Still catching up

More beads to post!  First up are my earring pairs that I made on Feb. 10, 2011.  I sold two pair to my neighbor before I got the photos taken!  One pair was especially nice - very organic.  Maybe I can get her to let me take a photo of her finished jewelry.  She is just learning and this will be her 3rd and 4th pair to make - Go Pam!

Here they are in smaller groups so they can be seen better.  The first three sets are made with aqua bases and white decoration.  Next is turquoise and ivory.  The 5th and 6th pair are both red bases with white stringer but the second pair of red beads didn't photograph well.  The 7th pair are turquoise, aqua and emerald. All the rest are the organic stone style with assorted colored transparent glass.  The last pair really absorbed the glass so the colored part is very very small but they still look pretty cool in person.

Here are a couple of beads I made with some filigrana glass I had laying on my table.  I was thinking of making them into earring pairs but I think they are too large and heavy for earrings.

The rest of these are more for my records than anything.   They are more of my attempts at different applications I have been working on.  I wasn't very successful. 

First two are a base of 591042, Purple Med. Transparent.  First one is rolled in silver foil and burnished and the second is rolled in silver leaf and burnished - didn't seem to make a difference.  Silver was not burned off on either bead.  Next Rubino Oro is applied in triangle style with small dots of 591058-LV, Violet Ink Blue Light Prem. Trans. Odd and then all is melted in. First bead has raised dots of 591042 and the second one has raised dots of Rubino Oro.  Both are struck before putting away.  I have seen this application on several of the bead forums and I just can't get it to work the way it's supposed to.  I think it's because I am not using the exact same color rods and it's because of a chemical reaction.  If anyone knows what I'm doing wrong, please let me know.  The second two in the series are also failures and again I think it's because I'm using glass that I think is close but not exactly what is listed in the formula I was working from.  I have used the same application in both of these beads with the second one having a white core.  I was hoping it would give it some light so the design would show up.  They are bases of 591058-LV with small dots of Rubino Oro melted in then silver leave is applied and burnished and then all is melted in a fairly hot flame.  I capped the center dots with clear and one side is capped with crocus and the other side with rose quartz.  I was trying this technique from page 13 of Spotlight on Silver Vol. 2.  Maybe some day I'll make these pretty "Barley style" beads.  If I'm really lucky I'll get to take a class one day from Michael Barley himself!!!

Now this is a bead I tried a few posts back and lesson learned was not to make these with silver foil and only use silver leaf.  So my silver leaf came in the mail last week and I gave it another try.  Still not great but it's working!  I will be able to make these at least!  Directions for these Barley "Window Beads" is also on page 13 of Spotlight on Silver Vol. 2.

 I made some more of those orange/pink and purple Pixi Dust beads.

 And also gave it a whirl on silvered plum and turquoise. 

I don't remember if I made this bead on the same day but I liked the way it turned out.  No notes on it but I remember it was a base of light ivory and I think the darker dots are 591730 Choco-lotta Noir.  The little dots are some aqua that I had laying around on my work space.

Only two more posts of bead batches and I'll be caught up.  Next batch is really nice and I will be putting them up for sale on my artfire account as soon as I get those photos cropped.  I think you will like them so check back soon!!!

A lot of catching up to do

I made some beads and then I had a guest for a week (which I had to take time off to play and have fun in the sun!!!) and then I made some more beads but now I have to see if I can remember what I did when I made all those beads from a few weeks ago.  Here are all the beads I made on Jan. 29, 2011:

First up are my results from trying to duplicate a color I read about on one of the bead forums.  I've been trying to produce that pink/orange color for a while and this is another recipe:

 I took photos inside and outside to try and capture the translucent quality of the beads.

They remind me of life-saver candies.  Anyway, from left to right: 1. Transparent orange base rolled in Sparkle Silver White Satin Pixi Dust. 2. Same but had a core of white. 3. Same as one but I used Clockwork instead of Trans. orange and it would not strike to orange for some reason - maybe the pixi dust? 4. Same as three but with a white core - this time it did strike - hmmmm...   This one is actually the closest to the color I was trying to achieve.  5. Decided to try some other colors that might look pretty with the sparkly of the pixi dust so this one has a white core, encased in rose quartz, rolled in same pixi dust.  The pixi dust doesn't really show well over the rose quartz.  6.  Here I changed the pixi dust to Glitter Diamond White and made the same bead as I did in the very first bead in this set.  The ones made with this pixi dust look like gum drops or some sugared candy.  7.  Same as the third bead. 8.  Same as the fifth bead.  9.  White core, encased with Crocus, rolled in Glitter Diamond White Pixi Dust - and this is a really nice bead.  I will make more of these for my purple lovers!

I was experimenting with a new type of rose made from a frit stringer.  These are not very good but just keeping them in my log of applications.  Please ignore the ugly beads!  I made a few spacers on the far right for other projects.

Continuing on my adventure to make nice frit beads - gives me fits really - frit fits!  This one didn't turn out too bad.

I used a base of Vetro pink, coiled with a ring of clear that I rolled in Tutti Fruiti Frit, melted it down gently so it would spread evenly and then to add some of my window bead practice I added the side curtain effect.  This is probably the first frit bead that I have actually been happy with.

These are more frit beads that are okay - but for them to look really nice they need to be in full sun otherwise they just look like pink beads.  My notes on these are poor but the frit I used was Gold Pink and I think the core was made with Whisper and sometimes a little core of white before the Whisper.  Not a big deal because I don't think I will be making these beads again.

And lastly I made a bunch of beads using Black, French Blue, white and a Dark Transparent Blue I had laying around on my work space so I am not exactly sure which one it is:

I'll be trying to get caught up with more blogging soon.  I made some nice organic earring pairs and worked with my new silvered glass.  So check back soon if you want to see those.

New beads up for sale on Artfire!

I'm taking a quick break from my torch while a friend is in town visiting this week.  She will want to go to the beach each day and stuff ourselves with wonderful food from her favorite spots down here.  Guess I need to be a good hostess right?!?!?! 
I will still be uploading new items on my artfire account as often as I can.  I just added a cute matched pair of pink and brown beads that I made for someone to turn into earrings! 
Here is a link to the pair:
http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=2833192

See you back here in about a week and a half with some new beads fresh from the torch!