What a Difference a Color Makes

What a difference a color makes! This is the same focal bead as in the June 1,2007 entry but with a new braid. I had intended to mirror the focal's colors: turquoise, dark amber, and black, in a braid. Unfortunately the result was busy, busy, busy. So, let's put things away and play another day.

I love this bead. It was hand made by Tim from The Beaded Lily in Italy. It's gorgeous: all blue, warm orangey honey, cream, and black; even a couple spots of goldstone inclusions. I happened to take it with me to a bead show. It was a good excuse to go to the show (if we really need an excuse) hoping to find some other beads and finish that necklace. A very nice saleslady from http://www.kazuribeadseast.com/ helped me pick out some nice warm caramel colored beads to bring out the amber in the focal.

Next: how to bring everything together? Better braid colors!!! What goes better with caramel than chocolate? And: just a little flash of a brighter orange (paprika, actually).

And of course, every time I look at it I get a really bad craving for chocolate. Isn't it a good thing this is for sale? (Yup, you guessed it! I am selling something, my secret is out. And if I can figure out how to get the address of my Etsy shop in the conversation, you'll be the first to know!)

Memory Wire: A solution for bad memories?

Whoops! This blog completely skipped/slipped my mind! Looks like it's time for more memory wire! This is another memory wire bracelet, this time with Swarovski "Tahitian color" pearls (I didn't know how gorgeous Tahitian pearls were until Aden Angier posted some of his work on the now defunct Reasonable Insanity. Run, don't walk to the nearest jewelry forum now! He's on a couple of them and I will be adding their addresses soon.) Tahitian pearls have a blue/dark gray/almost black depth to them. The next best thing is a Swarovski pearl.They have the weight of a true pearl. And Swarovski also suggests color combinations for each color of their pearls. So: here we have Dorado (gold AB, gorgeous), indicolite (a clear dark blue/teal) and crystal copper (no explanation needed). How much easier could things get?

Wellll, trying to get the wraps to line up on top of the wrist and wrap around enough of the wrist on the bottom, is enough to make some artisans to swear of memory wire off altogether! This particular bracelet was strung and unstrung for hours. To complicate things, my wrist is a bit smaller than the average size, so I have to be very careful in sizing these bracelets. (Not bragging on my small wrist, am gritting my teeth in frustration!)

So, hopefully, no more long absences. Sharing the delight of creating jewelry is a wonderful feeling. And sharing the frustrations helps to make them a bit smaller.

My First Link!

I am proud to announce my very first link to a jewelry artist: Zoya Gutina.
Her sites are: http://www.mylovelybeads.com/
www.gutin.org/beads
I am proud because she is truly an artist with seed beads. You may see her work at the above sites and on the Reasonable Insanity forum:
www.reasonableinsanity.net/
In fact, check out Reasonable Insanity for all the jewelry information you could ask for!

Memory Wire--Best Thing Since Sliced Bread!

This is a memory wire bracelet I made for my husband's aunt. She's undergoing chemotherapy right now and I thought she might need a bit of cheering up. The beauty of memory wire is that it keeps its round shape no matter what. You can bend it, stretch it out, use it like a Slinky (anyone remember those?), and it will always hold its shape! And no clasp is needed because it wraps around and around your wrist!

I've only been in the jewelry designing community for a couple of years now but am continually amazed at how we find comfort in creating something beautiful and giving it to comfort the receiver.

This was made in her favorite color: purple. (I confess: I love purple too.) The crystals are tanzanite Swarovski bicones, very close to a clear purple. Now here was a problem: the aunt's skin is quite delicate and the crystals have a rather sharp edge. Fortunately, the fresh water pearls were larger than the crystals, and hold the crystals away from the skin. And, the pearls are very smooth.

Have you wondered where the title of this entry comes from? Many years ago (almost 80 or so) "store bought" bread wasn't sliced. Then came the great idea to slice it! Truly a time saver, if you have ever had to slice bread, piece after piece. Back to the present: no clasp need for a memory wire bracelet? Wow! That's the best thing since sliced bread, absolutely, especially for those who have problems with clasps on bracelets.

Why the "BeadsOnHand"?

It's been almost three weeks since my last post! So I thought I'd do a piece on where the name "BeadsOnHand" comes from.

