Lampwork Beads by Heather Behrendt

What's Your Favorite Metallic?

2012-01-10T18:26:00.000-08:00

You've all probably noticed that I really enjoy working with stringer scroll designs. Doesn't matter if they're raised, or melted, I love them. I guess I just really like seeing a beautiful design come from a bunch of lines working together.

You've probably also noticed that I use a lot of metallic glass for my scrollwork designs. It really makes scrolls pop! I've been working with a lot of different types of metallics to see which ones I like best. Here's my first few experiments with it

The left bead has scrolls of Taxco by TAG. I really like this glass, but it is a little bit temperamental sometimes. It has a tendency to bubble if I give it a lot of heat. It really does reduce to a nice oilslick luster.

The middle bead is made from Nyx by Double Helix. It looks nice, but a little too subtle of a metallic for me. I think I look for a more mirror finish in my metallics. I do really like how the scrolls have a noticeable outline around them. It's a little hard to tell in this photo.

I think the last lentil wins for me. It's made with Double Helix's Triton glass. It has a very bright chrome mirror finish which is very nice. The only downside to this, is that the silver fumes the base glass a little bit.

There are so many silver glasses to play with that I won't be testing them all. It's just too pricey. What silver glasses do you like best?

Bead Previews 1/9/12 - 1/10/12

2012-01-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

I swear, I'll actually have some true content coming up. I've just been so busy creating and listing that I haven't really had a chance to write much. I still have lots of beads to clean and ship, mandrels to dip, and so on and so forth.

For now, here's what I have planned to list for the next few days. If you see something you like and you want it for 15% off, send an email to booga119@hotmail.com or comment here to claim it. Just make sure you do it before I list the beads.

These beads will be listed on January 10, 2012

If you see something you like in this picture and jump on it before I list it, I will give you an additional 15% off. First person to post a comment here can buy the item with the 15% off, but it must be BEFORE I list it. I send invoices with paypal and charge 2.25 flat rate for shipping for fans, likers, friends, family and so forth. Thanks so much :)

6 red lentils with peacock oilslick streaks and spiral imprint - $36
11 emerald green sea glass spacers with 3/32" hole - $15
6 red rounds with silvered ivory lines. - $30
6 blue rounds with silvered ivory lines - $30
2 ivory rounds with metallic scrollwork $8
1 silvered line pandora bead on far left $18
1 silvered line pandora bead on middle $20
1 silvered line pandora bead on right $20

These beads will be listed on January 11, 2012
If you see something you like in this picture and jump on it before I list it, I will give you an additional 15% off. First person to post a comment here can buy the item with the 15% off, but it must be BEFORE I list it. I send invoices with paypal and charge 2.25 flat rate for shipping for fans, likers, friends, family and so forth. Thanks so much :)

6 rgreen rounds with silvered ivory lines. - $30
6 ivory cream rounds with silvered ivory lines. - $30
6 pearl sparkles on light pink rose discs - $15
6 pearl sparkles on yellow discs - $15
6 pearl sparkles on light blue discs - $15
6 pearl sparkles on light emerald green discs - $15
2 black with opal blue dots and metallic accents - $8
1 silvered lined pandora bead $20

Bead Previews 1/5/12 - 1/7/12

2012-01-03T16:04:00.000-08:00

I've got some more bead previews for you all. Same deal as before. If you email me (booga119@hotmail.com) or comment on here or facebook, you can get 15% off any of these beads if you do it before I list them.

Everything in this picture will be listed January 5 2012
If you see something you like in this picture and jump on it before I list it, I will give you an additional 15% off. First person to post a comment here can buy the item with the 15% off, but it must be BEFORE I list it. I send invoices with paypal and charge 2.25 flat rate for shipping for fans, likers, friends, family and so forth. Thanks so much :)
6 topaz orange ribbed sparkle balls - $30
5 metallic blue ripple rounds - $40
5 opal blue green with blue aventurine swirls - $38
2 black with opal blue dots - $8
1 copper lined pandora bead on left - $15
1 silver lined pandora bead in middle $20
1 copper lined dark purple pandora on right - $10
Everything in this picture will be listed January 6 2012
If you see something you like in this picture and jump on it before I list it, I will give you an additional 15% off. First person to post a comment here can buy the item with the 15% off, but it must be BEFORE I list it. I send invoices with paypal and charge 2.25 flat rate for shipping for fans, likers, friends, family and so forth. Thanks so much :)
6 spiral stamped black lentils rainbow metallic swirls - $36
6 ivory cream rounds with silvered ivory scrolls - $36
6 purple pixie dust discs - $151 bicone ivory cream focal with silvered ivory - $22
2 ivory with metallic blue green stripe - $6
2 pink rose with metallic threading - $8
1 large ivory cream lentil focal with spiral and silvered ivory scrolls - $25
1 copper cored pandora bead on far left - $10
1 silver cored pandora bead in middle - $20
1 copper cored pandora bead on right - $15

Everything in this picture will be listed January 7 2012
If you see something you like in this picture and jump on it before I list it, I will give you an additional 15% off. First person to post a comment here can buy the item with the 15% off, but it must be BEFORE I list it. I send invoices with paypal and charge 2.25 flat rate for shipping for fans, likers, friends, family and so forth. Thanks so much :)
3 ornate metallic scrollwork on jade green rounds - $38
3 ornate metallic scrollwork on rich red rounds - $38
10blue green metallic stripe on ivory rounds - retail $30 to be listed for $27
1 ornate metallic scrollwork on jade green bicone - $25
1 metallic lines on opal white bicone - $18
1 silver cored pandora bead on left - $20
1 silver cored pandora bead in middle - $20
1 silver cored pandora bead on right - $17

Bead Previews 12/30/2011 - 1/4/2012

2011-12-27T16:29:00.000-08:00

I'm trying something new to kick off 2012. It's a way to save you all a little bit of money. I hope you all like it.
Here's how it works. I will take a group shot of the beads I plan to list a few days in advance and post the prices. If you see something you'd like, comment or email me and it's all yours for 15% off!

How am I able to make such an amazing offer? Every time I list a bead on Ebay or Etsy it costs me a listing fee and a percentage of the sale. It also takes me a lot of time and effort to take multiple pictures of the bead, write a description and title and so forth.

I'm passing the savings on to my friends, family, fans, likers, followers and so forth. All you need to do is let me know you want a bead before I list it. So without further ado, here are my previews for this week.

These beads will be listed on December 30 2011

If you see something you like in this picture and jump on it before I list it, I will give you an additional 15% off. First person to post a comment here can buy the item with the 15% off, but it must be BEFORE I list it. I send invoices with paypal and charge 2.25 flat rate for shipping for fans, likers, friends, family and so forth. Thanks so much :)

10 pink rose sea glass discs with silvered ivory - Retail value $35 to be listed for $31.50
2 lilac pink purple rounds with raised black scrolls - $12
6 raku tiger stripe donut shaped beads (middle bead is bigger) - $24
12 lilac pink purple rounds with raised black scrolls - retail value $72 to be listed for $64.80
1 yellow gold irridecent scales big holed bead for European Charm bracelet copper lined - $9.99
1 large black scrolls over encased raku with copper bead caps and lining - $20

These beads will be listed on December 31 2011

If you see something you like in this picture and jump on it before I list it, I will give you an additional 15% off. First person to post a comment here can buy the item with the 15% off, but it must be BEFORE I list it. I send invoices with paypal and charge 2.25 flat rate for shipping for fans, likers, friends, family and so forth. Thanks so much :)

12 topaz orange sea glass discs with silvered ivory - retail value $42 to be listed for $37.80
13 tropical pink pixie dust discs - retail value $32.50 to be listed for $29.25
6 pearl pixie dust over black discs - 15$
2 dark topaz orange sea glass discs with silvered ivory - $8
2 pink pixie dust with metallic scrolls - $13
2 big holed beads for European charm bracelets lined with copper - $9.99

Everything in this picture will be listed on January 1st 2012

If you see something you like in this picture and jump on it before I list it, I will give you an additional 15% off. First person to post a comment here can buy the item with the 15% off, but it must be BEFORE I list it. I send invoices with paypal and charge 2.25 flat rate for shipping for fans, likers, friends, family and so forth. Thanks so much :)

18 pale emerald sea glass with silvered ivory discs - retail value $63 to be listed for $56.70

14 Blue pixie dust discs - retail value $35 to be listed for 31.50

2 medium blue sea glass with silvered ivory discs - to be listed for 7.99

2 bright yellow sea glass with silvered ivory discs - to be listed for 7.99

2 purple blue swirly big holed beads for European charm bracelets lined with copper - to be listed for 9.99 each

Everything in this picture will be listed on January 2 2012

If you see something you like in this picture and jump on it before I list it, I will give you an additional 15% off. First person to post a comment here can buy the item with the 15% off, but it must be BEFORE I list it. I send invoices with paypal and charge 2.25 flat rate for shipping for fans, likers, friends, family and so forth. Thanks so much :)

8 Raku tiger stripe discs - $40
1 large blue green metallic stripes with ivory encased lentil - $20
1 big holed bead for European charm bracelets or necklaces in metallic blue green and copper lined - $18
1 purple bicone with metallic scrolls and lines left raised - $22
2 ivory rounds with metallic raised scrollwork - $12
10 earthy raku tiger stripes with metallic lining on black rounds - $60
1 big holed bead for European charm bracelets in dark purple with blue swirls lined with copper - $9.99

Everything in this picture will be listed January 3 2012

If you see something you like in this picture and jump on it before I list it, I will give you an additional 15% off. First person to post a comment here can buy the item with the 15% off, but it must be BEFORE I list it. I send invoices with paypal and charge 2.25 flat rate for shipping for fans, likers, friends, family and so forth. Thanks so much :)

4 Chalcedony blue discs with metallic lines - $16
2 Pixie Dust pale emerald green rounds with metallic scrolls -
1 Iridescent gold green pressed focal with aqua blue swirls and jeweling - $15
1 pink purple bicone with white blossoms and a purple butterfly - clear is a little hazy, so it has been further discounted - $12
12 pixie dust pale emerald green rounds with metallic scrolls - Retail value $78 to be listed for $70.20
1 large raku disc big holed bead for European Charm bracelets lined with copper - $20
1 small pale pink with metallic bumps big holed bead for European Charm Bracelet lined with sterling silver - $14.99

These will be listed on January 4 2012

If you see something you like in this picture and jump on it before I list it, I will give you an additional 15% off. First person to post a comment here can buy the item with the 15% off, but it must be BEFORE I list it. I send invoices with paypal and charge 2.25 flat rate for shipping for fans, likers, friends, family and so forth. Thanks so much :)

16 medium blue sea glass discs with silvered ivory - retail value $56 to be listed for $50.40
2 topaz orange sea glass discs with silvered ivory - $8
2 amethyst purple sea glass discs with silvered ivory - $8
8 Jade green discs with metallic lines - $32
1 green blue amber swirls big holed bead for European Charm bracelet - $9.99
1 Purple blue swirls big holed bead for European Charm bracelet - 9.99

Some new Beads On the Bay

2011-12-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to show off some of my latest bead sets up on Ebay.

