Cube Beads

It's taking practice, but I love making cube-shaped beads.  Here are a few sets I've made recently.  This first set is made with Double Helix CE-352:

This set is made with Triton:

 

and these are Double Helix Elektra:

The Triton and CE-352 beads are available in my Etsy shop.

The weekend's almost here!  Woo hoo!!!  Happy dance!!!

Video: Silver Coring a Bead

February has arrived! Not my favorite month, but at least it's a short one and spring cannot be far away. I know most of you are buried in snow today... good time to curl up with a warm beverage and read blogs! :)
Here is my first bead video about silver coring. It's only the second video I've ever edited and completed. It doesn't go into a lot of depth because like my javalina video, it was mostly for practice. Maybe if the bead business doesn't pan out I have a future in Hollywood film-making!? Yeah!!!

Here are some beads that have emerged from my studio in the past week or two. This first set is made with Ivory and Gaia scroll designs:
These beads are made with an odd lot of Double Helix glass called CE-352G. They have a beautiful brown-ish gold color with streaks of opaque light brown:
I have a couple of Triton sets too. Click on the images, some of these bead sets are still available in my Etsy shop:
I'm editing my next video right now which is a demo of me making the Ivory/Gaia scroll set pictured above. I'll post it here when it's ready.

Are you following my Facebook bead page? I often post there first when I have something new because I'm already on FB 24/7 anyway (hee hee). Come on down for a visit! http://www.facebook.com/beadabundant
Stay warm!

Silver Glass Crystal Beads

Good evening bead and jewelry lovers!
I'd like to share a few beads I've made this past week, but before I do, I just need to say one more time I LOVE MY NEW KILN!!! I look forward to torching just to use it. The old kiln I was using was my very first bead kiln. I bought it in 1998. It was one of the first kilns designed specifically for beads, called the Toaster Kiln, made by Brian Kerkvliet and sold by Frantz. Kiln manufacturers have really improved on the game since then. This new kiln from The Glass Hive is like a luxury Cadillac SUV compared to the old Datsun 210 of a Toaster kiln! If you've never seen a Glass Hive kiln, click on this link --> The Glass Hive and check them out!
And now, to the beads...

These sets were made for a custom order. This first set uses Ekho:These are Luna:These are Triton and Kronos:All of the beads were encased with Aether clear and formed with the crystal press.

My customer had actually asked me to make her some Luna crystals based on this set (below) I'd made for her before, but I couldn't do it for the life of me! The Luna crystals pictured above as you can see turned out dark blue! The difference is that my skills have changed with Luna and I can strike it better now. But is it really better? This older set is actually more colorful. Try as I might, I could not undo my skills to make poorly struck beads. Ha!
I have more stuff I could blab on about, but this post is already getting long. I'll have to come back tomorrow and show you what else I've been up to.
Cheerio!

New Metallic Orphan Beads

I have two new sets of metallic and striking Double Helix orphan beads in my Etsy shop. This set of blue, green and gold metallics:And this set with pink, purple, orange and gold:Just a quick post tonight, I wanted to let you know about these sets!

Two New Scroll Sets

I have two new scroll design bead sets in my Etsy shop. This first set has Triton scrolls melted into an Ivory base. The reaction between these two glasses makes a great organic webbed effect:The second set is made with a Nyx base and raised Aurae scrolls. I love this glass combo:Here's another Nyx and Aurae set I made a few months ago:
TGIF!!!
:-)

Pandora Glass Beads

Here's a set of spacer beads I made with Double Helix Pandora glass:I haven't worked with Pandora in a long time. It was fun to break it out and play with it again. While the glass is hot it looks transparent green, but after spending 6 hours annealing at 950 F, then cooling down overnight, it develops the streaky purples and blues... if I'm lucky!

Part of this bead batch turned a muddy pale green. I tried making two beads on the mandrel to save kiln space, but that didn't work too well. While laying down the second bead, the first bead would cool and turn opaque light green. They went into the kiln with one bead being opaque and one being transparent. Only the transparent green beads, the second ones laid down, turned nice colors. The beads that went into the kiln opaque, stayed muddy. Lesson learned: Get the Pandora hot only once and pop it in the kiln, don't work this glass too much or let it get cool and hot again.

