Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Lack Of Patience

I had such high hopes for this bead. It wins the honor of being the BIGGEST disc I have ever made. It was easily 3ins from side to side. As I was making it, I dreamed of how I would string it up. I planned to line the hole with sterling silver... the hang in a special way. Making a big show stopper of a focal pendant that would be just perfect for the upcoming season.

Alas, you see the condition it currently finds itself in. I am lucky I didn't slice my hand wide open when I broke it. Those edges are SHARP! The hole was just a hair too small for the sterling tubing I was using to line it. So, I was reeming the hole with my diamond bit tool-a-mbob thingy. It was going well, and I thought it was big enough to fit the tubing in. And it was, but I really had to jam it in there, lol. (I think we all know that I have the patience of a small child.) Then I decided I would pull out the tubing I jamed in there to reem the hole a bit more... obviously, I had a tighter fit the I realized and I broke my pretty bead to bits trying to get the tubing out.

If I had thought ahead... I wouldn't have jammed it... I would have realized that I hadn't even cut the tubing at that point... and duh, I wouldn't be sawing said tubing while it was in the bead... and I wouldn't be sanding the rough edges of the silver while it was in there either.

Don't worry, my lesson is learned. Next time I will reem longer and jam less. And hey, I might think even farther ahead and use a bigger mandrel, LOL!! But I will definitely pursue the idea until it is right. I think it will be totally worth it!!

Now, as promised, a close up of the new earrings. I need some feedback on these. Cause all I have heard so far is that my sister thinks they look like baby binkies. (And now that I said that, I am sure you will all think the same.) I like the length on them, definitely... I like the big dot covered bubble of glass... but I think I might need to use a smaller size mandrel instead of the 1/4 size hole one. Lemme hear what you think!!

PS~ Spell check is not working, again. So please excuse any typos!

3 comments:

Michele H said...

Love the colors and I like the design. I don't know that I would use too much smaller a mandrel since I think the proportions of the ring and the blobby end seem good.

By the way, I was disappointed to see you gave up on your picture a day entries. I'm still working on mine and still enjoying it though I've missed a few days here and there.

Lori said...

I can see the pacifier look but when I also thought ring. I love the colors

Anonymous said...

My first thought went to a ring also - nice colors for summer. I would love this in Fall/Winter colors to brighten up that part of my wardrobe!

Marcia