Tips and Tricks of the Trade - Blu Tack

Today's post is the first in what I hope will be a series of blog posts sharing tips and tricks of the trade for your various crafty endeavours.  Some of them will be my tips, others will be those I have found on other blogs and eventually I hope to have guest bloggers sharing their tips of the trade.

Now those of you who have read the post title are probably wondering how Blu Tack could possibly have any use in jewellery making (or have I been living in the dark ages and everyone already does this?)  Well, let me tell you that it has come in very handy for designing my more intricate cabochon pieces!

Hanako Brooch

While I can easily mentally visualise how many of my designs will look before I put the required supplies together, I find that pieces which contain a lot of different parts or colours are far too difficult for me to "imagine".  For those pieces, I like to lay out my beads, cabochons or other supplies in a rough semblance of the final product before I give myself the "go ahead" to create a piece.  And this is where my trusty Blu Tack comes in!

Pieces, such as the Hanako brooch above, which are composed of lots of small cabochons are pretty fiddly to put together and the slightest bump can lead to tears and hair pulling when you have disrupted your nascent design for the tenth time in as many minutes.  So I like to use Blu Tack to hold my cabs in place while I am planning my design layout, allowing me to easily change placement of any element without the risk of knocking off other elements.  Blu Tack is also handy for simpler pieces, such as the Elysia cuff (below) and Vivienne necklace, which by their shape make it impossible to balance loose cabs while I decide which design works best.

I hope this funny little tip helps you in your creations.  Or do you already use this cheap and handy item in your creating?  If you do, please feel free to share your Blu Tack tips with all the Two Cheeky Monkeys readers!