You Know You've Been Designing Jewelry Too Long If . . .by guest author Lisa McClinsey
* In January, a gardening friend mentions that she needs to order seeds... so you give her the address for Fire Mountain Gems.
* You discover you don't even have to look at your beads anymore. You can string them by feel. This means you can now bead in the dark.
* You can thread the needle in the dark, too. When you're down, you go to jewelry stores to laugh at their prices.
* You have to remember not to be surprised when someone says that doing the peyote stitch is difficult.
* You can't remember the last time you knotted your thread before beginning to weave.
* You can accurately calculate the expected lifespan of mass-produced jewelry by looking at the width of the gaps in the jump rings and counting the loose threads.
* If someone tells you something is 4 mm, 6 mm or 8 mm wide, you know exactly how big that is without looking at a ruler.
* You have more tools - including power tools, torches, sanders, drills, tumblers and other assorted gadgets - than your last boyfriend had. And you use them all on a regular basis.
* When computer and electronics geeks talk about wire gauges, you know exactly what they mean.
* Not only do you shop for supplies at the craft store... you also get them at the hardware store, the sporting goods store, the aquarium shop and the medical supply store.
* You can name every bead store, craft store, fabric shop, sewing outlet and embroidery emporium within a twenty mile radius...and you know which items they carry.
* You know where all the craft stores are in each town or city where your friends and relatives live.
* If there are beads somewhere in a store, even if it's not a bead or craft store, and even if they are not prominently displayed, you will somehow find them.
* When you're in the bead aisle at Michael's, newbies who don't even know you flock to you with questions, like iron filings to a magnet.
* On more than one occasion, you've held informal classes in the bead aisle at A. C. Moore.
* You know there's more than one place in each craft store where beads are displayed... and you've shown store employees where the other places are!
* You stop buying beading magazines because the projects are too easy.
* Brick buildings remind you of peyote stitch.
* You have the amazing ability to find the tiniest objects in any shade or depth of carpet.
* You feel it's unethical to let your friends buy or wear bad jewelry.
* You see a complicated beadwoven necklace pattern on Tuesday, and think, "No problem. I can wear that this weekend..." And you do. This really annoys your best friend, because you don't start working on it until Thursday night.
* You know a Toho from an Ornela without looking at the package.
* You don't buy jewelry to match your clothes. You buy clothes to match your jewelry.
* The bowls in your kitchen cupboard are used more often for beads than for cereal.
* You find at least one bead in an unexpected place at least once a week.
* When your best friend asks if you want to see the Stones, you're excited, because you think she means the rock and gem shows in Tucson.
* When someone asks you to get them a cab, you dive into your stash and hand them a flat, rounded rock.
* You give your children, pets and plants jewelry names. Charlotte. Margaret. Jules. Crystal. Iris.
* Instead of saying something is purple, you say it's amethyst, plum, lilac, lavender, or aubergine.
* You think your Mrs. Santa 3X magnifying glasses make you look cool. Especially when you wear both pairs at once.
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Author Lisa McClinsey is a writer with over 30 years of experience in beadweaving and jewelry design.
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Note from Rena Klingenberg:
www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.comLisa's article also made me realize that you've been making jewelry too long if ...
* You realize that paper towel and toilet paper tubes are really just oversized beads.
* You notice that your children's toothpaste is exactly the same color as Chinese amazonite.
* You take your morning vitamins, and see that one of those pills has potential for wire-wrapping.
* Your favorite carbohydrates are in the pearl family - rice and potatoes.
Jill Q.
http://jqjewelrydesigns.etsy.com/
