Photography Class

Well, I'm not sure if I have learnt a great deal in my photography class, but I think a little bit has "seeped" through.  Our last class is tomorrow night, and for our homework we were told to photograph some of our  favourite items/people/places and have enlargements made.  Of course I chose beads - actually I chose a couple of pendants that I had in stock.  Below are two of the many pictures I took - and yes, I had to adjust/brighten the colour - that is the one thing I just can't seem to get right - they always turn out too dark.  The one thing I have learnt is the importance of using a tripod - wow that sure makes a difference.

Thanks for looking!

No, no, no, not again!!

You got it - it's snowing here again!  Oh well, can't fight Mother Nature.

My daughter and I have been taking photography lessons each Tuesday evening, and my daughter took a great picture at the beach near where we live.  So I asked her to make it into a new banner for my blog.  I love it - see above.  Now all I need to do is to figure out how to make a border around it - I think I'll ask her to do that too - it's great having a computer savvy daughter!

Oh goodie - she has put the border around the banner - great kid!

More "Room With a View" beads.

I love making these new style beads, and seeing just what the "view" turns out to be when they come out of the kiln is always a surprise.  The lime green ones at the top were made with a very rare glass called "Parrot green", which is no longer being made.  I still have enough to make perhaps one more set.   they also contain a rare purple glass powder that is also no longer being made.

The second set reminds me of the old riddle "What is black and white, but *red* all over?" - a newspaper!!

In the 3rd and 4th sets I really like how the black contrasts with the multi coloured center view.

These beads can be found in my Etsy shop.

New Beads

Morning Frost (above picture)



Summer Fun (above picture)



Whisper Rounds (above picture)

Thankfully, yesterdays snow didn't last too long - maybe a couple of hours - that's my kind of snowfall!
Above are pictures of a few new beads I have added to my Etsy shop.  I hope you're having a great day!

IT'S SNOWING! @#$%^&*

Yes, it is snowing here on the west coast.  While I don't "hate" snow, I am also not a big fan, especially when it is about the 4th time this winter!  Anyway, I decided to take the opportunity to practise with my shutter speed for my photography class.  In the first picture I had a fairly fast shutter speed and "froze" the snow flakes.  In the second photo I had a slow shutter speed, and the snow looks like a torrential rain downpour instead - it's great learning how to work the camera settings.  Now if only I could figure out how to take better pictures of my beads!

Well, I'm off to clean beads, and will be listing them later on Etsy.  Have a great day!

More Frit Sample Beads

Here are three more sample beads with Frit Diva frit http://fritdiva.homestead.com/index.html.

The first photo is of a bead using the "Santa Fe Cowgirl" frit.  I used the frit on the bottom of the oval shaped bead, as I thought it would have a good beach type look.  The do-nut shaped bead was made by making a very large disc of white, a final wrap of pale transparent aqua, add the frit to the aqua, and then melt down the whole thing very slowly to a do-nut shape, and then added some decoration.  If you don't do it slowly, the disc will get all wobbly and you will end up with a mess.

The second photo shows a bead using the "Floribunda" frit.  I made this bead in the same manner as the above do-nut shape, but used a dark pink for the base, and a transparent amethyst for the final wrap.  I then decorated it with little flowers.

This final set of beads uses the "Spaceball" frit.  I made the tall bicone in a base of white, then wrapped a spiral of pale transparent aqua around the bead, and added the frit to the spiral.  I then melted it all in very slowly, and re-shaped the bead.  I then spot heated and twirled about 4 areas, and added raised light aqua dots.  The do-nut was made in white, in the same manner as the above do-nuts, but without the wrap of transparent on the outer edge of the disc.

These are the last frit samples for this week, as I really have to get some beads made for my Etsy shop.  I also realized that I promised a customer I would make her an organic bead, and completely forgot - sorry.  I'll get on with it this week - if the darned wind would just stop - I'm so worried that the power will go out again in the middle of a torching session.

New Beads & a Necklace

I have listed a new set of beads in my Etsy shop - Ocean Gems.  I started with a base of a cream coloured glass, wound on a ribbon of silver glass, a bit of frit, reduced and then encased the bead in a clear glass.  I love how these look.  They are a close relation to my Ocean Gifts beads, but a lot bluer.

