Beads with Canyon de Chelly Glass

One of my favorite earth tone glasses is Canyon de Chelly from CiM. It reacts in interesting ways with other glass colors. Here are some examples of beads I've made with Canyon de Chelly:

Canyon de Chelly base with ASK Caramel Apple scrolls, etched
Canyon de Chelly and Effetre Copper Green, etched
One of my favorites - Canyon de Chelly base with Double Helix Psyche scrolls
This might be my favorite set ever with CdC. The base is Copper Green and silver foil, the scrolls are CdC :) The beads are etched
This silver-cored bead has a Canyon de Chelly base with Psyche "flowers" I made from a striped CdC/Psyche latticino
Here's a set made with the Psyche flowers
So, there's a gallery of my favorite Canyon de Chelly beads to date! There are so many other glasses I haven't tried CdC with, but if I find some great new combos I'll share them with you here.

Hint: If you work with Psyche and Canyon de Chelly together, give the Psyche a couple rounds of reducing/oxidizing, getting it metallic, then erasing the metallic shine. This will develop more colors.
:)
Have fun on the 4th!
Love ya beautiful bead peeps!

P.S. Soon I'm moving my blog to my website. I'll let you know when that happens. I really don't want to leave the glass community here on the Blogger blogs though, so I'm still going to keep this blog open and post here too, to some degree, I'm not sure how it will all work yet!

Latest Bead Sets and Adventures

Good morning bead lovers...
I have a couple of new sets listed in my Etsy shop today. For starters, this Aurae encased set with a beautiful ethereal look in purple and blue pastel colors:These beads are decorated with Psyche stringer designs. Psyche gets nice oil-slick colors if I put it through a couple of reducing/oxidizing cycles. At least that's the look I was going for here:I made this set over the weekend for a custom order. I used a Double Helix odd lot of Terranova called TN-212. The scroll designs are Triton:
The weather is getting a little nicer here. Last week it was freezing cold, 10 degrees, which I've never seen in Sedona before. We're having highs around 60 now. Nice enough to spend time outside again. Here's a photo of my daughter at her riding lesson on Saturday:and the stables with the Tuzigoot ruins in the background:Today she's off to Belize to vacation with her dad for a week. Then off to Grammy and Pop-pop's in Florida for another week. What a life :)And therefore, Mom is going to have lots of bead time and quiet times these next couple of weeks, which is always a welcome luxury!
Have a sparkling Tuesday!

Sea Storm Bead Set

While I wait for parts for my kiln to arrive, I've listed a set of beads I made last week before the kiln went on the fritz. I love purple and wanted to have that color in this set, so I started with a base of Psyche. I added Kronos2 frit and layers of clear and swirled the colors together. Psyche tends to lose it's reduction after it's encased and heated a lot, so as I was making these beads the transparent purple color of the Psyche came back.
Here's the set, "Sea Storm" on Etsy:Regarding life with a broken kiln...
When you have something you love to do that is your passion, it's torture to be unable to do it! For a couple of days after the kiln broke I sat in my studio and felt sad and lost. I quickly realized that wasn't getting me anywhere. I had to create something! You know that feeling?

I've thought of a few things now that I can do. For starters I've been cleaning out my garage/studio. I've also been going through my extra beads and putting together mixed sets that I'll be starting to list on Etsy today. I have a ton of extra beads that are great quality, they're just odd beads from other sets or experimental designs. It's been fun to go through them and put groups of them together. I like the way these orphan sets are turning out, and I'll have some photos in my next post. Another thing I'll be trying in my extra time is making videos of me at the torch. (I can torch, I just won't be able to anneal any beads I make). I'm going to employ my 15-year-old YouTube-savvy daughter to teach me how to edit and post videos.

