Journey through a rainy day...

It's rained all day today. I knew it was coming but didn't prepare for it. By prepare I mean, have something to do to keep busy since I can't torch. I mean, I could but if there was any wind at all it would come in the windows of the basement and make a mess. And there was, a lot of wind. This was a particularly bad day in the south weather wise. So...what to do. I have tons of lampwork beads that just weren't quite good enough to make it into my Etsy shop. Lets face it some of them are down right ugly. So I was trying to think of something to do with them, like wind chimes or something.
I did a search on Etsy for wind chimes and was absolutely amazed at the pretty and unusual wind chimes for sale. I love wind chimes, I love the sound of them. I don't really have anywhere to hang them but I still love them. I guess I could hang them in the trees. But I digress. I left my fusing days behind when I started lampworking but I could do some fusing to make some parts for the wind chimes if I really wanted to. Or do I just want to bag them up into bags of say 15 or so and sell them on eBay?

Anyway, I ran across the most beautiful Etsy shop full of wonderful fused glass pieces and wind chimes. The shop is called Mystic Prism and some of the wind chimes were absolutely stunning. Stop by and check them out.

When I did a Google search for wind chimes I was amazed at what there was out there. I guess that anything I could think of a million other people would. So, most likely I will bag them up and sell them at the bay. Any other ideas about what to do with them???

Tomorrow the sun will be out again and I will torch, and make more ugly beads...LOL

tootles

Striking color results

These are some of the beads that I did a couple of days ago with the striking color glass. I was more pleased with the test glass. The glass above was Terra2, the one in the center was a mix of Terra2 and Ekho. It's a bit transparent and I learned from the Double Helix website that the test batch that I love is a test batch for Ekho that was a bit more opaque and had a bit more cobalt blue in it. So, what I'm going to try today is Ekho on a base of white covered in cobalt blue. Maybe it will give me a color closer to the test batch. That will take a bit more doing so the beads are going to take a bit more time to make. But if it works it will be worth it, since the test batch glass is almost gone and when gone will be gone forever. (sob, sob, sob).

Stay tuned for the new results. I have high hopes for my test...LOL More desperate than anything else....LOL

Planets along the journey

I've been playing with striking glass lately. First of all for those of you who don't know what that is, striking glass is a highly silvered glass that is of odd bland colors in rod form, when super heated the glass goes clear and then as it cools it darkens to a very dark brown. Sometimes it cools clear and as it is "lightly" reheated it goes to the dark brown. Then it is encased and the magic happens. The colors underneath the encasement range from purple to yellow with every color of the rainbow in between. The colors can be amazing if you know what your doing. There are three companies in the US that make this special designer glass, Trautman Art Glass, Double Helix and Striking Color, the last being a very new company here in Georgia, his glass sells out almost as fast as he posts it in Etsy. I've been lucky enough to get a few pounds of it and I treat it like gold. Double Helix sells test batches while they are working on new colors and I have a little bit of a test batch that I am in love with. I can only hope that they decide to make it a permanent line. The test batch that I have is named OK-326. The beads above were made with it. You can see why I'm in love with it. It's so consistent.

Today I tried two named glasses from Double Helix, Terra Nova 2.1 and Ekho. I had a horrible time with both of them after having such good luck with the OK-326. It was so easy to strike that I though I had it all figured out. Not even close. I'll try and remember to post the beads I made today, maybe tomorrow if I get them cleaned.

So, just in case your curious about how I did the beads above. I lay down a very small clear glass bead, I then roll it out to give me my foot print. Then I superheat the silvered glass as I lay it down on the footprint, when I done adding the silvered glass I give it even more heat until it's completely clear. I let the bead cool just a bit until it stops moving and then roll it in a brass former to flatten to the same barrel shape as the footprint (the color should be pretty much clear when it's cooled). Ensuring that the bead is cooled I then lightly and I mean just barley pass it through the back of the flame until you see it start to turn very dark. Take it out of the flame and start encasing it with a good clear glass. Nice and thick so that when it's heated you don't overstrike it. I then slightly shape it in the flame, take it out to cool and put in the kiln. Magic...I don't have a clue how they make the stuff but I'm addicted!

Inspiration of the day

Instead of a bead today I have some inspiration in the form of an oil painting by Delabarra. He is a member of Total Art Soul Forum, a wonderful arts forum that I'm a member of. I love the colors and I just know that there is a bead in her hair somewhere I'm going to go down to the torch today and try to incorporate the waves of her hair into a bead.
Wish me luck.

Bead of the day

The bead for today is Golden Poppy. This is a Coral Poppy Orange with a silvered ivory stringer trailed around the bead. Simple yet classic look. I think the best way to use a barrel bead like this is to simply hang it from a silver chain with some silver bobbles around it. But then I'm not a jewelry maker. I tried it and just never was good at it. I leave that to the jewelry makers out there.

Here are some of my favorites right now on Etsy:
Uniqueartpendants, I love this butterfly pendant

ERiaDesigns Loved this little nest pendant, I see that it's sold now.

And finally PeaceBirdStudios, her wire wrapped gemstones are to die for.

Hope you enjoy seeing some of the jewelry I love. Until tomorrow, enjoy the journey.

Glee Starts tonight!!!

