I Heart Pearls!

Sometimes I think that those beautiful, lovely pearls are cast aside for the more funky beads available today.

Don't get me wrong, 

I love the funky beads,

but I also love the elegance of the simple pearl whether it be a cultured pearl, a fresh water pearl, or a glass pearl.

I wore this pearl necklace this moring.  

It was actually my offering for Bead Star this year, and it made the finals!

I'm thrilled it did, and I'm glad it didn't get chosen because, now, I can wear this necklace whenever I want to wear the necklace!

So, how do you feel about pearls?

I love my pearls!

Manuela Wutschke - An Amazing, Jaw Dropping Glass Artist on Etsy!

As I perused Manuela's Etsy store,

my jaw dropped and hit the floor!

It was so hard to choose just a few of her magnificent works of art to showcase in this blog!

I've picked some, but please check out her store.

There are so many amazing beads and works of wearable art there,

it REALLY was hard to choose!

Amazing, right?

This beautiful work of art is called Looking at the Sea Fish Lentil Bead.

I love it!

Do you see the fish?

His big, beautiful, golden eye looks down for food.

Wow!

This work is magnificent!

Oh, the beauty of coral for the summer months!

The beauty of this work from Manuela!

Necklace at the Opera, 

and it's one of a kind.

It is entirely handmade by Manuela!

Oh, my, goodness!

This piece takes my breath away!

Sunshine on My Face Handmade Lampwork Focal Glass Cat and Bird Bead.

I love Manuela's Whimsical beads, too.  Look at all the detail in this bead!

Each bead tells a short story to those who look closely!

Oh, my!  My jaw is still on the floor after seeing this neckpiece!

It is amazing!

It is one of a kind.  It is all handmade by Manuela!

There are 136 wave beads in this work of wearable art!

Like, WOW!

Oh, I almost forgot, this piece is called,

Paradise.

It really is!

Now, in this short tour of Manuela's Etsy Store,

I didn't do justice to her work,

I know that, 

but, if you follow her on Etsy, you will be able to see an amazing array of beads and jewelry!

Look What You Can Do With Your Shorts and the one that brok my heart, The Tramp!

After cleaning up the mess on my torching table, I saw the pile of "shorts" had built up
AGAIN.
So, the game became,

use up the shorts.
The only "color" you can add is
Transparent Clear,
but it turns out, I had plenty of that, too.
This Rustic Heart
was made with a short rod of multi color and transparent clear.
I was amazed at how pretty it turned out.
Sometimes, these colors work for me, and, sometimes, they don't.
This time,
they did.

I made this heart and spacers with short rods, again.
Remember what I said about having enough clear?
I was amazed at what I found in the pile!

How about these fun, ruffled discs?
Two very short rods of two different colors went into making them.
The bead release even broke, but I was able to finish them.

Now, for the bead that broke my heart.

See that crack?
Dang it!
However, on the positive side, it's mine for however long it lasts.
I was going to call this set
THE TRAMP!
Hmmmmm! Will I be a tramp if I wear it?
Love it!

An Extremely Talented Artist and One Funny Lady!

I am friends with Laurie Donnette on Facebook. This delightful lady is not only an extremely talented glass artist and tutorial writer, she is incredibly witty and friendly. She has a wonderful web site, too! There are free tutorials, a web store, photo gallery, instructions for mixing colors! Wow! And those are only a small part of her blog. Be sure to check that out!

Ever After Artistry on Etsy is full of Laurie's tutorials.

I love this one! Laurie makes these Pixie Pots so much fun by adding little items to each pot! I have the tutorial, and I have to try that! I love vessels, and Laurie makes some beautiful ones!











Love frogs? Here's Laurie's Prince Charmer tutorial. They are so cute!
She's a good teacher, and her tutorials are very well written and photographed. Don't hesitate to purchase any of Laurie's tutorials. They are excellent!







Laurie is well known for her realistic and beautiful pansies. These are sensational! Her Etsy store has a tutorial on how to make these gorgeous flowers!











Now, a few comments from Laurie on Facebook.
1)

Ok I gotta get to work before the caffeine wears off and I have no stringer control :)

2)

3 cups of coffee and one orange hostess cupcake, (please keep all arms n legs inside this ride at all times)

3)

Why do they ask me the same question everyday, "If we let you out, Will you play nice" ?

4)

Does anyone know what disease 'cured ham' had?

5)

Smile like you have a dirty little secret!

Well, I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Be sure to visit Laurie on Facebook or in her Etsy store. Her work and her tutorials are fantastic! You can tell, her sense of humor is, too!

Beads of Courage, Beads in Space

What's going on? Beads of Courage is having a fundraiser that is out of this world, literally!

Your glass beads can be sent up in the Space Shuttle that is scheduled to blast off on May 14th! You have to hurry though. Here's the link to the information about this amazing fundraiser!

