home again...
with beads and glass, new gadgets and a wishlist a mile long too.
The bead making class was a blast. With the first bead the instructor demonstrated both Jana and I knew what we had been doing wrong in previous attempts! That in itself made the class and trip TOTALLY worth the money. Each work station was set up with everything we would need: glass, prepared mandrels, marvers, rakes, torch, etc. (even a Creation Station which I will be buying one of VERY shortly). Here is a snap of the glass we were given to work with:
From left to right: black, white filigrana, clear, white, transparent teal, opaque teal, transparent purple and opaque purple. Sorry for the crappy lighting, the flash washed everything out so this is really the lesser of two evils.
Below are the first six beads I made in class. Prior to this class I sat down to the torch twice. The first time was a DISASTER and the second time was a mixed bag...mostly disaster with a few glimmers of hope.
From right to left: opaque purple bead (it's ROUND!! on the first try!), second try transparent purple rolled over a grooved marver (not a big fan of the textured beads), third bead opaque teal (round, but slightly off center), fourth bead transparent teal (slightly off center, but still a nice bead IMHO), fifth bead black base with transparent purple dots on white dots (dot placement is HARD!! but the bead shape is nice), sixth bead opaque teal with transparent teal dots on white dots on black dots (again, dot placement is tricky, but I'm working on it).
This next picture is of all the beads I made while in New Braunfels.
From right to left: the first six beads made in class; then a cylinder bead with a craptacular spiral trail that I couldn't stand so I melted it into the bead then raked and smooshed into a triangular shape to "save" the bead from being totally hideous; next is a round white bead rolled in goldstone frit and encased in clear...then to ruin a perfectly useable bead I decided to poke it and see if I could trap an air bubble (which I did) with transparent teal; my next bead attempt was encasing silver foil onto a bead (which I did and it was no easy task) and since I was not at all happy with the bead I decided to use it to add some millefiori (another technique I am not wild about); after that fiasco I decided to try raking dots to make hearts without much success at class; once we made it back to the house I had to try to do the hearts again and this time they actually look like hearts...yeah!; the last one on the end is a heart shaped bead...the front looks pretty nice...the back not so much...not enough glass.
These beads are the ones I have made here at the house since taking the class. Well, most of them, I accidentally dropped one down the drain while cleaning it and Caleb has intentionally dropped a couple down the drain while playing with them. I'm not missing them enough to actually remove the trap from under the sink so I'll just have to make some more to replace them!
I was practicing dot placement with these, plus I finally got the hang of dragging dots into hearts. I do NOT like the sensation of dragging the molten glass...it's almost like nails on a chalkboard for me! The "interesting" color palette I'm working with here was handpicked by Logan.
While Jana and I were busy at the bead making class, my mom was busy working on my brother's Texas map. I should have taken a picture of it before she started on it again, but I didn't think about it until it was too late. This trip she filled in all the land areas up to the river banks and territory lines and painted the border around it. Next trip she is going to paint a directional star, some lettering and age the whole thing. She painted the whole thing off of a grid...this impresses me to no end...I have a difficult time keeping a small scale grid on track.
And lastly, some gratuitous shots of my burgeoning glass stash.
If my fabric, fiber and paper stashes are any indication, we're going to have add on to the house to make room for this stash!
The bead making class was a blast. With the first bead the instructor demonstrated both Jana and I knew what we had been doing wrong in previous attempts! That in itself made the class and trip TOTALLY worth the money. Each work station was set up with everything we would need: glass, prepared mandrels, marvers, rakes, torch, etc. (even a Creation Station which I will be buying one of VERY shortly). Here is a snap of the glass we were given to work with:
From left to right: black, white filigrana, clear, white, transparent teal, opaque teal, transparent purple and opaque purple. Sorry for the crappy lighting, the flash washed everything out so this is really the lesser of two evils.
Below are the first six beads I made in class. Prior to this class I sat down to the torch twice. The first time was a DISASTER and the second time was a mixed bag...mostly disaster with a few glimmers of hope.
From right to left: opaque purple bead (it's ROUND!! on the first try!), second try transparent purple rolled over a grooved marver (not a big fan of the textured beads), third bead opaque teal (round, but slightly off center), fourth bead transparent teal (slightly off center, but still a nice bead IMHO), fifth bead black base with transparent purple dots on white dots (dot placement is HARD!! but the bead shape is nice), sixth bead opaque teal with transparent teal dots on white dots on black dots (again, dot placement is tricky, but I'm working on it).
This next picture is of all the beads I made while in New Braunfels.
From right to left: the first six beads made in class; then a cylinder bead with a craptacular spiral trail that I couldn't stand so I melted it into the bead then raked and smooshed into a triangular shape to "save" the bead from being totally hideous; next is a round white bead rolled in goldstone frit and encased in clear...then to ruin a perfectly useable bead I decided to poke it and see if I could trap an air bubble (which I did) with transparent teal; my next bead attempt was encasing silver foil onto a bead (which I did and it was no easy task) and since I was not at all happy with the bead I decided to use it to add some millefiori (another technique I am not wild about); after that fiasco I decided to try raking dots to make hearts without much success at class; once we made it back to the house I had to try to do the hearts again and this time they actually look like hearts...yeah!; the last one on the end is a heart shaped bead...the front looks pretty nice...the back not so much...not enough glass.
These beads are the ones I have made here at the house since taking the class. Well, most of them, I accidentally dropped one down the drain while cleaning it and Caleb has intentionally dropped a couple down the drain while playing with them. I'm not missing them enough to actually remove the trap from under the sink so I'll just have to make some more to replace them!
I was practicing dot placement with these, plus I finally got the hang of dragging dots into hearts. I do NOT like the sensation of dragging the molten glass...it's almost like nails on a chalkboard for me! The "interesting" color palette I'm working with here was handpicked by Logan.
While Jana and I were busy at the bead making class, my mom was busy working on my brother's Texas map. I should have taken a picture of it before she started on it again, but I didn't think about it until it was too late. This trip she filled in all the land areas up to the river banks and territory lines and painted the border around it. Next trip she is going to paint a directional star, some lettering and age the whole thing. She painted the whole thing off of a grid...this impresses me to no end...I have a difficult time keeping a small scale grid on track.
And lastly, some gratuitous shots of my burgeoning glass stash.
If my fabric, fiber and paper stashes are any indication, we're going to have add on to the house to make room for this stash!
posted by Amy at 10:10 AM
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I just finished this necklace last night. The color combination is one of my favorites...it reminds me of my Patsy Grandma's fancy turquoise and coral rings she used to wear when we were growing up. 
Speaking of swaps, I just received my list of swappees for the 
