Snapdragons

Our "past their prime" snapdragons that drew almost as many compliments as the artwork!

Famous sign...

Our famous YEP sign with a glimpse of our "boss" and painter Rodd Umlauf.

Another Successful Summer Art Tour

Hard work does pay off, and I'm happy to report another successful Art Tour is now history , but I thought perhaps you might enjoy a few photos from the sunny days we had. Here is the Gallery entrance where potter Kathy Mitchell is talking to customers.

Last post before the tour....

OK, it's 10pm and I think I have everything covered, photos taken, items tagged, inventories typed....and as I always say, "I'll have what I have".
So this last piece I just finished today and I love how there are several ways to wear it. It's a 36" strand of warm olive freshwater pearls with a clear hollow bead wearing metallic glass shards. Dropped from the bead is a handmade fine silver charm with a leaf pattern. A thin slice of watermelon tourmaline hangs from the toggle clasp with some coin shaped amber.

OK, I'm off!

Tonight's Offering

Here's another one of my favorite's this season. I just had someone refer to this as a raku bead...wish I had thought of that first. It really is reminiscent of a piece of raku pottery with all the metallic colors. The bail is handmade from Fine Silver wire and the charm is also Fine Silver with a raised heart, all suspended on an 18" rubber cord.

Dancing Stars

I recently placed this piece of Stained Glass at the Umlauf Art Studio. I wish the photo would have been a little better, but I have yet to find the perfect method for capturing glass. I wanted the stars to appear as if they were dancing when no one was looking, specially Mr. Man in the Moon. Although I gave his head the slighest tilt so he could keep an eye on them.

SIlver Plum Shard Beads

My most favorite piece this season, is made from clear hollow beads, with dark silver plum glass shards. The more heat you apply the more metallic colors appear. This piece happens to be a convertable ....it wears well as a pendant or converts to 3 bracelets. Freshwater Pearls in several sizes and colors complete this piece. Available at the Umlauf Art Studio for the Northwoods Art Tour this weekend July 25-27.

Silver Oak Leaf

And the last one for the evening, is a Light Amber Hollow decorated with Silver Plum leaves perched on a Fine Silver cone-shaped headpin. It's suspended from a Fine Silver handmade bail with my favorite leaf, the Oak, a sign of strength. Lemon Citrine, Moonstone and Pewter Pearls complete the piece. And you can find it at The Umlauf Art Studio.

Not just beads...

Let's not forget that there's also Stained Glass on the Art Tour. This small window is done in soft smokey gray greens with a touch of rose.It has a glass disk bead that echos the colors of the very special slice of Watermelon Tourmaline in the center. Right next to it is a thin square of Gypsum. Anyone know what that's used for? It has a wonderful appearance of an ice cube. This window can be found at the Umlauf Art Studio.

More Black Nebula

Since the Northwoods Summer Art Tour is coming right up next week end (July 25-27) I'll be posting a few things that are in Galleries in the area. And today I'm posting 3 things since I'll be gone for a couple days. So first up is this soft amber hollow bead with swirls of Black Nebula glass that has turned to swampy blues and greens. There is a Fine Silver swirled charm with it's own raised heart in the middle. The whole thing is suspended from a 24" Sterling snake chain. You can find it at the Umlauf Art Studio in Lake Tomahawk.

Metalic Shard Heart

Yet one more heart for your viewing pleasure....this one is in a bracelet with a double strand of Freshwater pearls. The hook and eye clasp are made from Fine Silver, while the heart has a clear base with fine silver mesh that gently shows through the Deep Silver Plum shard that blooms into many shades of metallic hues, while giving the shard a distinct texture. It's not the easiest thing to capture in a photo, but I have some more things with these beads that I'll be showing later.

And then there were two...

This piece has a light Transparent Amber Lampwork heart, decorated with pewter leaves. The charm is handmade fine silver also with a leaf design. They are both dropped from a strand of faceted, variegated, Green Garnet with a sterling clasp. And it's currently available at the Open Armoire in Three Lakes.

Hearts Galore

Yes , I spent some time this winter on making some voluptuous hearts. This one has a base glass of very light amber, with silver leaf and a silvered glass shard. The silvered shard shows up in shades of blue. It's strung on a strand of Afghani Lapis and a strand of Sterling Hilltribe beads, frosted Sodalite, and Freshwater Pearls. It's available at the Open Armoire in Three Lakes.

Umlauf Art Studio Pieces

I just took some pieces up to the Umlauf Art Studio in downtown Lake Tomahawk. So I think I'll show of few of those pieces this week along with some more that went to the Open Armoire. This canape set was made with a new glass I bought at the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee. It's called Black Nebula, it's what's called a silver glass as it has silver in it's composition. (making it a little more expensive at $5 for one 18" rod) It's actually the glass that the swirls are made of. Hmmm, why is it called Black you say? Well the silver in the glass can be reduced in the flame and then makes some beautiful colors such as the blue & green you see in the piece. I like this glass and you can definitely count on seeing more of it.

Also available at The Open Armoire

This new piece is now availble at The Open Armoire in Three Lakes. It has a fine silver 3 ring bail and circle drop with a long lampwork tube bead made with silver leaf and fine silver mesh. Freshwater Peacock Pearls make a fine finish.

Available Now

This is a brand new piece that is now available at The Open Armoire in Three Lakes. It has 3 strands of olive green peacock pearls, Serpentine, and Sterling Silver beads. The front part of the pendant is actually a bracelet that has 3 Hollow Lampwork beads, as well as 8 pewter colored disks, sterling beads and freshwater pearls.