Ancient Fossil

One last post before I "get outa Dodge".

This piece features a Lentil shaped lampwork bead in swampy blues and greens, a fossilized ammonite, ancient bronze beads, opaque Dutch Drogan rings, and Sterling beads all resting on a long rubber cord. See ya in a couple weeks!

Cheers!

What better way to top that uncorked wine bottle than with a special Wine Stopper like this. All of these, with the exception of the second one from the right, are made with hollow beads, in rich colors, and a variety of decoration.

Study in Texture

One of my favorite things ....one color, multiple textures. This is probably a little easier to do with clears as they seem to be the glass that's available in more textures. The salmon area is a pair of Rhodocrocites, a semi -precious gem stone often found in jewelry pieces. The open area has 2 Lamp worked glass bead disks suspended from copper wire.

Rings & Things....

With the snow coming back today I definitely need something

pretty to look at....so how about this ring? The bead is a lampworked glass Cosmic Swirl lentil shaped bead. It's laden with silver leaf which is swirled with blue and amber transparent glass and topped with gold adventurine dots. It sits in a sterling silver ring shank made by artist Kate Mckinnon. It's a sturdy piece and quite different than your usual rings. Enjoy, and may the snow melt quickly!

Color Me Cobalt

Can you tell that Cobalt is probably my favorite color? The richness in this blue just cries out for the sunniest room in the house. This blue is made by Chicago Art Glass right here in Wisconsin, unfortunately the last I heard they have suspended their production. Too bad as they have the most amazing combinations of colors. I wish I had stocked up. They also make tiles and jewels, such as the Sun face in the center of the piece. I love including them as they add a little whimsy to the project.

Lentil Bracelet

Todays offering is a bracelet with Lampworked lentil shaped beads. This shape uses a brass lentil press. They come in various sizes as some people like to make very large lentils to use as focal beads. Myself, I prefer the smaller version. The beads were made from the darkest transparent Amber shade and an Olive green transparent. At the center, a very thin band of Silver Leaf and Fine Silver mesh was wrapped at the convergence of the two colors. Also present, are some disk beads, two of which have been acid etched to provide a little contrast. The 3 Fine Silver beads in this bracelet were made from Fine Silver Clay in a most interesting way. The donut shapes are actually Cherrios that I used as my base, and then painted about 10 coats of clay paste over the entire surface. Each coat had to dry before proceeding to the next. I particularly like the irregular shape they provide, specially in contrast with the smooth glass beads. When fired the cherrio burns out in the kiln and the shell of the bead is left. There are Champagne Freshwater Pearls as well as a Green Garnet and teardrop -shaped Garnet in the dangle.

Heavy Metal Series

These earrings are part of the Heavy Metal Series I started last summer. They are completed with that favorite glass of mine, Dark Silver Plum. It's probably hard to tell in this photograph, but this glass has a pewter-like appearance with the capabilites of changing to many metallic colors. The wires are in Fine Silver (.999) and handmade by me also. Lightweight pieces for those who "like to put it out there"! I'm working on some beads right now that will have shards in this color. Stay tuned for more on that later.

Stained Glass too

Making unique jewelry, is not the only thing that consumes my time....it seems glass in several forms suits my fancy. This piece is a small window in which I like to combine flat glass and my Lampwork beads, as well as various flat gem stones. Texture is also important in my work, and as a result, I enjoy combining the rough with the smooth. Color is good....but color and texture, well now we have something to talk about. This piece contains 3 Brazilian Agates, as well as one of my Lampwork disk beads, suspended from copper wire. It's a piece I would categorize in my Landscape series.

Well...that went so well I thought I'd try again. This piece has an option of two toggle closures. It has two strands of Serpentine, a light and dark green, as well as a strand of small sterling beads. The main strand consists of 3 clear hollow glass beads that have added glass frit in wonderful hues of amber, wine and cobalt. The four lentil beads on each side are in transparent shades of steel green and the palest amber. They have been decorated with either Fine silver mesh or a stringer of dark silver plum glass which lends a metallic look. This is one of my favorite glasses as the more it's heated the more colors come through. Colors like purple, blue, bronze,and hints of green, all in a metallic palate. The spacers between the hollow beads were made from Fine Silver clay and then fired in the kiln. There are also Freshwater Pearls in copper and champagne.

Green Garnet & Glass Flower

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to my first posting. The piece in the picture was made by me, with varegated faceted Green or Grossler Garnet and Sterling Silver beads. The bail, or the piece that the bead hangs from, is made from Fine Silver wire that has been flamed to form the little balls at the ends, and then formed into a bail. It has been dipped in liver of sulphur to give it a gentle light gold patina. The glass bead is from dark Amber tranparent glass with a layer fo silver leaf and Sea Pearl glass frit. The petals were made from Light Transparent brown glass.

Blogs are new to me and I don't know how much writing I'll actually do, but it's nice to have a venue to display new pieces.