There Will Be a Slight Pause.......

I started carving this morning only to discover that I no longer had any sharp Exacto blades. This is a bad thing. I knew I was running short, but not this short. None. Nada. No where. No how. Not a new blade anywhere.

I went on line to Micro Mark.http://www.micromark.com/ This is my favorite source of any kind of mini tools. They have a box of 100 #11 blades for 15.95. That sounds like a lot until you get on line at other sources and they sell 15 blades for 5.99! Even with the postage of 8.95, if you order two boxes at once, it comes out much cheaper. For me it is worth it. The cost total was 40.65.That comes out to about twenty cents a blade, compared to the forty cents a blade that it would cost here in town, sans postage. I am not saying that everyone should run to the computer and order 200 blades, but it is Cheaper for me because I go through a lot of blades. There is a method of sharpening the blades with very fine wet/dry sandpaper and some other kind of sandpaper, but I can't, for the life of me, remember what the other one was.

Anyway, I ordered them. They should get here about the same time as my new glasses. I will be able to see what I am cutting with the new blades. YAY!!!

I painted the wall behind the bedroom fireplace this morning to see how it would look. I used Midnight Blue Ceramcoat. This is by no means the finished wall. I just wanted to see the effect. After I looked at the house, I was afraid that the surround wasn't going to fit the area. I didn't remember that it was so close to the stairwell. Right now I am trying to think of a way to eliminate the railings or changing them to a see through design so that the fireplace will be seen. If I put in the existing railings, they will block about half of the fireplace. Poor design if you ask me. Nobody did though, so I will just have to work around the problem. Bah Humbug!

Yesterday, after I left you, I made the decision. Minikat was right. I opted for the beads instead of the workroom. I have another handle done. This time it's on my chain nosed pliers. I decided to show you some of the other things that you can do if you learn to do peyote stitch. You have already seen the needle nosed pliers. From left to right in the photo, the first one is a bracelet based on an African design, a watch band that I made up as I went along, another bracelet with antique watch fob fasteners and a heavy plastic bead container with a screw on top. That one is done with the smaller #14 beads. Now you see why I don't get more minis done. I am easily distracted......

It does produce ideas for miniatures. Here's a close up of a couple of beaded bags that I did a few years ago.

I guess that I have stalled long enough. I am going into the den of desperation this afternoon to clean. Please keep your fingers, toes, eyes and elbows crossed for me. I will need it.

See you tomorrow.