Goodbye to summer.....

The first day of school always marks the end of summer for me. I feel a little sad today and a bit of excitement. I love it when the days are a bit cooler. Yet the sound of geese flying over my house as I drink my morning coffee makes me melancholy. It's a yearly ritual of mixed emotion regarding the changing seasons. I'm stuck in a transition and transitions are never comfortable but always lead to something new. So I wonder what exciting change this transition will bring me?

What change do you predict is coming your way with the fall transition?

The shoreline....

It's September which means I have to let go of summer...sigh...it always comes too quickly for me. I was organizing the summer vacation photos and was inspired to create a spiral that reminds me of the beautiful hues of green and blue in the water of Lake Huron.

Striped Spirals....

Certain colors of glass will "interact" - when layered on top of one another, the glass colors will create new colors causing outlines, brown halos, and unexpected colorations. I've been playing with the idea in the spirals. This is my latest creation - the striped spiral. You can see a fine line of brown where the blue and the yellow meet. I like the iridescent striping and yellow is always one of my favorites. What do you think?

Today's Treat

Today marks the beginning of a repeating blog series called, "Today's Treat." I'll showcase a piece of jewelry or a special bead with a story behind it. The art beads and jewelry I create has a story behind it, a reason it was created and I'll share those stories with you.

Today's Treat showcases pendants I created with Earthenwood Moon face and Green Girls Studio Dryad head . I have a personal stash of Earthenwood beads - Melanie imbues her beads with her personality, sensitive, earth conscious with attention to detail. Each Earthenwood bead is finely crafted. I sense the same feeling from Green Girl Studios work - each bead has significance - when you create with a Green Girl bead, you're making a statement about the natural environment. Both of these face beads carry their own message so I wanted to create pendants that would stand alone on a single rubber cord.

I paired the face beads with my Glass Spirals and sterling silver. While the moon face and the dryad head speak to the natural world, they're also whimsical. They needn't be too serious. I wanted to create a fantasy pendant and in order to achieve that, I needed wings. Glass wings were created at the torch using silver foil and dichroic glass to make them shimmer. The "wing" beads are versatile and look like wings or tail fins depending on how they're strung. A sterling silver crown completes the fantasy.

Artbeadscene hosts a monthly design challenge with fabulous themes - so hats off to ABS for inspiring me with their August Challenge - Midsummer Night's Dream. This is my midsummer night's dream, what is your midsummer night dream like?

The Wind and Remembering....

I love the wind. It reminds me of the family farm in the summer - there was usually a breeze that would blow through the sheer curtains that my mother always had in the windows. The curtains would float up and bring with it a coolness that just made you feel good.

The wind is the reason I love the Bruce Peninsula- the wind off Lake Huron is strong enough to create the white caps, blow off your hat and tie your hair up in knots. The hour I have to spend brushing out my twisted hair isn't enough to make me avoid the beach or Lake Huron. I go year after year.

Most of us don't like the wind but I do and I'm not always sure why. Something about the wind seems to sweep me up and take me along with it. I feel like the sheer curtains held for brief moments at a time in mid-air and then dropped - giving me that "lose your tummy" feeling. Maybe that's the reason I love the wind - it makes me feel slightly giddy and happy.

Etsy Creative Glass Guild Trivia Challenge

I love glass and all things trivia related to glass. If you're like me, then
the Creative Glass Guild of Etsy (CGGE) has a challenge for you!

BUT FIRST:.... To play, you must join ETSY

WHEN? August 26th at 4pm PST (7pm EST, 10pm UK)

This is a fun trivia contest featuring questions written by CGGE members about the CGGE team and members, it’s kind of a meet and greet, but you will have the chance to win some AWESOME prizes!

We will be giving out a total of 3 glass prize packages! The FIRST place winner will receive a fused glass slider pendant donated by Lisa Hammer




a stained glass butterfly donated by creationsinglass,



AND a fused glass bubble sushi dish donated by glassprimitif , similar to the one pictured below!





WHOA! If that is not enough, the SECOND place winner will receive a stunning pendant donated by Smokeylady54






and the THIRD place winner will receive another stunning pendant donated by Aardvart.






