Saturday, June 30, 2007

Etsy Showcase or Great beads go to a Great home!



The Etsy showcase ended in some successful adoptions! These lovely beadies were purchased and are going to a good home! Yippeee!! I'm looking forward to see what the customer makes from them!

In other Bead World news, I'm saddened to tell you that Urban Glass will no longer host the spring Bead Expo. Urban Glass is a glass studio - so it's not the end of Urban Glass, just the end of the Bead Expo. Good luck Urban Glass!

Friday, June 29, 2007

Seed beads and crochet....




Something a little different for this Friday - I am enamored of seed beads and crochet and have been for a long time. When I hit a creative block in beadmaking, I'll crochet or beadweave to get my juices flowing again. Here's a picture of soft bangle bracelet I made completely. I handfelted the underlying felt rope and then I bead crocheted the bangle together. I wanted just a peek of the yellow felted rope with the red beads to give it high contrast. It's soft and blingy! Can't get much better than that!

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Etsy Showcase!




Lampwork Diva is one of the featured artists on the Etsy Showcase for June 28, 2007. The Showcase has alot of awesome stuff on it daily. So go over there and check out today's Showcase!

P.S. that I can't forget: Happy Birthday to my nephew, Shane today! How'd he get to be in his 30's? :-)

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Make your Bead Blog Reading Easy

I like to read a bunch of jewelry/bead blogs and I found a way to make reading them easier - BLOGROVR. It's an add on for the web browser, Foxfire. Foxfire is PC and Mac friendly so anyone can download it and get the add ons. I've added it to my website - it's a little BLOGROVR icon on the left under the BWO Crow. Once you get it, here are a few blogs that are worth subscribing to:

ME! Lampwork Diva
Art Bead Scene
Earthenwood Studio Blog
Humblebeads Blog
Elaine Ray
Lori Greenberg

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Ready to Go! Hair Spirals


I mentioned earlier that I welcome customer suggestions and that one of those suggestions was to create a spiral to wear in dreadlocks. When I make a new bead, I like to wear it or have someone wear it to test it out - is it wearable? Some designs are beautiful but aren't wearable. The spirals have been very wearable. So when I made the hair spirals, I wanted the customer who suggested it to wear them. Here is my customer, Amber, wearing the glass hair spiral. Doesn't she look adorable?!? Since Amber has given them the thumbs up, I'm going to add them to my website and Lampwork Diva's ETSY shop

Amber has her own etsy shop - Raimbow Tree where she makes fabulous handcrafted felted headbands, bracelets 1960's style dresses and such - make sure you stop by and see what she's up to!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Seed Beads!




I love seed beads! I've made alot using them over the years - here's a simple one that shows off the seeds nicely in a multi-strand bracelet. A few silver lined transparent seed beads give it sparkle - ooooh la la!!

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Beads & Seeds!




Here is the first in a series of "Beads & Seeds" I'll be offering for seed beaders. I've paired the 21mm by 31mm oval periwinkle "webbed" flameworked cabochon with a set of periwinkle/multi-hued size size 11 seed beads. I have lots and lots of seed beads that I don't use as much as I did before so I'm pairing them up and letting them go! The seeds are a full vial worth. They'll be going up on ETSY.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Panda-Licious!



Inspired by the Amigurumi dolls I've been crocheting and the Anime pandas I've seen, I've been at the torch creating little pandas - some so cute you just want to eat them! Hey! That's a cute idea...Voila! Panda Cupcake!

I've put them up on Etsy and on my website! They're Panda-licious! But you can't really eat them!



Thursday, June 21, 2007

Your to do list today - check out these!


Check out my interview on ArtBeadScene today. I love those beadmakers! They're the best group of business women on the planet - not to mention wildly talented!

While you at it, drop on over to etsy and see the new Treasury sponsored by ArtBeadScene

Friday, June 08, 2007

Flickr!


I love Flickr! So many beautiful pictures and so little time!! Here's a yummy concoction from Melissa Lee for the ArtBeadScene June Challenge, Let them Eat Cake! A sweet necklace to commemorate her son's 1st birthday, it's full of whimsical Lezlie Belanger (aka Canterbury Keepsakes) lampwork beads. Pass the cake, please!

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

A Foray into the Outdoor Market




As a beadmaker or jewelry designer, have you ever sold your wares at an outdoor market? Last year a thread on one of the glass boards encouraged jewelry designers to try the market. So I did some research and found a local market and reserved my space.

If I were a fiction writer, the outdoor market would be the place to do character research. The market is a true feast of the collective American persona. That persona is quirky, very quirky. It may be unfair to think someone's personality is represented by their Sunday morning clothing, a Tweety t-shirt, a pair of lime green terry shorts that are too tight and worn out or the straw cowboy hat. But it seems that some aspect of personality is evident Sunday morning despite the fact it's 8 30 am.

A 60ish woman wearing a pink floppy hat, pink lipstick and fuschia linen shirt walks over to my table. I feel awkward and out of place with my table full of simple single bead necklaces. Most of the tables here are vegetables, flowers, antiques, garage sale items and baseball cards.

I break eye contact with the Pink Woman to see a 50ish man walking by wearing a a white shirt with a diagonal print of guitars. Wonder if he has a velvet painting of Elvis at home? Or does he make guitars?

The woman in the pink floppy hat looks up from my table and says, "Pretty" with her pink lips and walks away. I looked down at her feet, she has on cotton candy pink Crocs.

Characters, Americans are characters.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Updates to Website



Spent yesterday updating my website You can order a custom color in the Spiral beads. I've also added a page for beads featured on Art Bead Scene for the monthly challenge. So go on over and check it out!

Friday, June 01, 2007

Bad hair day.....


I've been working on making faces in glass....this is my latest bead. I like the face but what's up with that hair? I was trying for a crown but this is what I came up with. I'm hair impaired. She's having a bad hair day!