About Beaded Cabs

One of my customers Barbara Locke, University of New Hampshire, Information Technologist COLA - Education shared some information about her beading. Barbara does fabulous work! 

 The one named Cottage1 is an example of a cab with a thick flat edge.  You need to use large beads (#6 here) for the base row to sit above the edge of the stone – so that your bezel row of smaller beads can nestle on the stone and base row, thus holding the stone.

Plume_agate2 shows a stone with a fairly high dome, but it slopes nicely down to a thin/sharp edge.  This allows you to use size 11 beads for the base row around the outer edge of the stone, and size 15 beads for the bezel row.  There are many more color choices in the smaller size 11 & 15 seed beads, so it’s much easier to match bead color and stone color.

Barbara also included a couple photos of my wire wrapping.  Do you see the stork sitting on the bank on a misty morning? 

The cottage stone was cut and polished by Barbara's late father.Barbara said "I’m not positive what type of agate it is, but I immediately saw a thatched roof ‘cottage’ reflecting into a pond, with small fires or colorful flowers on the bank.  Finding 2mm peach aventurine beads for the twisted row was a challenge, let me tell you, but I think Dad would have liked what I have done with his stone."

Thanks for sharing Barbara, and thank you for your purchases!

Being Green, REALLY?

At the cash register of the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own shopping bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The cashier responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations. You didn't have the green thing."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day. 

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soft drink bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycling. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every shop and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. 

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. 

But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used wrapped up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. 

But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank water from a tap when we were thirsty instead of demanding a plastic bottle flown in from another country. We accepted that a lot of food was seasonal and didn't expect that to be trucked in or flown thousands of air miles. We actually cooked food that didn't come out of a packet, tin or plastic wrap and we could even wash our own vegetables and chop our own salad. 

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, city people took the tram or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mothers into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a  young person.

How it all started

Somebody asked me how I got started and why my site has been successful. Well it all started with a collection of cabochons and pendant beads. Too many rocks! So I started a web site and Rena of Jewelry Business Success New mentioned the site.

This is what Rena wrote:

Neat Jewelry-Related Website

We can all relate to the need to "de-stash" our jewelry-making supplies from time to time!

This week's neat site, Millie's Got Rocks, was set up by jewelry artist Millie to unload some of her overstock of cabochons, focal components, and beads.

Be sure to follow the links at the bottom of each page of Millie's site to click to the next picture-index page.

To me this is a "neat site" for three reasons:

First, for its photography. Millie has a lot of beautiful stones that are well-photographed, and the items that are still available have huge, lovely closeup shots when you click on them - which is so important in selling jewelry and components online.

Second, the still-available items have brief but very detailed descriptions - you know exactly what they are and how big they are.

And third, her site is visually clean and uncluttered. You can focus on exactly what you came to see - Millie's overstock of rocks!

Since the site started I've been buying stones from various places, mostly from retired lapidary fold, I started making cabochons from the "rough" that I had stashed. 

I have a many repeat customers and have had a great time getting to know many of them.

Since Rena's message in her newsletter I have had to make some changes with the picture index. It just got too complicated but I show a picture of what you get, no random picks for the most part because the stones are one of a kind, and very individualized. 

Many Tutorials on my Pinterest

Use this link to get to the Tutorial Links

Extra Quality Uruguayan Amethyst Cluster Gemstone Pendants

Just Listed: Gorgeous Deep Purple Amethyst Gemstone Clusters - yummm, if you love purple these are for you!
New listing is on Gallery 3

I have a bit of a problem shipping

A storm hit at about 7 p.m. on the second, I'm having trouble getting my shipments out. I finally hooked up to a generator so I'm at least on line again. No power but the phone isn't out.

Take a look: