Catching up with the new year

Where did all the time go? 

I finished exams and classes and had a really nice long break with my hubby. With the inspiration to teach one of my labmate, Jinny, to crochet, I got hooked on needlework all over again. From then till now, I have finished a knitted scarf for my hubby, a crochet baby blanket for Missy's baby (born yesterday!), a bunch of crochet Christmas ornaments, doilies & coasters, a crochet baby bib for another baby shower, a knitted beret for whom I have found a deserving recipient after realizing my head is too big for it and a knitted pig in need of stuffing. I have also taught Janhavi how to knit. I have to say it has been a fruitful 3 months.

Anyway, I actually forgot all about repairing Richa's necklace?! So here I am, unpacking all my barang-barang (stuff) again. Here's a quick blog for the repair that I did. The sterling silver necklace had a soldered jump ring and for whatever reason, it has disappeared. So, I added a 2mm crimp bead to the free end of the necklace using the standard crimper tool to create an artificial protrusion. Next, I used a side open crimp (like Charlotte but opens on the side) to cover it. Before closing it, I added enough hypocement to cover the excess volume. Finally, I added a jump ring and the necklace should be good to be worn again. Here the final product.

Since I have unpacked my stuff, I wanted to make something for Valentine's. Not much inspiration running through unfortunately. I came upon my beautiful 3mm Swarovski Light Siam bicone and decided to make a puffy heart. Well, as all wise crafter would do, google "puffy heart beading instruction". I came upon forum after forum, mainly promoting their own pattern for sale or a bunch of dead links. May I point you to this instructional video, which I could basically follow through alongside and made a puffy heart I am proud of. I used Japanese 15/0 white seed beads for the bail instead. I have not decided what to do with yet though : )

Thanks for reading and I hope you have had a good start to the year too!

Following up on my silliness

Finally, the crazy exams are over. 3 weeks before I dive into trying to do 4 exams in 2 weeks. Pray for me please! I spent 6 hours catching on orders last night and I shall continue tonight. I am really enjoying this short break and look forward to the end of the semester!

Well, I tried to remedy my rough treatment to the bracelet the past two days. I believe this is working. However, I would like a baby tester to test it out. So, I will be putting together a giveaway for this bracelet, to find out how durable it really is. Keep a lookout for it if you are interested.

Back to how to make the memory wire end beads do its job work: Before putting in the hypocement, roughen about 2mm of the end of the memory wire by marring with the cutter or serrated plier. This gives surface for the hypocement to hold on to. I tried the same method with E6000 and it did not work. So I am sticking with G-S hypocement as my most excellent adhesive and reinforcement glue. The rest of the method is the same as previously described. Give it a try : )

I also want to give thanks for 3 pairs of earrings sold in The Front Room last week during their anniversary sale. Congratulations to The Front Room for their 3rd anniversary and thank you Linda for making sales a breeze for me. The ArtFire studio is not updated with which are the sold pairs though, since I have not have time to visit The Front Room for a while now. So do make an enquiry before making a purchase to avoid having to do refund. I do not remake any pieces of jewelry unless specifically request by customers. Thank you everybody for your support!!! 

Alright, getting back to work!

New Website Launched!

Yeah! It's finally ready! My new website has been revamped and launched!

Why did I choose to move to webs.com? Let me tell you why and see if you are tempted too.

1. Free and short URL and free webhosting. I am not making huge sales here, so not having to pay for website is great!

2. Easy to use site builder with exactly the function I need. Eg. Navigate to another site directly, and posting of links to other webstore

3. Built-in shopping cart and easy to manage items. Only disadvantage is that free members get to post only one picture.

4. Beautiful and simple template

Hmm... these were reasons enough for me to move out of google sites. Now I have to crawl the website and make sure I change my URL. 

Tell me what you think!

Silly me...

Now, this is what it looks like after chewing away the crimp bead. I love it!

Well, this was the final bracelet... Unfortunately... I wanted to make sure the bracelet could withstand the rough handling if a child were to wear it, so I pulled at the end bead real hard.

Hehe... Of course it came out! Silly me.... Trying the process again and will look into whether hypo-cement is sufficient for the connection. May need two part epoxy instead.... Need some advice on this...

Tips on using Memory Wire End Beads

Have you ever had the experience of buying a product because the description makes it sound like it will make life easier for you? After getting it though, you feel stupid for not knowing how exactly to use it to your advantage?

That was me tonight... I bought some memory wire end beads a while ago but had not had the time to try it. Or rather, I kinda forgot I had them while I was putting together a pearl bracelet, suitable for babies or toddler as baptism gift. I had made loops to hide the ends of the wire from the wearer before I remembered about my packet of end beads. These end beads have half drilled holes, so can act as a end stopper. This was what I had before using the end beads.

For those who are lost already, memory wire is a very hard coil of metal wire on which you can string pretty stuff on. They have standard size for necklaces, bracelets and rings. It is the kind of jewelry that goes round and round and doesn't need a clasp to put on because you can just uncoil it and it will coil back like a spring. They are called memory wire because they retain their original shape so well. They are so hard a need a pair of specialized memory wire shears.

Here comes the problem. I had put on one end of the end bead and allowed the hypo-cement to cure overnight, and I tested to make sure it was secured enough to string on now. At the end of the stringing though, I thought long and hard about how to put on the other end of the cap. Well, the glue will be too wet to let the rest of the beads go back on the wire. It will definitely be pushed out. I could hold the pearls further down with pliers when applying the cap, but does that mean I have to hold on to it the whole night?!

Haha! I think I can share this tip with fellow crafters out there feeling frustrated with this little thingy. What I did was to put on a 3mm crimp bead as far down as possible to hold the string back! Note that I can comfortably push the rest of the pearls back because the other end was allowed to cure overnight. So no shortcuts!

Now you can apply the end cap and sit back, relax and allow the hypo-cement to do its job. Once it is secured, the crimp bead can be easily chewed off! 

And tada! The bracelet is now securely sealed on both end with no sharp wire poking out! (I will add the picture tomorrow after I remove the crimp bead) No marks, no trace that a crimp bead was ever there.

Enjoy the new technique!