The pieces on the right and bottom were not meant to be as they are now. Here's why. You probably have heard the old adage, measure twice and cut once? In this case it was: Check your drill bit size twice before you drill. I have some half-drilled Swarovski pearls. These accept 20 gauge wire. So what do I do? Read this nice chart of drill to wire sizes from Nancy L T Hamilton I have taped to a shelf over the bench, wrong. So, instead of putting a No. 67 drill bit in the chuck, put a No. 60! Really bad move. No. 60 is for 18 gauge wire and the pearls, they aren't going fit. So I have to start over and ball the ends of 18 gauge and then with the aid of good old Zap - a - Gap glue, glue on some seed beads in place of the pearls. As a rule, though, you do need to use some kind of glue with half-drilled pearls, real or artificial.
Learn from my mistakes, folks. It's all part of what my blog is about.
One little thing I've found out, which may or may not be of help to anyone working with faux bone, is pre-sanding. There are few hard and fast rules about working with faux bone. In general, you draw out the design, saw, shape and then sand. In some cases, when working with a small piece, if I sand off the slick surface of the material, it is much easier for me to hang on to it. As I have mentioned before, I sometimes have to rely on a ring clamp or a vise to hold small pieces. My fingers just aren't strong enough anymore. You have to do what you have to do.
Speaking of sanding. There is a most informative nice little video on Ganoskin about an easy way to sand interior spaces that are hard to reach. A very neat solution to what is sometimes a vexing problem.
Found a nice little crooked stick when out on a walk today. A piece of that might just work in the Beachcombing piece. We shall see.
Next post in 2 - 3 days. Thanks for stopping by to see what's up with the journey.
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