Summer Midnight In The Vines

I've got new grape-themed choker coming to my Etsy Shop later tonight (possibly in the morning) that I thought you'd like a first look at.

This choker's focal bead has a rich, sparkling background of blue and green Dichro that shimmers behind a thriving patch of grapes ready for harvesting.

The encased background's colors remind me a peacock feather while the green leaves, purple grapes and brown vines add a great look to the piece.

I wish the pictures would show up the dichroic glass more, but the sparkling of the background is really wonderful to see in person. It's like a vast array stars that twinkle in the night sky.

I'll be posting it to My Shop later this evening, time permitting, or in the morning. I hope you'll swing by and check out all of the pictures.

Have a great day!

Something New Coming Tomorrow

Tomorrow I'll be adding a new item to my shop. It's simple and elegant and not like anything I've had there before.

This new item is the first wave of several new items that are part of a grand experiment and I hope you'll be part of it.

In the morning I'll be adding this lovely choker entitled "Pink And Fruity". The choker is a thin steel cable coated in nylon and wears very comfortably. Using a magnetic clasp, this necklace is easy to put on and keep on, but is not recommended for wear during strenuous physical activity.

The focal bead on this necklace is a new raised grape design in bright pink on an ivory background. The black capped ends add drama and really set off the colors in this item.

So please stop by my Etsy Shop tomorrow and take a look at all of the pictures.

I want to know what you think of the new design, so please post your comments here too!

Have a great night!

This Design Is Cursed

I love this bead. It's the second one I've made with a similar design since the first one met a dark fate.

I picked up the bubble bag it was in when I took it to work, and I failed to realize that I was holding it upside-down. The bead fell out of the bag and hit my desk. Instant grapevine pruning.

While I would rather have me break a bead than a customer, I was still rather upset about it. So I canceled the gym that night (any excuse, right?) and got back onto the torch. I made this bead and two organic focals.

Last night, after etching and cleaning the bead up, I took some pictures, and that's when I noticed it. It's amazing what the camera sees and what our eyes see through the camera that we didn't notice before. The bead was cracked, in several places!

YIKES.

Atop the bead, the vine was cracked, by the hole there was another crack and again across the blue grapes. So I will not have this bead design to show while in Door County. The fates are working against me.

That is why I have to tell you, that this design is cursed.

Will I try to lift the curse? Absolutely, but not until I get back from my trip to Door County.

While I'm up in Door County, I wont be able to post any new blog entries, but I will be back late next week and will hopefully have lots of fun stories to relate to you.

Have a great weekend and a better week!

You Won't Want To Fight These Summer Blues!

How many grape and vineyard names can I come up with?

I don't know, but we'll just have to see. This latest vineyard bead is called "Summer Blues" and features a new grape color--pale blue.

I love how the colors of this bead came out against the ivory background and the bright blue bunches of grapes.

As you can see, I also carried over a few tendrils onto the back side of the bead for more detail.

The blue in these beads is almost electric and seems to shine on its own power. More grape colors are coming soon!

There seems to be no end in the number of colors that grapes come in--at least in my world!

I still have more beads to photograph before I can post them. Don't worry, I have already pictures of more beads that I've made recently.

I've really been bitten by the glass-bug this week, and I'm so glad that I'm getting so much done and created. In a few days, I'll be displaying my wares in Door County to a few shop owners and we'll see what happens then!

Have a great night!

Enjoying The Sunshine

Here's another one of my creations from this past weekend that I'm taking up to Door County.

I've entitled it "In The French Sunshine" because I'm envisioning these grapes are from France and loving their life in the wine country.

This focal has the classic purple grapes draped around the bead along with the twisting vines and leaves of the plant. As you can see, this bead is designed to hang horizontally instead of my usual vertical designs.

Grapes are so much fun and they come in such a wide range of colors.

The ivory background on this bead has been capped in black for additional drama against the crackle-like color variations of the ivory. There so much to see and feel on this bead.

Have a great night!

It's Not A Whine Stopper

After a bit of trial and error in my bead sizing for the wine stoppers, I have finally managed to create one that works.

I've titled this one "Bountiful Vineyard Wine Stopper" and I hope that you enjoy it.

