Beading Disaster!

[DawninCal]

Ok, so I have one of those divided plastic containers that I store metal beads in. All of you probably have at least one that you use for similar purposes.

And...I was working on a project today, had the divided container out so I could select which metal beads I wanted to use and I put it down on top of a smaller container. Apparently it wasn't very well balanced and if you guessed that it flipped over upside down, you are correct! Hundreds of tiny metal beads - gold, brass and copper went everywhere.

I have just spent the last three hours gathering them up, sorting them and putting them back in the divided container. My prediction is that I'll be finding tiny metal beads for many years to come.

Nice way to spend an afternoon!



Dawn

[Michele]

That's the pits, Dawn. I have quite a few of those containers. About a year ago, I had one on the floor by my desk and the phone rang. I jumped up to answer it, and kicked over the container. Like you, it took FOREVER to pick up and sort through everything. I'm sure when I pack up my jewelry to move, I'll find all kinds of things.

[DawninCal]

Oooo...then you know what I'm talkin' about!

Your move is a great opportunity to sort, purge, cull and whatnot before moving the stuff over to the new house. It's amazing how we accumulate stuff we can't even remember buying. I notice, too, that my tastes have changed over the years. Things I used to use in designs all the time never see the light of day now.



Dawn

[caeterle]

Ouch. I don't know if I would have had the patience to sort hundreds of tiny beads!

[Sophy]

That's why I don't use those containers anymore. I am too prone to knocking things over.

[gbobmi]

Michele, when you're done, post some pictures of your new digs, okay? I think can probably speak on behalf of the group and say that we all want to see! You don't even have to wait till you're unpacked!

I hate spilling even one bead. Once, when Bowie was a puppy, he got into a bag I had from a bead show. I hadn't had the chance to price and sort my new goodies, let alone put them away. Well, let me tell you about the Swarovskis I had all over the place. I think I'm still finding them, almost 5 years later.

[lotty64]

A good way to get beads up like this is to put a pop sock/stocking over the end of the hoover pipe and suck them up. The nylons will stop the beads going all the way into the hoover bag.

[DawninCal]

Glad I'm not the only one who's done this.

Thanks for the great tip, Caroline. If it ever happens again, which I certainly hope it does not, I'll try that.



Dawn

[violetmoonnl]

omg the horror!!


Had that happen to me once, it was a big box, completely filled with 8/0 and 6/0 seed beads.
I took the vacuum cleaner, put a panty over the mouth and sucked all the beads up.

They all ended up in the panty and all I had to do was sort them out.
Up until today there are still some left that needs to be sorted.

[DawninCal]

Yea, it's the sorting part that's the problem...



Dawn

[Karin]

Oh Dawn! That gave me flashbacks of a jump ring fiasco, well, truth be told, several of them. I have dumped my share! One time I inadvertently poured a freshly cut bunch of 20 ga 3.0's into a 3.5 container:( Pain in the rear, for sure. I keep my jump rings in separate little round containers with a lid on each, so if, Heaven forbid, I dump the box, at least there is a lid on them, but as you can see from my story above, I still find ways to do something hasty and stupid;)

[Claudia]

I spilled one of those a few years ago. I picked them all up and put in a plastic storage container from the kitchen and never resorted them. Lazy, I know. I use a lot of the plastic bead trays with the separate lids for each section now.