Hooked Up The Old Kiln!!!

Alright I admit it, I'm a lampwork addict.  I had good intentions of making more jewelry yesterday but I really really felt like making beads.  Good news is my new kiln will be fixed but, the bad news is, not for another week so I got the old kiln out and hooked it up yesterday.  It was a cool day and it was perfect - so perfect that I made 42 beads!!!!

A friend/customer of mine asked me to make some "leopard print" beads.  So this is my first go at it.  Actually I had a lot of fun even though I didn't really "get" the proper bead made for this.  I think the last bead is the closest but the background is a bit too dark.  I may have solved that issue but those beads are in the kiln now so I won't know for sure until tomorrow.  I tried different things and in no particular order here is the glass I used in the above beads: Butter Pecan, Brown Lt. Prem. #591018, Ivory, Root Beer, Black,  and a stringer made with ivory and 791448 Dark Brown Special.

These beads really are this vibrant!  I used Pulsar, Freman, Oz, White, and Clear.  I think I will make some more of these in the near future! 

Three different views to try and show as many sides as possible.  While I like these beads they are not exactly what I was trying to make.  But it's a start and now I'll try again and I think I know what I need to change.

This is Vetrofond 791985 - Moss Agate Odd Pastel.  The bead on the left is just a bead of the actual glass and I tried hard to swirl the inner green layer out to the top but it just looks black.  The second bead I swirled it over ivory and the green did come out a bit here.  Now this has some potential. 

These are very hard to photograph to show the true pink color in these.  It's a nice soft pink - like old fashioned bubblegum and it shows more blue in the photo than it is.  I used 591260-BP Pink Bubblegum Lt. as a base, SIS, all encased in clear.  These are really pretty in person!

While I had the pink out I ran a test.  The first bead is the pink bubblegum lt, encased with Rose Quartz 511907-2 and I love the way this bead looks.  Again, these are all a bit on the blue/purple side in the photo and are a much nicer pink in person.  The second bead has the same base but it's encased with Lt. Pink Transparent (I think it's effetre) and the last two are the same as the first and second but the bases are just plain white.  I much prefer the first two bead colors - in person that is.

Okay another, "while I had the pink out" experiment is up next.  The first three beads are a base of the Pink Bubblegum and over that is a twist I had from another day - it's RO and White.  I think these beads look like peppermint candy or peppermint ice cream.  These are also showing a bit on the blue side.  The two smaller beads are the same base and just a stringer of RO wrapped around and melted in.  I made a few black spacer beads to clean up my work space - no waste here!  And that final ugly bead is a waste of glass in my opinion.  I was using up a black and white twisty and thought it would look good on the bubblegum base and a little RO on the sides - NOT!  Oh well, can't make great beads every time right?

Now if you were counting the beads I posted in the photos you have noticed there are not 42 shown.  The 3 beads I didn't show were super ugly and they were a mystery glass I was just trying to figure out what it was, what it does in the flame, etc.   They looked like cement no matter what I did with them so I left them out of the blog.  I'll probably try the glass with some silvered frit and see if I can get any type of reaction and if no luck there I will turn them into punties. 

A Jewelry Making Day.

I started off my day changing a clasp on a bracelet for a customer.  This is on a bracelet that I was happy to have back because I had forgotten to take a picture of it before deliver was made.  I was really happy with this bracelet - with either clasp.

 This set is for a customer.  Matching everything!!!!  I love when that happens!  All Sterling Silver too.

A simple set of earrings and necklace.

This one is a sample for a customer.  I was giving her options for many components for the bracelet.  I have my favorite combo but we will see what she picks.  She will need to choose which color of viking knit she likes along with bead caps for both the knit and the beads.  I think this is going to be a great bracelet!!! 

I have been wanting to try my hand at making some pins.  This is what I came up with today.  Nothing great but it's a start.  These haven't been tumbled yet so they are not as shiny as they will be.

While I was looking through a bead/jewelry making magazine I came across a bracelet I thought teen girls might like.  This is just a test bracelet while I am figuring out if I like the overall style.  I would not use a green clasp on a final one - I was using wire I had laying around to try it out.  I think it has some potential. 

And my final fun for the day was forming a wire bangle.  This is a free form test bracelet to help me get an idea for what I want to do.  It's like making a sketch before making the actual finished piece.  I plan to make these with general wire wrapping and also making one with some lampwork beads.  You will get the idea from these "sketch" pieces.

Wow, I got a lot done today.  I didn't think I had till I was taking photos of everything.  Now I need to go clean up my mess before I knock beads all over the place.  It seems that when I don't clean up right away, I accidentally step on the edge of a bead bin and then it all goes flying. 

No word on my kiln yet so I'll be back making more jewelry tomorrow!!!!

The Day the New Kiln Died. And they were singing bye bye Miss....

Okay so here it is, the dreaded day - March 8, 2011, that sparks flew around inside the kiln while I heard popping and cracking.  I had just put my 17th mandrel in the kiln and had returned to my torch when I heard the noise.  I was pretty startled when I looked over at the kiln and saw an unusual flashing glow around the kiln doors so I hurried back to the kiln not knowing what I should touch or if I should touch anything at all.  Should I unplug it?  Should I flip the switch off?  I'm wondering if I'm going to need my fire extinguisher?  Should I call 911?  Should I turn my gas off?  But before I could make any decisions the popping and glowing had stopped and I noticed the temperature had spiked to about 1000 degrees and then was dropping rapidly.  I peaked in the door to see if a mandrel had touched the coil and didn't see anything so I pulled the plug and hoped for the best.  I called Pam and Mike (kiln maker) to see if they could give me some guidance over the phone but had to leave a message.  I turned everything off and hoped the kiln would slowly bring the beads down to temp naturally so they wouldn't crack.  So far the beads look good and I think they are small enough that they will be durable but I will continue to wait before I use them and even at that I will only use these for my personal jewelry.  These were supposed to be for a customer - a custom order of course is when this stuff happens right?  At least the good news is, I talked to Pam today and we did some diagnosing and I sent her some photos to review and it looks like my kiln will be fixed soon! 

So until then, here are the photos from that day: 

 These beads were for a necklace and these beads:

were for matching earrings.  I think the set on the left were the best match.  I am not too happy with the center set as they are too uneven in design for my liking but the last set turned out very nice but the color does not match well.  I'll keep that last set for another personal project.

Now it seems I'm getting lots of requests for pink and black these days so these next photos are for the same customer who wanted a necklace and matching earrings.  I'll remake all these as soon as my kiln is fixed.  Thank goodness my customer was not in a hurry - thanks Betty!  For the necklace she just wanted one single focal bead hanging from a chain.  Not sure which one she will like but since I have to make new ones anyway, I'm curious to know what you all like if you care to comment. 

Well the kiln was only used 3 times before I managed to fry it somehow.  Not sure what happened but it will be fixed soon!!!  So it's on to my jewelry making phase which I need to do anyway so I can't complain too much.  Pam and Mike make wonderful kilns and are great to work with - unlike my experience with Paragon customer service.  I loved that kiln too but this new one is super sweet!!!!

As always thanks for reading my blog and watching me learn and grow with my bead making.  I love it more than any other hobby/art I have ever done before and I see myself doing this for a very long time.  I love everyone's comments and I appreciate all the support and encouragement from all my friends, customers, and family!!!!