Random thoughts from someone who beaded too late last night

• If there is anything within 100 miles of your work surface, you will repeatedly catch your thread on it.
• If it doesn’t work, abandon it or set it aside for a little while. More often than not, when you come back you’ll have a whole new perspective.
• Regardless of the foundation or backing that you choose, make absolutely certain that it will not fray. I selected a woven fabric for the back of a collar that was just perfect. I didn’t want it to fray so I bonded it to a backing. It still frayed and made the finish work extremely difficult and less than perfect.
• Always check to determine if your bead is colorfast.  Avoid finishes that will wear off as you work or when you wear your finished jewelry. I designed entire collar around fabulous 35mm matte gold bugle beads I bought in Canada when I first started beading. Halfway through the collar, the gold started wearing off, leaving a hideous yellow underneath. At first I tried to cover the chips with accent beads, but it became quickly apparent that I would ultimately end up with an ugly yellow bead. I had to cut it up and start over. The silver lining is that the exercise inspired my "extreme" technique for embellishment.

This picture shows the first sign of peeling.

Here I have already embellished over the original yellow exposure and new spots have already appeared.