Friday, March 23, 2012

Ocean Gem bead rounds - and yes, more chickens!

Ocean Gems

Ocean Gifts


Folk Art Chickens

Recently, a customer of mine asked me to make her some of my Ocean Gems/Gift beads.  I hadn't made these for ages, but was very happy to get back to them.  It took several tries to get the colour to come up in the beads, but I was pleased with the results.  For you lampworkers out there who might like to make your own, here is my method.   I make them by putting a very small base of either light or dark ivory on a mandrel, wrapping a VERY small bit of thin intense black stringer, then do a wrap of one of the Terra2 type glasses from Double Helix, leaving some of the ivory and black exposed.  Then melt in and strike the glass, then reduce the silver glass and encase in clear.  The trick to getting the various colours is in how much you strike, how much you reduce, and which Terra you use - I will leave that part up to you to figure out by trial and error.  Have fun!

Of course I had to make more Folk Art Chicken beads too!

These beads can be found in my Etsy shop.

Have a great weekend everyone.

7 comments:

jeanniesbeads said...

Jane - thanks so much for sharing your "recipe" for your ocean beads. They are beautiful!

Lori Anderson said...

Oh my gosh. I love those first two!

somethingunique said...

Your beads are always a treat...xox

Courtney Breul said...

I love your chickens! Love them.

Jane Perala said...

Thanks for your lovely comments!

stacilouise said...

GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!! THOSE ROUNDS ARE FANTASTIC!

Anonymous said...

Jane, your beads are gorgeous. Thanks for starting my day off with a smile. You make the recipe for the ocean beads sound so simple I have to chuckle. Then of course, I see your delightful chicken beads and just have to laugh out loud they are so cute. I am still trying to create pictures of something that I would event want to show someone else. I took that course in Edmonton last August and learned a lot, including that some things are either going to take a LOT more practice than I thought, or it isn't meant to be a style I embrace:) Have a fabulous day!