Hot Summer, Even Hotter Studio!

Hi All,

Summer is finally here since it seems like the temperature is going to be over 100 and stay there for a while.  Being Arizona, it may be there thru September!  (oh, hope not!)

I will be heading back to the torch this weekend even though I don't have any air conditioning in the studio (yet!).   I have been honored to receive a personal email request to do a tutorial in a glass magazine (don't want to reveal it yet, just in case) on how I make my unique glass eyes which I then place into pendants and beads.  It will be exciting, altho hot and sweaty, to complete this project.

This should be an intense tutorial, being separated into 3 parts - - how I make my iris stringer, how I create the layered eye and how I then place the eye into a finished piece.

It took me months of experimenting to come up with the best design possible for the unique and realistic look that I imagined it to be.  I hope many glass artists find my tutorial useful and create their own awesome, realistic eyes!

Branching Out

    Being an emerging artist in this day and age, not to mention in this economy, is a tough one.  Each day, I think of ways to "branch out" and expand my art as well as my exposure.  It is sometimes daunting, often time-consuming and always brain-racking.
   The best way that I have been able to imagine this, which helps put some things in perspective for me, is to imagine myself and my glass career as a tree.  In the beginning, I was a little sapling, with maybe just a couple of leaves which represented my very naive and limited experience with the craft.  Over time, my tree grew and started to branch out in different directions.  Now that I have been in the art for a while, I have many branches with many leaves.  There are even some fruits beginning to sprout.
   The question is:  Which branch or branches do you take, and at what time?  I have many "branches" which I am eager to follow, but which to take now and which later?  There are some that aren't achievable now because of lack of equipment, materials, etc., so those are easy to avoid.  But which branch is the right one for me at this moment?  Which one might bare ripe fruit?  And, if a particular branch is avoided at this time, will the ripe fruit at the end of that branch be rotten and spoiled by the time I reach it?
   Here's to hoping that all of us, sooner rather than later, reach that fruit baring branch!

A Little Charity Work this Holiday Weekend . . .

Here are all the beads I made recently (as well as some that aren't as recent) which I am donating to my favorite charity, Beads of Courage.
I hope everyone enjoyed the 3-day weekend and also took a few minutes (at least) to remember all those who have sacrificed to defend our beautiful country.

All the best to everyone!

Jeannie

Experiments in Silver Colors

Hi All!

Been working on some new experimenting (besides the eye thing) and playing around with Iris Gold and Striking Color to create cool, boro-looking silvered beads - - but doing it in soft glass.

I am surprised at some of the effects I am achieving and having much fun with it.  I hope to do more experimenting in the future and make some really unique items!  Most of the beads shown here I am donating to Beads of Courage along with other beads I will be making in the near future.  I also have a plan to make a lot of "stringer" beads - making many different designs, dots, etc. and getting rid of a lot of my stringers I have laying around here.  Those will also go to BOC.

Can't wait to get on the torch again tonight!!

Worked on Eyes again today

Hi All,
I worked on more eyes today.  Some of these may be more difficult than I thought.  Some of these eyes are only supposed to be 2mm round - - now that's teeny!!  Wow!  I think my smallest murrini eye stringer is about 2 or 2.5mm round so that when I go to make the eye, rounding it out would make it more like 3 to 4mm.  Unbelievable!!
Anyway, I will try my best, but for now, the eyes are on hold until I receive my "sequin pins" which I am supposed to use instead of the regular jewelry headpins I currently have been using (those headpins are pretty whimpy and I think that's where I am having trouble melting the eyes to the round shape - - got to be very careful not to melt the pin, too!).  The sequin pins are thicker, I believe - and hopefully a little sturdier.  We will see.  The order shipped out today so I should have them early next week, hopefully.  I will keep you posted.

I will also leave you with a couple of links to cool artists who actually use these types of eyes in their polymer clay sculpture work - - they look awesome!!  So realistic, some of these are, aren't they?  Wow!

http://www.littlepooh.com/
http://www.irresistables.com/category/ashton_drake/

Back at the torch, finally!

Yay!  Finally back on the torch, altho my setup is not yet completed or perfect.  I still have to work on the ventilation/exhaust system - I still don't feel comfortable with that, and definitely don't want to teach any students until it is upgraded.
It's all working well enough for me to torch, tho.  I started torching on Sunday night, got my bubble heart beads finished for Beads of Courage and today I just started working on a new project, doll eyes.  These are small eyes (anywhere from 2 to 6mm in diameter) and used for polymer clay figurines.  I guess they could also be used for sewn dolls, etc., and I may even make larger ones if they start selling.  I have had requests over the last couple of years from people who make dolls and I am hoping this may bring some income my way.  Here's to hoping!!
Until next time!

Such a nice day . . .

Such a beautiful day out here in AZ. It has recently been summer-hot here, but yesterday and today it has cooled down. It's in the 70's, breezy and partly cloudy. Oh such a lovely day! My doors are open, my doggies are snoozing, the house is quiet except for the brief, brisk breezes that whistle through the open doors.
What's missing in this almost perfect picture? My torch! UGH! Still have not completed my new vent hood to I can get back to work. It's getting close, though. Pretty soon I will be able to go back and start melting and molding glass.
I have been thinking a lot about what I will do when I get back to the flame. I want to work on murrini (little slices of glass that have a design or picture in them - above shots), working on developing cool silver-effect beads, small sculptural pieces (animals, faeries and such), implosion beads and marbles, etc. I have a looooonnng list of what I "want" to do and then there's the list of what I have to do - - I really have to match up all my left over rod ends and fuse them back together so that I don't keep getting new fresh, full rods (which will eventually become short, stubby rod ends like all the rest I have). That's a project in itself, probably could last me a few days.
Oh well, we will see when I finally get back to it. I wonder what I'll do first (I am starting to get as giddy as a kid on Xmas morning just thinking about it!)