Resting atop this chrome wine stopper is one of my popular vineyard beads.  Adorned with five bunches of luscious grapes, this stopper is sure to please its eventual owner.  The rich ivory background has an antiqued background with a great "crackle" effect which gives the piece an Old World feel.

The rubber seal on the stopper works great for keeping wine fresh, but should not be used for long-term storage.  

I haven't decided yet if I will be adding this piece to my Etsy shop or keeping it for upcoming shows.  I guess you'll just have to check the shop to see if I've listed it!

Do you need your bottle corked?

Time To Design Something New!

Well, I'm winding up a very productive weekend and will soon have pictures to post for you to peruse on my web site and here in my blog.

I worked on a couple of new chain mail designs, at least one is for myself, that I cannot wait to get photographed and show to you all.  I have about another hours work to complete the second piece which will probably be used for upcoming art fairs along with another design I haven't started yet which utilizes a tree bead from last week that I have not listed in my shop.

In addition to chain mail, I decided to focus on pieces for shows rather than items for my Etsy shop since I have so many items listed.  A week off will give me time to try out a couple of designs that I will need, but haven't perfected. 

While I need to purchase jewelry supplies, I have decided to focus on using all of the findings and jewelry supplies I have before the expense of buying more.  A very sensible decision, I'm sure you can agree.  This means I'll be making more earrings, bracelets, wine stoppers, and letter openers before I start looking into necklaces again.

As you know, I attempted wine stoppers a couple weeks back, but they all came out too tall.  Today I made a new one that should be the perfect height.  I cannot wait to see how it comes out and display it for you.  If this works out, I'll repeat the technique to create the rest of the ones I need.  More grapes anyone?

In addition, I'm working on letter openers that I've had for a bit, but am just now trying out beads to see how they work on these unique findings.  I haven't decided on the type of beads to use for these, so I made a set of beads rolled in frit to see how they will fit together and look on the opener.  This little experiment should let me know if I am on the right track or need to re-think the design a bit.

Tomorrow, I'll be taking the beads out of the kiln, clean them up and possibly start putting together the new pieces.  With any luck, pictures should be forthcoming shortly afterwards.

Without any luck, I'll have a sad tale to tell you tomorrow or the next day.  Well, let's hope for the best.

Have a great night!

This Treasure Isn't Buried!

Not all grapes are purple, and as you've seen this week, I've been experimenting with some varied grape colors.  Allow me to introduce "Treasure Of Tuscany", a vineyard focal bead in a great cone shape.

While this is not the first red grape bead I've made, it is a stunning bead set against the warm, ivory background.   The background has an almost antiqued look to it created during the working of the glass and the heat it received while the grapes, vines and leaves were being added to it.

Set against this warm, neutral palette, rich, inviting red grapes are hanging in the sun.  The five grape clusters have a great texture and deep color that is sure to tantalize your senses.

As all of my store items, I'll be listing this gem on Etsy in the morning with lots of pictures and more information on the bead. 

I hope you have had  a great week, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Good Night.

It's not radioactive, but it glows!

This past weekend, I tried a little experiment on a bicone bead that I created.  I took banana yellow pastel glass, and encased it with dark emerald green.  I wasn't sure what it would look like, but I thought it might be a cool color combo.

Well, once I encased the bead and re-shaped it, I then added, guess what, grape vines and leaves.  The result is this bright and fun little bead I'm calling "Glowing Vineyard".

Since it was NOT designed as a wine stopper, it is much smaller than the rest of my beads for this week.

It's decorated with four bunches of two-tone (red and purple) grapes along with the vines and leaves that my vineyard beads are known for.

The background color reminds me of almost the glass color of a 7-Up bottle.  I encased it in a number of directions, so the background has some texture to it, like the wind blowing that is rather cool.

I'll be adding this bead to my Etsy shop tomorrow, so I hope you can come take a look.

Have a great night, All!

Vines A Leaping - Harvest Nears!

Have you had enough of the grapes yet?  I hope not since I'm having so much fun making these interesting and fun beads.  I love how the finished beads look and feel; I get a great sense of accomplishment.

While my wine stopper beads were too big for their intended purpose, I still love how they came out and am very proud to bring you the next one in this series entitled "Harvest Nears".

