New techniques

I had ordered Val Cox's book Frit Secrets last weekend and I was so excited when it arrived on Thursday!  I read through it cover-to-cover before I went to bed that night, but still haven't gotten my fill looking at all of pictures and beads Val included.  She has really perfected her photography skills over the years and aspire to attain half her skills and eye for capturing the perfect shot.  Val's beads are beautiful, the book is well written (definitely a labor of love for her!) and impressed that she took EVERY picture in the book!

She uses her rods of glass like paintbrushes, dipping the hot ends into frit & melting it in before beginning to wind each bead.  I tried it out and ended up with these beautiful cranberry beads 

and a similar set in blues.  Very pleased with how they turned out....I can't wait to make more in different colors!  I also made a few test beads where I followed this same technique, but melted in snippets of silver which created some really cool effects.  The pinks turned more golden and that shimmer and sparkle from any angle.  I have used silver plenty over the past few years in making silvered ivory and occasionally on opaque black glass to create a sparkling galaxy effect.  And once I made silvered clear stringers for some beads my friend Kat liked & wanted....but that was put on ivory and achieved a totally different appearance than sandwiching the silver between layers of transparents.  

And then I tried a similar technique shared by Val Cox in her book....I used a little Iris Gold frit in the inner layers of the transparent glass with snips of silver melted in.  You can see the edges of the frit highlighted in mint green squares/spots.  Kinda reminds me of jelly fish or other dangerous, yet beautiful sea creatures.  While I was making these beads, the colors reminded me of Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy book that I purchased and treasured well over a decade ago and probably haven't opened in the last five years (shame on me, I need to pull it out and share it with the kids!).  The colors and depth of these beads made me feel like I was walking into the forest primeval and could very possibly find one of those fairies Lady Cottington trapped between the pages of her journal.  There are little air bubbles in these beads and when the larger ones catch my eye, I involuntarily hold my breath like I am under water.