I started out wanting to make rosaries. The only ones available here are the quickly made (read "cheap" here) plastic beaded rosaries. Nothing wrong with plastic beads, some of my best beads are plastic. It's just that they shouldn't look like plastic. So I made a few and they were donated to various church auctions in hopes of drumming up a little business. The results? Some one asked (almost a year later) can you put rose petals in Swarovski crystal beads? No, I can't do this although it sounds like a wonderful idea. May take a trip to Austria and research it with the Swar folks. Seems that the person had heard the words "rose petals" and "Swarovski" mentioned together. The results: petals encased in crystal beads. Nope, just beads made from rose petals (where the name "rosary" comes from, made by nuns many centuries ago) and used along with the Sw. crystal beads.

As you can see from the photo: the bracelet is made of beads, on a wrist (or hand). Get it? Beads on a hand??

Next: why memory wire isn't just for kids anymore! Or: A Senior Moment with Wire!

Stop and Smell the Roses--the Japanese Way

Every one has heard "Stop and smell the roses", meaning: slow down, take some time and enjoy where you are (always assuming you really are somewhere that's enjoyable). So, what does this picture of stepping stones have to do with roses? Quite a lot, actually. The answer is in the concept of enjoying the moment.

This is a picture of a stepping stone path across a small stream in the Asticou Gardens, Bar Harbor, Maine. (No, don't worry, I am not going to share the details about vacations that bore absolutely everyone.) The garden is a wonderful collection of azaleas, rhododendrons, a sand garden, and various trees. The atmosphere is peaceful, serene. Each turn of the path brings you out onto another spectacular view. You would hardly believe that this particular garden really isn't all that big, just 2.3 acres. There is so much to see, all packed into this small area that one is tempted to walk along, looking, saying "Isn't this pretty?" and keep on walking.

The stepping stones? They are spaced just far enough apart that you must take care not to fall into the stream. And this means you have to stop and check where the stones are. And, while you are taking some time doing this, you become aware of the surroundings. You see the calming water, perhaps fish are swimming underneath your feet, you feel the cool shade under the trees, you hear the leaves rustling in the breeze, you might smell the fragrance of the blooms.

You have now experienced the concept of living in the moment with all of your senses. You have truly stopped to smell the roses.

Maru Wha'??

This is my beautiful maru dai, a Japanese braiding stool, made by my husband. The little things sitting on the base are my tama, or braiding weights. I made my own, using prescription bottles and polymer clay. The weights need to be adjustable because each braid structure needs a certain weight. Did you know that a penny weighs 2.5grams? I didn't think so. An 8 strand braid can require anywhere from 35 to 70 gram weights, depending on the number of individual silk threads, or "ends".

This maru dai was what I used to create the braid you saw in "The Better Living With Chemicals" entry. This braid requires eight strands; I used four black, three blue, and one green. Picture a compass, with north, south, east, and west. I positioned two strands at each compass point for a total of 8 strands.

The movements of braiding are described as hypnotic and relaxing. Two cross (one strand goes up and one goes down), change places, another two cross and change places, repeat. After crossing and placing the colors in their new places you need to reposition the four strands back to the compass points. Same motions, over and over again until the end of the silk threads.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? It can be if you aren't one who gets easily distracted, often described as "having the attention span of a flea". Yup, that's me. But I have developed the all-important skill of being able to un-braid, to go back to where I was somewhere else (in mind only, and even that's not all there), reposition the strands and hope that all goes well. While the structure of this braid is very simple, I have better chances of being hit by lightning than getting the placement right any time in the next hour. Oh how relaxing this is!!

And yet I look forward to making another braid just as soon as I start this one.(Did I mention that attention thing?)

Better Living With Chemicals---LOS

Remember doing the "egg thing": putting copper wire in a plastic with a hot hard boiled egg and smashing your frustrations away? We were trying to oxidize, or create a lovely brown patina, on copper pieces with the sulfur from an egg's yolk.

For those of you with less violent tendencies there is another alternative, LOS (liver of sulfur). I flunked high school chemistry so I can't tell you much about it but I found this great tutorial by Stacie Florer (sorry, but this tutorial has been removed by the designer). You will see all the good stuff as well as how she creates a beautiful pair of earrings.

One note: this clasp was inspired by Connie Fox's tutorial on wire clasps.

