Leaves & Berries

Beeble Berries - a set that will be made into a bracelet.

These leaves are made with rods of a striated green glass called Kiwi that are encased in a pale, earthy green transparent named Kelp. Kelp is a fantastic Effetre color for encasing - and it's not expensive. If you don't have any in your glass stash I highly recommend it.

The berries have a base bead of dark transparent purple with a thick band Double Helix Nyx wrapped over it. The Nyx was given a sprinkling of fine Raku Frit and heavily reduced. I expected them to be much darker but when does Double Helix ever do exactly what you think it ought to do? I know, never.

Here is a snapshot of the leaves and berries that inspired the set.

And, another set of glass leaves and berries that are destined to become a bracelet.

These leaves were made with a base glass of Messy Olive. That was decorated with trails of dark transparent purple and large Raku frit. Then the beads were pressed and shaped into leaves.

Looking back through my glass bead tutorial posts it seems that I have never explained how I make leaves. There are a bunch of drawings in my bead sketchbook already done, all I need is a little time to scan them and add some notes. So, a tutorial on leaves is the plan for tomorrow's blog post.