HMONG CREATIONS

Monday, August 27, 2018

How to store Hmong jewelry

By Pang Nya Hmong Creations

I always receive questions about how to store Hmong jewelry. in this blog I will briefly explain how I usually store my items. I was going through my necklaces and this was a perfect example I wanted to show you all about how not to store your necklace and how to store your necklace. Back in November 2017 I purchased these 2 5 layer necklaces. they are second silver. I was so excited that I took out one necklace tried it on and I didn't put it back in a plastic bag. The other necklace I left exactly how it was packaged when I received it. when I open it up today just to check on them I saw that the necklace without the bag had already started to tarnish.

"the necklace not in the bag was tarnished"

I store my necklaces in these bags. I purchased a couple of them during the Labor Day tournament in Oshkosh. Every year I go they have always had some there. The couple is usually right in the front when you enter. they have a smaller booth but it's usually right in the front near the food court side. They usually hang it up on their tag so you have to be looking high. I believe I purchased these for $20 each. I think $20 is definitely a bargain. I've seen them go as high as $50. I believe the front and back is faux leather. The inside is lined with cotton with two pockets where you can put the necklace on each side. It also comes with a tie where you can tie the necklace.

Store your necklaces in zip lock bags.

Watch the video above to see me take out the necklace is from the bag. as you can see the necklace that is kept inside the bag is still nice and silver color. But the one that I left out and did not put back in a bag is clearly tarnished on the bottom part.

I keep all my jewelry that I sell in Ziploc bags. I put them in a container and then I put that container into a Ziploc bag. These two years I have been using the 2 gallon Ziploc bags I've purchased from eBay. They are bye RI- Pac and are about $30 for 100 bags which makes it about $.30 per bag. I do believe they are definitely worth it because when you have large items you could fit them into the bags. My containers are used to store my charms are pretty large so it helps that the bag is large.

Second silver from what I understand are items that are either silver plated with a low percentage of silver or it is solid silver plus possibly copper or another metal which is high in content. why it tarnishes or becomes a patina color is because the copper or metal reacts with air and sulfur that's in the air. So to prevent that from happening you have to store it in a sealed container so air is not constantly moving or the flow is not constantly moving in the item.

2 gallon zip lock bags to the rescue.

even though I placed this necklace in the bag it was not irritate so you did have tarnishing around the edges. So now I always keep all my items in plastic clear bags and then I put it in the linen bag. check out my other blog post to show you how I cleaned my silver.

In the above picture I show you guys again how nice these bags are because it fits a whole big necklace like this where you don't have to worry about it being folded or any of the parts getting caught together because the bag is big enough.

The top photo there is a picture of the back of the necklace how it should be worn and then the front of the necklace where the two parts single in the front. I have also seen people wear that black piece in the front which it looks beautiful as well. Again the necklace is five layer but it's hollow inside because it's all seconds silver. One tip I wanted to mention when buying these are asking the seller to take a picture underneath the necklace. I have seeing some where the underneath it's actually just flat it doesn't have the round part if that makes any sense to you. Definitely the one with the round part where it goes all the way around are better than the flat ones. When you wear it also it looks a lot better that if it were flat in the back. So I would definitely ask your seller to show you the back.I believe most of the flat ones are third silver so if someone is trying to sell you one that is flat in the back and it's not round like the pictures that I have posted definitely I would look for a different color I believe most of the flat ones are third silver so if someone is trying to sell you one that is flat in the back and it's not round like the pictures that I have posted definitely I would look for a different seller I was able to find a flat back and just show you guys below what I mean hopefully it makes more sense when you see the picture.

As you can see there that item has the flat back nd is Hollow. third silver will tarnish faster than seconds silver. The quality is not as good.

Hallow necklaces are most likely 3rd Silver.

I bought these necklaces from a Facebook seller. It cost me $85 per necklace. They also have different sizes. So I would definitely recommend you ask the seller to measure the necklace for you before purchasing because most of the necklaces these days are very small and fit children only. If you are plus size like me definitely you need them to measure it for you. I was fortunate to be able to buy this one which is a size ex L and it fits my neck perfectly and is not too tight.

