Early Christmas Gifts are FUN !

Yep, they sure are !  I've been wanting a new DSLR camera for a very long time.  I have a digital point and shoot camera that worked "ok" but not great for my needs, which of course was bead and jewelry photography.  I also have an old Canon AE-1 Program 35mm film camera which I LOVED and used for MANY years.  Have a bunch of lenses to go with that camera too.  Well, a couple weeks ago, QVC had a great TSV for a Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR package. Came with 2 lenses and a great package as the Q tends to do.  :)  I ordered it.  It came Monday and let me say - a lot has changed since the days of using 35mm film but a lot has remained the same as well.  It's just a matter of learning new things - again.  lol ! 

So once again I am on a learning adventure but this time with a camera - and I'm having a fantastic time !  I'm just going over the various functions of the camera this week but will start really practicing hopefully next week one chapter (in the instruction book) at a time.  :)  Simple and easy at first so I'm thinking the auto function will be a huge part of simple and easy.  lol !  Still I'm anxious to learn more about depth of field the most.  :)  

I've added just one picture I took just playin' around.  The octopus bead is a "Secret Santa" gift I received a few days ago. The glass forum I belong to has a Secret Santa every Christmas and this year I participated.   I have been drooling over Joy Munshower's octopus beads for some time.  She brought a HUGE smile to my face a few days ago when the package from her arrived.  I tore into that package and there it was - (along with a few chocolates and a lovely Christmas card), a fantastic octopus bead !  That bead will go into my faux fish tank as soon as I can find time to do the rearranging.  Thank-you once again Joy for helping make my Christmas a little nicer.  :) 

Anyway, octo bead was just sitting there on a sheet of white paper, I set the camera to close up and just shot.  No special lights, no adjusting the lenses, nothing.  Just shot.  I didn't even edit the colors in my edit program !   I was amazed !  The colors are PERFECT !  I do know of course, this won't happen with bead photo's much.  This is a HUGE bead though so I'm guessing that was part of the reason the photo turned out so well.  So more fun will follow.  :) 

 

I have but one photo of a bead I made this past week.  Alas, this little guy is all I could come up with.  A doggie with no tail !  lol !  So he'll stay home with me.  I do have some flowers in the kiln this morning.  Just been busy with other things this week.  Sometimes melting glass has to wait.   

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

    

'Tis the Season to be BUSY !

I know we already know that but I needed to repeat it.  lol !  It's been crazy and 3 weeks from today - Christmas is already over.  Well, at least officially it is.

The beadmaking muse has escaped me once again with all the hub-bub going on with the holidays.  I did manage to get in a couple of hours at the torch over the weekend but that was about it.  I made a pretty little set of beads using edp once again and although the purple didn't come out exactly as it's "suppose" to, I still think they are pretty.  The name of the glass - evil defritifying purple is absolutely the correct name for that glass.  lol !  Even though I supposedly KNOW how to control it, it obviously can still do it's own thing.  I still enjoy the beads though and I think this set will go in my Etsy shop soon.  Someone very dear to me suggested I sculpt a beloved cartoon character into a bead so that's what I'm going to do.  I only have one week to accomplish that so keep your fingers crossed !  At least it's a challenge.  Seems I need those to get motivated anymore.  Geesh.........  

 

Since I have been online doing some shopping, I decided it was only fair to do a bit of shopping for myself.  lol !  Hey, why not ??  Anyway, I have been watching a porcelain bead artist recently hoping to catch when she loads her Etsy shop. I was able to snag a few pieces of hers yesterday !  I am totally surprised I was able to get anything at all since there was a feeding frenzy - literally !  The shop was EMPTIED in less than 5 minutes except for 3 faces and those were gone in short time.  So I snagged these three cabs - A hummingbird, a sea otter and a barn owl.  I am so very anxious to see them up close and personal.  The question I am asking myself now - what to do with them once I get them ???  Will have to work on that one.  lol ! 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

   

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL ! 

