......and the winner is.......

In a previous blog post I requested some help with ideas for hanging one of my disc flowers.  Four lovely ladies replied, and thanks to them I have some ideas on how to proceed.  I will post the photos of the results in a future post.  OK, so you are saying "get on with the draw"!  I put the 4 names into a box and pulled one out - congratulations Alice!  I will be sending you the ruffled flower disc and leaves just as soon as you email me with your address.  If you would prefer a different flower (see the photo in a previous post), just let me know.

Once again, thank you very much for all your help ladies!

Arbutus Beach tree beads

Here are two more of my Arbutus Beach tree beads.  As I have mentioned before, the Arbutus (called Madrona in the US) grows along the coast here in British Columbia.  It is always shedding something - leaves, bark, flowers and berries, depending on the season.  I have a definate love/hate relationship with this tree.  I love to see it in the wild, but don't let it anywhere near my property!!

I hope you are all having a good start to the week.  I have to go to the dentist tomorrow - oh no!

Glass shards

I have been playing around with some really neat glass shards that I purchased  This bead starts out with a base of black, then a strip of silver foil, and then the shards.  I love the way they have gone all mottled.  I also trailed a stringer of silvered ivory over the top.  Very simple, but I think it is quite effective.

Help wanted - incentive prize offered!

This is a necklace I made up with one of the disc poppies and leaves I have been making lately for the upcoming bead show.  I made up a sample so that customers can see how I have used it, and to give them inspiration.  However I am not happy with how I have "strung" it.  You can see the back side of the bead in the picture below.  I put a long headpin through a small accent bead, then through the front of the flower to the back, added another small bead and wire wrapped it using what I call "birds nest" wrapping.  Then I bent the loop upwards with my pliers, and threaded it onto a copper figure 8 link - then added a hammered copper washer.  The washer acts as a bit of a ballast and somewhere for the large chain, leaf and bead dangle to hang from.  I have worn it several times, and it does not turn around (I was really pleased about this), and is quite comfortable.  I want to be able to add one of my disc poppies to a rubber tube/cord type of necklace, and don't think this method will work with that, as I want the flower to be centered on the rubber cord.

OK - now for where I need your advice - how should I go about attaching the flower to the rubber cord?  I don't want to just wire wrap it on, as it would possibly cut into the rubber and could flip so it was facing downwards, which is what I want to avoid.  The problem is that this disc is not like a regular focal pendant whose hole is from top to bottom - the hole in the poppy disc is from front to back.  So I am offering an incentive to someone who has an idea that will work for me with either the rubber cord or to streamline the method above.  In about a weeks time I will draw one name from all the people who have given me a suggestion to my problem and that person will receive the ruffled disc poppy shown below. (Or a plain one if they prefer).

Thanks for your help!

Building up show stock

I can't believe it has been two weeks since I last posted on my blog - sorry about that.  I have been busy getting beads made for the upcoming Fraser Valley Bead Show in October - only 4 weeks left.

The beads above are a small sample of the beads I will be taking.  The bead at the top is one of my Pacific Reef beads, and the three florals are a new style I have been working on this past summer.  I know that sunflowers have larger centers and smaller petals - just call it "artistic license".  I thought I might do some in colours other than yellow too - maybe pink, purple or blue (more artistic license).

I am going to post a picture in a day or two of a necklace I made up with one of the poppy discs that I showed in an earlier post.  I need your help with suggestions on how to string it.  Prizes will be involved too!
So keep an eye out for the next post - hopefully some time over the weekend.

Have a great day everyone.

Organics in Abundance

I recently purchased a lampwork recipe e-book from Jacqueline Parks aka Gems in Bloom, and have been enjoying making "organics" with her recipes.  It is amazing how the same glass can be used by so many lampworkers, and each one comes up with a different interpretation -  even if you try to make the beads like the samples that she shows, they never turn out the same.

All these beads were made with basically dark ivory, silver foil, and intense black.  Some of them have a base of a slightly different colour, but more or less all the same.

I was at the Downtown Nanaimo Farmers Market today, and it sure was windy.  I was really glad that my tent back was tied to the outside railing, and that I had weights on the ftont.  Now that the children are all back in school, I sure notice that the number of customers has dropped dramatically - however sales were about the same overall.  Tomorrow - another town, another market!

Have a great weekend all!

Flowers and Leaves - Show Stock

I am busy making beads for the Fraser Valley Bead Show in October, and trying to get some different items in stock.  I love the colours of these poppies, and I have lots more colours I want to try out yet, and I want to do more two and three toned ones as well.  I plan on making about 50 of these, and thought I would sell each one with a leaf bead.  A couple of the first ones ended up with little cracks in them, so I have made one of those into a pendant and will use it as a prop in the show to give the customers an idea as to how the beads can be used.

Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to sell them in my Etsy shop, as they would have to be shipped in a box, and that means they can't go for "Small Packet Light" international, or "Oversize Letter" within Canada, because to qualify for those the packaged item has to fit through a 2cm slot, and be under a certain weight.  In this case the depth of the box would be a problem, and the price of shipping would be double.