Yes friends I'm a true Gleek!!! I love Glee. I think the music is
fantastic and the story lines fun. I thought I would just throw that out
there before I do my bead of the day. Just in case there were some Gleeks
out there that didn't know that it started tonight on Fox. I can't imagine
that any of them don't know but maybe some of you that have never seen it
will try it. You'll love it.
           
Come join us Gleeks!

Bead of the day

I'm going to try to start post a bead a day. One that I've made and am selling in my Etsy shop. You can click on it at the right.

Here is today's bead, its called Ivory Rainbow. Simple dark ivory with raku dots that have been raked. They kind of remind me of hearts. I love the range of colors that I got with this one. I'm going to try the same thing on plain ivory and see what happens.

Blogging journey

I'm wondering if there really are people that follow my blog. I wonder why anyone would want to for that matter. Thus far I've only used it as a place to vent and maybe talk out problems I'm having with my Lampworking. I am having the age old problem of finding the perfect clear but that isn't anything new for us bead makers. I'll go into that more tomorrow so if your
interested stay tuned.

How about a cute dog story today for something different. We have two terriers, a westie named Piper who is the sweetest West Highland White terrier there ever was, she is seven now and very mellow. Very much the alpha and my dog. We decided, when Piper was about one that she needed a friend to play with. That was our first mistake...we decided we wanted a
Scottish terrier so we went in search. We found a woman who had a whole litter of them for sale and drove out to see them and talk to her. Her Scotties were beautiful larger than you would think but very regal. She only had to left that weren't spoken for so I choose the runt. All the time I was inside talking to the woman about the puppy and filling out some papers my hubby, who is much more dog savvy than I, was outside watching the litter. We couldn't take the puppy home for another two weeks so we headed home. Hubby was explaining to me that the puppy that we had choosen was going to be a handful. He said that after the whole litter had eaten all
the puppies had huddled together to sleep there was our Sadie, yes we had already named her, poking around still eating. After she was done eating she grabbed one of the puppies by the tail an drug it out so that she could get into the middle of the huddle for some warmth. He said that she was going to be a handful and that she would probably challenge Piper for the Alpha spot every chance she had. I didn't listen, first of all the other puppy was a male and I wanted a female. Second, it's kind of like bonding, I had all ready picked Sadie up and held her and she was mine.

During the following two weeks while we waited for it to be time to go pick Sadie up the woman called with a concern. She had lost track of the mother one night and when they found her she was with a big male long haired Dauschund. She didn't know if they had mated was as the puppies were getting a bit older she thought that four of them were showing signs of
being mixed. Sadie being one of them. I was only slightly disappointed, at this point Sadie was mine and I was going to take her no matter what. The breeder of course couldn't give us paper, which again didn't matter since we weren't going to breed her and she did offer us a much reduced price since she wasn't sure about the lineage. So the day came and we went out to get
her. We had prepared for the drive home with a large box, the 30 minute ride home with Piper had been a nightmare, but that's another story.

It soon became apparent that Sadie was a mix of Scottie and Doxy, The only real apparent thing was that her ears never came up as Scottie's ears do. When we had to cut we had her cut as a Scottie. But she had all of the tenacious traits of both breeds. She is an extreme hunter and very Very vocal when she wants something. Where Piper just sits and stares at you when she wants something Sadie tells you at the top of her lungs that she wants it. All this to tell you a cute little story.

This morning the girls got me up early, they wanted to go out or their walk. It wasn't really their fault that I stay up until 2AM, they hadn't, they went to sleep in their usual places on the floor near the couch until I was ready to go to bed. They both sleep in crates at night,they consider them their little caves. Anyway, we went on our walk and when we got home I planned on laying back down on the couch for a bit more sleep. I do that sometimes...retirement is wonderful. My hubby's large chair is closer to the front door and up in the corner of the chair is the prime preferred spot for both girls. Piper got there first, Sadie was still eating her treats. So I laid down on the couch and Sadie sat there and stared at me, she wanted to get up in the corner of the couch, the second spot used by both girls. I didn't want her up there, I new for a fact that she would stay up there for about ten minutes and then want down at which time she would have to climb over my head to get down. I was having none of it, I closed my eyes to try and not see her staring at me. I could still feel her eyes on me, I opened my eyes and she had moved out to the middle of the den where she could get a better view of my eyes. I finally asked her what she wanted and she came around, stood up on the couch with her front paws and looked from my face to the corner of the couch and back to my face. This went on or about a minute
before I finally gave up and sat up so that she could get up in her spot. She knows I'm weak and will break down if she stares long enough.

She is a very different dog. When we are getting ready to take them out or are preparing their food she talks to us. Not with barking but what I can only describe as a popping sound with her mouth. It opens and closes and no sound comes out but this strange popping or snapping sound. I've never seen another dog do this and it is the strangest sound I've ever heard. She also
bumps us a lot. She doesn't lick to kiss as many dogs do but kind of bumps you with her nose. When we are preparing her food or getting them a treat she kind of reminds you that she is there by running her wet nose up your leg. The strange thing is that Piper now does it too. Who says you can't teach an old dog a new trick. They have both picked up the others habits
and Piper even barks now when she wants something bad enough. They are our furry children and their personalities are as different as day and night. What we would do without them I don't know. Every day Sadie does something weird that proves she is as unique as her mix.

Ok, I promise to talk about the perfect clear glass tomorrow. Stay tuned. Until then, enjoy the journey and remember to stop along the way and enjoy the view.