stretchiness

The latest update on my ring: I'm now polishing it up.

And some examples of the things I've done lately:

But the most exciting thing is that I got some elastic and I can make stretchy bracelets!

I got Elasticity (by Beadalon) which is designed for beading. It's extremely strong and it's plastic, really, not elastic, so it stretches but it won't 'stretch out' (i.e. over-stretch, I think). That's what they claim, anyway. It's also extremely expensive, but worth it if it's stronger, and it is really smooth.

But I initially found it very difficult to use - any knot I tried, including the one they recommend (a surgeon's knot), unravelled itself. The elastic just seemed to want to be straight. So I was on the verge of taking it back but luckily Tony saved the day and worked out a way of doing it. He did a knot with the two ends together, pulled that really tight and then did another two normal half grannies, pulling them both really tight after each one. That held it.

So the secret to tying Beadalon Elasticity so it stays tied is to use two different types of knot and pull it really bloody tight!