LINEN & LACE - a set of neutral coloured beads.

A new set of beads from me in my Etsy shop.   I am finding that with the arthritis in my hands, making these small sculpted beads is a lot easier than the larger ones - I guess because I am spending less time gripping the mandrel.  I love the feel of them, and I think I need to make myself a set of them for "worry beads"!

Thanks for stopping by.

How Do You Like Your Coffee? New Beads.

Remember that Coffee Crisp commercial?  "How do you like your coffee?  . . . Crisp!"
Anyway, enough silliness.  I have a couple of sets of coffee inspired sets that I have just posted on Etsy.

10 bead set - Coffee Lovers

16 piece set - Morning Coffee

Thanks for looking!

New Beads - Rose Bouquet

I can just picture a lovely bouquet of roses sitting in a mint green vase.

This new set can be found in my Etsy shop.

Several opaque and transparent pink and green glasses were used to make this new set.  I wrapped fine silver wire around some of them and silvered ivory stringer around others.  A few have ivory frit sprinkled on them, and then some have been etched.  It was a nice surprise to find the rosy blush at the mandrel ends (holes) on the minty green ones when I etched them - I love that, and it ties in so nicely with the pinks.  Probably won't be able to replicate it - lol!

Sand, Sea and Sky nugget beads.

Close up of my new set: Sand, Sea & Sky.

All 18 of the beads.

I managed to hobble out to the studio yesterday (after my foot surgery 2 1/2 weeks ago), and made this set of nugget style beads.  They have a really summer beach look to them, and I think would make a great bracelet with a little bit of silver thrown in for accent.  You can find them in my Etsy shop.
Thanks for looking!

Update - shows, beads and health - not necessarily in that order!

Well, it has certainly been a long time since I posted anything here.  As you may (or not) know, I have developed a problem with my hands.  It turns out it is arthritis - bummer!  The doctor says I am not yet a candidate for surgery, and all I can do at this point is to control the pain with pain meds (Tylenol, Ibuprophen, etc.) and wear a special brace.  He has ordered the brace, and hopefully it will arrive soon.  Then I have to keep getting my hands checked every 6 months or so.  I think when I go to get the brace fitted I will ask him about exercises, and if I am doing any damage with torching.  The slogan "Use it or lose it" keeps going through my mind - not sure if it applies here or not.

This arthritis is not good news for bead making, but I have managed to get some small beads made that I have put into sets. (Thank you to Daniel and Jenelle of Beads and Botanicals for their excellent colour recipes tutorial).
I have put these sets on Etsy, and below are a few pics.

Cranberry Bliss - the colours reminded me of that tasty Starbuck's
treat of the same name.

Frosted Berries - I have several similar sets listed, but this one
is my favourite.

Vineyard.

I am not sure just how much I will be able to torch - time will tell.  I plan to carry on as much as I can, although I will not be taking any orders, and making jewellery is just too painful, so that will probably put a halt to most of the shows I do.  Not many people wish to purchase beads if they are not jewellery makers.  I tried it once a few years ago, and all I ended up doing was making the beads up into pendants for the customers who purchased them.

I did my one Christmas show a week ago - the Cedar Yellow Point Artisans Studio Tour.  It was great, even if I didn't have a whole lot of new things, and surprisingly my sales were up from last year.  Sorry - I forgot to take pictures!

What I Did This Summer

Well, it wasn't beads, that's for sure.  Because of the problem I am having with my thumb/wrist joint I am not able to torch very much at all - in fact, even cutting a sandwich hurts.  I have an appointment with the surgeon in mid November, so hopefully he has some ideas.
Anyway, I couldn't just sit around twiddling my thumbs ('cause it would hurt!!) so I got out my large sheets of watercolour paper, my acrylic paints, and my bits and pieces of collage papers.  First I put gesso all over one side of the paper, then painted various colours all over.  Then I followed up with the collage papers - most of which I had made myself, and then painted in various spots again and painted the back in black.  Then came the stamping with gold and black - I think I got a little carried away on some of them,  lol.  I cut them all up into book mark sized pieces, painted the edges in black, and gave the whole lot a clear coat front and back.  My husband helped with the cutting up and the setting of the eyelets.
I was thinking about adding some of my beads at the top, but figured that would just be something to "help" the book mark get pulled out, so I settled for just a piece of leather cord.  I have been using one of the earlier ones all summer, as have a few of my friends and family members, and they are holding up really quite well.  It is kind of nice to open a book and have a piece of original art work marking ones page for you :O)

I have done over 50 of these little works of practical "art".

Close up shot

Thanks for stopping in, and hopefully in the not too distant future I will have some beads for you to look at.
Have a great day!

Tutorials on Sale!!

I am doing something I said that I "never would do" - putting my tutorials on sale.  A girl can change her mind - right?
Anyway, I figure if I am going to do it, then I will do it big - 50% off!!!  I am just heading over to my Etsy shop to do the appropriate changes.  This sale will last until sometime Monday morning (August 18/14).

Now is your chance to get these two tutorials at a great price - you won't be sorry!

Little Mermaids and "Life"

It has been a hectic and sad couple of months here.  My mother-in-law had a stroke and passed away peacefully in the palliative care here in Nanaimo hospital last month, and although she was 97, it was still very sad.  She was a brave, determined, loving, and kind woman, and will be greatly missed.

My daughter and granddaughter were in a car accident two weeks ago - thankfully both were not seriously hurt, but the car is a write off.  A lady made an illegal left turn right in front of them, or I should say right into them!  Although they are basically unhurt, they are both suffering from mild whiplash and my daughter is having trouble with her left shoulder, neck, arm, etc.  I hope it doesn't keep getting worse.  My husband has gone off today with her to see about getting a new car as she needs one to get to work.

