can we talk about quality findings and components? (long)

Here's a cut-and-paste of the entry in the online catalog for the library it came from:

The complete metalsmith Brookfield Craft Center, c1989. Call #: VIDEO 739.27 COMPLETE Series: Brookfield Craft Center video library Master workshop series Format: [videorecording] / Description:

Deirdre

Rio Grande (damn them) has some really excellent metalsmithing videos, including Complete Metalsmith and one I bet you'd love, "Cold Connections and the Power of Found Objects." The listings are in the back of their Tools & Equipment catalog.

-- KarenK Desert Dreamer Designs

Found an online source ... seems to be the publisher's own site:

oooh you guys are so good :) Thank you all for the wonderful information. I'm on a couple other beading bbs and none are as great as this one!

I am just itching to go get some soft flex and restring all my necklaces! I have a LBS here that I really don't like, but maybe they have it since I don't want to wait till this weekend to get to the one I love or order online.

And I'm dying for my hammer to come in the mail so I can harden my clasps...

And - hahaha, my Metalsmithing book came (thanks Tina for recommending it) - the one that goes with the video you guys are talking about - and I'm so excited to see all the things I can do with copper - like turn it green, red, blue, grey, etc etc!

Ok, must go now and get the kid ready to go to the bead store and look for softflex.... before hubby gets home and asks how much money I've spent today. LOL.

:) Pam

the one that goes with the video you guys are talking about - and I'm so excited to see all the things I can do with copper - like turn it green, red, blue, grey, etc etc!<

If that's what floats your boat, then this is THE must-have book: The Colouring, Bronzing and Patination of Metals, by Richard Hughes and Michael Rowe. Amazon has it for $59.50 (list price is $85). Also, Tim McCreight's Color on Metal. (They offer both books as a bundle for $80.50.) The Hughes book is excellent, with lots of explanations about the actual chemistry.

-- KarenK Desert Dreamer Designs

see any hands?)<

Count me, please.

Carol in SLC eBay auctions:

ooh, I'll have to add that to my wish list. I start my beginner's jewelry class tomorrow... so I should really wait and dabble there before I spend more $$ on things I *think* I'm going to love... and then my lampwork class is in 3 weeks - and I really think I'm going to LOVE LOVE LOVE that. There just isn't enough time in the day. I do love choices though... blue copper! how cool is that? I hope it's as cool as it is in my mind...

And hubby is coming home early now so I can't get out to the bead store for my softflex till tomorrow. :( Unless I can talk him into stopping on the way to looking at the new car we have to go look at...

Thanks for the book recs - they are going in my amazon wishlist now :)

Pam

I recently bought some Illusion cord because I wanted to make these pretty purple pearls I have "float" on a necklace. Do y'all have opinions about illusion cord too?

Thanks :) Pam

You know, I make it a point to treat materials respectfully, especially if it's animal, or plant, But I never thought about cleansing energy from other processes from before I get them.

Thanks for mentioning that.

Tina

"Sjpolyclay" wrote

Ok, so HOW do you clear the energy off of *things*?

Pam

I never doubted that for a minute! And really appreciate everyone sharing them!

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Beth" :

]honey, this group's got opinions about EVERYTHING!!!

that's the e-mail i sent her. almost word for word!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

I think the first thing I concerned myself with upgrading in beading was the stringing material. I'm sure I started with thread from my sewing stuff, and then better threads from the fabric store. I was then introduced to nylon thread, which I still regularly use. Some is Nymo, some is undoubtedly another brand. I only like the kind that comes on a spool. No bobbins. I have since learned that the spools are designed for a different application and has different characteristics regarding the spin/twist, the stretchability,etc.

