Tag Archives: PMC

April 4, 2011 · 11:05 pm

Mysterious pod bead saga

In trying to describe how I made the pod  bead , I began to wonder what was the thing I picked up on a walk last fall, and of which I made a silicone mold? How do you Google something that you can see, but you can’t name?  I tried to remember where I picked it up. It was from a dried plant stem, so I Googled “bumps in plant stem,” which only netted me information about tomato plants.  I know I found the bumpy thing in a place where heliotrope grows wild in July. My next search term was, “large round bumps in stem of heliotrope.” Plenty of heliotrope information, but nothing about bumps. Hmmm…how about, “insect caused stem bumps?” Bingo!

The bumps are called galls. More specifically a goldenrod stem gall.

I’ve seen them many times, but never knew their name, and never paid much attention to them. Once I had the name, I Googled images for the stem gall and looked at over 13 pages. None of the images had a triple gall like the one I used to make this bead, so I think I picked up quite the unusual gall!

I have tried to pair the bead with other beads I have on hand. I switched out the reddish glass beads I bought from SueBeads. (Although just now, looking at Sue’s Etsy shop, she is selling Pod Beads that may be the perfect match with my pod bead.)

I strung it with some patinated copper beads from Miss Ficklemedia. I love the color of these beads with the silver, but I am unsure about others of my own beads I used in the necklace.  Hmm, Sue’s pod beads will look lovely in between mine and Shannon’s….

Below: The triple goldenrod stem gall, the silicone mold, and the fine silver pod bead.

For the many times I’ve considered how I want to use this 2″ bead, I have also wished I had a mold of  a single “pod” so I could make smaller beads with this texture.  Now I know to look where the goldenrod grows (next to the heliotrope) and I also know the name of what I’m looking for.  I think I like saying “stem gall” and I know I like like saying “pod bead.”  And the cool dark pod beads with a metallic finish from Suebeads? Just bought ’em.

 

 

 

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April 1, 2011 · 10:36 pm

Bench shots

No, it’s not a spring snowstorm drink. Although we did lose power for a few hours this afternoon, convincing me that taking a nap was exactly the way to beat the storm.

With several necklaces in progress, and only one finished,  I took some photos of what’s on my bench.  My process is to string beads, on and off pieces of wire, until I like the combination. No matter how many times I organize the beads  in front of me, I always end up with messy piles to feed my creativity. Out of sight, out of mind, you know.  I like to have everything out where I can see it.  I might sketch a few basic ideas, but my best results come from trial and error. I worked all winter to create and gather lots of components, so I could make a big mess finding ways to put them together.

I really liked making the pod bead, below. I might pair it with the reddish glass beads from SueBeads.

Beginning a beach rock necklace with some PMC beads.

Considering ways to put sea glass together.

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March 31, 2011 · 11:10 pm

4 necklaces

I spent so time in my studio making beads and components this past winter, that I am just now getting around to putting them together. When I look at other people’s beads to buy, I have tons of ideas. Then I sit down to work at my bead bench and feel paralyzed by the myriad of options I’ve provided myself.  After a day or so I get into a rhythm of stringing.

I love the large copper focal bead, below, made by Shannon LeVart of Miss Ficklemedia. Her patinas are gorgeous. I am inspired to give patinas a try on my own. I ordered her e-book and some of her patina colors, but in the meantime I also attended the glass bead making workshop.  I’ll give both of those techniques some time to ramble around in the back of my brain while I work with the supplies I have at hand. Shannon also made the smaller patinated beads and the toggle clasp for this necklace. I made the silver beads (except for the small round ones) from PMC, and I had the bright copper beads in my stash, along with the brass spacer beads, from years ago.  The peach-lined light blue Japanese drop beads were an impulse buy at the Beadin’ Path sometime last fall. I’m happy with how they all came together, though some of the colors (the glass beads) look a little off since I took quick photos late this afternoon.

Each beach rock necklace has its own personality. I started with a simple design to re-familiarize myself with my rock inventory. When it comes to beach rocks, I prefer to make asymmetrical necklaces, but it helps me to get going with one or two that are easily balanced.

The color of the matte glass seed beads in the photo changes with a different background. The color below is more true.

The focal bead in the first necklace, and in the one below, is a hollow drape bead made from precious metal clay.

Tomorrow = more studio time for more necklaces. The latest weather prediction is for 6 to 10″ of snow and gale force winds. I hope the power stays on!

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March 22, 2011 · 10:47 pm

Special order

I’m finally getting around to finishing some work I promised a while ago. I love making beads with different designs on each side. They give me a chance to put together a necklace that can be worn two different ways. I textured the beads using silicone molds made from local objects. (On Islesford it doesn’t get much more local than rocks and cedar.)

 

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March 18, 2011 · 10:23 pm

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.

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March 17, 2011 · 9:17 pm

Today felt like spring

It doesn’t warm up a lot here in March, but today the temperature was 50º and the sun was out. If only it would stay this way for the rest of the month. But March can be really fickle and so can April.  So, we try to stay in the day we’re in and enjoy it when it feels like this.

