Bead of the Day 10/8

Today's bead of the day is this beautiful Botanical IV - Mixed Metal and Glass Pendant by KimVGlass

To see more of Kim's lampwork beads and other Fire Divas creations check out our weekly promotional thread on Etsy!

Bead of the Day - October 7

Today's Bead of the Day is by DorsetHillBeads. It is this beautiful Going Green focal:

This focal has silvered ivory stringer to create a flowing sand effect, and the etching really makes it look like a treasure plucked right off the beach! Too bad we can't actually find beautiful handmade lampwork beads on the beach...but we can find lots of incredible glass art in DorsetHillBeads' Etsy shop, and in the Fire Diva Etsy Promo Thread!

Bead of the Day, 10/6

There were SO many beads to choose from today, and even more coming! But I picked out a favorite already. It's a Reiki Charged Heart by teasebeads. The colors are amazing, and I love the contrast of the encased copper butterfly ~ just stunning! Check out her shop for even more heart-shaped focals, and you can even pick up a a pretty satin & ribbon cord for your pretty new heart.

10/5 Bead of the Day

Today's bead of the day is a shape that I simply adore: the looooong, skinny focal. It is made by Cherine of Flamecrazy. Check it out:




You can see more long skinny beauties (and other fantastic shapes) in Cherine's shop on Etsy. And... as always, you can see what the Divas are up to in our Etsy promotion thread, Got Glass?.

Fire Diva at Artfire Interview - Barb Reed of Rivers Edge Glass

Glass & me –The first time I saw lampwork beads was at this funky little place in WI that had this great scrap metal yard art all over their yard that the husband did. His wife had this cute little hobbit like building for her studio. She did a lot of spinning and weaving and had gotten into lampworking also. We watched her making beads for a while – I was really impressed. Later that year I was in a local stained glass store for some Christmas shopping and noticed they offered a beginning one day lampwork class. After thinking about it I signed up – and was hooked! That was about 4 1/2 years ago.

I work on a hot head so unless I’m feeling incredibly patient I tend to work small. My style – I don’t think it’s anything too original. I tend toward different kinds of dot beads and lately have been playing with reduction frit reactions. I think many of my organic attempts look like a big pile of mush so I don’t do a lot of them. I’ve also been playing around with disc beads and shapes and some dreadlock beads.

In the next year – let’s see. I have a new cricket torch that I haven’t set up yet – need to do some remodeling in my work space (maybe even turn it into an official studio not just a corner of the basement) like getting a gas line to that end of the room and better ventilation. So hopefully that gets done soon and I’ll be trying some new stuff – maybe working a bit bigger and maybe playing with some of the silver glass.

In 5 years – hopefully still making (better) beads, maybe design another tool or two, still enjoying glass and the wonderful friends I’ve made thru this journey.

One selling tip – online –have good pictures! On Artfire – hmm I’ve been selling more button mandrels than beads on AF, but I do get lots of views. My daughter posted some pictures (and a link) of my dread beads on a dread forum and I’ve gotten a lot of views and some sales thru that. I think posting in some of the daily threads helps and also offering advice on the help forum if you know the answer.

You can see more of Barb's work at her Artfire Shop Rivers Edge Glass

Fire Divas Gossip Column

Good morning everyone. It's another week of exciting Fire Divas gossip! The most exciting was Laurie of Isinglass winning the Art Bead Scene contest ! Way to go Laurie! Now for this week's gossip:

Glass Addictions beads were featured in SEVEN treasuries and I found some cool new things on etsy because of all those treasuries.

LA Jewelry Designs has a free shipping offer for this weekend only! You will need to go read the details to get that awesome deal!

Eileen over at Dorset Hill Beads has another tough Thursday Theme for this week. Guessing is free and you could win something at the end of the month!

The Mermaid's Tale has a new puppy!

Maybeads celebrates the fiery colors of the season in her Friday on Fire feature.

Marcy used to be cool and was almost famous. Intrigued? Me too! But I think Marcy is still cool and definitely famous!

Holly shares why she's a "fussy girl" (HER words, not mine!) and the pitfalls of shortcuts.

Lara has me SO jealous! She opened a decorated box filled with an super awesome new glass. If you want to know what it is, you better go read about it.

Patty was super busy this week prepping for an art show, but she took time out of her busy schedule to show some of the new pieces she's taking and to give tips on prepping for shows.

The Blue Between has some stunning eye candy to share for the week

Tease Beads has been playing with copper shapes. Why? I guess you will have to go read why, what and how!

Janel did a very in depth and informative expose on our own Holly! I learned shocking details I never knew before. Definitely a Must Read Blog post.

Susan is going to change your life! Seriously. Go read it. Now.

If this isn't enough Fire Divas gossip to satisfy your need to know, you can read more on this week's Fire Divas thread.

Bead of the Day 10-03-09

What a darling little puppy! And the perfect way to celebrate someone's special day :) Maybeads makes the cutest critters - always guaranteed to put a smile on your face! You can find more of her work on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5815987 and you can always see what's new with the Fire Divas by checking out the weekly 'Got Glass' thread in the Etsy forums. http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6299058&page=1

It's a Winner

Congrats and Kudos to our fellow Diva, Laurie of Isinglass Design (a/k/a glassbead on Etsy) for winning the Art Bead Scene's jewelry contest for September.

This necklace was her winning design and an interpretation of a Kandinsky painting called Improvisation #23. You can read about the painting here.



Laurie, we're all so proud of you!!!

Bead of the Day 10/1

Today's bead of the day is Column of Blue by DorsetHillBeads. Not only does the shape and color of the bead attract the eye, but the silvered Ivory stringer dot just "pops" and draws you in!

To see more of DorsetHillBeads lampwork beads and other Fire Divas creations check out our weekly promotional thread!