Starting with my some of my last Christmasy beads. I have a big set of sparkling pixie dust discs. These ones have a base of clear with sparkling pearl glitter on them. They will go with anything, so I guess they aren't TOO christmasy.

Some classic black and white scroll beads. This one is a huge set of twelve beads.

Lastly, I have another chunky bicone. I've been making a lot of these since I got my giant brass marver. This one is pretty big

That's about it for now. Hoping everyone is having a good holiday season and not getting too overwhelmed with shopping and planning.

Play Time!

2011-12-06T20:10:00.001-08:00

In November I bought quite a bit of tools and tutorials, but I was so swamped with custom orders that everything just collected dust for a few weeks. I'm really not complaining about the custom orders or anything, but I'm finally getting a chance to "play" more than "work." As I say that, I have two gladware containers of beads to photograph and list. Eeeek! Let's just ignore those for now and play :)

I went to a free demonstration by Trey Cornette, and it was awesome! I always love watching others work, but it's really neat to be able to watch someone who specializes in stringerwork. Did you know that I like stringerwork?

While it was neat to see the stringer being applied, I really feel like I got the most out of the way he shapes his beads. Bicones are one of those shapes that I've always struggled with. I've gotten better over the years, but when I haven't made them in a while, I feel like a newbie.

This video is pretty helpful too

So after seeing him make a long bicone bead with this benchtop marver, I had to buy one :) I still struggle a little bit, but the brass marver is very helpful. It's huge too! Comparing the size of the benchtop to my handheld graphite marver is kinda funny almost.

Oh, and you can buy them here

Here's a little bit of eyecandy of beads that I shaped with this marver.

Life is Pretty Exciting

2011-11-22T09:55:00.001-08:00

So life is getting exciting right now

( I wanted to add a picture to this post, so it wouldn't seem as boring and I want to buy this pin)

It's not that it ever wasn't exciting, but it gets quite predictable.

I currently have a full time job that pays the bills, has good benefits and job security. It's not a bad job, but I don't find it fulfilling at all. I make pizza, serve slices, fill orders, make all the ingredients, manage others, take care of food safety and everything else involved with running a pizza kitchen. I suppose it's not a bad living.

Growing up, you always get the question "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I don't remember what I wanted as a kid, but it wasn't making pizza and I never envisioned the management politics and rude people that we deal with every day in a traditional full time job. But, we all need a paycheck and that's part of what we all need to deal with to get paid. I never realized how much it takes out of your soul though. Maybe it's different with a more fulfilling job, but mine makes me feel empty inside.

This is turning into a depressing post, so it's time to announce the good news.

Starting at the beginning of 2012 I will be switching to part time pizza maker and full time bead maker! It's scary and exciting. Don't worry everyone, I have been tracking the financial part of my small bead making business for a long time and I've been planning this for quite some time. I'm not just making an impulse decision because I don't like my job.

I'm getting my show schedule set for next year now that I have my soon to be part time job figured out. I expect this to be a bumpy road with ups and downs, but I'm looking forward to the future.

Some Big Christmas Bead Sets

2011-11-15T21:59:00.001-08:00

Boy do I have a ton of new beads to share! Ok so a lot of these are sets that I've put together from my show inventory, but that doesn't make them any less awesome! I put together a couple of big sets that I put together with Christmas in mind. This first set has rich velvety red with raised metallic scrolls. I've even added some gold metallic pixie dust disc beads. You could make a whole set of jewelry with these beauties. If you do happen to run out, I'm happy to remake whatever you need.

Next up is another big set up on Ebay. This one is made of icy crystal clear with sparkling pixie dust. Each of the rounds are covered in raised metallic scrollwork and I've included some pixiedust discs that go with everything.

These ones are probably a little more appropriate for Fall. I have some black rounds with raised metallic scrollwork.

And lastly, some creamy ivory lentils with metallic scrollwork. I love the reaction of the silver scrolls against the ivory. It has a slight shadow which sets off the silver designs even more.

And that is what I've been working on for the week. What have you got :)

Still Playing Catch Up

2011-11-07T21:29:00.001-08:00

So, I was supposed to finish organizing my leftover show inventory before I did anything else.

Um, yeah. So, I got a little bit behind with that. I ran out of the wire I use to string my sets and then I got bombarded by made to orders. I'm not complaining at all. I'm actually very happy about that. :)

I'm organizing everything into little piles until I'm able to go buy some wire tomorrow. Right after the show my desk was so trashed I just put everything in a gladware container and put it aside.
I still have a bit ahead of me. I'll probably still make beads before I get everything listed though. Bad girl!

Time to Relax

2011-11-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

I Survived my first bead show! Yay! I'm happy to report that my first one was a success :)

Anyways, I had a great time and it was a profitable business venture. I also have tons of experience under my belt that will help me lots with my next bead show. I met a lot of wonderful bead folks and learned a bunch.

I haven't set up my schedule for next year, but I will most definitely be doing the Innovative Beads Expo in Rochester again. I will most likely do Syracuse in the Spring and Fall as well. There's a couple other ones I'm tossing around the idea of attending, but I'm not sure yet. There's a 3 day one in NYC that I'm toying with the idea of going, but I think it might be a little too expensive to stay there for 4 days. I'll be thinking about it though.

It's this weekend! Woohoo!

2011-10-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

So, I've been frantically trying to get ready for this bead show at the end of October. I can finally say that if I had to go set up right now and start selling in a few hours, I would probably be ok. I still have a lot I want to do this week to get ready. I'm bursting with new ideas that I want to bring to the show, but there's only so much time in a day.

I'll be bringing lots of sparkle scroll beads. I love making these! They're icy and sparkly with metallic bling. They'd be great for a cool winter piece, but I've also got some warmer pinks and purples for Spring.

I've got my big focal display which is just about full. I have a few beads waiting to be flat lapped. This display is actually kinda tall, so you'll probably see me from across the room :)
I know this is a bead show, but I've got a couple simple pendants on sterling silver chains to show what you can do with faceted beads. I don't expect them to sell, but I like to help customers visualize what a finished piece might look like.
Lastly, here's an overhead shot.

So, I've still got a few trays to fill up, some lapidary work to do, a little bit of pricing left, pictures to print, and packing materials to ready. I think that might be it though.

Table Update for October 8th

2011-10-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures on October 8th on my kitchen table. I added them to facebook, but I completely forgot to go into some detail here.

Tada! It was kind of a pain to move everything from the floor of my spare bedroom to the kitchen table while avoiding underfoot kitties, but it was very uplifting to see what everything looks like. Before doing this, I was getting a little bummed out and overwhelmed. This was a great pick me up.

I absolutely love the design on my table runner. I was originally trying to get the same design in red, but for some reason the pattern was discontinued. I bought the little red scrap you can see in the picture because I misread the measurements. I thought it was 1.5 yards, but it was actually 1.5 feet. Doh!

It's ok thought, I found the black and white that is not discontinued and I bought plenty of it. I'll use the red to line my guest book or something for a splash of color.

I'm very happy with the lighting I purchased from walmart. The lamps are knockoff Ott lamps, but they were 21 dollars. I couldn't stomach 90 dollars for an Ott lamp even if they're amazing. The lamps give off a nice white light and have a modern look to them that goes with my table.

I've also since received my banner. Yay! It turned out really nice even thought it's still a little stuck in the rolled shape. I want to hang it up in my house when I'm done with the show :)

Testing from my new smartphone

2011-10-11T21:40:00.001-07:00

Just plugging away at labeling sets and getting them ready for display.

Table Update Again!

2011-09-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie post because I need to get to the torch and start crackin'

I've moved some of the trays around. I'm starting to fill up a section for pixie dust discs. I've got my new full spectrum lights for a more accurate viewing of colors. On the right side I have one bowl for orphans and wonkies that will probably be priced a dollar each. I also have an empty bowl that will be filled with delicious candies. Who doesn't love candy?

What you can't see is the risers I purchased which will raise the table by about 8 inches. I also am awaiting shipment of my two white tablecloths and a pretty piece of red and black scroll fabric in this pattern.
I love this pattern and I'm kinda bummed that it's a discontinued pattern. I could only get a yard and a half of it, but it's just enough to add a splash of color and design to my table without outshining my beads.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to have time to order my banner and more business cards.

Eeeek....one month left. I still have a lot of beads to be making.

Organizing your Inventory

2011-09-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

In a previous post from long long ago, I talked about doing a major overhaul of my inventory organization. I was new to organizing for my stores and didn't have as many items as I do now.

It's been a few years, so I thought I'd show you what I'm currently doing.
After I've made the beads, taken them off the mandrel and cleaned them, they go in the "beads to be photographed" bright yellow bin.
After they get photographed and edited, each one gets placed in a little Ziploc baggie with its inventory number written on it. On my computer, each bead gets a few pictures of each one labeled with that inventory number that goes in its own file folder.

Oh yes, my desk is a disaster area at this moment. Nothing in this picture is actually listed yet though. As my beads get listed in whichever venue they get filed away in this old beat up filing cabinet.
Tada!