The replacement parts I've ordered for the kiln might arrive today, but I'm beginning to lose hope that the kiln can be easily fixed. I think I need a whole new element made, and I can't figure out how to remove the old element from the kiln. Honestly what I need and want is a new, more energy-efficient and better kiln. I went searching for kilns yesterday online and now I'm completely lusting after the GlassHive kiln! I'm totally ruined now that I've seen that kiln. I have to have it. Forget about fixing the old kiln! :-D

Well, I'm working on it, I'm determined, I will have this GlassHive kiln one way or another... just gotta raise $750! And maybe in the meantime I can rig this old kiln to run a few more cycles, if I can get the replacement parts to work.
Peace and love bead peeps!

Psyche Cubes

I just put this set of cubes up in my Etsy shop:They're made from Psyche glass and encased with a layer of clear. Each bead is hand shaped.

I find the cube shape to be very challenging, but with practice it's getting a little easier. Anyone have any tricks on hand-shaping cubes they care to share?

Psyche Leaves

This is a set of sculptural leaves made with Double Helix Psyche glass. They're available in my Etsy shop:

Elven Pendant

I've been making a few more silver glass gemstone pendants. They've been inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring and The Silmarillion audiobooks I've been listening to when I make beads, and also by my desire to use silvered glass in a way that looks like precious metal jewelry. Here's a photo of a recent pendant:Here's a photo of the back. In addition to the big "gemstone" on the front there are three smaller gemstones going across the top of the bead:Stay tuned for more of these pendants, I was just photographing another nice one today!

Silver Glass Gemstone Beads

At long last I have tried something that's been brewing in my mind for a few months: silver glass beads that look like precious metals and gemstones. The pendant is made with Psyche, Triton and a big dot of clear. I love how the clouds and blue sky are reflected in the "moonstone." I'm so happy with the way it turned out! Here's the back: I made a set of beads that go with it:I'm planning on putting these in my Etsy shop tonight. If I can part with that pendant, that is. I'm trusting I can make more like it.

A little side note: I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan, and I've recently discovered the unabridged version of the trilogy on audiobook. I've now also gone out and bought The Silmarillion on CD, which is a long book by Tolkien that tells the history of Middle Earth... I am obsessed! I was listening to The Fellowship of the Ring audiobook when I made these beads... I think it had an influence!

Audiobooks are a great way to pass the time while making beads!

Silver vs. Gold

I use a lot of Triton glass in my bead designs, which tends to reduce to a gold luster. Lately, some of my customers have been requesting metallic beads in silver because they design their jewelry with silver findings. These requests have led me to work again with Psyche glass, which reduces to a very pretty silver-blue.
These beads are made with Nyx and Psyche. They're in my Etsy shop:I've pressed down with a tool on the Psyche scroll designs to flatten the stringer. I thought it looked more like "hammered silver" that way, especially over the "patinated copper" green of the Nyx glass.

I continue to design in gold Triton, of course, because I love the color of gold. I think there's something special about being able to have a gold-looking bead or piece of jewelry during times when real gold is so expensive. There is something warm and healing about gold, too.

As for myself, I tend to wear silver jewelry, probably like the majority of people. Look for more silver Psyche designs coming soon!

Psyche Scroll Beads

Here's a set of beads I made for a customer this week. They have a base of Effetre transparent brown and scroll designs in Double Helix Psyche:I made a set similar to this for a customer a few weeks ago. She sent the beads to someone to string into a bracelet. When the bracelet-stringer saw them, she liked them so much that she ordered a set for herself! It's fun when things like that happen - you never know how a customer will find you!

Custom Ordered Sets

I've been working on a few custom orders this past week.
This is a set of beads made with Cattwalk's button press and decorated with stringers of silver glass:
A set of spacers made with black and silver glasses, with dots of fine silver:
Some round beads made with Psyche over Dark Amber. There is a nice reaction between these two glasses that makes a fine light-colored line where they meet:
A set of Nyx beads with Triton scroll designs:Hope you all had a great weekend. I'm exhausted, personally! Can any of you beadmaker/parents of small children relate to that?! :-D Looking forward to Monday!

Beads for Custom Orders

I sometimes take custom orders for beads and sets. Usually I'm asked if I could make something similar to beads I've made in the past.

