moldering s-berry

i want to make a loopy bracelet with strawberry 'charms.'

with my first batch of strawberries the transparent red didn't fully strike and the berries are mostly a lovely golden yellow. on the second attempt i made this large moldy strawberry - not at all what i had in mind. the red frit decoration turned blackish brackish green. ? why ? and the petroleum green leaves look, well, slimey.

waste not, want not. i made myself a new 'mexican voodoo' pendant with the bead.

'moldering s-berry' - flameworked glass bead made with dark red, freaky red frit & petroleum green. pendant embellished with garnets & freshwater pearls & a hand carved bone skull

to see more 'mexican voodoo' pendents click here and here.

mexican radio by wall of voodoo.

carnelian blossom earrings

i saw someone wearing a pair of my earrings - and one of the beads was cracked. so i snatched them right off her ears and remade them for her.

carnelian long blossom earrings - opalino carnelian, goldstone, transparent red & clear glass beads with freshwater pearls and sterling silver

annie modesitt is hot

i am, like, so done with winter.

in florida i had 4 days without a single coughing fit. my fingertips and toes didn't perpetually ache and i wasn't partially immobilized by layers and layers of heavy clothes. why do i continue to live in this stupid freezer?

i was in such a rush to get outta this tundra that i never blogged about annie modesitt.

ever since i discovered flameworking my knitting has definately slipped in status to craft number two. annie modesitt, a mistress knitter (she prefers it to master knitter) sometimes knits with wire and beads. how perfect is that? one look at this woman's book and i was thinking outwards in giant spirals of fine silver wire and my flameworked beads.

her 'lecture' to the assembled ladies of the rochester knitting guild was fabulous. she has tremendous presence and charm and on top of that she is one of the world's fastest knitters. yes - i saw her knit and it was mindboggling. i drank the koolaid, bought her book on knitting with beads and wire (Twist and Loop) had it signed and even got a few words with her. i ordered some sterling silver wire today...

i also need to get her book called confessions of a knitting heretic.

and lastly, to finish today's blogging a couple of gratuitous pictures of kiki p. oodle. it was a good day to be the dog.

oh, and i have knit something of annie modesitt's already - she devised that clever pattern for the 'backyard leaves scarf' from 'scarf style.' i never made the connection til just now, duh. where is that scarf?

a brief escape

naples, fla.

tiny sweaters

something rather wonderful from an estate sale.

a vintage handknit pair of matching barbie & ken doll sweaters. they look like they were knit on sewing needles, rather than knitting needles, the stitches are so small and delicate. and yes, the deer on the backs, and pinetrees on the fronts, are intarsia.

cherry berries

cherry berries

red, petroleum green & olive

ooooh ooh
'looby doo' performed by cherry wainer (may 1959)

matching pairs - poodles & earrings

dogs and earrings - a natural combo.
"two of anything make a great pair of earrings" - jacqueline levine borek

yes, we got 21" of snow - not that much - but more than enough. good thing i don't have to pish in the snow.

that's miss kiki p. oodle going in head first.

these bits of glass are currently my favorite earrings.

the beads are just dark ivory glass rolled in silver foil bits. then the beads were done up with sterling beads and wires.

miss mango is in barcelona by way of detroit and amsterdam - no, my dear girl there are not hash bars in the amsterdam airport. children ask the darndest things. j&j were in thailand yesterday, and if it's friday it must be dehli for them. julia is on her way to london & paris. it's february break and everyone's getting outta here.

love is the drug

happy valentine's day

'the lover' - petrolem green & verigated stringer with rainbow red wings.

the blob has replicated...

like a plot from an old horror movie - my plasma blob multiplied.

(if you scroll down to my first blob blog entry you can watch the original trailer for the blob movie starring steve mcqueen)

i now have a small set of blobs.

red red red, copper green, light ivory, large size raku frit & fine silver foil.

large size.

a couple of medium size.

three tiny weenie twisted spacers - too cute. shouldn't your spacers be as ornate as your focals?

a side view that better shows the ruffled edge. this is made by grabbing the hot glass and giving little twists with your tweezers.

add in the original bead and now there is a set of 10 - a bracelet and earrings?

my first hollow bead

want a good laugh?

snort - my first attempt at a hollow bead.

i had a really useless morning at the torch today, what a drag.

dew drops

dew drops - such a lovely, corny technique.

made on 1/8" mandrels, dark ivory & silver foil with clear 'dew drops'

plum on plum

i love dark silver plum glass.

these beads were inspired by carved ebony wood furniture. i decided to make a small monochomatic set of beads made only with dark silver plum glass.

lots of surface texture was built up using stringers and a small tool that makes round hole indentations. i like the flatter lozenge shapes best, the barrel not so much. the flattened one in the center is my favorite, it is a little bit larger than a dime. a whole bracelet of these will be great, especially strung with iridescent fresh water pearls.

here is the sketchbook page that shows the initial inspiration and idea:

eventually i will paste a picure of the beads onto the page so i can remember what's what.

snowflake ball

snow day!

actually, technically, it's a 'cold' day.
the temps are so low here that school was cancelled -
it's too dangerously cold (-15) for the little walkers to be outside.

i called these little party dresses - 'snowflake ball'
later they will become a nice pair of earrings.

they are made with (messy glass) cirrus & encased silver foil. cirrus s a new color from messy, it is an opalescent, somewhat milky, clear