Wednesday, April 18, 2012

More Colorful Large Beads

Spring is here and to me that means color, color, color.  I had so much fun making these colorful beads.  I typically use transparent glass in this style of bead but I wanted to try some opaque and I think it worked quite well.  You can let me know which you prefer.

I'll start off with the biggest bead of the day, which was the first bead I made too.  This bead took about 50 minutes to make!!!!  It measures 33.64mm side to side (green bubble to green bubble) by 20.71mm.

I used a base of black, white and the colorful poked bubble dots are Grass Green and the smaller side dots are Rubio Oro.   
Shown with Gun Metal Change A Bead Necklace
This next bead is fun!  Reminds of of a porcupine - a colorful one.
 A base of black, white dots that have been covered with teal and CIM Pulsar http://www.creationismessy.com/color.aspx?id=51 which is my favorite go to Aqua Blue!
31.05 mm x 21.03 mm
Shown with Gun Metal Change A Bead Necklace
This next bead is a basic black and white bead but has Pulsar http://www.creationismessy.com/color.aspx?id=51 dots which is one of my favorite combinations with this style of bead - simple and clean but colorful too!
33.95 mm x 19.35 mm


Shown with Gun Metal Change A Bead Necklace
CIM has another newer color called Maraschino http://www.creationismessy.com/color.aspx?id=109 and I am really loving the red I get from this glass!  I used it to make hearts at Valentine's Day and am finding it is a great all around red.  This may be my new go to red if I keep getting nice results like this.
Shown with Gun Metal Change A Bead Necklace
25.76 mm x 17.60 mm



I often get requests for purple and bright pink so that's what this next bead is.  Amethyst and Rubino Oro.  I find the Amethyst is very pretty but hard to photograph as it tends to show up black.

31.34 mm x 15.59 mm
Shown with Gun Metal Change A Bead Necklace
Another watermelon colored bead and also another big bead.  It measures 34.27 mm x 20.50 mm.
Shown with Gun Metal Change A Bead Necklace
I always seem to need to make at least one classic black and white bead without any color when I make these so here it is.
30.23 mm x 19.18 mm


Shown with Gun Metal Change A Bead Necklace
Now for some of the opaque colors I was talking about.  This first one has EDP which, if you are a bead maker you know that stands for Evil Devitrifying Purple - a name given to the glass by frustrated lampworkers I believe.  It easily gets chalky if you don't know the tricks to using it.  I'm not saying I know all the tricks but I did what I knew to do with the glass and I didn't get any devitrification but there is quite a bit of color variation from the bottom of the dots to the top of the dots but hey, I don't mind that at all - it's kind of cool actually.  Others may or may not agree.
25.69 mm x 15.65 mm
Shown with Gun Metal Change A Bead Necklace
This next one is an opaque pink color from CIM called Gellys Sty http://www.creationismessy.com/color.aspx?id=2.  One thing I like, is the different color it takes on when used on the black base without a dot of white under it - it brings out a bit of purple to the pink and I like that when used with the more traditional color of the Gellys Sty. 
Shown with Gun Metal Change A Bead Necklace
29.19 mm x 16.23 mm
This is the last bead I tried the opaque glass on.  It's CIM French Blue - a favorite of mine but they no longer make it - sniff sniff...  Luckily I stocked up when I heard that!!!
25.21 mm x 16.26 mm
Shown with Gun Metal Change A Bead Necklace
The French Blue is the darkest I've ever gotten this glass to turn - which I didn't even try to do.  I am not sure how that happened but I like the result - it's just not what I was expecting.

Back to a few more with transparent colors:

Grass Green and CIM Pulsar
24.93 mm x 14.55 mm
Shown with Gun Metal Change A Bead Necklace
Shown with Gun Metal Change A Bead Necklace
Amethyst dots on outer edge show almost black here
26.71 mm x 13.55 mm
And my final bead of the day was a rainbow style bead to use up all the transparent glass laying on my work space.  It turned out to be my daughter and husbands favorite bead in this batch.  I like it too but you who know me, know I'm a texture loving raised dot girl at heart.
14 mm x 46.50 mm
Shown with Gun Metal Change A Bead Necklace
I was getting a little creative with my photos because I need to come up with a few new ideas for business cards, website banners, etc.  So I might as well share those too:

Okay that is all the beads I have to share and I need to wrap this up quickly today as I'm going to get my new glasses here shortly!  I can't wait to make beads with my new glasses so you know what I'll be doing the rest of the afternoon and evening!!


Thanks for stopping by to read my blog!!!

Chris

Contact me: chrissandersonbeads@gmail.com - to make an appointment to see my beads and jewelry at my home studio.

