Calla Lilly Blooms
Calla Lillies are one of my favorite flowers. Watch this bead “bloom” with Calla Lillies. It is a fun and simple tutorial.
Posts Tagged ‘artist’
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Surprise in Purples
notice the metallic halos around the dots on the tall bead
Yesterday, as I was working at the torch, I was playing with some colors that I wouldn’t normally put together. I was having kind of a ho hum session until I combined two colors, Eggplant purple and Silvered Plum. All of a sudden, the Silvered Plum dots that I melted into the Eggplant base developed a halo or ring around them and looked metallic. Wow! I got excited and decided to try and duplicate it and it worked. I did notice that I needed to give it extra flame time to develop the metallic halo properly.
I was so excited to see if it was on the beads this morning and share it with you. Here are the beads, fresh out of the kiln.
If you would like specific color numbers, please email me and I will share.
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Murrini Cane Makes a Beautiful Addition
Murrini cane, what is it? I had the opportunity to take a class in which we made our own cane. They were faces and each component of the face, the eye, nose, lips had to be made first, then combined to complete the face and pulled to make cane. It is very labor intensive to make just one small piece of cane.
I want to share a video with you that I saw in which Murrini cane is incorporated into a beautiful blown glass piece. As you watch the video, watch the guy’s face and the intensity and sweat involved in creating just one piece. Enjoy!
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The “Art” of Business
Tonight I participated in a vendor opportunity for the Alliance of Business Owners “ABO”, in coordination with the graduation of ISED’s most recent business class. It reminded me of when I took the same business class and the excitement I felt upon completing it.
I thought then, and still think now that everyone in business should be required to take this class. As an artist, I don’t have the best business brain, but with the help of this business class, I am on the right track.
I had some good sales, great networking opportunities, and most of all the reminder that there is a lot of help out there for small and micro businesses.
What resources do you utilize as a small business?
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Sunday Funday
Happy Sunday Everyone! I just want to share a couple of pictures of some of the projects I completed this week. Special orders are pouring in for the holidays so make sure you get your requests in early. I love a challenge and love collaborating ideas with clients so get creative and challenge me!
turquoise and glass bracelet
Here is a turquoise and Italian glass bracelet accented with sterling silver and an Indian head replicated coin. It is a great piece and compliments the necklace and earrings that go with it nicely.
black. white and clear dance well together on this bracelet.
I had such a good time creating this great piece. I love how the black and white contrast but compliment each other and the swarovski crystals are the disco ball at the dance and make everything sparkle.
Hope you enjoy your weekend and create something that makes you smile.
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“Jewelry Duty” Friday
As we wrapped up another week and look forward to kicking back and enjoying the weekend, I want to spotlight a couple of artists that command recognition. I am totally fascinated with glass blowing and am just dieing to try my hand at it. Watching a glass blower do their dance with hot, molten glass commands respect as well as recognition:
Burchetta Glassblowing Studio & Gallery – I follow John on Twitter and recently watched his video on his and Elizabeth’s website. I would love to visit this gallery someday located in Wilmington, NC. Nice video John!
Ciccotti Art Glass - Though not a native of Iowa, Art Ciccotti is known in Iowa for his blown glass. I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting Art, but I am totally excited to visit his studio in the near future and watch him work in person, or maybe take a class from him. I’ll be calling you Art!
Photo by: walknboston on Flickr
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Brake Line Tube Used in Lampwork
Brake Line Tube used to blow glass
Yesterday we talked about mandrels and how you can cut costs by making your own from stainless steel welding rod. But what is that odd ended thing in the photo on the right? It is a piece of brake line tubing. This is a little trick that another lampworker taught me years ago. You use it to blow smaller glass balls and ornaments. I got mine at the local automotive supply store. They were also kind enough to cut it in two for me. (got that with a smile)
I’ve had fun playing with my brake line tube. I practice blowing small ornaments every now and then but could probably use more practice, or maybe a glass blowing class would be fun.
What’s your favorite glass blowing tip?
