| Original Message: What close-ups don't convey... |
|---|
|
...is the absolutely awesome delicacy of the wirework on these beads.
How many of us could take a fine pair of tweezers and bend hair-thin strips of copper into tiny, tiny little shapes and then manage to somehow arrange them in a pleasing pattern on the surface of a tiny little round ball? Then these tiny wire shapes had to be filled with enamel powder, which takes a very deft touch to not spill outside the outlines...then briefly put into a kiln until just the right temperature was reached [ever peered into a hot kiln? could you gauge temperature by eye?], then ground down by hand with a series of pieces of abrasive rocks,not a lathe, then re-filled with more enamel powder, then ground down... then re-filled, then ground down...steps repeated until all the colors were present and at a level above the wires, then the final grinding and hand polishing. Most of us couldn't draw these tiny designs with a pencil. Pic is of an artist hero. The link is a fascinating read. All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
|
|