Who's on First!! No, What's on First.

First Beads.

Here's what I made with them.

I had to do this today

because 

it's Monday,

a cold, snowy Monday here.  

You need a good laugh!

Poorly made beads,

but beads made with love.

More beads 

made with 

Love.

Not much better, but I can wear this one.

Well, I tried,

but it is a usable bookmark.

Hope you have a

warm, dry 

Monday

where ever you are.

I Heart Macro! First Beads

Whenever I see a preview of "Hoarders" or actually watch the show,

I clean.

The last cleaning session resulted in this find.

My first beads!

On the surface, some of them look good.

They are, however, first beads.

I had them in a bag marked "Rosaries."

I must have wanted to use them to make a rosary or two.

 These are true beginner beads.  Notice the pointy ends?

However, I did get the copper to streak in this bead!  That's good!

Looks like I made a drop bead, but I didn't clean the bead release!

Ooops!

More pointy ends, but I did clean the bead release on this one. 

I like the color combinations!

I like this one!  It's funky in shape!

The holes are so lopsided!  This reminds me of an alien!

Poorly shaped bead, but I do like the color!

Ooooooops!  Looks like the dot wasn't big enough!

Well, what can I say?  It was a first bead!

I heart Macro!

First Beads

I'm tired. I need to take a break from shopping. I promise, there will be more shopping later because there are so many more wonderful stores I want to show you.

We all have histories. The history I was want to show you today is my history of bead making.
I started to make beads about 2 years ago.
My first bead making class was 2 hours long, and, truthfully, we didn't do much. The teacher was prepared with a lot of information, but, as far as teaching us how to make beads, we didn't get much direction. What I have learned, the information I have gleaned has been through on line forums and two fabulous classes that I was privileged to take: one with Anne Ricketts and one with Michael Barley.

As I worked, my beads improved. Here's a sample of some of my first beads. I put them on memory wire. Here's the bracelet with some of my very firsts beads. Yuck!


















You can see that I played and tried a lot of different techniques for making beads. Very few of these beads were well shaped with good ends, but I was playing, right? I had to learn somehow!




















At the time I made the beads for this bracelet, I was still working on my much loved Hot Head torch. The Hot Head is considered to be a beginners torch because, unlike a dual fuel torch, it generates enough heat to melt glass, but it doesn't generate enough heat to make the bigger beads. (At least, that's what some people think. I once made a 4 inch bead using my Hot Head.)
I loved these beads so much that I turned them into a bracelet. I wore it so much, and then, one day, I dropped the bracelet on ceramic tile. The most beautiful bead broke, and I don't think I could recreate the bead. I keep the bracelet as a reminder of what a person can do with a Hot Head torch.



















Now, that I am a better bead maker, I'd love to reproduce this bead! You can see the sharp ends on the bead, the poor shaping, but I love the colors and the random pattern of the dots and stringer. If anyone can help me identify the base color of the bead, I'd sure appreciate it.
If you can identify the colors of the dots, I'd appreciate it. I think the blue is periwinkle blue. I'm just not sure about the others.
Any ideas?