Sterling Silver Cored Pandora Beads - Tools and Equipment

I thought yesterday that I would take a couple of pictures of the tools and equipment that I use to line my beads with sterling silver. A couple of months ago I read a tutorial on Lampwork Etc. about how to line your beads and made a list out for my sweetie to shop from. It was like a scavenger hunt and he did a really great job in finding all the things that I needed. It would have driven me crazy to try to find them. He drove all over the valley and had to go to several stores but when I woke up he had it all for me. Great man that I married. Then a couple of weeks ago we went to the local Harbor Freight and got my little saw. It is just awesome. I was cutting the tube with a pipe cutter and it was hard for me to hold on to it and turn it. The saw is just zip zip and you are good to go. I love it!

I need to ask my sweetie what the names of all of these items are but a few of them I do know. The digital calipers were well worth the money. They make measuring the bead so easy. Then add about 4mm extra before cutting. The little things in the bag are brownies and greenies... now you know why I sent Dale. He actually found them. They go in my dremel to polish the silver when I am done. There are three ?grades? to gently do the job. The stuff in the box is also a silver polish, I don't use that all the time. The little short hammer (real technical huh) is for the beating on the tools in the next picture (dapping or doming? tools). This gradually increases the diameter of the silver tube and helps to lay it over so you can flatten it with the longer hammer to the right (chasing hammer?). The chasing hammer does the fine beating of the silver. Can you tell I like to beat on things... :0) It really is a lot of fun. The metal block in the center of the picture is where I beat on the bead, and yes that is a dishtowel on my kitchen table and yes that little saw is sitting on my kitchen counter. Me thinks I need another room for metal working. Sweetie???? How about it????
So here are some pictures.




And here is the terrific man that lets me do all these wonderful things and is soooo supportive of all my sometimes crazy ideas. Isn't he adorable?

And here is what all of this "stuff" helps me to create. You can find this and many more in my Etsy shop. http://www.mycabincreations.etsy.com/