Shiny Happy People

 I can now buff to a glass like shine!!!! I am very happy!

Thank you to my husband for buying the new Dremel and Workstation, Desiree for her tutorial on making a better buffing wheel, my children for donating the cotton muslin (stole one of my son's comforter cloths - well he is nearly 6 now and doesn't really use them any more and he does have several - I am not that mean a mum!) and all the other clayers who have given me advice on blogs, in forums etc....

Here's what I did....

handmade cotton muslin  buffing wheels

2 buffing wheels mounted on standard dremel spindel

Dremel mounted on the workstation (the stuff in the back is my husband  mending his bike in the dining room so we are 'together')

After buffing! Lost a few threads! I look like I am covered in yellow fluff!

Top one is my hand buffed spoon, the bottom one was hand buffed and has now been made even more shiney with the dremel. Hard to see in photos but the difference is very clear to the eye. Dremel buffed is twice as shiny!

So where next? Need to sort out some wire for holding small beads for buffing. I shall try making some more buffing wheels - will try a tighter woven fabric in the hope I loose less of it! Going to see if I can squeeze another on the dremel mandrel - will probably try making a modified mandrel as suggested by Desiree. Oh and I shall be rebuffing all my things to make them even shinier!

Lentil Swirl Bead Tip for Patterns

Well if you have made a lot of lentil swirl beads you will already know this but in case you haven't here's something I learnt about patterns today (I don't normally swirl with patterns usually it is just a pile of scrap).

I carefully placed a flower in the centre of the ball I started swirling thinking it would look nice swirled - but it disappeared!

Swirl lentil bead that started with a flower in the centre that 'disappeared' 

Desiree does say in her excellent tutorial on making lentil swirl beads that the rotation does draw the clay from the outer areas towards the centre of the bead. With pattern this means that the pattern at the edges expands and the pattern in the centre shrinks to the point of almost disappearing at the very top of the bicone. So when choosing where to place your round ball to start swirling put the pretty bit off centre! If it is in the middle it is likely to shrink very tiny the outer edge gets huge and somewhat distorted so the best place for that pretty flower is somewhere between the two.

 

Swirl lentil with flowers placed between centre and edge

This was using up my offcuts from some Paisley spoons I made for presents today (oh and one for me too ;).
I have refined my technique and can now make the fabric up (from the preprepared canes - I still have plenty!) and cover 6 spoons in about an hour. I have a feeling I will be making plenty more so that's good news.