As you can see this time I put the necklace in to the Ziploc bag as well as the other parts. And here is the inside of the bag where it's pretty deep in there and then you see the two strings that are on the top middle part where you could tie it if you wanted to. And here is the Sideview of the zipper part which is black or you can zip the whole bag open.

I hope this blog has helped you understand why your second silver jewelry will tarnish and how to slow down the process. Please leave a comment if you have any additional tips that can help others store their jewelry. don't forget to subscribe and follow me on Facebook for new posts.

My Etsy Shop > http://hmongcreations.etsy.com

My Youtube > http://youtube.com/c/hmongcreationsllc

My Facebook > https://www.facebook.com/hmongcreations

My Instragam > https://www.instagram.com/hmongcreations

My Pinterest > https://www.pinterest.com/ptyang3

Thank you for visiting! Have a great day!

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Trinket boxes

In 2015 I started to collect vintage trinket boxes. The smaller they are the more delicate they are the more I love them. There's a reason why I collect trinket boxes and maybe one day I will post a new blog about the reason. I just wanted to share with you guys a little bit of my ccurrently I am obsessed with micromosaic trinket boxes. my very first micromosaic trinket box was purchased from Columbus antique Mall which is about 30 minutes from Madison and Columbus Wisconsin. If you guys have not checked it out plan to spend one whole day there. They do close at 4 PM so you want to go there early. It's pretty much A huge warehouse that's three floors full of antique vendors displaying their items. I used to go there almost at least once a month. But now with kids we hardly ever go. I did however do my son's first year photo shoot there with all the items they had we were able to get a really cute photos.

I also have started loving the clonossien asian boxes with the blue inside. I didn't realize they came in very small sizes. My newest addition is that little blue vase looking at one at the top they are next to the big silver box. It has a removable top which is so adorable. The silver box in the back actually is from my husband for our 10 year anniversary that something he got for me that he engraved.

as I started collecting micromosaic i've started to realize how similar they are to Hmong paaj ntaub. my mom always referred to certain pieces as "mog mog". I never really understood what that meant until I started to collect my own traditional hmong pieces. so the word actually means the delicacy of the piece. So when you look for traditional pieces you want to look at how they stitch the items together. You want the stitches to be as tiny as possible and the fabric lines that they have embroidered together to be very fine. Those pieces are the best pieces to purchase. another thing you want to look for is the corners. The corners need to be a sharp point where the fabric is folded nicely into the edge. If it is not nicely folded in the edge you might not be getting the best quality of the item. These days there are a lot of productions so you really need to keep an eye out for quality items. Even though they are last in price you might not be getting what you're paying for. A couple years back I purchased two small baby dresses that were traditionally made. I love them in the pictures but when I receive them the ribbons that they sold on we're already freezing and the quality was just horrible. I paid about $90 per dress. And I was pretty disappointed in it. so I would recommend if you are making a large purchase for any long and rotary to have the seller take tons of pictures for you front and back and the corners to a sure that it is a well-made. I know right now for a big plus the two sashes salt for almost $500. It would be unfortunate if you pay that much money and recved A poorly made item. I will do a blog posts of that in another post.

here is a sneak peek of behind the scenes of my pearls that are flat that I use for my ID reels and my trinket boxes.

Monday, July 30, 2018

REVIEW of Brother Sewing Machine LX 3817

Brother Sewing Machine LX 3817

by PangNya

Google Image

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b_WL34Nxic

Hi everyone! Are you looking for new sewing machine! Well this is my quick review of the LX3817. So sorry about the video above I did the review when I was live on Facebook so I jumped around quite a bit. Unfortunately my other brother that I had for probably maybe over 8-10 years broke. What I think happened was that my needle actually broke and fell into the hole. I wasn't even able to crank the side knob. I would shake the machine and every time the needle moved a little I would be able to turn the knob but once it got seeded in the hole again then it would be stuck.

