Final beads

So after struggling to get the beads off the metal rods, I gave up. The beads lay smugly on my coffee table, stubbornly attached to the metal rods and refusing to give up their death-grip.

My husband came home and I mentioned to him I couldn’t get them off. He whipped out his tools, pulled out some metal plier-looking thing (though a lot more intimidating than pliers), clamped that baby onto those now toothpick-looking rods and voila! Beads gave up their struggle and came off without a complaint.

Sure is nice being married to a mechanical engineer with lots of tools!

So here’s a picture of what they look like:

You can tell I’m a beginner because they are more tear-drop shaped than bead-shaped and the hole for stringing is somewhat crooked and one bead looks like it’s totally falling over because it’s lopsided, but I still think the designs look pretty.

I have given them all names. Left to right:

• Swirly Earth Bead
• Dalmation Puppy Bead (has flecks of copper in it. I have to wait til another day when the sun comes back so I can take a better picture.)
• Lava Lamp Bead (or I have also called it the Blue Egg Yolk Bead. When I have a chance to take a closeup you will see why!) – looks like blobs floating in a lava lamp. Because part of the blob is clear, it actually looks three-dimensional!
• Swirly Earth 2 Bead (or also called Sideways Hearts, though you can’t see the hearts too well)
• Plain Turquoise Bead
• White Crooked Bead (my first one, thus the lopsidedness)

Corrie took some nice pictures with her macro lens so I’ll detail them out once I can steal the pictures off her blog.