Cool stuff on the link you posted for the focal clasps. I had to have the necklace done before this week though, so i had to buy one at a store, I couldn't wait for one to ship. I ended up using two clasps I got at JoAnne's...one wasn't big enough. I guess I like the finished product okay.
I'm on vacation this week, and thought I'd get a bunch of stuff done, but my Dad's in the hospital, so I'll be up there with him instead.
I really liked the ivory, white, plum color combination in the store, but now I'm not sure.
I'm also thinking that a focal bead would have been nice...so now I'm contemplating putting a focal clasp on...though I've no idea what that would be.
Part of me wants to throw the thing in the garbage and start over with something else, but part of me knows I'm just second guessing myself, that everything is fine and I should keep going.
If the little voice in my head doesn't shut up, I'm going to drink something stronger than tea while I work tonight (wow, that made me sound like a drunk schizophrenic, didn't it).
Seriously though...what do you think about the focal clasp idea? I'm going to google for ideas...
This is my front yard right now...yuck. Nasty white stuff. I'm not ready for winter yet.
I'm still refusing to put away my indoor halloween decorations...Matt said if I want to, I can leave them up instead of getting out the Christmas decorations (I actually thought about it for a few minutes). Putting halloween away is on my agenda for early next week, when I clean house, since I'm having my family over for Thanksgiving dinner.
After Thanksgiving winter can come, but not yet.
Friday, when I went to buy wire for the second tree, the only size I could find in black was 18 gauge. I was a bit worried about how easy it would be to twist (I used 22 gauge on the first tree), but bought it anyway, since I want thicker branches on this tree.
18 gauge is really hard to twist. I finished twisting the first spools of both black and silver, since I cut into them anyway, and am trying to decide if I want to keep going, or return the rest of the wire. I've got the hang of twisting it now, and though this tree is going together different than the first tree, I could finish it. On the other hand, I don't like the looks of it as well as I do the first tree...it's not as, oh...uh... 'delicate looking' I guess is a good enough phrase.
While I'm making up my mind I'm beading a necklace...a friend is getting married in a few weeks and I felt the urge to make a present for her.
Matthew had suggested using a drill to twist the wires too, and I had thought of it myself before I even started, but I was afraid it would make it too uniform and machined looking, instead of unique and handcrafted. My poor sore fingers begged me to try it last night though...the first one I did was really machined looking, but I discovered that by manipulating the wires a bit while they twisted I could make the twist screwy looking in places. I decided the trade off of it not looking quite as handcrafted against being 87,000 times faster and easier was worth it, and finished it with the drill.
(I don't know how other people do it, I never bothered to google...I chucked an eyehook in the drill, wrapped wire around it, then held the other end of the wire and turned the drill on.)
I'm not done yet, I need to do the roots yet, and fuss with the branches, but here it is.
It's more coppery looking than I wanted, and the branches aren't thick enough to put sitting crows on, so I think I'm going to do something with this tree for me, and make a different tree for Susan's hallo present. I'll have to see if I can find some black and gray wire today.
I'm thinking I'll make slightly different versions of the same basic concept...one for me and one for Susan. Plus, I've decided that this isn't going to be Susan's hallo present, because once it's done I'll never make it to Halloween, I'm weak...I'm just going to send it when it's done.
Almost a month off is about all I can take...I've got to do something creative again or I'm going to go batty.
I started on Susan's next year's Hallo present last weekend, but ran out of wire about half an hour into it. (I know it seems really early to start already, but of all the projects spinning through my mind that want to be worked on, that one shouted the loudest.) I had to start over this weekend, since I couldn't find more of the same wire at either Ben Franklin, JoAnne's or Michaels, which I searched during the week on my lunch hours. That's what I get, I suppose, for starting the project with material I knew I didn't have enough of, that's been in my stash for who knows how many years...
I like the new wire better, it's a bit thicker and I like the colors better. I'm using two colors of wire (brown and gunmetal) for more depth and dimension. After a couple of hours of work I came to the conclusion that I need to wear gloves while manipulating it...I'm rubbing the skin off my fingers.
What I need to do...what I should be doing instead...is to start a list of the projects I want to do so that it's easier to decide what to work on next and so I don't forget them. I always meant to start a journal to keep track but never got around to making the journal...I should just buy one of the shelf somewhere. Hmmm...maybe that's what I'll tell Kate I want for my birthday...although, I just placed an order for an iPod Classic yesterday, and had endless shrimp at Red Lobster on Saturday (had to go early, endless shrimp ends before my birthday gets here), so asking for more may be greedy.
Speaking of time off and birthdays...I'm taking a vacation the week of
Thanksgiving. We're having my family over for dinner on Thursday, but
other than that, I've got the whole week to tie up unfinished odds and
ends that are weighing me down. I should start a to-do list...the top
of which needs to be "clean my studio!". My studio is so messy
and depressing right now that I worked with the wire out on the dining
room table...I just couldn't face being in there and am so unmotivated
to straighten it up.
It snowed all day yesterday, which didn't help my blah mood any. I'm just not ready for the cold and the wet and the mess of winter. Besides which, I'm not done with fall yet...I've still got flower stems to cut back, flower beds to mulch over, leaves to rake... Matt's already cleaned the yard once, and it's all covered with leaves again...the maples haven't dropped them all yet.