Today I added two new ‘nevers’ to my beadweaver’s ‘top tips’:
- Never reuse transparent beads if you have previously woven them on black thread.
- Never combine new and reused beads in a project when you are beading at night.
These two ‘don’ts’ emerged from my beading my latest cuff design - ‘Giraffes at Sunset’. I love the design but I am just about to unpick about 5 cms of it because there is a noticeable colour difference between the new and ‘recycled’ transparent bright orange Delica beads (DB 744) I’m using in it. The recycled DB744s are much darker than the new DB 744s. I didn’t notice the difference when I was using them on Saturday night but in Sunday’s bright daylight it shouted at me. I can’t be certain what caused the older beads to darken but I have my suspicions. I had originally woven the recycled DB744s on black Silamide thread and I suspect that a deposit from the black thread left inside the beads has darkened them. Washing the beads may remove it but I’ll need to undo Saturday night’s weaving to test that out. Has anyone else had this experience?
I have been gathering my ‘what not to do’ beading lessons into a booklet of tips for successful beadweaving. In honor of my latest ‘what not to do’ lesson I’ve put my booklet in my Etsy Destash shop so others can learn from my mistakes. It contains 45 tips grown from my own experiences of what not to do. I hope they’ll make for happier and easy beading for all.
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3 comments:
Thanks, Glenda - just bought it! As a newish beadweaver, I need all the tips I can get ;-)
Actually, I had related thoughts this weekend. I was clearing out a cupboard looking for a tool part (not there or in the 17 other cupboards I turned inside out, but found this morning in a totally logical shoebox!) when I came upon another shoebox tucked away at the back labelled 'sequins and beads'. (You can see there's a bit of a theme with shoeboxes.)
Well, inside were some lovely bits and pieces that I'd used to make Christmas balls many years ago. One of the collections was some bugles that are at least 30 years old and had been used before - they may even have come from something my mother had. They join a few other handfulls of preloved vintage seed beads.
Anyway, the point of this convoluted story is that I'm really unsure about how to clean any of these older beads. At the moment I just enjoy running my fingers through them, but don't feel I can use any in their current condition.
cheers - Janet
That sounds like a great resource - too bad I'm out of money right now! Good luck with selling it :)
I suspect you have two different batches of orange beads. Silamide doesn't leave a color residue behind. I've never had that experience.
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