TIDBITS 01/27/08

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We encourage you to forward this email to friends and colleagues. ====================================== Bead Maker

Bead Maker Bead Maker Make me some beads Made out of poils Made out of seeds ....

Okay. I'm not a song writer. But what I am--among other things--is a bench man ... and if there's anything I truly appreciate ... it's tools. If they make it ... I will probably buy it. And who knows ... maybe I'll even use it. Who cares? And that doesn't count the combing of flea-markets to see what kind of outdated "junk" someone might have that I can use. You would be surprised. If there's a table with tools on it ... I'm there.

My first teacher (I am a diamond setter by trade) said to me: A good setter can work with a nail if he has to. He said other things too ... but this one stuck with me. You can't buy everything you need today ... and some of the things you could once buy they simply don't make anymore. So when you need something special ... and it's not available ... you make it. End of story.

Still ... the sophistication today is unparalleled ... the high end being the cad software available like Rhino and its derivatives and their associated cam milling machinery. And yet ... in days of yore ... they made some pretty nice stuff without the tools we have today. Every once in a while I stumble across a picture or a painting of a craftsman or of craftsmen plying their trade ... using skills and tools that put me in a state of utter wonderment to say nothing of respect and admiration.

And so we come ... by way of clever segue ... to the Pueblo Indians and their turquoise jewelry. They gleaned their stones from cracks in rocks, in cavities lined with quartz, and as nuggets. And then they strung them and made necklaces out of them. But here's the rub. You can't make a necklace out of a turquoise unless you can string it ... and you can't string it if it hasn't got a hole in it. So you have to drill a hole ... and now you find you don't have electricity. And you don't have a workbench either. Or even a chair to sit on. So you sit on the floor ... and that's your chair. And you face up to an old tree trunk stump ... and that's your bench. And you have a wooden leather-driven pump drill ... and it is with that that you drill holes.

And I have a painting to show you of an Pueblo Turquoise Bead Maker drilling holes into the stones in an ancient manner ... his weathered features lined with the patience required of the meticulous craftsman. It's a joy to behold.

For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits...may I direct you to my home page at

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where you will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says Current Tidbits ... and then click on it in order to view our Pueblo Bead Maker.

And there ya have it. That's it for this week folks. Catch you all next week. Benjamin Mark

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