Lessons I’ve learnt from my jewellery making recently…

First, the useful ones:

1) For sanding beads, a little square of sandpaper wrapped round index finger is great for sanding odd shaped bits of polymer clay. Especially if you layer the finer grades on top of each other then flick between them for each bead.
2) One of those push pin drawing pins is very handy for making holes in raw and baked clay.

3) Nail varnish remover pads are excellent at getting gloss varnish off your paintbrush.

4) Said pads also remove unwanted Pearl Ex powder from baked clay, but I always wash the clay straight after *just in case it harms fimo*

5) You should wear a mask for protection vs fumes from varnish and pearl ex powder which goes *everywhere*

And the things I’d rather not have learnt….

1) You can’t drink coffee, eat chocolate biccies or look remotely sensible wearing a mask. I’m not lying when I confess I lifted the coffee cup a few times mid varnish and found myself disappointed at the bad access. At least I didn’t have coffee dribbling down my chin before I noticed!

2) A jack russell tearaway/terrier is not compatible with jewellery making. Problems include:

– Scattering beads when trying to reach the chocolate biccies on my desk.
– Pawprints in the polymer clay during the above.
– Making a sudden movement on my lap while I’m stringing beads.
– Trying to eat polymer clay.

3) When varnishing one side of a bead, should you drop it, this is *always* the side that lands face down. If there is a bit of fluff, hair or another object or bead to adhere to – it will stick firm.

4) Sanding your fingers won’t buff you into a nice sheen, but it will shorten your fingernails.