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.