Sometimes I feel guilty filing away beautiful beads in a dinghy old file cabinet, but you've seen my desk and seen why I need to keep them hidden.

Also, this little monster likes to steal them.

Table Update

2011-09-20T18:54:00.001-07:00

I hesitate to call it a table since it's just a taped off section of the floor for now, but here it is as of today

I still have quite a bit to do, but it's coming along nicely. The focal display is just about done. It just needs some paint in some spots. I still need to order my risers and lights from walmart and I need to find some sort of table covering that reaches the floor and covers all sides. Since I don't sew, I'm finding the table covering to be a bit of a challenge.

I can melt glass, but I can't figure out how to work a sewing machine. Silliness.

Not the best picture, but here's my backlit focal display. There aren't any on here yet, but it looks so nice with my lapidary beads. I'll be taking more pictures of this later when it's covered in more transparent beads.

Some scroll beads

And some etched disc beads. I love picking up handfuls of these beads cause they're so soft from the etching process.

And now that I'm seeing all the empty spaces, I'd better get to work!

Humble Beginings of my Bead Table

2011-09-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

So here's the start of my bead table. So, it's not actually a table because I don't exactly have space in my house for an 8 foot table. So instead we just taped off a section of the floor in the spare bedroom. Clearly it has a lot of progress to make, but I'm working on getting it full. I'm hoping to post a picture once a week until the end of October when my show is. You've all seen how good I am at updating though :)

I have plans in my head to add a display or two for focals, a clearance bowl (because I have so many beads that need to go), a mailing list signup, and I don't know what else. Suggestions are welcomed from anyone with more bead show experience.

My First Bead Show is Coming up

2011-09-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

I've always been nervous and indecisive about doing a show. I'm a very shy person by nature, so the thought of doing a show has been a bit nerve wracking. But, I finally took the plunge and I am signed up for the Innovative Bead Expo in Rochester. It will be held in the Henrietta Double Tree Hotel on October 29th and 30th. If you're local I'd love to see you there. Click the link above for a dollar off admission.

Getting ready for the show is going to be my excuse for not updating in more than a month. :)

Marbles!

2011-07-22T17:46:00.001-07:00

So since my last post, I've been trying to make a little time for myself to just play at the torch. It's a bit challenging sometimes because the mentality of "time is money" creeps up on me. Anyways, I've been practicing my marbles!

Here's my first one

Not too shabby. I didn't really understand the concept of "punty." So when it came time to separate my marble from the glass rod, I kinda just melted it off and left a little hat on my marble. I did my best to melt it in, but it definitely has a bit of a cone head end. You just can't tell from this picture very well. I also didn't completely melt in my stringer, but it's my first one, so I'll forgive myself.

Here's my second one. Looks a little rounder and everything is melted in better to add to the roundness. I looked up how to punty and actually did it right. You can see by that punty mark on the right side glaring a you. When I was making the marble, I had forgotten that the silver from the scrolls would fume the ivory. The punty mark was covered by the ivory rod, so it didn't get any fuming. I didn't really bother to melt it all the way, but I learned a lot with this marble.

Third attempt shattered. Boo!

And here's my fourth and best one so far. It's quite round, the design flows nicely and you can't see the punty mark. Hooray!

Freshly listed goodies

2011-07-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer and the holiday weekend. I've got a couple new scrollwork beads to show off before I head downstairs to the torch.

I have a silver lined bead for european charm bracelets. This one has sparkling pixiedust encased in transparent blue. I added scrollwork in silver metallic left raised on the surface.
I've been thinking icy thoughts lately in the summer heat. These handmade lampwork glass beads have a base of pale emerald green glass covered in shimmering pearl pixiedust. Each one has been embellished with raised metallic scrolls.

This handmade lampwork glass bead has a base of ivory glass covered in raised metallic scrolls. I have also added a jewel of opal looking luster glass circled with the same metallic glass.

Just thought I'd share quick. Hope you all enjoy the summer!

Split Personality

2011-06-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

So today I received my copy of Kim Neely's color archive. It is a beautiful book with fantastic pictures and detailed descriptions of the colors and manufacturers used. It's a little pricey, but if it's in your budget I highly recommend it. There are some working tips which I know will come in handy for me, but it's mostly about color ideas and combinations.

Within the working tips, Kim wrote a little bit about inspiration and how as an artist you should really take some time to just play even if you have to set aside a little bit of time each week away from your regular production. This half a page section really made me think. Lately I've been doing a lot of made to order items. I don't mind production work, sometimes I even enjoy it because I have a to do list. When I'm finished with my list, I'm supposed to play and experiment, but lately that just hasn't been happening.

Sometimes it's just because it's late in the evening and I want to stop and make dinner or go to bed. A lot of times it's just the mentality of time is money. I dislike that saying, but it's something that is hard to ignore. I want to spend time making something amazing that is a piece of art, but a lot of times I think, "who's going to pay for that much of my time?" It makes me feel so money grubbing to think of that, but I should be paid a fair wage for my time, materials and equipment.

It's almost like there are two sides, the artist and the artisan. The artisan half of me wants to make lots of made to order items for my shop because it's decent money and I know how to do it well. The artisan half makes what is popular and sticks to comfort zones and bread and butter work. This is not a bad thing. Please don't think I'm knocking it. Without production work I would not be able to buy new tools and exciting fancy glass. Without production work I wouldn't be close to minimizing my hours at my day job and taking a step towards being a full time glassworker.

The artist part of me wants to create what I want when I want. The artist wants to experiment and completely ignore the clock. If I want to spend two hours on a bead then who cares! If it looks like a turd covered in scrolls coming out of the kiln then that's ok. The artist part of me can be a bit pretentious sometimes, but that's fine. I wish I could be the artist more often, but unfortunately I don't have a big name in the glass industry so I won't be getting people buying sets of my beads for thousands of dollars.

I suppose it's all about finding balance. As I'm approaching the next big step in my glass journey, this will be my next challenge.

Beads from June

2011-06-22T19:59:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit scarce lately. I keep thinking of things to write about and I procrastinate them. I am the master procrastinator some days. Anyways, here's a sampling of what I've been up to lately in the bead world

Pile of Beads and a Mischievous Kitty

2011-04-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

Just a public service announcement.

Don't leave a strand of beads on your desk when there is a rambunctious kitty running around.

I had a very nice set of beads on my desk partially strung. I needed one more bead to complete the set. I left it half strung on my desk and went downstairs to the torch.

A few hours later, coming up the stairs I found a spool of stringing wire unraveled. I few more steps and I found some pliers, a few more steps and I found a pile of tiny spacer beads scattered. Ugh!

So far I've found all but one of the beads from this set. It kinda sucks, but lesson learned I guess.

New Stuff for Spring

2011-04-20T18:15:00.000-07:00

In my last post I told you how I made a point to torch for ten hours. Now I have a TON of new beads listed in my Etsy and Artfire stores. I even put a few auctions up on Ebay just for fun. Here's a couple of them.

I had a bit of fun with some brass mesh bubbles and some metallic scrolls.

I have a ton more new stuff that's been listed as well, but I try to keep the shameless advertising to a minimum

Don't Forget to Create

2011-04-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's easy to get wrapped up in all the other parts of selling your art.

As much as I wish it were otherwise, we can't just create and it'll sell. Pieces need to be assembled, photographed, edited and descriptions need to be written. Everything needs to be promoted in various forums and social networks. Pieces need to be listed in different venues. Just typing this gets me a little overwhelmed.

Then of course you need to live your life. Go to work, make dinner, exercise, bills, clean house (or not), SLEEP. Pretty soon you realize that there's no more time to create.

This past week, I made it my goal to spend 10 hours of the week at the torch creating. It's harder than it sounds. There were several times where I didn't even feel like it. I just wanted to be a blob in front of the tv because I worked so hard doing everything else. Each time I'd force myself to go outside and hook up the propane and head downstairs to the torch. After the first bead was made, I remembered how much I love to create. TV was forgotten and I'd be downstairs creating for several hours.

So if you find yourself feeling a little overwhelmed with everything that goes into selling your art, sometimes it helps to get back to basics. Remember why you do it in the first place and set aside some time to do what you love.

A few Changes

2011-04-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

My website might be a little weird for a bit. I just canceled my hosting plan and switched to a blogger blog. Over this past year, I've realized how horrible I am at understanding the basics of web design, so I think I'm just going to keep it simple this time around.

I don't feel as professional or fancy, but I'm just not utilizing my hosting anyways.

Surface Challenge

2011-04-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

Guess who's beads will be going to the bead and button show in Wisconsin as part of the Surface exhibit. Me! Yay!

I'm excited. I made this in the first week of March when there was still ice and snow all over everything. We're just starting to see a couple of those flowers, but with my luck there will still be yet another last minute snowstorm.

Anyways, I hope more people will be able to see my work with this piece being in the exhibit. I think it also means I might need to make some more lapidary pieces like this. While I love making them, they are very tedious. It probably doesn't help that I have my lap machine set up on my dryer facing a wall.

I'm excited to see what other beads will be in this exhibit. I won't see for a little while, but when they're up, I'll post a link :)

Youtube Tutorial for Adding Raised Metallic Scrolls to your Lampwork Beads

2011-02-16T06:04:00.000-08:00

My Shipping Buddy

2011-02-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

Cats are funny little creatures.

I ship beads out about every other day for the past year or more. I have the packing and shipping process pretty streamlined and routine. I wrap the beads in bubble wrap, tissue paper and a little ribbon. I print out the receipts, write thank you and fold them up neatly with a business card. I weigh each package and print out my shipping labels.

Each label needs to be cut to size and I have a heavy duty paper trimmer to save me some time. Every time I trim the labels it makes a very distinct noise which my cat bender hears from downstairs across the house. He races up the stairs to the office and sits in my chair patiently waiting for his favorite part of the shipping process.

I add everything to the self-sealing envelope and pull off the little sticker. Bender's eyes light up and he crouches down in excitement. He does the little butt wiggle and locks onto that little scrap of paper from the sticker. I toss it up in the air and it flutters down to him. He's just way too excited about this scrap of paper.

