Look At What I Made!

Here are just a few of the beads I made on Saturday....a few of the 50+ beads I made!!!! My husband was such a love and watched after the kids throughout the day as I was on and off my torch for an hour at a time as I made beads for Lorelei and played with my new Val Cox frit that arrived that afternoon. Can we say ExCiTeD to play with new blends AND have all day to do it?


Frit makes me happy. Particularly this cranberry/hot pink/fuschia blend! I'm not done playing with this yet and can't wait to try it out with silver. These beads below have little white cores and then the cranberry frit is swirled outwards as it is melted and blended with clear. Great little beads that are already drawing beads on the homefront.

Here is more of the same frit, but I melted it and blended it in with the clear in a heavier volume so the beads are much more intense in color. They look like candy to me!


And then we have the cranberry frit at the core of these big beads that are encased in clear and then have beautiful, deep purple frit swirled around them. They remind me a bit of colors used in the Indian culture. They were by far my favorites and they also got the top thumbs up from my husband as his favorites of the day, too. It makes me happy that Todd is interested in looking at what I make and he offers up positive (and sometimes negative) feedback. Nice to have his support and encouragement :)


There were two other frit blends I tried out last night, but the beads still need to be cleaned & photographed, so you'll just have to wait until my next blog post. And another new blend arrived today....woo hoo! I messed up and ordered two jars of one frit blend. When I realized my mistake, I emailed Val's sister Sabrina who manages her frit company and asked if I could exchange the jar of frit and I would pay shipping both ways. Sabrina was AWESOME, replying very quickly that she would be happy to exchange jars and that I only needed to pay shipping for returning the one jar. My new jar arrived today at the same time I was sending back my extra jar to Sabrina. She kept her promise to send out my new color choice ASAP. I thought that was excellent customer service and don't remember the last time I was treated so well....especially when it was my fault. I am still in awe that she didn't wait for my return.

Two thumbs up, three cheers and FIVE STARS for supportive husbands of addicted lampworkers AND for Sabrina at Val Cox Frit!

Crazy Kidlet Hair

I had to share my kids and their crazy hair. Or what is attempting to pass as hair. Owen has been involved in raising money for a fundraiser at school the past two weeks. Each day as he has brought in more pledges and donations, he has accordingly brought home special prizes. The best so far was this blue, rubber helmet with red spikes sticking out.


Pay no attention to the Christmas wreath still hanging on the window behind my boy. Or better yet, let's pretend these pics were taken before Christmas!

And here is my Beanarina. Home from a birthday party where the Special Attention-Getter was a woman who used pipe cleaners, colored hair spray and ribbons to doll up each of the little girls. Chloe's hair-do was a good ten inches above her head, twisted up with pipe cleaners, flowers, and other gift-wrapping accessories. She thought she was the bomb.

New Hartford, NY Artist - Lorelei

If I wore jewelry, I would wear Lorelei's!  I know it seems strange, since I also make jewelry...but I rarely wear it.  Lorelei has a tremendous bead addiction and gets her fill by buying TONS on Etsy and then plays for hours with her beads....designing funky, hip, uber-cool, jewelry with a vintage feel.  

I am amazed at how many new pieces she creates each week, as this is a hobby.  Major shame....I'd LOVE to see what she would do if she could create full time.  Lorelei bought some of my beads last summer and I've been glued to her blog and admiring her designs ever since!

Lorelei has a great eye for selecting & combining colors, unique pendants and creating innovative designs that will not be found in so many other jewelry shops.  She has really perfected wire-wrapping to a beautiful art and I love how she sometimes incorporates buttons into her designs!

You may check out her blog which she updates regularly with what is keeping her busy inside & out of her studio.  The url is http://lorelei1141.blogspot.com/

Lorelei also maintains two shops, one on Etsy and another on 1000 Markets where you can ogle and purchase her jewelry.

www.lorelei1141.etsy.com

http://www.1000markets.com/shops/theowlsden

You can also follow Lorelei on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lorelei1141

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.

Pink Quartz Minerals

As my close friends or family would testify, make-up and I have never been close friends. I don't like the work that goes into washing it off at night (yes, the whole 90 seconds of it!), the break-outs or how it rubs off on clothing or towels. Some of you may want to remind me that ten years ago I sold Mary Kay (I liked the skin care routine until I became allergic and my face swelled to the size & color of a basketball). Now I am an Arbonne consultant, but again just for the skin care wash/moisturizer products (really liking the Re9 product line, but I'll stop because this post is about PQM and I don't go out of my way to sell to anyone!). I've never found any foundation/powder products I could stick with because of how they felt on my skin or they caused problems for me. I started looking for foundation made out of minerals. I found Doree's shop named Pink Quartz Minerals on Etsy and was excited, but skeptical....until I tried her products.

