It's Been Too Long......................

..........and the time has come to update, renew, revive this blog !  I had a good reason for being absent but I am now ready to get back to life and enjoy myself at least a little bit !  :)   Recovering from any surgery just takes a little time, that's all. 

So without further ado, the first necklace photo below is what I was able to "redo" recently.  Yes, this is the redo.  Much prettier in my opinon than the first necklace which is the second photo.  The redo necklace is more "balanced", not as heavy, longer and easier on the eyes.  Because it is "balanced" there was no need for a large focal in the center.   The first necklace (that's the one in the second photo) had way too many silver beads in it.  I actually didn't think you could use too much silver in a piece of jewelry.  I was wrong.  It was just too much.  Plus it just looked unbalanced.  The plain black beads at the bottom are "out of place" and didn't belong.  Yes, the redo is MUCH better.  :)  Of course, all of the lampwork beads used are beads I made myself at my torch.  :)  The black beads with the blue and white frit, is a special frit that is no longer available and has been my favorite frit for a very long time !  I am hoarding the little bit I have left.  I will use it but sparingly.  I  love the way these beads turned out.   

 

 

Soon, I hope to be back at the torch.  In the meantime, I am doing some "spring cleaning" and will be trying something new on this blog. 

 

Thanks so much for coming by !  I hope you come back again soon ! 

 

  

Badly Needed Beady Update

Wow, maybe this is what happens when the "muse" disappears or in reality there is no muse to begin with.  lol !  Fact is, I haven't been able to torch due to weather and health issues.  Jewelry making has just fallen off the "map" all together.  When you don't feel good to begin with, making jewelry is the last thing on your mind.  :( 

All that said I decided I still needed to at least update my blog with a little something.  I went looking through some old photo's and thought why not show some of my favorites. 

The first photo is of some of the very first doll beads I ever made.  The one on the very far right IS the very first doll bead I made following a tutorial by Anne Ricketts.  Then I decided I needed to see how tiny I could make one.  lol !  That one is to the right of the dime with brown hair.  lol !  She sure is tiny  !  I still have all these little dolls and should re-do the photo's.   

 

The brights set below was one of my all time favorite sets.  I love brightly colored etched beads anyway and of course I made many more of these types of beads.  Lots of them sold over the years but I did manage to keep some. 

 

 

 

I use to love to make hollow beads and made lots of them.  These were made long before I ever got into using a puffy mandrel.  These were wound on a regular mandrel.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the color - an ice blue then etched. 

 

The set below was made using silver and frit only.  That's it and then swirled around.  Gorgeous set I think.  Wish I could remember what frit was used cause I'd make more.  lol !  I never took notes on these things.  Oh well......

 

 

I had to add my little mushroom bead !  :)  I love her !  She's still tucked away with some other favorites I need to get out and revisit, rephotograph and display ! 

 

  I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my favorite glass beads made between 2005 and 2007.  I'll do another update with beads made later until I can get back to the torch. :)

Thanks so much for coming by !  Please come back again sometime !

 

 

 

 

 

Flower Bouquets and Beads Make Me Smile

I had the opportunity to put together a couple glass bead flower bouquets and give them as gifts over the holidays and it brought me so much joy I had to make one up for myself.  :)  I finally got around to it just this morning and the photo you see below is the result.  I am quite happy with it.  It really does make me smile.  :))  At least these pretty little flowers will never wilt or fade away and die.  The only thing that could happen is if they fell on a very hard surface and broke but since they are in a carpeted room, there's a slim chance of that happening.  

In that little vase are a few different kinds of flowers.  I have the bell flowers in a bunch of colors and sizes.  LOVE the bell flower press !  Such an awesome tool.  Also in there are 2 roses, one white and one red, 4 or 5 leaves that I really like, another red flower that's just a pretty little flower of some sort and then we have Wilt the Worm at the top of the white rose !  lol !  He's not doing any damage though.  Just hangin' out and enjoyin' the pretty flowers.  :)  

 

 

That's all for now.  Thanks so much for coming by.  I hope you come back again !  :)

Jewelry For A Change

Starting off the new year with a necklace for a change.  I've not been able to torch for weeks now due to a cold/allergies/virus  - take your pick.  It's been miserable.  Anyway, I just got so fed up with feeling rotten this morning that I just had to do "something".  The necklace in the photo below is the outcome of that. 

