Tumbled beads and hardware: the reveal!

In earlier posts, I wrote about cutting wooden and metal beads, and about making bamboo ring blanks. All of those items went into the rock tumbler along with some water, grit and metal filings, ebony aniline dye, and kosher salt. After three or four days, this is what they look like.

Mmm, beads! Finished and strung on cord, those will be stunning. The abrasives have selectively worn away the early wood from each annual layer, leaving the familiar ridged texture of worn and weathered softwood. And tiny salt crystals have gotten lodged in the wood, which adds just a hint of glitter.

Battered and antiqued barrel clasps and lobster clasps for necklaces and bracelets.

Next time, I'll take more care to grind off the burrs and flashing from the cutting process. I'll have to do it later, and maybe feature the contrast between the freshly-ground and weathered sections. If you can't fix it, feature it...

Much better, don't you agree?

And these old lockset slices are way too cool. I'll have to find a good use for them.

The bamboo rings are also interesting:

I didn't sand the bores out before tumbling, and they didn't get smoothed, so I'll have to do that later, too. The open pores of the end grain probably soaked up dye deeper than the long fibers, so the ring might show a gradient inside. We'll see!