Silver Pinch

Live Spot Silver

Ouch. I just wanted to say that. Just got some wire and 1000 new little seamless sterling rounds.

I also wanted to complain, in public, about the difficulty in finding seamless 2mm 14/20 gf. I won't bother with 12/20, and all the 14/20 I find, just about, other than one place in Canada (argh!) has "nearly undetectable seams"

well that's great, except the wirework I do tends to bear down on them enough to squish them into little donuts that slide off the beadwork. One can imagine how pleased I am if this happens not at the start of a row of weaving, but as I'm wrapping one up.

Also 30ga DS wire in 14/20 gf. Nonexistant. The Yeti of wire. And I'm a pretty savvy shopper.

That said, it's almost Music Friday again. Comments or no comments I'm pressing on!

Winners Garnets and Ginger

The September challenge was fun - I wound up with a pretty good showing, but didn't end up voting for myself - there was some work which really blew me away including this, the winner, from Manek Lady.

Isn't it just amazing?

In local news, I've found the best scone in Minneapolis. It's at Cafe Maude which I just can't say enough great things about. Whether you opt for the buttermilk, or the blueberry ginger, you will find it has a palatable texture, something most scones totally fail, amazing flavor that only actual butter and good ingredients will give, and best of all, an appropriate size, so you can feel momentarily naughty and not like you are indulging in the dietary setback from hell. No overinflated Starbucks sawdust packet - this is a thing of beauty. Get the blueberry ginger (yes ginger, just the right amount, too) and pair it with the chai teabag and go stroll in the southwest metro rain by the creek.

I did.


Now that I'm warm and dry, I've been playing more with those garnet marquise beads:




Rhodolite garnet, 24K plated delicas, a little goldfilled clasp. Something elegant and quasi-ancient looking.

Revival

It's been a shameful interval since I started this up. Hopefully that will change.

Beadweaving is not fast. That can't be overstated.

I needed a break from metal and stone, I suppose, and wanted to go back to glass. A simple afternoon spent learning dimensional right angle weave from my beading mate Lisa had me excited all over again with the potential of this stitch. I think a lot of people shy away from it because it is a little harder to master than other stitches, and you can have many more thread-tugging accidents than with other stitches, but it's so -- plastic. Geometric, logical.

"Modern Thought" is inspired by listening to lots and lots of Shins, and denim, and Iolite chunks, and ancient Rome and Greece. I'm going to do another iteration, as well, because I have enough iolite and blue beads to do so.