son of mexican refried voodoo

so, i made some more mexican voodoo pendants.



enough already you say?
but, but, but, everyone loves these delicious little dirtbags.



and besides, they are the perfect use for stray beads.
go here to see a rogue's gallery of skull pendants.

new bracelets

getting ready for a show this weekend.



'fallen leaves' flameworked beads, freshwater pearls, amber,



'fire garden' flameworked beads, dyed turquoise nuggets, coral & sterling silver findings



'sky stones & gray pearls' flameworked beads, mexican turquoise, freshwater pearls & sterling silver findings

making the jewelery is almost as enjoyable as torching the beads... almost.

class with Sally Prasch

i took the most amazing class yesterday-
murrine making with Sally Prasch.
go to her website and prepare to be amazed by her work.



a Sally Prasch bead

yes, there could be pictures by putting the murrine in the scanner,
but then you would see my pitiful first murrine.
i figure it's like the harmonica, no one needs to hear you the first time you play the harmonica.
no one needs to see my first murrine.

but just you wait 'til i get this all figured out...

old rose stones

i got something new to play with...
big hole mandrels.



after loving the 'fallen sky stone landscapes' to pieces, there had to be another batch using the same technique of hand shaping lots of organic facets onto tinted encasing over colorful core beads. this color combination is called 'old rose stones'



this set is made with that new messy glass rose quartz. also moretti special brown light for the cores. the cores were rolled in aventurine gold and aventurine green frit and then each bead was encased with rubino oro, transparent light topaz and transparent light pink.



once all the glass is in place i gently heat up the beads, one side and angle at a time, and flatten it to build up random facet after facet.



i was really into it and made a big set of them, enough for a big show of jewelry.



best of all, i got two different, amazing, stainless steel big hole mandrels from moretti & more.



just look how big the hole is in the larger one, i could wear that big juicy bead like a ring.



the whole set of 19 'old rose stones' beads.

pendants & earrings

mmm... pearls, coral, turquoise, rose quartz, sterling & glass.















it's the end of summer. welcome to Rochester, bring your sweater.

amigurumi II

more of my take on amigurumi - as glass beads.

(amigurumi are tiny japanese crocheted dolls - a huge fad there)

my daughter, miss mango 16, squeals that these are her favorite beads.

these are straight from my sketchbook... i know, i have shown this page before. but, it's cool to see. i keep it on the bench, to the right of me at the torch while i am working.

for a hoard of fabulous classic amigurumi visit amigurumi kingdom.

big at heart

i am getting ready for a show - my first with beads.

this pendant is made with a gianormous glass heart focal, mexican turquoise and freshwater pearls.

the bead is an 'end of the day' creation.

'end of the day glass' is a tradition in handmade glass production.
at the end of the day some whimsical piece was made (often by apprentices) with whatever random assortment of colored glass fragments were left on the marver.

i use whatever stray frit, stringers bits, shorty shorts and naughty shards (the bits that fly off when impatiently warming canes) to make my last bead. waste not, want not.




yes, i will be selling small paintings at the show, the big ones are too much for an outdoor event.
to see paintings and drawings click here.

mexican refried voodoo

making more of these nasty little 'mexican voodoo' weiners.

i spent the afternoon at my studio stringing beads into jewelry.

click to see all the of the wee weirdos and the stupid names i gave them at the beadartist website.



warning: these pendants are not intended for supernatural use.

sand & cinders

i made my first silvered ivory stringers last week.
is that ever fun.



from them i made this set called "sand and cinders."
the beads were made with dark ivory (both moretti and vetrofond), 'sis' and raku frit.





they remind me of the shore here on the lake ontario border with canada.

the lucky people who live on the lake have huge yearly bonfires and afterwards the wood cinders and ash mix with the sand.

a twisted heart focal.

2 sides of a matching bird bead

i borrowed another beadlady's leaf press to give it a try.

will i get my own? maybe yes, maybe no.

will i make more beads with silvered ivory stringers?

"hellayeh," as my daughter, miss mango 16, would say.

evil seed (pod)

another seed pod bead -
this one i call the evil seed, because it has a big splotch of evil purple.



it's large, made with moretti dark ivory, silvered ivory stringer, dark silver plum and edp.



this one i am keeping.
to see other pods & seeds - check out my 'odd pods' gallery page at beadartists.org

sky stone landscapes

the native americans, in many of their languages, called turquoise "fallen sky stone."



the plan was to make some beads to go with several outrageous strands of turquoise nuggets that big poppa just bought at the flea market.



this set far exceeded my expectations. each bead is like a precious glass landscape, wonderful to the touch.



these beads were made by first winding a core of opalino turquoise and copper green.



then i assembled a frit mixture of dark ivory, gold aventurine, green aventurine, avacado and lots of tiny, tiny torn bits of silver leaf.



after partially melting in the frit, i encased opposite ends of each bead with transparent light blue and transparent olive green.



finally, i shaped the outside encasing, using a flat cheese knife, into facets. giving each bead a great organic nugget shape and lots of sparkle.



the original idea page for these beads from one of my bead sketchbooks.



the large focals in this set of sculpted beads are huge and heavy. i have no idea how to wear these, especially if i mix them with turquoise nuggets as i had planned...

but, i am sure i will somehow manage.

klimt

there are lots of new beads to show, but this is my favorite.
it reminds me of a klimt painting.



dark ivory (vetrofond and moretti), silver leaf, sage, copper green & raku frit.



a floral painting by klimt.