Making Jewelry, Bead Centering Trick, Fair-Going Firemen

So the boys and I spent the last weekend with my sister out at the beach on Whidbey Island. I even managed to make some jewelry out there. The internet connection was a bit spotty, so I didn't bother with the blog. I need to get myself down to the studio soon and get some photos done of some of my new work. I'll just keep making it and photograph it as soon as I can. The boys have started swim lessons this week and it is every day, so I'm a bit thrown from my schedule. The photo below shows some of my take-over of the picnic table.

I wanted to share this tip as I find it an important step in paying attention to detail with your work. Scott makes his beads mostly on 1/16" mandrels. The sterling silver wire that I use most is 20 gauge. I find if I don't nestle round beads up against his beads to keep them in place, they can stick out to either side and look off-center. So, for those times I don't want to use a round ball bead up close, I instead fill the hole with small seed beads that are the right size to slip in and fill the void. I don't know what ones to get, I just tried some from my stash and got lucky. At least when you fine a kind that works, you likely have a lot of them. This makes a huge difference for me. Blurry picture, oops, but you can get my point. I made this necklace tonight. I'll show you the results in my next photo shoot.

While on Whidbey Island we checked out an art festival we used to do, Choochokam (Langley Art Festival). I think we'll try to do that next year if we can. A bag of kettle korn, two firemen hats, and two happy kids. Ahhh, the balance seems to be working out.