I haven't made much this week - I've been hoarding supplies instead. Yesterday was a huge mail day - all of my orders arrived at once. I got some supplies and tools from Fire Mountain Gems (FMG) to make soldering easier - and also a nice selection of gemstones that were not from FMG.
I like to make something every few days though, so I decided to use one of my new bead purchases. I bought some gold rutilated quartz nuggets from Fire Mountain Gems. I'm not sure why I keep buying their stones. I know they are lower quality, but sometimes they are so darn cheap, I just can't resist giving it a try.
Anyway, I also like to try and push myself, so even though I didn't love the stones, I decided to see what I could do with them. These simple bracelets is what I came up with. The stone in the center is the rutilated quartz from Fire Mountain Gems. The other two bracelets have little doo-dads (technical term) that were sitting on my bench.
These bracelets were super simple to put together and are very comfortable to wear. I made them pretty close fitting rather than bangles. They are 12g half round wire.
As always, there's a disappointment in the effort. The flower has some Japanese seed beads that I recently purchased from Thunderbird Supply. When I was using steel wool to brush off some of the patina, the color of the beads was coming off too! I had no idea it would come off so easy. Is that normal??
First of all, I thought they were solid color glass when they are matte opaque beads like these. Second - I would have thought it would take more than a swipe with steel wool to remove the color. I understand that a polished finish like AB would scratch easily - but really didn't expect it from these beads.
My lesson today - patina and clean your wire before you make the project if you are worried about the finish on the beads. Also, I do like the rutilated quartz when it's in a rustic or simple design.
I like to make something every few days though, so I decided to use one of my new bead purchases. I bought some gold rutilated quartz nuggets from Fire Mountain Gems. I'm not sure why I keep buying their stones. I know they are lower quality, but sometimes they are so darn cheap, I just can't resist giving it a try.
Anyway, I also like to try and push myself, so even though I didn't love the stones, I decided to see what I could do with them. These simple bracelets is what I came up with. The stone in the center is the rutilated quartz from Fire Mountain Gems. The other two bracelets have little doo-dads (technical term) that were sitting on my bench.
These bracelets were super simple to put together and are very comfortable to wear. I made them pretty close fitting rather than bangles. They are 12g half round wire.
As always, there's a disappointment in the effort. The flower has some Japanese seed beads that I recently purchased from Thunderbird Supply. When I was using steel wool to brush off some of the patina, the color of the beads was coming off too! I had no idea it would come off so easy. Is that normal??
First of all, I thought they were solid color glass when they are matte opaque beads like these. Second - I would have thought it would take more than a swipe with steel wool to remove the color. I understand that a polished finish like AB would scratch easily - but really didn't expect it from these beads.
My lesson today - patina and clean your wire before you make the project if you are worried about the finish on the beads. Also, I do like the rutilated quartz when it's in a rustic or simple design.
Comments
Lisa P
I am for many years a great admirer of Miguel Ases and I did a lot of things in his style , but only as gifts to my friends . I think that doing this in commercial way , someone must to ask his agreement. There are designer rights . Good luck
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