The Chop

Something that I've been putting off for a long time now is cleaning out my beading. I have beads everywhere and when I go looking for something I swear I know I have but can't find ... I give up and go buy more. A hardship, I know.

But enough is enough; it is time to clean. Cleaning has involved several types of activities, everything from sorting through UFOs (unfinished objects), to jewelry that has been sitting around waiting to sell for years (and I mean years) to beads I can't be bothered with because they are all mixed up. Literally they are tins of bead mixes. When I first started beading I was experimenting with color and I just kept mixing the beads to see what colors and bead sizes would go together.

I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20+ of these mixed tins, which at this point they just sit there on the shelf. And that is because when I go looking for colors to bead with I absolutely never even consider sifting through these mixes anymore. So in an effort to clean out my beads and rediscover what I actually have in the stash these mixes have hit the bead table. I have been sorting beads for weeks now, and I am only roughly half way through these tins. Each one of the tins take anywhere from 3-5 hours to sort. (sigh)  

Today I decided to take a break from bead sorting and sift through all the unsold jewelry. I was rattling around in all the cupboards going through boxes of jewelry. At one point the hubby cautiously poked his head in asking what the !#@) the noise was about. Without turning around I casually say, "its stuff heading for the chop." I didn't even have to turn around to see that confused look on his face. 

I've been trying to decide what might sell over at one of my shops, and then taking the time to either relist the item, or list it for the first time. Seriously. I have pieces that have been hanging around waiting to list for a long, long time. These are pieces I made years ago, but either just don't like them or they never sold. So there is nothing left to do but chop them up and reuse the beads. 

UFOs :: Flipping the Rorschach

Oh those UFOs, they are the bane of a beader. They taunt you from the bead table, calling to you, as they lay there unfinished. You simply stare down at it knowing you need to either change direction or rip it out. Ugh, but the amount of work that went into it, and that original image you hold in your head keeps you from ripping it apart. Sound about right? Sigh.

I have so many of these unfinished objects that I've lost count. I knew for this hop I had to pull out the mother of all UFOs ... this beaded collar. Or at least that is what it was supposed to be, and yet when I assembled the collar it hung like a large rectangle. Why? Because I had the curve of the collar at the neckline completely wrong. Or should I say that it had no curve at all, it was a straight edge. I mean come on, who has a triangular neck? Clearly I had not thought this through, and yet I'd spent all this time putting these beads in place. Yep, the moment you just want to chuck it at the wall. This is my first attempt at a collar necklace, and a mistake I won't make again. Hugh sigh. 

I could not get myself to rip this one apart. Look at this piece. I spent hours upon hours beading in vintage, irregular Turkish seed beads and then lined the edging with vintage glass pearls. Then backed the piece with suede. There was ab.so.lute.ly no way I was pulling this thing apart. And so it sat on the bead table for more than a year. When Karen announced this UFO hop I knew I was going to pull this thing out and force myself to deal with it. 

So here is what I did. I decided that the one side of the collar could actually be the focal of an asymmetrical necklace. I went back to my stash to pull out more vintage pearls to balance the other side. My mother had given me a pile of old pearl necklaces that matched the small Turkish pearls from a friend. I also needed to pull out the backing and get rid of one of the connector jump rings I'd embedded on the left side. I left the other connector on the right to use as part of a toggle. I wanted to balance the width of the pearls to the collar so I added a square plate that I could anchor the pearls. Then it was just a matter of adding a backstrap.

What took so long to come to this solution? A solution that took me roughly 2 hours to complete? I think it is the same angst for all UFOs. You start a piece with a vision in mind, and it is hard to re-set that lens. But once you let go and flip the Rorschach you can finally re-imagine your piece. 

There is a crew of us working on UFOs, so check out the rest of the blog hop: Karen, Christine, Amy, Therese, Kim, Liz E, Margo, Cathi, Liz and Francie.

UFOs :: The Everyday

I showed you my first grouping of UFOs in my last post. There are more. Many, many more. But let's work on this pile first.

Next up is the dark purple glass cab to the right of the green one I just finished. This purple one almost looks black and has a faint pattern in it. It is so hard to photograph to bring out the pattern, but this picture off to the upper left was the best I could do.

I was wearing this one around the house to check how it hangs and if it needed any adjusting. My husband actually noticed saying "oh that's a pretty one." He so rarely comments on any of my pieces that it threw me. I do like the simplicity of this one, and that it would be good to wear for everyday. I wear a lot of black and this one might just be ok to wear to the office. I might need to take it out for a test drive for a meeting I have tomorrow.

UFOs :: Completing Unfinished Objects

Hello, my name is Cynthia, and I am a bead-aholic. I get distracted like a child in a candy store when I'm standing in front of a table of beads. My mind races with possibilities, but many times fails to complete the thought.

We all like to joke about UFOs (UnFinished Objects) lying around our bead tables. I have a hopeless, and chronic issue with them. I start many projects, but get distracted somewhere along the way.

I'm not sure what causes it. Perhaps it comes from the rush I get when a pattern appears in my head and I hurry to get it worked out through the beads. And once I see the beads come together I get distracted by yet another shinny objects on the bead table.

Sometimes it is a technique I'm practicing and I work it over and over in my hands. It is like when I was a child and was learning the piano. I would work the same couple of bars in the music over and over again until my family would beg me to move on because they just couldn't listen to it any more. It could also be because the piano sat in the middle of the living room not far from the television. Yea, on second thought it could have been that. 

Lately I've been obsessed with cabochons. Tiny ones, misshaped ones, shields .... anything that can be glued and beaded around seems to be in progress and lying on my bead table. My kids like to joke with me that I think almost anything can be beaded. Perhaps. I do love a challenge. So when Karen put out a call to start a support group for UFOs, my beady friends assembled like moths to a flame. First up for me is this green glass cab that I have had sitting around for roughly 3 years. Not as old as some UFOs, but certainly time to finish. Part of my mission with completing these UFOs is to also try to use beads within my existing stash (aka no buying of new beads .... OMG did I just say that?). This necklace uses green aventurine that I've had much, much longer than 3 years.