ebay bead virgin

while i am certainly no ebay virgin...
it is with great skepitism and low expectations, that i am attempting to auction some of my beads on ebay.





click here to see the auction
it took a lot of time and patience to design the layout and create html for the template.

(no i don't know how to write code)
i write code like pepe le pew speaks french.

for now, a cupcake.

it was a long and blissful session with the torch...

every mandrel i had dipped and dried got used- always the sign of a good go'round with the flame.

all the new forsythia beads are soaking and waiting to be reamed.
they are much more defined than the first set, new tweezers did the trick, sorry no new photos yet.

in the meantime, a snack!



this image come from a favorite blog of mine called
"All Cupcakes All the Time."
if you look in my side bar you will find a link to them in my linky-doos list.

aren't the colors great!
a sweet combo for a set of summer beads.

forsythia beads

"Forsythia is pure joy. There is not an ounce, not a glimmer of sadness or even knowledge in forsythia. Pure, undiluted, untouched joy."

- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

the forsythia is bustin' out all over.

my favorite color of glass is bright translucent yellow.
transparent uranium yellow makes me week at the knees.
we have a pantry shelf full of vases this color, no yardsale is safe from my need for acid yellow glass.

i plucked some flowers from the back yard, did some sketching and headed over to 'More Fire' with a plan.

i used:

translucent yellow (morette effetre odd lot #401), pea green (#212) and clear.

starting with a clear oval bead, i then added the petals and finally the stem wrap. simple enough.

i really need to find some tweezers without serated tips - I am losing to much defination when i melt out the ridge marks.

loving the open center/twisted tip hearts.





when i plonked the buds into the can'o'vermiculite every stinkin' one of them was too hot and bent sideways.

i anticipate that the second set of forsythia beads will be much better, but i am still loving these.

first pair of earrings & goldstone stringers

cash will get you sterling silver findings
and then you can make earrings.
these are my first.






2 amber glass seed beads
2 handmade oval tab glass beads
2 gold fresh water pearls
1 lucky roadside smashed bottle cap
& sterling findings.

something that elizabeth of 'More Fire' taught in the intro to flameworking class was how to pull an encased goldstone (aventurine) stringer.

there were pre-made ones in the case, so why bother pulling your own?
but the shopper in my bought a wee bag of goldstone chunks.
besides, the commercial rods were so 'shocky' that it was an adrenaline rush every time you exploded one across the bench.

once i got started, i must have spent 45 minutes pulling multi-colored encased goldstone stringers.

they are gorgeous!





make some - start with bright transparents, especially grass green and anything pink/violet.
they are twice as bright and so much more satisfying than the "ones in the case."

little richard or what i did when i could have been beading...

my dog napoleon and little richard, they're tight like that.

i had the morning off and i could have been beading, but i had fit of photoshop instead.

homemade conversation hearts

go ahead, make your own custom candies at:

http://www.acme.com/heartmaker/

crows

what's on my brain?
mmm.







moretti / effetre dark silver plum #275.
the minute it arrived from "Moretti & More" i knew i was going to make crows.

























very unfussy & fast - just glass sketches of crows.

this glass works sort of gummy, and you want to keep as many of the ridges and whorls as possible to show off the irredescence of the glass.

the extra beads are also wound from dark silver plum and nothing else.
they look like they were finger sculpted from blobs of old road tar on a hot summer day.






i don't know what the 'claw' things are, they just happened.






the sketches from the bead book.

skull cap

now, a skull and crossbones hat from Hello Yarn's free online patterns.

a birthday present for Miss Mango16's boyfriend.

his favorite color is safety orange and he fancies himself a bit of a pirate, that makes this hat perfect.

amigurumi of all sorts

how excited was i to find these at an estate sale last week?
each of these old cotton amigurumi is just about 3" tall.








who wouldn't want to make some of these?
i am making them out of glass.





there were more but the teen girlies got 'em before they were photographed.

inspirational doodle scraps of paper - glued into the bead sketch book.

paillettes a go-go

the scarf around the neck of its' intended - the mysterious e.v.e.
photographed at her barista gig at the public market.





this scarf is so yummy and fuzzy and bright that it is impossible to photograph...







the yarn glows and the vintage paillettes reflect the flash... i wish you could see how riotously pretty and fun it is.







knitting the paillettes in was a gas, just fish a knit loop thru the paillette with a crochet hook and knit on.
i think i will make a black hat that uses aluminum popcan tops instead of paillettes as a blingy accent.






this packette of vintage 20mm silver paillettes came from an estate sale.
i have a few hundred more to use up, but if you want some there is a seller on ebay called 'sequins galore' who has a huge selection.

little cock robin

little cock robin
sitting on a pole
niddle noddle went his head
poop went his hole





"she" by francesco clemente









robin beads - first attempt.













also an egg and a nest with an egg in it.





for the nest make a round clear bead, flatten the top and add the egg, then wrap and wrap and wrap with verigated brown stringers.







these are cute, but i want something more naturalistic, so i went to the sketch book.
there will be more later.

flies

yer buggin' me.

"Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day."

-Bertrand Russell, Sceptical Essays (1928), "Dreams & Facts"

yucca pods & pearls necklace

yucca pod beads.



these look as tho they were picked up off a forest floor - same as dry and decaying autumn leaves and brown lichens.



the necklace is done with a sterling silver clasp and white fresh water pearls.



here are the pages from my bead sketchbook that i worked from. of course, i also had the real pods with me at the flameworking bench.