A Little More Leaky Pen and Dirty Martini, and Some New Things Too.

So I had another short day at the torch but I wanted to do a few more things with Dirty Martini and Leaky Pen and I've been wanting to try the other version of a "Window Bead" and a style I had read about on Wet Canvas.  So here is what my days efforts produced:

Yes, I had a fight with one bead that refused to come off the mandrel and I didn't really care because the bead did not turn out.  I was more upset about the bent mandrel to be honest.

First up are my continued tests of Dirty Martini and Leaky Pen.  First bead I tried DM with my favorite glass, Commando.  Nothing special here - I was hoping it would be much better and I would have a good excuse to make more Commando beads!  Second bead I used Commando as a base with DM dots and then instead of Leaky Pen, I used Great Bludini-1.  I think GB-1 and LP are pretty similar and I like GB-1 a bit more than LP.  Third bead is the same as the second but I used LP dots.  If you look close you can see that the ones placed over a dot of DM reflect the light better than the ones on the far outer rim which have just been placed over the dark base.  I wanted to see how much of a difference it would create and it seems the darker LP gets more benefits from this application than the GB-1.   Not a big surprise.

Now I am really liking these combos!!  The bead on the left is Lt. Turquoise with dots of LP and then encased in clear.  Yummy!  The bead on the right is Lt. Sky Blue with dots of LP and then raised dots of Lt. SB.  I probably should have tried the same application with this combo as I did in the first bead for a better comparison but I think the results would be similar.  Better try it out later today though, right?

These two photos are taken in different lighting.  I was hoping to pick up the pretty translucent blue that shows in these beads.  They are much better in person.  I am testing here the application of LP and GB-1 over clear bases.  First bead has a small core of clear and a more dense layer of LP.  Second has a larger base of clear and a thinner layer of LP.  The third bead is done the same as the second only it has GB-1 - and yes, my clear seemed to scum up on this bead.  I got a nasty batch of what was supposed to be "super clear" so I'm using it up on my test beads.  I think these would make a really pretty necklace with some nice black spacers!

So this is my attempt at making Michael Barley's Window Bead.  Yuck-O!  I did not have silver leaf so I tried it with silver foil - I think that was the problem.  I'll have to order some leaf and try again.  You can sort of see the circles that were supposed to become clear so you can see through the hole to what is under it.  If it would have worked you would see the animal print through the circle windows.  What is weird is that when I touch the bead it feels like I need to take some goo-gone to it.  Very odd feeling bead.  These are reject beads that I don't even think my sister will like - she always seems to like my reject beads better than what I call my good beads - LOL!

This is a variation of a bead technique that I decided to try.  I came up with it in my own head but I have no clue if it's a technique already done by someone else.  Usually this style of bead is made a different way than I'll describe here and that style produces cleaner edges in the actual design.  I like this affect very much and here is how I created it: Small base of Med. Topaz, wind of black and white twisty, keep bead all in a wheel form.  Apply clear dots on either side of the wheel in a zig zag pattern.  On the right bead I put clear on one side and Root Beer on the other side.  Make sure all dots are built up equally so it's balanced and will melt strait/even as you start to melt it slowly from the outer most edge.  Bead on the right is encased in clear and the bead on the left is not.  I would like to try this again with other colors!

These last beads are my first try at a bead I read about on Wet Canvas supplied by Margaretz.  This was a fun bead to make.  I totally get the application now and will give it some more time for sure. These are pretty large beads for me and would make good pendants when I get my large bead encasing down - too many bubbles for my liking at this point. 

Thanks for reading my blog again today!  I'm going to get to the torch again soon!!!!