He's been doing this every time I ship beads for a while. It keeps me amused. Just thought I'd share :)

I'm not dead!

2011-02-01T13:32:00.000-08:00

I'm not dead, I swear! I've just been pretty busy. This month I've been getting hit hard with custom orders. It's great! I know a lot of folks don't like making the same bead, but I find it very relaxing. It's a chance to really nail a design and get it perfectly streamlined and work on speed.

There's also just something really neat looking about a big pile of matching beads. Something that might have looked simple by itself looks decadent in large amounts.

Yum!

Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

2010-12-22T16:28:00.000-08:00

So, I've been trying to be a little more ahead of the game when it comes to holidays. I usually only think of making seasonal beads about a week before the actual holiday. With this in mind, I started searching for a heart shaped mold for the upcoming Valentines day.

I was probably a bit picky in my search. I wanted to make hearts that weren't too flat, or too tall. I also wanted to have them puffy enough so I could use my flat lap to reveal an interesting core. It can't be too big or too small. I'm not even sure if I knew what I wanted.

After lots of browsing around and asking about custom molds, I had someone offer to sell me their Carlo Donna heart presses. I jumped right on that because I had heard nothing but good things about them. I did my usual stalking of the mail carrier until it arrived.

I ended up purchasing a small set and a larger one for focals. I had never used a tong style press, and it took a bit of practice for me. The biggest struggle for me was using a light touch when mashing. I had a rough time not messing up the bead release. And boy does the focal size use a lot of glass. They turn out beautifully though. Here's a bit of eye candy for you all.

Revisiting Pixiedust

2010-12-05T15:53:00.000-08:00

I know I've written about pixiedust in the past. I've always really liked pixiedust because it's pretty inexpensive, easy to use and of course, it's sparkly! You just make a bead, heat it up a little bit and dunk it in the pixiedust. The only thing to really worry about it overheating the bead once it's been covered in pixiedust.

I had always thought of pixiedust as the last step of a bead whenever I used it. My pixiedust beads were pretty much all pretty simple spacers. After looking through some advice on the Lampworketc forums, I can see that it has a lot more uses than what I thought. It can be used on the surface, encased even pulled into a stringer. It even comes in different size mica flakes. I felt like this whole new world had been opened up to me, so for the past few days, nearly all my beads have pixiedust on them. My workbench is very sparkly.

I haven't done a lot with encasing the pixiedust, but I'm sure I will soon. I'm really enjoying how wintery and festive the pixiedust is making my beads look. Take a look :)

Can anyone guess what colors have been used in this last set? It makes a neat looking tropical pink color. I love it. Particularly with all this snow on the ground.

So, if you're a lampworker with jars of pixiedust collecting dust, get those jars open and start playing! If you're looking for a bit of sparkling for your jewelry designs, then stop by my Artfire or Etsy and take a look :)

Bead Giveaway! Cute little Santa Mousie

2010-11-18T17:09:00.000-08:00

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...

I'll be drawing for this on December 1st. Here's how to win him for your own.

1. “Like” my Facebook fanpage

2. Refer a friend to “like” my Facebook fanpage

3. Comment on my blog

4. Promote any of my stuff online (tweet, blog, whatever)

Each time you do one of these, you get your name put in a hat and I’ll be drawing a name. When you do or more of these send an email with the subject “Free Bead Drawing” to HeatherBehrendt@hotmail.com and what you did, so I know who wants to play, so I can keep track and so I can contact you if you win

Overrun by Glass Beads! Random Giveaway!

2010-11-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

So, as I've been cleaning my desk, my studio and the rest of the house, I keep finding more and more beads. Whenever I do laundry there are beads in my pants pockets. When I hear one of the cats batting something around, it's a bead. They are everywhere!

I'm pretty good about putting sets together, photographing them and filing them away. Everything you see photographed has been neatly bagged and is ready to ship out to its new home. Everything else is a couple matching beads that I keep meaning to add a few more to make it a set, or some other form of orphan. I'll set them somewhere I can see so I can make a point to get back to it, but that never happens. Or I do end up making more beads to complete the set, but one of my cats decides the original bead is a new fantastic toy.

So, to help alleviate this problem I'm going to start giving some beads away! Hooray!

This will be in the form of random drawings either monthly or biweekly. Here's how to get a chance to win.

1. "Like" my Facebook fanpage

2. Refer a friend to "like" my Facebook fanpage

3. Comment on my blog

4. Promote any of my stuff online (tweet, blog, whatever)

Each time you do one of these, you get your name put in a hat and I'll be drawing a name. When you do or more of these send an email with the subject "Free Bead Drawing" to HeatherBehrendt@hotmail.com, so I know who wants to play, so I can keep track and so I can contact you if you win :)

Hope you guys have fun with this. I'll start a November drawing in the next post.

Windowed Pendants

2010-11-16T18:18:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share some of the new pendants I've been making lately. I love them and I hope you do too. Each one has a different unique core encased in a thick layer of clear. Using my flat lap, I added windows to make them look like geodes.

This one is my favorite. The outside has been covered in black enamels for a bit of a texture. It's really neat to grind away at the plainer surface of the bead to find an awesome looking core.

Here's a couple more

So Much to do, So Little Time

2010-10-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

I'd say the title pretty much sums up this post nicely. There are just so many projects I want to start and not enough time. Where to start...

I've just opened up a new Etsy store for my own handmade jewelry created with my beads. My lampwork bead shop was getting a bit crowded. Unfortunately I can only do ten different categories per Etsy shop and I was really starting to feel that limit. I'm hoping to move anything that is ready to wear into this new store.

Here's the one item I have in that store so far. I've got a lot of work to go on getting that store stocked.

I personally love simple elegant pendants. I think they're perfect for a nice clean modern look that can go with office wear or jeans and a t-shirt. I have a few other colors in the same style that I will get photographed soon. Now you can have a pendant to go with every outfit :)

I was going to make this a long post about the other projects I want to start, but I should get on some jewelry photography instead. I just reminded myself.

Off to go be productive....hooray.

Here's some of what I've been up to lately

2010-09-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

Just popping in to show off some of the goodies I've been making. I've got a couple topics to write about, but not yet.

Metallic Scrolls on Creamy Ivory

Metallic Scrolls on Mirrored Red

And lastly, I've been doing some work with my new flat lap machine. It makes some really unique windows in my beads.

Studio Tour

2010-09-07T16:31:00.000-07:00

I noticed a thread on the Etsy forums of artists showing off their workspace, so I thought I'd share mine. I always love seeing where the "magic" happens for artists. So here's where I make my glass goodies.

Above you can see my minor burner along with a bunch of glass in my workstation. I'm not the best about cleaning up when I'm done. When I do actually clean up, I can never find anything, so this works out. The green hose connects to the oxygen concentrator at my feet and the red one leads outside to my propane tank. The containers full of sand hold my mandrels that are dipped and ready to be used. There's a couple jars of pixie dust and frit hanging around too.

Here's my kiln. After creating each bead, it gets placed inside a 960 degree kiln to be held for 30 minutes or longer and slowly ramped down to room temperature. This helps relieve the stress in the glass caused by manipulating it.

Here's my jumble of tools. They're not exactly organized. Not even a little bit. I drop them on my feet when I'm reaching for them sometimes actually. The flame handled tools are beadrollers from Donna at CGBeads. I love them. They are fantastic for consistent sizes. I have several tools by Zooziis as well. I love the flat shapes as a nice canvas for scrollwork. Last but not least is my most used tool, the giant spoon I stole from the utensil drawer. I use this constantly to pat down surface designs.

Here's my 10 lpm Oxygen Concentrator.

Some of my glass rods. Most of these are Moretti, but I do have a little bit from everyone.

My reject pile. I need a bigger bowl. I was thinking of trying to fill one of those giant water jugs.

Here's my 1200 Cfm squirrel cage blower. It's attached to a hood above my torch to blow the noxious fumes outside. It's quite loud, but ventilation is too important to ignore.

This is Onny, the studio kitty. She's very helpful.

Here's where I take my bead pictures. There's normally a Cannon DSLR camera on the tripod.

New Lampworking Toy...er...Tool

2010-08-31T23:07:00.000-07:00

Buying a new tool is always so much fun for me. I'll research it for weeks, trying to justify the money I'll be spending on it. I look at other artists' work to see what they've done using that tool, trying to think of how I would put my own spin on it. I order it and hound the poor mail carrier. It finally arrives and it's like Christmas!

This month I bought myself an Ameritool Flat Lap machine. I love it! With this tool, I can create windows into the core of my lampwork beads. Here's a few examples

Glass Week on DeviantArt

2010-08-19T22:40:00.000-07:00

For those of you that are on DeviantArt. The group ArtisanCrafts is hosting glass week. Take a look at some of the interviews and featured glass pieces

http://myntkat.deviantart.com/journal/34300684/

2010-08-13T22:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Hope everyone's enjoying the end of Summer before school starts back up and Fall begins. I've been playing with a new shape this week among other things. It's called the Kalera long and lean by Zooziis. It's a perfect flat canvas and makes a fantastic focal for a pendant. Here's a couple focals I've made with this new press. Let me know what you guys think.

How to Metal Line a Bead with the Impress Bead Liner

2010-08-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

I just made a quick tutorial about lining beads with metal using the Impress Bead Liner. I bought this tool early in the year just for fun, and it is awesome and a great value. Take a look and let me know if you have any questions.

Gathering 2010!

2010-07-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hey there everyone. I just got back from the ISGB Gathering! It was fantastic to meet all those amazing artists. So much of the work I saw on Saturday's Bead Bazaar just blew me away. I wish I could have been there the entire week. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the entire week off. Darn day job.

On Friday I saw a bunch of demonstrations. It started with Margaret Neher's beautiful boro flowers. They were so realistic. She had a table at the bead bazaar and she really does have some amazing work.

Next I shopped for 15 minutes and then back to a presentation about painting with enamels. Bronwen Heilman showed us all how she paints designs using enamels, heats it back up and then fires it. After seeing her presentation and a few other folk's beads in a similar style, I bought a bunch of enamels. I'm looking forward to playing with those.

