Worth It to be Cautious?

I'm a cautious person. I don't jump on a bandwagon easily. I tend to be leary of someone hawking the latest and greatest.

So, in the glassbeadmaking world, that translates to not buying the newest color glass which means it is only now that I've really run Effetre's handpulled Opal Yellow glass through its paces.



I tried out the color when it first came out and wasn't impressed with the brownish rods. I put it away for about 8 months and tried it again when they came out with a "baby chick yellow" opal yellow. I was hoping it would stay a pale yellow so I made some test beads. Wasn't quite sure what to do with the opal yellow because the longer it's in the flame, the colors vary between a pale yellow to blush pink. The variations in color within each bead was what stumped me.



Then it hit me one day, I could use the opal yellow and it's variation in color to represent pale, paste-y skin. Voila! Perfect for Goth Kid beads





I know, I know, I know! Most of the glassbeadmakers use the "reactiveness" of the different colors to create lovely and visually stunning beads. I chose to create pale paste-y skin! But only a glass color that will change color based on the amount of time it's heated will allow me to re-create that skin color in glass.

Most recently, I've combined the opal yellow with a blue iridescent glass for a stripe in the spirals. The opal yellow serves as a perfect contrast to the iridescent blue.




Having done all that with the opal yellow, I finally did get around to using the reactiveness in opal yellow - I finally gave in to the pressure of peer conforminity - I used Pink Gold (rubino) glass on the opal yellow to create orange and then again with Orchid (EDP) and copper green to create lines.

Opal yellow is really a fabulous color, was it worth it to be cautious?

Blog Work Out

Ok, I've been blogging for awhile now. It's time to change things up a bit, give the blog a work out so to speak. I set myself a couple of short goals - write short, and more interesting (hopefully) posts.

To help myself with my goals, I bought a book entitled No One Cares What You Had For Lunch by Margaret Mason of Mighty Goods. The book is full of idea starters - "fill the gaps," "ante up," "be a sage" - something to get you started and keep your blog worth bookmarking and reading everyday. Afterall, if all you ever do is write about lunch, then you're going to get flabby and you'll need that work out.

Lighting up and addiction to color

Ah! Now that I've finished the fall theater experience, I can't wait to light the torch! I have to resist running out there right now so I take a few minutes a browse my favorite inspiration sites.

Have you seen Color Addiction? I've "known" Kandice Seeber from the glass boards and remember when she was the newbie. Well, she's not a newbie anymore and is a master of layering colors to broaden the glass color palette. Kandice reviews glass colors and weighs in on each one - I do find myself wishing she would write more about layering colors to create a particular hue like she does with Effetre's transparent lavendar. But that's a minor point - Kandice gives good advice and reviews the colors fully. She's "grown up" to be an admired master of color.

She's here!

My midrange burner (torch)! She arrived on time and is in my studio just waiting to go! She really makes my minor look, well, minor! I'm glad I decided on the midrange first instead of the Red Max - which is bigger than the midrange. I would have been overwhelmed by the Red Max - the midrange is just right!

Is it just me?

Or are you having trouble finding curtains you like? I painted the living room in September and it has been curtain-less since then. Yesterday, so disgusted at having gone without for so long, I bought some chocolate brown lined taffeta curtains at $250.00 for 1 window! I have two in the living room. Yikes! I don't even like the curtains that much!

Have you done that - spent too much money on something for the house and not really liked it that much? Is it just me?

More fire!!

I finally did it! I bought more fire for the studio and here she is....a Nortel midrange with premix top. No, it's not sexy and in fashion, but she's mine and can't wait to meet her next week!

What does this mean for my customers? More beads, more sculpture, boro glass and all faster. YAY!

Halloween at ABS!!

Happy Halloween! Hop on over to ArtBeadScene to add your Halloween art bead creations to this month's drawing. I'm one of the sponsors so there are lots of cool handmade art beads to be had simply for entering an art bead piece.

Variation on a spiral

Here's a variation of the spiral I've been working on. Iridescent blue with unpredictable opal yellow. Abstract and fun!

Halloween is coming

Time to make the beads....

Busy in the studio making beads. Artbeadscene has a great theme in store for the holidays - gotta make the beads!

Halloween approaches Goth Kid is ready!

Goth Kid looks scary to some but I know Kid's heart is soft.

Off topic post....

Off topic post today - I'm bleary eyed from the events of the weekend and my torch was off for the weekend because of it. Saturday night while my son and his girlfriend were at the homecoming dance at his high school, the phone rang. It was the school calling, my son was hurt and being taken by ambulance to the local emergency room.

It's the worst phone call in the world. It scares the be-jeesus out of you. Thankfully, it wasn't life threatening. He had dislocated his knee when he slid on the dance floor. Spent Saturday night and early Sunday morning at the emergency room while they put him to sleep to push the bone back into place. He's in a soft cast now for the next four weeks.

I didn't feel sleep deprived yesterday but it's caught up with me this morning. No sleeping in today and a late sign language interpreting job tonight. Hopefully, I'll catch up and post a little later in the week.