I hope you are all having a great week!

Success and Failure

Well, sometimes things work out right and then again sometimes they don't.  The first two sets are more of the Meditation Pools sets that I listed the other day, and I am really pleased with them.  I love the green set - it looks like a very colourful green Mother of Pearl.  I left the "pools" raised this time just to see if I liked them any better and to see if I could get the colour to intensify, but I don't think it made any difference, and it is a lot easier to flatten them so I will probably do that in the future.

The last set in the butter cream colour I had high hopes for, but for some unknown reason the pink "silver glass" has fumed or splashed pink all over the lovely cream colour.  You can really see it in the bead 2nd from the bottom.  It looks like spilled pink nail polish that I didn't wipe up properly.  I am quite dissappointed in them, and so I think I will etch them and see if that improves the look.  Ah well, best laid plans and all that.

I have listed the first and second sets in my Etsy.

Have a great weekend!

Meditation Pools

I love the aged and webbed look that comes from the fuming of ivory with a silver laden glass.  I have wanted to do something simple but with punch that incorporates this technique for quite a while.  One of the artists that posts on Lampwork Etc (Amy Kinsch I think) does this techinque wonderfully with some of her big holed beads.  Her dots are raised and there are many around the bead.  I decided to just do one simple large dot and melt it smooth, and I am really pleased with the results.
These beads can be found on Etsy.

Beads in my Etsy shop

Further to a previous post, I have just listed 4 of these new ocean and shell inspired beads in my Etsy shop.
Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Earrings - tweet, tweet!

About a month ago I met a lady who was wearing the cutest little polymer clay earrings.  She had purchased them at a quilt show in Oregon.  I kept thinking about these earrings, and I realized that polymer clay is the perfect medium for earrings - it comes in a miriad of colours, and most important of all, it is lightweight.  So for the last few days I have been making polymer clay birds, beads, discs, squares, etc, and putting them all together into earrings.  I am having a blast, and it is something I can do in short spurts, as I still can't sit for too long with my sore back.  It's also fun coordinating the display cards with the earrings.
I am hoping to get out into the glass studio this next week - maybe for a very short time tomorrow, and see how it goes.

Bye for now!

So Sorry!

I'm sorry that I haven't blogged for ages.  I have been flat on my back in bed for over a week, and only just managed to get out of bed yesterday.  Why?? you ask .  I was sitting in my chair on Aug 16 and stretched and felt a painful tug in my lower back.  Hmmmmmmmmmm - better be careful I said to myself.  So I walked around for about half an hour, then sat down at my computer and leaned forward - BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  My back was hit with so much pain I could hardly breathe.  So I have either torn something or a disc has ruptured.  Unfortunately, I can't get in to the doctor until I can get rid of the pain - hopefully in the next few days.  However, then it will be all over and he will look at me like I am crazy for going to him when I don't hurt anymore.  This is the 4th time since April, but this is the worst it has ever been.  I won't even get into telling you about the awful withdrawal I had from the pain meds - OK, I guess I just did - lol.  One mustn't loose ones sense of humor!

Obviously there are no new beads to show you, but I'll go through my archives and see if there is something in there to show.  Back in a few minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

OK - here are a couple of my Arbutus Tree focals, and a Beach Wedding set of beads. (I think the Arbutus tree is called the Madrona tree in the US - it grows near the ocean.)  I hope I haven't shown you these before.

If I ever get back out to my studio I must make some more of the trees, and I love the Beach Wedding beads, so I will make more of those too.

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

New Vertebrae/Shell beads

I just received an email from my sister telling me (read scolding here) that it had been 10 days since my last post.  I must confess that I am finding it hard to come up with things to blog about.  Anyway, I quickly ran downstairs and took a picture of my latest Vertebrae/Shell beads - they're not even cleaned yet. 

This is a really fun technique where you start with a very small core of white (or any other opaque colour) and spiral wrap the white with a transparent glass, makng sure you leave gaps of white in between.  Then you melt the transparent down, encase, press and decorate.  As the transparent melts down, the white core squeezes through the gaps that you have left when you did the winding, making the vertebrae or shell like effect.
 
I hope you enjoyed your mini lampwork lesson!

Market Day

Today was market day and I decided to change the colour of the top drape for my booth.  A lot of people have been complaining that the white is too bright in the sun in the afternoon - now that we finally have sun here in the northwest. I had a lovely white on white brocade top drape, but if it is too bright it will put the customers off.  I really like this plum colour, and I used it for the first time today, and of course someone had to drip grease on it in two places - grrrrrr!!!!  I don't have time to wash it before tomorrows market, but I can turn it around front to back - sure hope the grease comes out.

The other pictures are of the other market stalls before all the customers arrive - and it looks like I caught someone in the process of just setting up.

The flowers are sold by the lady next to me - The Cookie Lady - she makes the most delicious cookies, and is my downfall.  She also brings fresh cut flowers in the summer, and I spied a lovely purple bouquet that would have looked great on my table, but by the time I had my wallet out someone had already bought it - drat!  I'll have to be quicker next week.

Have a good weekend everyone.