Monday, April 4, 2011

Beads That Do Their Own Thing

When I make my lampwork beads,
I try to control the flame, the heat, the flow of the glass, the shape of the bead, the colors of glass.
Most of my beads have a specific shape.
The ones I'm going to show you certainly do.
These beads, however, felt compelled to do their own thing.
I added glass.
I swirled a bit of the glass.
I let gravity take glass where it wanted to go.
(I did not plan for any of the beads to do the things that they did.)  
I put it in the lentil press to shape each bead.
I have to admit,
that part worked.
Now, let's take a look at the beads,
and
You tell me what you think.
On this side of the bead, I see a butterfly lifting up, into the wind, ready for its flight.

 On this side of the bead,
I see an iguana perched and ready to pounce on the first insect it sees.
(I don't think the iguana saw the butterfly on the other side of the bead.)

On this side of the bead, I see a sea dragon.

On the other side of the bead, I see an octopus rapidly swimming away.

On this side of the bead, I see a cat.

 On this side of the bead, I see the mouse.

I love the results of this type of bead.  They are totally unplanned by me.
Free form to a point, yes, but controlled.
What do you see in these beads?
Do you see things that I don't see?
Let me know!

3 comments:

Miss Val's Creations said...

These are all so neat!!! I see everything you do. In the 2nd one I see a seahorse! ~Val

cindydolezaldesigns said...

Very cool. I saw:

a bud emerging
a sea horse
a spider
just swirls
baby bird ready to be fed (the bright green part)
and a fish

TesoriTrovati said...

That was fun! I will be inspecting things closer. These are all great designs.
Enjoy the day!
Erin