Glutted with Glass

That's right. I'm tired of my torch.

Or I would be anyway, except I bought some new glass and haven't made any beads with it yet.

Maybe I'm just tired. Maybe agreeing to go to work at a church three weeks before Easter wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done. That, plus this art exhibit, may kill me.

But I've got some bead pictures for ya! Yes ma'am, I do! (And if you're a sir, I apologize heartily, Brian.)

If you're tired of bead pics, or any pics for that matter since that's all I've done recently, oh well. That's all I have energy for this week. Once we're through Easter -- which should be amazing at my church -- I should be back in full mediocrity.

First I'd like to show you the basketballs. These were made at the request of Coach Jenny, and I finally got around to making them. The one in the back is the dud I made before I looked at an actual basketball (moron that I am), and the other two have authentic basketball markings, although they're less round. They were more round when I started, but all the glass I added for the black markings made them oblong. Go figure.



These beads are all sort of "miscellaneous." I made a cross for Easter, of course. The ones to the left and right of the cross were just fun colors and patterns. The cube bead in front is an improvement on a bead I made and liked a few months ago. It doesn't photograph terribly well though -- it's better in person. Pretty much everyone who has seen it wants it, which means it will probably get broken in the exhibit. Easy enough to recreate though, so no big deal. The metallic spots are made with a glass that starts out black, and the black burns off to leave the metallic color. Pretty nifty.

The flat bead in the center is the first flower I ever made. There's a different flower on the back. It turned out really well; I was pleased. The one on the left won't be in the exhibit because the clear coating (it's called an "encased" bead) isn't even; it's all lumpy-bumpy. It's supposed to be beautifully smooth. It would be a great bead if the encasing had come out well, but encasing is difficult, and I don't do it well yet (nor does my friend who's much more talented than I, which makes me feel a little better). The two similar ones on the right are ones that I've tried before; the one on the bottom turned out the best of any that I've done, so it will be in the show. The one on top with turquoise and purple/pink will also not be exhibited. The purple/pink color is colloquially known as EDP, or Evil Devitrifying Purple because of the pond scum it leaves on the surface of the bead. This was my second attempt with it, and it did its thing. So the only two in this pic that will be in the exhibit are the two at the bottom.

This pic includes my first attempt at using EDP (the bead at the top). One way to prevent the pond scum effect is to encase the bead in clear, which I did here, but the purple crawled out through the encasing and left pond scum all over the bead anyway. Bleah. So the other two stripey cylinder beads on the left and right were attempts to replicate the idea of that bead without the pond scum. I will probably only exhibit the one on the left. Of the three round beads clustered in the middle, I will probably acid etch the upper one and the one on the right (you can see that effect in the next picture). All three will be in the show. I may re-take a pic of them after the etch, depending on how it turns out. I may also etch the pond scummed one to see if it looks ok etched, and if it does, I may exhibit it as well.

The flat bead in this pic has been acid etched. It just removes the "shiny" from the bead, so it has a matte finish. This is great for some beads and disastrous for others, so you have to know when to use it. I probably don't use it nearly enough. The others are also variations on the swirl theme. Swirling a bead leaves it completely misshapen. If it looks interesting that way, sometimes I leave it, like the pink and brown one on the left and the green and brown one on the right. Interestingly, I didn't use brown glass in the one on the left; that's just how the colors blended.

Last but not least, everyone's favorites: the animals. I've made frog beads before and posted pics, so that shouldn't be anything new, but this is my first fish, and I was quite pleased with him (her? it?). It took almost an hour and a half to make that bead, so I'm pretty sure that one will be on a necklace belonging to me when this show is over. I'm not nearly so attached to froggy #6, though.

And that's it for today. I hope you've enjoyed the bead extravaganza. If not, well, come back. I'll talk about something else next time.