New Lentils

Here are some of the lentils I made a few weeks ago.

I really like the top two rows with the green and blue glass on the ivory (you can see the flip side below of the beads above). They are full of silver, which causes the dark veining out through the beads, as well as the dark outlines around the green or the blue.  I think that is one of the coolest reactions in glass and it doesn't happen better on any color other than ivory.

Those lentils on the bottom with the raku speckles have since been etched.  And the one on the right, while hard to tell in these two pics, is more of a tablet bead.

If you were bored by my wordy post yesterday, I apologize.  I know I have been a supremely shoddy blogger over the last few months.  And an even shoddier lampworker, going for weeks/months at a time without even sitting at my torch.  Life has been so busy, but I have also been lacking in the motivation department.  I have felt stagnant, knowing that I want to head in one direction and have been unable to do so this year.  I have slowly been regaining a sense of longing for sitting behind my torch, as well as blogging more again.  But it wasn't really until I read that book that a small spark just ignited.  It got the wheels spinning in my head about where I want to be and why.  How I will get there.  And also how others have gotten to where they want to be....which leads into a post for later this week on the people/artists/bloggers I admire and who inspire me.

So with that, I can tell a fire has been lit under my feet to do more and accomplish more.  It's time for me to get off my duff and start juggling all these activities and hobbies and passions.  I can do it.  I know I can.

Beads All Over

My mailbox was so full Monday morning.  Just look at this!  It was packed from the back to the front with all the beads scooped up during my last minute update Sunday night.  I have THE best bead customers!

Really, you all rock!  Look at my tracking app.  A full page and more!  As of today, one package has been delivered to Virginia and many more are out for delivery around the Eastern half of the country.

Not many new items are left in the shop, although there are two sets of eggs and a couple of lentils. 

I really like that crackled ivory egg and then the sweet little mustardy one with lavender speckles.

And more eggs.

One etched ivory lentil.

Two swirly encased blue and raku lentils.

I was really loving these swirly beads and made several sets.  The blue ones were scooped up, but not these ochre ones.  They're not getting any love.  Did you miss them? 

The strawberry ones are still looking for a good home, too.

These green ones look like gumdrops to me.  I really want to eat them.

I also have a few barrel beads left that were newly added.  First in topaz.

One in seagrass green.

And then a sweet little set of textured barrels.

And two baby blues.

I think I need to re-take the pics on this bicone as the teal looks darker than it actually is and I can see more detail under the color in the ivory with my eyes.  It's a really cool bead and would be a perfect dangly focal!

I have a couple of special projects I am working on in the evenings this week for friends, so it will be another week or two before I get to play and make new beads at the torch to share with everyone.

This week is flying by.  Can't believe it's Wednesday already!  I have 11 more workdays until vacation and I'm not too far from counting the hours.  :)

I hope you are having a fabulous week!

Shop Update Tonight!

Here are all the beads, eggs, lentils and barrels coming to the shop tonight after 8pm EDT.

These lentils are the only ones are etched.

Only the lavender egg is etched.  I like the eggs left shiny when there are transparent designs on them.

These and all the other lentils will be sold individually.

I like the added depth when the beads are partially encased in clear swirls.

Almost mangolicious!

These two black and one blue barrel beads will be sold as a set.  I'm having a hard time putting these down because the bumpy swirls from one hole to the other are just so fun to touch!

I really like this bicone and how the transparent teal looks like water on the ivory.

And the same transparent teal on smaller ivory rounds.  I love not only the depth in the teal, but how it feathers out to the ivory where the two colors touch.

I want to eat these!

Who doesn't need clear spacers?

I really love these ochre beads.  And the swirls!  Oh, the swirls.  I'm in love with these swirls and want to keep making more.

Yay for four black and raku lentils!

Only one ochre and raku lentil.  I ran out of time on the torch.  Or rather, I ran out of awake time on the torch and couldn't stop yawning.  

More swirls on baby blue beads.  This shade of blue just makes me happy.  Especially when these were lined up next to the ochre beads above and the strawberry beads below.

Strawberry swirls.  Yum!

I will be starting to list the beads after 8pm EDT and expect to be going non-stop for a few hours to get all of these in the shop.  Hope to see you there!

New Beads!

This weekend was so quiet for me.  The kids were gone from Saturday afternoon through Monday afternoon.  My honeys was up in Minnesota visiting his Mom.  It was just me and the hounds and the cats and the ferret and the hamster and two tanks of fish.

I spent Saturday and Sunday evenings on the torch, as well as much of Monday morning.  Here are the spoils from Sat/Sun.  The beads from Monday are soaking in the kitchen sink, but there are many more lentils waiting to be cleaned out.  It felt soooo good to sit down at the torch and create again.  Watching two months slide by without firing it up once was hard.  I don't like being that busy.

Besides torching, I cleaned out both fish tanks and moved one from the kitchen back to the girl child's room.  We'll see if she's grown up enough now to keep her hands out of the tank because her fish want to visit Owen's fish.  I gave a thorough cleaning to all four cat boxes.  That was exciting.  I framed and hung up pictures.  I saw Kung Fu Panda 2 with the kids and my Mom.  I took Little Horse to Petsmart to get out of the house.  I started reading a book suggested by a friend that is helping solidify a current course of action within our family.  And I thought about both of my grandfathers and how they served in World War II overseas and wondered about what they saw and experienced.  How they felt leaving their families behind as they fought to protect the freedoms of their country and others.  I stayed up way late and took advantage of being able to sleep in.  I enjoyed my freedom with no schedule and found myself eating breakfast at 2pm and dinner after 10pm. 

And.  I missed my honeys.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  I can't believe it's almost Wednesday already.  This week is screaming by me.  I'm trying to get it in gear so I can do a shop update on Friday evening.

Look What Pearl and Pebble Did with My Lentils!

She turned them into these gorgeous earrings with bead caps and chips of amber and they're just gorgeous!Buy them here in her Etsy shop!

Chain Style by Jane Dickerson

I just got my copy in the mail today!

That would be Lorelei's gorgeous necklace on the cover.

And my lampwork lentil on the right side :)

It was one of the first focal beads I sold out of my Etsy shop.

Lorelei has nine pieces of jewelry featured in this book. NINE! How cool is that?!

I'm so excited for her. And for me, that one of my beads is now published. My etsy shop is also listed in the Resources pages at the back. Sooo soo cool!

You can buy your copy here :)