Today I got more faux barrettes made. I did a paua shell one that turned out wonderfully. All I have left to do with the last two days creations is finish them and attach them to the barrette backs. So I now have dichroic glass, abalone, Mother of Pearl and Paua. They are all very easy and beautiful to look at. Tomorrow, I will be applying Varathane to them all.
My second set of beads is in the tumbler getting buffed. They should be completely done this evening. I may play with applying varathane to some of them as well. I haven’t decided yet. I also got more bead made out of my faux Paua shell and some other cane ends that I had lying around.
The best thing about today is that I finally found the Flecto Varathane that I had been looking for. (Actually it is know Varathane Polyurethane and is made by Rustoleum but I found some of the Flecto still on a shelf). It is a water based polyurethane and has been tested on polymer clay by many and works very well. The best thing about it, that it does not wash off with alcohol. Alcohol that is one of the ingredients in many hair products.
Well, I am going to get the pictures that I took on sunday ready to put on the website.
I just took my bead out of the buffing tumbler. They are really nice. I love how they came out. I am now going to work on getting them finished. Some of them I have plans for already and I know that the rest will “speak” to me when they are ready, (or when I get inspired to work with them!) I can’t wait to get the rest of my beads to that stage. It’s hard to wait but I would much rather have the tumbler do this work then myself. If I did it all by hand, I would never get it done! Latter this morning I will change the grit on the other beads and get them to the level of smoothness that I want and then hopefully get them buffing tomorrow afternoon/evening. I can’t wait to show them off at the guild meeting this month. I am very pleased with my first beads ever. They are fun to make and actually easy to do. I am surprised at who even the ugliest scrape of clay can turn into a beautiful bead.