I put my back out last weekend and am still moving very slowly and carefully - I was reaching for my coffee - I tell you, that coffee is a killer!

My wrist is still giving me a lot of grief, and I am looking forward to seeing the specialist - just not sure when my appointment will be.  Hopefully he can do something, so I can get back to regular torching.

Anyway - here are a few pictures of some new Mermaid pendants I made before the last show in July - sorry I forgot to take my camera to the show.

This one has been sold.

These two can be found in my Etsy shop if you are interested in
purchasing one of them.

Thanks for stopping in, and have a great weekend!

Red Folk Art Chickens

One of my very good customers suggested that the folk Art Chickens would look great in red - YES, she was right!  I love how these turned out.

Close up of set a.

Set a.

Close up of set b

Set b (my fav.)

Set c - Sold.

Close up of set c.

Hope you had a good giggle.  These can be found in my Etsy shop.

More Room With A View Beads.

I am really enjoying re-visiting some of my previous bead styles.  These ones came out of the kiln yesterday.

This set was made with an odd lot glass called "Key Lime", and
unfortunately it is no longer available.  I am using up my very small stash
very carefully, and very sparingly.

Another of the Room With A View beads.

Thanks for stopping in.  These beads can be found in my Etsy shop.

Room With a View

I have two small sets of my "Room With a View" beads now on Etsy.

Thanks for looking!

Dreamland - new bead design.

Well, despite the pain in my right hand I decided to go ahead and made some new beads, and I am glad I forged ahead.  These red and blue beads came out even better than I had hoped for - yay!  If you look very carefully, and have a LOT of imagination, you might see some fantastical critters in the bead designs.  It wasn't planned, but there they are anyway.

Dreamland, set 1.

Dreamland, set 2.

These beads can be found in my Etsy shop.

I think I will rest my hand for the balance of the day and hopefully it will be healed enough for bead making tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping in.

In The Garden of Eden

I had originally planned to call this set "An Apple a Day".  However as I was cleaning the bead release out of the holes, I realized the caterpillar looked more like a snake, so I changed the name to it's present one.  Maybe I will make another set without the caterpillar/snake and give it the original name! LOL.

In The Garden of Eden

I also went through my bead box and came up with a couple of sets of orphans.  These orphans are design/colour tests that did not make the cut for some reason.  They are structurally sound, and there is nothing wrong with them other than my not liking the colour combination or design.  These items are all in my Etsy shop.

Orphans - set a

Orpans - set b

Thanks for stopping in.

Mi Casa Es Su Casa - My House Is Your House

I had some fun the other day making these bright and cheerful little house beads.  According to Wiktonary, the Spanish phrase means "My house is your house" - similar to "Welcome, make yourself comfortable".  Nice - I just hope no one takes it literally - lol!

Mi Casa Es Su Casa - My House Is Your House.

Happiness Is. . . .   I just love yellow and turquoise together.

Artifact - various ivory glasses and a "silver" glass.  The silver glass
reacts with the ivory and gives that distinctive crackle look - love it!

Another set in my "Urban" series.

 These beads can be found in my Etsy shop.

Thanks for dropping in!

More Quail Beads

Add caption

I have just put these two small sets of cute little quail in my Etsy shop.  Now I am taking a few days off to rest my wrist.
Thanks for stopping in!

Finally . . . . Some New Beads!

I have just posted these new beads in my Etsy shop. Hope you like them!

Blackbirds .. . .  'Bye 'Bye.

Long Legged Blackbirds.

I hope to be making a few more beads in the near future, however due to my problems with my thumb and wrist joints they will not be large sets.  I can only bead for short periods at a time with several days break in between.  For that reason, I will also no longer be taking any orders - sorry :O(

Thanks for stopping in!

Remember me?

No - well I don't blame you.  It has been ages since I made an appearance here.  I haven't been doing much in the way of torching, as my wrist/thumb joints are giving me a LOT of grief.  I'm not sure just how long I am going to be able to keep making beads.  Hopefully my plan of pacing myself and only torching a couple of times a week will help - time will tell.

I did manage to get enough beads together for the Spring show - Kitty Coleman, Woodland Gardens this last weekend.  The show was not very well attended by both vendors and customers alike, and on Saturday it literally poured down, so that day was a write off.  Sunday and the holiday Monday were much better, and sales picked up - not as good as previous years though.  All the vendors were saying the same thing.  I suspect everyone is "craft-faired out" and not interested in adding any more art of any kind to their collections.  Despite all that, I had a good time, and enjoyed catching up with all the other vendors.

Here are a couple of photos of my booth.  I was on my own this time, as my usual booth partner was home with family issues.

I will try and be a little more consistent in posting - but no promises! LOL.
Thanks for dropping in.

A Little Birdie Told Me!

Making birdy beads is a lot of fun - from my Folk Art chickens, and seagulls to marsh birds, and now I have added quail!

New Country Quail beads in my Etsy shop.

Folk Art chickens - sorry, sold.

Folk Art chicken mini set - sorry, sold.

Colourful Folk Art chicken set, sorry, sold.

Kind of mean of me to post all those pictures of the sold beads!  However I thought you wouldn't mind seeing the beads I have been making lately.

Have a great day, and thanks for looking in!

Miss Emily beads

I had an order from a good customer for two of these Little Miss Emily beads.  I made four for her to choose from and she has made her choice, and now these two girls are looking for a new home.

Miss Emily - front

Miss Emily - back

Miss Emily  front

Miss Emily - back

They are $35.00 from my blog here (plus shipping), or will be $40.00 once I list them on my Etsy shop in a day or so.
Hope you are having a good day, and thanks for looking in.