Disk Beads

I've been practicing a lot lately making disk beads. Here are some Terra disks I've just posted in my Etsy shop:
Making disk beads is a lot of fun but very challenging. The glass wants to spread out on the mandrel as it's being heated and the thin disk shape tends to become fatter. There are a couple of techniques I'm using to keep them thin. One is using a low flame so as not to overheat the bead and cause it to collapse. I also use the flat surface of my marver along the sides of the bead to keep it in an upright shape. Sometimes I use my mini-mashers and go all around the bead flattening it out. It's usually a combination of all of these things that makes the shape work. I'm still practicing and at times it's very frustrating. When it works out though, I love the results.

Here's another disk bead set, also in my Etsy shop. These are made with a base of Green Ochre and raku frit:

More Beads

The past few days I've been posting new beads into my Etsy shop. I'm featured in the Etsy Storque Showcase today, and my shop has gotten a lot of views :) Here are some of the new beads I have up:


Hope you had a good weekend!

"Water" Beads

Another beautiful day in paradise. I have been working on photography, and thought I'd share this photo of some of my favorite beads from my "Water" series. Enjoy!

Gorgeous Day

It's a beautiful day here in Sedona, 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The mornings have been crisp and cool, that perfect fall weather that always reminds me of going back to school no matter how old I am. Since moving away from New England five years ago, the thing I miss the most is the color of the leaves in October and the sound of them swishing underfoot as I walk in the woods. That's my reminiscing for today.

In current news, I have a few new sets up on Etsy. Thank you so very much to my faithful customers, who are making it difficult for me to keep my shop stocked!

Here is my favorite set for the day. It is similar to the olive green set in my last post, but this set is made with Ivory:

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Etsy Offerings

I have some new beads for sale in my Etsy shop. This one is my favorite, it's a set of 8 beads in olive-colored glass, etched, with fine silver dots around the circumference:

Yesterday I was busy beadmaking. I have some beautiful new sets now to clean up and photograph that I'll be putting up for sale on my website and in my Etsy shop.

It strikes me as funny sometimes that beadmaking is what I do, yet with all the photography and computer work, etc etc, the actual making of the beads takes up only a small portion of the total time and energy spent on the business.

It's all fun, though. I absolutely love what I do!

Designing the Elements: Air and Earth

I've made two more bead sets in my Elements series. In another post I described sets I'd made for "Water" and "Fire," and now I'm finishing up the series with "Air" and "Earth."

For the "Air" set I used dichroic glass, (CIM) Cirrus, Vetrofond Pale Ocean Blue and some (CIM) Halong Bay stringers waving across the top. The CIM glasses have a beautiful opalescent, misty look to them. They have a cloud-like appearance that develops when the glass is repeatedly heated and cooled, which seemed like the perfect choice for an "Air" set.

For the “Earth” set, it was hard to decide which colors to use. I make a lot of organic-style beads and so there are a lot of earthy color combinations I like already. Ivory, green and brown seemed like the most logical colors to use, but I ended up choosing, (of course), my favorite color lately, Terra!

It's a new experience for me to design a series of beads around a common theme. I usually make whatever beads I'm inspired to create in the moment and so I end up with quite an eclectic collection of designs. If I ever lack inspiration and ideas, designing beads in a series is a good way to move me through creative blocks.

At the Tucson show I picked up a sample pack of Japanese Kinari glass. My next challenge to myself is making beads with this very soft, very beautiful glass.

New Beads on Etsy

Today I've been uploading some new bead sets to my Etsy shop. I had uploaded three new sets, but two of them sold almost instantly. Here's what you missed:
"Autumn Disks"

"Rainbow Silver Etched"

New today to my Etsy shop and still available:
"Metallic Blue and Tan Set" made with Opal Yellow and Kronos

I'll be continuing to upload new beads to my Etsy shop during the next week, so check back often.