Time For An Update

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I posted anything about making beads.  I had very good plans to keep up with this but life happens and somewhere along the line I got sick once again.   So the beadmaking has been put on hold at least since last Friday.  I did manage to make a few beadies then.  Had alot of fun playing but ended up being at the torch only about an hour.  Still, here is what came out of the kiln.  

All in all not bad for more practice beads.  I started with rounds and donuts but got pretty bored pretty fast.  lol !  It happens.  So I played with another focal.  Shoulda stuck with the rounds and donuts.  :(  It's my bead so no matter the outcome, I love it.  :)   
They are all etched minus four of them.  Those four were a very intriguing subject on a glass forum I belong to.  More on that later.     All in all, I will continue practicing basics as long as I feel the need.  Practicing also gives me time to see what new colors I do have and play with them some.  Like those shiny donuts.  lol !

I have also been playing with my photo tent & lighting set up for taking photo's.  That has been an interesting and frustrating chore.  I will continue working on that though.  So far, this is what my set up looks like.  I've changed it several times already.  It may change again but my space is limited to what I can do.   

   












The photo below is one taken with this set up as well as the bead photo above.  In my own  opinion I think they turned out pretty good but there is always room for improvement.  The more I play, the more I learn.  I have a new camera and a new photo editing program coming so I'm hoping those will help as well.  The program is the new Photoshop Elements 10.  I have a tutorial using one of the Photoshop programs so I'm hoping it will help.     

Time for me to get busy this morning.  I have a new tutorial to do some hammering on some 14 gauge wire !  :))  Hammering metal is so much fun !  lol !   Oh and yes it'll make something wonderful - I hope !  lol !  At least the tutorial says it will.  lol !   
Thanks for coming by !  Please come back again soon to see what's going on.  :)