Why the Occasional Cold is Not Such A Bad Idea

Really. Because when you have a cold, and then get over it, the experience makes you appreciate the state of "not having a cold" so much more.

It was an odd little virus. Coughing, sneezing, feeling blah, three days and out. Then a couple of days of kind of wondering what the hell? as I've never gotten over a cold so fast, and my head still felt a little...coldish. Like I could feel the outlines of my sinuses in my head, even though they didn't hurt, as such. Today all that sinus-blech decided to clear out. Oh joy. Oh well, as I said, when it's completely gone, I will, for a while, appreciate the hell out of feeling well.

I got the camera back, and since then, have been trying and trying to get a properly focused picture, without success. Well, one tiny success.  There you see it, the sole well-focused picture out of about 60. Don't ask me what settings I used. Couldn't tell you.

I'm going to retire to the couch with the darn owner's manual and figure this thing out before it kills me. I know this camera can take marvelous pictures!   I'm determined I'll be the one behind the shutter when it does!

The picture is of the fringe of the piece I'm working on, an amulet or charm bag woven in netting stitch, from a book called Netted Beadwork by Diane Fitzgerald.  Of course, when my dear husband saw the bag section, he looked at the size and shape and asked me, "Why are you making a penis-cozy?" 

After I finished laughing, I started to wonder if there might be a market in adorning private parts with beads.  Hmm.  If anyone wants to commission a cozy, I'll need measurements. And some elastic thread, because men always exaggerate.

More pictures of the piece, which I'm really pleased with, as the camera cooperates. 

I Feel Better Now

Sorta.

I feel better because all my bead stash from our trip (see previous post) is now entered in the software, and labeled and file into the storage drawers. My workspace is once again functional, if not as clean and tidy as I want it to be.

Only sorta better, because I ran out of larger storage boxes, which are no longer available from Harbor Freight. I never had the largest size I needed for really substantial strings of stones like turquoise and coral, and right at the moment, I can't hunt for substitutes because we're on an austerity drive due to lack of income. That's right, I've got to put my beads in plastic bags for now. Makes me a little bit crazy. Plastic bags don't stack, they don't arrange, and it's not as easy to sift through them to see what's in those drawers.

But the plastic bags are labeled, systematically. They're in the right color-category drawers.  Someday I'll have the cash to get storage boxes again. Maybe for the large beads I'll use small food-storage containers. That might be about the right size.

Another thing that's driving me antsy is the lack of a camera. I swear every two seconds I think, "I'll just take a picture of that and post it...oh crap." I've sent the camera off to Canon for a free repair of the CCD card, but it's going UPS Ground from California to Virginia, so it could take a bit. My posts are going to be photo-free and a bit boring until it's fixed.

I want to show you all the new Cellini spiral I'm doing.   It's lovely, with 6/0 gold beads as the spine and purple and iridescent green/purple beads in the spiral. I think I may make it long enough for a necklace.

I also ran across a book I got several months ago on netting techniques by Diane Fitzgerald, and then when I was storing away these 3mm peridot round beads I got to thinking....oh my. A netted necklace in peridot with some drop beads, perhaps citrine, would be lovely, wouldn't it?

Oh, and I want to get more listings up on Etsy. Right Now. Not going to happen until the camera comes home.

Inspiration comes to us as we do other things. Particularly when that other thing is handling beads. 

Back to work, so when the camera arrives I can spring into action.  Happy Sunday, all. Get beading!

The Bead Booty From the North

This is part of what I brought home from our trip. The rest is small, and in separate bags, and I don't want to remove it or mix it up until I'm cataloging it in the BeadEnCounter software, and I'm ready to label it with its inventory number and put in it storage containers (as described in the post following the link).

As you can see, many of the strands are coral, turquoise, African trade beads or other semiprecious items. I've got some cherry amber (less expensive African amber) and not pictured, some strands of irregular amber pieces that I'm looking forward to using in pieces similar to my two previous amber fringed necklaces, one of which is picture here.  Only better.

Stocking up at Rubyiat, in Ft Bragg & Mendocino, is of great benefit to my budget, as Darwa and Ruby, the owners of these two shops, give a steep 50% discount when you purchase over a certain amount, or do wholesale.  I also stopped at the Rock Stop in Philo again. Except for the Rubyiat stops, though, I was extremely circumspect this year.

