Beautiful Beads

 

What does it take to make a beautiful bead?  My guess is that beauty is in
the eye of the beholder, kind of like love and relationships.  Some people
like certain colors, designs, shapes, etc.  Other people are attracted to
certain themes, like butterflies or flowers.

Like most artists I know, I started learning the glass trade by viewing other artist's works and trying to duplicate the style.  One style I really liked was flowers/floral beads.  I made them for a short time and was happy with my results.  I even came up with my own, unique florals called Halo Beads (at the right) which consisted of a long tapered cylinder with a "halo" of vines and flowers around the center.  Very pretty, I thought.

After a short while, I stopped making florals for a couple of reasons.  Number one, I moved onto experimenting with other techniques and
designs, and number two, it seemed like there were so many other artists out there making floral beads.

Not too long ago, a good friend of mine (you know who you are!), asked if I made floral beads.  It has been years since I made any florals besides my implosion pendants (at right), but decided it would be nice to go and revisit an old technique.

 I have decided that when I get back on the torch (when this Arizona
heat lets me) I will try my hand again at making florals.  I am still going to be making all my other signature beads - Dragon Eyes, other eye pendants, faerie beads, liquid swirls, butterflies etc., but it will be nice to see how I will do with the floral theme after so much time away.  I hope that I can come up with some really beautiful beads that someone out there will love.