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!

Siver Cored Beads on Etsy!

I've been working on silver coring beads for a few weeks now. I have quite a little collection going. I love to gaze at them, polish them, put them on my Pandora bracelet. Trouble is, I love them so much I'm having a hard time letting them go. They are my babies.
:-D Lampworkers, you know what I'm talking about :-D

Yet all babies must one day venture out into the big world and find a new home and gainful employment. Such it is with my cute little silver cored beads. The separation anxiety has been a little tough, but I've finally listed a few on Etsy! Here are their photos:

Etched organic:Double Helix Kronos with Kronos frit:CiM Mojito with Triton (2 photos):CiM Slytherin and Mojito with Triton:

Have a nice Monday and happy beading :)

Etched Scroll Design Beads

I have a few new bead sets made that I'm working on photographing and listing on Etsy. Here's a preview of one of the sets, made with a base of CiM Canyon de Chelly and scrolls of Effetre Copper Green. I love the reaction between these glasses! I've etched them to brighten up the Copper Green and reveal the nice dark lines around the design:I find most of the CiM glasses, like Canyon de Chelly, are a dream to work with. They have a really nice, smooth consistency, like butter or soft taffy. Effetre's Copper Green is a long-time favorite of mine, either etched or un-etched. Here is an example of un-etched Copper Green, with the grey metallic patina still on the surface:
Today I travel down to Phoenix, about a 2 hour drive. I'm picking up my 14-year-old daughter at the airport who is just returning from canoeing camp up near International Falls, MN. I bet it's a heck of a lot cooler up there than it will be in Phoenix today. According to the forecast it should be 112 degrees. At least that's cooler than last weekend when I was in Phoenix and it was 114. Ha ha. I know there's a lot of torchers down in Phoenix... how do you folks do it? Even up here in Sedona, it's not cool enough to make beads until 9 pm!
Ok, enough complaining about the summer, which I longed for all last winter. Time to enjoy this 'dry heat.'
Have a wonderful day and weekend, and stay comfortable :-)

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!

New "Destash" Category in My Etsy Shop

I've created a new category in my Etsy shop: Destash! Time to do a little spring cleaning. At this moment I've got two destash listings, with more to come throughout the next few weeks.

First item up, a focal bead made with CiM Ginger, silver foil, and Pandora encased in clear. The clear/Pandora combo turned yellow, which sometimes happens when I work silver glass or silver foil and clear together for a long time in the flame. Still pretty cool I think:The second destash item is a set of etched beads made with ASK104 Bahia Blue, Violet Nights and Berry Creamy:
My 'destash' category will have everything from beads that are good seconds, to beads that have been hanging around the studio for a long time, beads that are extras from sets, as well as really special sets that I've been hoarding in my personal stash for a very long time because I liked them so much. Stay tuned!

More Etching with Copper Green

I really like how these Vetrofond Odd Olive and Copper Green beads turned out. The reaction between the two glasses made a dark line between them and gave the scroll designs an organic look. They're etched:I also tried Copper Green over Vetrofond Moss Agate, and I love the results of this mix too. These are also etched:The Moss Agate set is available in my Etsy shop right now. The Odd Olive set has sold! :-D

Etched Copper Green Beads

Browsing through the Lampwork, Etc. message board can be a good way to find creative inspiration when the glass muse is taking an untimely nap. I saw mentioned in one of the threads that CiM's Canyon de Chelly has a nice reaction with Copper Green, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I made these round beads with a base of CdC and Copper Green scroll designs. They measure about 12mm x 15mm. I'm really happy with them! It's fun for me to use non-silver glass once in a while! They're etched, which is a good thing to do with Copper Green beads to get rid of the grey metallic patina they sometimes get. This set is in my Etsy shop right now:

I just pulled a set out of the kiln made with a base of Vetrofond Odd Olive and Copper Green scrolls. I'm going to etch them, and if they turn out semi-cool I'll post a photo of them.
Have a beadyful day!

Etched Cubes

Here's a set I've just finished and posted in my Etsy shop:These beads were made with a base of black, then rolled in Terra coarse frit. After striking the Terra just until dark brown, I formed each bead into a cube. This process took a little while and the heating and cooling struck the Terra the rest of the way.

The next day I etched the beads in an acid etch solution. Terra doesn't etch very easily, so only the black glass etched and the Terra stayed shiny!

I've been teaching myself how to make a cube shape for a few months now. It's kind of tricky! I've found that parallel mashers don't help me very much, I just flatten the sides with my hand-held marver. PPP!

Terra and Dark Ivory

These beads have a similar webbing effect to the Triton and Dark Ivory beads in my last post. The glass I've used for the scroll designs in this set is original Terra. I think it's the high silver content of these glasses that causes the Ivory to react that way.

This set is etched, but the Terra designs stayed shiny since Terra is not easily affected by etching solution. It makes an interesting contrast in refelection and texture on the beads. This set is in my Etsy shop today.

Happy June everyone!

New on Etsy - Etched Terranova!

Here are three new sets I have up in my Etsy shop.
The first two are organic sets with large 3.5mm holes:

Silver Cinnamon, silver foil and Silver Plum "rivets"

Ivory with silver dots:

This third set has an Ivory base with silver foil and Terranova scrollwork. Like its cousin Terra, Terranova does not etch easily. So, I put this set into the etch bath and got a nice matte Ivory base with shiny, un-etched blue-green Terranova designs:

Click on any of the images to visit my Etsy shop!

Etched Button Set on eBay

Besides the Terranova set I have listed this week, I also have this set of etched button beads listed. They are made with ASK104 glass. Here's a photo... click the image and it will take you to the auction page:

Etched Disk Beads

My obsession with disk beads continues! The shape looks simple but it's actually kind of tricky to keep them from rounding out in the heat of the flame. I love the challenge this shape presents. After months of practice with disk beads I'm only beginning to get the hang of it.

My latest favorite sets are these two groups of etched disks. I've posted them in my Etsy shop:

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!

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!

Getting Terra-ific Color

I've been continuing to practice with Terra glass during the past week. Up to this point my Terra beads have been less-than-satisfactory. Here is my first attempt at encased Terra from a couple of months ago:

LOL!

Lately however, I've been pleased with the results I'm getting. Practice has improved my techniques. Here is the accomplishment I'm most proud of, a nice little set of brightly-colored encased Terra beads:



I've also been continuing to etch Terra beads. (See this older post: Etching Terra Beads). I like the contrast of textures. Here is a set of etched beads with a Terra base and black stringer decorations. The black parts etched and the Terra remained shiny:


Next post: A tutorial on encasing Terra!

Etching Terra beads

I've been experimenting with etching beads that are decorated with Terra. Terra glass itself does not etch. Yet, when Terra is used as a decoration on an etch-able base glass, it results in beautiful contrasts of texture and reflection.

Here are a couple of photos of my experiments. One is made on a base of opal yellow (with pure Terra spacer beads) and the other is a base of black Effetre.
Enjoy!

Purple!

Here are a few of the new beads I've been working on.
The eclectic set of pink and purple is not my usual style, but I love the way they turned out. I seem to be better at making sets of identical beads these days, so making each bead different was a challenge. I also rarely make beads this feminine. I thought I'd push my envelope a little and make something different. This is the set I was working on using the CIM glasses, including the Simply Berry. I really love this set and the experience of making it, so I'm going to make more!
The second set of blue and purple buttons is etched ASK104 glass.
Enjoy the photos!

Freeform bead #3

The obsession with off-mandrel beads continues...
Here's one I made a couple of days ago. It's etched.