It's Alive!

Well after much promises and reassurances that the new web site was going to be coming, it is finally here.

The old site is now dead and the new one is up and running in its place with lots of pictures and new features that the old one didn't have, not mention a much snazzier look and feel than the old one.

Check out the new web site here: www.LampOfLuxury.com and let me know what you think of it.  Post a comment or two in any number of areas that you'd like to comment on.  I've even put out a new blog announcement on the site which you can view directly here. 

Many more pictures and galleries will be loaded now that it is up and running. 

What's New Tomorrow

Tomorrow, this bright blue bead will be coming your way in my Etsy shop.  This little gem is called "Swimming Pools" due to all of the blue pools that remind me of tiny beads of water just big enough for maybe an ant to swim in, if ants swam.

This bead is a turquoise base with transparent blue dots arranged around the bead.  The back color for the deep blue pools is actually  pink, which gives this bead a nice warmth despite it being a cool color.

Anyway, have a great night.

A Most Productive Weekend

What a difference a week makes.

Unlike last weekend when I was sick and feeling lousy, this weekend I was able to actually accomplish a number of things.

One of the items on my list of accomplishments is this necklace called "Tribal Summer" which consists of 7 lampwork lentil beads in a bright orange and decorated with turquoise scrollwork.  

A sterling silver toggle clasp and black onyx beads complete the design which was a custom order for one of my clients who loved the Tribal Summer set of beads in my shop too much to let anyone else have them.

Usually when I'm on the torch, I like to have a lot of beads made and ready for the week, but his weekend I was in a very different mood.  I decided to think less about quantity, and more about creating something that was beautiful--regardless of how large or small the items were.

I hope you appreciate the results.  Several new focal beads and new hollow set were created out of this endeavor. 

This first focal is entitled "Sherwood Forest" and was created from a rich chocolate brown base bead.  Onto the dark background, dots of banana yellow were arranged all around the bead and melted down a bit. 

For a touch of neon and to give this focal a bit of zing, a layer of transparent emerald green was then placed over the top of the banana dots and fused onto the banana dots with a good dose of heat.

Voila!  One little focal bead that will be showing up in my Etsy shop in the morning along with a lot more pictures!

Pucker Up - A Hallmark of Quality

I'm Blogging on my lunch break today, so I'll need to keep this one short.

Today, I'd like to talk about puckered ends...no not your end or mine for that matter, but the ends on beads around the hole.

A sure sign of well made bead is that the area around the hole on both ends of the bead are puckered, that is, they dip toward the hole in a smooth curve and there are not points or jagged edges which could possible fray or cut the medium they will eventually be strung onto.

When wrapping glass onto a mandrel, a steel rod that will eventually be removed to create the hole in the bead, the footprint of the bead should be evenly wrapped so that the glass creates this round pucker naturally.

Due to the physics of glass (which I won't bore you with, I promise), it naturally wants to be round and gather toward the center of the mass on the mandrel. When a beads footprint is wider than the amount of glass wrapped, the bead will form a football shape with very sharp ends around the hole.

If the bead is going to be shaped, either in a press or by marvering (rolling the bead on a surface to shape the glass), then this shape is sometimes necessary when wrapping. However, in the final bead when all shaping has been completed, there should not be any sharp or jagged points.

During the summer, I attended an art fair in a lampworker was selling necklaces made of beads that obviously where too wide and had jagged points on their ends. She'd hidden these flaws by using some rather large bead caps in her jewelry.

This is just something to keep an eye out for when buying beads on-line or in finished jewelry that I think everyone should know before putting down your hard earned money. If you get a bad bead from another artist, that may well put you off lampwork from other artists, and that would be a shame.

As always, if you have any questions or would like to suggest topics, I can be reached through this blog or through my web site or shop at:
http://www.lampofluxury.com
http://BurningScentsations.etsy.com

Have a great day!