Post a Picture of Your Work Table!!

[smetzler]

What a wonderful idea for the flashlight-candling! What is the fluff?

Thanks. They're just round cotton pads with holes cut in the middle (two pads with juxtaposed slots making a semi-pinhole and providing cradling as you suggest), over a white-LED focusable flashlight. The 'abominabilis' pearls' microstructure (see Nautilus pearls thread) is functionally fiber-optic, so a true pinhole light source should also fully illuminate their interiors. Would love suggestions (other than laser) regarding light sources, fiber-optic certainly among them but I have yet to find an appropriate supplier/model.

[lisa c]

WHAT!?! NO LASERS ALLOWED??? Hmph. That takes the fun out of it...

[smetzler]

WHAT!?! NO LASERS ALLOWED??? Hmph. That takes the fun out of it...

Just for fun…

First time I tried backlighting a pearl with laser the pearl disintegrated into thousands of tiny swarming dots—then I felt my eyes turning to jelly. But your plea made me curious to give it another try with the digital microscope and computer screen for safety.

Maybe safe, but the optics are the same!

Normal and backlit photos of this beautiful, 7.31ct off-round M. Abominabilis pearl are posted on the Nautilus thread (LINK).

[pattye]

Remarkable images! Thanks again, Steve!

[lisa c]

Ooooooh, warp drive and worm holes, pearls, hurricanes, DNA, repetetive spiral themes in the Universe; glorious photos, thank you

[Caitlin]

And thank you for the soaring prose!

[lisa c]

We can call it 'Sprose', like Jeremy's 'Poogle'.

[Narcissa]

I remembered this old thread today as I set up my day's worktable, so I took pics.

Last May we vacated our house for major renovations. We decided not to rent a temporary house but to camp on our rural place for the summer. So this summer I packed a workbag and inhabited park picnic tables in the sun for playing with pearls.

Summer has turned to fall, and the house is months behind schedule, and we are still betwixt and between. Sunny days in the Pacific Northwest autumn are not a given, so I took time today to work again, this time at the sea's edge. I worked till my fingers were too cold to behave quite properly... about an hour and a half. Wearing the results now.

[lisa c]

I'm awestruck.

[Ramona]

I am so jealous. About both the sight and the cold. After having temperatures between 90 to 115 degrees nonstop between March and mid September, it is finally autumn in Texas, too. But it still gets hot during the day. Working with your scenery in front of your eyes must be haven.

[Adeline Leigh]

Karin, deep down we all know we recognise ourselves in each other I laughed when I read you sew, knit and paint.. oh what will we all do without our creative pursuits though I readily (and ashamedly) admit I have left many an incomplete project in its wake (stained glass and scrapbooking, anybody?). Sarah's workspace has a vibe of such joie de vivre and it comes across in her quirky pearl selection (Don't you just love that!). Steve's just proves I need to invest in some real equipment other than relying on my point-and-shoot and the providence of sunlight. Narcissa's just makes me flat plain envious! Lisa C, your fluent musings are very much welcome but show us a few pictures so I can have a window into the whole you, pretty please...

Indulge me a little as I reminisce a bit. Here's my little pink and white studio in Melbourne where I used to work on a table overlooking the roses and bamboo in the courtyard. The little ones will be sprawled underfoot on the hardwood floors (drawing, crafting, fighting) as by day, I worked on my legit research and by night, I indulged in my fun stuff (*wink wink*). If you peer hard enough, that one ostensible bookshelf in the picture (sans books) had plastic containers that contained my jewellery findings and pink boxes where the goodies were stashed within (out of sight and reach of grubby-handed little girls who, like their mummy, are absolute magpies). And I won't lie and WILL admit that it is usually that neat - There, I've said it; I am Adeline and I am an obsessively neat control freak.

Oh, I am giddy with delight as I share my little studio that I miss so much. I am just praying the spiders, field mice and possums don't desecrate it too much (loose roof tiles and a teeny hole in the attic) till I next see it in next winter. Balmy tropical Singapore does not make for such evocative natural workrooms like Narcissa's, but I tell you what, I will go home, take a couple of pictures and do a compare-contrast post of temperate vs tropical workspaces!

And apologies for this self-indulgent post but it has been so carthartic on such a blah workday! Yay for PG-ers everywhere!

[Jeweljunke]

Here is my little work space. My lamp/magnifying glass is about 35 years old. It belonged to my father in law, who used it for electronics work.

[Adeline Leigh]

Jeweljunke, look at your pro setup. Am impressed, is that what it takes to be a seasoned and expert pearler? And what is that cream board you have positioned some pearls in? What does it do exactly for you; convince me in layman terms so that I can find an excuse to go buy one straight away. In Singapore, I work on the dining table where the northern light comes in best (all the better to see my pearls) and store my gems and pearls on the nearest and most convenient receptacles I can find - PLATES, DISHES, CUPS.

Seriously, thanks for sharing. I am enlightened and awed by your worktables and spaces from tools to the lighting... I think I have to go invest in some serious tools. I counted 14 wire tools (those pincer whatever-you-call-them sitting on that stand there); I am ashamed to admit I own 3 whatchamacallits.

Gawd, I need a whole new pearling and tooling metalanguage if I ever want to be anything like the rest of you.

[KarinK]

Adeline, did you check my space (three tools and a place at the desk that needs to be cleared right after use everytime) or are you just looking for an excuse to expand

- Karin

[Jeweljunke]

Adeline, I wish I was an expert pearler, alas, I am just a Lowly Beader! And the board is a beading board. It helps me lay out designs and lengths, and keeps stuff from rolling around!