Day 19, a photo by Annclinations on Flickr.
Thank heavens for my dremel and my homemade buffing wheel! I buffed and waxed lots of beads today. Their luster makes me happy. Having completed that stage of the project, I decided to put the charm bracelet in amongst the beads to see what the effect was. The beads I liked the best in the steps up to now don't look very nice with the sterling silver. Giant head slap! Of course they don't! Out of the then obvious need to rethink my palette, I decided to sand, buff and polish the dark teal beads and the pink ones that I rejected the other day. They are in the tumbler now, along with various and sundry other beads I made some time ago but never prepped.
While waiting for the tumbler to work its magic, I decided to get back to the ribbon trials that I started on day 14. I managed to coax the serger into creating three more ribbons. Happily, they are looking more professional than I thought they might. In order to tint these new ribbons, I pulled out a silk painting kit I bought for one of the grandchildren a few years ago. At the time, it didn't really seem appropriate for her, so I kept it. Among the colors in the kit were a cyan blue, magenta and lemon yellow. I decided that it would be a good place to start. The photo shows the two trial ribbons and two undyed ones. I look forward to learning more about dying. It seems that gravity and capillary action can both play an interesting role in the final outcome. Though these ribbons are clearly not for my mother's birthday necklace, the work I did today will be very useful for future endeavors.
When I put the silver charm bracelet next to the beads, not only did I find my original color ideas weren't going to work, I also learned that the focal bead(s) I made aren't going to work for this piece either. Not to worry, I have some ideas for solving that predicament cooking on the back burner......
Happy Swiss national day!!
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