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It's
wordweaverlynn's fault - she e-mailed me a little bit before Wiscon and asked if I wanted to participate in a group Fire Mountain Gems order. I thought I might, but of course in order to figure out what I needed, I first had to drag out and inventory my existing stash of jewelry stuff.
And while doing that I came across a bag full of beads and supplies that I had intended to use to make something along the lines of the "Floating Fantasy Necklace" from Beadstyle November 03 issue. I set that aside and started to work on it after Wiscon, only I found out that a number of the small beads I had chosen had holes too small to be strung on the waxed cord, and that I didn't have enough teardrop beads. What to do? I had received the
botmo collection from May 07, entitled "Dragons in the Garden," and it had a lot of smallish flower and leaf beads, so I decided to use those along with the other beads I had set aside.
I made most of the necklace in one evening while watching my Two Fat Ladies videotapes. The videotapes are better than the Food Network version of the show, which cuts out a lot of fun stuff to make room for the commercials.
I used a dental pick to make the knots between beads. I got it from a guy who sells inexpensive hobbyist tools at the San Mateo County Fair.
The Beadstyle article doesn't explain how to make the macrame cord - it suggests a simplified cord with some overhand knots. I didn't like how that looked, so I did a web search to find basic macrame instructions. Somewhere in my search I found a tip that suggested you could tie the top of your macrame to the clip of a clipboard, so I used that instead of a macrame board.

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And while doing that I came across a bag full of beads and supplies that I had intended to use to make something along the lines of the "Floating Fantasy Necklace" from Beadstyle November 03 issue. I set that aside and started to work on it after Wiscon, only I found out that a number of the small beads I had chosen had holes too small to be strung on the waxed cord, and that I didn't have enough teardrop beads. What to do? I had received the
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I made most of the necklace in one evening while watching my Two Fat Ladies videotapes. The videotapes are better than the Food Network version of the show, which cuts out a lot of fun stuff to make room for the commercials.
I used a dental pick to make the knots between beads. I got it from a guy who sells inexpensive hobbyist tools at the San Mateo County Fair.
The Beadstyle article doesn't explain how to make the macrame cord - it suggests a simplified cord with some overhand knots. I didn't like how that looked, so I did a web search to find basic macrame instructions. Somewhere in my search I found a tip that suggested you could tie the top of your macrame to the clip of a clipboard, so I used that instead of a macrame board.

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Date: 14 Jun 2007 08:27 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 14 Jun 2007 12:15 pm (UTC)Nice.
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Date: 14 Jun 2007 07:56 pm (UTC)Beautiful! And so complicated.
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Date: 15 Jun 2007 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14 Jun 2007 11:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 15 Jun 2007 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14 Jun 2007 11:49 pm (UTC)The secondary reason is that they've stopped being primarily a bead catalog and more of a cheap imported stuff catalog. Offering things like $5 beaded bracelets from China in bulk sets up the folks who are the competitors of the people who make items with good quality supplies and good skills.
If you're going to buy online, I'd recommend either http://www.riogrande.com or http://www.whimbeads.com for the type of beads in this piece. For pearls, stone, and some silver & gold, I'd recommend http://www.monsterslayer.com. Monsterslayer also takes scrap silver in exchange for store credit.
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Date: 15 Jun 2007 12:10 am (UTC)I haven't bought from riogrande in the past because they required a reseller's licence. Have they changed their policy?
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Date: 15 Jun 2007 12:43 am (UTC)https://www.riogrande.com/home/RioBenefits.aspx
just says you get a customer account if you make or (my emphasis) sell jewelry. There's an link for people who want to find already-made jewelry. I don't know what the questions are, but I can't imagine you'd fail. ;)
Incidently, I use a database to inventory my seeds, which is what I have the most of. Other stuff I can remember.
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Date: 15 Jun 2007 07:10 am (UTC)I didn't even bother to inventory my seed beads, they just went into the file as "two gallon bags of seed beads". :-)
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Date: 15 Jun 2007 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 15 Jun 2007 12:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 15 Jun 2007 06:49 pm (UTC)ohh.
Date: 15 Jun 2007 04:17 am (UTC)Re: ohh.
Date: 15 Jun 2007 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 15 Jun 2007 12:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 15 Jun 2007 06:54 pm (UTC)Plus, all the knotting meant that I didn't spill the half-made strands of beads half a dozen times, which I have done every time I've strung multi-strand necklaces on tigertail.
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Date: 15 Jun 2007 07:47 pm (UTC)Also, to keep beads from spilling: I use tape "flags" -- just wrap a bit of tape over the end and let the ends meet off the cable, making a flag -- but I know people who use alligator clips or other kinds of clips at the end.
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Date: 15 Jun 2007 08:03 pm (UTC)The necklace I had the biggest problem with was a three strand necklace where I was beading all the strands simultaneously because I wanted to make sure it hung properly. The beads kept sliding off the working ends of the strands. If I were going to do that again I would figure out some other way to manage the bead-spillage issue.
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Date: 15 Jun 2007 08:25 pm (UTC)And, er, I see a barrel clasp, which are the most likely to fail.
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Date: 15 Jun 2007 08:29 pm (UTC)No barrel clasp. I think what you see is an art glass bead with a few strands of seed beads leading into it. Here's the "clasp" (not actually a working clasp since it's long enough to go over my head):
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Date: 15 Jun 2007 09:09 pm (UTC)BTW, I'm looking at pictures of the contenders (http://sql.whimbeads.com/personal/bnb.html) for the Bead Dreams contest at Bead & Button, you might like to see them. From an artistic standpoint, I'm not that fond of Nicole's church, which won, but it is unsupported and apparently that really wowed the judges.
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Date: 15 Jun 2007 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 15 Jun 2007 11:14 pm (UTC)I liked the first one with leaves & flowers, the one with different ribbons, and the fairy wreath (particularly for the flowers -- I wonder who made those). I thought the duck might be a dodo.
I'm not fond of pieces overloaded with stuff. I know other people like that and that's a good thing! I thought the church looked over-decorated although I'm not sure it could help looking that way at that size.
I read a Delphi bead board called All About Beads (owned by Beki of whimbeads.com) and Nicole describes (http://forums.delphiforums.com/beads2/messages?msg=6535.7) how she asked to get into the case to flip a crystal in the right direction, and then through to winning. You can read without getting a free membership.
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