BSBP: What I got

I was on a roll yesterday with the necklace makin'. After I put the Enamel Shadow Box necklace to bed, I had all the tools out and realized I might as well do the other. I'm done early...there must be something wrong!

Here are close-ups of the elements sent to me by lampworker Raida Disbrow (Havana Beads). You'll just have to wait for reveal day on September 17 to see the whole necklace.

The focal

Sterling silver clasp

Black silk ribbon edged in gray, blue and green Czech cut glass, and raised-dots on clear glass.

I also created a page for my Dukan diet progress if you're interested. Ten weeks, 27 lbs gone!

Lorelei's Challenge: CKoop enamel shadow boxes

I had one design completely finished last night and then decided it was too blah...too typical and my yellow box didn't tie in with the other elements. So, at about 1:30 am I made polymer beads to tie it together but then didn't get it together.

This morning as I awoke leisurely, I thought "hmm, what should I do today?" And then, "Crap! I still need to restring my necklace, photograph it, and post it!" I jumped out of bed, put it together, and I must say I really like it now. So, a little late, but here it is.

First, a close up of the elements: I used the box as a frame for a polymer clay tile. Sometimes the leaf design side shows, or the box flips around and the solid yellow side shows -- either way, it's good.

Then, back away for the big picture:
(before you think me some sort of chain maille wizard, let me tell you that I bought the whole chain as is at Michael's. The white and turquoise are from Michael's as well, and the small coral stones were from a bead show.)

 
And here it is on! I will definitely wear this.

Thanks to Lorelei and CKoop for the challenge!

Click around to see what the other participants in the challenge made:

1.Lucid Moon Studio

2. Ann Rishell

3. Malin de Koning
4. Gray Girl Studios

5. Maria Grimes

6. Beads of Busy Gals- Elizabeth

7. The Silly Pearl

8. Shay Stone- Shays creative journey

9. LissC

10. the Beading Yogini

11. Grubbi

12. Jenny Davies- Reazor
13. Beth of Elizabeth Williams

14. Artybecca

15. Stefanies Sammelsurium

16. KreativeKsapylet

17. Shirley- Beads & Bread

18. Hilary Frye- Frye Style

19. Heather Wynn Millican

20. Staci Louise

21. Suzette- Ellie's Bijoux

22. Marina - Fanciful Devices

23. Andrew Thornton

Beads and info that could save your life some day

Two sets of new circus beads in an unusual color scheme.

TRAGIC FLOOD
You may have heard of the terrible flash flood last Friday on a main road in Pittsburgh that resulted in the deaths of a 72-year-old woman who was swept away after she got out of her car, and a mother and her 8- and 12-year old daughters who were trapped in their vehicle that was completely submerged in 9 ft of water. So sad.
There had been very heavy rains several hours before and then another torrential downpour that overloaded the drainage system with almost 3 inches of water in a few hours. The manhole covers blew off and the water from pipes under the road filled the streets, adding to all the rainwater pouring down from the surrounding hills.
It wasn't all bad news ... Here's a nice story about someone who probably saved a life that day.
I drive Washington Blvd frequently...I won't be on it anymore if we've had any heavy rains. A similar, but not deadly, flood happened in the same spot last month and on other occasions through the years. There was another death back in 1951.

STAY SAFE!
Below are two links to information that describes what happens as a car takes on water and provides step-by-step instructions that could save your life should you ever find yourself in that dangerous situation. You don't have to drive into a lake or fall off a bridge to end up in a sinking car.
Read this info and memorize it:
http://www.wikihow.com/Escape-from-a-Sinking-Car
http://saveyourlife.us/


And if you don’t have one of these window-breaker tools, it would be good to have (and hope you never need to use it.) I ordered 6 from Amazon for myself and family members. I plan to get some wire and make the useless handle above my driver's side window into a "home" for my new Lifehammer.
Lifehammer two pack
Lifehammer Keychain size

Bead Soup Blog Party: And my partner is...

...Raida Disbrow, lampworker and jewelry maker from Florida! The kit I packed up for her is going to the Post Office tomorrow. I included two styles/sizes of coordinating beads, one toggle that could also be the focal, one big bold clasp, and two other items -- one fixed and one customizable -- that could be used for a focal. Options are always good!

Experiment: Avery Marks A Lot on Polymer

I had some multi-colored beads and spied an Avery Marks A Lot permanent marker on my computer desk so I wondered what might happen if I put them together. I did my usual doodles that I typically scratch into the bead surface. Not half bad.

To make sure the ink doesn't rub off, I sprayed the beads with PYM II (Preserve Your Memories II) that I read about online a year or so ago. It was advertised as safe for polymer and I did a test. Nearly a year later the beads are still perfectly good. My only concern now is if any reaction might happen between the marker and the spray so I'll let these sit for a few months to see what happens.

The only problem I had was in one spot on the coral blue beads where I may have gotten the surface too wet with spray...the marker blurred a bit. You can't see it in the photo below, and it doesn't look terrible, but it's something to watch out for next time.

Purple Pod Linework

Linework Colors

Khaki Olive Linework

Coral Blue Linework

Sketchbook 2012: Lame so far

My new sketchbook progress is not going so well. I will definitely have to do new pictures and paste them over some of the pages. I only have three decent pages out of 10 or so. Here are the three that aren't ashamed to show their faces in public...

Photography: Boring photos? Crop and Filter to the rescue!

If you're not a natural-born photographer, use Photoshop filters and selective cropping to add some pizzazz to your travel photos. Photoshop's Poster Edges is my favorite filter, and Paint Daubs and Palette Knife are fun too.
I'm in NYC for the next two days on a business trip. After a tasty Thai dinner tonight, we grabbed a Starbucks and went for a walk around our block here on W56th Street. I took a few shots with the nighttime setting turned on and the flash turned off. You can snap away and people don't know you're taking photos.

Each pair of photos below first shows the photo as it came out of the camera, followed by the cropped and doctored-up version. (click on each photo to see it larger.)

I found a great little scene in the tiny center section on the right-hand side of the photo above.

This picture is a completely blurry mess but after lightening it up I cropped it and used the poster edges filter to get...