Do You Torture Your Beads?

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

azhoms@cox.net — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:26:50 GMT

I thought my recent experience would give everyone a chuckle. While visiting my son and d-i-l, I had left my beading tray with some Swarovski bead project I was working on. I left it for a minute and when I came back I found the bracelet and wire on the floor, but no needle. It appeared that their cat had been chewing on the wire as it was all chewed up. But, I couldn't locate the needle anywhere. The next morning, my d-i-l woke me and said the cat was acting weird and she was running to the vet. Can you imagine my horror when she called me to tell me that x-rays showed the needle in the cat's chest?! Thank God, the vet was able to withdraw the needle through the throat, no surgery! The office even sent home the needle in a test tube... I learned that cat's are curious and love sparkly stuff and I will just have keep my beading projects at home. Don't think anyone can top this one.

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

azhoms@cox.net — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:22:06 GMT

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

KarenL@77 — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:16:55 GMT

Burnt Offerings~ I had accidently moved the dial on my convection oven and burned a batch of polymer petroglyph beads I was working on, thankfully they ween't completely burnt and it actually matched some jasper I had so I made them into a necklace.... The beads seemed pretty happy~:>)

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

KarenL@77 — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:11:52 GMT

Well, I debated about this one. I hope it will help some polyholics from making this same mistake. I began experimenting with using a tumbler to sand my beads to try to minimise the wear on my elbow; during the process I tried using woodworking supplies like parifin oil in the tumbler with a fine powder. Let me just say right now-DONT EVER TRY THIS!- It worked okay but my beads smelled like wax and it was pretty bad. That was not the end of it however....Are you sitting down? I decided to put my beads in a pot of water on the stove, thinking the wax would somehow come out of the polymer.... I can't believe to this day that I put all 30 beads in the pot at once.... For those of you who are not familuar with the way caned beads are made, they are layers upon layers of complex canework overlaid onto a plain ball of clay and there is alot of work in each bead; well I only had them in the hot bath for a few minutes before I realized my mistake and it was too late! All the canework cracked and curled like the Sahara Desert! That's right all of them! It broke my heart -and to this day it makes me sick that I did that. I learned that whenever I test a new method to only do ONE bead at a time! So to those of you who are newbies- know that even after 20 years of working with a medium it doesn't mean we don't make mistakes, they are just more expensive ones! ....They did look cool when I rescued a few with Copper plating though but most of them were not even candites for that process either. Peace~Klew

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

ndgirl — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:58:40 GMT

I dunno. This is a great topic, as all the detailed and entertaining responses indicate. But, given the current national conversation, I was very put off when I opened your email and saw the word "torture". This might have been more fun if the news weren't pushing us to think about what torture really is and to recognize that our government has done it.

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

AndreaM226 — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:28:44 GMT

I'm the Spanish Inquisition when it comes to bead torture. I've broken the tops off briolettes trying to make a wire wrapped loop - I've had beads shatter in my grip as I tried to enlarge the hole - I've broken more charlottes, seed beads and delicas than I can count, I often use them on the ends of wire wrapped segments and using my teeny tiny pliers to tuck in the end of the wire I have managed to break oh so many - I've broken so many stones trying to drill holes in them that you'd think I'd just give up trying, but no the torture continues. I had one of my puppies over for a playdate and as I was beading on the bed she jumped up, caught the corner of the tray and sent ALL the beads flying all over the room, before I could gasp and take it all in she had started eating them, like little very expensive puppy treats - My husband tripped over some wires, my fault, had no business leaving so many exposed wires on the floor - but as he started to fall forward his hand shot out and grabbed the top of a stack of trays with four different projects laid out and flipped all of them on to the floor - he's a big guy and his very sweet attempt to try and pick up the beads resulted in many of them falling victim to his big feet, knees and hands - that was definately the worst. I could go on and on about my ruthless treatment of my poor bead stash but it starts to get repetative - Oh and to those ladies who have a problem with the use of the word "torture" LIGHTEN UP!

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

Harper@3 — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:08:54 GMT

Of course I torture beads and have learned a lot. But Please be ever so careful about the animals getting the beads. Our vet had us change the feed for our ferrets. They are the most stubborn animal when it comes to change of feed. Our Miss Hannah was not going to eat the new food, she not only nearly starved to death but then she became criically ill. $1500 dollars later she was alive but still on the critical list, she had to have a ferret to ferret transfusion for blood that took 8 hours to do and then she had to follow a certain diet at first called Carnivore Care made by Oxbow and she still would not eat anything else, then she finally did go to eating ferret food. What caused her to get so sick was simple she was so hungry because she refused to eat the new food that we thought she was and she ate some dyed seed beads that I had spilled on the floor and didn't get all of them up. Eating the seed beads gave her lead poisning. To this day I feel horrible any time I think of this and I am extremely careful now but I will not forgive myself for putting her in such a life threating danger.Thank you for reading this and I hope it saves some other animal and an owner from going thru what we went thru and it wasn;t about the money it was about our family member who was so sick.

