More Before and After

I am a huge fan of Before & Afters! So when Imade the decision today to oxidize something, I knew I had to get Before & Afters of it. I made these beads yesterday. They are a mix of Mosaic Green, Trans Gray and Clear. I was so psyched when I put them in the kiln. I thought they would be really cool. I thought the Mosaic Green would stay the darkish translucet color it was in the flame, I thought you would be able to see the color gradiant between the trans gray and clear.... I THOUGHT WRONG!! When I opened the kiln this morning I was sooooo disappointed! The green went all bright, and you can barely tell the difference between the gray and clear. Grrr.... I was so bummed I almost scrapped them. Seriously... I was just going to throw them out.

Something switched in my brain and I decided to use these more like test beads instead of tossing them. I cleaned them up while the kids ate their oatmeal this morning. The "test" part of these is how the etching solution would effect them. They were only in the etch bath for 3-4 minutes. You could actually see the "fog" like surface form of the clear while the beads were soaking... really cool. They all got washed again to neutralize the etching solution. By now the kids were ready for the bus...so I shoooed them out the door. And while they rode their scooters in the driveway waiting for the bus, I wired up the discs into my "Sunrise" style design.

Would you believe this design only needs a pair of wire cutters?!?!? I don't use any tools to make it! Well, correction, I only use tools on the clasp, but how cool is a design that doesn't need tools? All you need is tough fingers to wrap the wire. Anyway, this led to "testing part 2". I knew I wanted to see this style of wire work oxidized so into the liver of sulfer it went.



LOS is pretty cool stuff. I ordered some a few weeks back. I figured it was time to stop wasting hard boiled eggs and use some of the real stuff. (Yeah there is a way to oxidize with eggs, if you want details, send me an email) The new stuff worked like a charm and with in seconds the bright and shiny silver was black. Everything got cleaned again and then I set to polishing the wire. After oxidizing, you need to "highlight" the wire work. So you use polishing cloths to buff off the oxidation. It stays black and tarninshed in the low area and the high areas come back up to a shine. It really gives this design a wonderful depth.



So here I am sporting my "New Industry" necklace... the one that's beads were almost tossed this morning. Now an absolute FAVORITE!! The green matches a new scoop neck tee I got at Old Navy last week. It is definately a design that can be dressed up or down as needed. Did I mention I love it and it's my new favorite? Oh yeah, it is!!