Check this out....she makes this...all by herself....mixes up just the right amount of each mineral to get each shade of foundation, blush, eye shadow and lip balms to be the exact same shade every time (well, almost exactly, as she does make each batch individually and the raw minerals can vary in lightness/darkness).  Look at all of these colors of her powder foundation!
In her Etsy shop, she lists out all of the ingredients used in other mineral make-ups (and I'm not going to name any names, because this is about PQM!) and then hers. See which one has the fewest ingredients? Big part of my decision to try out the PQM foundation, which came with its own kabuki brush (look carefully, the brush must be noted in the listing if you want that) was the shortest list of only mineral ingredients. No animal testing. And her brushes are all Vegan (meaning synthetic fibers, not animal hair) and very soft.
I also purchased a couple of shades of eye shadow, which drew compliments the first day I tried them out! Once this make-up is on my face, it doesn't rub off. My face doesn't get oily. And the best part is, my complexion is evened out and it doesn't look like I'm wearing make-up. LOVE IT! Doree is fast at shipping & great on customer service. :)

You can visit Doree at http://pinkquartzminerals.com or at http://pinkquartzminerals.etsy.com

I do it all.....all by myself

No helpers or magical elves. Not even any child labor (yet! they're still a little too young to do anything other than request certain color combinations, shapes or designs).

I dip the mandrels. I melt the glass. I wind the beads onto the mandrels. I stick them in the kiln. I take them out the next morning. I twist and tug and pull the beads off the mandrels. I grind my teeth and then twist and tug and pull some more. I clean them out with my speedy dremel. I take the pics with my digital camera and then crop & edit each pic. And then I list them in my Etsy shop. All for your viewing and buying pleasure.

I'm not complaining. This. Is. What. I. LOVE. To. Do. :)

And this is where it happens. My studio; that I love so much and that I moved into in Sept 2008 after spending several summers sweating buckets and winters freezing under multiple layers of clothes & goose-down comforters in the garage. My Mega-Minor Burner torch is at the workstation closest to the window on the left, which is also closest to my fan/ventilation hidden behind the green square box on the wall. I have a second Minor Burner torch at the work station on the right. An oxygen concentrator is tucked away in the footspace under each torch station. And hoses run from the torches through the wall to my backyard where the propane tank is housed safely outside.

I've got great overhead lighting mounted under the top cabinets so I can see what I'm doing at the torch. Sooooo much better than the dismal lighting I had in the garage! Mandrels are standing upright in that wooden block in the center of the counterspace.

Here is my glass cabinet. Front, center & easy to reach for a midget like me....it's the floor cabinet so no tip-toe reaching or counter climbing to get to the most important stuff! Bottom shelf has German glass, filigrana (clear rods with cores of color shooting through the middle) and stringers (really thin rods of glass). First shelf up from the bottom is strictly transparent rods of Italian glass. Second shelf up is nothing but opaque rods of Italian glass. Next shelf is more German glass. And the top shelf which you can barely see is filled with soft glass from China. So many colors and not enough time to play & create! Special pliers & smashers hang from the insides of the doors.

Here is a more current view of part of my workstation. Glass rods still on the counter from my last glass shipment that either haven't found a home yet in the glass cab or I'm still playing with the cool new colors. Like the Elphaba greens :) Little jars are on the back shelf, filled with all kinds of frit combinations. Rods of either half-used glass of unknown colors or 'cool' bonus colors stand upright in jars next to my large mandrels, a color wheel, the Southern Flames 2008 postcard, the necklace I won at our beadswap meeting hangs from my torch deflector. And my iPod nano & docking station Todd got me for my birthday....very important to have good tunes for jammin at the torch :)
And a view into one upper cabinet that is organized enough to share. Mostly shipping supplies where they are nicely stacked, but normally out-of-sight when the doors are shut.

I really can not thank my husband enough for supporting my fire-playing hobby and being super-cool about me moving my studio inside the house. Of course, there was a perk in it for him....for the first time since we moved into this house in 2005, he can now park his car in the garage. That alone may have been worth the cost of constructing my studio for him :)

Atlanta Artist - Metallo Bianco

Cassandra Procopio is the jewelry designer behind Metallo Bianco.  She is an extraordinary metalsmith with a great eye for keeping her designs simple, but elegant.  I even had the privilege of visiting her studio & seeing first hand how she uses her torch (yay, another pyromaniac!) to learn how she twists, hammers, solders, tumbles & polishes her work to perfection.  When I was cutting up copper pipes to make my own jewelry stands, I was calling Cassie multiple times for guidance on tools, supplies and guidance on how to not burn the ever-lovin snot out of myself as I am so not used to weilding a mobile torch.  I like my fire stationary, thank you very much!