The leaf and spacer beads I made back in the early fall when alot of folks were on the leaf kick.  Seems to happen every fall of course.  Makes sense.  :)  I used some silver glass to make these particular beads and was able to get a bit of pretty colors out of it.  Generally silver glass and I don't get along well.  lol !  I have plenty more leaf beads but these caught my eye this morning. 

 The really fun part of this necklace is that there is no wrong side.  The other side that's not showing in the photo is just as nice as the side that's showing.  Just a matter of preference to amount of colors that show.  For example, the side that's showing in the photo has less brown colors than the reverse. 

 

Since I won't be doing much torching til I'm feeling better, you MIGHT see more jewelry until that time.  Just depends on how I'm feeling from day to day.

 

Thanks so much for coming by.  I hope you come back again soon. 

Happy New Year !

Just wanted to stop by and say HAPPY NEW YEAR to one and all ! 
I have nothing new to show since we had a very busy Christmas week but hopefully back at the torch very soon ! 

So, once again, thanks for coming by and I wish you all a Wonderful New Year !  Be safe !

More Ornaments or...........................

.............how not to worry about overdoing it.  lol !  I mean, might as well go with what keeps one intrigued right - go with the flow as it were.  :)  I don't know about anyone else, but lately, I have a tendacy to stick with one thing until I'm bored with it or I just can't get it quite "right" according to "them".  Since I've been into making ornaments lately, that's what I'm still not bored with and I am getting them right.  :)  They might not be gorgeous or different shapes but I like how 90% of them are coming out.  

Some are large enough that I have to put them in thru the top of the kiln.  The bead door on both my kilns just isn't wide enough.  With the small kiln, I can only fit a max of 3 of the bigger ornaments in there.  That's kind of a bummer cause after making 3 there are days I want to make more.  If I could plug in my second kiln at the same time, problem solved.  Can't do that though.  So, right now, only a max of 3 at a time.  

Below are the last ornments I made last week.  Didn't get much done due to an illness.  Hopefully next week I'll be able to torch a bit.  Still alot of fun to make and I am experimenting with different types of glass and many colors. 

One BIG thing I discovered while making these fun orbs is that even the bad ones, the ones that turn out uneven or a hole pops thru or the colors of the frit just aren't to my liking - I have shards !  My colleciton of shards is now growing.  I've only tried shards a few times but making ornaments, it's a given.  lol !  There is ALWAYS something that will go wrong at some point and the shard pile grows because of it !  So one of these days, I'll try adding some shards to the ornaments to see how that goes.  :)    

 
Thanks so much for coming by.  I hope you come back again soon !  Happy Holidays !

Ornaments

My infactuation with making blown ornaments has taken me over at the torch lately.  I haven't made any beads the typical way, using a mandrel, in a while.  No, it's the blown ornaments that have taken all my attention.  

The ornaments I've been making were all made off the end of a hollow mandrel using bead release on the ends.  I then add the metal cap and hanger after it's cooled off.  Making the ornaments using this method, I could use the glass I had on hand.  No need to buy anything else which is always the goal.  lol !  Another method of creating a way to hang the ornament is that I could of melted the ornament off the mandrel, closed off the hole and added a loop but I had nothing to hold the hot orb so that was out.  lol ! 

I  also discovered another method of making these ornaments and had to give that a go as well.  More on that later.  In the meantime, the photo below is only a sampling of what I've made so far.  There is a variety of sizes that I've made.  I need to take a photo of all of them together in a bowl or something but haven't done that yet.  Right now, I'm hanging them all on metal "tree" I have. 

They aren't gorgeous and they aren't unique by any means but they are my firsts and I'm pretty happy with the outcome so far.  Of course there have been many that have landed in the water can but that's the beauty of learning - practice - practice - practice !  :)  

 

There will be more ornaments coming to be sure.  I'm into it now.  lol ! 

Thanks so much for coming by !  I hope you can come back again soon !