Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Fresh Glass - Frustration!

Well this batch was nothing but a hot mess for the most part. I'm loving Double Helix' new Arke glass... but I've been playing with it over reactive glasses and thought it would be fun with a more neutral base glass. And my favorite neutral (reaction-wise) is purple! I was just dreaming of how fabulous the teals I'm getting from Arke would look over purple... and then the trouble started!


Oops, I left our my biggest disappointment...it was still in the kiln as I was somehow thinking it was a thermal issue and maybe, just maybe I could reheat and save it...

So apparently DH and old ASK 104 just doesn't play nice! I guess there is some kind of reaction going on... lool at the green / gold bands between the lavender and the Arke...


It was such a pretty bead....

I left this one in the kiln until I noticed this:

Then I knew there would be no saving her! UGH! What a wasted session... almost!

I did make the tiniest seahorse ever (custom order and sold already!) and a set of lavender bicones... so I got something out of it. But what a costly lesson!  That seahorse is all Bullseye glass...despite the similarity to my Arke / ASK fiascoes!

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Fresh Glass 1.24.15


Bon bons... the only interesting thing is the teal color.  I noticed it went more opaque after I pressed it...but where I heated the top to add the squiggle, it went all transparent. I think this could lend some neat uses to focal work. 


Friday, January 23, 2015

Fresh Glass 1.23.15

More Fresh Glass Beads for your viewing pleasure ;-)   A sharded silver glass over ivory... HIGHLY reflective! A gentle bicone... I was playing with Clio trying not to make it so pink... and I just LOVE what it did to the ivory! Yummers!  Bead #3... I was making a long skinny in dark amethyst and thinking about a floral tut I had read... about using a silver glass as a core but NOT reducing until the end... So I tried it right on my long skinny and LOVE IT! And that fat barrel just shimmers!!!  And a not so little seahorse...custom order.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

It's Been a While | Fresh Glass

For those of you who don't follow the Creekhiker blog, I did not have surgery. My precious 91 year old mom came for Christmas and packed the swine flu. Even though we both had the shot, she got very sick and I was sick enough, my doc said, "No surgery for you!"

I've spent December recovering, and just relaxing a bit after Mom left. Then school started and I've been on the run... Between teaching, earlier hiking hours, the winter blahs and listing beads on Facebook... There has been precious little torch time. But I did have a few sessions.



I was playing with the black lace technique here. A bit disappointed as teal is too dark of a base for this technique.... I was supposed to make more today with a lighter glass. I just came in from torching and realized, I forgot! I fell like I've got some kind of old lady mental slippage going on! Oh and taxes... Taxes always give me brain fog. But as I've got to hire a new accountant this year, I'm determined to finish sooner than in previous years.

I wonder if I'll get this heart posted anywhere before Valentine's Day??


Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Still Chugging Along

Happy New Year! I'm still chugging along... In case you haven't heard, no surgery for me. Mom brought me a mild swine flu for the holidays! No surgery for the congested one! And I've been home for so long with no work... I can't take any more time off. So, six more months of pain for me!

In the good news department, I'm now helping out with a new Facebook Sales Group: Glass Beads for Sale. More about that later.

I actually sold this crystal breast cancer goddess there.  I don't know that I would have chosen the pink crystals on my own...but the customer wanted them and in the end, I really liked them. I was trying to pick out a necklace here... we went with the one to the right of the bead.
 

Here's a close up... I love the little butterfly at the bottom.
 Anyway, most days you can find three or four of my listings on Facebook. When I'm not teaching and have time, I link to the them from the fan page.