Hubby's grandma Louise (everyone calls her Nana) gifted me with an extraordinary present this week. She'd given me an entire tub full of watches to explode for my tiara project but I was not expecting this latest surprise. When hubby told me that she had left some jewelry stuff for me to pick up I really had no idea what was in store.
I was driving and we had the dog with us so I didn't even get to open the bag until we got home but wow! Inside were four plastic sleeves similar to what you'd find in a toolbox storage container filled with a variety of mostly bead caps. Now, at first you may think, 'oh, bead caps,' but let me tell you, I have been looking for bead caps and they are expensive.
The ironic thing is that earlier in the day I had just received a package from Singapore from Etsian Artfaerie's shop whom I had bought some bead caps from!
It was obvious that one of the sleeves of bead caps were sterling silver because of the way they had tarnished. I used one of my polishing cloths to give it a shine and wow, dazzling! I knew I had a laborious but fun project ahead of me. I was going to buy some Tarn-x but after reading the label I went for the silver polish instead.
I spent about 3 hours cleaning and polishing the bead caps by hand. I wish I had picked up some disposable gloves but made some temporary protection with some plastic wrap. At one point during the process I had an entire Sham-wow cloth covered in drying bead caps, that's how many there are. (Yes, I got a box of Sham-wows for my birthday...I've said wow a couple times.)
What are pictured are only a tiny sliver of what Nana Lou gave me. In the daylight I notice that I need to go back over some of the caps with the polishing cloth before use but they really did clean up nicely. I'm going to make Nana Lou a pair of beautiful earrings as a thank you. It really is an overwhelming gift and one that I'll really make the most of for a long time to come.
Take time today to say thank you to someone who has helped you in your journey to better art!
1 comment:
Wow! What a great gift!
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