Psyche silver glass

This is the next installment in my series on silver glass, and its based on a tutorial I recently purchased from Anouk Jasperse called Making Silver Glass Sing.  She focuses on Psyche, Triton and Aurae.  Here are the beads I've made using the techniques she describes:

All of these are encased.  I just love the beautiful metallic blue.  For details on the technique, see the tutorial.  Thanks, Anouk!

Purple

Awhile ago, I purchase Timeless Purple frit from Bead Goodies.  I've been experimenting with it and one combination I like is the frit over a base bead of Plum (CIM 658).  After melting in the frit, I let the bead heat up and flow under gravity.  When I like what I see, I cool the bead, add dichroic sparkles (magenta), encase the bead in clear, and shape it.  Then I add cubic zirconium or two for good measure and this is the result:

Similar beads will be on sale in my Etsy shop soon (www.etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss).

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).

Lucky seven bracelet

Yesterday, at the monthly meeting of Southern Flames, we made a leather bracelet using seven lampwork glass beads that we made or purchased.  Gerry and Stephanie White, of Beads by Design, guided us through the process.  Basically, we strung 2 to 3 beads on three strands of leather held in place with a jig.  The ends were finished with knots which were glued in place.  The completed bracelet is shown below:

The beads themselves were made from Ekho glass from Double helix.  The class was cooled then heated until I was pleased with the colors;  then the beads were encased.  I used 3/16 inch mandrels so that I could easily string the beads on the leather cords.  I'll be making more of these!