A Story

...Once upon a time there was a girl. This girl really liked glass. She loved seeing what it could do, how others used it. So she started learning to work with glass, to manipulate it in flame and turn it into works of art. Months turned to years and before she knew it she was arriving at the two year anniversary of her start date at the torch.....

Yep. February 18 will be two years! I can hardly believe it! It seems like just yesterday that Melissa was sitting me down at her torch to melt glass. My first beads weren't worth writing home about, but they were MINE!

Remember these?
Yep, those were in fact my first beads. Since then I have learned that glass can do amazing things. Two years later the explosion that comes from thrusting a rod of glass into the flame too quickly still scares the heck out of me!
Then came the first beads at my own torch at home in my very own studio. (I really should post new pics sometime. It has changed SO
MUCH!)





And from there came the point where I stopped being afraid to play with colors. Using colors that people called "fugly" I created some unique focal beads, learning that all colors can be gorgeous when used in different ways.





This year I'm looking forward to more Silvered Glass, I've fallen in love with shards. Here's to a 2010 full of discoveries, play time and gorgeous works of glass!

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!

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 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!

Camera woes

So I've been making a large amount of lampworked beads reciently and I seem to have hit a block in the road. You ask, "What could possibly block you?!"

....My camera. It's a wonderful camera, don't get me wrong. I just seem to have lost my touch. The white balance is off, the pictures aren't sharp enough and nothing I do in photoshop can fix any of that. *sigh* So today I'm going to go out, try and get some good photos in natural Colorado light and after that I get to play surgeon on my light box. There is no other choice.

I think I'm going to use this DiY tutorial on how to put together a light box. I'm very fond of it.

I'll let you know how it all works out! Hopefully I'll have photos soon that look similar to the one in this post!

Reasons..

So I'm rather addicted to the internet, as many are. I spend so much time around the 'net itself that I often forget to post! So- I'm going to share some of my favorite places to visit.

There are going to be lots of links! :D

http://www.starvingjewelryartists.com/ - The forum of a lot of wonderful ladies and gents. This is a jewelry forum that often covers everything from lampwork to metal smithing and even "basic" stringing. I love all of the amazing people there!

http://www.lampworketc.com - Home of wonderful lampworkers and those that work with glass. There are many great and creative people here that I learn from. Definitely one of my favorite forums.

http://www.etsy.com - Of course this is one of my favorite places to visit! What better to do that shop through many many talented artists. I have so many favorites that it almost isn't funny!

http://www.lestbeads.com - The home of the Lampwork Etc Street Team for etsy.


There are a few of the places that have been keeping me from you, my dear readers.

Diversify - Blog It!

"What are the different ways you diversify your business? Most of us sell online, but what other ways do you contribute to your bottom line? Blog it!" -Flaming Hot.

This is an interesting question for me. I started in the jewelry side of things, making jewelry for over 4 years. I started using lampwork in my pieces and then eventually began making the glass beads instead of buying them. That is the beginning of my diversity.

When it comes to bead making, I'm still learning. I'm still trying to accomplish a perfectly formed bead each time. My focus is more on color and shape than design and so my beads aren't terribly unique.

My sales venues change yearly. My online venues are always the same. My website and Etsy. Every year I try to do at least 5 shows in person. From home shows to art and craft shows. I find that selling face to face is the easiest because buyers like to touch the piece and see the colors in person.

Announcing......

LEST is having a sale starting on April 1st. Members will have items in their shops on sale for 10-20% through April 7th.

Shop the LEST sale now!

(Or just search for "lestsale" on Etsy.)

LEST

I'd like to announce the new Street Team that I'm a part of on Etsy. The Lampwork Etc. Street Team! It's full of lampworkers of all shapes and sizes that make beads, pendants and hot glass things of all shapes and sizes! We have a Flickr Group, and you can find us on Etsy by searching "Lest". Amazing work, go look for yourself.

I did it!

Today, I made my first set of beads. They're not terribly intricate, but I made a cohesive set of five beads!!!
Light Sky blue with frit and others with some goldstone and clear stringer that I pulled all by myself! I also put together a few earring pairs that are really simple. I know that I need to start simple, it's much better for my less than perfect attention span.

I'm so glad that I decided to torch today, the past few days have been less than wonderful on the torch. :)

The set to the left is one that I made for my Mother, she's still waiting it it to be made into a necklace.

