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.