I'm finishing up my post for the Stringing fall blog carnival coming up on Tuesday the 17th. I'm excited about reading all the other posts and giving away some great prizes to blog readers!

In the meantime, I thought I'd share a few before and after photos.  I've been experimenting with some Cool Tools Patina Gel that I purchased.  This is Liver of Sulfur in gel form which is supposed to have a long shelf life.

I like the chain best because it has a bluish tinge.  I did the chain last, when the water had started to cool.  On the package directions, it mentions using lukewarm water to get colored effects.  I'm going to try more experiments with water temperature.

One "Probably Obvious to Everyone Else" Tip

I wore gloves and used a plastic spoon to fish out my items from the mixture.  However, this process was a little more difficult than I anticipated because of an arbitrary decision on my part.

The directions simply state to use a 6–12-ounce container to mix the gel with hot water. I grabbed an 8-ounce dark blue mug in my studio.  That turned out to be a bad idea. Even though I had the lights on and the window open (liver of sulfur smells!), I couldn't see into the bottom of the dark mug.  I think some things were unintentionally left in there a little long, just because I couldn't easily see them. In the future, I'll use a light-colored or clear container for mixing.

Anyone else experiment with this gel?  What do you think?

I snagged some of Katie Hacker's new Katiedids components while at a bead show last month.  I've been itching to try them and finally had some free time.  (Okay, it wasn't really free time, but I think my eyes might have fallen out of my head if I did one more minute of editing.)

Ocean Waves Pendant

I bought these tiny teardrop beads (also sometimes called fringe drops or magatama) while waiting in line at a bead show a couple of  years ago.  That's always a dangerous time for me, waiting to pay for my purchases.  It's impossible not to look at anything while I'm standing there and somehow something always ends up in my shopping basket.  Pretty mixes of colors like these blues/greens are especially tempting. 

I created a circle of teardrops with size 11 seed beads for spacers and a chain dangle using 4mm jump rings.  I originally wanted to hang a charm in the center, but I couldn't find an ocean-themed charm that I liked that was small enough to fit.  So instead I hung a glass lentil from the center.  I think this summery pendant would look great on a simple silver chain.

Get Happy Pendant

Lately I've been obsessed with painting metal.  I chose yellow, purple, and white to paint the pendant.  For the inside, I used a combination of black (size 15) and ivory (size 11) seed beads to create a graphic design. I'm thinking of doming the middle with resin and stringing the finished pendant on black cord.  What do you think?

I found these components fun to play with—thank goodness they come five to a pack!

Be sure to check out Katie Hacker's blog for more ideas.  I especially like her polymer clay earrings—easy to make and a nice pop of color.

A few weeks ago at a writing conference someone asked me what a blog reader was.  I said it was a way to help you track and manage your blogs.  It's also called an RSS reader.

"Why use it?" she asked.

"Time," I said.

I explained that I can skim through blogs much more quickly when they are all in one place.  I can easily see with the bold formatting in my blog list which blogs have new content and how much.  I can mark content that I've already read.  Plus, I don't have to try and remember the addresses or names of my favorite blogs.  As much as I hate to admit it, I can't remember as much as I used to.

What Kind of Reader Should I Use?

Bloglines

I tried Bloglines years ago when RSS readers were new.  At the time, I traveled for work several times a year and liked the idea that I could check in on my favorite blogs from any computer, rather than relying on my bookmarks.  I abandoned it shortly after because I found that:

1) There were really only a handful of blogs I kept up with.  I could easily do a Google search for them if I wasn't at my home computer. 

2) It meant having yet another login and password to remember.  I can hardly remember a single login and password, let alone a dozen!

Google Reader

Now that I'm regularly reading at least 30 blogs, I'm using Google Reader.  I like it because I have a Gmail account.  This means that when I check my email, I have the option of checking my blogs as well.  (One less login and password to remember!)

How Do I Set It Up?

1.  Go to www.google.com/reader. (If you don't already have a Google account, you'll need to sign up for one.  It's free.)  Log in to your account.

2.  The first time you log in, you'll see a bunch of helpful info about Google Reader on the right, including a quick video tutorial.  (Once you've added your blogs, you'll see those in that space.)

3.  Click on the "Add a Subscription" button to add a blog address.  Alternately, you can start visiting blogs you like and click on the RSS button or link to add them.  You'll then be prompted to choose Google from the list of RSS readers and log in to your account.

That's all there is to it.  Do you use a blog reader?  If so, which one?

When I was a kid, one of my friend's mother's had a pair of pinking shears.  I thought they were the coolest thing ever.  Imagine owning a pair of scissors that did something other than cut in a boring straight line!

Maybe that why I now own a ridiculous number of scissors.  I have at least 6 pairs of those fancy scissors, a sharp pair for fabric only, 3-4 regular pairs for paper, a pair I've pretty much ruined by cutting sticky packing tape, a kid's pair for cutting fishing wire for beadweaving, and the Queen of All Scissors, a red-handled pair by Tim Holtz that I bought a couple of years ago.

Today I used these scissors to cut the ends off these charms so I could use them for a St. Patrick's Day mixed-media project.  The plated metal was very thin and the challenge was cutting off just the loops and not a bit more.

I love these scissors.  You can put your entire hand in the handles (not just the ends of your fingers) and they cut through anything.  Seriously.  I've used them to cut soft balsa wood, thread, metal tape, magnetic tape (for making magnets), Friendly Plastic, fabric, fishing line . . . Once when I couldn't find my wire cutters, I used them to cut wire.

Are you obsessed by scissors, too?  Which pair are your favorite?

To be honest, I thought these Tri-Trays from Beadalon were silly when I first saw them.  I mean, really, special little dishes to hold your beads?  It sounded a little pretentious—like having a special dish that could only hold crème brûlée. (Not that I have anything against crème brûlée.)  But now that I've used them for a year, I have to say that I don't know what I was doing before I had them.  I love them!  Here's what I like:

1.  While I use them mainly for seed beads, I've found that they're also useful for tiny in-progress projects like a pair of earrings.  They work well since I want to see how a bunch of beads look together before I assemble them.

2.  These dishes are so small (each side is just over 3 inches) that I can fit one or two in a small Ziploc bag, along with my needles, thread, and seed bead tubes for an on-the-go beading kit.

3.  They stack!  I can fill them, stack them, and scoot them (carefully) around the table.  They stack nicely when empty and don't take up much room in my storage area.

4. They're white.  This might seem like a silly "feature" but imagine if they were red, for example.  It'd be impossible to see the bead colors.  (That said, speaking as a designer, I'd prefer it if the company logo were on the side rather than in the middle, so that I could see the bead colors without dark blue in the mix.)

5.  And the big reason:  they're triangular.  Once you're finished with your project, you can tip the corner into a seed bead tube and clean up in 30 seconds.  Trust me, for someone who used to dump her Delicas on the arm of the sofa to sort them and then pick them up one by one to put them away, this is a big step up.

FTC Disclaimer:  I have no connection to Beadalon and received no money or products in conjunction with this blog post.