To oil or not to oil

I've vinegar etched a few more MOP beads this weekend and today I wanted to see what would happen if I oiled one of them. Sometimes the etched matte surface looks great, other times the contrast between motif and etched background feels too harsh. Remembering that I'd read about treating seashells with mineral oil to bring out colours and add a subtle shine, I dabbed a few drops on one of the less successful beads and rubbed it into the shell.

The image is slightly less visible than it was before being oiled, but I think it turned out nicely.
This image wasn't the best to begin with, I should add. (I forgot to take a "before" picture so all you can compare with is the unoiled bead at the top of the post, sorry.) This bead is freshly oiled. I'm not sure how much it will change once the oil has really soaked in and dried. If it does change significally, I'll update this post and let you know.
 
I'll probably be a good method for some of my etchings, especially when the matte background feels too "dry" or white. But other will probably not need any oil. Not for aesthetic purposes at least. Another option I haven't tried is to lacquer the shell. Many MOP pendants and beads I've seen lately have been lacquered, which gives them more of a shine, but I'm not sure how a lacquer or sealant will affect the etched and unetched areas.

Etching mother of pearl, part 2

This is a continuation of yesterday's post about etching MOP with vinegar. This was the last pendant I put in the vinegar bath yesterday, but as I wanted a deeper etch than on the other white pieces, I left it in for almost 24 hours.

Like with my previous attempts to use bleached, white shell, I found it didn't have enough contrast. It's much better than lily-of-the-valley tile and I don't have any obscuring shimmer from the etched areas, but the stiations do make it difficult to see the motif -- unless you hold it in the right angle.

Then I happened to hold the heart up against the light and I saw that the etch was deep enough to create a shadow effect. While the banding still slightly annoying, you can see the floral pattern. Without having to tilt and turn the pendant (as long as it's backlit). So it could be used for, say, an earring. Or some sort of home décor where it'll be illuminated by sunlight in a window or a candle/tea light for example.

I'm now going to see if etching MOP any longer will give better results or not. Looking at this pendant, I'm slightly worried the etch will "eat through" any narrow parts of the motifs. See the stem and how it's just a thin line between the two leaves. (As for the third flower on the right, that's my mistake: I was checking the pendant yesterday and peeled away the sticker in that spot just to see how the ecthing was going and when I put it back, apparantly it didn't adhere as well as berfore and vinegar could seep in under it. So 24 hours be be a more ideal time. I'll know on Friday.

Etching mother-of-pearl

These last few days, summer has definitely turned into autumn. While the rain and wind makes it dark and cold outdoors, I've been so inspired by my experiments I've almost forgot the boring, chilly weather (though not fully as I have to run outdoors in the rain every now and then -- and it's given me a soar throat). This is what I'm playing around with right now.

The other day, I showed some pics of my accidental brass etching (remember it?). As I like the result so much, I had to do some research online to see if I could learn something more about etching metal with vinegar. As I did that, I stumbled over something else. Apparantly, vinegar is used as an echant when decorating eggs. Patterns are created using bee's wax, which works as a resist, and then the eggs are submerged in vinegar until the outer layer is removed by this mild acid. Particularly effectful when using brown eggs as the vinegar removes the pigmentation in areas not covered with wax.

That had me thinking. Wouldn't it be possible to etch seashells the same way? Pearls, seashells, egg shells -- they all contain some sort of calcium compound, which makes them porous and sensitive to acids. And we all know about Cleopatra dissolving a pearl (i.e. nacre, mother of pearl) in vinegar to create the most expensive drink in history. I have to try this, I thought while mentally going through my bead stash looking for something -- anything -- made from mother of pearl.

As I didn't have any info specifically on vinegar etching MOP, it was truly an experiment. I'm sure there are others that have done this and written about it online, but I didn't have any how-tos available at the time (in fact, it probably didn't occur to me to google "etching seashell with vinegar"). So I had to figure things out myself. I didn't know how long to let the shell soak in the vinegar or what other types of resists I could use, which would withstand the effects of the vinegar without damaging the MOP (either when applying or removing it). For my first piece, I simple dripped a few drops of wax onto a MOP bead and submerged it in the apple cider vinegar. Eagerly waiting for a result, I got tired as it took much longer than the recommended times for etching eggshell -- and forgot about it for a couple of hours. When I finally got it out, the vinegar had created a nice, deep etch (se photo above, bead on left side).