And, of course, notice the spiral design of the kumihimo braid.

Jewelry: Tonight's Burning Question

Tonight's burning question is: why is your favorite piece of jewelry your favorite?

As I was poking around my Kirengeshoma (Hah! Got something personal about me in before the end of the first paragraph. Don't you just hate hearing about personal stuff that has nothing to do with you? Now you have to go and look up "kirengeshoma". Hah again!) I was thinking about an important question all jewelry designers ask: what makes a piece of jewelry your favorite? You get 30 seconds to think before I tell you about my personal favorite, and more importantly, WHY?

This is my favorite necklace: kumihimo, of course, done with traditional Japanese silk, and some large holed turquoise-look beads.

But the hardest thing is to figure out why it's my favorite. Well, first, it has some of my favorite colors: blue, black, green, and gold. Blue and gold is a killer combination. Next: it's perfect to wear with a black turtleneck. Black is the perfect color to show off any piece of jewelry (remember all those black velvet boxes with diamonds in the at the jeweler's store?).

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it suits my face shape (rather broad and...fat). The length draws your attention away from my face and directs it toward this gorgeous necklace, thereby creating a more beautiful me. What more could you ask for?

In a nutshell, jewelry designers ask this question every time they create jewelry for potential customers. Find the answer and they have a guaranteed sale.

Oh, something you will never hear: "Be honest, do these diamonds make me look fat?"

BeadsOnHand: To Be or Knot to Be...Then What?

BeadsOnHand: To Be or Knot to Be...Then What?

Braids, braids, braids!

These are a wide assortment of kumihimo braids made with my handy dandy Kumihimo Disk, from Hamanaka (the rest is in Japanese). The disk came from www.satincord.com.

What isn't obvious: they are all the same design structure, "Kongo", which means "hard as a diamond". So far, I haven't been able to see the diamond thing but I'll keep trying.

The Kongo braid is made by the same two moves, up and down, around and around, turning the disk between each move. But vary the colors, color placement, thickness of the fibers or cords, and you have an almost endless variety of different patterns. There is even a flower braid, (look at the two middle braids).

What you see are braids made with satin and rayon cord, embroidery floss, and silk. The silk comes from www.braidershand.com and is the traditional fiber of Japanese braiding.

Hopefully, next time, I'll get a good photo of my maru dai (Japanese braiding stool) which is the traditional braiding equipment. I'm still working on that photo editing thing.

Necklace: As Pretty as a Picture...Again

Just to show what good things can happen "when you know to stop NOW" (Forget just saying no, just say "when".)

To get this nice photograph (well, I think it is) I took several new photos using several camera settings, including Macro and Manual focus, changed the EV (Exposure Value for those who know camera geek stuff), rearranged the necklace beads to be all in line for a more uniform appearance, and snapped away.

This time I used Picasa, a free down-loadable program, and five quick minutes later came up with this photo. Now, there is ALWAYS something that could have been done better. In this case I could have increased the color saturation to bring out the green of the beads better.

But, all in all, this is a pretty good photograph of my necklace that I won't hesitate to put up on my website. Okay, maybe I'll get to that green thing.

Now: to get my website up and running, or selling, which is the aim of any artisan jewelry designer (Duh!).

Pretty as a Picture

While we are on the subject of knotting (actually knotting makes me happier than...well, chocolate, but try wearing that), this is a necklace with double Button knots, two single Button knots, and the Snake knot. And of course, very large holed beads.

The Snake knot is aptly named. It consists of two cords that wind around and around each other. The double Button knot is a test of patience and manual dexterity; it's made the same as the single knot but you run the second cord around and through, next to the first cord. (Or you can tie with two cords at once and be very careful to keep the two cords laying flat, around and around the knot.) Note: two cords run the full length. This means the single Button knot has a cord running through the middle of it. And, both cords run through the large holed beads. And in case anyone wants to know, I use nylon rattail from www.satincord.com.

Again, Suzen Millodot's "Chinese Knots for Beaded Jewellery" has great instructions.

If you look carefully at the picture you will notice that it looks almost like a painting. And this brings me to the subject of this post: overuse of photo editing programs. There are many excellent photo editing programs out there. You are limited only by your pocketbook. The hard part is knowing when to stop!