After some lunch, Leah Fairbanks showed her amazingly detailed floral beads. I don't make a lot of florals, but I drooled over her beads for a long time before I was able to set up my studio. It was even better seeing her beads in person. She demonstrated her florals, but also showed us a bit of coldworking to make facets. If there had been a lap machine available for purchase in the vendor's area, I probably would have bought it.

Next Wesley Fleming showed his tiny detailed soft glass insects. I didn't even know you could sculpt like that in soft glass. I found that presentation very interesting. I wanted to buy one of his spiders at the bead bazaar, but they were so realistic I was a little creeped out.

Last but not least was Eun-Suh Choi. Her sculptures were made entirely of clear boro glass. They were so incredible. It may sound simple since it's all clear and a repeating pattern of branches, but they are amazing. When showing some slides of her other work, she mentioned a piece in the Corning museum that was 13 feet high. I am going to have to look for it when I'm there next.

I think in the end I was sad to go, especially since there was so much more to do on other days, but I was so packed with information I think I might have exploded with much more.

Oh, and I bought a little something for myself. This is a cored and capped big holed bead from Hayley Tsang.

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I've been slacking

2010-07-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to give a quick update since it feels like I haven't been able to torch or post in a while. I feel like such a slacker lately, but I do have my excuses. I managed to crash my car and get a nasty cold in the same week. My car has been fixed, but I'm still feeling pretty crummy. Unfortunately that means no torching until I'm feeling a little better. You wouldn't believe how difficult stringer work is when you're sniffling and sneezing every two seconds.

I should be back soon. I miss my torch :(

Interview with TheMayFlower

2010-07-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

TheMayFlower is a growing business on Etsy that sells fun and unique clothing and jewelry on Etsy.The first thing that caught my eye when browsing were these adorable little turtle earrings. Too cute!

Check out TheMayFlower.etsy.com for more cute jewelry.

How did you first start your craft?

When I entered middle school, I learned the social hierarchy of cliques and how discriminating they could be. You were not considered "cool" unless you dressed a certain way and wore a certain brand. Of course, this infuriated me. I could not be accepted unless I conformed! Instead, I enrolled in weekend class at the Fashion Institute of Technology and learned how to sew and make jewelry. From then, I practiced the skills I learned day after day. I've made a few things that I've worn outside and I received many compliments from my friends and family. They encouraged me to open an Etsy shop and I did so last August.

What was life like before your craft?

I have always been artistic most of my life. At a young age, I started drawing and eventually took lessons. I learned how to use pastels, paint and sketch. It was fun at first, but I eventually got bored of it. I was never passionate about painting or sketching. Art is interesting, don't get me wrong, it just wasn't for me.

What made you take it a step further and sell?

It was my passion for designing and making jewelry that really pushed me to open an Etsy shop. All the compliments from my friends and family and the need for money were factors too, but it was the fact that I loved doing this that convinced me to open shop.

Where do you sell? What are the pros and cons about selling in this venue?

Right now, I only sell on Etsy. I started expanding to MyHandmade and UsTrendy, but I don't know if it will produce sales. The great thing about Etsy is that there are a lot of buyers who love discovering handmade products, but the downside is how many sellers are on Etsy. I'm competing with hundreds of thousands of other shop owners and it takes a lot of effort to get noticed!! The positive about selling on MyHandmade is that I get to choose how much % of sales they receive. The negative is that there aren't as many buyers as Etsy. UsTrendy seems to be more toward my target audience, but again it faces the same problem as MyHandmade; the number of buyers are significantly less.

What is your daily routine?

Oh gosh. I don't have a routine! My life is too crazy to have a schedule! I am a full time college student, so during the school year I am basically limited, but I do not stop crafting at all. I will stay up nights on end thinking of new ideas or sewing a garment or piecing together a necklace. During the breaks, I tend to wake up, exercise, eat breakfast, check emails and Etsy convos, chat in the forums and promote a bit, finish up any orders i have, eat lunch, come up with new ideas, promote some more, take a break (read a book, listen to music, exercise some more, etc) and then execute my new ideas. But I dislike monotony, so I take some days off and babysit, or play ultimate frisbee with my team, go out to lunch with the girls,and other things like that.

How do you define your style?

I think the perfect way to put it is in Leonardo Da Vinci's words: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

What are your goals for the future?

My first goal is to create more clothing pieces. I want to expand into shirts, shorts, pants, cardigans and other items. I'm also planning on making printed t-shirts and open a separate Etsy shop for them. In addition, I also want to make more headbands. I started with a few this year, and they were fun to make, so I'm trying to find new ideas! My second is to blog a bit more! I usually don't have enough time, but I'm trying to at least write one post once a week.

Who or what inspires you?

A lot of things inspire me, but my surroundings have the most impact. If you look at my Spring/Summer collection for this year, I was mostly inspired by gardens, clusters of flowers, vines, acorns, etc. that I have seen. A lot of designers inspire me as well. Leanne Marshall and Halston are two of my favorite. Their designs are simple, yet elegant and stylish, and I strive to make my jewelry and clothing pieces the same way.

Do you have any tips of advice for others in your medium and other crafters?

Well, I'm still a newbie, so I don't know if my advice is any good. But one thing you should always do is constantly check Google Analytics. Don't just create an account and ignore it. Use it. It's very helpful. It allows you to determine how many views you get in a day, bounce rate, how many visitors you have each hour in a day, where they're from, what page they landed on when they were searching, what keywords they used to search. It can really help you find the correct tags for your listings, so that you're targeting the correct audience.

Steampunk!

2010-06-27T21:17:00.000-07:00

Steampunk is such an awesome category to browse through on Etsy. You can steampunk anything it seems! Here's how Wikipedia defines it...

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction and speculative fiction, frequently featuring elements of fantasy, that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used — usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era Britain^{[citation needed]} — but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date.

It's quite random, but a lot of fun. Here's a selection of fun finds on Etsy.

Happy Summer Friday!

2010-06-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of update last week. I was on vacation from work and laziness just kicked in :) You know how that can be. This has been a great summer so far, but it's not very good for motivating me to get to the torch.

Anyways, I've got tons of scrolls this week on Ebay. Ebay is becoming a more regular place to find my lampwork beads. You can always click above on available work to see what's ready to buy. Here's a small sampling of my Ebay auctions.

I've also been posting sparkling pixiedust sets on Ebay. Pixiedust is always so much fun.

On Etsy, I've been on a pandora bead kick. So if you have a bracelet you need to fill up with pretty beads, stop on by. My favorites lately have been these striped beads.

They look like cute little tigers and I've been creating them in multiple bright colors like aqua and lime. I haven't decided if I will be offering these on a made to order basis in the future. Either way, they're super cute.

Anyways, see you all next Friday :)

Lots of Scrolls for Sale

2010-06-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

So this week has really been a scroll week. I have a lot of scroll weeks though. I do think they're my favorite style of bead to make. I love the curving lines, the raised texture, and the precision of the stringer design. It's taken me a lot of practice to get good at them, but I think it's been worth it.

I've also been back to giving ebay a try. Long ago when I was making beads on a hothead in an apartment, I sold a handful of beads on Ebay. Since then the fees on Ebay have gone up quite a bit, but it's still fun to have an auction style listing. So here are some of the bead sets I have on Ebay now, or I will be putting them on Ebay this week.

I do have a lot more too, but I don't want to bombard you guys with too many pictures. Just check out my ebay, etsy or facebook. I can reproduce any of these sets as well, so I will be adding pairs of each of my newest sets up on Etsy as a made to order listing. When I finally get beads available to buy on my website (I'm slacking with this), They'll be available here as well.

I'll be updating you guys on more beads for sale next Friday, til then I hope everyone's enjoying their summer.

Jolly Rancher Discs and Sparkling Cheerios up on Etsy

2010-06-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

So this week, I've really been focusing on the simple beauty of transparent colors. Nothing against pastels and all those beautiful metallic glasses, but when we all think of glass, the first thing that comes to mind is transparents. I replenished my glass supply last week, so I had to reacquaint myself with transparent colors.

This week, I put up disc pairs in my Etsy store. Each of these handmade discs is made with a transparent color and embellished with a stripe of either silvered ivory or Psyche glass. These beads really make me think of jolly ranchers.

Silvered ivory is a lot of fun because of the unique organic look. The longer ivory is worked, the more crackly lo0oking it gets. When fine silver is added to it, it gets some beautiful striations.

Psyche glass is black or dark purple before being hit with a propane rich flame. Once the glass is worked in a propane flame, blues, greens and purples bloom with a metallic sheen. Pretty!

I've also been playing with a lot of pixie dust beads this week. I always have pixie dust spacers available, but I've recently created pixie dust big holed beads for Pandora and Troll bracelets. They're very sparkly and a perfect splash of glimmering color for your bracelet. I've left them uncored to keep them inexpensive. I can't help but think they look like sparkling cheerios though. Lol

These will be available to order as many or as few as you want. Feel free to stop by my Etsy or contact me

Interview with Morning Star Arts

2010-06-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

Morning Star Arts is a family business with Amy, making jewelry and fiber articles, John making copper and glass items and occasionally one of their sons listing one of their many creations. Their Etsy store has tons of beautiful necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. My favorite is their kaleidoscopes. But then again, their currency boxes are really awesome! Feel free to check out their shop here.

What do you create?

Currently, as well as the jewelry, I am needle felting and embellishing recycled sweaters; my dh makes our glass "treasure boxes" and other glass and copper items.

How did you first start your craft?

Well, I have been a stay-at-home-mom for 25 years, and a homeschooling mom for the last 17, so it wasn't as if I was looking for something else to do! But, my dh started lampworking about 8 years ago and wanted me to take a jewelry class so I could "do something" with his beads. I did, and I did, and now he doesn't even lampwork any more! But we have saved the equipment and hope to both do more of it when our boys move out and we have a little more space--too many hobbies ate up the house.

Where do you sell? What are the pros and cons about selling in this venue?

