More work from the Outside the Lines Gallery

A short pendant with Freshwater pearls, Bronze chain, and a Fine Silver Focal piece.

This piece doubles as a necklace or comes apart to reassemble in 3 complete bracelets. It's made up of clear hollow glass beads with metallic glass shards that have been laid over fine silver mesh to create a bit of texture. I very much like the rolled edges of the shards and do my best to try and achieve that effect. There are a couple Fine silver handmade beads as well and the clasps are Fine silver and sterling wire.

Artists Reception at Outside the Lines Gallery

I'm back from my home town of Dubuque, Iowa where I attended the Opening of a new show at Outside the Lines Art Gallery. I'll be posting some of the work I had there as well as photos from the reception. I was able to connect with 2 of my very good friends for the weekend so there was double the pleasure! They helped with the photography as well as the good time. So the whole weekend was a terrific success. Here's the first edition of some of the pieces that are in the show through the end of June. Enjoy!

Just a Couple More....

Thought I would post a couple more pieces before heading out of town on Friday.  You'll have to wait until I come back to see all the pieces available. The earrings are sterling stirrup style with Lampwork glass beads made with glass frit and silver leaf. The bracelet has my new favorite color glass rod which is of course called Sapphire. It looks beautiful on Hollow style beads like those in the photo. Chunky Lapis and a handmade fine silver bead pair up nicely with the bronze chains and sterling tulip beads. Enjoy and come see me if you're in Dubuque.

Jewelry Show at Outside the Lines Gallery

If you're in the Dubuque, Iowa area Friday May 2 stop in at Outside the Lines Gallery  http://www.otlag.com/   in Cable Car Square. There's a new show opening featuring the work of 10 jewelry artists and one mosaic artist. The Opening Reception is from 7-9 pm on Friday night. Since I'm one of the featured artists, I'll be in Dubuque for the reception. It will be nice to be in my Hometown  and see lots of old friends and relatives. So if you're looking for something different to do come on down and check out the beautiful work of all these artists, I'd love to see some familiar faces. In the meantime here's a little sneak peek at one of the new pieces I've  created for this show.

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 Fine silver metal clay textured focal piece with riveted lampwork glass bead, hanging from chains and freshwater pearls.

 Back view

Merry Christmas from Our House to Yours....

Since Christmas Cards were a little difficult for me this year, I decided to send my greetings this way. I hope you are all surrounded by family and that you hold them close to your heart at this time of year as well all year long. Please enjoy the Christmas Walk my family took on our early Christmas get together on Lake Thompson and may the Joys of the season be with you all year long. Click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Ben, Lauren and Mick and Emmet and Joel above with Mick.

Snowy Mick

Joel , Lauren and Ben

Ben and Emmet

One of my Mom's Hummels that my Dad gave her, now graces my mantel for the season, along with some of her carved Santas that were made by the one of the  Pediatricians she worked for.

Emmet loves the snow, can you tell?

Recently Completed Window

Photos from a recently completed window I did for a special commission. I hope to have more photos when the window is installed. I will also have more info of on the process as well. Right now you can see the process on my Face book page by clicking the FB tab on the right of this blog. The top photo is the complete window which is about 3 1/2 ft long  x 13" high. The other photos are close-ups of each section. Hoping to add more soon.

Need Something Special for Valentines Day?

https://www.facebook.com/#!/ArtistreeGallery

Check out the Artistree Gallery Page on Facebook for some ideas for your sweetie. I have my stained glass and glass bead and silver jewelry there. They have a wonderful space there with more than 20 local artists contributing their time and work. Some of the photos on the Facebook page are my jewelry, along with other artists. The Gallery is located in down town Land 'O Lakes, WI. Give it a look see....I know you'll enjoy it.

Great Big Glass Bubble......about to become a shard

This very large glass bubble, which was blown with a small hollow tube, is about to become glass shards. You've probably heard me talk about them as I like to incorporate some into my glass beads. Well this is how they start out, once the bubble is complete, and it can be of just plain glass or silver glass, or glass with silver leaf added, the bubble is broken and you have these nice large pieces of paper thin glass to add to your beads. This is done very carefully since the glass is so thin that overheating will cause it to just ball up. Picking up the shard with a pair of tweezers, helps to hold it steady and to steer clear of the direct flame. But both the shard and the bead area you wish to connect with must be heated gently for both pieces to attach. This particular shard is courtesy of Joe at Avenue Beads. He makes very large bubbles which in turn yield nice large pieces to work with. Pretty cool huh?   See Joe's work at   http://www.avenuebeads.com

Mentoring Students....the last stages

Ildiko finishes up tinning her piece. She holds the soldering iron in one hand and the solder in the other keeping both low to her work area. In the close, up you can see see her progress as the tape goes from copper to shiny silver.

Anna now gets to release her piece from the board to look at her results while holding it up to the light. I think she looks pleased. In the photo below you can see her choice of textured glass more clearly.

 And now Ildiko gets to do the same. This is of course the most exciting moment. After both girls have tinned both sides of their work, they will proceed to "laying a bead" over the area they have just tinned. This can be a tricky part and requires lots of practise, but they both did a lot of concentrating and the results were great.

Mentoring Students .......Copper Foiling

This day both Anna and Ildiko were at the studio ready to begin taping their pieces. They started with a sticky sided tape made of very thin copper foil. Each piece must be entirely taped, and burnished. The copper tape will allow the pieces to hold together when we solder them and will also give them a strong bond. The girls need to have each piece clean and free of glass dust for the tape to adhere.

Anna burnishes the piece of tape she has just applied. I ussually use very high cost tools for this process like a wooden clothespin or wine cork. This will make the tape smooth and closely adhered to the glass.

 Ildiko uses a Foiler tool to help wind the narrow tape around the edge of the glass.

  Once the piece has been foiled the girls can begin to tin their work. This process involves the use of solder which is part tin and part lead, and a soldering iron to melt the solder onto the copper tape which has been thoroughly fluxed. The flux will help the solder to adhere to the the tape.
We're getting closer to our goal and of course when we can lift the piece off the the board and see how the light projects through the piece can be an exciting moment. Remember to click on the photos for a larger view. Until next time....