasper." I am not familiar with this name, and wonder if perhaps there is another name for it. Any gemologists or geologists or gemstone wizards out there?

I am champing at the bit for a new issue of Bead & Button to arrive, so I can start a brand new weaving project - I really have a case of beadweaving fever right now!

What are you guys working on today?

Amethyst and Pearl Multistrand Necklace: Hot off the Worktable!

The fruits of this week's labor, started Tuesday afternoon.

I have steadily worked on this one all week, and just finished it about 30 minutes ago. I got it photographed, and listed on Etsy, too!

In addition to the beadwoven endpieces, created from Jet AB2x cubes, there are graduated strands of gemstone chips (in amethyst, ametrine, citrine, and quartz), several large dark amethyst nuggets, and gold freshwater pearls. I used a Swarovski cosmic ring for the toggle closure (with a beadwoven toggle bar). Sari ribbon finishes off the back of the necklace.

Worktable Wednesday

Yesterday afternoon I assembled the beads and started stitching a necklace idea that popped into my head on Saturday, so this is what is on my workbench this morning:

Some amethyst nuggets, some amethyst and ametrine chips, and some gold freshwater pearls. And I stitched up 2 brick stitch connectors for the design, in Jet AB 4mm cubes (I know, what other color would I choose, right?)
Stay tuned tomorrow to find out why I allowed myself to start a new project! (Gosh, I hope you can sleep tonight lol)

So, for a little personal digression, here:

We are having a stunningly gorgeous day today - it is 65 degrees, the sun is shining, birds are singing - beautiful! Other than having a slight headache while driving to work, a great day! So I decided to allow myself a treat, and I pulled through the Chic-Fil-A drive thru to get a fountain Diet Coke - YUM! I stuck the cup in the car's cupholder, and continued across the street to the shop (yes, I am right across the street from Chic-Fil-A), and lifted the cup to take a long gulp, and discovered they had given me Coke. Not my delicious Diet Coke, but nasty sweet Coke. I know my friend, Sonya, understands how this can ruin a mood!

So, of course, I had to get rid of it - I don't like the taste anyway, but I could never drink all that sugar (though I could certainly consume 10 times as much sugar in the form of Krispy Kreme chocolate iced cream-filled donuts, but that's different. That's the Breakfast of Champions!)

So now I am settling for a canned Caffeine-Free Diet Coke, and blogging while listening to The View. Where "the ladies" (and good grief, do I use that term loosely) are having a big, loud, rant, led by Whoopi, about Whitney Houston, Drew Pinksy, and Nancy Grace. With Elisabeth chiming in her 42 cents. It's a "View-ha-ha"! I crack myself up!

Have a great day!

Worktable Wednesday

Here's what's on the workbench today:

This is the peyote bracelet I started last week. It is slowly progressing; I have lots of stuff pop up that interrupts me, and I decided not to take it home last weekend, so I have only spent a couple of days on it since last week. It is now just over halfway stitched. Patterns like this involve lots of counting, so I tend to take frequent breaks - it tires my poor old eyes out!
I hope to finish the stitching of the bracelet itself by tomorrow, and then start stitching the clasp. Fingers crossed! Unless the shop gets real busy - which would be terrific, too!

This is a custom necklace I need to work on today; a customer who frequently requests custom work brought in 2 of her necklaces, and a brass pendant from a 3rd necklace, and asked me to combine all these pieces and beads into one necklace. There's some coral, some onyx, and some brass beads to play with here.

This is custom job #2 I need to complete today - these freshwater pearl crosses belong to a new customer, who'd like them made into 2 bracelets (one white, one brown).

So, once I complete the 2 custom orders, I can move on to my peyote bracelet! Gonna eat some breakfast, and some yummy Diet Coke, first though!

And BTW, I put earwires in all those earrings yesterday, so I'll post pics of the completed pairs tomorrow.

Wednesday Worktable

Today I am working on 2 beadweaving projects I started at home on Monday.

One is a Cellini spiral, with galvanized gold, silver, and bronze beads, and some gorgeous metallic Czech firepolish beads. It is meant to be a necklace when it grows up, but only time will tell.

The second project is a geometric peyote bracelet, which you may recognize as having the same design as this (former) bracelet. This time around there will be no issues with insufficient contrast in the bead colors!

I seem to be having some creative ADD lately - these are just 2 of the projects I am actively working on right now. I want to have my hands in everything, and keep starting projects, then moving on to something else. But as long as I finish a few of them here and there, I'm OK! Right?