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June 16, 2012

Laying Out Your Jewelry Making Project

I'm certain everyone has their own tricks for how they start or work on a project.  I wanted to share mine. The project below is my layout for the earrings that I am making for the CCC group (Color Combo Challenge)

Beading on the go


I often do my jewelry projects at my children's sports games.  It keeps me from getting nervous watching my kids.  I also hate to say it, but baseball is a long, somewhat slow game with decent blocks of time to get jewelry accomplished in between innings, when new pitchers are warming up, etc.  So, I needed a solution to layout my projects

Painter's palettes are not just for painting


I use round painter's palettes to organize my projects and decide on the beads.  These are about 7 inches around.  There are 10 wells around the sides and one large well in the center.  I use the wells to put the beads and supplies for my project.  I try to find them at the dollar store or on sale at a craft store.  I usually pay $1 each or less.  I must have at least 10 of them. 

The things I love about using painter's palettes:
  • They are pure white, so you can see the true color of your beads.
  • They keep your beads from rolling all over.
  • They stack easily, so you can set aside a project and come back to it, without putting everything away or cluttering your work area.
  • They are the perfect size to hold on your lap and work over.  They catch wire cuttings and dropped beads.
When I need to take a project with me, I cover the palette with cling wrap and put it in a box.  The box keeps the project flat and catches any beads that sneak out.  The cling wrap holds the beads in the wells, but does not cling to the beads (although sometimes to have to tap the top of the wrap to get them to drop off if they do).

I hope you enjoyed seeing my project layout.  I'd love any tips that you use for laying out a project and working on it.
Plastic Palette (Amazon.com)
And wouldn't you know, I just checked Amazon and someone on there has them for just about $1.  (Of course, who knows what shipping would cost!)
Palette Lids (Amazon.com)

And then I found covers to fit these palettes!  Can't believe I haven't seen these before.  I'll definitely get some of these when I see them locally, or if I order art supplies for my daughter.

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