I just thought I would add to this post. So many of you have already left such kind comments. Thank you!
I wanted to photograph the lamps in the right setting to see how they looked. I was hoping they would look like marble. I am pretty happy with them.
Still no feeling back on that spot on my thumb.?
I have been busy working on all sorts of things. I managed to finish two lamps today.
They were more work than I ever could have imagined. There is now a spot on my thumb that has no feeling in it at all. It has been that way for three days. I hope it comes back to life. LOL
I bought the Blue Lace Agate Beads for the lamps on ETSY. I loved the color and the oval melon twist! However, there was a problem. They had a very tiny hole in them. I thought... No problem, I'll buy a diamond bead reamer. http://www.etsy.com/shop/EurekaEureka?ref=seller_info
I also bought solid brass heishe beads on ETSY. Same problem, I had metal reamers though!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/mintdestash?ref=seller_info
Then I decided I wanted 8mm Swarovski crystal black cube beads for the base... Same problem a tiny hole. Plus I was told you can't ream out Swarovski crystal beads without breaking them. I never listen to stuff like that, it went fine. I didn't break any and it went a heck of a lot faster than those blue agates!
I bought some metal findings thinking this would speed up the process. ALL of those had to be altered. Plus I realized suddenly I needed to have a metal tube run through all of these pieces. And they have to line up in all directions. UGH!
The GREATEST new find was the watch makers glue I bought. It has a built in hypodermic needle tip. It is for gluing watch crystals and any non-porous pieces together. OMG! That stuff is FANTASTIC! I was told it never goes bad and the needle stays clear.
I really wanted white shades but I when I held up all the white papers I had to the lamps it looked awful. So I made temporary shades out of black paper. When finished they looked funny next to that black crystal bead! I decided to spray paint them black for a deeper shade. Are there shades of black?
I will take some better photos of the lamps in a proper setting in a few days. I hope you like them, cause they really tried to kill me.