Although mainly dedicated to jewelry, she is branching out into dog tags (below), paper weights (very cool, my SIL bought one for Christmas with our kids pic inside which was a BIG hit!) and journals which you can find in her Etsy shop at http://mbjewelry.etsy.com

I also felt it necessary to include a gratuitous pic of her beautiful cat Sasha :)

You can find Cassandra's blog at http://mbjewelry.blogspot.com/

And her main website at http://metallobianco.com/

Etching is easy

I don't think I've seen any blogs on etching & thought I'd share....it is a fast, inexpensive & easy metamorphosis for glass beads in their original, shiny state to a gorgeous matte finish that resists finger prints.  Start with beads that are shiny like this, then....

Put them in a small jar or tupperware container & pour etchall over the beads.  Stir once or twice during a 15-20 minute soak in the etchall.  Please be careful, this is acid and can burn your skin if not washed off immediately.  And pay attention to the manufacturer's guidelines to not ingest, this is toxic.  Now, in spite of these scary warnings, I have safely used this product for years with great results.  Be safe in your handlings as you pour the etchall out of the original container over the beads, stirring the beads for all-over coverage/etching and then pour the acid back into the original container because it can be re-used over & over & over.  And over.  Then thoroughly rinse your beads and dry.

Then the matte finish magically encompasses your beads, transforming them into new & different beads.  A great solution if you've grown tired of their appearance, don't love them as much as you thought you would or just want a fingerprint-free finish.  Voila.  Your shiny beads are now given new life with a more organic appearance, transforming the above beads into these new beauties.
Or transparent glass beads into beads that look like glass that has been tumbled for decades in the ocean....

You can buy the etchall online, but I have no problem finding it in my local craft stores (think Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's or Michael's) for the same price & no shipping charges.  Just another excuse to go buy more craft supplies :)

You don't have to thank me now.  Shoo.  Go.  Shop victoriously.  Buy yourself some etchall & etch some of those orphan beads that have been sitting in your bead box giving you dirty looks for not using them yet.

Jacksonville Artist - Cristi of 2ifbysea

And with that last resolution to highlight & promote exceptional artists....please check out Cristi's work. She is a fantastic jewelry designer, on top of raising two beautiful boys with her husband in Jacksonville. Being a graphic designer in her past life has truly given her an eye for seeing what color combinations will go together the best with different metals and other complementary elements. Cristi has her own blog and Etsy shop that she successfully maintains on top of keeping all her boys happy.

This Ancient Ruins bracelet is very cool...the lock & key are a nice touch

I LOVE this dragonfly necklace of hers

Christmas & New Year's Resolutions

Here is Owen smiling ear to ear. He woke me up at 5:10am on Christmas morning "MOMMA!!!! This is the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE! Come see what Santa brought me!"And here is the Bean, sporting 3 of the 4 things Santa brought her....Dora umbrella, princess helmet, pink scooter & furry crocs which got cut off by the photographer (thinking I need to fire that photographer!)
And here are the kids scarfing down a package of Pop Rocks that my Dad gave them for Christmas. They had fun listening to and feeling the popping & crackling in their mouths.

I had a wonderful Christmas with both my Mom and Dad, my Grandma (who turned 90 yro last year!), Todd's Mom and his sister with Todd, Owen and Chloe. We were missing another set of Grandparents who stayed up in Minnesota this Christmas. But the house was filled with love, laughter, good food and an abundance of gratitude as we share the holiday and each other's company.

New Year's came and went quietly. We stayed at home and relaxed with the kids, rather than braving the roads with crazy drivers. There was no discussion of resolutions, but I'm pretty sure we adults are all wanting to get in better shape. For myself, I am resolving to work on my brain-to-mouth filter and reacting first with kindness & patience. I also want to expand the reaches of my beads & jewelry hobby that I hope will become my full-time job at some point within the next five years. I am still waffling between keeping www.kelleysbeads.com or switching over to blogger completely (continual problems with posting pics like I'm having tonight are not making me lean towards this forum. grrrrr), but whatever I stick with...I want to spend more time finding & promoting other artists on my website.

Happy New Year!

:) I think this is the best response I've gotten in awhile and I had to share:

KELLEY!!!

Can you hear me yelling to you out here on the computer over the HDTV in the other room?

OMG OMG OMG I am soooo excited - I think I may open my Etsy art/sculpture shop with these ( http://SKate.etsy.com

Check out Kate's other shop at http://spindlecatstudio.etsy.com


I do have Christmas pics to share, as well as another artist I've found down in Jacksonville who makes gorgeous jewelry. But am having a hard time keeping my eyes open tonight. This weekend, I will get our annual year-in-review letter written & printed off so I can send out with what were our Christmas cards, but will have to be considered New Year's cards now. AND I will add another blog this weekend, too. I promise.