Freak Snowstorm Causes Weather Beads

Here is the show-and-tell part of yesterday's post. The snowstorm bead turned out nice, with the swirly effect of the real snowflakes. It has a black core with turquoise dichro sparkles over it, and the white flakes are in different levels.

I really love the sunny day bead, though. It's my first attempt at a landscape-type bead, and the flowers turned out really cute. I used striped stringer that I pulled to make the stems in grass. The shape and pucker turned out well, too. I made it into a set to sell on my site. I'm not super-happy with the photos, but I hope they get the idea across.

I'm not so happy with the puckers on the snowy day bead, though, so I'm not putting it up for sale. If you want to inquire about purchasing it anyway, contact me!

Chicken Little moment, and First Frit

It snowed today, oddly enough. It's too early for the Boston area to get snow that sticks. But there it is.

I decided to make some beads today, inspired by this freak snowstorm. To do this, I needed snow, and what better snow than frit (tiny crushed glass)? I made a frit crusher a while ago, but never used it until today. It's just a couple of pipe parts working like a mortar and pestle. It worked great, too! A little bit of white glass went a long way.

The Chicken Little moment: in the middle of my torching session, for some unknown reason, a couple of flattened boxes decided to fall down on the lampwork table. They fell right into my vases full of glass rods and could have caused quite a nasty accident. Fortunately, my hand holding the hot bead kept it steady in the flame while the other hand cleared up the mess. I'll be securing those boxes, now, though.

Many of my beads for sale have sold; I'll be putting more up shortly!

The Show Must Go On

It's been wild and crazy since my show aired Thursday. Many people have written to say how much they liked it. Thanks, folks! Others said they were unable to catch it and were disappointed. For them, as well as those who might not have known about it but want to see it, I have placed a Quicktime video of my segment on the site. If you'd like to view my "That's Clever!" segment, click here.

Thanks for all the support!

That's Clever! Show Is Thursday!

It's on tomorrow! At noon and 5PM Eastern and Pacific Time, you can see my episode of That's Clever on HGTV. Full project instructions (and a distorted photo of me) can be found here, and the finished products can be found in the Boutique, in the form of a bracelet and a set of lampwork beads.

Fun stuff!

Lampwork for sale, at last!

After setting up my kiln and having a couple of solid lampworking sessions, I have been able to photograph my beads with my new camera. I'm kind of surprised at how many beads I have already given away or sold, but there are more where those came from!

If you'd like to see the beads for sale, visit the Lampwork Beads area of my Boutique. I'm keeping the prices low for now as I learn... the beads are generally imperfect, though there are some beauties! Any beads purchased now may turn out to be collectors' items in the future... you never know!

Too cool to pass up

So it's not about lampwork... but it's wonderful nevertheless. Go to oneword.com and try it for yourself. Here is my entry for today, from the word prompt "Fill":

What does it mean to eat your fill? Is it just going to a restaurant and eating all you can? Or does it mean seeing the leaves in autumn in the splendorous colors, so your eyes fill with tears of joy? Or does it mean the fill of your arms with the touch of baby skin when you hold a child? What can "fill" truly mean within your life?

This is all part of gearing up for NaNoWriMo, to begin in November. Very exciting!

Beware of Hot Metal

Lessons learned from my first session working live with the kiln while lampworking:

1) The mandrels get VERY hot when they are sticking out of the kiln. They will burn you! Stick them all the way in. I thought it would be like in a small kiln, where they can stick out of the bead door, but no, get them in all the way!

2) The little handles on the bead door ALSO get very hot! Use leather or heatproof gloves to open the kiln door. (Ouch!)

3) Be very very careful to make sure the glow completely disappears... otherwise you will have a rough surface on your beads. (From my second kiln session!)

Otherwise, I am very happy with my new beads... pics to come, and lampwork will soon be for sale!