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Post by susand24224 on Feb 4, 2024 17:08:16 GMT -5
I always liked fireline www.firemountaingems.com/shop/fireline It was developed as a fishing line and took off with crafters. Its ridiculously strong, resists cutting, drapes well and comes in lots of variety. I agree, although I don't buy from Fire Mountain unless I absolutely can't find it anywhere else. But--Fire Mountain's prices are much better unless you wait for a sale at Artbeads or Beadaholique. One thing I question though (don't know for sure, but question) is whether it works as well as the "wire" stuff with cheap beads. I've taken apart a few failing necklaces where it broke and found it very frayed--I think in large part because cheap gemstone and glass beads are not finished well on the inside so they cut into it. I also took apart one necklace that was on wire (couldn't identify the type) that was also frayed, I think for the same reason. Maybe fraying is not avoidable with any media when the beads are poorly made (?) (Just thinking out loud here.) But--I use Fireline for, for example, seed beads that are components in earrings and lighter-weight bracelets. I've *never* had Fireline break, but I've never used it for a moderate to heavy weight project. PS: I've never had a problem with orders from Fire Mountain, I'm just very environmentally oriented and I have a *real* problem with their excessive use of plastic in packing their stuff.
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Post by susand24224 on Feb 3, 2024 17:12:46 GMT -5
susand24224 Again, I don’t know how I missed this. I do want it to drape well, not be stiff. I think you’re right. They probably aren’t using high dollar wire to send out with purchased beads. Thanks for the Art Beads info. I’ll look into them. I had previously started doing some reading and of course everyone had both good and bad things to say about the various brands so it didn’t really narrow it down for me. It is spendy stuff so I just need to try to determine the best brand for me to try. There are multitudes of types of wire out there, as well as thread, and each has a different purpose. I'm no expert, but *somewhere* on Artbeads (it may be one of their instructional videos that link to Youtube) there is a discussion of which is best for which. It could be that people used the wrong wire for what they were doing, etc. I don't think any of it will hold up if it isn't properly cared for or it would be stiff as a board.
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Post by susand24224 on Feb 2, 2024 15:40:28 GMT -5
Hmmm. I have no sheet metal scrap, and very limited sheet metal, with minimal tools to work it. But perhaps I can accomplish *something* (emphasis on "thing" and perhaps it will motivate me to enlarge my capabilities. I have a saw, but not one of those thingies where you put your sheet metal on top and cut into the grooves. I have core drills, but wait! I have shears! I'll think of something. Susan, I have a sheet metal shop. I dump loads and loads of scraps of galvanized sheet metal. I also have a pretty good little stash of sheet copper scraps. If you want I can send you some. I use the copper scraps for earrings so I can't be as generous with that but can definitely spare enough that you could do a couple of projects as I still have a pretty large piece of a sheet. rockbrain Gary, thanks so much for your kind offer! And having seen some of your copper creations, I fully understand what you are saying. liveoak sent me a message this morning saying she had already mailed me a box, along with suggestions for creating that "v" thing, so I will turn your offer down. But, please be assured, I appreciate it and will be happy to return the favor any time if I have material that you want/need.
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Post by susand24224 on Feb 1, 2024 20:19:52 GMT -5
Hmmm. I have no sheet metal scrap, and very limited sheet metal, with minimal tools to work it. But perhaps I can accomplish *something* (emphasis on "thing" and perhaps it will motivate me to enlarge my capabilities. I have a saw, but not one of those thingies where you put your sheet metal on top and cut into the grooves. I have core drills, but wait! I have shears! I'll think of something.
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 30, 2024 22:50:40 GMT -5
Wonderful! I share Tela's observation that this type of wrap is far from the easiest, and you did it with style. Quite impressive!
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 29, 2024 16:14:06 GMT -5
Wow! I'm trying to figure out whether I'm more excited about the new tool or what you did with it. I must ponder this important question for a bit. Nice job, and thanks for sharing!
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 23, 2024 16:20:31 GMT -5
liveoak Patty, another gorgeous heart wrap--I love the look, but oh! The back! My mind is swirling trying to figure out how you managed all that--and with finesse, no less!
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 22, 2024 21:47:02 GMT -5
I really like those susand24224! Good use of negative space and I like the different colored metals. But, I feel compelled to drop a bead off the bottom. LOL! Hopefully, I can come up with something next.
Yes! I agree, but I wanted to stay true and use only scrap and as of yet I don't have a scrap pile for beads. Well, maybe the jar that holds the beads that I picked up off the floor months after I finished the piece their kin was attached to . . .and was too lazy to figure out where they actually belonged.
