Big-Hole Beads

Big hole beads that fit onto Biagi/Pandora/Troll bracelets are my latest obsession. I love the challenge of creating a relatively small bead with a large center that is well-balanced, pleasing to the eye, and comfortable to wear. These bracelets originated in Europe and are based on the add-a-bead concept. There are all sorts of beads to fit these bracelets, from simple ring beads, to beads with loops for charms, to miniature sculptures of animals or things. High quality lampwork beads can add some bright color to one of these bracelets, along with some fun. Silver tube linings or silver rivets epoxied into the center holes can prevent the glass from rubbing on the silver of the bracelet, and I think they add a more finished look to the beads. Here are some of my recent big hole beads:

Bread and Butter beads

I've been spending a lot of time recently working on what I call Bread and Butter Beads - sets of 8-10 round spacer-type beads decorated with frit, maybe a bit of silver, and some raking for patterns. In doing so, I've developed a much greater respect for what are often referred to as "spacer beads". It's not so much the individual bead that presents the challenge as it is trying to create 8-10 of them that are closely matched in shape, size and appearance. I think I'm getting better though - the last set I did only had about 1mm difference in both height and width among all the beads.
Here are some of my latest ones:

Color Splash: My own frit mix of purples and pink/peach glasses over Effetre Dk Lavender and Fine Silver foil, raked for pattern. I though it was neat how the reaction of the glasses in the frit reacted with the silver to produce oranges, greens, and some blues. These remind me of fountains we saw at Disney World where the water would shoot up through colored lights and then come splashing back down in great colored drops of light.


Potpourri : I revisited Misty Tulip - a wonderful pastel frit from Jon at LBSupply, and these remind me of the potpourri-filled bowels you see in country houses. The base glass for these is Vetrofond's oddlot Seashell Swirl which I am currently hoarding like mad - it does such gorgeous things with frits! The bicone is a round bead gone wrong - makes a really pretty accent. SOLD

TieDye Surprise: I was playing around making reactive twisties one day and came up with this one of coral and EDP glass over a core of rubino. It looks nice over Opal Yellow, but on Copper Green - excellent! I love the way the colors have spread out, and the green in the copper green has even separated out to a degree. I've since been playing around with other reactive color twisties that use rubino for a core - stay tuned! SOLD

It's gotten really cold here again, so I'm loathe to spend too much time torching. Yes the basement where my studio is is heated, but there is no way to heat the return air for ventilation, so there is a constant chilly breeze. I'll try and get some in tomorrow.

Perfectionism - A great place to hide

I've been thinking a lot about the quest for perfection lately. As a mom and wife, I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that there is no way I can be perfect in this job. As an ER nurse, I don't know that I can ever be perfect, but realistically I can't allow myself to be far from it, not when someone's life may depend on how well I can do something. So that leaves my lampworking, and that's where it gets really hard. I have a tendency to look at my work and find all the flaws in it, without being able to see the beauty of what I've created. Sometimes I wonder if this is not really a way of trying to take the easy way out for me. After all, if I look at something and find all the tiny flaws and reject it based on that, I never have to put that piece out for the public to see and potentially expose myself to criticism.

I recently posted pictures of a set and a focal on Lampwork Etc., my favorite lampworking forum, with the question "Am I being too picky?". The set I had held on to for several months because "the colors were different"

The focal I had just finished but, "The stem was not straight"

Basically the response to my questions was a resounding "Hell yes, you are way to picky!" or in other words "Get out from under your rock, face the world and be brave about it" It's so easy to just look at something and pass it off as "crap" and that way we never have to take the chance that it/we will be rejected by others. Being willing to post your work in front of the world and ask for opinions is what takes courage, and selling on Ebay or Etsy is basically just that. I think that too often we allow buyers to validate our work by bidding on it and buying it, and we let ourselves believe that if something does not sell it must be because the work itself is bad. I know I did not become a lampworker to make money, I did it because I was and still am fascinated by the idea of taking glass and fire and creating something beautiful. The fact that I can sell some of my work to support my habit should just be a bonus. It's important to keep sight of the fact that we are human and not machines, and as such, nothing we make will be totally "perfect", that's part of what makes art art. So be brave, come out from under the rock and let others see what you do, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Oh, and the 2 pieces I did not think were "good enough" - they both sold on Ebay the first time they were listed.

Starting off the New Year with my new Blog - Oddlots

Welcome to the Glass Diaries. My webmistress, AKA my 16yr old daughter, has been after me for some time to "do something" about my blog, and what better time to start that at the beginning of a new year.
The new Vetrofond odd lots have just become available, so naturally the first of my New Years resolutions to go out the window was the one that "I won't buy any more glass until I use what I have". It's all very well and good to say that, but with odd lots, it's often a get it now or forget it situation. I got lucky with the River Rock, and still have a little bit stashed away, but who's to say what the next "must have" color will be. I'm still working my way through the last batch of colors that Vetrofond released, and by the time I discovered the green olive, I had to scramble to get the small bit that I have. I just love the way this color reacts with other glass, and streaks and veins on it's own.

Bayou Trails is a perfect example of this - it's composed of Vetrofond Olive and R4 Sissley, the veining comes from working the glass in the flame.
Another of the last batch of odds that I really like is Lichen. By itself it's pretty "Blah" but it reacts well with silver and raku, and is a great background color. Lichen does not crackle and vein like River Rock, but I think the basic color is pretty similar to it.

I love the colors that came out of the Raku in this set. It's a raku/black twistie over silver-wrapped Lichen. It will be available for sale as soon as I decide if I'm going to list it on Ebay or Etsy.

I've just started working with this newest batch of odds, so don't really have any clear favorites yet. I've got a really long bead with florals over a base of the new Painted Desert, so will try and post pix later on - provided it survives the kiln. I let a few places get a bit too cool, so had to spend a good bit of time healing cracks.

Hope everyone is staying warm. Right now it's 11F here in the Eastern Panhandle of WV - our coldest night so far. Please don't forget your furry friends when it is frigid outside, they need a warm place to sleep as much as we do.