Worm Lover

Yesterday was a bone chilling, wet, gray blanket of a day.

It was barely above freezing. with the winds blowing erratically, and a fine misty rain whipping around all day.

Dreary, m'dears, dreary.

I thought I would get to torch this afternoon but it ended up being an inconvenient time.

My mood got as dark as the skies. Eventually, I did get to flame and my frustrations turned into bliss. It's true, I had a stellar work session full of golden leaves, a giant hollow bird, a handful of blossoms and a new flock of iridescent crows.

Just look at this poor bastard worm, inching across my driveway through a near freezing puddle. I picked him up, barehanded, and put him in a nice spot in my flower bed.
Foolish matron, tree hugger, worm lover and unrepentant liberal - that's me.

Fern Bracelet

Yesterday I finally got around to assembling all my lentil shaped 'fern; beads into a bracelet.

This is one of my favorite styles of bracelets to make - I call it the 'five lentil.' Pretty easy to see why, it's five lentil shaped glass beads strung together and attached to a chain with a dangle on one end and a fat lobster claw clasp on the other.

The best thing about this style is that it will fit anyone no matter what size wrist they have.

I wish I knew what the small gem stone spacer beads are - I never labeled them after I brought them home from the bead store. All the findings and the chain are sterling silver.

The beads are plain, old Effetre white with Double Helix Gaia raked on for the fern fronds.

I delivered it this morning to the museum gift shop.

The Bugs in His Brain

This in one of my two silly dogs - Napoleon P. Oodle.

He is trying to rub the bugs outta his brain. He looks a little like a cubist Picasso painting of a poodle with his limbs all in the wrong places.

I never realized until I was looking at these snapshots that the tulips on my needlepoint footstool are probably where I got the idea for my latest blossom earrings.

Please note that there is a spirit hovering over the footstool in this one. Yes, I know that this photographic phenomenon is actually the shutter catching the image of a falling raindrop - in my bedroom.

Crows

It's time for me to start working in a more sculptural way with glass.
I am itching to teach myself something new with the torch.

Naturally the place to start, for me, is with birds.
And if it's birds it has to be crows.

These large focal beads have a black base that was decorated with threads of Double Helix Triton and Psyche for iridescence.

Preliminary crow drawings.

Loving the Green

Gaia - that is. The iridescent metallic green glass made by Double Helix Glass Works.

A leaf bead that Gaia over transparent grass green and teal. The Gaia has green, blue and violet flashing through it. These two beads are just wild in the sunlight.

This pile of beads will be all wired together with silver and become a bracelet.

The small round ones have a core of pale opalino blue encased in Messy Cirrus. The were heavily etched. The contrast of the ultra shiny leaves and the satiny, beach glass like rounds is very nice. I may also throw in some labradorite for good measure.

I had a wonderfully long session at the torch yesterday. I cannot wait to see the beads - it felt really good while I was working.

p.s. happy Saint Patrick's day.

Antique Keys Galore

I found a lovely stash of antique skeleton keys junking last week.

This morning I listed a bunch of the small ones in my Curious Old Things Etsy shop.

I banish winter!

The last of the snow on our sidewalk. The first crocus cannot be far behind.

Spring Blossoms - a second boquet

A whole new batch of spring blossom earrings.

Little lampwork glass flowers with freshwater pearls and semi-precious stones.

All of them are ready to deliver to the museum next week.

If you see something you want -

email me and I will set them aside for you -

or put them up on Etsy with a reserve in your name. $27.00 per pair.

These have pale green pearls and garnets,

and these have brown pearls and peridot.

These little green glass and big white pearl snow drops are may favorites.

Downtown Home

Gaia Leaves

More sculpted leaves.

These are transparent teal and transparent grass green wrapped in bands of Double Helix Gaia and heavily reduced.

I wish you could see the flashes of violet as you move them around.

Homage to Dr. Seuss

I made another pile of small flowers for earrings.

When you make these you have to make a couple of extra petals for each pair.

because when you re-introduce them into the flame they sometimes blow up in your tweezers.

These blue ones were especially cool, until they broke.
I used an encased blue and white twistie to make each petal.


When I was done with all the little pairs I had a pile of spare flower petals.

I used them to make one, big fanciful bloom which reminds me of a Dr. Seuss flower.

It's about 2" long.

We are so, so close to spring!

Fancier Ferns

New fern lentils for earrings.

Raked bands of Double Helix Gaia over a core of white.

Instructions for making these drawn out in my sketchbook.

I often work out an idea on paper before actually trying to make the bead - it helps me to lay out the steps it's going to take to torch a new design.

It didn't work out exactly as I had planned, but very close.

I need to keep everything very precise and round because every little bit that's off is exaggerated at the end when you press the lentil. The raking needs to be exactly spaced and the 'wings' that mask off the sides need to be perfectly placed and everything slowly melted into place.

Ooh PMC, I took an introductory course yesterday at a local bead shop. No one told me it was silver playdoh. This could be the next rabbit hole I fall down.

I'm still stuck on seed pods - I love making this form.

This time I added bands of reactive color before I raked them into the pod shape, which feathered them by default. The one on the left is Double Helix Psyche over Opalino Carnelian and the other one is Psyche over Uranium Yellow. Both of them are just over an inch long.

Magic Leaves

Magic?
Yes, I think Double Helix glass is magical - and addictive.

I had a real "a ha !" moment while working with it the other day and got the most lustrous results. This little batch of leaves look just like old carnival glass.

Just look at all those metallic colors.

The plan is to make a whole wreath necklace of them.

What glass did I use?
The base beads are topaz and/or pale aqua that has been encased in Double Helix Aurae. To make the leaf shape I start with a lentil bead and tweezed and spot heated it into a little sculpted leaf.

I am seriously going to try and sell a few beads on Etsy.
I have dithered about with it and never really made much of a commitment to sell there. So, I am going to try and list some of my nicer beads there and see if anyone is interested.

This one is up right now in my Belvedere shop.


"Well the moon is broken and the sky is cracked..."