I use the grit, too, even though I had read that it can get imbedded in
the surface of the clay. AFter polishing with polyurethane, though, I
kinda liked the texture-y feel. Now it depends on what I plan on doing
with the beads

Yeah, the stain brushes require some modification, but it's pretty
simple. The brushes snap off and underneath is a little plastic disc
that spins around. I put sticky velcro (hook side) on that, then cut
circles (about the size of a quarter) out of sanding sponges and put the
velcro (loop side) on that, and stick it to the brush handle. When the
sandpaper wears out, I cut out another circle and velcro it on.

I was lucky enough to catch them on sale, too, so I have four, for four
different grits; that way, I just go through the process with each brush
and don't have to change the sandpaper while I'm working.

I use this baking rack with pins (http://tinyurl.com/6cppo), and leave
the beads on the pins until I'm done with the sanding and buffing; makes
'em easy to hold on to.

Whew! That's a long post for a Sunday morning

Cheers,
Carla

Polly S. wrote:
Carla wrote:

Polly, are you using sandpaper chips or tumbling grit?

I still use the tumbler if I've got a lot of beads to do at once.
Lately, though, I only end up making like five-ten beads at a time.
The Tide stainbrushes take care of sanding those pretty quick work.


I tried using sandpaper chips (400 then 600) and saw little improvement
so I tried using the finer of the tumbling grits, even though I read
this would be messy. I've gone through 2 steps and am very happy... one
more step with polishing grit to see how far I can take them!

I was wondering about the Tide stainbrush... Doesn't it have a large
head on it? If so, isn't it hard to hang onto the beads. And assuming
you can change/modify it, how? and what do you use?

belated permission to pick your brain???