I did get some unique pieces this year at a busted-down, old-fashioned rock shop just north of Cloverdale on Rt 101. We stopped by after a drive to Ukiah, where bead stores were, well, a trifle disappointing.   There is allegedly a store called Beads N Stuff there on State St, but I'll be darned if we could find it, google maps or not. It just wasn't there, unless you were supposed to get in through the roof.

Bead Fever is a nice small shop with a Native American focus. I did find a wide selection of different lengths and colors of bugle beads there, which makes sense for Native-American beadwork. Otherwise, they have a small selection of just about everything. I'm guessing they're a lifeline for local beaders, who are otherwise a hundred miles from larger towns with more shops.

Anyway, back to the rock shop outside Cloverdale. Don't blink as you go around the curve on 101 or you'll miss it on the east side. The owner was outside cleaning off...rocks, when we arrived. Just hosing them down and putting them on some broken-down display tables that had seen better decades. About 4 decades ago, that is. I wondered how many more he could cram on there without the whole shebang collapsing.

Inside the shop, more of the same.  There were signs outside about a "SALE!!" but he told us he was only there a couple of days a week, and this wasn't one of them. We just happened to catch him in and since we were there....  Everything inside was dusty, crammed together with little organization, and mostly unavailable to someone in a wheelchair. Much of it was raw rock. Most rock shops have a modicum of polished pieces to tempt the buyer but this shop seems to think we all have polishing wheels and rock saws at home.  And X-ray vision to see the gems inside.

But I asked about cabochons and he pulled quite a few cases from underneath something and I did find one very nice Biggs Jasper piece. I got a few carnelian cabs and a really unique strand of malachite drops with azurite, similar to the stones shown, except for shape.  The distinction between green and blue is very sharp in these beads, I can't wait to see what I make with them!

The picture at the top of the post is the last one before I send my camera out for service. I thought it was my fault that I couldn't get consistent, good pictures. Turns out the Canon Powershot line of cameras is prone to problems with the CCD chip inside, and Canon is going to fix it for free, even though it's out of warranty. But I won't have the camera for a week or more, depending on the UPS diligence, so no new pictures for a bit.

So, let that be a lesson. When you think it's your own incompetence that is preventing success, it might be the equipment!  I'm looking forward to getting it back in working order. Who knows what might show up then!

Struggles With The Camera

It's not as easy as it seems. I need to dig up a manual, to figure out how to manage my flash. I know there's a way to turn it off.

So that's the primary problem with the pictures here. But it's my work.

1. A necklace that ended up going to my mom for Christmas. I found the main fish bead in Arizona about 8 years ago. The rest was mostly collected recently.  Don't ask my why it looks like I photographed it on a paper bag. It was handy, okay?

The large gold beads are actually gold over ceramic. They're nice and heavy, and don't look too different than gold over base metal.  I like the look of the many strands going into one, but am still working out the connecting techniques and how to string those multi-strands without getting into trouble when collecting them all together. This is the downside of learning by one-self or from books or printed online instructions.

The fish actually has a face on the other side. I can't believe I photographed the ass-end of the fish! Other beads here include peridot, citrine, malachite, amethyst, and various furnace glass.

2. This next pic is a necklace I made for my sister. A while ago, she lost the contents of her jewelry box in a home robbery. That included her precious ruby necklace and earrings. So I found some ruby beads (not first-quality, of course, but genuine ruby) and combined them with a kumihimo braid with silver seed beads and some purply seed beads, and sterling beads.

Rubies are our gemstone, since we're both born in July. I'm glad I was able to replace them.

Then she was robbed again! This time they took the earrings I had made for her to match this, but somehow missed this necklace. I have a few ruby beads left, and will replace the earrings for her. Thankfully, she now lives in a much safer neighborhood. No more robberies, please!

3. One more for today. I have to go earn some money. This one I finished last night. Not a great photo, but the colors are bright, and I had a lot of fun with the netting, which I haven't had a chance to play with much.

This has orange stone beads, some vintage purple Lucite, blue onyx (is there such a thing, really?), little coral dumb-bell shapes I  just love, and carnelian. The rest is glass. Oddly, when I quilted I collected almost all bright colors in fabrics. I found myself a bit stretched to find bright beads in my collection to build this one.

As I get better pics for pieces I still have, I'll replace these photos.

That's it. Comments are welcome.