fairy stones

spring cannot come soon enough.

fairy stones - a core of CiMs gelly's sty pink that is wrapped in silver foil and then heavily encased with transparent pink.

the foil is nice and bright. the trick is to never let the flame touch the foil.

apply the foil by rolling the hot, but not too hot, bead onto a small square of the metal leaf. then, carefully hold the bead under the flame while draping the molten transparent glass over the bead. if the flame touches the foil it will melt and bead up, so you must not let the flame touch the foil.

it's like alchemy that the silver foil turns gold.

it doesn't happen right away, and that's another trick to making these encased foil beads. the foil doesn't change color until you flame anneal the beads. it seems to take this last slow and gentle heating at the end to 'change into' gold. when it happens - it just happnens - it is really cool.

to get the faceted 'stone' shape i use a cheese knife.

after all the glass is in place, i heat a small area of the bead and press it flat with the side of the blade. do this over and over, and soon the beads will have this chunky, and very reflective, angled surface that enhances the foil sparkle so well.

psst - if you have not tried CiMs (creation is messy) glass, you absolutely must. it is wonderful. my favorites are gelly's sty and cirrus.

'the wish' by Lori Earley