This bead has a Carrot Red background, which is an odd lot color (not a regularly produced color) by Vetrofond.  It is a rich translucent color that had a terrific swirling grain when worked which makes a very nice background.  

Against this warm sunset color, the bright purple grapes really contrast and shine.  Lots of leaves and twisting vines add a great texture and interest to the bead.

I hope that you will get a chance to visit my shop tomorrow and take a look at all of the pictures of this focal bead.

More Pictures Loaded To Web Site - No Wine Stoppers

Tonight, I've uploaded more pictures into my web site's Vineyard Focals 2008 gallery to include last week's beads that were added to my Etsy shop.

A new blog entry on the site was also entered, and if you'd like to check it out, be sure to visit my web site at www.LampOfLuxury.com. 

OOPS!

Yesterday, while on the torch I made several new vineyard beads that I was planning on using as wine stoppers.  They came out of the kiln this morning and I was really pleased with them.  I thought they'd make awesome wine stoppers.

I cleaned each bead and then carefully took them over to the jewelry table and put the first one onto the stopper.  The hole was a perfect fit, but...

...the beads are too TALL for the stoppers.  I cannot put the ball back onto the end of the rod that runs through the middle of the bead!  

I thought I had the lengths perfect, but the beads must have grown a bit when I was shaping them.  I'm going to need a better measuring system for making these beads before I attempt them again this weekend.

What's New?

Oh well, my wine stopper debacle isn't about to prevent me from listing the beads I made them.  So, for tomorrow's listing I'm putting up one these beads for you to see and judge for yourself whether it would have been a great wine stopper topper (say that 10 times fast!).

"Midnight In The Garden"  is the first of these beads that I will be putting up tomorrow.  On this bead, the grapes have not fully ripened yet.  Ripening red grapes and ripe purple grapes adorn each branch of this vine as the fruit transitions to its full flavor.

Set against a black cone bead, these vines and grape clusters really stand out.  Be sure to check out all of the pictures and sizes in my Etsy shop tomorrow!

Sleep well!

Class was A Blast!

My Saturday afternoon chain mail class was a lot of fun and we had a great time.  There were only two students (myself included) and the teacher, Vanessa, who was very nice and easy to learn from.

We learned two chain mail patterns, the Box Weave and Byzantine.  These are actually two related patterns so once you know how to make one, the other is just a minor adjustment in the weave. 

I brought a focal bead that I'd wired up with silver wire as a focal for use in the class.  It's a bead I made back in June at Bead and Button, and intend to keep for myself once he chain is created.

I'm afraid the size of the rings used for this particular chain were much smaller than I had envisioned.  I'm not sure if I will be completing the chain in this size or upsizing the rings a bit for a more robust (and much faster to make) chain for the bead.  

I've got to order some tools and rings before I can complete it, but I hope to have them on order this week.

More grapevines coming!

I followed my bliss today on the torch and created more vineyard focal beads.  Most of the focals I created today are intended for use in wine stoppers and are much larger than my recent grapevine offerings.

In addition, I've adjusted the designs a bit and have some surprises for you when the beads have completed annealing. 

Tomorrow's new listing in my Etsy shop, continues the grape theme with this bashful focal bead entitled "Vines De Mure".

These purple grapes, are hanging in front of a pastel pink background that is streaked with silvered ivory accents.  The background is encased in a clear layer and then decorated with the vines, leaves and succulent grape bunches.

This little beauty will be added to my shop in the morning, and I hope you can stop by and take a look.

Have a great night and a terrific week!

Trellis Vinery - Come Take A Peek

Tonight I went back to the gym again and had a very good (tiring) workout, but I wanted to get this posted before I completely collapse.

My latest entry into my Etsy shop tomorrow morning is called "Trellis Vinery".  It's a grapevine bead with a little bit of different design.  The background of the bead, which is a lovely light ivory color, has been created to have a grooved appearance that runs horizontally around the background.  Can you see it in the picture?

This design creates an interesting trellis effect, which is how the set got its name. 

This bead is a bit larger and more detailed than the ones listed earlier in the week, so I hope you get a chance to stop by the store and take a look when it gets posted with the additional (and larger) pictures and dimensions.

Have a great night, Everyone!

Woodland Vines Coming Soon

Tomorrow morning, I'll be adding another new grape focal to my Esty shop entitled "Woodland Vines".