I opened everything up and unscrewed the thing but I just could not get to the turning bobbin holder on the inside. I wanted so do this review for anyone who is thinking about purchasing this sewing machine.

Walmart.com

When I bought the sewing machine it was on sale at Walmart.com for $55. I would recommend checking online first to see if you would get a better deal than just buying it in store. They can do a price match and will honor the price as long as its on Walmart.com. Today I looked and its back to its original price of $72.00.

WHY I RETURNED IT: ONE REASON

This machine was NOT made for heavy fabrics!

I guess this machine would be okay for light fabrics but honestly I think you should just save your money and spend an extra $20 and get the more expensive one.

Lets talk about needles. I usually sew with thick or normal thickness material so I never buy the blue or orange color needles. The orange needle is for light weight material like chiffon. It is also a thinner needle so it pokes smaller holes in the fabric.

Walmart.com

Google.com

Schmetz is the brand that I purchase. It comes in a pack of 5 purple needles. Make sure you check the bands on the needle becausse they also sell a pack that comes with all 3 kinds of needle. Another pointer is that at Joann they sell these needles way in the back by the scissors. If you check by the actual sewing machines the only universal needles you'll see are the ones by Singer which are a lot more expensive. These are my to go to because of the price and the ability to buy just one color/ type of needle.

BACK TO THE REVIEW:

For this machine, I think I changed my needle maybe maybe at least 10 times with sewing an apron. My needle would get misaligned and then it would hit the bottom metal plate and then break the needle. This machine I believe would be better if you wanted to do some kind of embroidery because the needle is very unstable. The needle is very easy to push around.

Here is a picture of just the reverse button. To reverse so you just push the button down. This makes your fabric go backwards. So you are able to backstitch. Always remember to backstitch so that your fabric won't unravel.

Here is a picture of the dail that is on the sewing machine. As you can see numbers six through 11 are just a standard straight stitches. Number is 12 through five are zigzag stitches. Number one is a stitch where you can make a button. You choose each setting to where you want to start the stitch and you can create a button hole that way. My go to's are definitely number 11, number 10, and number five. That's basically all I use on this machine.

Here I want to show you guys when I was sewing the canvas apron. It's pretty thick fabric. It's basically four pieces of very thick fabric together. What happens is the needle will get misaligned and it will hit the bottom of the metal plate. When that happens my needle breaks. Again as I mentioned above I always use the purple needle. Which is the strongest needle and is made for heavy duty material.

As you can see in the picture below the needle is hitting the bottom plate and when that happens then the needle breaks. See video to see it happen. I believe this happens because this machine the

piece that's holding the needle is very flimsy it's not held in place and you are easily able to move that piece back-and-forth left and right. . Versus my old sewing machine I was not able to do that. This machine is more for embroidery where are you can move the hand piece where it holds the needle very easily but the thing is that this machine doesn't even have embroidery settings. So I don't know why they made it that way for this machine.

The needle easily gets misaligned and hits the bottom which breaks the needle.

HERE IS HOW YOU FIX IT

How you can fix this problem is you want to pull the needle to the right and then pull it forward towards you. Its almost like a jigsaw puzzle where you have to push it just right so it realigns.

I returned it the next day because I was not going to be wasting more needles when sewing thick material. Another interesting thing I found was that when I looked up a similar machine on Sam's Club it actually states light weight full-size sewing machine. So I think it is misleading that Walmart does not state that this machine may just be made for light weight fabric.

"it actually states light weight full-size sewing machine ..."

What I ended up doing was going on eBay and buying my exact same machine that I had because it is a discontinued model. It is the Brother LX2500. I noticed on the LX2500 machine the piece where it holds the needle does not move left or right or forward or back it just stays right in the center and you can't move that piece at all. So a pointer when looking at sewing machines depending on what your main use will be is to CHECK THE NEEDLE PIECE. Get on that you can move it side to side and back and forth for embroidery but get one that does move for regular straight sewing.

Brother LX2500 to the rescue!