What have you jury-rigged for your beadwork?

I have "creatively" solved the problem of where to put all the spools of thread materials I use by cutting a wire coat hanger at the "corner" of the long hang bar, then threading all the different spools of media on to there... a drop of hot glue at the end keeps them from falling off... and then I just hang the hanger from one of the shelf support brackets above the worktable. This trick works well with spools of floral and craft ribbon, gift wrap ribbon, and many other things!!!

I often use a small lump of waste poly clay to keep track of my needles when I'm not actively using them... it sticks to your work surface and holds the needles upright where my not so good paws can pick them back up.

I *do* use nymo for a lot of things, and to keep the spools usable, I pop out the top of old dental floss containers and trim the plastic insert part until the hole in the nymo bobbin fits onto it...then reinsert the plastic insert into the plastic box, rethread with the nymo and voila! the Nymo stays clean and untangled, and there's a built in cutter!

hth... beth

Candace.... I wonder if you recognise that the term "jury rigged" is a more pc version of the old WWII slur "Jerry-rigged"? Jerry was a slur referring to the Germans.... perhaps creative solving could come up with a more 'gentle' way of saying that... it's kind of like telling someone you "jewed them down" on the price of something....?..... just my .02 worth...

Wow - I didn't know that. People use that term all the time in this area, and I don't think many people understand where it comes from.

I do the dental floss container thing too...it works well with sewing machine bobbins for traveling and sewing. Glide dental floss makes a large economy size that is a tube and you can fit 4-5 bobbins in it at one time. Now I will have to dig one out for my Nymo! Thanks Beth for reminding me!

Lise

Nymo in the dental floss container is a good tactic for cutting thread when you're flying somewhere and can't bring scissors.

It's funny about the Jerry-rigged thing. To me it's kind of the equivalent of "Yankee ingenuity", or "scotch tape and bailing wire", so it amuses me that it had been used as a slur.

Tina

Okay, I understand "Yankee ingenuity", but what does the term "scotch tape and bailing wire" mean? I know what scotch tape is - it's a brand name, right? Just curious. :)

Bush pilots (and mechanics) are/were said to keep their planes flying with "scotch tape and bailing wire". This might also go back to WWII

Tina

Hi Candace,

Glad the jig thing worked for you. Bee's wax is the original thread conditioner, so your instincts were right on with that one.

My husband is a dumpster diver. We have no garbage pick up here, and the dump has a covered concrete area for "recyclables", so Pete brings home strange odds and ends. Yesterday he brought me a spool holder -- a board with pegs to put spools on. Might use it for threading material. Might put UFOs on it (Unfinished Beaded Objects).

I use a fabric glasses case for my crochet hooks, the small ones I use for beaded crochet. I'm saving sterling silver scraps in a small See's candy tin, to give to a silver smith.

I plan to take a picture frame, add wooden ridges (molding? dowels? even branches?) and cover it with fabric to use as a bead planning board. Picture frames also are good displaying earrings.

Tina

My husband framed some common screen material for my earring display, similar idea.

Oh my....I had no clue. That phrase is as common to me as anything else. I do apologise if I inadvertantly offended anyone with it. Honestly, I am not the type to use slurs for anyone/anything.

Thanks for the heads up, Beth!!! We used to use a phrase in highschool...if someone broke their cigarette and had to fix it, we called it"Mickey Mousing it". But I didn't figure too many people would have heard of that one. And no, I have no clue where that one came from either.

~Candace~ your local hemp goddess :)

I'm still not sure what bailing wire is. :) Funny though!

Oh, yeah, we use that phrase a lot too. :)

On Sat, 1 May 2004 21:50:30 -0400, Kandice Seeber wrote (in message ):

The wire used to hold bales of hay (or grain) together.

I tend to improvide with "spit and toilet paper," though.

Kathy "A wish and a prayer" N-V

In our house the phrase is Duct tape and guitar strings!

Jan

t bailing wire is. :>

more properly

"baling" wire as the wire used to roll and fasten hay bales.

Cheryl last semester of lawschool! yipee! DRAGON BEADS Flameworked beads and glass

So you say -- but other sources disagree... Webster's dictionary form 1913 PRE WW II states:

------------------------------------------------ Jury-rigged (Page: 806) Ju"ry-rigged` (?), a. (Naut.) Rigged for temporary service. See Jury, a.

-------------------------------------------------- Can hardly have been a WW II TERM in 1913 - since the war had not HAPPENED YET!!!

also -

Cheryl last semester of lawschool! yipee! DRAGON BEADS Flameworked beads and glass

Actually -- I did further checking -- you are confusing two terms

"Jerry-built" was the reference to shoddy workmanship... but may not necessarily be an actual slur against Germans.... even so -

the American Heritage Dictionary also confirms "JURY RIGGED" as a nautical term

-- and gives further etymology of the work "jury" to french "ajurie"

Cheryl last semester of lawschool! yipee! DRAGON BEADS Flameworked beads and glass