The Bracelet Box - Progressing

As of around 7 pm this evening:


And here's my first altered photo, using my new toy (Photoshop Essentials 7):

You just can't beat a soft focus/diffuse glow to take ten years off yer face!

Meanwhile, Back in the Comfort Zone . . .

As I'm practicing the right angle weave, which is tedious, monotonous, dull and necessary - I've got an interesting project laid out. I'm juicing up a little bracelet box I picked up at a thrift store. I wish I'd thought to photograph it before I started working on it, but this will give you sort of an idea of what it looked like when I found it:

The outside of the box was a sort of dirty yellow (you can just see it in the top of the photo), which I painted caramel brown - all of it - the flocked tin divider included.
I replaced the satin lining inside the lid with some gorgeous moire silk.
This pic should give you an idea of its size:I contemplated the embellishment. Of course it's going to be bead embroidery, but what should I use for the focal . . .

Every single element for this box was acquired at different times with absolutely nothing in mind when found. I got the paint almost a year ago at Target in the scrapbooking section. I found the silk in a remnant bin at a fabric store a few weeks ago. About two months ago we were wandering around in a Cost Plus World Market. We love to check out the sale shelves, and this time they had these big jars full of amber colored "beach glass."

I told Asa I needed this - and as usual, I didn't know why. I was horrified when I got them home, though - when I spilled them out to cull through them for size, I realized they were NOT my idea of beach glass, looking more like busted beer bottle glass:
I thought they should be frosted, with smooth edges. I pondered this for a bit. About two weeks later it came to me. On a trip to Hobby Lobby, I picked up this kids' rock tumbler:
I ran the smallest pieces through for two days using the coarsest polishing powder that came with the tumbler. When the time was up, my patience was rewarded with these:
I wanted to make something simple for myself, so I started an abstract wire-wrapped bracelet:
The light bulb came on over my noggin. They'll be PERFECT as the focal interest on the box lid. Now, how to attach them to the interfacing - since I have no way of drilling holes in the rocks and some of them are too small to bezel like I do most cabochons, this took some pondering, too. I was putting my wire-wrapping stuff away when it hit me. Last year I bought some braided copper wire at the hardware store (again, with absolutely no idea why I needed it).
I can use it like thread. After I glue the stones in place with E6000, I'll anchor them to the fabric:
The rest of the embroidery will be a total piece of cake from here.

Containment No. 9 Completed

The Desert Twins

Now I'm wrestling with the right angle weave. I don't know why this is so tricky for me - I'm having sixteen kindsa trouble with it. I've mastered bead crochet, bead embroidery and peyote stitch, and I am absolutely determined to master this.

Almost forgot - yesterday was Caturday - so

Carmen

Carmen is neither Muse nor Nemsis. Carmen simply Is. She's a calculating cat and a stone killer by nature. Luckily she likes Montag. And us.

My Bead Fu Is Strong

My PayPal account had dwindled to the point where I had to make a few deposits to fund some online purchases. I love the PayPal debit card - ever since we went through that identity theft scare we've been pretty leery of buying online, but this is about as safe as you can get for shopping via internet. Anyway, I was talking to Asa about moving more money into the PayPal account to facilitate the purchase of some cycling gear for him. I remarked that I needed an Etsy sale or two to plump up said coffer to fund a bead purchase when BAM! I get two emails - one is a purchase (thanks, Robin!) and one is a request to reserve a piece (thanks, Leah!).

My Bead Fu is strong.

The Desert Twins (work in progress 1)

I can't find my copy of that special issue of Bead & Button that was all right angle weave - arrgh. I have this picture in my head of a pendant I want to make that's a variation of one I saw in there . . . this is gonna make me nuts. EDIT: SUCCESS!! I found it!! The gremlins had cleverly hidden it between "The Art and Elegance of Beadweaving" and "Beaded Crochet Patterns" in my studio bookcase. HA!

Getting back to the twins, here's progress pic 2:

Etsyversary Come and Gone

I marked it by finishing and listing my latest treasure box:

"Stepping Into The Light."

For some weird reason, I have right angle weave on the brain. I have this idea for a pendant . . .

My Etsy-versary Is Tomorrow,

But today is Caturday.

This is Montag - just possibly the greatest love/hate relationship I've ever known.

The work on Containment No. 8 continues -



And I feel like I should have finished this days ago. Here's an interesting co-inky-dink. Asa's laptop battery died last week. No big deal - he usually plugs it in anyway. Now the phones' batteries are crapping out. They normally hold a charge for 10+ hours but that's about half now so they need replacing. We climbed into our truck this morning for our usual Saturday morning errands and . . . poop. The battery was dead. I guess we were on borrowed time there anyway, as it was about 2 years past its warranty.

But it makes you think. Maybe its something cosmic, some weird force surrounding my life that's got me personally stalled out as well. If only I were as easy to fix as the laptop, the phones and the truck.

Like I said, it is my Etsy-Versary Number Three tomorrow. I couldn't think of any suitable way to celebrate, really. BUT. I have another milestone coming up.

This is Blog Post #287. I think it's about time I did a Random Drawing Giveaway - to commemorate my 300th blog post. Details as we get closer - but here's what's up for grabs:

Stay tuned!

What I Wore and a Work In Progress

I am just in love with this jumbo necklace - to shorten it a bit more and make it more of a choker, I tied two ornamental knots in it and wore it to work yesterday. I got a few compliments, too -

Eos at the Northern Steppe in Knots

So it's back to work and what's next? Another Containment!

I found an odd-shaped slice of banded agate, and I had some banded agate flat round beads. A few pearls, some dyed shell beads, several trips to the seed bead shelves and the piece began evolving.

Eos at the Northern Steppe

Very, very happy with the results. I need to take a few more pictures and then it's getting listed on Etsy.

Go Big or Stay Home.

WIP: Eos at the Northern Steppe

It's coming together beautifully. My favorite working lamp broke this morning - argh. Well, maybe this is the jolt I needed to break down and get an Ott.

Any of you guys out there have an Ott Light? Do you like it? Is there another kind of light you'd recommend?

Agate Cabochons Haunt My Dreams

I've been fiddling about with these two pieces of agate for over a week. I nearly finished the piece when I realized I hated everything about it. I should have taken photos through that whole debacle, but I was too busy being frustrated. I tore it all apart, put all the bits out of sight, but I couldn't get it out of my head. I came back at it and I'm much happier with how the oversized pendant is shaping up now.