Using Computers To Help

Here's a photo I took the other day. It's a cabachon that Jon made. The photo isn't very good, because you can see all the heavenly colors it has in it. What I did was cover the back and part of the front with a bead woven bezel. Since the cabachon has no hole in it, there's no way to attach it to anything except with a bezel or with prongs in a setting. This way, the beaded covering can now be attached to a necklace or other object. My plan is to attach it to an amulet bag that I've been working on. But making a little beaded bag is a time consuming proposition.

I'm trying to create a pattern on the beaded bag that echoes the pattern in the stone itself. An idea that I have is to take a clear photograph of it and then translate it using a graphing program. I could plot it out by hand on graph paper I suppose, but the program would certainly make it very easy. I spent time this afternoon looking at bead and counted cross stitch programs that enable you to take a photo or a scan and import it into the program. Then the program automatically translates it into a chart that you can follow.

One thing that's nice about the charting programs is that they also allow you to "draw" on the digital graph paper and then "color" in the shapes. In that respect, it's like one of those old Paint programs on Windows. Well, I suppose the Paint program is still part of Windows, but I haven't used it for ten or twelve years. And the Paint program didn't create the graphs.

The charting program is an obvious use of the computer. And I've known about them for about ten years as well. I worked in an office where several of my co-workers use that kind of program to create counted cross stitch patterns. I wish I'd had a program like that in the days when I was doing counted cross stitch. It certain would have made life easier. I think about getting back to some counted cross stitch, but I don't have time. Anyway, I can achieve the same kind of affect with beads and that fits in with what I'm doing now. The question is whether I want to spend enough time going in that direction to warrant spending the money for the software program. I'll have to think about it.

Recently, I gathered together all my jewelry photos from various folders on my computer and copied them into a folder that I point the Windows screensaver to. That way, when I don't type on the computer for awhile, I get a stream of photos of my own and other people's jewelry. I've also included fabric samples to use as color schemes. And I find that I'm really enjoying the jewelry. The photos that come up on the screen are larger than the ones that I look at as icons in the folders and so I can see more detail. The other thing is that I'm a firm believer in catching a glimpse of something. I'll glance at a photo just as it fades away and get an impression that I wouldn't get if I look straight ahead at it and study it. Sometimes a glimpse like that will give a good suggestion that you wouldn't get otherwise. I try to take advantage of those moments in life.