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 22, 2024 17:21:15 GMT -5
Interesting with the pickle. I've probably seen that happen but wasn't paying enough attention to realize it could be a benefit. Hmmm.... nice tip. We are all our own worst critics ! Personally, I like them, they are the kind of design that you want to look at a bunch of times to understand. Patty liveoak Patty, a little more detail for you. I use a small ceramic "dish" for most pickling and leave it in the microwave for a minute and 15 seconds, which has it very close to boiling. I also run the piece under hot water (as hot as my tap water gets) before I put it in the almost boiling water; I put it under the tap water immediately so the stone or whatever is in there gradually warms up as the water warms up. If you just leave it in the LOS a short period of time you usually get the silvery color with a lot of blue. Left a long time, I found out that some of the blue remains despite the darkening from the pickle. This is by no means sure--but when it works, the colors can be beautiful. **Special thanks to liveoak for catching my earlier error! (Now corrected)
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 21, 2024 23:15:23 GMT -5
I like them Susan, they are interesting. The different colors & different hanging lengths & that they both move independently, is my favorite kind of jewelry. How did you color the outer ring ? Patty Thank you, Patty! I like movement as well. The outer ring was *very* hot pickle and the piece was hot as well. I left it in there quite awhile. The heat caused the blues, which remained after I removed some of the pickle. It was supposed to be silver wire over the pickled areas, and the rest more coppery, but they are so small and I am sufficiently "clutzy" that it didn't quite work that way. The silver wires and chain lengths were added after the pickling. I got one of the circles backward when I put it on the ear wires, which is why there are so many wire ends showing. Since I'm planning to make new ear wires I'm not going to fix that for now. These were formed around a ring mandrel for size 9.
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 21, 2024 17:45:12 GMT -5
Okay, here goes: All copper wire is 16-gauge, the silver wire (not sure if it is argentium or sterling) is likely 28-gauge, but when it gets that small who knows? The beauty of the silver wire is that it came from my "not enough to use for anything" silver scrap container, rather than the "might be able to be used for something" pile. The links with the copper balls were rejects from a chain I was making; I decided to make the links smaller so there wouldn't be so much bare space. I had to remove some of the bindings on one so it matched the other. Finding earwires that could accommodate two 16-gauge wire took a bit, and I really need to make my own to have it work completely. I like the design -but- were I to do it again, I would use 14-gauge so I could really smash parts flat without fear of breakage, and I would make them larger. I likely would do silver balled dangles hanging from the bottom--thought about it this time but have used copper pickle and more copper to pickle, so didn't want to start over with new pickle for the silver.
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 21, 2024 17:07:51 GMT -5
liveoak Patty, you did it! And I am so impressed with what you did, each and every one of them. I finished mine last night so will add it shortly, but it certainly pales in comparison to yours. All of yours are *very* creative--I have found that having these interesting scraps around stokes my creative side, and I wanted others to experience the same--it looks like you did! Congrats! I have to edit to say that your earrings holding a circle and a diamond brought a smile to my face. I've always believed that life is too short to wear totally matching earrings, and this is one lovely example of why!
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 16, 2024 17:02:02 GMT -5
susand24224 Susan, thank you so much for being such an inspiration and full of enthusiasm. I love your attitude. You are such an asset to RTH and a great cheerleader. Thank you so much for your kind words, Tela, I'm blushing . . .
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 16, 2024 4:30:18 GMT -5
All I can say in my defense is that it's from quite a few years & in the early years I only used sheet, very little wire. And 90% of it is actually copper flashing, of which was mostly from a huge copper gutter that I bought at a garage sale for $5. But I ain't showing my failed wire bin. Wire weaving can be wasteful, especially when you're learning ! The cone idea sounds interesting though & there is a bunch of texture sheet in there to utilize. I also keep staring at discarded enamel experiments.
Lots to play with - just what I need !
Patty
You need no defense for your amazing scrap pile--you were creating future works of art! Just think, Patty, if you try one thing or ten things and none of them work, it doesn't matter because it's just your scrap pile. Thus, no guilt connected with screwing up. For me, at least, that is very liberating. I've actually got my design worked out but can't do anything until this below zero stuff breaks in a few days. It requires hammering and my old dog gets frightened and runs out the doggie door; he can barely see and barely hear (except loud noises like hammering things flat) and then gets lost in the yard. There's only so many times I can wrap up like I'm in Alaska to go search the three acres to find him late at night.
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 15, 2024 19:06:56 GMT -5
So I have to really thank you, Susan susand24224 , I've had a crappy week, and it's all gotten me down, so I decided this afternoon to take a break and actually look through both "cooper sheet" scrap bins and see what actually might be inspiring.
It was fun although overwhelming, but I did find a bunch of interesting things, so maybe, just maybe, I can come up with something for the challenge ?