Happy Fall | Forward this Image

A Week of Nothing

Yeah, it's been one of "those" weeks.  I only torched probably twice and those sessions produced zilch.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I did manage to get thru one challenge I wanted to do but the rest was blah. 

I have been getting color idea's from a this website  http://design-seeds.com/  emailed daily with two color scheme's to do with what I want.  :)  Plus I can go to that website and pick and choose if I so desire.  The first color scheme I wanted to work with is called Minted Brights.  The first photo below is of that color combo.  The colors I used are the closest I could find in my glass stash.  I admit they might not be exact but as close as I could get.  I LOVED it !  It gives me the colors to use but I need to come up with the design and techniques in which to incorporate the colors.  Nice.  Fun.  Just more of what I need to do for myself right now.  I seem to need these challenges to keep moving forward right now.  I needed to keep the first color challenge simple so I made simple beads.  Simple for me anyway.  lol ! 

The second picture is of a small set of beads I am soooooo thrilled with !!  I've NEVER been able to get EDP to produce the gorgeous purple it's suppose to be until I made these beads 2 weeks ago !  Wow !  I guess I held my tongue in the right position, crossed my toes and fingers while making them then waited until they came out of the kiln !  lol !  Perfection !  :)  I only hope I can do it again because that purple is divine !  :)  And typically, I'm not a purple fan. 

 Hopefully this coming week I'll feel more up to being at the torch.  It's the time of year I USUALLY produce a whole bunch more than I have been. 

 

Thanks so much for coming by !  I hope you come back again soon to see what's happenin'. 

 

I hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday ! 

 

PS - There is still a 30% off sale going on in my Etsy shop !  Come on over and shop !  :)

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 ! 

Key To Getting Your Mojo Back or How to Kick Your Muse Into Action

I mentioned in the last post how my "muse" just sorta left the building - as it were.  I was uninspired even though I was still making beads.  They were easy to me beads to make and I was actually getting bored.  There, I said it.  lol !  I didn't want to revisit things I had done in the past.  That really is one way to get the mojo working again for a lot of folks no matter the art/craft.  I just didn't want to do that anymore.  Coming up with new designs just wasn't working either.  No mojo, no muse, nothing.  UGH !

A while back, I read about a challenge put out there by well known bead artist Heather Trimlett.   Here's the link Click Here  When I first read it I figured it just wasn't for me.  My hands are too shaky, I don't have the patience to do such repetitive stuff, not sure I could follow the rules, etc. etc.  The excuses were there.  lol !  Fast forward to the present.  Too much boredom actually made the decision for me before I even realized it !  I started this challenge yesterday and am joining in on a group of a whole bunch of people that frequent Lampwork Etc also doing this challenge.  I was so excited to get started I just dove it yesterday without adding to that thread at LE.  I'll be doing that today.  lol ! 

So just below is what I accomplished yesterday.  I am so very excited to be doing this I just can't explain !  :)  Not only is it FUN, I am sharpening skills I should of sharpened LONG ago !  Because my hands tend to be very shaking I never did much dot practice.  Not only is it about sharpening skills, it teaches you MANY things that Heather talks about in her pdf.  The very first thing I have learned, I CAN make a fairly decent round/donut shaped bead WITHOUT the EMS (electric mandrel spinner) !  I was very leary about that.  I have always used the EMS simply because of the problems with my hands and arms.  The problems are still there and I can feel the 10 beads I made yesterday but I will forge on !  lol !  It's just too much fun not too and it's working.  I am getting out of this "slump".  

It is AMAZING what just a simple little dot can do on a lampwork bead.  The things that can be created is endless.  I am ready and anxious to be at the torch again this morning adding to this group !  I made 10 beads yesterday.  One is missing from the photo because it stuck to another bead when I put it in the kiln.  UGH !  It was flat on one side because I tried to separate them when it was too hot.  Oh well, I'll make another one today.  

 

Thanks so much for coming by !  I hope you come back again soon to follow along with my 40 Bead Challenge !  :)