Frit, beads and other things

There are days that I want to just sing everything instead of talk it. I think that today is one of those days. Since Sunday I have tried to do two batches of beads a day. It's really paying off. My kiln fits 11 beads each annealing cycle because I make them and put them directly into the kiln. I don't want to mess around with batch annealing.

Anyway, so I make about 22 beads a day. I can seriously say that not all of them are good ideas. Some turn out amazing and others I have to blink at and wonder what I was thinking.
(Left) This was the first batch of beads that I did. The first two turned out really... wonky. I was getting used to the glass and melting it. These are beads 5-11. At this point I had only made 4 beads prior.

My second batch was much better, if I do say so myself. You can see them to the right. I'm still working on getting perfect shape, but for only having done some 40 beads at most I think that I'm getting there.

And Completion

For about four months now I've been working on my brand new lampworking/beading studio. As of 2pm yesterday it was completed and my Nortel Minor torch was fired up for the first time!
What started out as an old hot tub room (see photo on the right). Is now painted, spiffed up and with fire, ventilation and everything else I need!
I am in love with my new space. My kiln is rather small, but I can get 10 or so beads in per annealing cycle. It works for now. I've also fallen in love with my oxygen/natural gas duo for my torch. Talk about EASY! Since set up I've made 20 beads, I have a long way to go but I'm enjoying every step of the way.

Safety

Safety is a big thing for me. There are really a lot of small ways to be safe, whether you're making jewelry or lampworking.

For jewelry making, I always make sure that I "guard" my cuts, which means when I cut wire I try to cover the tail that I'm cutting off with my finger or hand (keeping it out of the nippers of course!) and I always wear my glasses. They're made for close work or reading, so they're a bit required for me. Another thing I try to do is pick up any fallen beads. Not so much for safety but comfort. It hurts like a bugger when you step on a bead that's sitting on a concrete floor. There's no give and so the bead kinda.... well it hurts a lot.
Now for lampworking it's a whole different animal, if you will. You have to have didymium glasses, no ifs whats or buts. If you work with borosilicate glass you need even stronger glasses than that. Not only are they there to protect your eyes from flying glass (you never know!) but also to protect your eyes from flame glare. After the glasses you have your rod rests and your tools- and always remembering that the bead is HOT.

Another Step

As some of you know, and some of you don't; I'm slowly setting up a lampworking studio.
Until today I had almost everything I needed.
Today, we got our natural gas hook up. Now, I know that I could use propane, but NG is so much easier and burns cleaner.
These are the first and only beads that I've ever made. I have sooo much glass to work with, and bought my Minor torch just before Christmas. Earlier in January I got my oxygen concentrator.

Our next and last step: Ventilation.
I want my ventilation to be proper, to make sure that any fumes that are created by melting glass are quickly and easily swept away. We have the hood that we want to use, so all that's left is the fan and hooking it up with ducting and all that. (Can you tell that I'm not the one that will be installing that either?)

Busy Days

While I wait for my ventilation to be installed I've busied myself with making a few new pieces for the Website. Three so far. Two multi-strand necklaces and a simple bracelet. I haven't had the chance to photograph them yet, but they are stunning!

The piece pictured to the left is one that I reciently added to the website. It's one of my favorites. Artisan Lampwork beads with onyx, Bali silver and Snakeskin Jasper. The clasp is one of my favorites, each piece has a small daisy like flower on it. It's still for sale.

Wheeee!

I think I have a new favorite person......
The UPS MAN! *glee* He brought me my oxycon (oxygen concentrator) today!
The two remaining steps for making beads:
Get natural Gas set up.
Ventilation.


We bought some of the bits for ventilation yesterday, so that should be getting done soon *crosses fingers*

Ongoing

I ordered my oxycon and the payment cleared, now I watch the mail happily. It's so hard to wait! I look at all of the pretty glass that I get and think of all of the things I want to do. I've never been good at waiting... I think I might be getting better, but oh it's HARD!

Snowflakes....

I swear that I have not forgotten about you all!
I haven't created anything new these past few weeks. I did however, do a show in Byers, Colorado that went very well.
Yesterday, I also received my new torch. A gorgeous Nortel Minor. It's not put together in this photo- but there it is!Monday starts demolition on my soon to be "studio". I'm very excited about it but rather busy and absent minded. Forgive me? :)