In addition to selling on etsy, we attend about eight or nine art shows per year, I consign with a couple of local boutiques, and I (just) joined a gallery where I hope to sell both jewelry and sweaters. I love seeing people enjoying my workmanship, but I am naturally an introvert so the actual selling has taken a lot of effort, and I still wouldn't say I'm particularly good at it.

What is your daily routine?

At the moment, my daily routine is in a seasonal flux; during school I address my boys' schoolwork first, housework second, and business third, but this varies enourmously depending on what needs doing most urgently; each summer is different and I don't really plan a routine, just kind of "fall into" one. The one constant is that I usually work on needle felting for an hour or so before bed; I find it very relaxing, and then I know I accomplished SOMETHING that day. I try to spend an hour doing online/etsy work each day.

What are your goals for the future?

My goals for the future are pretty simple--I'd like to be able to sell all I make. Right now I've had to put the brakes on jewelry-making a little bit because, with the economic situation, jewelry sales have slowed down, whereas the sweaters have been selling very well (though they may slow down during the hot weather months).

Do you have any tips of advice for others in your medium and other crafters?

My advice to others would be to try new venues and don't be disappointed with the ones that don't work out; I have tried one or two new shows each year for several years and about half of them just didn't work for me (I've found that my designs sell better at "art" shows than at "craft" shows, and better at juried than non-juried--this is different than many of my friends). And be organized (not TOTALLY!); don't skip from product to product without giving your ideas a chance to sell--sometimes it takes a while for people to start buying something new. I don't know how or why this is true, but it's been true for some of our biggest sellers.

Ocean Lentils, Aqua Beads and Sparkling Pixiedust Pandora Spacers to Share

2010-05-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

Lots of freshly listed goodies up on Etsy and Ebay this week.

I particularly like this set up top. It's made of half blue and half teal with sparkling green aventurine mixed in with the teal. The two colors are divided by waves of silvered ivory. These beads are pressed into lentils which are perfect for bracelets. This one is up on ebay

These ones are a bit similar. I think the warm weather this week was making me think of a soothing sparkling beach. These have been pressed into the nice lentil shape and made with cool aqua glass. They have stripes of metallic glasses that have been raked across the surface. These are always such a fun style. These are listed up on etsy.

Last beads I'll share with you today are these pixiedust spacers for Pandora bracelets.

These are perfect for if you just want a splash of sparkling color for your Pandora or Troll bracelet without breaking the bank. I've been making these in various summer colors with different colored pixie dust sparkles. These are all going up on Etsy and once these first sets sell, can be made to order.

Thanks for looking everyone! Talk to you next Friday.

Lampwork Beauties!

2010-05-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

Lampwork Beauties!

Here's a new treasury I just made on etsy of some amazing lampwork beads by various artists.

New Webpage! For real this time!

2010-05-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

So there's this massive gap in my postings because I started a new web page. Unfortunately I had a lot of troubles with the hosting provider and canceled my service. Even more unfortunate, I forgot to back up my site. Ooops! So there's this 3 month gap of no posts. Even without my website troubles I'm horrible with updating my web site sometimes.

Now I do have a hosting provider that I'm a bit happier with, so it all worked out in the end.

Anyways, so welcome to my blog version 3. I'll be posting about what's new for sale in my Etsy store weekly or so, Occasional chatter about what's going on in my life, Some info about lampworking techniques and if there's any suggestions please let me know :) Thanks for stopping by.

Purple Pair with Green Metallic Scrolls

2010-05-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

Fresh Beads up on Etsy :)

Propane Problems

2010-02-03T13:00:00.001-08:00

Hey there everyone! Sorry there haven't been as many beads listed on Etsy the past few days. I've been having a fun (not really) struggle with my propane. It's been going on for a few days now and I finally just ordered some new parts.

It started on a cold snowy evening of -1 degrees out. I'm all ready to start torching! I get my boots on, my coat and scarf and head out to my backyard through the snow to turn on my propane. I go up and down the icy snowy porch steps, trudge through a foot of snow, get inside, take off my winterwear and head to the studio to get some work done.

I turn on the propane of my torch and I get nothing. Hmmmm...this can't be a good thing. I put my winterwear back on, trudge back through the snow to the propane tank to see that the gauge is on zero. I notice that the little arrow on the gauge is frozen and not moving. I carefully listen for the familiar sound of propane rushing into the hoses as I fiddle with the knobs. Nothing....sigh. My propane must be out. That sucks.

The next day, my husband brings home a fresh tank of propane for me and hooks everything up. Hooray! I'm ready for another night of torching. I go outside into the lovely Rochester winter wonderland (blech) and turn on the propane. It's not as cold today so the knob moves to its normal setting and life is good. I head back inside and to the studio to start torching away.

Everything's good for about an hour. Hmm....why's my flame getting huge and then tiny? I try to turn down the flame to apply some stringer and it turns into a giant bushy candle. I try to turn up the propane to reduce some silver glass and my flame almost dissapears. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here!

I've given up on making anything productive at this point. I shut everything off, go outside and take the regulator off the propane tank. Why is the needle on zero? It was on earlier. I've been making beads for an hour. I turn it off and dissconnect the hose and apparently the needle had gone so high that it went back around to zero. Ooops!

So anyways, my regulator is pretty much shot at this point. It has been cleaned out and then accidentally frozen to the tank because I didn't dry out all the water. I've cleaned it and left it on a heat vent for 24 hours and still nothing. My husband even took the entire thing apart and cleaned it up, but still nothing.

So I'm currently not able to torch and I'm waiting for a new regulator in the mail. Yuck!

Daily Deviation Hooray!

2010-01-26T08:11:00.001-08:00

So yesterday I came home from my day job. I've been having a rough time with my day job lately. Yesterday was not much different. I came home exhausted from another day and started logging on to my etsy, DA, and other sites I promote my work on.

Whoa....that's a lot of messages! What did I do? Wow! A favorite every 5 minutes? What the hell did I do!?

It took me a little while to figure it out because I'm slow and my brain doesn't always function after work, but finally I did figure it out. I was the Daily Deviation for Monday January 25th! Thank you so much everyone who commented on my work. I hope you enjoy peeking at it. It really brightens my day.

Oh and be sure to visit PurpleRose on DA. She suggested my beads to be featured and I really appreciate it :)

An Overdue Update

2010-01-20T11:20:00.001-08:00

Ok, I'm very overdue for a blog post. Especially since I think in one of my recent posts I said I'm going to update more. I lied apparently. Sorry about that :(

Anyways, I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Years. Mine was good, but it sure sapped the energy out of me. I've been beading like a madwoman lately and then I hit a tiny wall in my photography and decided I needed a little break, so I took the weekend off. I feel like my batteries have been recharged and it is a great feeling. If you were wondering, I did figure out my little photograph issue. Yay!

I don't have a ton to write about at the moment, but I have the impress beadliner on order right now! When I get it, I'm hoping to show you guys what it's like. This tool has been out for a while, but when I was doing research on it, I couldn't find any pictures of it in use. Everyone says it is a great tool for the money. I'll let you know my observations on it. Just gotta wait for it to get here. I'm not very good at waiting.

Jewelry and Soon Metalworking

2009-11-05T10:42:00.001-08:00

Happy November everyone! Halloween is over so we can all stop trying to resist all that yummy Halloween candy and prepare to be stuffed with Thanksgiving fare. Yum!

So, I've finally been making some finished jewelry. I very rarely make finished jewelry, but lately the few things I have made have been so much fun to create. I love making beads, but it's so awesome to see a finished product made from your work. It's exciting for me.

Anyways, I had a little bit of extra money, so I got excited and purchased some tools from Harbor Freight (which is an awesome store by the way) for metalworking. I didn't go too crazy on tools, and just bought what I would need for basic charms, bead caps, and lining beads with metal. Unfortunately, I bought all that, but I didn't have time to shop for some metal to play with. Doh!

I was hoping to maybe have some first metal projects to share with you, but it'll have to wait. Meanwhile, here's some of the finished jewelry I've been making. It's all up on my Etsy store.

Ok, that's enough shameless promotions from me. :)

Photographing with close up filters

2009-10-28T15:08:00.001-07:00

So I bought a 15 dollar set of close up lenses for my Canon DSLR camera this week. At first I was pretty disappointing because I couldn't figure out how to screw them on to my camera. Of course I was doing it backwards and I felt pretty dumb. Obviously I'm not the most camera savvy person, but I've had a lot of experimenting with this camera, and I can at least take some decent bead pictures.

I'd love the have a macro lens, but those are a wee bit pricey for me, so I went with these close up lenses. I read that with these lenses you do sacrifice sharpness a little, so on to experimenting.

I took a ton of pictures to show the results with the various lenses. Each picture was taken in a light box with a tripod and given a 2 second timer (for my wobbly button mashing fingers). I had it set on f20 so each time the camera took a picture, the lens was open for about .6 seconds. I'll let you all be the judge of which one is the best.

Here is +1
Here is +2

Here is +4
Here is Macro

Here is Macro with the +1 screwed on top of that one

I'm still not quite sure which one I'm going to end up using. I think it would look different with sets of beads, so I'm sure I'll try that, but for those of you with focals I hope this experiment is helpful.

Reorganization

2009-10-13T11:39:00.001-07:00

So when I first started selling on Etsy, I didn't really have a method of organization. I didn't really think that far ahead. I had this napkin on my desk where I put all my beads. Very professional eh?

That evolved to placing them in sandwich baggies, but I ran out of those fast and I needed them for packing my lunch, so that didn't last long. Next I bought some cute little gift bags, but they don't work that well for storage. I found that while I do sell pretty often, I sit on a lot of inventory, and it is a waste to buy fancy bags for everything when everything isn't selling.

I finally bought some simple little 3x2 inch plastic Ziploc baggies. I should have done that first thing! I really don't know why I didn't. I got a thousand of them for like 15 dollars off of ebay.

Anyways, the moral of this story is to invest a little time and money into organization when you first get into selling. Otherwise you have this....
on your desktop every day until you get some organization going.

