After months away from the torch the weather is finally cooling down thanks to hurricane Sandy. I decided yesterday would be the day I would light my flame and melt some glass. I turned on the kiln to begin its warm up, brushed off the dried up leaves (dont ask) and the cobwebs and dust from my bench, got the music playing, propped open the garage door just enough to let in some fresh air but not be exposed to the wind gusts outside. I made myself a yummy berry smoothie, turned on the fan and plugged in the ventilation....... the time has come to torch! I turned on the propane..........hissssssssssssssss! Oh no! I checked the regulator to make sure it was screwed on tightly, turned the propane back on and hisssssssssssss! The valve on the propane tank is leaking! *Heavy Sigh* aaaaand.......... thats a wrap, shut it all down! :o/ I will live to fire up the torch another day!

A cause near and dear to me....

As some of you know I have a very special place in my heart for homeless dogs and spend alot of time on facebook advocating for them. My girl BB was rescued at 8 weeks old, 1 day away from euthanasia, by a wonderful rescue called A Second Chance Puppies and Kittens Rescue. I was thrilled and a little nervous to be invited to join them at their Autumn Pawfest! I dont really do shows with my beads and jewelry but for this cause I could'nt imagine saying no. Now I am busy gearing up for this event, Im hoping to fire up my torch and get a few more beads made to include in my booth so wish for some cool days and an active muse for me will you?! If you happen to be in the area I would Love to meet you, maybe you'll end up with a furry critter or some glassy goodness!

Fire Divas Show Off October's Glass Beads

The days get shorter and  things just get... busier! All of the Fire Divas are feeling the effects of Fall!

Sonja of Silver River Glass Work has been feeling the pressure at her day job, filling in for a co-worker which leaves precious little time for torching glass beads. So she has set some goals for herself. Sonja is concentrating on hollow beads and scroll work as a way to focus her flame sessions! Great idea Sonja and the results are lovely:

Eggplant and Turquoise Scroll-work Glass Bead Set

Sonja also reports that she is so happy to have reclaimed her metalworking space from her son's snake! She plans to add more metal work projects to her shop soon! The snake had no comment on new accommodations.

Kids and shows are taking up Amy Sims time these days. She is most excited about her new leather bracelet designs that are selling like hotcakes!

Floral Lampwork Glass Bead and Leather Bracelet

Amy's next show is October 25th in East Hampton and is a fundraiser for Breast Cancer Awareness. You can read about it on her blog.


Cindy of Cindy Lynne Glass is always busy chasing her pittie pup pack around but she's found time to work with more copper and making cuffs. She was most excited to show off a new focal glass bead:

Twist of Fate Dichroic Glass Focal

Susanne  of Bab's Beads is thrilled to be finding herself behind her torch now that Fall is here. Isn't this bracelet just gorgeous?

Flowers Lampwork Beads & Sterling Bracelet

Lara Lutrick is tripping ... road tripping that is... She and Lori Bergmann took a road trip to all their favorite glass and jewelry suppliers recently. The hit Frantz Artglass, Shipwreck Beads and Double Helix all in one day! Lara has also been busy doing inventory for tax season... Oy! What a task that is! Luckily, something elegant is always coming out of her torch.

 Red & Silvered Ivory Glass Bead Set

Lara is celebrating her five year Etsy-versary but... the sale ends TODAY... so get over there soon!

Rose of Spawn of Flame has also found herself very busy at the day job but is very excited to show off her new "Candy Corn" set of beads:

Candy Corn Lampwork Glass Bead Spacers

And Holly of Holly's Folly Glass is happy to be back at the torch. Her current favorite bead is Punkin - a mini kitty with a leaf tail made from Tangerine Sparkle Glass.


That's what most of the Diva's are up to in October. We hope you will think of us when shopping for your holiday gifts!

Divas Getting Ready for Fall

Hard to believe we are halfway through September! The Fire Divas are all busier than ever!

The Divas are so excited that our very first fearless leader, Cindy of Cindy Lynne Designs has returned to the team! You are going to love getting to know her and her fun beads again! Cindy lives in the hot state of Florida and doesn't get to torch much in summer but always keeps a stash of beads back to list in her shop or to work on her beautiful copper pieces.

 Copper and Lampwork Necklace by Cindy Lynne

Sonja of Silver River Glassworks is focusing her energies on filling her Etsy shop this fall and taking the emphasis off doing shows. She is working on  a series of sets that will have two colors and three or four different designs with a pair of each color combo as part of the set. 

Tangerine Dainty Flowers Set by Silver River Glass

Susanne of Babs Beads and Design is glad the hot summer is coming to an end and she too is getting her shop ready for fall. 

Fall Leaf by Babs Beads and Design

Amy of Amy Sims Designs has a big show coming up next weekend!  She is most excited about her new Raku Flower Bead: 

Raku Flower by Amy Sims Designs

Lara Lutrick has done three bead shows this year and is making a lot of production beads (i.e. beads with silver wire, beads with silvered ivory stringer) in a rainbow of colors. Her favorite type of bead to make this time of year are Halloween beads, like these:

 Halloween Tabs by Lara Lutrick

 And Holly of Holly's Folly ~ Glass has been bitten by animals.... animal prints on glass beads that is:

Animal Print Beads on Charm Bracelet by Holly's Folly

 The Divas all hope you are enjoying your fall!!! Please be sure to check our Fan Page for the latest glass bead designs from the Divas!