Here are two sets I made for a customer this week which are variations on some of my earlier bead sets. This first set is made with Caramel Apple and Silver Cinnamon glass by ASK104 and Effetre Dark Silver Plum dots. The octagonal shape was made with Zoozi's Crystal press. Some of the beads were reduced for a slight metallic sheen:And this set is transparent Effetre brown with Psyche scroll designs:

More Silver Glass Sets

Here are a few more photos of the eclectic sets I've been making. The primary glass is Triton, but I also use Kronos, Nyx and Psyche.

I am obsessed! :-)

More Metallic Disks

Along with the Kronos disks in my last post, I listed two other metallic spiral disk sets on Etsy today. The first set is made from the lovely Double Helix odd-lot M-166, a.k.a. pinky purple luster, or what I call "Midas," which I'm sure is what the 'M' stands for in 'M-166' - whatever the name it's definitely one of my favorite glasses! The second set pictured is made from the ever-fantabulous Psyche. What will my boyfriend think when he finds out I want to marry Double Helix glass? He probably already suspects something... :-D

:-D

Colorful Psyche Disks

I've just posted these Psyche disks in my Etsy shop. I love the color I got on this set!
I reduced the Psyche in a different way than I usually do. Normally I hold the beads several inches away from the long yellow cones of the reducing flame, spinning them very slowly in and out of the heat. For these, I flashed them rapidly right at the tips of the yellow cones. I think the micro-blasts of reduction they got made the variations of color on the glass.

I first used this technique with M-166, the DH odd-lot that makes a very shiny rose-gold color. I noticed that flashing it close to the flame made the rose, purple, green and blue really come out on the M-166. After trying this technique with Psyche I'm very happy with the results.

The technique doesn't work with all the Double Helix reducing glasses. Some like to be reduced at a farther distance from the flame. I guess it all depends on the look you are going for with your beads. That's the funnest part about beadmaking - playtime and experimenting!

Things You Missed....

Beads have been flying off the shelves of my Etsy shop so fast these days, I haven't had time to post pictures of them or ramble on about them in my blog!

Here are some sets you may have missed in my Etsy shop if you blinked. I hadn't even closed the pictures in Photoshop before they were in the mail to customers. I'm so thankful for the sales I've had this month!

Textured Silver Plum spacer beads:
Psyche swirled over Canyon de Chelly:
Luna2 over ASK Silver Cinnamon:
Back to the torch - doin' what I love to do!
:-)

Focal Beads

I've been busy making beads the past few days, but I've managed to eek out a few photos as well.

These are focal beads, about 1 1/4" long. The first two are done on a base of Canyon de Chelly glass with gold leaf. They have Psyche spirals and Triton dots:

This bead has an Ivory and gold leaf base with Triton spirals and Psyche lines and dots:

Back to the torch for more PPP!

More Eye Candy

Just have to post a couple more pictures today. Can't resist. I finally got around to taking some pictures and posting sets on Etsy this weekend, so how about a little more eye candy just for fun? C'mon, you know you want it! It won't cause cavities! :)

An all-time favorite set, Double Helix Psyche on Effetre Dark Topaz. I love the light-colored contrasting lines where the two glasses meet:

Some earth tone spiral disks:

Both of these sets are up on Etsy today.

Hollow Beads

Lately I've been trying hollow beads. I love the way the light shines through them, and the way the surface decorations reflect around and through the bead. These were made on a transparent light brown base with Psyche stringer:

You can see some of my other hollows made with Double Helix odd M-166 in this post

.

Shiny Scroll Beads

I love these beads... they're made on a base of pale emerald green with Psyche scroll designs. The rondelle spacers are pure Psyche:

These sold in my Etsy shop.
These beads inspired me to make transparent hollow beads with Psyche scrolls. I've made a few so far but don't have pictures yet. They're coming out nice so far.

Metallic Beads on Etsy

Here are two new sets I've got up on Etsy. This first set is encased Kronos rondelles with 3.5mm holes. The edges of the beads are left un-encased which produced a beautiful metallic deep green color that was hard to photograph:

This set has a base/center of Dark Silver Plum with an outside layer of Psyche:


Very metallic! :-)