Trivia Game Instructions: It’s easy! I will be posing a series of questions on the to a thread in the Etsy Promotions forum every few minutes. The first person to respond with a correct answer to the thread will receive 4 points, the second person will receive 3 points, the third person will receive 2 points and any other people responding with a correct answer will receive 1 point. At the end of the game, I will tally up the points and announce the top three winners. PLEASE REMEMBER TO POST YOUR ANSWERS IN THE THREAD TO GET YOUR POINTS COUNTED.

**IMPORTANT: Following our first Sunday Street Team Trivia contest, we would like to invite ANY other Street Team to continue this contest each recurring Sunday. Each team, will be responsible for coming up with their own prizes, questions, and administrators of the thread. If you are interested please convo creationsinglass to be put on the schedule! WE plan on working with Sara of EtsyTeams to promote this NEW recurring TEAM EVENT! It’s a great chance to get some additional exposure for your team and make a lot of new friends in the community!

♥A special “Thanks” to lisahammer for helping to organize this contest, blissbyheather for allowing us to modify her original contest, and our talented glass artisans who donated the gorgeous prizes, lisahammer, creationsinglass, glassprimitif, Smokeylady54, and Aardvart. ♥

The Ride Home....

Waiting on the Rainbow Bridge between Niagara Falls Canada and Niagara
Falls USA. On the way home from vacation.
--cindyng

Progress

I'll alter my vacation quote a little for today...vacation is having
nothing to do all day and all day to knit it.....
--cindyng

Vacationing with needles

Took out the knitting needles yesterday to wile away the time waiting
for my teenager to wake up. The breeze brought the smell of the lake and
the sound of Canadian geese.
--cindyng

Vacation Day 3

Spent Tuesday on the beach reading a memoir.....ahhhhhhh
--cindyng

Vacation

Ooopppsss...wrong picture! Couldn't see the screen well in the direct sunshine (love the sunshine)...I'll try again!!

Look for More Mobile Blogging.....

A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.

~Robert Orben

Butterflies make me think of vacations. I snapped these beautiful insects on a vacation a year or so ago. I'm looking forward to taking pictures of the meteor shower on Sunday from the beach on the shores of Lake Huron. Look for a couple of quick posts during the week while I test out the mobile blogging.

You can order online during the week of August 11-19th, 2007. Orders will be shipped August 20th, 2007.

I Need a Plan and the Corning Road Trip Pix.....

I need a plan. Getting the word out on your work takes alot of time and if you're easily distracted like I am, it takes longer. Lately, I've been spending more time online with myspace, blogger, yahoo groups, facebook, bloglines, blogger, Lampworketc, website, etsy, twitter, blogger....I mention blogger three times because that's how many blogs I have. I understand why there are people who do this full time as a job - it can take days to update all the sites and make sure you have a presence. I need a plan, I need to minimize and I need to stop talking and do it.

I'll work on it off line....after vacation.

Remember, I'll be off line August 10 to August 19, 2007. You may order during that time but orders won't be shipped until August 20th, 2007.

If you've been following my saga on the lost USB cord, I found it. I have pictures from the Art Noveau collection at the Corning Museum of Glass. The design on each one is classic Art Noveau and very trendy right now. Enjoy!

Glass beadmaker goes mobile

I've discovered mobile blogging. It's a godsend for me who spends most of her day away from her desktop computer. Mobile blogging allows me to update from my cell phone on the road - sweet!

Twilight and yep, still looking for my USB....

Here's another Niagara Skies bead - this one is made with intense blue for a more transparent effect - like when it just starts to get dark at night. Twilight. Pretty.

Worked on and off yesterday cleaning the office and no luck finding the USB cord to my camera. I think my shutterbug son is the culprit - he denies it - but I'm pretty sure he's got it. Where else could it be? I put a few pieces of glass in the kiln yesterday. Testing out the image transfer paper that I blogged about a few weeks ago - I set up the glass perfectly, fired to full fuse and annealed. Opened the kiln and nothing! Argh! Must be that the image wasn't copied with carbon based toner! The disappointment! It was such a cool image! Oh well, back to the copy store.

Where's my USB cord....

I've been looking around my office for the USB cord to my camera. I've been promising some pictures of Corning and I have new glass soap dishes to show off. Admittedly, I'm messy in my office and studio. I want to have everything out and at my fingertips - that translates into a mess. So, every so often, I "lose" something that I really need to have and it's that event that forces me to re-organize. This time around, it's my USB cord for my camera.

