Autumn colors

The temperatures and the humidity are dropping in Georgia and there is a definite nip in the air.  It's time to start thinking about fall.  I've made an attempt to reproduce the Pantone fall colors in lampwork beads and here's the result:

As usual when attempting to reproduce the Pantone colors, its sometimes difficult to find an exact match in lampwork glass.  The glass I have selected is as follows, from top left to top right (Effetre unless otherwise noted): Alabaster turquoise (352), Lipstick (CIM 140), Avocado green (210), Weimaraner (CIM 811), EDP (254), Leaky pen (CIM 508), Heat wave (420), Desert pink (CIM 957), unknown color (label lost in the move from Fort Wayne to Atlanta), Lichen (Vetrofond 986).  All of the beads have a stringer of silvered ivory wrapped round the equator of the bead with silver wire melted in, and have been distorted out of round to add interest.  They are currently on sale in my Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss.

On the beach

After a brief vacation to visit my daughter over the Easter weekend, I'm back in Georgia, experimenting with stripped beads reminiscent of a beach landscape.  Here are some of the combinations I've come up with:

The small beads are made as described in the previous post:  a single color with a stripe of silvered ivory around the equator, accented with silver wire.  The larger beads made with stripes of various Effetre colors laid over Seashell Swirl (Vetrofond 955):  light turquoise, Nile green opalino, transparent teal and light lapis with a stripe of silvered ivory and a twist with a cubic zirconium in the middle.   The larger bead on the left has been fitted with sterling silver bead caps and a bail made from silver wire fitted with a silver bead.  As usual, similar beads will soon be on sale in m Etsy shop (etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss).

Sea urchins

More shells from Diane Woodall's and Becky Mason's small shell tutorial, this time sea urchins.  These are relatively easy;  just make a round bead, flatten the bottom, and place dots on the top section:

The dark green beads are made with Commando (CIM 475), while the light green are made with Lichen (Vetrofond 986).  I tried dots of raku (upper righ0t, but I think I like dots of silvered ivory better (the remaining beads).  I'm coming up with some good ideas about how to use these in jewelry, so visit my web site (etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss) in a month or two.

My take on Harvest Moon

I recently purchased a tutorial by Jacqueline Parkes describing how she makes one of her gorgeous organic beads, Harvest Moon.  After playing around with it, I discovered a video on Corinna Tattinger's website describing how to add to silver foil dot to a bead.  Wow!  What a combination.  Here are my beads:

Doesn't the silver foil moon just pop!  As usual look for jewelry made from these beads in my Etsy shop:  etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss.

Sedona stripes

A few years ago, my husband and I took a road trip to Sedona to visit my step-daughter.  I fell in love with the landscape, the red rocks, the pine trees, the sunsets.  These beads are a homage to Sedona:

I start the bead with a base layer of red roof tile (440), then add stripes of yellow ochre (460), EDP (254), light turquoise (232) and Vetrofond tangerine (944).  I place a layer of silvered ivory between the turquoise and the EDP, and wrap a few inches of fine silver wire (26 gauge) over the silvered ivory and burn it off, forming beads of silver.  Before I place the bead in the kiln for annealing, I heat in the hottest part of the flame to remove the white deposits which form on the EDP.  When the beads are cool, they are ready form make into jewelry which I sell in my Etsy shop (etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss).

More silvered ivory

I've been playing around with silvered ivory, this time with light ivory and turquoise.  In a well known reaction, light ivory forms a black line when it meets turquoise, which can be used in designs.  I thought it would be interesting to see what effect this reactions would have been silvered ivory was laid on top of the intersection point.  As you can see in the photograph, it darkens the junction, thus accentuating it:

I've raked across the junction in one or two places, then made a twist and added a cubic zirconium.  The middle bead is made with Nile green, which undergoes the same reaction with ivory.  Expect to see these soon in my Etsy shop:  etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss

Silvered ivory stringer

I downloaded Jacqueline Parke's ebook "Gems in Bloom" about a month ago, and I have been having fun playing with silvered ivory stringer.   First, heat the tip of an ivory rod and roll it in silver foil.  Burnish it in, then burn if off and heat until it forms a gather.  Pull into a stringer and use it to decorate beads.  Some of mine, suggested by Jacqueline's color combinations, are shown below:

From left to right, red roof tile with black, ivory with black, copper green with a little bit of EDP thrown in, and CIM Canyon de Chelly, all with stringers of silvered ivory around the middle of the beat.  Effetre glass unless otherwise noted.

Next, I played with swirling the glass and adding a 1mm clear cubic zirconium:

I've always had trouble holding the cubic zirconium in tweezers, so I decided to do a search for other methods and found that you can use a drop of white glue on the tip of a mandrel to pick up the flat side of the stone.  Place the mandrel upright in a rack until the glue is dry, then use it to place your stone on the bead.  The glue will burn off without a residue.

I've had so much fun playing that I haven't had time to make jewelry with any of these stones, but expect to see finished pieces in my Etsy shop (etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss) soon.