I went on to try another resist: white glue, which works with etching liquid for glass (I've used it here). Unfortunatly, the vinegar dissolved the glue -- not sure if I should've let it cure longer or if it'd still be as unsuccessful -- before I could get a good etch. All I got was a nice matte surface (photo above, pendant in middle).

Next experiment was a flop. I don't even have a photo of it. My plan was to do something similar to what you can do when etching on metal: cover the surface with resist and scratch a pattern in it. That would leave a shiny background and an etch-out (matte) pattern. Sounded fab, but maybe I applied the wax too thickly (dripping onto the bead rather than being brushed on) or maybe the wax was too hard: scratching a pattern with my needle, I maybe caused the wax to separate from the surface, leaving room for the vinegar to seep in. Maybe if I'm more careful, it'll work. This time it didn't.

I then when on with another method I've used for glass and stone etching: using peel-off stickers as resists/masks. This was much, much more successful (se butterfly bead above).

So far I'd used dyed shell -- mainly because that's what I had and that's what I was prepared to sacrifice. I went on to etching a few small white MOP mosaic tiles. Etching on white MOP has a big drawback, I discovered: it's really hard to see the motifs. There's not much contrast between the etched and the protected areas. The latter is more shiny, but there's still a pearlescent effect visible in the etched areas so that you must hold the piece at an angle to see the pattern. Just look at the pics below.

What to do? It might be a nice, subtle effect, but I want the motifs visible! On a whim, I took out the only dye I have: alcohol inks. What would happen if I wiped the surface with the ink? Surely the etched areas are more porous than the polished areas protected by the resist, meaning the ink would soak into those areas faster -- thus leaving the pattern in a different colour/hue?

It worked! Not perfect -- not by a long shot -- but for a first try I'm satisfied with the result. So all I have to figure out now is the best way to dye the shell: what dyes to use (e.g. egg dyes?), how long I can soak the shell before the contrast disappears etc.

And then, of cause, I have to come up with a more exact time for how long to I should etch the shell for the perfect result. Because I don't know that yet. All these pieces have been etched a minimum of one hour, but most of them were etched a least two hours, the first piece being etched the longest.

Easter by the sea

Yesterday, my grandma invited us to lunch and in the afternoon, my sis and I took the opportunity to walk down to the beach (grandma lives in Vejbystrand by the sea -- more precisely by the shoreline surrounding the Skälderviken bay, which divides Bjäre peninsula from Kullen peninsula).


It was a wam day so it wasn't exactly desolate -- many tourists had come down to their summer cabins over the easter break and enjoyed the beautiful, warm day at the beach -- but the water is still relatively cold (we spent some time wading in it) and we didn't see anyone bathing.




The water levels were low so we found quite a bit of shells to sift through. I even found two pieces of sea glass. The bigger piece had probably not been in the water for long as it was still semi-glossy. Here's some of the bits and pieces I took with me. Don't know what to do with them, but at least a few of them will be used in my jewellery one way or another.



I should add that several of these pics are not taken by me, but by my sis (and it's her camera as well, I just borrowed it for a few shots). The shells above were found by her aswell (and photographed by her). They were stacked like that when she found them so the photo isn't arranged.

Outdoor bead photography

So... I thought I'd go outside and photograph some of my beads and things for this blog. For some reason it's always slightly windy when I decide to do this, though I don't always notice until I actually get the beads out. Then comes along a gust of wind that does this... The white paper I use as background was lifted by a gust of wind and half a strand of pretty new shell pearls was scattered across the somewhat oil and gas stained gravel outside the bead room. Luckily, this time it was rather big beads and in colours that was easy to spot against the greyish stones and decaying leaves. Plus I'd actually counted the beads so I knew exactly how many to look for. A good thing because a few beads, not just seed beads, have actually disappeared from me when falling on the ground.

