Something that helps me to relax is sorting out the various bits and bobs in my jewellery making stash. The neat and tidy end result – seeing all the findings, wires and beads in their little stacking pots – is about as satisfying as putting all the jumbled bits into little groups.
It also gives me the chance to think of new design ideas. One of the few times I’m not doing something else completely unrelated when inspiration strikes, and can actually get started on it right then and there.
The last lot of beads I added to my ever-growing stash were some lovely strands of heishi beads, made from polymer clay. I bought them rather than making them myself, as polymer clay is something I’m yet to work with. Maybe I’ll get round to that one day; it looks quite versatile, and it would be a great excuse to buy new tools!
I was surprised at how light and bendy the beads are. Well, I say ‘bendy’; you couldn’t exactly roll or scrunch them up and expect them to return to normal, but being clay I assumed they would be quite delicate and brittle, especially in these thin disc shapes. But there’s definitely a bit of give in them. That explains the ‘polymer’ in ‘polymer clay’, I suppose.
Anyway, some of the bead strands were solid colours, but my favourites had a whole mix. However, an idea I’d had in the back of my mind only needed a few of the colours, so I had to take those beads out to get working on it.
So, I removed the beads from the strand, and sifted through the pile to find the colours I wanted. And then I realise I wanted them all. They all looked so great together that I’m saving my original idea for later (and it’ll have to be much later, unfortunately; as I write up this blog post, I realise I’ve forgotten what the original idea even was! Whoops!), and this will now be a colour block necklace. So I carried on until all the colours were separated, and threaded them back onto a length of beading thread, securing the ends ready for a clasp to finish it all off.
Now I have brand new, colourful necklace to wear! And all it took was a willingness to sit patiently for a few hours, hunched over a pile of literally hundreds of tiny discs, making sure I’d not confused about 4 different shades of off-white for any other. I had. And I was almost halfway through re-stranding when I noticed. But it’s not weird that I’d happily do it all again though, right? Right?
That’s all for now. Thanks so much for popping in and having a read. Have a lovely rest of your day!
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