Ocean Gems

About a week ago, it was really windy, and I usually know better than to bead on those days.  However this time I ignored my brain and went with my heart - I really wanted to make beads.  Well, sure enough, just as I put the last bead in the kiln, the power went out - @#%&*!!!  When that happens, the kiln cools down too quickly, and I am not sure if the beads are properly annealed or not, so I usually keep them and make something for mself.  This time I decided to make myself a necklace - I have to finish the clasp yet, but I am really pleased with the result - and yes, they are that colour - I love it! 

Ocean Waves necklace

Thanks for looking!



Frit Samplers

In the previous post I mentioned about doing some testing for Frit Diva.  I have tested a few of the frits and the results are in the pictures below.  I did mostly rounds to start, just to see how they "play", and will probably go from there and incorporate the frits in my regular designs.

Inspiration frit from Frit Diva on a base of Moretti white with sis at the ends.

 Marlene's Muse frit from Frit Diva on a base of Moretti white, with sis at the ends.

Van Gogh Irises on a base of Moretti white, applied to raised spiral, melted in and twirled in several spots with transparent aqua stringer, silver glass dots applied and reduced. 

I have a few more that came out of the kiln yesterday, so will get those cleaned and photographed today and then posted here.  Have a great Sunday!

IT'S GOING TO BE A FRITTY WEEKEND!

Ha - I bet you thought I made a spelling mistake in the heading - lol.  Actually I just received a package from FritDiva.com with a whole boatload of frits, and I am going to be making sample beads all weekend.  Wow - what fun!  Thank you so much to Jo of Frit Diva for choosing me as one of her frit testers.  For those non glass bead makers out there, frit is just simply crushed glass.  The trick is to combine the right colours so you have an attractive look, and not just mud, and Jo has put together some wonderful combinations.  Stay "tuned" here for the test bead results.  In the meantime, here are a couple of photos of the frit Jo has sent me. 
To see Jo's frits, go to http://fritdiva.homestead.com/index.html

Have a great day!

A LOVE OF PURPLE

I have listed a new set in my Etsy shop called "A Love of Purple".  There are 5 different purples used in this set.  Three for the rounds, one for the discs and one for the spacers.

Have a great day!

A WINTER'S MEADOW

These beads turned out a little more subdued than I had planned, but I quite like the way they all look together.

Last June when I took the class from Melanie Moertel, one of the things she showed us was how to make our own multi layered murrine.  Prior to the class I had been making very simple one layer murrine, and had not ventured further.  I took out my notes the other day, and started to make some.  You can see the murrine in these beads (the little round flower like decorations on the beads).

You can find these beads in my Etsy shop.

Hope you have a great day!

Orphans

I have a couple of sets of "orphans" in my Etsy shop.  These beads are a mixed bag of one offs, extras, play day results, and various experiments.  They are starting to accumulate on my table top, so I figured it was time to put them together in "sets".

Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend!

Thinking of Spring

Everytime I get a bit down I take out spring or summer glass colours, and make some thing uplifting.  I am really happy with these two new sets.  The glass is a CIM (Creation if Messy) glass from quite some time ago, called Peacock.  It is one of their "unique" colours, which means it is a one off.  I had completely forgotten about it, and I love this almost translucent glass, and think I will make a couple more sets.  The more you work it, the cloudier it gets - really neat!

Cornflower Fields

Spring is Coming!

These sets can be found in my Etsy shop - thanks for looking!

January Etsy Winner

Thanks to computer woes I am a little late today in drawing the winner.  Last night when I went to print out my list to cut up for the draw, "BANG" - I was hit with a virus masquerading as a security company.  I couldn't get rid of it, and I know not to click on anything to do with their pop up.  This morning my server/virus protector people (Shaw) went in the back door, so to speak, and removed the offending virus.  I just love those people, they have always been great and have always fixed the problem.

Anyway, below is a picture of my husband picking out the winner - and then a picture of the winners name.
Congratulations - I have emailed you through Etsy.

February's draw will also be for 30% off your next purchase, to be used in the month following (March).

Have a great day!