Now, I started out with a simple pic of the necklace. The background was wrinkled (plastic, I think) so I "smudged" all those little lines. (Sadly, life has no "smudge" function.) I have an art background and found I could put in some really nice "brush strokes". And, put in more shadows. And add a bit of character to the empty space around the necklace. (Rembrandt couldn't do better). Enhanced the colors a bit, more warmth, more red, and got the green a better shade. Sharpened up the edges a bit. Oops, color bleeds into the white. A little more smudging.

I did this about three months ago. I know much more these days.

There are some important things to know in order to make a good photograph.

Briefly: a digital camera with at least 4 mega-pixels resolution and macro mode (really CLOSE up pics), good lighting (very hard to get right), a tripod, and lots of patience (and maybe a very colorful vocabulary, "colorful", get it? Oh well).

And the most important: the know-how. All the editing software in the world can't make a bad pic into a great pic (in my case, since my aim is to sell what I'm making, the pic has to be reeeal gooood). You can Google digital photography. Www.tabletopstudio.com and www.createapendant.com are two that come to mind. The info and tutorials are excellent.

If anything, I have learned: the best camera and the best editing software can't make up for knot knowing when to stop. (Oh dear, too many knot jokes, I do knot know when to stop.)

That's all for tonight. Braids next time!

To Be or Knot to Be...Then What?

That's a very good question! I think some one asked that a very long time ago, but he had his own problems. My problem: how to tie this incredible knot, one of my life's ambitions. (Yes, I know this is a rather odd ambition, but we all have something weird we want to do before we die. Sky diving is NOT on my list.)

This is the Pan Chang knot. Lydia Chen, in her book "Chinese Knotting", describes it as "one of the eight Buddhist treasures. It twists and turns...representing the cyclical nature of all existence".

Suzen Millodot, in her "Chinese Knots for Beaded Jewellery" (English spelling), adds: "...it also represents the mysteries of the Universe and is also known as the Mystic Knot. As such it is considered to bring great fortune to the wearer and beholder alike." After three months of getting really frustrated I took a good long look at her directions. Suzen suggests starting out with two colors of cords so that you can follow the overs and unders, pulling loops here but not there. ("Duh!" experience. Ms. Millodot's illustrations are the best I have found, I just need to learn to read the whole paragraph.)

Click on the photo and what do you see? A flat piece with loops? WRONG! After weaving the cords in the right directions, you start to tighten the knot up by pulling the loops in a special order. Wonder of wonders, the tangle of cords becomes a two-layered structure!

My original idea was to hang a stone pendant from it, and now that I look at it, what a great idea! I will add a few Button knots, maybe some large holed beads and a clasp. (Check out the photo again and you will see a Button knot on the very top of the Pan Chang knot.) So, in the future when I have some spare time (who needs to do housework, anyway?) you will see a completed necklace. In fact, I already have a pic of a necklace with double Button knots and the Snake knot. Of course I may have deleted that at the same time I deleted this pic.(Had to re-post this. Aaaarghhh!)

All Bright and Shiny Again! (Almost)

The story continues: Now I have the beginnings of a copper clasp and some tube beads. Here you see: a bright and shiny tube made from untreated copper; a small hook and tube that have been oxidized but nothing beyond that; and a hook and larger tube that have been oxidized and tumbled to remove the oxidation from the high spots. Notice that the small "S" hook and small tube have no shine. But the other "S" hook and larger tube do have highlights (kind of like getting your hair highlighted at the hairdresser). I also used a Moonshine polishing cloth on the last two pieces to bring get a little more shine.

Copper is a soft metal, great for wiring, not so great where strength is needed. You don't want your necklace to fall off because the clasp let go! Copper pieces can be "work hardened" by tumbling them in an ordinary rock tumbler. It's the same as when you wiggle a can lid back and forth until it breaks off. The metal will bend only so many times before it gets hard and breaks. AND tumbling removes a good part of the oxidation while you can be doing something else, like watching "Judge Judy". I put these pieces in my tumbler along with stainless steel shot, enough water to cover all, and a drop of Dawn liquid detergent. And then tumbled away for 30 minutes. (One TV court show.)

Last thing to do: more tubes and a complete clasp. The problem here will be how to attach the clasp to the braid neatly and look really cool. Fortunately, there is a full day's schedule of TV court shows.

Which Came First...the Bead or the Egg?