Evolution of a Bead Style by a Bead Artist, Lara Lutrick

This blog post will talk about how the bead on the left evolved into the bead on the right (with a few beads in-between).

This last week I attended the International Society of GlassBeadmaker’s (ISGB) annual convention in Bellevue Washington. This was the 20^th year anniversary and the theme was Evolution. We had several presenters showing the evolution of their work. I have been meaning to show an evolution of a particular favorite bead of mine since I started blogging, but keep putting if off. Listening to their presentations has motivated me to share the evolution these beads. 

The bead on the left above is the earliest photo of a bead I made with intense black (IB) webbing. I know I made some earlier, but I got my camera around this time. Jim Smircich made this effect popular. Sadly I could not find a current website for him, but you can still buy a book by Jim Kervin on his techniques multiple places, just look for the title:The Classic Bead Shapes of Jim Smircich and his Amazing Control of Heat.  I took a class from Jim and also one from Kimberly Affleck where I learned more about using IB.  Frequently done on ivory, I liked to use IB on color as seen in the copper green and sunrise coral below.  (The initial photo above is the very first sample rod I had of opal yellow (OY). The bead was made with the original ½ rod sample we were given when it first came out. I got a great little bit of pink on the top of the bead (that original OY was very reactive.)

As you can see the IB is not spreading much. I was working on a hot head (HH) at this time and the heat was not really enough to get the IB to spread like I wanted it to. I also suspect I was using too much IB.  I did get some great color on that coral bead though!

At the same time I also made the beads above These beads have a twisty over silvered ivory bead and twisted with a rod of manufactured aventurine blue. I liked the blue/green reactions I was getting with these beads a lot. I didn’t made too many of these because someone when I asked for a critique said the transparent brown areas looked like worm holes. This is one of those beads that I think about trying again now that I have a few more years under the belt.

I found the photo above when searching for beads to use on this post and had forgotten this bead of intense black and white over silvered ivory.  I think this maybe a twisty, but I cannot tell, it also maybe blobs of glass melted in. I wanted to get the great spreading of IB over the bead to get that really lacy patterned that I saw in others’ beads, but on the HH I just couldn’t do it. 

One day I picked up the very tiny last piece of original OY I had. It was maybe an inch or two long and I wanted to use it was not sure what to do with it. Given the neat colors I was getting out of my IB beads and from that original bead I wanted to use it again, so I made a twisty out of a thin layer of IB and OY. I put it on top of an ivory bead with silver leaf and out of the kiln came my favorite bead I had ever made up until that point. The colors I got were amazing. Check out the pink flush on the OY and the blues lines in the bottom. Not knowing that all future batches of OY would not be the same, I sold this bead. Oh how I wish I still had this bead. Every bead I made in this style after this bead was an attempted to recreate this bead and they were not a success. This was one of the first beads that people asking how I made it.

I moved onto my current torch a mini CC and this bead style did not work. The heat of the torch was so much hotter than the HH and the OY and IB twisty would disappear as the ivory glass encroached over the top. While still interesting these beads didn’t have enough color for me. Very disappointed that I couldn’t get the same look on my mini cc I thought about what to do. 

 After taking a class from Michael Barley I decided to use cobalt blue glass with silver foil/leaf on top of it to create the reaction I liked but keep that base glass from spreading up over the twisty. This was a great solution. It added more color to my bead and was a popular style of my work. I even wrote a tutorial on how to do this bead for The Glass Bead ; summer 2008 (the publication of the ISGB). The top left bead is the bead made in that tutorial. If you are an ISGB member, you can see the tutorial at this link: ISGB MEMBER TUTORIALS.

About two years prior to the tutorial I was starting to use the wonderful silver glasses from Double Helix (DH). I got hooked on their rainbow colors and iridescent finishes. I made beads with the OY and IB twisties over Kronos (as I liked the blue color I was getting from Cobalt) and I was not happy with the results. There was too much blue and it fumed the OY darker than I wanted. I was using the DH glass mostly in small beads and with ivory and I liked the reaction I was getting between the silvered glass and the ivory.

This is an early set of Gaia and light ivory.

One day I thought I should just made my twisty for the surface of the bead out of silvered glass so I wouldn’t have to use my leaf/foil on the base bead and then I could switch the base back to ivory as in my original beads. I found long beads easier to make out of ivory as it is so soft and the glass moves down the mandrel better when I let heat and gravity help create the long bead. The bead above was the first bead I made with my new technique. I liked the reaction I got from the ivory and the glow from the silvered glass. I did think that the dark ivory reaction was overwhelming the bead, so I moved to light ivory (Vetrofond).