While I'm at it, I've uploaded pictures I took 2 weeks ago of the Niagara Skies series. I'm featuring them this month on ArtBeadScene. The August ABS Challenge Theme is "Midsummer Night's Dream." Go to Cindy Gimbrone Beads and click on the Featured on ABS for special pricing.

Reminder: I'll be on vacation August 10-19th, 2007. Orders may be placed but will not be shipped until August 20th, 2007.

Vacation.....

Ahhhhh - An early reminder for all my customers. I'll be closed AUGUST 10 - AUGUST 19, 2007 - Orders still accepted but will not be shipped until Monday, August 20.

Road Trip: Corning Museum of Glass

Road Trip! I've just printed mapquest directions from my house to the Corning Museum of Glass (CMOG). I love the Glass Flowers that are usually housed at Harvard University but the flowers are on the road and at CMOG this summer. Whoo Hoo! Ok, yeah, I've got to get a life but as a flamework glass artist - those flowers are a masterpiece!

I was downloading info for the museum when I clicked on the link for Flamework Live!. CMOG has re-created the torch of the Czech glass artists who made the flowers in the 1800's. Cool. Take a look at that - how'd you like to have that mounted on your bench at home? The museum acquired an 1800's era flameworking table from the Czech Republic. The oxygen comes from that bellows underneath the bench. Can't wait to see that in person!

Lots of glass to see today - I'll post about it when I get back. Can't wait to see the Harvard Glass Flowers!



(All photos from the CMOG website)

New Pages Added to Website

Quick drive by post today....I'm running a little behind for my freelance sign language interpreting job this morning. I took it last minute after I checked out my bank account! So, I put some more beads and pages up on my website. I've made the Niagara Skies series beads for about 4 years now, if you see me at shows, I always have a few with me. I decided the web needs to see them too! I may add them to wholesale later. Let's see how they sell.

One of a Kinds was added too - these are my prototypes and experimental beads - the ones I like!

Enjoy your day! Leave a note and let me know you've stopped by today! :-)

What I'm doing today....

Collaboration Exploration: Exuberance!

Today I unveil my creation from the jewelry exploration I embarked on with Jean Yates and Earthenwood's Melanie Luckacs.I talked about the Collaboration Exploration on Monday. Yesterday, Jean showcased her lovely "Little Sprite Earrings" and Melanie introduced her Sunken Treasure necklace. I've been enthused about this collaboration since Melanie and Jean said yes to it!


So, with that in mind, I named this necklace, "Exuberance!"

Exuberance includes my spirals in topaz and seafoam green, Melanie's seashell charms. gunmetal chain, gunmetal headpins and Bali-style sterling silver beadcaps. A petite gunmetal lobster clasp is accented with a starfish charm. The topaz and earth tones of the seashell charms are punctuated with the unexpected color of the seafoam green.

I like fluidity in my necklaces so the chain and the spirals placed end to end create a movement to the piece. The gunmetal chain finish gives the piece a vintage look. The spirals lay in the front of the necklace right where you can see them! I've been wearing the necklace around town with my capris and have gotten nothing but compliments! The seafoam color against the earthy topaz fits the summer and yet can be worn right into the fall in winter.

Thank you to Melanie and Jean for joining in this Collaboration Exploration!

Collaboration Exploration

Do you like to go exploring? I used to explore in the woods on my parents' farm when I was a kid. As a beadmaker, I found another way to explore - through jewelry!

I got together with terrific beadmaker and budding designer, Melanie Lukacs of Earthenwood Studios and awesome jewelry designer, Jean Yates to do a design challenge. Melanie and I put together a selection of beads and sent them to one another and Jean. Our goal was to create a piece of jewelry incorporating our selection of beads.

We've been working on our pieces and are ready to unveil them - but not yet. The three of us will be blogging and showing our pieces this week. Too excited to wait?!? (I know I am!!) As a teaser, here are the beads that we've chosen to include in the Collaboration Exploration:

Spirals in Amber and Seafoam Green:









Melanie's Terra Trinkets


Stay tuned for the unveiling of the Collaboration Exploration jewelry design on our blogs this week!

