It's Baaaaaaaaack !

My mojo, my muse or whatever you call it to get the creative juices flowing again !  lol !  Yay and Thank-Goodness !  :) 
 
Thank-You Heather Trimlett for the 40 Bead Challenge and Thanks to Haley http://envisionsf.blogspot.com/   for rallying the lampwork folks to join her in her efforts on LE !  There's a very long thread there with everyone that has participated and are still working on their 40 Bead Challenges !  It's a work in progress as it were.  :) 


So, now the question is:  What did I learn ?  Ok so here's the short list:

• Patience is required.
• Slow and Steady makes for a better outcome.
• Molten Glass has a mind of it's own.
• Dots are amazing creatures !
• Beads can and will Grow !   
• Black and White is an outstanding color combo !
• I remember why I usually use the EMS for starting all my beads.
• Using no tools has reminded me why I use tools - when needed of course.

Yeah, I know these are all fun facts or fun lessons BUT lessons learned and re-learned and REAL.  :)  Regardless of what I learned, which was ALOT, this exercise refreshed my "muse", brought me out of the funk I was in, woke-me-up and got my mojo working again THANK-GOODNESS !  I NEEDED this in a major way.  It did what I was hoping it would do.  It reminded me once again WHY I LOVE melting glass and THAT my friends is always a good thing.  :)

So, here are my 40 beads !  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the feel of all of them in my hand !  It's amazing to me.  Even more amazing - and I reiterate here - it's so amazing what a simple little dot can do that's it just stupid !  lol !   The proof is in the photo.  The lines you see on any of those beads is created by masking.  These beads have only dots on them.  That's it. 
The dots in these beads are all melted in.  Imagine what can be done with rasied dots or a combination of both ?  Limitless.  lol ! 

 

Thanks so much for stopping in !  I hope you come back again soon to see what's happening !  I have yet ANOTHER challenge I'm "working" on.  This time, I'm challenging myself !  :) 

     

Forty Bead Challenge Continues

This is going to be a fly by post cause it's late in the morning and I need to get moving !  So here goes.

The 40 Bead Challenge is still in full swing here.  I'm having so much fun doing it that I will participate in the second challenge that is now in progress on LE. 

My progress - coming along nicely.  I'm half way to the finish now and have learned so much already.  :)  Sticking by the rules completely and totally is a bit hard but doable.  The one I'm having real trouble with is getting a consistent size.  Adding dots and more dots sure can increase the overall size but I already knew that !  lol !  Some of my challenge beads are focal size !  lol !  Starting smaller would of been a good thing !  lol !   Oh well, I'll continue to plug along. 

The first photo below is of Day 2.  Beads 10 - 15 right to left in that order.  lol !  Yeah, I did it backwards.  Anyway, I am thrilled with how these turned out.  Better than expected actually.  Something else I learned - patience is key.  And I have to say it - I enjoy using a full rod of glass to lay down all of the dots.  Not only is it easier for me but I am learning better heat control.  You can't make tiny dots with a full rod of glass without heat control.  :) 

Photo #2 is Day 3.  BIG SIGH.  Beads 16 - 21, left to right in order.  I am sooooo disappointed with several of those beads.  #'s 16,17 and 19 I used a different glass manufacturers black and it bled into the white.  UGH.  So upset because now I'll have to redo those beads.  sigh.  The others turned out fine.   All were quite time consuming so double whammy.  I am happy with the patterns overall though so that's good.  Still, what a waste.  :(  Onward and upward as it were.  I'll redo those 3 when I get to the end of the challenge.   

 

Ok, so that's my fly by posting !  lol !  It only took about 20 minutes.  lol ! 

Thanks so much for coming by !  I hope you come back again to see my progress with the 40 Bead Challenge !