Halloween Elf

My granddaughter decided she wanted to be an elf for Halloween.  I think she makes a spectacular elf - but I could be biased!  She did this yesterday for school (grade 12).

She applied fake points to her ears, and blended them in with makeup, then put on really long false eyelashes to just the outer edges of her eye lids.  I love her dress too - I think she looks very "Lord of the Rings".

Have a very spooktacular Halloween everyone!

Organics

I really love organic style beads, but I seldom make them.  I met a lady this last weekend at the FVBS who makes the most incredible organic style beads -  Jacqueline Parkes of Gems in Bloom, check out her web site  http://www.gemsinbloom.com/ . (I hope the link works - I'm not very good at this copy and paste stuff).

These rounds came out of my kiln yesterday, and I'm quite pleased with them.  The large ones in the middle are hollow, and a lot of fun to make.  I think I will string them up into some fairly short necklaces with lots of other organic type beads, ie: ceramic, copper, gunmetal.  I'll post a picture if they work out.

Have a great weekend!

Little Miss

At the Fraser Valley Bead Show one of the other vendors, Eugenia Chan, purchased one of my Little Missy beads, and turned it into a great pendant.  I took a photo, but I'm sorry, it isn't a very good photograph - it's hard to take photos indoors with poor lighting, and I'm not an expert with a camera, but you get the idea.

I love how Eugenia has wire wrapped Little Missy into a pendant with stirling silver, and even given her a "corkscrew" scarf.  She then put her onto a black cord.  It looks great!

Home Again!

While I enjoy going out of town to shows sometime, I sure do like getting home!  I think I am definately a homebody at heart.

I was sharing the booth with a beader friend of mine, Judy Baun, at the Fraser Valley Bead Show this past weekend, and the sign would be just too large if we put both our names on it, so we call ourselves "Playing With Fire" - I know, not very original - LOL.  Above is a picture of our booth before the masses of enthusiastic bead buyers came through.  We had a great time, met lots of fellow beaders, and purchased way too much stuff!  It was a great show, and I must give Barrie Edwards, the promoter, a big round of applause for doing such a great job - thanks so much Barrie!

I finally managed to upload a picture of my new bead - Oceanica.  I am taking this one to the show, but hope to make more when I get back - now, if only I can remember the recipe for the twistie band in the middle!

Have a great day!

Almost Ready!

Just getting the last minute preparations done for the upcoming Fraser Valley Bead Show this weekend.  The Little Missies are all set on their frame, and I will pack them this way, then I don't have to spend the time hooking up each one when I get to the show.

Hmmm - I was going to show you another bead picture, however I can't seem to get it to upload - I'll try again later.  Oh, I just see a little notice that says the image uploader is down for maintenance.  Oh well, like I said - later.

Bye for now.

Brass Monkeys

I love how these beads turned out!  I was quite surprised when I took them out of the kiln, instead of the fuscia colour that I was expecting, I saw they were a lovely gold/brass colour.  I think it must have something to do with the different clear I used for the encasing - thankfully I remember the recipe I used to make them.

I couldn't resist giving them the name Brass Monkeys.  The first thing that came into my head was the old English saying "It's cold enough to freeze the xxxxx off a brass monkey" - LOL.  Hope no one is offended.

Have a great day!

Canadian Thanksgiving Dinner

This year the menu was:  ham, 3 potatoe scallop (yam, sweet and regular), sprouts in parmesan lemon sauce, and the peas and carrots were supposed to be squash, but the squash was all watery and pale so we had to make a last minute substitution.  Dessert was pumpkin cheesecake with caramel pecan sauce and whipped cream - YUM!!!!

Good thing there are left overs for tonight!

Pacific Reef - side 1

Pacific Reef - side 2

This is one of my Pacific Reef focal beads.  This bead  is 1 1/2" across - a biggie!  I managed to get this one done before the concentrator collapse.

Bye for now.

Arbutus Beach & Co.

A few of the beads that I was able to make before my concentrator started acting up on me.

Arbutus Beach

Ghost Tree

The Ghost Tree was really difficult to photograph because of  the reflective surface.  It was made with a Double Helix odd lot silver glass, and is really shiny.

A calamity - and new beads.

I was busy in my studio yesterday (finally a day without vertigo),and noticed the flame on my torch was kind of strange.  I played around with the settings on the propane regulator and on the concentrator, and nothing seemed to work.  Finally I figured out that the concentrator is not playing nice!  I had to take it to get fixed which is about an hour away, and of course they will not be able to get to it until Tuesday because of our long weekend.  However they were nice enough to let me have a "loaner" for the weekend.  Sure hope they can fix it!

Anyway, here are some new beads that I have cleaned, strung, photographed, and will be listing on Etsy today.

Hope you all have a great weekend, and happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!

          Sand, Sea & Sky

Scallops and Seaweed

Flower Girls

I haven't been able to get too much done lately - suffering from some sort of vertigo.  I think it has to do with allergies.  Anyway, enough about that! 
At the recent Island Fireflies meeting, I sold a few of my Little Missies, so I had to get a few more done for the upcoming show.  I wanted to do something with a little more "flair" for the dresses, and came up wih the dot style flowers.  I am pleased with how they have turned out, particularily the one with the ruffle at the hemline - but I'm not sure the little girl thinks the same, as she looks quite worried. LOL.

Have a great day!

Good Friends and Good Eats!

Today was one of the "almost monthly" meetings of the Vancouver Island Fire Flies - a group of glass beadmakers here on Vancouver Island.  We always have a blast, and lots of food - everyone brings something to eat - I am the sandwich "Queen" - ha ha.  I meant to go back and take a picture after the covers were off the food, but got talking too much and forgot.  We talk about glass, glass and more glass.  It is great to get together with like minded people to discuss our obsession and trade ideas, techniques and so on.

This is a picture of our hostess's studio - I don't think I have ever seen such a clean work space.  In case you think it is just like that because we were coming over, I can assure you that it isn't.  She is one of the tidiest people I know -  certainly not like my studio (see an earlier post) LOL.

We always have a bead exchange.  Those that want to participate, bring a bead, place it on this numbered board and then we draw numbers. 

I hope you are all having a great weekend.