Lampworking on YouTube

YouTube is the people's broadcast network. You can see movies of anything and everything, from good quality to poor quality. I went on the tube the other day to check out the lampworking videos. I was thinking of posting some video on the blog. After screening some of the video, I decided not. The reason is you can't see the hot bead in the flame due to the soda flare from the glass. I won't go into a long explanation about soda flare but the reason flameworkers wear the rose colored glasses (didydium lenses) is that the rose color cancels out the soda flare. We, the audience, need to see the bead. I couldn't really get a good look at any of the glass in the flames. Although the skill of the artists was good, the soda flare gets in the way.

What are Fused Glass Beads?

Since yesterday's post was about fused glass beads, you might be wondering, fused? What's that? Fused glass beads and cabachons are made by melting glass in a hot kiln. Layers of sheet glass are stacked on top of each other and placed in a kiln. The kiln is heated approximately 1400 degrees F to where the layers of glass become molten and fuse into 1 piece of glass. Small pieces of fused glass without holes are cabachons. Holes are made by drilling a hole into the glass or placing a piece of kiln paper between the layers befopre heating in the kiln.

Today, I'm showing two fused glass cabachons. One was a bead whose beadhole was a little rough. It was sooooo beautiful (the periwinkle cab) that I couldn't let it go into the bead trash. So I slumped it in the kiln and then ground the edge and firepolished it. It's gorgeous! Looks like a stone!

Sepia Image Beads on Etsy

"Thoughtful" appeared in the the spring issue of The Flow magazine. The image of a young woman deep in thought is painted with enamels on glass and then melted onto a base bead at the torch. The gold was applied after the image was melted onto the bead.

As a beadmaker who paints images on beads, I'm always fascinated with the image-making process for glass. There's a fairly new process in fusing that applies a shellac onto glass. The image comes out sepia toned and is very detailed. I love the look of it! If you're interested in a how-to, here's a thread on Wetcanvas!

There are Etsy glass artists who fuse beautiful images onto pendants. I've listed a few of them and shown some of their pieces. Since I'm a hand freak (i.e., I collect hands in any form), I had to show a hand! I love hands! This one is Heart Line by the Ethereal Girls









PollyFusia's Jolly Roger is a creative twist on the pirate image that we're seeing all over. The color sets off the sepia tone of the image beautifully!






I like to see artists refining techniques to give a polished look to their work. Twenty Crosses by SquidGlass achieves that with a pattern that goes to the edge of the pendant. A nice detail that makes for a sweet pendant!

Spirals go Wholesale!

Spirals are being offered for wholesale. If you're a qualified buyer, you can now purchase spirals at wholesale prices. Go to the wholesale page on my website for details.

Clearing out the studio

Time to clear out the studio! I'm finding beads I forgot I made! That means theyse are prototypes, experiments, or I was trying to push myself outside my box beads. Poor beadies, neglected by me - I've put them up for adoption for a good price. Just click the title and it will take you to EtSy where you can adopt them!

Lampwork Glass Art Beads and Beadwork

I've been talking about combining seed beads and lampwork art beads lately. The fine gradations in color you can achieve with seed beads is a marvel. Often that is the focus of beadwork. Yet, lampwork art beads can be incorporated into lovely beaded artwork - Art beads are limited only by our imaginations - they can be used in a variety of creative ways. One of those is in Beaded Art such as pictures, sculpture or dolls Cabachons can be used as heads, bodies or as part of the structure of the art piece. Artisan made heart beads can be worked into the beadwork or eye beads used as talismans in the beadwork.

Here is a "painting" done by Rebekah Hodous entitled "Voices"





My prototype art bead yesterday was inspired by beadwork - the texture, the color and the ingenious ways that cabachons and glass beads are worked into the piece. True works of art.

Have you combined beadwork with art glass beads?

Prototype Beads.....

This may not seem to be keeping with the seed bead theme but here's a bead-pendant in the Anime/Amigurumi style - I call her "Goth Kid." She's a prototype - I was trying to create the look and feel of a Beaded Art Doll but the glass wanted to be Goth Kid. The beadhole goes from "ear" to "ear." I like her, pretty color reactions in the body and the black is a good background for all of it.

I think I'll put her up on Etsy later on this week, it seems like the right audience for her. What do you think?

Buttons-Beads

Still thinking outside the box today? I am! Hand button-beads! These are little hands with a hole in the center - like the button-beads yesterday, they can be used as a button on that crocheted purse or as a clasp on your new necklace.