The bead gets its name from the rich background color I used behind the grapes and vines.  The color is called Desert Chameleon and its a rich beige that works up great with a very cool grain pattern in the glass that reminds me of wood.

The background has been encased in clear and then decorated with some very cool vines and leaves.  This bead has four bunches of ripe grapes (two on each side) and multi-colored vines which add a terrific texture to the whole bead.

I just love grape designs in all sorts of art, and I'm very proud to be able to bring grapevines in my artwork.

Have a great night!

Harry Potter And The Academy Awards

My apologies to everyone who thought you'd get a preview last night of what I was posting into shop this morning.  I had a couple of distractions going yesterday that preventing a blog posting, but you'll be glad to know you didn't miss anything;  I slept in this morning and decided not to add a new item to my store until tomorrow.

What were the distractions, you ask?  Well, first off the Academy Awards were on.  Since we're big movie buffs, that night is rather like Christmas around here.  I wanted to see who was winning which awards and if Johnny Depp would pull-off the Best Actor for "Sweeney Todd".  He didn't, but I had to support him anyway since the movie was so terrific.  Go see it if you haven't already.

John Stewart was pretty funny this year and I think he did a great job hosting. Overall, I really enjoyed this year's show even though I haven't seen  a few of the nominees.

The other MAJOR distraction is "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows" which I am re-reading.  I love this series of books.  Once I had read my brand new copy of book 7 when it arrived during the summer, I re-started the entire series with book 1 and have been reading it ever since.

The fifth book remains my least favorit and the hardest one to get through (it took a couple of months, but I was also reading about MACs at the time), but is really necessary to set up the rest of the books.  

I'm getting toward the final battle in the book and decided to give it a read instead of blogging last night.  Please don't hate me!

What's New For Tomorrow

Yesterday, I was working on grape focals again and created several new tabular beads with grapes, vines and leaves.  The first of these will be going into my Etsy shop in the morning.

Entitled, "Ripening Harvest", this tabular bead is adorned with three bunches of grapes, lots of creeping vines and vibrant green leaves.

I'm still experimenting with background colors for these types of beads as you will see as the week progresses.

This background is Moroccan Swirl and is encased in a clear layer to add some depth to the bead.

This focal bead is the smallest of the beads I made yesterday, and coincidentally is also the smallest bead.  I don't know why when I'm making these beads, they keep getting bigger as I work.  Probably because I want more room to add the grapes and vines onto the beads.

This bead will be added to Etsy in the morning, so I hope you'll come a take a look.  Have a great night!

More Productivity--But Where's My Wire?

Tonight I skipped the gym completely due to all of the things I had waiting for me here to do.   Amazingly, I got most of it done while still seeing the latest episode of Medium. 

Tonight I:

• Created A Pendant w/Matching Earrings for a custom order
• Cleaned a large batch of beads that I made yesterday with my diamond-bit dremel
• Strung up the bead sets (more about this later)
• Imported, sized and color-corrected pictures for a custom order
• E-mailed the pictures to the client for their input on the designs
• And searched the house for my silver florist wire

I have a new set of small-hole lentils in the beads I cleaned up tonight, but I needed my silver florist wire since it is thin and goes into the holes easily.  Was it on the table in the kitchen (where I think I used it last)?  NO.  Was it in my studio?  NO.  Was it in my office, desk, or dresser?  NO, NO NO!   

It's very frustrating, since I cannot seem to locate it and I have these beads that I cannot string.  If I cannot string them onto something, then I cannot photograph them so you can see them and I can post them to my Etsy store.    Hopefully, I'll get a vision in my dreams tonight about there that wire walked off to so I can continue in the morning.

New Etsy Shop Item For Tomorrow

Tomorrow morning, this lovely grape focal bead will be going up in my Etsy shop.  

It's a small bicone shape draped with four grape clusters and accented with green leaves and earthy brown vines.  Like the other two vineyard beads from this year, the grapes, vines and leaves are arranged onto a clear encasing layer which makes them "float" above the background. 

I love the vibrant tones of this focal, and I hope you do too.  I've decided to call this bead "Sunrise Mertot" since the background reminds me of a beautiful morning sunrise somewhere far, far away from the cold that is Chicago at this time of year.  While I love grapes, I really don't know that much about wine, so please do not accost me if Merlot is not made from purple grapes.  