The Pandora bead set is in my Etsy shop, along with this new mixed metallic set using mainly Nyx and Kronos glass:
♥ ♥ ♥

Latest Bead Sets

These two sets are new in my Etsy shop:The top set is made with a base of Nyx and flattened wraps of Triton glass. I love the colors of Nyx and the industrial look of these beads. The second set is made with (I think!) Terra2 glass and the Double Helix odd lot KA-356. I swirled the colors together, struck and then encased.

Next on the chopping block - perhaps for tomorrow - is a set of mixed metallic beads and a set of Pandora glass spacers, inspired by Gardanne! I'm still working on the Pandora set. Some of my beads from yesterday did not strike. My set is not turning out anything like the pretty earth-tone colors in Gardanne's set, I'm getting more purples and blues, in the beads that are striking anyway.

Visit my Fresh Green Glass Treasury on Etsy to see some lovely beads in various shades of green made by some very talented lampwork artists!

Nyx and Triton Beads

Nyx might be my favorite Double Helix reducing glass because it's so easy-peasy to reduce. Triton used to be easy for me, but something happened... either it's the new batch I got, or the moon has moved out of phase this past year, who knows, but I can't easily get that nice shiny gold from Triton anymore. I've gone from Triton Queen to Triton Jester in a short span of time. Oh well! :-D

I pulled out my Triton the other day to use on this set. I love these beads... they've sold, but they were fun to make so I might have to make them again. The base is Nyx, the sprial wrap is Triton:

Silver Glass Etsy Listings

I have two new Etsy listings tonight. The first is a set of Nyx accent beads:The silver glasses never cease to amaze me! I don't think I've ever made a set of Nyx beads that turned out so silver-y. Every day that I work with a silver glass it comes out a little different than the day before. It's almost impossible to truly duplicate a bead or set with silver glass in it.

Another case in point is the next bead, made with Triton and Kronos frit and encased with Aether clear. There's no way I could predict how the colors on this bead would turn out, and if I used the same recipe again a hundred times I'd have a hundred different beads:Lovin' it!!!

Sparkling Mixed Metallic Set

This set of mixed metallic beads is up in my Etsy shop:The beads are made from Kronos, Triton, and a bit of Aether clear, all from Double Helix. I really enjoy making these mixed metallic sets because every bead is different, yet I need to make them similar enough to go together in a set. Fun! And fun to make into jewelry and wear, too! Click on the pictures to see the full-sized image.

"Stormclouds" Bead Set

"Stormclouds" on Etsy:These were made with a base of Triton and Ivory, swirled together and then encased with Aether clear from Double Helix. I love the organic reactions between the Triton and Ivory!

Triton Shard Beads

Once again it's been ages since I've blogged! I thought I'd put a picture up of my latest bead set. These are made with Triton glass as a base, then covered with shards made from Triton Odd glass:The set is in my Etsy shop right now.

I've written two posts about making shards, you can read them here:
Shards, Pt. 1
http://beadabundant.blogspot.com/2008/12/shards-pt-1.html
Shards, Pt. 2
http://beadabundant.blogspot.com/2008/12/shards-pt-2.html
Happy beading everyone :)

Blue and Metallic Frit Beads

I recently made some bead sets using Triton, Kronos frit and clear, and I was really happy with the way they turned out. They were all made using variations on the same basic recipe.

This first set has a base of Triton, with Triton and Kronos frit. I reduced the base bead, then added random dots of clear on top. Then I reduced again and encased the whole bead in clear, then reduced one more time to get some metallic shine around the holes:This set was made the exact same way, except that I didn't do a final encasing:For this set, instead of random dots of clear I applied the clear in an even pattern, and put air bubbles in the centers. This is my ultimate favorite set of late:All of these sets are now sold, but I had a really fun time making them so I think I'll make some more.

