Beadies for the Kiddies

I'm still able to torch early in the morning so that's where I've been lately.  The cool early mornings are great then around 9 - 10 am it's time to close up shop so to speak.  The heat and humidity are back.  lol !  "They" are saying we're going to cool down - 80 degrees - for a high come this weekend.  Nice.  I am anxious for fall and winter weather !  My time of year ! 

Ok so since I'm able to torch a bit in the early morns, I've been making more beadies for the kiddies of Beads of Courage.  They are still in need as far as I know and I'm sure always will be.  I've been so totally inspired to keep making beads for the kids that I've let my Etsy shop wane and I need to get busy with that again too.  Not enough time in the day geesh....Anyway, as long as the kids need a bead, I'll keep at it.  :)  I'm inspired, I'm having fun, I'm learning new techniques, I'm revisiting old techniques and just enjoying all of it.  Knowing too that each bead I make for the kids will be loved.  The kids themselves are such an inspiration.  All that the kids have to deal with on a daily basis I just can't imagine.  So yes, they inspire me to keep on keepin' on !  :)  Wow, now that's an old sayin' I haven't heard in a while.  lol !  

I've mailed in two boxes this past week and the picture below shows the most recent one.  I had so much fun making these beads !  It was recently posted that the kids love bumpy beads, dot beads, encased beads, odd shaped beads and the Peace sign beads.  Sooooooo I made bumpy beads, a few odd shaped beads and some critter beads.  No encased beads mainly because I am lousy at encased beads !  lol !  I give it a shot every now and again but more on that another time.  The critter beads are hard to see because they are standing up on their "paws".  lol !  The peace sign beads are soaking as I type so those will be pictured another time along with today's beads. 
    

 

So as I mentioned before, if you are a beadmaker, PLEASE take a few moments of your torch time each time you torch and make a BOC bead.  Send them in when you get about 30 done.  Believe me, you will feel soooooo good knowing you're bringing a smile to some kid who truly needs a smile.  :)  Besides that - it's fun ! 

 

Thanks so much for coming by.  Please come back again soon to see what else I've been up to.  :)

   

Back in the Saddle Again.....Or I Should Say, Back at the Torch Again.

Yep, I'm back at the torch again !  Finally !  It seems like it's been sooooooooo long !  :(  What a miserable, hot, humid, icky summer it was too.  I'm so glad it's over for so many reasons but this is the biggie. 

When I'm off the torch for so long, it takes me a little time to get comfortable at the torch again.  Nothing serious, just getting to know the flame and the glass again.  I made beads on Sunday and have been playing every day since.  :)  It feels GREAT !  I just can't express how happy it makes me feel to be able to melt glass.  I am still amazed at the whole experience and still amazed I am lucky enough to be able to do it.  I LOVE MELTING GLASS !  I recommend to ANYONE that if you've never tried it, find a place that has classes and go for it !  You won't regret it.  :) 

So because I am back to making glass beads, the jewelry will take a back seat.  I'll still make some things here and there but mostly I'll be at the torch whenever possible.  I'll still make beads for jewerly.  I'm in the process of making a set now for a necklace.  I am terrible when it comes to making sets of any kind so I stretch it out into many sessions.  That way, I don't get bored so fast. 

Once again, I've tried a few new things and of course, having ALOT of fun doing it.  I picked up some dichoric glass at some point and decided it was time to try it.  I had read by many that they had trouble using it and would just give up on it.  I found it to be pretty easy to add to a bead.  I'm not saying I'm better at it, just that I had no problem with the two pieces I tried.  No scumming, no burning off the color, no problem.  The photo below is the bead.  It was the last bead of the day so it's a very plain bead.  I just wanted to see if I could actually add it and encase it as directed.  It worked, I'm happy about it and will be exploring this more down the road.  

 

As for the rest of the week, so far, I've been making some wing type beads.  I was going in a totally different direction with these when I started them but this is what ended up happening.  :)  Sometimes the glass says, "THIS is what you're suppose to be doing."  lol !  It's good working on these as they are helping me to feel comfortable about sculptural work again.  It's been a while.

 

 

Of course, there were test beads and beads that ended up in the water can.  Plus I also did some fusing.  Ugh. That post is for another day.  lol !  All in all, a VERY good week !

 

Thanks so much for coming by !  I hope you come back again very soon !  Please leave a comment as I LOVE to read them.  :)   

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

More Encasing Fun

Yeah, it's been fun for sure.  The flowers are still a work in progress and I will continue to move forward with those but last week, I decided to try something I've wanted to do for a VERY long time - jellyfish beads.  A far cry from an encased flower bead that's for sure.  Still some of the elements/techniques are the same.  Layering, encasing, elements, dots, etc.  Still, ones an underwater scene and the other is a flower(s).  :)  Anyway, I ended up making 3 of them and two were done following a tutorial by Mary Lockwood whom you can find just below in my list of blogs at Something About Mary.  Her jellies tutorial, as all of her tutorials, is just wonderful !  

The first bead took 2 hours to make, the second one 90 minutes and the smallest one about an hour.  The prep time alone took roughly 90 minutes and that includes making all the canes, stringers and tentacles.  These are intensely time consuming beads to make.  Still, worth all the effort.  The pictures do the beads no justice at all simply because you just cannot see the depth in them.  The two biggest beads have no less than 4 or 5 layers of glass.  In each layer is a different element.  One layer is the start of the bead, the second layer is the sand on the sea bed, and so on.  Each layer is then encased in clear.  Depth.  I wish I could figure out how to get that to show in a photo.  sigh.  One of these days.     

The smallest bead was done completely different.  It doesn't have all the layers of encasing in it.  Only two layers total.  That said, you can still see a little depth to it.  I added nearly as many elements as the bigger ones but again because there is only two layers, it looks totally different.  Plus I added the jellies in a totally different way as well and they didnt' turn out as pretty as in the other two.  Still, some jellies are not all that perfect in shape anyway.  lol !  

Nevertheless, I enjoy all my jellies and am thrilled with how they turned out.  Not sure I'll make any more but hey, you never know.  :)  I do know that if I do continue to work on these, I'll have to figure out how to get all those layers in and still make them the size of the smallest one.  Those two on either side of the small one are HUGE !  My husband made the comment, " Those aren't beads - they're paperweights ! "  lol !  They ARE the biggest beads I've EVER made of this type even when I couldn't encase worth a darned  !   lol ! 

Thanks so much for coming by.  I hope you come back again soon.  Please feel free to leave a comment.  I love hearing what you have to say.  :)