Lots o Lentils

2009-10-09T19:35:00.001-07:00

This week I seem to have gone back into lentil mode. I don't know what it is about lentils. They're nice and smooth and flat. They make such a wonderful canvas for scrolls and other surface decorations. I like that you can make a giant lentil without as much weight as you would a giant round bead. Maybe I'm just crazy, but I love my lentil press. If I were made of money I'd surely purchase more.

Anyways, enough of me babbling about my love for lentils. Here's some of the lentils I've been playing with this week. Scrolls and lentils do make an excellent combination. Add some gold fuming and yum :)

I've been working with a new color for me called apricot. I'm sure it's been around for a while, but fall colors are not usually what I play with. I love this warm swirly color though. Top it off with coral scrolls (cause we all know how much I love the scrolls), and very yummy.

And then there's this awesome tutorial about making "storms" in dots by Amy of AKdesigns. You can see them really well in this bead. They're multicolored and awesome. If you're a lampworker, this tutorial should definitely be in your arsenal.

Anyways, I'm off to go exercise, eat dinner, and go make some beads. Wooooo!

Lots of distractions

2009-10-03T11:18:00.001-07:00

So the past few weeks in Rochester have been a way too quick transition to Fall. It's been cold and wet and miserable. Blech! I don't have a fireplace, but at least I can stay nice and toasty in front of my torch and kiln. The leaves have been beautiful to watch change color, but other than that, I really miss summer already.

With the weather being kinda yucky, I've been glued to my computer lately. You'd think I'd be doing more productive work, but really I've been addicted to a couple new games. My husband built me a new computer a month ago and I just HAD to buy a few games so I could....test out the new graphics card. Yes....that'll be my excuse.

Batman, Arkham Asylum is so awesome! I watched the animated series all the time as a kid. It's so nostalgic for me. It's also way too fun to have all those bat gadgets at my disposal. I've also been playing Left 4 Dead a bit. It's just a nice simple zombie game. Sometimes it's fun to just shoot zombies for a half hour (or a few hours) and then get back to work (or not).

Time for a Change

2009-10-03T11:11:00.002-07:00

When I first started this blog I told myself I would post twice a week. I was determined that these posts would be about lampwork and beads, not my personal life so much. Ambitious huh? Lately I've been lucky to do one post a month. That's horrible isn't it? I tried thinking about the blogs I read regularly. What do these people write about that I find so interesting? I realized that they wrote about daily life more than their craft.

When I stick to writing about my work, I'm really limiting myself. So from now on I'm going to try to post weekly, but this time there will be some posts about daily life in Rochester. Maybe it will be interesting, maybe not, but I'll be writing and hopefully getting a chance to interact more with anyone who reads this.

I'm finally posting about Double Helix's Ekho

2009-09-02T11:12:00.001-07:00

I've been having a bit of a love affair with Double Helix's newest silver glass, Ekho. It's the first glass I've ever purchased within the first week of it's release. I was very excited. I kept running to the mailbox. I felt like a starstruck fan or something silly. It was worth the wait, because it's such a fun glass. I still haven't explored it as much as I should.

Here's what Double Helix's website says about it. "Ekho was designed to offer features of both reduction and striking colors. Ekho can retain a pearlescent luster under encasement, while striking during normal beadmaking operations. For best results, Work Hot, Cool, Reduce, and Encase. Melting the clear encasement using a cool flame will encourage a "mother of pearl" luster, while reheating the encased Ekho will further develop the struck tones. "

It's just such an awesome glass to work with. You can strike several different colors with this glass, and if you control your heat, it has that beautiful shiny luster that we all love about it. I usually get tones of blue, purple, and a touch of green. I'm still working on getting consistency with this glass. I'll just haveto practice more.

Anyways, I've had this glass for a bit over a month, and here's a sampling of what I've created with it. Enjoy!

Bicone Madness!

2009-08-29T10:38:00.002-07:00

Hey everyone. I'm not updating as much as I'd like, but it's been because I've been making so many beads, not just laziness. I've been experimenting with different shapes a lot this month. I still love using a bead press because of the consistency in size, but hand-shaping focals is so fun!

This week I've been making nothing but bicones. It's bicone madness week I guess. I'm very proud of these beads, because long bicones have always been a shape I struggled with. In the past they always would come out wonky and uneven. The ends would be sharp and poorly defined. Something must have finally clicked for me because they are coming out beautifully. Take a look and tell me what you think.

They're all up for sale on my Etsy. Take a peek. :)

Oilslick Sparkle on Ebay

2009-08-05T11:14:00.001-07:00

I've actually been creating quite a few beads lately. It's like I finally got enough summertime fun and I can really FOCUS! Well there's always room for more summer of course, but either way I've been productive.

Recently I've been flirting with ebay a little bit. I'm still posting items Monday through Friday in my Etsy and Artfire store, but look out for a few Ebay auctions too. Here's what I've got so far.

These are very pretty. The base has shades of blue, purple, green and even a little bit of yellow in it. Each bead has a bit of an oilslick sheen to it. To make it even more sparkly, I've added scrolls of purple aventurine. I hope you all like it as much as I do. I'd love to hear what you think either way.

Monday's Mini-sets

2009-07-27T18:08:00.001-07:00

a Here's a couple little bead sets that just got listed on Etsy and Artfire

The base of these beads are made with Aurae glass encased in clear to really bring out that opal-like luminescence. The pictures do not do these beads justice. Each bead is decorated with scrolls of sparkling goldstone.

I definitely want to make an entire set of these beads. You might be seeing a larger set of these up on Ebay later in the week. They are very pretty, but for the moment I just had time for this cute little earring pair.
The base is made with Psyche for that shiny oilslick look. Then I decorated the surface of these beads with sparkling purple goldstone.
That's all I have for the day, but I do have a couple more small sets like these that I'll be posting tomorrow. Yay!

Awaiting my new glass!

2009-07-25T09:50:00.002-07:00

I just sent a decent sized order for more glass last night. I get way too excited. I'm already about to go downstairs and check the mail even though I only sent the order about 9 hours ago. It should be here now right? I ordered a few moretti staples (white, black etc), some new CIM colors, and lots of rods of silver glass.
I am in love with silver glass lately. There are so many things you can do with it! I love just making reactive silver scrolls over any pretty color. It's just the right amount of bling to me. Or you can be extravagant and make a base bead with silver glass and layers of clear to magnify the beauty of the glass and cover it with whatever decorations you want!
Have I mentioned that I'm loving silver glass?
I'm eagerly awaiting this new glass that was released on Thursday called Ekho. I've never actually purchased a glass right when it was released. I'm usually way behind on things. I'll definitely be showing off my new experiments. Just waiting for the stuff to arrive. I wish there was free overnight shipping on everything I buy just because I'm awesome. Oh well.

Gold Fuming!

2009-07-18T12:50:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, I finally broke down and shelled out 60 bucks to buy the smallest amount of 22k gold I could. After a week and a half it finally arrived. I was so excited! I knew I didn't purchase that much, but there was a decent sized box stuffed in my mailbox. I raced up the stairs with my package and tore it open. I fumbled through the packaging materials and the bill to find a tiny little two inch piece of gold. I looked again at the bill.......Ouch!
I knew in my head how much a pennyweight of gold was, but seeing it in my hand next to the bill was a little painful. It took me a while to gather the courage to use that gold, but I finally did, and I'm very happy with my results :)

Can you believe that base color on these beads is simply clear?

These ones have a base of black with red scrollwork. They make me think of chocolate. Maybe I'm just having a craving.
For those of you lampworkers who have the proper ventilation, you should give this a try. I know I balked at the price of gold, but a little goes a long way. Try it!

2009-07-04T15:39:00.001-07:00

Graphics provided by MySpaceGraphicsandAnimations.org

Everyone have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Scrollwork!

2009-06-23T00:50:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been going a little crazy with scrollwork. Scrollwork was always one of those things that I loved to look at, but sucked at when I was first starting out. I would have my stringer ready and positioned, I'd make a perfect scroll and then breathe out a sigh of relief. The force of my breath pushes the flame towards my perfect little scroll and melts it partway in. AAAAAH!

Since then I've gotten a lot better at it. I've learned to breathe softly and have a much better handle on my scrolls. Here's a little collection of recent stuff. It's all up on Etsy and Artfire :) Enjoy!

Summer Vacation!

2009-06-16T13:14:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! Hope you're all having a wonderful summer so far even if it's not technically summer yet. I've been very busy lately between my day job and promoting my art. Please accept my apologies for not updating my blog like I should.

I'm on vacation starting today! Yay! I'll still be making beads and promoting and whatnot, but I don't have to go to my day job for more than a week. That makes me very happy :) My new goal that I'm trying to jump start this week is to list items every day Monday through Friday. So far I've been doing well, but it is only Tuesday. Wish me luck with that.

I've joined Twitter and Myspace over the past month, so if you have an account, add me!

www.myspace.com/477917278
http://twitter.com/booga119

Honestly I'm not a big fan of twitter. I guess I just don't really get it, but I'm trying it out for a while. If you have any suggestions or anything I'm open to them.

Anyways, you guys all have a wonderful June!

More Pixie Dust!

2009-05-29T00:08:00.001-07:00

For some reason I can't stop dipping every bead I make in Pixiedust. I don't know why. Everything sitting in the kiln tonight has been dipped in it.
I've also been working in christmas colors for some reason. I have no idea why. The other day I made these lovely rich pink whiteheart beads that were dipped in pixie dust. Tonight I made emerald green whitehearts also dipped in pixie dust. I'm very excited to pull them out of the kiln tomorrow.
Whenever I make beads I get so excited for when i can take them out of the kiln. It may be a little sad, but I've had nights where I can't sleep because I'm excited about what's in the kiln. It means I have some crappy sleepless nights sometimes, but it's worth it :) I hope I'll always have that enthusiasm about my art.