It was a good day to work with liver of sulphur on the back porch. (No stinky rotten egg smell inside.) I had plenty of silver beads waiting to be oxidized, sitting on this pretty little plate made by Kaitlyn Duggan. It was so bright on the back porch I had to move the beads into the shade to photograph them.

Yup. There is still some snow in our yard. Sometimes it seems to take forever to melt away from the shady areas. At least there is some green next to it.

I’ll finish the beads tomorrow. Buffing some on the wheel and hand finishing others. Then on to some long awaited necklace stringing. This morning I hand finished these post earrings, made from slump beads with a flat back.

At 2:30 my friend Cindy called. She had just finished work at the library. (We used to have the second smallest library in the state, with the most per capita circulation for a small town library. It may still be true. Cindy is a great librarian.) When she got in her car, it was so warm inside that she decided it was a good chance to take our March Dip of the Month, if I was up for it. And if I wasn’t up for it, maybe I could lifeguard for her? Of course I wanted to dip. The day was gorgeous and snow is predicted for next week.

Below is an “after dip” photo. We could never stand in the 39º water like this and then decide it was a good idea to dip. You have to run in and get horizontal before you even feel the water. It’s the only way to get into the Atlantic, in Maine, every month.

We are happy to be feeling the “spa effect” of a cold water dip. Once March is behind us, the water only starts to get warmer. Woo hoo!

As we walked back to the car, I found two St. Patrick’s Day gifts on the beach.

It was a really good day.

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March 9, 2011 · 10:45 pm

Out of the kiln…

…and into the tumbler.

I’m pretty happy with how the slump beads turned out. The fine silver PMC polishes up so nicely, that I’ll take these beads one step further by polishing them on the buffing wheel. I’ll most likely do the buffing on Friday since tomorrow is a day off island for me. I have my fingers crossed that the weather won’t be too bad and there will be a 5 p.m. boat back. (Crummy weather will mean coming home on the 3:30 boat, which does not leave enough time to see the matinee.) The movie at Reel Pizza tomorrow could be “Made in Dagenham” or “127 Hours.” (R.P doesn’t list the winter matinees on their web site.) I wouldn’t mind seeing either one, and I think Mom would go for either one, though we could probably get through the day without seeing someone cut their arm off!  Considering that the median age at this matinee is 70, they’ll probably show “Made in Dagenham.”

The wire that the beads are on is temporary. It makes them easier to fish out of the tumbler. Putting wire through beads before putting them in the tumbler will also keep that pesky steel shot from getting inside and turning the bead into a rattle.

The two beads below, without wire, had holes that I thought were too small for the steel shot to get in. Wrong! Two of these are now rattle beads.  I think I remember something about tumbling beads like this in water without steel shot to get the shot out from inside the bead. I can’t understand how that would work but it’s worth a try. (Okay. The obvious pun: It’s worth a shot.)

 

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March 4, 2011 · 9:40 pm

Another slump bead day

I spent most of my time in the studio, today, trying out more ideas with the slump beads, working in a little larger size.

I wanted to do what I was able to do with the smaller slump beads. That is, to get the heat of the cup warmer  to expand the second half of the bead as it dried. I tried it with three of the larger size beads, but it didn’t work. I still think the beads will look great, but I was going for a puffy little tummy like on the smaller bead below.

 

Meanwhile, the bead levitation experiment totally worked!

 

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February 22, 2011 · 1:05 am

How much is too much?

According to Rio Grande,  the price of silver today was $33.70 an ounce.  This is the highest price silver has been since 1980 when it dectupled from $5 an ounce to $48.70 an ounce. It could be good news for your portfolio if you’ve invested in silver, but as a metalsmith who prefers using silver clay to all other types of silver, this is very bad news.  (The only good news here is that I got to use the word “dectupled” for the first time in my life, and I’m a word person. How nice it would be if  the next time I use it would refer to my annual income!)

Whatever the going price of an ounce of silver, the price of an ounce of silver clay is about 56% higher. If I were to buy a 28 gram package of metal clay today, (that’s just about an ounce) it would cost  $51.94. And that’s with the discount I get from having taken a certification course from Rio Grande. Those who do not qualify for the discount would pay $59.94.

Here is what a 45 gram package of silver clay looks like. It’s the size I usually buy:

I bought some on January 27, for a workshop I’m taking next weekend and paid $75.57 for this walnut-sized piece of clay. If I ordered it today, I would have paid $85.42.  One year ago, the same package cost me $58.36. The prices of my jewelry on Etsy reflect what I paid a year ago for my silver. I am not going to raise the price on pieces I already have listed, but anything new will have to reflect the skyrocketing cost of silver. Especially if it’s made from Precious Metal Clay.

(Strike through made on an April 18 edit)

So, how much am I willing to pay for the silver clay I so love to work with?  $75 a package may just be my limit. Luckily I still have some sterling silver sheet from 6 or 7 years ago, when silver cost under $8 an ounce. At least copper is still pretty inexpensive. It’s time to rethink some of the designs I was planning to make with metal clay and come up with something different.

I’m fortunate that the first jewelry technique I ever learned was how to cut sheet with a jeweler’s saw. I still have the same saw frame I used over 30 years ago and it has served me well.

Hello old friends…..

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