redwing blackbird

this seems to be bird season.
artists all around me are also inspired by birds this summer.
working on a series of paintings done from 'Audubon's Birds of America.'

i love the way they are contorted - he posed them after killing them.
this is one small study on paper.



so, of course, i had to make a redwing blackbird bead



Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free

-the beatles

millefiore amore

bought a baggie of millefiore so I could make fancy floral party dresses.

before the dress I made a few round practice beads with the new murrini.

these are pretty messy, but not too bad for a first try.
heres how they were done:
first pull some goldstone stringers.
then make a barrel bead, one I made with a black base and one with a petroleum green base.
next plonk on the millefiore.
now, 'weave' the goldstone stringers in around the millefiore.
encase the whole mess with clear and into the oven to bake.

coral sparkle - easy peasy

sometimes something simple can end up being gorgeous.

making beads for a bracelet to go with my friend dr. liz's favorite coral necklace.

the pictures don't come close to showing how lush and full of sparkle these beads are - they look like they have glitter inside them.




simple, simple to make

1. wind a coral barrel core
2. roll it in adventurine (goldstone) frit - do NOT melt it in, leave it sticking up out of core bead.
3. quickly and gently encase, being careful to heat the exposed frit as little as possible so the sparkle (copper) does not burn out and turn black.

* adventurine frit can be purchased from Island Glass thru their ebay store Moretti and More. they are great, i buy too much from them all the time - best of all they ship like lightning! *

i want to make a set on a periwinkle core, encased in rubino
and some on pea green encased with pale green transparent or maybe even straw yellow.
you get the idea...
tile red encased in light topaz
and on & on & on.

i am like a crow - i like shiny things.

land of the lost

sorry, i have been away on the most wonderful painting vacation in the fingerlakes...

vacation snaps

to amuse you in the meantime - take a look my voodoo pendants at beadartist.com - i gave them all some amusing and goofy names.

bead artist pics