frit madness

i made frit yesterday.



with a set of stainless steel restaurant melted butter cups, some cold water and a pair of mashers - it's frit time.

flame the end of a rod into a small ball of molten glass, mash it into a lollipop, reheat lightly and plunge it into the cup of cold water. after a second in the water, viola! the lollipop end of glass will fracture into a million wee bits of frit.



the frit is a fairly large size (about a #3). you can control the size a little bit. it seems the hotter the glass when it hits the water - the smaller the frit. so, by not reheating the 'lollipop' after mashing you get a coarser frit when directly plunged into the cup of water. conversely, when you reheat the 'lollipop' to a blazing yellow (but not back to a ball) and plunge it the frit is a little smaller. it also seems to depend on what color the glass is. dark silver plum made a much finer frit than opaque uranium yellow.

i made opaque uranium yellow, dark silver plum, opalino nile green, rubino oro, alabastro pink, a blend of yellows and ochers, a blend of blues, copper red green and translucent yellow.

cold toes forever

here in upstate new york, on the lakeshore border with canada, it is dark, windy and achingly cold. i had a dream full of red summer poppies last night.

pressing my luck...

so, i still have not bought my own zoozii long&lean kalera press.
yes, still mooching off one of the other nice bead ladies at morefire.

maybe i am hoping for a bit of holiday magic?
never mind gold under the x-mas tree - this year i'd like some brass, thankyou.





'plasma' (front & side views) - opaque red, copper green, silver foil & raku

this color combination is my current favorite -
i call it gauguin, it reminds me off all his tahitian beauties and their mangos.



'gauguin earrings' - orange delight, carrot red & raku



'ocher landscape' - ocher, dark ivory, transparent topaz & raku

son of mexican refried voodoo

more 'mexican voodoo' pendants.
creepy fun for the holidays



part of a flurry of holiday sale production...



i love making these little monsters.
they are all layered up on a sterling head pin with a handcarved bone skull, one of my stray flameworked beads and then some freshwater pearls and semi-precious stones. finish it off with a waxed linen cord.



to see more of these, and learn their stupid names,
please visit them at the Bead Artists Gallery site.

big big beads

sometimes you just gotta see how much glass you can get on a mandrel.
these 2 focal beads are huge.



'flaming carrot' - orange, carrot red & raku



'oaxaca' - turquoise, special dark red, red & orange

winged hearts

my latest bead fixation...
hearts with wings.



"harlequin" black, white & carrot red

these are huge focals, perfect for pendants.



"blackbird dream" dark silver plum, dark ivory, aventurine chunk & light transparent blue



"gray lady" pastel light gray, steel gray transparent & aventurine stringers

last weekend's show "eggs and art" (a holiday art & craft sale/brunch at Java's public market cafe) was a lovely success. thank you to everyone who came out, in the sleet, for waffles and beads...

chasing my tail

running around getting ready for 3 consecutive weekends of bead & jewelry selling.

barbie stringers

unleash your inner 'barbie' by making a rubino oro encased aventurine stringer.

it's not too hard. punty up a little chunk of aventurine (goldstone) encase it all over with rubino oro then heat and pull it into a stringer. the trick is to never, never let the flame touch the goldstone or the sparkles will burn up - always work it outside the flame until it is encased.

they are so pink and full of sparkles!



here's one used to decorate the edges of a dark silver plum claw.
it's a princess goth girl kinda thing.

total eclipse of the heart

another 'end of the day' bead. made with a bit of just about everything - black, an encased chunk of gold aventurine, dark ivory, a bit of silver leaf, some raku frit, opalino yellow, dark silver plum and with opalino carnelian wings.

another large focal winged heart. made with one of my favorite color combinations - raku on coral.

seaweed

these beads remind me of the beachs in north carolina - where i ache to be. maybe i could get rid of my endless case of the sniffles.



'seaweed'



dark ivory, silver leaf & twisties.
made with the same zoozii kalera long & lean press that i was so generously allowed to use last week, and was offered again this week.



after pressing the beads i rewarmed an edge and ruffled it with my tweezers.

frankfurter sandwiches

i had a wonderful afternoon at the torch yesterday. the 'babes' are outta the kiln and soaking in a bowl downstairs. so, in the meantime, enjoy some 'frankfurter sandwiches' from 1929.

opalino carnelian blossom

this blossom is made from my favorite color of glass - opalino carnelian.



there is some encased aventurine sparkling in there and the ruffle is transparent rainbow red.

pitiful kaleras

someone i was torching with, on monday, was gracious and generous - she let me try her zoozii kalera long & lean press, thank you.



yes, i gave into press temptation...
and these are my pitiful first pressed beads.
yet, there is something about them i love, the painterly surface.
maybe i will have to get a press...



i also made this bead with the press.
because i wound entirely too much glass onto the mandrel it mushed out the sides.
with a blade i hand shaped the edges - this technique may have a future.



'maple leaf charm'
a dark ivory core with transparent red and dark special brown, encased in striking electric yellow and then the bottom rolled in fine raku frit.