She won’t brag, but I will. Don’t recall if I mentioned in an earlier post, but she did her first select camp tryouts a couple months back and was selected as the top female goalie in California born in the year 1995. Yay!
This made her eligible for round two, this month in Seattle. She just got back and got word that she was selected as the top female goalie in the Pacific District (California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska) born in the year 1995. She now advances to the National Camp to be held in New York in July, I think.
Nice to know that Monica’s hard work and dedication combined with what I have been able to provide in the way of ice time (meaning money) and proper training (meaning money) has paid off.
I would love to be able to send her to a prep school or other hockey academy type thing for her Junior and Senior year. I think if anyone deserves it, it’s Monica. She’d have to get some major sponsorship, though… like, 100% of the cost. Ha ha ha! But you know me… the eternal optimist.
Anyway, congrats, kiddo! We all knew you could do it.
My (New) Thoughts on Elastic
So… elastic.
Okay, so many months ago I was at one of Hadar’s classes and … well, you have to see the place to fully understand, but she’s got her work everywhere. You can admire rings, necklaces, beads, etc until the cows come home. Any question you have, she has got some example of the technique in already finished form and whips it out to show you.
So at one point, she hands me a bracelet to look at. I’m sure it was one she made in the very early stages of her work with metal clay, but I’m always the last one to the table when it comes to any new techniques, so it was still all very new to me.
I was mesmerized by this bracelet… it was a mix of silver, copper, and bronze beads and then I realized they were strung on elastic.
“Whoa!” I said, “Aren’t you afraid to string such awesome beads (the bracelet was priced over $100) on elastic?”
I’m afraid I can only do a poor paraphrase of Hadar’s response because… well, that’ show my memory works, but it was an epiphany moment for me.
She said something to effect of it not making a difference because nothing is permanent. Things get restrung all the time and elastic is a great medium for certain pieces.
I had to admit, just being able to slip the bracelet onto my wrist without struggling with a clasp was really nice. But more importantly, without a clasp there was nothing breaking up the design of the beads.
I’m not going to go overboard and start making all my bracelets with elastic, but the moment did give me food for thought.
I definitely feel 49-strand stainless steel wire with two crimps (properly crimped, I might add!) at each end is something that’s going to last longer than elastic. But… I do like the idea of keeping an open mind and having a variety of products to offer.
So… I made an elastic bracelet. I’m testing it on myself this week and so far so good. I am going to offer a line of similar bracelets, probably starting next week. I just want to see how much the current one “stretches out” if any. So far I don’t think it’s stretching out much at all. Granted, I’m not wearing the bracelet when I shower and I don’t stretch it to all heck when I’m slipping it on. So I think how you treat it might have a lot to do with how long the elastic lasts.
NEW LISTINGS
Got some new designs up this week (click a pic for more details).
Seed Bead Tube Netting (or something like that)
Oh, Monica and I have started a new project. Well, I did it just to see if I could do it and to figure it out so I could show Monica. But she is taking it over. It’s making tube netting… or netted tubing… well, I’m not exactly sure what it’s called…. But it looks awesome.
Our friend got us excited about this technique when she showed us a necklace she’d done using it. I would LOVE to show you the necklace she made, but it doesn’t seem to be listed. Maybe she’ll give me permission to show you anyway. It’s AWESOME.
Anyway, I decided there’s no way I could learn this without a tutorial (I mean, I don’t know ANYTHING about seed beads to begin with), so I bought the instructions from the Bead and Button website.
Monica and I tried it last night and we were amazed to discover it looks like something we can do. Yay! We made the sections last night, but I haven’t tried the “finishing” part yet (meaning I don’t yet know how to connect the tubing to… well, anything else). And I think we (Monica and I) need to work on keeping our thread tighter… my “tube” is sort of… well… hm… it seems to mash up if I try curving it. Shrug. We’ll see. I’ll show you pix when I have them.
While I was looking for my beaded bead photo (next blog post), I came across something else… my daughter is WAY too sacrificing…
Sharks vs Blackhawks… hm… déjà vu…
This time I have to root for the Sharks, though.
Now, regarding Alex’s comment: “Holy Moly! The pieces with the embedded cz's...WANT!!! I don't see why you're having to do them over...they look fab to me!”
Ha ha ha! You didn’t notice that half the cz’s popped out during the drying phase? :-) I plan to try repairing and then you can have first dibs.
Okay, TTYL!
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