Finishing this and that

I have quite a collection of handmade PMC beads I need to finish. They are fired, tumbled, and many of them oxidized. I like a highly polished finish on some of my beads, and I know I can achieve that with a buffing wheel. The fine silver PMC polishes up beautifully on a muslin wheel with a little bit of polishing compound, but I put it off for as long as I can. It’s a dirty noisy process requiring a mask and eye protection, and those beads get hot really fast. I thought I would get it over with this morning, but I went to my studio and found plenty of little pieces to hand finish with polishing paper so I wouldn’t have to use the buffer until after lunch.

Once I got everything on and got my iPod going to listen to some “Fresh Air” podcasts, I was into the Zen of polishing beads on the buffing wheel. It’s never as annoying as I imagine it will be while I am procrastinating, and the results are worth it to me. What can I say? I like my silver shiny.

Above, a reminder not to wear a bright color when trying to photograph highly reflective surfaces.

Someone who finds hand polished beads more tasteful than buffer polished beads.