Sunday, July 24, 2011

Do You Raku? I Do Now!

I had a fun day at the torch yesterday.  Hubby was at work and after I got my "must dos" out of the way I spent most of the day in there just making whatever I felt like making.  I had no specific orders to fill so there was no pressure so I started off with Raku.  I have used it a little before but had recently seen a demo on You Tube (by MercurysGlass - "how to make a Raku zebra bubbles bead") that got me interested in trying it again.  I'm glad I did.  My photos do not show all the wonderful colors in the beads and I have read more about Raku and think I may be able to get even more color out of it as I was not even doing any of the "tips and tricks" that other bead artists have shared. 

 The entire set that I made today.  The first one is similar to the bead made in the You Tube demo - mind ended up looking quite different from hers but still is a very nice bead.  All but the last one are made on black bases and have a stringer made of Raku and Intense black applied in some manner and then encased with clear.  The last one is on a base of ELO and has a couple plops of frit on it before encasing - nothing special there.

 In these close ups you can see more of the pretty blues and greens.

In the first (free) issue of Soda Lime Times they had a tutorial for Raked Dot Beads which looked kind of fun.  So I made one their way and then made my own variations.  I seem to be on this rainbow kick lately which you will notice in a few of these.



Okay Sally, this next batch is for you.  I know you said you were thinking about have something made with beads of this color combo but without the encasement.  I made a few for you to look at so you can decide if you still like them without the encasing.  They do take on a totally different look and while the colors don't react as much as I thought they might, the white will not be as crisp on the blue when done this way. 
 
Here are a couple cosmic storm beads - they are always fun to make!

A few more beads from the day:


These last two are total experiments and nothing more.  My husband thought they were "really cool" but I didn't like them so much but since he did I thought I'd post them.

I made a few pieces of jewelry last week too and I didn't get them posted.  The earrings are for me - to go with my commando necklace (oh I made myself a new commando bracelet too but forgot to photograph it - darn it!)

This bracelet will soon be for sale either at the salon or on my artfire site.



So that is 38 beads made in one day - not to shabby!  Thanks for reading my bead blog!!!!!

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