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).

Bead sets

Working from Pantone's colors for Spring, 2015, I've been preparing bead sets using glass that match as closely as possible with the Pantone colors, such as aquamarine, classic blue, lucite green, custard, strawberry ice and tangarine:

 Some of the beads utilize the frits that I have posted on previously.  These bead sets will be on sale in my Etsy shop (Etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss) in early April.

Spruill Center for the Arts Jewelry Market

I'm a little early this week, but I will be a participant in the Spruill Center for the Arts Jewelry Market, which will be held tomorrow (February 22) from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, at Spruill Center for the Arts, 5339 Chamblee Dunwoody Road.  if you live in Atlanta, stop by and see what my fellow students and I have for sale.  Below are some of the new bracelets I have made, featuring shell beads that I have reported on in this blog over the past few months:

My Etsy shop (etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss) is closed temporarily, but items I don't sell tomorrow will be on sale starting Monday.

Hollow beads

A couple of weeks ago, I took a workshop at Flametree Glass in Roswell, GA on how to use a puffy mandrel to make hollow beads.  Puffy mandrels are hollow tubes with a hole about two inches from one end of the tube.  When you dip them in bead release, you close off the end of the tube with your finger and blow through the tube.  The release will be blown out of the hole.  You add two discs of glass on either side of the hole, gradually tapering the glass until it meets in the middle.  Then you heat until the bead is a uniform temperature and gradually puff through the hole until the beads expands to the desired size.  Sound easy?  It takes practice, practice, practice.  Here are the beads I made in the workshop:

These need to be mounted as pendants, but you can expect to see these and other like them in my Etsy shop soon. (etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss).

New inspirations

Well, I have to apologize for being remiss with my posts, but for an excuse, I have been inspired by recent workshops and have been busy experimenting with new techniques.  Two weeks ago, I attended two workshops sponsored by Southern Flames.  one was a workshop given by Brad Shute on how to work with his own handmade silver glass and the second was one by Marcy Lamberson on how to combine basic shapes into new combinations.  Both them have inspired me to extend my horizons.

Brad showed us how to get color combinations with his glass, especially purples and blues:

I love the blues that come out on repeated striking.  And I learned something important about the striking sequence.  I used to quit when I got a dark brown color---I thought that I had gone beyond the point of no return.  But I leaned that that color is the starting point of the striking sequence!  So instead of stopping, I should have kept going.

In Marcy's class, we combined old shapes in new ways:

The bead on the upper right is reminiscent of a house, and gives me an idea for a line of landscape beads.  Who knows what I'll come up with!

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).

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.