Sunday, December 28, 2014

Spring colors

Even though we haven't made it through winter yet, I'm thinking ahead to the spring.  The Pantone colors for spring, 2015 remind be of a Caribbean vacation, aquamarines, classic blue, mint green, orange, yellow, rose pink.  To get ready for the season, I prepared two frit blends incorporating these colors.  The first one is made up of cool colors and reminds me of the Caribbean ocean:


It's a mixture of Effetre colors, including light and dark turquoise, dark aqua (transparent, and nile green opalino.  I've made two beads with the frit layer on clear and then encased in clear, with a strand of fine silver (28 gauge) melted around the equator.

The second blend reminds me of a colorful beach cabana:






It's made with light and dark turquoise, tangerine (Effetre 591412) and a yellow glass that I can't positively identify.  Unfortunately, some of the labels on my glass were lost in the move to Georgia.
Beads made using this frit with the same technique as described above are also shown in the photograph.

As usual, expect to see beads made with these blends in my Etsy shop (etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss).

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Christmas is closer

More Christmas earrings.  This time, I decided to try my hand at frit.  I collected various shades of green and red, heated the tip of the rod and mashed it then put it in cold water.  The tip fractures into small pieces which I collected.  The result is a mixture of Christmas colors.  To make the earrings shown below:


I made a lentil shaped bead out of green nile opalino (Effetre 516), as in the previous post, rolled it in frit, melted the frit down and repressed the bead, then added a wreath of green aventurine which I accented with a twist.  Earrings made from thes;e beads are for sale in my Etsy shop:  Etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss.