sometimes i run
Oct. 2nd, 2004 23:49![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
piranhawhen i should still be crawling, carefully exploring the edges of my abilities. :) luckily in this case that is not endangering any lives, though it might produce a certain quantity of scrap clay.
so i got interested in doing some canework -- if you know anything about glass, that's the sort of thing that's used in making the famous millefiori technique in italy. example, though that one's from clichy in france, but hey, it's pretty. one famous type of bead that also uses canes is the chevron, which was used for trade in africa. here's a strand. this is hard to do, in glass. for the most part, if they can be imitated in polymer clay, glass ideas are easier because, hey, no burning heat and stuff that keeps moving on you. on the other hand, translucency is harder to achieve in clay because there is no clear clay, and even the best translucent one we have is nothing much to write home about.
so of course i had to start my canework with a chevron cane. i don't know yet whether it will work; i didn't go and research how others might have done it, i wanted to see whether i could figure out ways to do it myself. and now the cane rests overnight (to let the clay settle so that potential small airpockets emigrate. then i'll get to cut it and see whether it worked at all, and if not, what about it was wrong. 'twas fun trying though.
i need a new icon for this; the happy crochet baggie expresses the joy of finishing something nifty more than the joy of experimenting.
alternatively, i could try and convince apache2 to talk to php4... naw. not in the mood.
in retrospect now i am wondering whether this was one of the beads specifically for trade in slaves, since it's quite a spiffy bead. well, no, the spiffiest stuff was traded for gold, i imagine. *gah*. huh. *goes off to check zir big, fat durbin book on the history of beads*.
so i got interested in doing some canework -- if you know anything about glass, that's the sort of thing that's used in making the famous millefiori technique in italy. example, though that one's from clichy in france, but hey, it's pretty. one famous type of bead that also uses canes is the chevron, which was used for trade in africa. here's a strand. this is hard to do, in glass. for the most part, if they can be imitated in polymer clay, glass ideas are easier because, hey, no burning heat and stuff that keeps moving on you. on the other hand, translucency is harder to achieve in clay because there is no clear clay, and even the best translucent one we have is nothing much to write home about.
so of course i had to start my canework with a chevron cane. i don't know yet whether it will work; i didn't go and research how others might have done it, i wanted to see whether i could figure out ways to do it myself. and now the cane rests overnight (to let the clay settle so that potential small airpockets emigrate. then i'll get to cut it and see whether it worked at all, and if not, what about it was wrong. 'twas fun trying though.
i need a new icon for this; the happy crochet baggie expresses the joy of finishing something nifty more than the joy of experimenting.
alternatively, i could try and convince apache2 to talk to php4... naw. not in the mood.
in retrospect now i am wondering whether this was one of the beads specifically for trade in slaves, since it's quite a spiffy bead. well, no, the spiffiest stuff was traded for gold, i imagine. *gah*. huh. *goes off to check zir big, fat durbin book on the history of beads*.