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. 

The Cupcakes Are Ready!

These babies will be up for sale on the Facebook pages tomorrow! Check the fan page midday tomorrow for links to these Spooktacular goodies!

From L-R / Top - Bottom: Frankie Cake, Punkin Cake, Tombstone Cake, Kitty Kake, Caldron Cake, Spooky Cake, Witchy Hat Cake, Skellington Cake, Spidey Cake, Mummy Cake, Brainy Cake, Batty Cake, Korny Kake, and Cupcake that Killed the Witch.

Fun Fun Fun

Some days, life is just a barrel of monkeys. Let's see...

• The dog scared the heck out of me because her heart was racing as was her breathing after we both were chasing possums on our back fence. 
• Insomnia... see above...couldn't get to sleep til 5!
• Tried to pay the sales taxes during said insomnia... but four month old computer would not start!
• Bookkeeping is not backed up on said computer
• I took a student's tools home from class so I have to drive in the wrong direction before getting computer fixed.
• Tax agency won't waive fines on late taxes or give me an extension.
• Warranty repair place on the computer won't pick up the phone.
• Much shipping going out today must be dealt with.

And that's just the last 24 hours!

So, I'm just going to show off some chocolate hearts I listed on the glass bead website:

Sweet Hearts Chocolate Glass Bead Pair

And I'll just mention that I have a 20% off sale on select items in my Artfire. See previous post!

Another Cupcake to Go

So the special this week sold to a fan which is why it never got posted here... The offer was for free wire wrapping with 18 G. sterling wire and Swarovski crystals.

Here it is just before mailing:

I really like how it came out! I'm also loving the bail making pliers for making the larger bail holes:

My students have been loving them too! I'm almost out of stock!

What's on your agenda for the weekend??? Me?? Teaching another Cookie Class on Saturday. Nice long hike with the pupsters on Saturday night (Hey, I live large!) and yardwork  / torching  a bit on the Sunday.  I do hope you have an excellent weekend.

See you on Tuesday!

Planning Classes

All my lesson plans are due this week for summer sessions and since one of my old schools now requires a mountain of paperwork for classes I've been teaching for years (don't ya just LOVE new administrations??).... I'm gonna keep this short.

I've been asked to teach some new classes as well... Basic crochet...which I said yes to only to keep my good standing with the college. But I don't sell that stuff and don't want to set up vendor accounts with places like that... but I've been crocheting since I was 12... self taught. My first project was  a QUEEN sized blanket which I still have! Funny but I always start new things on a HUGE scale and work my way down.

In addition to all the paperwork, I have to calculate materials fees on several new classes and several old ones now that silver is what it is. And I'm going through a battery of computer tests to try and get temp work. I have to redo my resume and my job counselor says that with all my skills sets, he expects I will end up with 5 to 7 versions (!) of the resume I have now! OY! And Bessie the car is in the shop... AGAIN. All this = one stressed Holly.

But I do have one shiny bit of news... I'm Bead of the Day over on the Fire Divas blog...which means this Ice Cream Cone Glass Bead is 10% off until the new Bead of the Day is posted tomorrow!

Red Velvet

As a Southerner, I adore red velvet cake. And I'm pretty picky about it too! So many chefs get it all wrong! Good thing I make cupcakes of glass ;-)

I was surprised to find my red velvet cupcake glass bead in a red velvet collection on Artfire! Check it out... there's some fun stuff here!

Red Velvet

  Curated By: HomespunGossa...

ArtFire.com

Indie Design

New Holiday Sweet Treats

I started making beads to make desserts for my food shows.  It was great to have a little high end impulse purchase near the register when chefs and cake decorators had spent a weekend or more dedicated to their business. They would get so excited to see my cupcakes, cakes and candy glass beads.

They are still some of my favorite beads to make! I list all my holiday stuff on Artfire first these days. It just seems best to get the time sensitive stuff out there where it will get the most views. These are my latest cake beads:

I sort of miss doing food shows... not the WORK but I do miss the joy I would see on a foodie's face when they saw the jewelry I made.

And this has me thinking about marketing... Do you market to any one specific group of people???

I have a friend who loves to scuba dive and her beads reflect that passion. Some of her best sales come from scuba / fish shows! Yet another loves making buttons and focuses on quilt and fabric shows.

Have you ever thought of specializing in this way???

Cupcake Wars

Alternate Titles: Bead Maker Goes Mad Over Cupcakes or OMG! What Was I Thinking???

Yes, I AM obsessed with all things cupcake! I watch every show about them. I've long been mesmerized by the myriad of cupcake shops that have popped up in LA and once spent a day driving to many of them, just because.

And long before that, I was obsessed with glass pastries. If you remember back to the beginnings of this blog (has anyone been reading that long???), beadmaking started for me when I couldn't get a bead maker to make me a wedding cake bead like I wanted. With my cake decorating background, I knew that no one wanted a white cake with green leaves. And yet my bead maker could not help herself from placing green leaves on the cake!


A few weeks ago, I published my own answers to a questionnaire I like to give to other glass artists. And in that article, was this photo:

I made these on a whim... just to see if I could. No thought, very little effort and by some miracle, they were the same size...something I find very difficult to do.

That photo led a friend of mine from real life to ask for a custom pair of chocolate raspberry earrings. No problem, I said. My God! What was I thinking????!!!!????

My first torch session yielded a bunch of these... no two in the same size.

Two problems with this. This is three times the size of the others and... wrong color. They were supposed to be chocolate with raspberry icing. So I dipped more of my micro mini mandrels and hit the torch again.

I proceeded to make ALL kinds of cupcakes. This is the largest and the smallest. I made smooth top, I made swirly tops, I made dotted tops. I made them big and small but never the same! I was pulling my hair out!

I sat there staring into my flame not knowing what was wrong. I made more and this is when I noticed... the mandrel was moving! And no, I don't mean spinning. It was sagging!

 I was working so hot ( I LOVE to work fast and hot!) that I actually broke the mandrel in the flame! Not one to lose a bead, I grabbed my tweezers and finished and tossed the mandrel bit in the kiln! With that I quit. After that batch cooled, I cleaned the mandrels and dipped them and really gave some thought to what I was doing.

I pulled thin stringer and quit working with whole rods. I turned the flame WAY down and tried again and FINALLY came up with 3 close matches for pairs.

Hopefully, my friend will like one of the sets! If not there may be more cupcakes in my future!

Here's the whole batch:

What craziness!!!

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I wanted to mention the 10% Christmas in July Sale goes on. Save 10% on Artfire and Etsy and get free shipping. Fan page members get an additional 10% off and I've extended the sale to my glass beads website for Fans ONLY.

This is a new bead on Artfire.

I Still Love Chocolate!

I'm taking a break while Mom is here...not a fun kind of break...she's working me to death! We cut down trees and trimmed my hedges all day yesterday. I was so sore, I couldn't even sleep last night!

Today, we're cleaning out the shop! Fun, fun, fun!

I did manage to get a new cupcake listed in the olde Etsy shop:
Thanks as always for popping in!

Pardon Me? Is My Head too Big?

Wow! My beads were mentioned in two different blogs today!

My friend Becky wrote about this giant cupcake bead in her Constant Crafter Blog.



And my Pineapple Orange Sherbet I Scream Cone was mentioned in Creative with Clay's Color of the Week blog post. Both are available in my Etsy shop with kissing cousins on the Folly Site under Sweet Treats.


Any more and my head won't fit in the door! And if my sweet tooth keeps showing, my head won't be the only thing that won't fit!!!

Thanks ladies! I needed the confidence boost!