Weekly Photo Challenge - Windows

There is a proverb that says

THE EYES ARE THE WINDOWS OF THE SOUL.

Wisdom

Truth

Trust

Humor

Peace

Compassion

Hope

Windows

w-i-n-d-o-w-s

Windows

Coming SOON to a blog, this one too, near you!!!!

Stay Tuned!!!!

Easy Peasy Tutorial - Making Lampwork Popcorn Beads

I haven't written a lampwork bead tutorial in ages,

but at the request of someone on Lampworketc, 

I decided it was time to write a tutorial on making

Popcorn Lampwork Beads.

These beads are very easy to make.

What do you need?

You need glass rods and stringers.

I use white rods and stringers and whatever color of yellow I have on hand.

I pull a stringer from the yellow rod.  It should be about the size of a 3/32" mandrel.

Sorry for the poor quality of photos.

It's hard to make beads and take photos at the same time.

You will also need mandrels dipped in bead release.

I use 3/32" for these beads because whatever I don't use or sell can then be donated to 

Beads of Courage

for the children who participate in the program.

Begin by making a white spacer bead on the mandrel.

See, so far, so good.

Using your yellow stringer, add a good sized dot to your white spacer bead.

Continue to flash your bead in the flame, but do NOT melt the dot.

Using your white stringer, now add 5-6 dots around the yellow dot.

Do not melt into the white bead.

Place your new bead in the kiln and anneal.

Pop!

You've made a popcorn bead.

WoooHooo!

Lampwork popcorn beads = no calories!

You can find them

HERE!

Got crabs? What? I mean, isn't that an awfully personal question?

Well, I did it again!  I joined another charm exchange on Lampworketc!

And, yes, it's another charm exchange.

This time, we have a theme, and that theme is the beach.

It was really hard to narrow down my choices since the beach is so full of interesting life.

A surfer was a possibility, but that didn't work.

I thought of shells, too, but there is usually an abundance of shells when the beach is the theme,

so,

no, not this time.

So, here are the crabs.

Stay tuned for the finished charm.

I think we have until after the holidays to send in our finished charms.

I better check the date!

I'll show the finished charms before I send them in, that is,

if I don't forget.

However, I have to admit, I sort of like these little guys.

Some of them might find their way into my Etsy store in the future.

We'll see!

Stay tuned!

I Heart Macro - Bits and Projects

Huh?

Milkweed

Leftovers

Projects