Anyway, before I continued my photo session I installed a bead collecting soft "safety net". Which doubled as a soft and comfy "rug" for my bare feet. Worked very well, stray beads rolled into the depressions instead of scattering and disappering. Plus the soft material meant I didn't risk denting or scratching the beads on impact either. Just too bad I put the front side down. Now it's a bit dirty to put back in my lawn chair... Well, I saved my beads and that's what counts.

Lucky Fridays? Island Flower necklace

So, last Friday I got an e-mail saying I'd won a candy giveaway. 1 kg (6 bags) of Gott & Blandat Sötsur, which I got yesterday. Today I opened my mail in the afternoon to find an e-card fron Rings & Things saying my Island Flowers necklace above was on of Polly's Picks in their Your Designs Rock Contest. That is, not an official prize winner, but I still get a (much appreciated) $50 gift certificate.

Polly's Picks are defined as "designs our editor especially likes despite the fact that they did not win a formal prize. These designs are often simple, practical and/or whimsical examples of how to use Rings & Things components well." This is the second time one of my entries have received this honour. In 2007, the first year I made something for this contest, my Oak Island jewellery set was picked.

This is a slightly different piece of jewellery compared to what I usually make. Flowers is nothing unusual, but the size and chosen material is. Also, to work with the larger focal piece, the necklace is somewhat longer than the princess lenght I mostly seem to prefer. Instead of taking inspiration from nature in my surroundings, this was a necklace that had me thinking of tropical islands with white shells in the sand by the beaches and brown coconuts in palm trees.

I made the flowers from shiny cowrie/cowry shells with the backs cut off, which made them easy to weave together using 20 G vintage bronze wire (coloured copper). I got the inspiration partially from those shell motifs with embroidery floss and an occasional bead that you can buy for embellishing clothing and bags, but instead of gluing the shells to a backing material, I chose wirework. Three flowers are wrapped together to make a larger focal piece (approx. 13cm measured from side to side). The focal piece is suspended using dark brown cotton cord that has been folded in half and slightly twisted to hold the two cords together (held in place by 'messy-style' wire wraps). To it has been added two pairs of 'leaves,' also wrapped with the same wire.

The necklace started out consisting of just one flower, but I felt I wanted to make something larger. (Not just because it was for an American contest.) So it became three flowers. The leaves might be a bit redundant, but I wanted to make something with a bit more embellishments than the usual 'Scandinavian minimalism' I so often lean towards in my designs.

The difficult part of this necklace was finding a matching clasp. I figured it best to make my own using the 20 G wire. But why make an ordinary hook-and-eye closure?, I thought, seeing a pair of small cowrie shells with large openings. So I attached the hook to one shell and used the other shell instead of an eye loop.

Your can find my necklace here in the R&T gallery where you also find all the winners and other Polly's Picks.

What I should be doing...

As usually I spend too much time on the computer -- and I can't blame it all on my blogging. I should be working one some contest entries (due on the 28th), but I don't seem to be able too right now. I always procrastinate, but this time it's also about me not feeling very good the last weeks and -- to top it off -- the Olymics keep luring me to the telly in the evenings. The time I prefer using for beading.

Above you can see something I just want to make a necklace of, but I can't get it to work. At least not yet. I know that saying about 10 % inspiration and 90 % perspiration. Maybe ideas would come to me and problems would solve themselves if I just tried to work trough it, but right now I just don't have the energy or even a good starting point. Well, at least I have made the kauri shell pendant.... And the kauri shells and natural MOP beads seems to work with the premade bead mix (Toho Bead Cocktail: Pink Champagne).

But as I've said before: if there was a job as bead mix maker I'd love to have it. Just a pity they don't have any bead mixing contest because I'd love to participate in one!

Copper-lined light amethyst

Copper-lined (c/l) light amethyst is probably one of my favourite seed bead colours. Just look at it, combining a beautiful warm metal like copper with a lovely shade of purple. And creating a sort of rosy shade that is hard to capture on photo, reminding of sommer sunsets.

At first I only found it in czech seeds, but now I've also got some from Toho. A bit difficult to compare the two since they're not the same size, but the nuance is about the same. Perhaps the Japanese beads have a tad shinier copper lining. I love both.