You can also check out the Beads of Courage Blog for more information. All you have to do is to get your beads to Lori Greenberg by April 12, 2010.

The beads will be judged by a jury of 5 individuals who are both bead makers and non bead makers. There is a weight limit of 8 ounces for all the beads, so be sure to read the instructions carefully.

And remember, it doesn't matter if your beads are chosen or not. (It would be great if they were, though!) The courageous kids on the Beads of Courage Team will be the winners! That's all that matters.

Leaving on a Jet Plane for Caitlin Hyde's Class in Atlanta!

All right, this-------------------------> is a photo of Airforce One by the Boeing Corporation. I'm not riding on that, but I just needed a photo of an airplane. I am, however, headed out on a jet plane for Atlanta, Georgia to take a lampworking class from Caitlin Hyde. I'll tell you more about the class later.

I'm also very excited because I became a member of the Southern Flames, the Atlanta Chapter of the ISGB (International Society of Glass Bead Makers).

Another reason I am so excited is that I am going to have the privilege of meeting Marcy Lamberson (Studio Marcy) for the first time, in person! Woooohoooo! I will also get to see, again, Sylvie Landsdowne of Sylvie Beads. I had known Sylvie online for a short time before I was privilged to meet her in person at the Bead and Button Show last year!

Woooohoooo! This is going to be a wonderful trip! I will blog more about this later! Until then, enjoy the blog, and keep on reading and commenting.

My Coiling Gizmo

I've been playing with my Coiling Gizmo again. I truly love this toy, I mean, tool. With it you can quickly coil wire and make some awesome looking wire beads to use in your work or to sell.








Here are some of the results of my "work" with this gizmo. It really should be called play.













Making this coiled wire heart was extremely easy once the wire was coiled. I love it!

















Here's the prototype of a cross that I am working on. A few more adjustments, and I'll have it. Again, this was super easy using my Coiling Gizmo.
(Aren't I starting to sound like and informercial?)

















Here are some beads made with artistic wire. I am thinking about using them in a necklace or as earrings.

















These beads are going to be focals in necklaces.
















These are larger sized spacers. They really look neat in person.

















These are spacers, too, but I used silver plated wire. So, what do you think? Do you like my Coiling Gizmo as much as I do? Let me know.

The Coiling Gizmo

I've had my Coiling Gizmo for over a year now, but I've only used it in a very limited way.
I learned how to make coils using my Gizmo.
I knew I had seen videos that explained how to make other types of beads with the Gizmo.
The Gizmo did some with directions,
however,
directions and me don't do well together.
I continued to Google my tool.
It wasn't until today that I realized I was googling the wrong name.
No wonder I couldn't find the videos.
When you google the correct name,
You find the videos.
I watched the videos,
and,
guess what!
I played all afternoon with my
Coiling Gizmo
and
look what I did!
This is what the Coiling Gizmo looks like.
It has 2 mandrels.
You only see one.
That's the bigger of the two mandrels.
Not only that,
it's easy to use.

These are spacers are made from the simple coiled wire I had been doing for a while.
Now the fun begins!
These are coiled beads made from the simple coiled wires.
Fun!

Aren't these beads amazing?
I played all afternoon, too!
Now, how fun is that?

I Think I Got My Mojo Back

I don't know where it went.
I don't know why it went.
I just know that it was gone for a very long time!
I think it's back!
I hope for a while, at least.
My mojo!

Some of my Beads Amaze Me!

When I work on the torch making a bead, I often have a specific idea in mind of what I would like to accomplish. Sometimes it's the use of specific colors for reactions. Most often, it's a technique I would like to practice. The beads that I have showcased here were beads that amazed me when they came out of the kiln. The final product was not what I had intended and had not been planned. I didn't see the result on one bead until I attempted to photograph it and held it in the light.

When I looked at this bead, I immediately saw a Christmas or pine tree. I had used a special glass called filigrana to see if I could achieve a different effect. The result was not what I expected. Can you see the tree?

I've shown this bead before. I used a combination of shards (thin pieces of hand blown glass that are broken into pieces) and fine silver wire. I melted in the shards to the molten glass that was already on the mandrel, then I added the wire which melted into droplets of silver. I pressed the bead, and put the bead in the kiln. I knew that both sides of the beads would be different after soaking. I didn't know how different they would be. What do you see on the second bead? I see a lady in the stars with the lights of sunset behind her.

This bead is the bead that amazed me only after I tried to photograph it with the light behind it. What do you see? I see a side portrait of a man in the transparent blue.

The last bead is one I have named Tornado. I added different glass colors to this bead, including silvered ivory stringer (SIS). I just wanted to rake the layers to mix the colors. When this bead came out of the kiln, I saw it! Tornado!

Let me know. Do you see what I see or do you see other things? I'd really like to hear your ideas!