In the Nick of Time

I did it! I got something in to the Art Bead Scene November Challenge: Coffee Haus

Some of My Favorite Lampwork Beadmakers

I just thought I'd share some of my favorite beadmakers with you today. I have a long list, so I'll only share a few. Maybe more another day.

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ANASTASIA: A German artist: she makes the most fabulous trees. And her dots are amazing. I think she uses enamels...something I've been thinking about but have been to chicken to try yet. And her photography is really great, I'd love to know what she uses as a photo studio. I can't pick a favorite bead, they are all... so perfect, and amazing. Check them out: http://www.anastasiabeads.de/gallery_ebay.htm



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Melanie Moertel: Another German artist. Bold bright color combinations, perfect lines and dots. Love her flowers. And great photography too. Check out her site: http://www.melaniemoertel.de/GBs/index_gb.htm and be sure to follow her link to her flickr gallery. Wow!


Happy Monday II | Focal
Originally uploaded by melaniemoertel

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Jennifer Geldard, aka GlassGirl: She uses enamels too, her beads are so fab, to look at them you can tell she pours her heart into each one. I'd love to take a class with her someday. You can see her newest work here: http://www.glassgirl.com/new_work.htm but be sure to check out her older work as well. Beautiful.



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Andrea Guarino: Earthy, organic, yet colorful and full of soul energy. Yet again, enamels. She lives near me, I hope to take a class from her someday. Her site: http://andreaguarino.com/



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Sarah Hornik: The most colorful, organic, swirly, wonderful beads. Layers and layers of glass. Pure treasure. Check them out: http://www.glassbysarah.com.


Secret Smiles
Originally uploaded by lyzardqueen

There are many more... but I need to get out to my own studio and melt some glass now.

Some Heart Necklaces

Two of these, don't know which ones yet, are most likely going to their homes soon. The other three will be listed on Etsy soon.



Edit to say, two are on their way, and these three are now available on Etsy.

mmmmmnn.... another cup?

Inspired by New England

There is something about the trees in New Hampshire, all of New England, really. Not just the fall foliage they are famous for... but... how old and knarly they can get, each one seemingly with it's own personality, some standing guard over front yards, some standing watch over a pond or some wild space... standing proud, day and night, sun and snow, autumn, winter, all year long.

Hello from New Hampshire

A huge surprise this morning - snow! No, no, I'm not in Seattle, I'm in New England, visiting family for Thanksgiving.





So far, we've had great weather, cold but bright sunshine and some good kite flying wind at the beach. Even the snow is nice. I've gotten to meet and hold my newest niece, my girlfriend's new baby boy, and celebrate a wedding (an after-the-fact elopement party). So many good things happening around and about.



Best news of all? Haha, I'm really just kidding, but it does make me happy: Starbucks has moved into the neighborhood. I have found four of them so far, one just down the road from my mom's house! They don't quite have it all down yet like they do in Seattle, but I'll cut them some slack for trying.

Oh, and our rental car has heated seats... it really doesn't get better than that, does it?

Grand Poppies Collaboration Project

About a month ago, Melanie from Earthenwood Studio contacted me about participating in collaboration project. She wanted to send me one of three matching sets of beads (in a poppy theme, purples, reds and black! Yay!), have me make three sets of my own poppy theme beads and send one set to her and one to another jewelry designer (AJ Reardon), and then all three of us would create something from the two sets. OK! I jumped on it, it sounded so fun! Just like in the beading magazine where they give three sets of matching beads to the designers and they each come up with something spectacular - too cool! Right?

Well oh my, let me just say, I have never made a matching set, never mind THREE matching sets. But ok, I could do this... it would be a great challenge, and I knew I could do this. After all, I love poppies. And purple and red and black. How hard could it be? Then Melanie sent me her beads, so I could see the colors for reference...and oh, they were SO beautiful! And intricate! Just lovely all by themselves. Here they are:



But... oh no, SO not my chunky, folk arty kind of beads.... what was I going to do? Well I got to work. First I started by trying to make sets of lentils, thinking the shape would compliment Melanie's beads... even though lentils are something I have not yet mastered, but hey, what better time to learn, right? But that didn't go over so well, especially when I tried to add designs to them. Sigh. And then I made some barrels. That looked kind of nice, though way too wonky for Melanie's perfect beads. Shoot, what was I going to make to match her beads? Well, that's when I got the bright idea to STOP trying to match her beads... stopped thinking like a designer and put my bead maker's hat on instead and reminded myself that I like poppies, and red and purple and black... and made some of my groovy flower beads, beads I know and love. In purple and red and black. And then I made some leaves. And some spacer beads to go with... and there you have it, some Pam beads:



So now, to design something, and hope that the other two designers could design something with them as well. The rule is, you have to use at least one bead from each bead maker. Not really a problem, there were so many beads, I think I could make five pieces of jewelry from all the beads! But here is the one I made, a bracelet using one of my lampwork poppies as a clasp and three of Melanie's adorable porcelain beads in the body, and a bunch of my lampwork spacers as dangles and such. Some faceted beads thrown in for sparkle. I like it, it's very Poppy. I particularly like the fringe on the poppy clasp - I wired the clasp bead on with an eye pin, then sewed (with Fireline) the black beads to the eye pin to look like the center of a poppy.



Now, go check out what Melanie and AJ made - I can't wait to go look myself!

Awww! First Snowman!

I kinda burned the glass a bit on this one, but I think he's still cute :)

Lots of New Beads Listed on Etsy

A Few More Acorn Beads

One bead, a couple of simple pendants... all on Etsy. Enjoy!

Coffee Cup Beads for Sale!

I managed to post a few coffee cup beads for sale in my Etsy Shop, in case anyone is interested :)

Poppies

I'm working on something extra special for these beads, more to come on the 15th!

Lampworkers on YouTube

This is great! There are a bunch of videos of lampworkers creating beads - if you've ever wondered how we get the hole in the bead, you have to watch one of these!

Lampwork Bead Making on YouTube

and

Lampworking and Glassblowing Beads, Pendants and Marbles on YouTube

Some New Beads

Some fun coffee cup experiments, I'm going to try to make something for this challenge at Art Bead Scene:



A cool leaf:



A Starry Night bead, I've been meaning to make FOREVER:



And look! A sculptural rose-type of flower!!! I had no idea I could do this, and yeah, it still needs work, but look!

Some of my Etsy Favorite Items

Halloween Prizes

I hosted a Halloween Challenge on an artist board I participate on and these are some of the prizes I made to send out.