If someone does know about wines and grapes and would like to educate us, please feel free to leave a comment on the posting.  I try to always respond and keep the dialog going, so don't be shy.

Otherwise, have a terrific night and great day tomorrow.

Shy Fruit?

Are they shy or is it just early morning in the vineyard?  Well, we may never know, but you won't be bashful about wearing this lovely focal bead that is coming to my Etsy shop in the morning.

Entitled "Blushing Vineyard", this cone focal features a pastel pink background encased in a clear layer of glass.  Four lovely bunches of grapes and their vines are draped around the bead and dangle toward the narrow end of the cone.  Rich green leaves complete the design add a punch of greenery.

These ripening bunches may well be witnessing the pink skies of Napa valley or a beautiful sunset in the French wine country during the late summer.  Let your imaginations run wild with this lovely bead!

So who saw this bead in the new gallery I put up last night?  Anyone?  

Another New Gallery On The Web!

Well, I'm sorry to inform you that there will not be a new listing in the morning in my Etsy shop since I need to get to work a bit earlier.  Don't worry though, I still have many new beads that will be coming shortly.

To hold you over until Wednesday morning, I've uploaded another new gallery to my updated web site, click HERE to check it out.

This gallery shows the new grape motif beads that I've made this year so far.  More will be added as the year continues, so please check it often or better yet subscribe to it and you'll be notified when changes are made.  What a cool feature of the new site!

Anyway, I hope you have a great day tomorrow and I'll be back with a new posting of the next bead to hit my shop tomorrow evening.

Until then, Ciao!

No Sour Grapes! - New Small Focal

Today's new posting of the Forest Hideaway bead was very well received--it has sold already.  I'm so pleased that it and Lava Flows will be heading out to great new home in Rhode Island.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I have several grape focals coming to my Etsy shop, and this is the first one:  Bacchus' Delight.  A number of my customers have requested smaller raised floral beads, and this is the first in the series where

 I've miniaturized the raised grape designs.

I'm still experimenting with the types of backgrounds I like on these beads, so this (and the other two I've done recently) have a pastel background.  I've encased, or covered in a transparent glass, the pastel color before applying the 

grapes for added depth.  The raised design just floats above the clear blue sky in the back-ground.

As the pictures indicate, this one is designed to be  hung horizontally in the jewelry.  Designing grape and floral beads in this orientation is also new for me.

I'll be working on some new raised floral designs with red roses for a custom order I'll be designing this weekend.  I've got a few different designs in mind, so I should have more florals in the coming week as well.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this bead, and let me know if you have any questions or comments.  I'd love to hear from you!

Welcome To 2008 - Goodbye Vacation

Back To Work

Well, I guess it was inevitable.  My vacation is over, and I'm returning to my full-time job tomorrow.  After being gone since December 13th, it's going to be quite a shock to be back. Since they didn't call me during my vacation, I can only assume that everything is running smoothly and I won't be walking into a big mess...hopefully.  

It will be nice to see everyone again. 

Grape Vines, Anyone?

I just got off the torch after spending a few hours creating three focal beads.  That's right, I did say 3 hours for just three beads.  These are more grape focals for spring.  While I've made these kind of beads before, I've never been completely happy with the backgrounds used on the beads.  These are going to a bit different in that they are solid color backgrounds which have been encased before having the grapes and vines added.  The grapes should float above the background for added depth and interest.  

If I like how they come out,  I'll experiment a bit with adding some additional patterns to the background, but I don't want it to be so busy you can't see the grapes.  Pictures will be coming later in the week.

New Set For Etsy!

I'll be loading up a new set of beads into my Etsy shop tomorrow morning before heading out to work.  This is a small set of lentils on a bright golden background and decorated with frit in shades of blue and green.    These little babies would make a terrific bracelet.  

I haven't decided on a name yet, but I've been thinking of Hawaiian Sunrise or Tropical Sunshine.   You'll just have to pop into Etsy to find out tomorrow!

I would love to hear from you if you visit, so please don't be shy.  Feel free to leave a comment or two.  

Have a great evening, Everyone!