Holiday Sale!

Holiday Sale!!!
Until January 1, 2010 everything in the shop is 10-15% off. Also any order over $75 will receive free shipping!

November

November is the time that snow flies, the leaves have fallen. The time for hot cider and cocoa and curling up to watch movies with friends. It's also the time for NaNoWriMo, which I've decided to once again take part in. The goal? 50 thousand words in 30 days. That's roughly 1,667 words a day.

Yes, people tell me I'm crazy. No, I'm really not. I don't stress about it, don't freak out if I don't make my goal because really? It's just a goal, and if I write at all I've already succeeded.

Last night I tried an off mandrel leaf. I was so very worried that it was going to thermal crack on me. I'm not used to making off mandrel things, and so for some reason I was terrifyed it was going to crack. It didn't though! Yay! I plan on making a lot more of these. They're fun to play with.

Promised

So I got way too excited about these pieces that I thought I'd post the promised photos just a bit early.
I've been playing a lot with silvered ivory. The photo above is definitely proof of that! Top right is Vetrofond dark ivory with silvered ivory shards and a string of goldstone through it. The top left is Vetro Dark ivory again, with dots of violet pastel. The bottom bead is Vetrofond dark ivory, silvered ivory shards and a bit of Double Helix Elextra glass.

Definitely in love with these glasses. Managed to get some CIM Plum and Thai Orchid to play with too. Looking forward to seeing what I can make!

Trying new things

So over the days I've been looking at glass again, at tutorials and thinking up big dreams.

The first tutorial I bought? Amy Kinsch's Taking Reduction Glass by Storm Tutorial.

I've drooled over Amy's beads for as long as I can remember. Often looking through her etsy site and not being able to make up my mind which bead to buy. Now I can try to make them myself! Not only is the technique gorgeous, but the tutorial is easy to read and understand. I'm very excited to try more and more. I have done one bead, but it was wonky and lacked the proper "storm" as it were. Just takes practice!

Other than that? I think I've finally achieved the effect I want when using silvered ivory. Very exciting indeed. I'm half tempted to just play with dark ivory and silver... but I'm telling myself that it will get boring... I'll post photos tomorrow and see what you all think.

Alive!

Yes, contrary to popular (not so popular?) belief- I'm alive!

Working full time plus some sucked my creativity dry. So! I'm back now, the fates decided that I was to be job-less for a while and guess what that means? Light up that torch!

Yesterday I made some simple green rounds to get back into the swing of things. I'm finding that I'm real fond of Effetre's Green Grass Pastel. That stuff is pretty awesome, and when used alone I got some nice color variation. It worked a lot like the old petroleum green for me. Yummy.

Today? Today I pulled out a thin rod of Precision 104 Van Gogh. Tossed it in with some ivory... We'll see what happens. When I put it into the kiln I didn't see much color variation, but I'm hoping that the kiln will bring out some color. I also tried Laguna Blue, another Effetre color. I've had it sitting around forever, but hadn't played with it any. I'm watching my kiln with excitement to see what comes out!

New!!

I've started using my new camera and I'm slowly taking new photos of inventory to add to both the main site and artfire. These are just three of the new bottlecap pendants that I've added to the main site. I have a ton more to add, but I'm doing it in small groups as to not overwhelm myself.
I'm in love with my new Canon Rebel, but I know that I have a ton to learn. Right now I'm working without a macro lens, I'm hoping to remedy that very soon though. It's nice to have something other than a simple point and click in my hands, I used to use a 35mm Canon in my photography classes in school. It was my father's and was completely amazing. It opened up my eyes to the amazing world of SLR cameras....

Look for updates on Etsy, Artfire and the Main Site.

Snow!

Well today in Colorado it's snowing. They say we're going to get anywhere from 4-18 inches depending on what news station you listen to. When I got up at 10am it was lightly snowing, in the past almost two hours the snow has intensified and I'm wondering if they're going to close the mall that I work at...
The good part to all of the snow? More time in the studio. Now, I can't say that I've melted glass or made jewelry in the past few weeks. My most recent task has been cleaning. I'm really trying to re-organize everything.
I did just get a new camera though. I finally got my Canon Rebel. The DSLR that I've been drooling over for years now. I'm hoping to start playing with it today, the set up is amazing and I'm so excited to finally have my camera!

Boys...

Well, boys come and go. Luckily I still have my art to keep me balanced. Recently I've been doing a lot more sketching than glass melting. I want to get back into my costume making. Depending on the costume, I hope to incorporate glass into the jewelry designs.
I'm rather excited that I've been able to design costumes again!

On the glass front, I have a custom order that I'm working on figuring out. I'm excited about the beads, I just have to figure out the correct mix of glass in order to achieve a peacock effect.

New Glass Forum!

Last night I stumbled upon a wonderful discovery with much help from a fellow lampworker and overall amazing woman, Sarah Hornik.
This is a forum for any and all that love glass and lampwork. Whether it's the beads themselves, jewelry with lampworked beads or any other form you can think of.
Come on over and join us. We're a friendly group that has a ton of fun!!!

New creations...

So over the past few days I've been mulling around bead ideas in my brain, and trying to figure out how to make a perfect "round" bead. I would like to announce that I have, in fact made perfect matching spacer beads! The same day I made those, I was playing around with silver and frit and all sorts of wonderful things.

The bead to the left is just one view of one of the focals I made. I love this bead! I used frit from Val Cox, which I am just in love with. Under the frit was a bit of silver foil, which reacted as yellow on the white glass. Also I added some perriwinkle stringer, just because I could and was playing.

There is nothing like being able to sit down and torch for two hours straight. I loved being able to just sit and play, not caring about anything really. It's amazing that I pulled such wonderful things out of the kiln! ...Now to clean them.....

Color

I've started using colors that I wouldn't normally touch. Mainly for an exchange that I'm doing over on Lampwork etc. The idea of the exchange is to make beads out of colors that others consider "ugly" or "fugly".

So far I've played with EDP, Strawberry Sweet, Coral, Opalino Grass Green, and Candy Corn. I think that I'm really fond of all of the beads that I've made so far. Really it's a step out of the box for me- working with colors that I wouldn't think to combine.

Sadly, one of the beads (with the Opalino green and Coral) Looks really Christmas-y. I was hoping the coral would have turned out more orange than red. Silly coral colors.

I'll admit that I burned the crap out of the EDP (Evil purple) and it's a bit hazy and... chalky almost? I need to learn more about the color before I play more with it. I don't like how chalky it turns.

My goodness!

I hope that everyone's New Years was an absolute blast, whether you were sitting at home or out on the town! As for me, I was surprised by my amazing boyfriend who flew into town just to surprise me!!! We stayed home, but had lots of fun playing darts and random games with good friends. There were also marshmallows and s'mores thanks to the fire we had going! Nothing beats a fire and marshmallows.


On the bead front- I've been playing. It seems that I've lost the ability (once again) to make round beads. Ugh. They say that you're supposed to PPP (Practice, practice, practice) but heavens- those round beads are just eating me alive! I'll admit I'm also very frustrated at my camera and the fact that it has randomly decided to hate me and anything that I have the plan on photoing. Where is the summer sun when you need it? The sun is amazing for me when it comes to taking photos... But only 6 months of the year it seems!

I think I'm going to go make melty fire- and sing my heart out while trying to coax my glass Goddess into playing muse for the night. Hope that the days are treating you well!