More Galleries On Web Site - Silhouette's Premiere

As promised last night, I did get my beads cleaned and photographed from Sunday's torching session and will have new item in my store tomorrow.

In addition, I also uploaded more grapevine focal beads to my web site and added a new gallery for my Dot Design focals that I made a few weeks back.

If you'd like to view the new gallery, click HERE.  

To see all of the vineyard pictures, click HERE. 

Now, on to the new Silhouette series.

Silhouette Series Premieres On Etsy Tomorrow

While I was pondering life all day Saturday from the comfort of my bed, an idea came to me about the types of backgrounds I usually use on my vineyard, tree and raised floral beads.  They're always opaque.

What would happen if I created a fully transparent bead with a raised design?  What if the back of the bead was textured a bit to bend the light as it travels through the bead?  

With those two questions, I created "Silhouette" a new bead series which depicts foreground items, such as trees and vines, as just their shadow while a bright and light catching transparent background is used to highlight the image.

This first bead in the series is entitled "Spring's Early Light".  In the foreground, a tree that is bare of foliage still in the early morning hours.  In the background, the cold, blue of night and winter is fading on the horizon with the first few light rays of warm sunshine and the promise of more ahead.

That is what this bead means to me and the images it brings to mind.  In addition to being very sparkly in the light, the textured back is also really cool to rub against your fingers like a miniature massager.  That was an unexpected benefit, but might be a hit with customers. Time will tell.

The transparent core of the bead has been encased twice for additional depth and interest and segregates the colors from the touch of the viewer like a piece of Spring has been trapped forever.

So, now it's your turn.  What do you think of the new design so far?

This bead will be added to my Etsy shop in the morning with additional pictures of it from various angles and more information. 

Have a great night.

Another Weekend Ends

Well, another weekend is slowly coming to a close.  Did you remember to set your clocks ahead last night for Daylight Savings Time?

While I didn't accomplish everything I had hoped to, I did manage to get a number of things done.  I caught up on my sleep this weekend,  read a bit, designed (well, obsessed really about) new bead and jewelry designs, and had a very productive time at the torch which will bode well for new items coming to my shop this week.

Alas, they are in the kiln now and will be until morning, so I will not have a new item to list tomorrow.  Don't despair, though, since I will have new items on Tuesday morning (if I get the new beads cleaned and photographed, which I will.  Positive thoughts!).

I'm following my artistic vision for the new pieces and have created a new series called "Silhouette" which I hope comes out looking like it did in my mind.  You'll just have to wait until the beads are done for any more info on this new series.

I've also created several new tree beads today with some great organic backgrounds, at least I thought they were great.  You may think otherwise, and I invite your comments on them here on my blog.  Please wait to comment until I have actually posted them, otherwise you're just being impertinent.

Anyway, sleep tight tonight and have a great week!  More beads are coming, I promise!

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!