Odd question, isn't it? The answer involves the nature of kumihimo, Japanese braiding.

Remember, the beads must either have large holes or the braid must be slim enough to go through regular beads (possible, but then you lose the beauty of the braid's structure which is the purpose of braiding in the first place). Pendants are easy, you can hang them from a bail. (Future post.)

Make your own beads. Of course! For this I must thank Penny Cox for good info, (her site www.pcoxstudio.blogspot.com). We met while I was teaching at my first bead show, Bead Fiesta. Penny works with metals. She was teaching how she works with copper. She flattens it, oxidizes it, and winds up with a beautiful piece of jewelry.

I already had beautiful beads, courtesy of The Beaded Lily, but wanted something special to complement them. I have a lot of wire and some is copper. And now I have copper wire spacers and a clasp.

Using 20gauge copper I took a long piece, doubled it, put one end in husband's vise and the other in his drill (I have been dying to try this), and turned on the drill. It twisted the entire length of doubled wire. Using this twisted wire, I wound it around the shank of a crochet hook to get a tube shape. I twisted some more wire and tried fashioning a couple of clasps (from Connie Fox's web site, she is a wonder with wire).

Now for the ickky part: darkening the copper. You need sulfur to oxydize the copper metal. Some artisans use liver of sulfur (LOS) and some use an egg. An egg's yolk has enough sulfur to do the job. Boil the egg. Take a Ziploc bag and place a paper towel inside and put the copper pieces on the towel. After the egg is done, and while it is still hot, place it (don't bother peeling the shell off) in the bag. Then mush the egg, break it up and make sure the yolk is exposed. I left mine on the counter overnight. Some folks put it in the fridge. Just make sure you give it time to work. (And make sure no one throws it out!)

Next day: take the pieces out, rinse. If you have a rock tumbler, put them in that along with stainless steel shot, water to cover the pieces, and a drop of Dawn liquid detergent. Tumble for a while and check. The high spots should be cleaned and the recessed areas should be darkened. I found that I still needed to use a polishing cloth. And: copper is a soft metal, tumbling work-hardens it (think of the top of a tin can and how you bend it until it snaps; it snaps because it is too hard to bend).

If you don't have a tumbler: rinse, use 0000 steel wool, a brass brush, a toothbrush, a polishing cloth ( a jeweler's polishing cloth, such as the Moonshine cloth), and go at it. Work until you get the finish you want. Penny finds that the piece stays this color and has never had any problem with the copper oxydizing further.

Did you notice how dark the tubes and hooks were? Okay, go back and check the photo. Click on it and you will see the pieces up close. (While you're looking, I will take time to thank those artisans who posted this technique on Bead and Button magazine's Beader's forum. Everything you wanted to know but didn't know enough to ask about.)

Now, because I can't figure out how to put two photos in one post, the "after" photo will be in the next post. And i will include copper wire right off the spool.

So, now you have an idea of what a braider must do to decorate a braid.

The Bead That Fit...and the Bead That Didn't

I braid. Japanese braiding, kumihimo, literally means "bringing together". I am a relatively new braider, going on 2 years, but am still in the "stringing" mode. That means I usually view a braid as the "wire" to string beads on. This is a braid from R. Owen's book, "250 Patterns from Japan, Peru & Beyond". It's about 1/8" thick (or 3mm). See the broken bead? It's ceramic and had a fairly large hole. Not large enough, however. That nasty looking instrument is a bead reamer, used to enlarge holes in beads. Unfortunately, there was not enough side wall to make the hole big enough without breaking the bead, as you can see. See the beads ON the braid? Those are specially made, from The Beaded Lily, in Italy, from the "Organics" series. "Turquoise and dark Amber" beads were custom-made to have a larger hole. (And the fact that the largest bead is hollow is also a plus, it doesn't weigh down the braid). Why can't the braid be smaller? Well, it can, but to see the structure of the braid, the braid must have some degree of thickness. And besides, the braid is already made, (will explain the process of making a braid soon). Hence the broken ceramic bead. Happy accident: the colors of the braid echo the new bead colors. Now, in a couple of days I will succeed in posting a pic of my maru dai (braiding stand), made by husband, and my amazing technicolor weights made of polymer clay. The strain of trying to post this pic today is about all I can handle. Back to "Judge Judy".