I made this bead with the light ivory and I was hooked. I really liked the little cells created as the silvered glass (Gaia) reacted with the ivory.  I received nice compliments on the internet lampworking boards about this bead and from Jed whom creates the DH glass. I was really pleased with the kudos and with the style of beads I was creating.

This is a gallery of similar beads in this style. From top to bottom and left to right: gaia, nyx, psyche and gaia. I don’t know how I got these purples from Gaia in the last bead, but every bead since this has been an attempted to replicate that bead. This is another bead I wish I never sold.

It is hard to believe I have been making this style since 2006, it doesn’t seem like that long. I have moved to other styles and don’t make these that often, but did make many for the convention last weekend and several people got some in trade or purchased and it made my day that people like my style of beads. I had a lot of people say that these are the beads they think of when they think of me and I do too.

In 2007 when this type of bead bead was still fairly new for me there was a call for entries from ISGB for a new collaboration exhibit. This was one of the first collaborations my dad and I did and this was our entry for Connextions.

As for the first bead on the top of this post (another view of the same bead here), it was the bead I made specifically for and was accepted the ISGB Perspectives exhibition in 2009. It traveled over the US and went to the Kobe Lampwork Glass Museum in Kobe Japan. It was featured in the museum’s magazine: LAMMAGA.  Guess what? This bead I saved and did not sell. 

I really like thinking about how a design came about and I can see a direct line between the two original beads and I hope you can too. If you read this far, thank you so much. 

Busy Days of Summer

The Divas are a busy bunch as always!

Holly has had a prolific month and is planning a sale for her fans. She's been playing with lots of new designs and this is one of her faves:

Sonja of Silver River Glass Works has been very busy with family. Her hubby and daughters have kept her busy. One highlight was her daughter's grad party. Sonja is awaiting the start of school so she can get back to her torch.

Raspberry Pink and Silver Glass Bead Set

 Amy Sims and Lara Lutrick got to meet up at the big glass gathering in Bellvue, WA.

Amy tells us about her summer:

Just got back from the gathering and now getting ready to go to Tanglewood to hear my brother ( he is with the Boston Symphony Orchestra). School starts on August 13th- I should be back to creating soon after that. :)

 European Charm Big Hole Purple Dot Bead

Lara tells us all about The Gathering:

Had a great time and it was so much fun. I have a lot of inspiration afterwards.  I too took Robert Dancik's class. It was great. I"m thinking of new ideas and new techniques to incorporate my work. My head is in a buzz.

Lara also did a great blog post about the evolution of one of her designs. You glass heads will LOVE it! 

Black White & Purple European Charm Beads

The Divas do keep posting new work to their fan page... be sure to check it out!

The Divas Are Still on Fire!

Looong time, no post! It seems the Divas have all moved on... No, we're all still glass fiends! But we all seem to be just a little to busy to do all this online marketing all the time. Really! It seems there's no time to torch artisan glass beads because we're always promoting artisan glass beads! Divas not happy!

But, we are still here... each of us doing our thing and plugging away! And...there are new photos on the fan page to admire! ;-)

Here's what some of us have been up to:

Susanne Folin / Babs Bead & Design: Busy spring. :) Yesterday I came back from a two day class with Corina Tettinger. Great fun! Looking forward to coming home to my torch, but first I have a few weeks vacation.

Flower & Pearls Lampwork Necklace

Lara Lutrick: I have been making beads like crazy for the ISGB Gathering show. I'm really looking forward to the Gathering in my back yard. I signed up for another Bead Soup Swap (EEEK, beads need to be mailed soon), Lori Bergmann and I made 2 trips to Seattle this week. One to buy glass and one to return glass (so silly, two trips).

 Purple Rain #2

 
Amy Lange Sims / Amy Sims Designs: It's summer, so I've been busy with the kids activities. We are all going to the Gathering, so I' really excited about that! I started on a floral series a few weeks ago.

 Watercolor Flowers

Holly Dare / Holly's Folly Glass: I've been really busy traveling to be with my sister who is ill with lung cancer. Being with family has had to take priority. I've hand raised another dozen ducklings this spring and have been really busy with a diverse team of artisans on Etsy called PromoFrenzy. The team is all participating in Etsy's Christmas in July sale and really excited about it!

Curved Shore

Lampwork Bead of the Day for March 26

Happy Monday!  Today's bead is from Rosemarie Hanus of Spawn of Flame:

Black 11mm Silvered Ivory Bead Set - Spawn of Flame

This black and ivory set is another fine example of Rose's favorite style of beads, which are so lovely and consistent that you can find them in a great variety of colors in her ArtFire shop.  She also has an Etsy shop, and takes custom requests, so be sure to check her shops out for your design needs.  Remember: Rose offers a 15% discount on Beads of the Day, so be sure to get that deal for the next 24 hours!

Lampwork Bead of the Day: March 21

The first spring flowers are showing here, the birds are looking for mates and my cat has gone quite crazy. Spring is here!

Now I long for joyful colours and patterns. Like in this set from Susan Lambert:

In The Garden, Lampwork Beads Set

They make me want to go to a garden party!

Visit Susans' shop on Etsy to learn more.