Fun with Pixie Dust and Some New Etsy Listings

2009-05-27T14:29:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. I was working my day job, but now I have three days off. Yipee! I've been making quite a few beads this weekend even though I've still been working. I have pictures to take and beads to clean so they won't be up on Etsy for a day or two.
I purchased Pixie dust a while back and I finally got it out to play with. Boy is it messy! I was wearing black pants when I tried to gently tap a little bit onto my marver. I did manage to get some on my marver, but more of it was in a pixie dust cloud in the air and allover my once black pants.
I did figure out how to use it with minimal mess eventually and I made some very cute little spacers. I listed them yesterday and they sold immediately. I always like when that happens. I have more sitting on my desk made with gold pink. They're very christmasy. I think you'll like them, I know I do.
Anyways, here are a few things that I recently posted on Etsy. Hope you like them.

Photoshop, Twitter and Ebay Oh My!

2009-05-20T11:58:00.001-07:00

It's been so lovely outside lately that I haven't been terribly motivated to stay inside at my computer and work. I did stay up ridiculously late last night playing with photoshop and I turned out with some pretty neat pictures. I wish I had the patience to do this for all the etsy listings I put up, but boy is it tedious. If only I could dye my hand green or something when I take these so I have an easy green screen hand.
What do you think? Cool or what? Maybe I'm just easily amused.
I've been considering trying to sell on Ebay once a week. I do like Etsy of course, but Ebay is where I started selling many years ago when I was still torching unsafely in my apartment. It was pretty fun watching the auction style. It's just too bad Ebay is known as Feebay now. Blech. Still thinking about it though, so let me know what you think. I love reading your comments even if I have been a little neglectful of my blog lately.
I also joined twitter recently. I still don't really know if I like it, but it is cool seeing what's going on in other people's lives. I still prefer reading blogs, but it's kinda cool still. Feel free to follow me, I always try to follow back.

Bead size

2009-05-02T10:56:00.001-07:00

I've been a little bit neglectful of my blog lately. It suddenly started getting nice out and I just want to go outside and play! I keep leaving my day job early too because it's so nice out. That's not the best thing when you're paid by the hour. I've still been downstairs torching pretty frequently though. Nothing can really turn me away from that.

Yesterday I stopped at a lampwork bead bazaar in my area. I didn't really have any money, so I was really just browsing around and trying to meet new people. I did notice that most of the beads displayed were a lot bigger than mine. I know the size doesn't really matter too much because everyone has their different tastes. I know I prefer things a little smaller and more subtle, but I've seen some amazing necklaces that are huge pieces. What do you guys think?

Spring is Here!

2009-04-24T20:24:00.001-07:00

It finally feels like Spring in Rochester. Of course it's thundering outside as I write this, but it was beautiful out today and tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. After work today I enjoyed myself outside with the kitties and did a little gardening. It felt good to be outside. Here's a couple pictures to share. We also found a little toadie. The cats didn't really know what to make of him, but it was cute watching them.

I have some beads to post, but they still need to be cleaned. But I will share them because they are super sparkly! Everyone needs some sparklies to bring some cheer. Oh and I didn't forget about the beadcam. My internet has been very flakey lately and I've decided to only leave the camera on when I'm actually making beads. I still hope you'll be able to see me online sometimes.

Anyways, it's workout time and then torching time. Yay!

New Bead Sets on Etsy

2009-04-19T20:59:00.002-07:00

Hey everyone, thanks for the comments on the torch cam. It hasn't been up as much. That's only because I decided to only have it running when I'm actually torching. Otherwise you'll be listening to me workout. Some people recognized that I was watching the Colbert report while running on the elliptical. I thought that was kinda funny, but it's probably more than you want to hear. Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback on it or just stopped by. I appreciate it.

I've got some new sets on etsy tonight. I've been playing with metallic black and more double helix glass. I keep making mushrooms too. I kinda want to make one into a little cellphone charm for myself. I'll have even more sets tomorrow!

I'm hoping to get some torching done tomorrow as well, so look for me on camera.

Live Streaming Torch Cam!

2009-04-16T20:46:00.001-07:00

Alright, it took me a little while to figure it out, but I now have a live streaming torch cam! Yay! I'm still testing things out, so bear with me. Any constructive criticism is appreciated. Unfortunately I spent all my torching time figuring this out and now I need to go to sleep since I'm due in at work in seven hours. Blech. I should have some time tomorrow afternoon to evening so maybe you guys will see me then.

I believe it is set up to be a chat room, but honestly I'm way too distractable and I'll probably drop hot glass on myself if I try to chat. I know there are other people who are capable of multitasking, but not me. I don't want anyone to think I'm ignoring them.

I've also noticed that most of the other live streaming video feeds on this website are younger folks. I feel a little out of place, but who knows. Maybe I'll infect them with the beadmaking bug!

Trying New Things

2009-04-15T23:48:00.001-07:00

A while back, I purchased a pound of clear boro glass. The only reason I bought it was for fuming silver and gold onto my soft glass beads. It's been sitting on my work bench since February, so I thought I'd play around with it. I've only really worked with soft glass, so working with boro was very different for me. It's very stiff and much slower to melt, but very nice for sculpting.
After some time, some failed attempts, and looking through Milon Townsend's book, I managed to come up with this.

It's far from perfect...very very far, but it's still a big step for me. I don't know if I'll ever work in boro, but it was a lot of fun.
So what do you do to push your limits in your craft? I'd love to hear.

Lampwork Beads From Double Helix's "Triton"

2009-04-10T21:17:00.001-07:00

I've recently had the opportunity to use glass rods by Double Helix. Double Helix is a small family run business that was started in 2005. They make some wonderful reactive glass. I'm behind the times as I just recently purchased my first batch of glass from them. Here are some of the first sets I made with "Triton" glass.

Triton is described on Double Helix's website as, " producing a satin iridescence, swirls of multi-colored silver and retain its luster under clear." It really makes me think of an abalone shell. When it is left on the surface, it's super shiny! I love this glass!

I have the entire weekend off of work, so if I can get all my chores done early, I'll be making a lot more beads out of this wonderful glass. You'll be seeing them on my Etsy and possibly Artfire.

Hot Chocolate on a Snowy Day in Rochester

2009-04-08T11:20:00.001-07:00

There is not much better on a cold snowy day than a nice cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream on top. It's supposed to be spring here, and we had a few days of nice weather to tease us. Yesterday I woke up to a sheet of ice on my car and an inch of snow on the ground. I was not happy.

Today the snow is starting to melt, I don't have to go to work, and I have a nice cup of hot chocolate, so I'm happy!

Annealing Lampwork Beads

2009-04-04T20:58:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I'm sure you've all browsed through lampwork bead listings on Etsy or Ebay. I'm sure you've seen listings that say "annealed in a computer controlled kiln." What does that mean?

As glass is heated, manipulated, and cooled, strain occurs in the bead. It doesn't matter if you use the same rod of glass or how fast you work, or even if you try to slowly cool the bead using the torch. That stress is inevitable. That is why annealing is absolutely necessary. If the bead is not annealed, sooner or later that stress will catch up, and the bead will likely crack.

It is important to heat the glass until it reaches a stress-relief point, or annealing tempurature, and hold it until all the stress has left the bead. After being held at the proper tempurature, the beads are slowly and evenly cooled, so no more stress occurs until they are room tempurature. This process takes several hours. I usually let my kiln run overnight.

Many imported beads are not properly annealed and can break and chip easily. When I leave my own beads on the desk, I drop them all the time, but I've haven't had one break on me yet because they're properly annealed. They're like rocks! When you are shopping for handmade artisan beads, ask if they are annealed. It will ensure a long happy bead life.

What is Lampwork?

2009-04-04T19:45:00.002-07:00

So a lot of you reading this know what lampwork is, but I know there are a few that might not. It is the process of melting glass with a torch. Some people make sculptures, ornaments, beads, pendants, whatever. It's similar to glass blowing, but on a smaller scale. Whenever people give me an odd look when I tell them I like to make lampwork beads, I just tell them it's glass blowing. I know the two are different, but sometimes I get too lazy to explain.

When making beads, I wrap melted glass onto a steel mandrel and use gravity and tools to shape my bead. Then I add whatever decorations I want for that design. Often times I'll encase everything in a layer of clear to really magnify it. After that I put the bead directly in a kiln and hold it at 960 degrees. This removes any stress in the bead that would cause trouble later. Slowly the tempurature is lowered until the annealing process is done. I clean the beads, string them and photograph them.

Anyways, here's a few pictures of my studio and me making beads. Enjoy!

Cute little Mushrooms!

2009-03-30T18:23:00.002-07:00

I seldom ever play around with sculptural work, but I had some fun the other night. I created these adorable little mushroom beads. The hole runs vertically, so they would be awesome as pendants or charms or cell phone lanyards. I'll definitely need to be making a few more soon. I have two of them up on etsy. There will be more! Oh yes!

New Favorite Set

2009-03-29T18:45:00.001-07:00

I love this set so much! I'll be listing it on Etsy later tonight unless someone emails me first of course. It's the perfect size for my wrist if I added a toggle clasp. I keep telling myself that the perfect length of the set means I should keep it for myself and make another piece of jewelry. I suppose if it doesn't sell I won't be too heartbroken. :-P

It was hard to take a good picture of it. It's actually slightly deeper red, more of a blood red. The spacers I made to go with it have a velvety finish and are very iridescent. They have subtle notes of blue and purple. This is definitely a new favorite of mine.

Let me know what you think.

Hi, My name is Heather

2009-03-25T22:32:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! My name is Heather Behrendt and I'm addicted to melting glass. I just can't help it. Creating miniature works of art in glass has become my obsession over the past couple years. Give it a try sometime and you'll see. If you do, be prepared to invest quite a bit of money into your new addiction. It's so worth it though.

I first saw a demonstration of lampworking in my art workshop class in high school. I wish I had started it then, but I was too scared of the torch. It took me a couple years until I randomly purchased a hot head torch, some mapp gas, and a handful of glass. Looking back, lighting a torch with no ventilation or training in the spare room of my apartment probably wasn't very smart of me. My first bead was pea green and lopsided with pointy ends. I'm pretty sure I still have it floating around somewhere.

It's been a couple years since then. I own a house now, so I have proper ventilation and I've upgraded to a minor burner. My beads have improved so much since that first little pea green pebble. What was your first creation in your craft like?