I did get a chance to post to my crochet blog this past weekend....you can pop on over there if you'd like!

Beads and books....BeadLit

Beads and books...is there nothing better? I have a huge collection of books (and beads) of all kinds, literature, history, biography, how-to's. A large portion of my library is Bead related literature - BeadLit. I love BeadLit so much, I started twittering the first lines of bead books with a link to buy the book through Powells.com. Each month or so, I post all the BeadLit Twitters on the Beadlit Blog.

Doin' my part to spread the bead-love!

Variation on a theme: Spirals

I toyed with the idea of a spiral-on-a-bead in the bead set I made for last week's Collaboration Exploration (see below). Laura Bracken included the blue/green spiral in her art necklace, Flight of Man and Bridgitte Tucker created her Del Mar series with them. Yet I made this little beauty first. As a prototype bead, I wore it everywhere to make sure the design could hold up to wear before I offered it to my customers. It passed the wear and tear test and I made the spirals for the Collaboration. Now it's time for this one to step into the spotlight!

Collaboration Exploration: Part Deux

A couple of months ago, I coordinated a collaboration between another beadmaker, Melanie Lukacs, a designer, Jean Yates and myself. I had so much fun with that one, that I've been working on another collaboration. Swapping beads with other beadmakers has its perks, you get to work with new beads that always inspire and create wearable art. Can't get much better than that! I swapped a set of spirals with beadmaker/designer, Bridgitte Tucker. Bridgitte sent me a lovely set of her enameled copper stations and links in deep blues and greens. Bridgitte and I teamed up with designer, Laura Bracken, who creates stunning jewelry pieces made with art beads.


Bridgitte and I decided on a color palate and then made a set of beads to send to each other and the Laura. I was so excited when I opened the package of beads that Bridgitte had sent. I haven't had the chance to work with enamel pieces and I was thrilled to receive them. In the package was a set of enameled stations, one large rectangle with holes on each corner and two round stations with a hole on opposite sides. They were a lovely hue of blue on copper with a weathered patina.

I was immediately taken with the patina on the copper that accented the blue enamel.I had made a set of copper double head pins earlier - I like the patina on the copper head pins - a red/purple color that accented the blues in Bridgitte's pieces perfectly. Setting aside the large rectangle enamel for another exciting project, I decided to use one of the round enameled stations.

I strive to create pieces that are symbolic - the glass spirals I create reflect the cycle of one's life - with this collaboration, I wanted to create a pendant that included fundamental symbols so that it had an underlying universality. Inspired by Mary Hettmansperger's Fabulous Woven Jewelry I used the double head pins to create a woven copper station of my own to incorporate and tie the enamel station to a iridescent spiral of green and blue. I repeated the spiral by creating a coil copper bail to hang the pendant from to finish the look and not mix metals.

Without further adieu, today's collaboration is entitled, "Universal Truth."

Thank you, Bridgitte and Laura for joining in on the collaboration! It has been an honor and a pleasure working with you!

Drum roll please....another Collaboration!!

I just can't get enough of collaboration! So, I coordinated another one! Tomorrow I'll unveil the piece I made along with my partners-in-collaboration, beadmaker/designer Bridgitte Tucker and designer, Laura Bracken .

Development: Small dishes

In development for several months - I feel ready to unveil a new line I've been developing - small fused glass dishes. Small 5 inch by 5 inch square dishes to use for sushi, soap, candy or as a catch-all on your desk. This one is made of transparent bronze colored glass with hand applied paisleys. It was fused onto a kiln fabric so the bottom has texture and won't slide on your furniture. It's hard to see in this picture, but the middle of the plate has an impression, a hollow so the edges are higher than the middle - it's not a flat plate but rounded. The bronze allows it to go with any decor. I've done several of these plates and have combined lampworked pieces into them. I'll be posting them over the next week. Stay tuned!

What does a beadmaker do when she's not making beads?

A week ago, I went to Rockin' at the Knox - the annual fundraiser for the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Headliner was Elvis Costello - one of my favorite musicians! He performed Green Shirt which he hasn't performed in years - over articulating the "t" and "k" at the end of the words - awesome. The encore was What's So Funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding" a song I've been blaring on my car stereo every morning. It poured that evening - all of the concert goers were soaked but most of us stayed.

My son, the budding photojournalist, took these pictures. Upon arrival at the festivities, he went to the stage and stayed there the entire 6 hours! For me, these shots wer worth it.

The best thing about the concert, though, was that I was standing next to my 15 year old who loved Elvis as much as I did! He was very impressed his Mom jumped up and down and screamed the lyrics along with him. Doesn't get any better than that - I am a lucky person!

Fall Colors in a Hollow Focal....

I've succumbed to fall - a hollow bead in olive, kissed with brown frit and drizzled with intense black.

Studio Improvements

Every home improvement project takes longer than expected. I installed new ventilation in my studio - a more powerful fan and added a hood to enclose my work bench. I planned on a few hours one morning and it took the entire day! Now that the ventilation is in, I can order a bigger torch.