I've finally ordered some Aurae glass from Double Helix. It should be here in a few days. I can't believe it has taken me this long, but I've been using the Aurae test batches M-166 and M-232 for a while and they're running out. I'm really excited to get the Aurae, as I see there is quite an Aurae frenzy on eBay! With good reason, it's a gorgeous glass.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and have a scrumptious weekend!

Back from My Blogcation

I've taken a long vacation from blogging this past month, longer than I intended really, and now I have a backlog of new work to show you! During April I was busy with a few special orders. I had fun working on one order that used a lot of Terra and Ivory, two of my favorite glasses.

Here are some photos of the beads from that order. The first set is etched but the Terra stayed shiny. (I think if you click on these photos you can see an enlarged view, and then you can really see the detail in the crackled Ivory!)

These are made with Vetrofond River Rock and silver foil:
Some Triton leaves:
and some Triton beads with Ivory scrolls:
I'll be back again soon with more news and photos.
Happy May!

CiM Chalcedony and Triton

Thanks to a comment from sassyglassdesigns on one of my previous posts, I've experimented with more glass colors to see how they react with Triton. Here I've tried a blue CiM glass called "Chalcedony" and I got a sea green color!Triton scrolls seem to fume base glasses with a yellowish color, so I think it's a matter of how nice the color looks with yellow added as to how the beads will turn out.

Here is a photo of some plain Chalcedony rods, so you can see the before and after color difference:
And another photo of this set, available in my Etsy shop!

CiM Heffalump and Triton

A few days ago, I wanted to make a set of beads using CiM Crocus and Triton glass, like the set in my last post. I sat down at the torch to start making the beads. I grabbed a purple glass rod from my CiM shelf, assuming it was Crocus, and began making the set. The color looked a little strange as I was putting the beads into the kiln, but glass sometimes looks different when it's hot, so I didn't give it much thought. The next morning when I opened the kiln to see my cooled-down beads, I knew these beads couldn't be Crocus! Oh no! What the heck glass color is that?! Ooops! Maybe I used Heffalump!Indeed, I had used Heffalump. Here are the beads next to the Heffalump rods. The beads had turned a very different color from the original Heffalump lavender:It's interesting the way the Triton glass fumed the Heffalump, making the beads a tan/cream/purple color with a pearly surface sheen. I think the beads would look good paired with freshwater pearls:
Another interesting aspect to this set: some of the CiM colors have the property of changing color when viewed in florescent lighting. Heffalump is one of these colors, as well as Crocus and Larkspur. Under florescent lights, these colors get a green tint. Here are my Heffalump beads under florescents:
I'll be putting this fascinating set up in my Etsy shop today.
:-)

CiM Crocus and Triton

"Crocus" by Creation is Messy is one of my favorite glass colors, especially for Spring. It's a beautiful translucent pinky-purple glass, similar to an Effetre Alabastro, but easier to work with. Here is a set of Crocus beads decorated with Triton scrolls:This set is in my Etsy shop.

I'm getting back into the CiM colors lately. Next post I'll have a picture of *what happened* when I combined CiM "Heffalump" with Triton!

CiM Sepia with Triton

My most favorite brown glass color is CiM Sepia. Here I've paired it with scrolls of Triton. This set is for sale in my Etsy shop:

Just a post and run for today!

Enjoy your weekend!

Pale Emerald Green and Triton

I hope you had a nice St. Patrick's Day! I'm recovering from the *evil dentist* visit, taking life nice and easy for a little bit, pampering myself and all that. I have had a very enjoyable week making beads, and tonight I've got a new set up on Etsy. These are transparent Pale Emerald Green with Triton scroll designs:I made a set a few days ago that I really love. These are Triton and Kronos frit beads encased with Double Helix Aether. I shaped them with Zoozi's Crystal press:I love the shiny metallic around the bead holes. They were inspired by a similar set of beads that had a donut shape, like this set (pictured below) that I made recently for a customer's special request. The recipe for the beads is the same, the only difference is the shape:
Happy beading! :-)