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

Labeadaloca — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:02:25 GMT

Of course I torture my beads! It's only reciprocal for all the times they've flown across the room, rolled under the piano or took flying leaps when I cough! But other than that, I treat them with a fair amount of love and respect. A detent has existed for a while now, and it seems I know my place relative to my beads (I hear, and I obey). In the Aug/Sep 2003 issue of Beadwork, I wrote an article (with the help of Jean Campbell) regarding an exibit I established at the Bead Museum in Glendale, 2000. It covers the wellbeing of beadwork as it ages. Maybe someone will find some help there too. David

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

SandiR@8 — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 13:47:31 GMT

As I age I am becoming increasingly distractable. Several days ago I was working on a project and set a tablet of medication that I needed to take. I was then distracted by pretty beads for a few moments. Then I took the tablet and went back to the beads. After thirty minutes thought, "Gosh, my meds aren't working, maybe I should take more." I went back to my pretty beads. When it was time to pick up my pretty size 6 matt peach colored bead for the pattern it wasn't there. But the pretty little peach colored tablet was! I've known for a long while that beads are quite therapeutic for me, but now I've also established that when taken orally they have no placebo effect!!!!!!!!!!! Sandi R

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

LynneR@14 — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:42:58 GMT

Yes, I torture beads, but I think it hurts me more than it hurts them! I was wearing this great smokey quartz and coral bracelet I had made to the playground, in a vain attempt to be a "pretty mom" once again! I helped my eldest daughter climb a swinging rope and only noticed much later that my bracelet was missing! When I returned to the playground, I found the beautiful, smokey quartz and coral beads GROUND into the mud by active little feet... RIP

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

Batorbabe — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:07:06 GMT

I usually always mangle my crimp beads! One time I'll crimp it perfectly the next 10 times, it's a mess! For some reason, I just can't get the hang of crimping. I try to do it like the directions say, but they never look rounded after the first crimp. Most of the time now, I use the beads that have the screws in them just so I'll have a neater looking project. I could use some pointers, or maybe I need another new crimp tool. That is just the hardest trick to master! Nancy B

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

Pat Charlton — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 01:01:29 GMT

My little imp 'Cleo' is the bead abuser in our household. She inhales her cat chow with such enthusiasm that sometimes it comes right back up before being digested (fortunately). Whereever she happens to be when the urge hits, that's where the 'gift' lands. I have learned the messy way that if it's not practical to put everything up when I have to stop working on a project, it better all get covered up with big towels or plastic! (In Cleo's defense, she is a sweet companion when she sits on the table to watch me put together a new creation.) Pat C

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

LindaHenry2 — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:59:27 GMT

I recently became obsessed with making pendants and Scrabble tiles with collage materials. I had to send away for most things, so when they all arrived I was thrilled. I followed all instructions, but when they dried, all the brass pendants were blue - different colors of paper were used, but all turned blue for a reaons I cannot figure out., they were all reuined Then I spent hours cutting out oddles of little paper "tiles", some I have stamped, some scrapbook paper and spent hours gluing them on, then when I put Diamond Glaze on, now matter how careful I was it bubbled!. So I tried every glaze I could get my hands on! Some left brush marks, some are nice, but the Diamond Glaze looks so nice, until I read also that water spots it! So days and days later I have a "few" nice ones and a ton that I would be OK with but would not sell them! So, back to other beading now!!!!

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

DorothyH@10 — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:52:20 GMT

To Prescott Pearl - the worst is over....forget the history and use the Amber. ( Animals are not as diseased as humans & that is a medical fact! ) Maybe make your puppy a collar with some of the Amber in appreciation that she survived the ordeal? Hope my response helps you to reconsider.

re: Do You Torture Your Beads?

LynnUribe — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:00:23 GMT

This topic brought back one of funniest beading moments in my jewelry making history. When I started my jewelry business in 2004, I was trying out various techniques for photographing my jewelry. We wanted to take some outdoor photos and thought it would look really cool to hang some of the crystal chandelier earrings in the trees in the back yard. We had fishing line strung all over the yard from tree to tree, nails and hooks attached to branches, and about 2 dozen pairs of earrings all sparkling in the sunlight. When we were finished with the photo shoot, we were missing 2 pairs of earrings. We looked everywhere but couldn't find them. Fast forward 2 years... My roommate and her family were taking photos in the backyard. Just as the photographer was ready to snap the picture, one of the kids asked, "Mommy, why are there earrings growing on the tree?" Sure enough, both pairs of earrings had weathered two years nailed to my tree! The Swarovski pearls and crystals cleaned up beautifully :)