It seems to be a while since I posted a blog entry. There's been too much going on with work! Also, I have been reluctant to post any of the pieces I have made for the Johnston Collection exhibition, as I want them to be 'unveiled' there. I am very happy with the way things are going though! I have been able to try out a few new tricks and see how they look.

This piece is one I made about four years ago. I bought the two cabs at the Bead and Button Show from Earthenwood studio [http://www.earthenwoodstudio.com/]. I also bought all of the seed beads at the Show - they were all colours that were unobtainable in Australia at the time, so I was very keen to use them. The cabochon is edged with a double 'ruffle' of picots which include magatamas - my own invention and I still think it looks great. Magatamas are under-rated in my view, they should be used more.

The main thing I initially learnt from making this piece was the variations that can be achieved with herringbone stitch. I used alternating magatamas and size 11o seed beads - a trick I picked up from Laura McCabe [http://www.justletmebead.com/] at the Show. The technique gives you a fantastically textured rope. Also the edging - you can achieve lots of different effects depending on the beads you use.

I subsequently learnt a lot about coated beads and why you shouldn't use them with a bailed pendant! The finish has actually been rubbed off many of the beads in the rope around where the bail generally sits - the friction between the two sets of beads has done this. Some of the beads in the bail have lost their coating too. I was still fairly new to specialty coatings at that stage, and really had no idea that this would happen. If I had a do-over, I would still use the same beads, but I would fix the bail in position, or design the necklace without a bail, so that there was no risk of rubbing. In fact the last few projects I have done, I have done exactly that.

A friend loaned me some rub-on gold embellishing paint, which I tried out, and it has covered the beads which lost their coating, so they aren't so obvious. It will be interesting to see how long the paint lasts. I expect that in the end, I will have to pull the rope apart and re-do it, which is a pain, but I have always liked the necklace so I'd like to salvage it if I can.

So there's the lesson from this piece - don't use beads with fragile coatings in locations where they will suffer a lot of rubbing. The manufacturers aren't joking when they say that the coatings will come off!