Definitely Needs Work!

Oh what a mess!  Not a great way to start out the week, but I bet you can imagine that will be remedied before I start torching today.  I was in a hurry last weekend to finish up a big project, and it just got away from me.

In order to get going, it needs to be at least tidied, for me to feel ready to torch.  How about you?  Do you need 100% clean, 75% or does your station look like this all the time.  This is way too much for me and although it's seldom super clean, I like some order and a semi-tidy table top.   How would you describe your style?

It's All In The Snip- Easy Mandrel Cutters

I was recently asked about what tool did I use to cut my mandrels for the bead stands that I make..

Using 1/16th mandrels, I do my share of cutting them. I'm always bending them when taking off my beads, because I use a really strong bead release.

So this particular cable cutting pair of snips works really easily for my 1/16ths as well as my 3/32's. I haven't tried them on anything larger. My husband found this pair at Home Depot, but here is an online source that I found that also describes and sells them. I like these, because the ends cut crisply, so you don't need to take off any rough edges afterward. They also have "hot drop-forged of molybdenum alloy steel unbreakable blades", ergonomic handles that aren't too big for my hands and thick soft grips that are easy on them. Wow, I've always wanted something out of hot drop forged molybdenum. ( I even know how to pronounce it! woohoo.)

Anyhow, just wanted to show you what I use. If you have a great pair of cutters, please feel free to share with us what you use. And how large of a mandrel it cuts. Even a website would be cool.

Glass Sculptural Interpretation of Magritte's Work and Combining Two Mandrels To Use As One

In an earlier blog, I showed you a chair that was influenced by artist Rene Magritte's "Son of Man" 1964 painting, pictured below.

Paul McCartney apparently is a big fan and a collector. I read that he named the record company "Apple" because of this painting. I do not know if that is true.

I love this painting also. It's a self portrait of Magritte. He wrote about it, and he speaks about what we see is really obscured by what we really are striving to see.

Something to think about.

This is a two piece sculptural soft glass bead. I wear it on a simple interchangeable pendant. Sometimes it's a pendant, but often it is worn as a stick pin instead. When it's a pin, then it can be worn firmly in place and anywhere I want.

The clothing bead was made on a 1/16th mandrel. You can't see his neck, but it's quite tiny and under the face bead. I have it so that if there is some vertical wiggle in the two beads, it still looks connected because the neck will show instead of a blank space.

The head was made off the end of a hollow mandrel. So it is wide at the bottom and then I put a dipped 1/16th mandrel through the hole of the mandrel. It sticks out a bit, so that the hole through his head is small and his head won't move around.

Actually I'm using two mandrels put together to get a wide bottom and and small hole at the top. I use other mandrels that are premade to do the same thing, but I needed a bottom hole a certain size and this fits the need.

Hope this gives you a little something to think about and puts you into the mad scientist frame of mind. There's nothing like finding ways to solve your design dilemmas and have them actually succeed. Have you done something a little bit differently that solved a problem for you?