When I started making bone, glass and moosehide chokers, I began using coated wire and crimps. "Tiger Tail" or whatever brand. Some of it is even THREE strand. More important than the brand is the number of strands. I didn't need soft and supple for the chokers with large beads. And I didn't worry too much about my crimping skills (look), because the crimps were contained within the leather. I still have and use that old 3 strand junk. But now I use it to keep a set of beads together or string sets into different sets. Or to try out a new strung design. I use it for tidying. The 7 strand I might still use for the chokers, but I am more likely to use the better 19 strand coated wire stuff. The 29 strand I use for larger beads that don't generally demand as much drap, while the delicate stuff needs the 49 strand to drape well.

Those are pretty much a standard for me, from which I would up grade. It would also depend on the material and the consumer. Less valuable beads and or something made for someone as "costume" stuff, I might even downgrade. Gemstones, 14k gold, etc, and I'd upgrade. One thing to be aware of is that the more stands, the more strength. It is more important to use the higher stand stuff in the smaller diameter material.

I also use fake sinew, suede cord, finished round leather cord, and even strips of moosehide. I like the softness of tied moose leather. A bead or

I use size 5 cotton for bead crocheted purses. The cotton is less durable than synthetics, but is also less vulnerable, such as to heat, and is kinder to my hands to work with.

And of course wire. I don't like the orangess in copper, or the grey in pewter, and for that reason, I don't use either. For practice I use brass because it's closest to the feel of working with silver or gold filled.

Tina

necklaces...

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Christina Peterson" :

]I think the first thing I concerned myself with upgrading in beading was the ]stringing material.

thank you, Tina! you answered a lot of questions i didn't know i had!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

I thought I was finished with stringing material. How could I have forgotten silk?

I haven't used much silk, but I sure do like it. I prefer silk for knotting, and I'd love to crochet with it.

I haven't used Fireline, Spiderwire, etc much, though I do have some. I think it's because I don't know how to finish it in a tidy professional way.

Tina

necklaces...

Clasps are very often a matter of preferrence. I don't use clasps I don't like in my own jewelry.

I love tiny little barrel clasp and have good luck with them. I got some in sterling from Rio, but they no longer have them in this year's catalogue. But many other people consider them unreliable. And you can't find them in better metals (SS and GF), so I'm guessing t's because professional jewelers don't use them. So I don't use them anymore.

I don't mind spring rings, but again, many others/customers don't like them. So I don't use those. And I find lobster claws much harder to work than spring rings, and all but mangled a necklace trying to work one. So I won't be using those.

Hook and eye clasps get loose on me so I don't use those either.

I've just about run out, haven't I!

I have come to really like toggles. I find the simplest ones to look clean and elegant. And they don't work loose on me. I am careful to get long bars instead of trying to keep it cute and little, because the shorter bars are the only ones I have ever had trouble with. I might look for some chain in a size large enough to make the toggle adjustable, but haven't done so yet.

Toogles especially would be my choice for a bracelet. Any sort of spring clasp or screw mechanism would be extremely difficult to fasten for one's self.

I also like the clasps that have a box that a bent over (spinging) slips into. And for something pricey, I'd use one of these, with the safety that closes on the side of the clasp.

I also like S clasp, and can even make them myself.

For something beaded, rather than strung a button and loop looks great, too.

Tina

necklaces...

Some tradition ways of purifying the energy surrounding things are smudging (eg white sage), doing your work in an area where you keep crystals, put them in sunshine, or "blessing" them by speaking of your appreciation and intentions.

Tina

I'm giggling about stringing materials. A few weeks ago I restrung a necklace that I made in high school. Guess that qualifies as vintage, huh? (It was 1976, for the record.) It was strung on doubled, waxed dental floss and knotted through a barrel clasp. The only reason I restrung it was because DD has adopted it and she didn't like her hair getting caught in the barrel. The floss had gotten ugly inside, but was still intact and even waxy! It was a liquid silver and carved stone fetish necklace...one MOP bird had a broken tail (repaced with a turquoise bear). Amazing stuff, dental floss.

-- KarenK Desert Dreamer Designs