Heather Powers at Humblebeads has started a project called Bead Table Wednesday, where people post photos of their jewelry-making table or materials. It's fun to see how other designers work and many of the photos are breathtakingly beautiful, luscious piles of beads and glimpses of dazzling in-progress projects.
My workspace is nothing like that. I thought it would be fun to share the "dark side" of a beading table, proof that you can create something beautiful even if your surroundings are less than ideal. Here's a glimpse of what my beading table(s) looked like this week:
Main Table
I've been cleaning up my beading table. This photo, taken on one of those soft beading mats, shows my progress. Yes, it's messy, but you can see that I've started making piles of like beads: all the felt beads together, all the crystals, all the Chinese turquoise rounds. I no longer sort leftover seed beads by color unless I have a huge quantity. Instead, I store them in a little tin and use them for projects where I just need a few seed beads or where a mix of colors is needed (like bead embroidery). |
Sofa I sometimes like to work sitting on the sofa, which invariably means piles of beads and findings end up on the sofa arm like these jump rings: |
Finished Projects Sometimes I have "finished" projects on my beading table like this chain bracelet with dangles. There's something off about it, but I can't quite figure out what it needs. More dangles? A contrasting color or two? More texture? I'll leave it there until I figure it out or until I decide to dismantle it. |
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Kitchen Table I also did some resin work this week. Here's a pendant that's drying on the kitchen table. I've been good about not using the kitchen table for beading, but it's significantly warmer in the kitchen and I was worried that it'd be too cold downstairs for the resin to set. The pendant's on a white trash bag, which is a great surface for resin, since you can peel off your work if you spill any resin or have pendants that overflow. |
New Beads Here's a strand of garnets I bought recently. I often keep new beads out for a little while on my table so I can think about how I might use them. They'll be put away soon if I don't have a great idea strike me. So that's what I'm working on this week. How about you? |