(no subject)

Today I took some of the many beads I've been collecting from various gem shows to which I have been dragged and made a necklace to go with my little black dress:



I haven't made many necklaces. I learned a few things from this experience.

First, I like to have different sizes of beads available. Note to self: do not get nothing but four-millimeter beads in the future.

Second, black beads are not that easy to string. It's not so easy to find the hole.

I've heard, though not experienced, that it's hard to knit with dark colors as well. So there's probably a general rule that it's hard to do fine work with black materials.

The only way I can see the hole in a black bead is if I have a view right through the whole bead to whatever's on the other side (ideally something that's not black). The two-millimeter black beads I used for this project are especially difficult to deal with. They are about the size of seed beads, only more spherical.

I developed the following strategy for finding the hole in the bead:
* Plan A - carefully take the bead off the string it's being stored on so that I know right where the hole is afterwards
* Plan B - drop the bead on a plate and let it roll around until it stops; at that point it is quite likely that there is a hole at the very top of the bead
* Plan C - pick up the bead and poke at it at random spots with the beading wire until the wire goes in
* Plan D - roll the bead around in my fingers looking longingly for a tiny tunnel of light

And now I'm done. Shiny!