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!

What's Happening With Those Shorts?

I forgot to take group photos of these two sets of beads.
Ooops!

By my count, I have made 104 beads + one batch of murrini
just using my shorts!

I still have over half of the shorts left!
Wow!

It's amazing how much glass there is!

Some of these beads are in my Etsy store, too!

Because I'm still playing catch up at home, I've only been
torching about an hour to an hour and a half a day!

Look at all these beads!

Some are just playing!
Some are good.
Some are not so good!

I always make 2 butterflies for Beads of Courage
each time I torch.
They add up quickly.

Don't tell Nikki, but I copied her sheep!
More beads next week.
I still have a lot of glass to use!

Beads From Shorts - Batch #2

Today was Day #2 of using my "shorts," and only my shorts to make beads. (This actually happened two days before you read this, so don't get confused on that! lol) Here's what I made today:
1) One set of flattened beads (5) center
2) One blue bird
3) One prototype of a head for a bobble head set for a wedding gift
4) Two mini beads for earrings
5) 4 cupcakes (I think I finally learned to make cupcakes!)
6) 4 butterflies for Beads of Courage

And the truth be told, it doesn't look like I made a dent in my box of shorts! Yikes!

This might go on longer than 2 weeks. What do you think?

My Personal Challenge

No, this challenge is nothing spiritual or even related to cancer. See this box of "shorts." There are a lot of beads to be made. Using this box of "shorts," and only this box, I plan to make beads, shards, murrini for two weeks, unless, the box empties sooner.

In a couple of weeks, I'll show the results of the work and the empty box, I hope.

I strongly suspect that Beads of Courage will benefit from this box!

My Shorts

When I start talking about my shorts, I am not talking about making a fashion statement with my clothing. The shorts I am talking about, in this case, are the ends of the glass rods that I use when I make my lampwork beads. Depending on the rod and the company, rods differ in length and width. Most glass rods are about 12" in length. The width can vary from 3mm to 8mm. As you melt the glass and less is left on the rod, you get to a point where the rod becomes too short to use without burning your fingers. There are tools to help you melt the rod down farther, and I do own one. Some people fuse the left over portions of the rods together to make a longer rod. It doesn't matter what you do, though, you are always left with shorts. I hate to throw those beautiful pieces of glass away, so I have tried to figure out how to use the leftovers resourcefully.


The first photo is a picture of my smaller nubs of glass. The smaller pieces go into making frit (ground glass). The longer nubs I use to make "Leftover Beads." I'll show you some of those in a bit. I also use them to make purple hearts and multicolored butterflies for Beads of Courage. I love the look of many colors in butterfly wings. My longer shorts go into making beads and discs.









Beads of Courage gets my butterflies.



















I made these discs using my shorts. I love them because they are fun and funky looking!



















I made this bead using my shorts directly on my mandrel.










I even make frit using my shorts, but that's another story. I'll show you how I make frit tomorrow. I've tried a lot of different ways to make frit, and you'll see that tomorrow.