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Trim $$ With Homemade Mandrels
mandrels come in many sizes
You hear the word “mandrel”, what is it? A mandrel is the rod that you use to make lampwork beads. The mandrel is dipped in a separating solution called sludge before it is heated by the torch and melted glass is swirled around it. If you’re a lampworker already, then you know what a mandrel is. But, did you know that there are alternatives to the standard mandrels that you buy from your glass supplier?
It is great to purchase a package of mandrels from a glass supply store because they come in a neat little package, each one is the same size as the next and all ends are rounded, not sharp or jagged. I especially like the larger mandrels from the supplier because they are lighter in weight.
But here is an affordable alternative to buying every mandrel, because we all know how quickly you can use up a thin mandrel and need to replace it. Buy Stainless Steel Welding Rod from your local welding store. It comes in bulk packages that are three feet long and costs a lot less than mandrels purchased from the glass supply store. You need to make sure you ask for “stainless steel” rod. My favorite sizes are 1/16″ and 3/32″ because they are easier to cut with heavy cutters.
I have become extremely lazy about cutting welding rod too. buying it in bulk gives you tons of mandrels because you can cut each rod into 1/3rds. As you cut the rod, don’t cut it in one swift cut, but rather “dent” the rod with the cutters, then rotate the rod slightly, dent it again, rotate, dent again . . . until the rod is cut and has rounded ends, not jagged. I can accomplish this in about 4 squeezes of the cutters. Anything larger than 3/32″ is almost too difficult for a person to hand cut, but you can use a cutting saw to cut through larger mandrels if you like. Just remember to smooth and taper the ends so that the beads you make don’t get hung up when you try to take them off. Also remember that larger homemade mandrels will weigh more than purchased ones. (you can see in the photo above that the large hole mandrels on the left were purchased and have easily managed thin handles which takes away the extra weight)
Do you have ways to trim $$ in your lampwork? Please tell me.
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Annealing Glass, Important or Not?
properly annealed beads
So, you’ve started making glass beads, awesome! You hear about annealing your beads, but what does that really mean, and do you really need to do it?
The definition of “anneal” : to cool slowly; to heat and cool to make less brittle; to strengthen or toughen.
In lampworking, annealing glass beads means to heat and hold at a temperature of 950 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, then slowly reducing the temperture over 6 – 8 hours until the kiln can be turned off at 500 degrees.
Why Anneal? The best way to explain why a glass bead needs annealed is this; a bead cools a lot like a cream soup. Have you ever made soup and as it cooled it got a “skin” on the top, but under the “skin” it is piping hot? That is similar to a glass bead. The outside of the bead will harden and be cooler than the inside, which is hotter. If you don’t control the speed in which the bead cools and allow the outside to cool at the same time as the inside, it causes internal stresses to occur and you will usually end up with a cracked bead.
Even if you don’t anneal your beads and you get lucky and have some survive, they are not likely to last long due to the stresses that remain inside the bead. They don’t even have to be dropped to just crack for no reason. A properly annealed bead will almost never crack. They are super strong and can literally be dropped on the floor without breaking. I call that “quality control”.
Now, if you have no intention of selling your beads or giving them as gifts, and you just want to keep them for yourself, then annealing is only important if you want them to last a long time.
What are your thoughts on annealing? I would love to hear from you.
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“Jewelry Duty” Friday
It’s sure been a windy week here in the Midwest, a sure sign that winter’s just around the corner. We’ve been pretty lucky with the weather though, considering it’s the end of October. Very soon we’ll be shoveling our way out of the studio.
This week I’d like to feature two artists that I had the pleasure of meeting while spending some time in Arizona last winter. They are extremely talented as you will see by visiting their websites:
Troy Moody – It’s funny how I met Troy. It was in a parking lot outside of a stained glass store in Mesa. A very nice young man with a lot of talent. Looking at his work, I think he is definitely going places. Great job Troy!
Anne Coe – I had the thrill of meeting Anne in her home/studio in Apache Junction. What a delightful, colorful artist. I could have honestly stayed there all day visiting with Anne. Her paintings are a story on canvas. I just love Anne and her beautiful paintings!
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