My Precious

I just wanted to share with you the bead I'm selfishly keeping for myself. Isn't it pretty? I think it might be the closest thing to perfect I've ever made. Not counting my kiddo.

Love Glass

If I could marry Double Helix Glass, I would. Sorry, Frank! But seriously, just look at this love glass:







And yeah, I just placed an order.

Still Playing with Kalypso

Still loving this glass! I saw some comments around the net from other lampworkers that it was just the new Clio - the same thing as Clio - which had not been my experience when I tried Clio last time... so I thought I'd give it a comparison run. I have to say.. they are very similar... but not the same. I still love Kalypso more. Can you tell which one is which?



Here, too, are my latest offerings, available on Etsy today :)

Boom! Boom! Fire Powah!

Got the new torch hooked up yesterday - once I learned the dunk-the-hoses-in-scalding-hot-water trick, it went pretty smoothly. OH my goodness! Check it out!



That's with both rings burning - it's HOT. I managed to make three new beads with it, but I will admit, I was a little afraid to use the outer ring - as it is, I seem to be loosing some of the magical Kalypso pinks with just the center flame. I may need to crank down my propane a little to get more pressure - or just work a little cooler... not sure. Need more experimenting time!

Here are the new beads - all hearts, though... you might not know that about one of them if I hadn't told you.

A New Week, A New Bead

Or six, as it turns out. It was a very busy week, and no new beads got made, but these were finally photographed and listed on Etsy. Thanks for looking!

New Inspiration

The Bash, we love The Bash! In case you don't know, it's Frantz Art Glass's customer appreciation day - free demos, fantastic sales, lunch, glassy friends, the works. This year I got there in time to see Kimberly Affleck's demo for once and it was worth the drive and then some.

Her demo bead can be seen here - it's her seahorse, but done, this time, on a silver glass background bead. HUGE. I had seen her demo the seahorse a while ago, it was the base bead I was into. HUGE. Biggest bead ever! Like 4 inches by 3 inches or so. And gorgeous.

So, that was the best thing about The Bash this year. The next best thing was Double Helix. I spent a LOT of money on their glass. Plus I got the t-shirt. Why not? Kalypso is the glass of the month - if people thought they liked Clio, they are are going to go ga-ga over Kalypso. Mnnnnnnn.

Here are my Kalypso/Kimberly inspired beads. I'm heading to the studio next to make some more!

A Whole Litter of Kittens

No, not really, but wouldn't that be fun? What I really have is 13 wild tiger beads, all listed on Etsy. Here are a couple of them - check out the store to see the rest! Thanks for looking. xoxo

New Glass, New Beads

Last Friday Luke had the day off from school and we decided last minute to take a ride out to the ocean. You know we pass Frantz Glass along the way and had to make a stop there, right? Yes, of course. $300 and a box of new and old colors later, we were back on the road. Driving through the rain and hail and clouds on the way to the beach. Oh wait? You want to know what was in that box? Oh, of course you do! Sorry!

In the box... was some delicious Clio, a silver glass that is supposed to go pink, orange, milky shimmery pretty. I've been wanting to try it for awhile now. And also, some new OX, a green luster glass that I though might have some fun potential - it had just been put out on the floor that day. Some silver pink that I'd never tried, more opal yellow, not enough junky clear (need to order more of that asap), some 14K gold (color, not metal), some more Gaia, new mandrels, and I don't know what else. Oh some of the good Hades, and some Multicolor.

Ok, back to driving to the beach. In the rain and hail. We kept going even though... it didn't look promising. Who doesn't like a stormy beach, anyway? But when we got there! The sun came out and it was amazing. The best beach day ever. This year.





And then, I came home and played with my new glass. So far, I don't like the OX at all, all it's good for is getting a nice metallic luster and maybe storming if you like green storms. It would make nice accent beads... but I don't make them, do I? Not enough magic reactions for my taste, but I'll try again sometime.

But oh, the Clio! I do like the Clio. Here are a few of my beads from yesterday, all available on Etsy now.

Hear Me Roar

I am so excited. These are the beads... THE BEADS... that have been waiting to come out of me for ever and ever. And they are finally here! My big cat beads, wild cats, beasts of the jungle, the Serengeti, the mountains, and yes, even the back yard. My Tribe of Tiger Beads.

The inspiration:




















For many years, I've been messing around, trying to create "jungle print" type beads. Several years ago, for my birthday, Frank got me a private class with Corina. (My favorite birthday ever, Friday Harbor, kayaking, melting glass with Corina - pure perfection). I remember Corina asked me, what beads did I want to learn how to do - and I answered "animal beads, jungle beads". I'm sure she was thinking, "oh no! not animal beads" but she was great, she pulled out a big encyclopedia and found a picture of a giraffe and another one of a jaguar and we made "animal beads". They were lovely beads, I still have them and will treasure them forever... but they weren't "it".

I tried doing the tiger thing, the jaguar thing, even the zebra thing (I know, that's not a cat!)... but it was never "it", not quite what I was going for, whatever that was. My Rainforest beads hinted at "it". I love those beads... but there was something... else... I was still reaching for.

I finally found "it". Big cats. In glass. Beautiful reactive metallic sparkly shiny glass. My Tribe of Tiger beads. I love them - I hope you do too.