Crystals and clay and Czech glass

I started making another donut with some of the crystals I bought at Michael's - these are not Swarovskis (which Michael's does sell, under the Jolee brand) but Chinese crystals sold as "Crystazzi" brand. But I've used them before, and honestly, to the naked eye you can't really tell the difference. I'm sure an expert could, but I really can't. I have to admit that I like to use Swarovskis, just the same - whether it's a touch of snobbishness, or just because I like to know what I'm getting - but they can get very expensive and once in a while I break down and buy the others. (I am very careful about keeping them separate, though. I want to know which is which!) Anyway, one of the colors I bought is Champagne, which apparently is not an active Swarovski color, as far as I can tell. It's sort of a pale gold, and it's making up really pretty with the gold Delicas.

My experimental polymer clay piece is not what I'd call beautiful - you notice there's not a picture of it - but I'm not unhappy with the results, on the whole. The clay was harder to work with than I anticipated, but it did soften up eventually. (I guess this is why everybody gets pasta-makers!) What I made was sort of a spiral piece out of a long thin rope of clay. It's just an unacceptably lumpy piece, as far as I'm concerned. It did harden up like it's supposed to, so I have to call the experiment a success. Oh, and I also tried staining it darker with acrylic paint, and that didn't come out too badly, either.

I never did say that I finished my spiral Christmas ornament. I haven't decided if I'm keeping it or putting it on Etsy. There's no way I can sell it for enough to make up for the ridiculous amount of time I put into it, but that's just me being obsessive-compulsive. I just have to think of it as another experiment - just a more successful one than that first attempt at polyclay!

It's two sided - I alternated between adding the beads on one side and then the other. The beads are an assortment of stuff, but the bulk of it is Czech glass of various kinds. There are a few glass pearls and a few shell coins and even a couple of miracle beads, but mostly it's fire-polished beads and druk beads and some pressed glass, in a variety of colors and finishes. I just made a little bowl full of "bead soup" and went fishing in it whenever I got ready to add another bead. I wouldn't say I added the beads entirely randomly - in fact I definitely didn't, because I wanted a lot of variety and I was careful not to repeat things too close together. But I like the way it looks, overall!

Organization Sunday

Here's my worktable, still in the process of being cleaned up:

These little tubes of beads were scattered out all over the place - wherever I had last left them, I guess. The welter of silver pins and beads on the front left is where I was working on my Icicle necklace. And you can see the Fireline in the back that I was using for the donuts.

This kind of thing is part of my organizational system, such as it is. For things I'm "actively" working on I keep these little containers of beads around. And I picked up all the assorted findings that had gotten scattered around and filled most of one with headpins and another one with earring wires.

Those things in front are little "butter pats" that belonged to my Mom. They can be very useful. Behind that are those little square boxes that sit flat - I really like those, and would like to get some more.

I did get a little bit of experimenting with polymer clay done, too, but nothing I'd care to share just yet!

Experiments

I went up to Houston yesterday and went to Z Bead. The funny thing is that I haven't been there before, but I felt like I had the minute I walked in, and I guess it's not surprising, because it has the same owner as Nomadic Notions in Austin and San Antonio. It's somehow very obvious - the girls working there said they hear that a lot, even when people don't know ahead of time that it's the same. (I asked them if they knew why it wasn't just called Nomadic Notions like the other stores, but they didn't know. One possible theory I came up with: it doesn't sound hip enough. It's close to Rice U. so maybe they thought "Z Bead" sounded more young.) Anyway, I bought a few things - most notably, several stone donuts in different sizes - and I also signed up for a class in December; it's to make a beaded cuff. It's not all that far to go for a class, really, but I will have to make sure and go early to account for traffic, because it's always bad coming up Highway 288. Seems like no matter what time of day it is, there's always a slowdown somewhere!

Anyway, I don't have to worry about that for a month. In other news, I finished the donut (this is the non-stone, crystal and delica kind I'm talking about now) that I was working on, which was the vintage rose and clear one. (The Delica color may have been called luster crystal, actually, which is confusing.) It looks cute, in any case. Maybe I will do one set of the very pale ones. (I'm thinking of 3 or 4 of them as a set, strung on black linen cord, maybe.) Then I started another one, which will not be going with that set - it's erinite (green) and gold Delicas. That will be another set, the ones with gold Delicas, and the dark dark ones I did with the chocolate Delicas will be another. And then there's another set that's color-matched - pink crystals and pink Delicas, and so on. So I guess I will have four sets altogether if I finish all those.

Instead of taking pictures tonight, I worked on cleaning off my jewelry table some more. It's amazing how messy it gets for how few pieces of jewelry I actually finish. But I am thinking about finally actually working with the clay that I've been collecting up, so I figure I need a clear workspace for that.

I'm still experimenting with a lot of different techniques - you may have noticed. I have yet to really settle on one thing that I do exclusively - I don't know if I ever will, really, because what fun is that?

Here's one experiment I did lately: braided hemp. I tried little wooden beads and little copper washers, and I think they both look cute. I'm still working on how to finish things like this, though. I've had trouble with cord-ends that don't hold. Anybody got any advice?

Polymer issues

I guess I ought to do a post - if I wait until later today I'm liable to get busy and forget! The only beading-related activity that went on today was a trip to Hobby Lobby and Michael's. This mostly came about because I have been watching for Hobby Lobby to put polymer clay on sale and they finally did. I went ahead and bought Kato, because that is what I already had. I looked at Fimo and it has a lower recommended baking temperature so you can't really mix the two. And I went looking around for a teflon sheet because I thought that might do for a work-surface. I know they sell them for quilters, but HL didn't have them that I could find. I finally bought a sheet meant for doing fondant from the Wilton aisle - I think it might do. I want to start playing with this a bit. The only other jewelry-related thing I bought was some (non-Swarovski) crystals to try in the donuts. Oh, and I bought some acrylic paint to "age up" my theoretical polymer clay beads with, too. We'll see how all that works out. I will definitely report on my clay efforts when I get there.

I have decided that I'm not going to try to get a lot more jewelry up onto Etsy right away. All I said originally was I wanted to get the shop up and a few things into it before Christmas, and I've done that. I'm spending too much time on jewelry when I really need to be studying. If I get a few more things in, fine, but if I don't, that's fine too. (I may put some stuff on sale right before Thanksgiving, actually - or offer free shipping. I haven't worked out which, yet.)