With a Little Bit of Help From My Friends...

I started over with the bands around the dome, yesterday.  They needed to be wider and more curved.  

I took a piece of handy dandy graph paper and laid it on the dome and did it the right way.  I made 3/4" bands.

Then I traced them onto illustration board and cut out eight.  Two thicknesses for either side of the  view port and  two for either side of the bottom. 



I staggered them just a little so that there would give the appearance of two layers. 

This morning I got up and painted the bands with the gesso.  Then I stippled the dome itself.  It is hard to see.  The first coat is on in the second photo. 

I need to let it dry some more. Then I will add a second coat.

I am leaning towards making it really Steampunky.  It needs some bands of metal and rivets to add interest...

I have been working on the bead cleaning at the same time. I now have the #11 seed beads down to four boxes!  The boxes that Zar and Tessie are sitting on are all #15 and under.  That means that they can be used in minis, if need be.

As you can see, if you look carefully, that's the only shelf that will pass inspection so far. 

I have a feeling that the bead police are going to come and take me away for hoarding bead supplies any day now.

I am weeding out as fast as I can.  My friend Joan, is probably not going to be speaking to me by the time I get finished.  She is a beader too and I am passing along the beads that are still good.  I know that I will never use some of them, because of color, size or shape.  She gets the job of looking through the ones that I am discarding.  Then I won't feel guilty for tossing them.  She has another beader that she can pass them on to if she doesn't want them... And the bead goes on....No groaning please!

I have visions of... A year from now, someone will hand me a bag of beads and say, "Look through these and see if there are any that you can use...".  Yup.  It will be a bag of the dregs of the beads that I am sorting right now! If that happens, I will throw them away.  Honest!

Anyway, I imagine that the gesso is dry by now.  I need to get back at it.

See you tomorrow.