Follow my life of Lampworking: http://beadsbychrissanderson.blogspot.com
Purchase my beads and Jewelry: http://www.artfire.com/users/BeadsByChris
Finished Jewelry sold on site at:  
1. Mermaid's Bite 472 5th Ave. South, Naples, FL 34102
2. Will be returning this spring to SALVATORE CAPELLI SALON 114 W. South Boundary Perrysburg, Ohio 43551 - In the Country Charm Shoppes.
Just for fun: Facebook: Glass Lampwork beads and Jewelry by Chris Sanderson (Remember to click on the "like" button for updates)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Glass-Lampwork-beads-and-Jewelry-by-Chris-Sanderson/175334185825493

Sunday, April 15, 2012

I'm Back Working at My Home Studio and Having a Great Time!!

It feels so nice to be back in my home studio.  I am so full of ideas that I can't find enough days in the week to make the beads I want to make.  I decided I would spend my first two days getting warmed up making beads that made me happy and not worry about getting beads made of a certain style for a certain piece, person, or request - even though I'm not taking requests any more.  I have to keep reminding myself of that last one.  It's just part of wanting to please my customers but I am doing the best I can at kindly turning the requests down and keep my creativity going this year.  You are more than welcome to remind me if I forget!!!

So now on to the good stuff - photos of the pretty beads!  I have to say, I am so thrilled with these and if you have followed me and my work, you can tell these are total, "Chris beads."  I'll start with my favorite of the bunch, Big Green:
Big Green works on my Change a Bead Necklaces (CAB)!!
Okay I know that's a lot of photos of one bead but I love this bead so it gets extra space on my blog. 

Next is a long black and white focal bead that has some flattened raised dots left for some texture.  I like the different patterns on the ends too - not so symmetrical which is a nice change for me every once in a while.
Side 1

Side 2 with different orientation.
This bead also works with the CAB necklace:
Side 1

Side 2
I love bright vibrant pink with the black and white beads so naturally I made a few of those:
View 1
View 2
View 1
View 2
Here are these two beads on the CAB necklace:
A Pink Beauty for sure!
I have lots of customers that like purple (okay I know, I guess I was influenced a bit by what my customers like - but I like purple too) and I had some purple laying right there on my work space so here is what I came up with for purple beads:
View 1
View 2
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View 2
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View 2
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And they all work on CAB necklaces:



















I had to make at least one red bead of course and I never seem to grow tired of classic black and white:
View 1
View 2
View 1
Red on the CAB necklace.
Classic black and white on the CAB necklace.
Before I headed south this winter I had started to make beads that looked like Giraffe print.  I liked them and sold out of most of them pretty quickly using one color combination that I had read about in Soda Lime Times.  The pattern did look like giraffe to me but the color seemed a bit off and I wanted to try some new color combinations.  These all came from that experiment plus several of the original combination too:
New color combination: cocoa with OY

Original color combination: cocoa with CG

2nd new color combination: cocoa with ivory.

These beads all work on the CAB necklace:
 
Some smaller beads made with this formula.
Smaller beads made with the cocoa and OY formula - nice safari feel to them!
The rest of the beads are made on smaller mandrels so they have smaller holes and will not fit on the CAB necklaces.  These look great on the Bergard pendents as well as being made into other finished jewelry pieces:
Bergard 3 stem pendent system.
Bergard 3 stem pendent system.
Bergard 3 stem pendent system.
Bergard 3 stem pendent system.
Bergard  changeable pendent system.
Bergard  changeable pendent system.
Well this certainly has been a long post but I hope you enjoyed it.  I absolutely enjoyed every minute of making these beads!!! 

If you are interested in anything you see here, please contact me.  I have been asked quite a bit lately about where my beads and jewelry can be purchased and I have a new location to add to the list.  I'm very excited about this new location!!!  I now have pieces at a great new gallery in Naples, FL called Mermaid's Bite.  It's located on famous 5th Ave.!!!!  The owners are artists themselves and handpick everything they have in their gallery.  If you are in the area stop by and meet Christiane and David and have a look at all the wonderful things they have!!!

As always, thanks for stopping by to read my blog!
Chris

Contact me: chrissandersonbeads@gmail.com - to make an appointment to see my beads and jewelry at my home studio.
Follow my life of Lampworking: http://beadsbychrissanderson.blogspot.com
Purchase my beads and Jewelry: http://www.artfire.com/users/BeadsByChris
Finished Jewelry sold on site at:  
1. Mermaid's Bite 472 5th Ave. South, Naples, FL 34102
2. Will be returning this spring to SALVATORE CAPELLI SALON 114 W. South Boundary Perrysburg, Ohio 43551 - In the Country Charm Shoppes.
Just for fun: Facebook: Glass Lampwork beads and Jewelry by Chris Sanderson (Remember to click on the "like" button for updates)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Glass-Lampwork-beads-and-Jewelry-by-Chris-Sanderson/175334185825493