Monday, July 27, 2009

Welcome

This is my first post of hopefully many. I started this blog for a few reason... Mostly to keep track of all the other great artists I have come across from all across the world but also to provide a resource for supplies and techniques.

So since this is my first blog i will talk about the first frustration i had when i first started to macrame with gemstones. At this time i was working with hemp and waxed cotton. So i would comb the net for the most amazing stones. They would arrive and 50-80% would not fit onto the cording that i was using. I finally another product called waxed linen. This seemed to work a lot better but again it was not fine enough for beads any smaller than 4mm and even those sometimes did not fit. The waxed linen is also just a bit sticky when you work with it as well and has an almost hair like quality that sometimes makes things look a little messy if you don't smooth the cord before you knot it.
Question. Has anyone found any other natural fibers that knot well, hold the knot and are still available in a very small diameter?
This is what has led me to start working with the fine silver wire. It is malleable enough that I can do simple knots with it and the great thing about it is that I never have to worry about the beads not fitting on the wire.

On my next silver order I plan and trying out an even higher gauge (smaller diameter) wire to see if I am able to do some of the more complex knots. Just have to sell a few pieces and my husband won't complain that i am spending more money on my hobby...lol