Class Beads

I wanted to share with you the beads I made in the lampworking class I took from Sara Sally LaGrand on Tuesday.  I gained so much wonderful information from her on silver glasses and color reactions, as well as a different technique for warming up glass rods (much more effective for me!).  So many possibilities and ideas floating in my head to try out now and not enough time.  Boo.  Hiss.

These are new colors (and reactions) for me on the two left beads.  I have used/made similar beads to the big one on the right.

I have made tree beads in the past (maybe 2-3 years ago?), but never on a sunset rainbow background.  My favorite in this batch is the second from the left.  I love how the copper green base turned purple in the kiln as the silver leeched out around it from the bumps.

This one is an awesomely translucent bead that I just love.  It covers up a huge chunk of my palm!

I like the blue on the orange bead on the right the best.  I do like the reactions of the silver glass on the two left beads and how an outline is created where the two colors meet.

Definite possibilities with all of these, as well as this little pod bead below.  I know we were in a class designed for us to replicate the original artist's beads, but I really shied away from copying her beads with the exception of the tree bead and this pod.  I focused more on the color combos, reducing techniques to bring out the best colors and making the beads my own as I know I will make them going forward.  I don't want to make and sell beads that are like someone else's, so this pod bead below will take some thought.  Unfortunately, this one suffered from thermal shock and cracked in several places and is not good for anything other than admiring.  From afar.

This is the back.  The hole does not go all the way through, so the way to attach it to any piece of work will be through the metal hook sticking out.  I like that idea and have wondered what kind of metal to use for years to do this.  Now I know!  :D

Here is a sneak peek of beads coming into the shop after 1pm EST on this Saturday.  I have full sets of all the beads under the eggs, they're just not all clean yet.  :)

I am really loving this grey egg with the purple speckles, orange leaves and hints of blue.  The same glass combo was used on the ivory egg to its left, but the purple just turned brown.  Must.  Use.  More.  Of.  This.

After a week or more of abysmal grey skies and cold temps, the sun graced us today.  The temps only got into the low 50s, but seeing the sun again made up for so much.  I have missed it and didn't realize how much until it came back today :)

Come back tomorrow for pics of all the sets going into the shop on Saturday afternoon.