Can you say BUSY!!

I'm just stopping  by here to take a breath and share some of my newer work, and to remind everyone that I'm always up for special orders ~ but please contact me soon!

Currently, I'm working on non-jewelry gift items ~

Here is a set of fruit salad magnets: 

 and of course: more Charmed Dreads :)   Lately, I've been wearing these just on a simple neck cord and I love them!

I have some wine gift sets almost finished too!  So with that, I'll get back to my long list of beads to make,   jewelry to finish, gift sets to put together and holidays to plan!  And if I can squeeze in some housework, I'll

try to get the beads and bead related items off of every flat surface in my house :D                                     

(please don't tell my husband I said that, he might expect me to actually do it!)

New Line of Beads!

So what do you do when you're super excited about a new line of beads!  It's so hard to decide - do you roll out the whole line (i.e. several at once) with hoopla and fanfare?  Or do you introduce them one at a time?  One at a time will get more views in your Etsy shop - and we all know views equal sales.  But all at once makes a more dramatic entrance!  I voted for all at once for this line, I'm just too excited about it to only do one at a time!  So what am I talking about?  

CHARMED DREADS!!

Color and motion drawing attention to your hair!  The charm lets me add elements that I would ordinarily not be able to create on a bead - like dragonflies for instance, I can never get those right! I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoy making them!  I'm headed to the torch to see what else I can do with these - I think today I'll make one with a lizzard, but who knows?  The possiblities are endless!

Ugly Beads

They say if you are making a bead and you decide you don't like it, smash it and make it into a fish.  So what happens if you are making a fish and you don't like it?  I now know the answer to that question ~ Really Ugly Beads! 

As a bonus:  ugly beads take really bad pictures!!  Do I dare attempt fish again today? 

Color Mixing

Yesterday I played around with mixing my own custom colors.  Basically, you take two rods of glass, heat the ends, smoosh them around and pull them into something resembling a new rod.  Actually, it's more like a thick stringer when I do it. :)  I then made clear beads and encased them with the new color - the clear base makes it so my skinny rod of glass will go farther.

This set is made from effetre rosewood and dark ivory mixed about 50/50.  So far it's one of my favorite custom colors!  This is something I will most likely continue to play with, as a matter of fact, I'm off to play now!  Have a great day :)

Shards

This past week I decided to try my hand at shards again. The dismal results from my first attempts notwithstanding - I think I've finally figured it out! :) For those of you that don't know - shards are made by wrapping glass around the end of a hollow tube, blowing until you get something that resembles a lightbulb, then shattering the bulb and using the bits on your bead.

So far, the recipe I've liked the most is ivory glass wrapped in silver foil, burnished in, then rolled in aion powder. This makes a nice organic webbed effect!

The most important lesson I learned doing this is to heat the bead, not the shard! Applying heat to just the shard instantly melts it down to nothing! Sometimes doing it wrong is the best way to learn to do it right. :)

I'm off to the torch to see what lessons I can learn the hard way today! Have a fantabulous Monday!!

New work

I'm working on a few new things - night scenes and ocean scenes. Couldn't be farther apart! But I'm having fun with both :)

Here's a night scene - Blue goldstone background, big yellow moon, tree silhouette and a black bird preparing to take off from a branch.

and from a series of Starfish by the Sea - A red starfish waits on a sandy beach for the cool blue water to cover him.

I have another series of ocean floor beads that I'm working on as well. For now, I'm calling these my 'no fear' beads. My goal is to feel the freedom to add more and more elements to a bead with out the fear that the next step will 'ruin' it! It's a concept that I have difficulty allowing myself to believe :)

Off to the torch!! Happy Monday :)

Glass Stock

The most fun I've ever had with my torch on!!! Four full days of torching with and learning from some of the most amazing artists I've ever met! I learned so much from the classes, but I also learned something from every single person I met there.

This is a picture of Deb Crowely ~ the indominatable force behind the Glass Stock event. She is an incredible artist and also a fun, kind-hearted women who is passionate about glass and infuses everyone she meets with the same passion! Thank you Deb for sharing your knowledge and spirit with all of us :)

The most important lesson I learned at this event was to stop fearing that every new element I added to a bead would be the one to ruin it. I learned a freedom to create that I had never allowed myself before. I haven't put every technique I learned to use - but this one lesson I'm sure will dominate my efforts at the torch - probably for as long as I do this. Thanks again to all the incredible artists who shared so much of their knowledge and their spirit with all of us - You all rock out loud!!