The funniest part was that I'm not sure if I remember making all those discarded creations I found----- must have been another lifetime. I won't promise any perfection - but we're already discussed that - but I'm going to try to ONLY use something out of the scrap bin.
Maybe I can even find some wire in my "wire scrap" bin (which I'm NOT showing) - stay tuned [/div] Patty
Wow! So much scrap, so little time! I'm salivating over your scrap pile! It is so much more impressive than mine. Suggestion--if you cut two identical circles from some thinner copper sheet and roll the circles around round nose pliers (the bigger the better) you will end up with little cones from which you can dangle something (earrings). You can also (of course) texture it or whatever before you wrap it into a cone. I've taken two photos of my pathetic (compared to yours) scrap pile: (1) failed designs, including designs I worked out in 26 gauge before tackling it in thicker wire, and also actually failed. You can see a very small cone although it got flattened--blue arrow. You would want a much larger circle than I used for this. (2) my pathetic wire stash.
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 8, 2024 19:04:04 GMT -5
And thank you for tackling my scrap bin.
I will try to look at it with your suggestions in mind. Truth be told, there can be fun in designing around things.
Hopefully, I'm truly up for that challenge. Good luck with your snow storm - I'm dreary enough with our cold rain ! Patty
Patty, as the author of this challenge I should say that it doesn't matter (at least to me) if what you create "works." What matters to me is experimenting with different ideas. Speaking for myself alone, when I try to design "perfection" it never works. When I just play around, sometimes it does so I'm encouraging others to do the same thing. You will be great!
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 8, 2024 16:23:25 GMT -5
So I dragged out one of my scrap bins - Any ideas come to mind ?? It's a start.
Patty I've got to get to the post office before I get snowed in, but some quick ideas--I can't tell what gauge your sheets are, but it looks like the perfect time to experiment with a torch and try to get different colors. If the gauge is thick enough, I would try centering it around the edge of a cab and pressing it down to make a rim, maybe even creating a "wave" by alternating pressing toward the cab and then a bit away. Turn one of the pieces (a more square one) into a circle, and then cut a spiral with shears (a saw would make me crazy) and see where you can go with it. Cut several small shapes, diamond, circle, what have you, color them differently, then cold connect them together (or fabricate but you would likely lose the color). Geez! So much to do there! There's a piece on the bottom left where an interesting pattern was cut out, but what's left is quite interesting as well. Keep the pattern you've got but saw it into just a small strip of "pattern" and try wrapping it around something. Some of what I suggest may well look like copper crap, but a few might be brilliant creations (a/k/a "happy accidents"!
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 6, 2024 18:49:35 GMT -5
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing. . .
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 4, 2024 15:46:09 GMT -5
You're right Susan on the ear wires & I laughed, as I always make my own ear wires, as I like to add matching beads, etc.
But rarely have I made more artsy types. I guess I need to push myself out of my comfort zone there.
Thank you for the continuing show susand24224 , lots of good inspiration ! You had me scribbling "scrap use" ideas yesterday over coffee !
I really like your circle bail with the balled ends. Looks doable & a nice addition to a pendant. I might have to try that one.
The Mykonos beads are niiice.
I spent way too much time looking at their website.
I can see why you were excited. Some of their beads make me think of "Picasso Beads" which I have always liked. Thanks for sharing them. (I think ) Patty
I missed that the thread went to another page - WOW, "loopinloop" has a great selection AND the beads are on sale !!
Patty, I'm so glad to hear that you are inspired! And many of my creative ear wires are a "save" from something that I screwed up. As for Loopinloop, their beads are *always* on sale. And just scroll through--they also feature beads from other European countries, and some of them are quite nice. But perhaps that is too dangerous. One cheap one that I'll recommend is BossJewelrySupply in Vermont. She scours thrift shops, auctions, etc. and takes apart the pieces and sells the components. If you want something unusual or old at a very fair price, that's the place to go--and she gets great chain. She also seems to know the difference between copper plated and copper, which is nice. Both LimaBeads and BossJewelry give you an automatic 10% off coupon every time you order, and I think LimaBeads gives you 25% off the first time you order.
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 4, 2024 15:37:32 GMT -5
Thanks for the tute Susan! It reminded me of the time I spent the day wrapping during a hurricane with no lights. I had a small (low) battery lantern. Oh, what fun! LOL! I've seen that called the cage wrap. I've done it several times but not with flattened wire. I like the look. Thank you, Tela. I have never done it without flattening the wire, but I actually thought about it last night so the wire wouldn't get so brittle. Had I not been able to complete that last little bit of 16-gauge wire, I likely would have if I wasn't overcome by butane. I've seen beads that looked like they were done that way and I liked them. I can only imagine finishing a wrap during a hurricane. But, I've always said that the most challenging and irritating things become the greatest amusing stories later!
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