I'm able to report a semi finished project today ! - I've finished and actually worn a pair of silver hoops with my Faux Turquoise beads. The beads are generally a success, in as much as they do resemble Turquoise I've the semi precious stone and have polished up reasonably well. I'm sure I can improve the lines in the stones. I feel they would be more realistic if the were a very dark brown rather than black, the contrast with the turquoise colour is too stark, for me. I'm going to try a very dark brown, almost black clay and compare the finished beads.
The photo shows a couple of Doghnut Nuggets (bottom left) as I'm calling them. I've tried to make the beads less round and have tumbled them for about an hour in a simple sandpaper lined tumbler. The tumbled beads have an initial dulled apprearance post tumble but when polished up with Renaissance wax and a felt wheel they do shine nicely. I'm not sure about the darker almost green colour mix ? I'm hoping they will look better when threaded. I feel the colour needs to be more turquoise in shade.
I'm planning to make some new hoops, with a hammered finish today and use the darker beads. I'm also going to thread the remaining beads (I have about 30 beads) as well as develop a new batch with a slightly different colour mix. I also think I can improve on the technique for making the veins in the clay - will share my experimental technique and results next time.
Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment