Variety is the spice of life

I've been making lampwork beads for two years now (with a couple of breaks for moving workshops) and I have yet to find my signature style. Does this matter? I don't think so, not at the moment, anyway. I am having so much fun playing and experimenting, I'm not quite ready to commit to a certain style.



My latest batch of beads are certainly proof of this! The top bead is made with Aurae, still my glass of the moment. It amazes me that it can look so different, simply by changing the base glass. And, lets face it, even using the same base glass is no guarantee that it'll look the same each time...this is one fickle glass.


The second bead is yet another moon, still one of my favourite styles. There are so many different ways of making moon beads, it never gets boring. I love the way the moon in this bead appears to glow, whatever the light. Just like the 'real' moon, in fact!

The third bead is fresh, zingy and fun. I don't make many beads in this style, but when I do, I love the results. I've been playing a lot with different colour combinations lately, so expect to see more of this sort of thing!

The final set of beads is a new style for me. I've made organic beads before, but not as a set. I just don't have the patience, as my Hothead torch is sloooow. I do love this organic, pebbly style, though, so I will make more.

Then of course there are my spacey beads...and my gem nugget sets...so many different beads so make and so little time!

Yup, you've guessed it - these beads are now up on ebay.

Inspiration...

More inspiration from nature...two hydrangea bushes in front of my house are in bloom and the colours are so beautiful, I had to try and make a bead in the same colours! Half the fun of creating a bead is looking at all my glass rods and deciding which ones to use. For the base of the bead, I used this gorgeous semi-transparent mauve and I think it's worked perfectly, along with the swirls of blue, pink and lilac.

I have just listed the bead, along with some others, on ebay, but I'm so tempted to keep it! Chris (hubby) says, "You can always make another one..." and technically I can...but the wonderful - and sometimes frustrating - thing about beadmaking is that you can rarely make two beads exactly the same. Which is great for anyone who buys one, because you know that your bead will be truly individual!

Broke

Not me, but these two lovely beads!

Every now and then it happens - you're taking the bead off the mandrel, cleaning it or even just looking at it and suddenly it's in pieces. I've been very lucky up until this point, in that it's only ever happened to beads I don't care about. Unfortunately, I love these two! The first broke in three pieces and the second has a chip out of the top. Why did it happen? Sometimes it can be down to different glasses being incompatible with each other or there too much silver on the bead, it may be pressed too thin or waved around in the cold air for too long when you take it out of the flame.

Whatever the reason, I'm not happy about it. I'm really enjoying making spacey beads and I particularly love these - I can spend ages looking at them and I see something new every time. They are made with a black glass that reacts with silver, pure silver foil and silver rich glass - Aurae (again!) and another one called Triton.

Still, nothing a bit of glue won't fix, and now I'm just going to have to keep them both...hee hee!

More beads on the 'Bay

Pink is my favourite colour. Not girlie pastels, but lovely hot magenta and fuchsia...so I was really pleased with this pink set. Musn't keep it, though! It can be hard sometimes to let go of certain beads, but there are only a couple I've regretted selling. Usually I know straightaway when a bead is a 'keeper'.

I love this etched moon bead, too. I've used a new olive green glass, which is just lovely for organic beads like this one. The bottom bead different for me, I'm not normally a brown sort of person, but I really like this transparent sepia and I think it looks even better with the Aurae. I just can't stop using this glass...

All are up on ebay right now!

Feeling summery!

My beadmaking definitely seems to be affected by the weather - which, living in England means I make a lot of grey, stormy beads covered in raindrops! We've had quite a few sunny days lately, though, so I've made some more cheerful beads, including this bright, sunny set and the blue, cloudy sky beads. Oh, and the inevitable rainbow...

I make a lot of these coloured nugget beads; they are some of my favourites. I love experimenting with swirling different colours together and it always looks completely different once it is encased in clear glass. I think another reason why I adore these beads is because I am a huge fan of gemstones and they remind me so much of little sparkling gems.

I have listed these beads and several more on ebay so pop over and have a look if you're interested.