Lampwork Obssession

Ok, so you decide that you want to buy a lampwork bead for your next necklace. You go looking on the net for that bead, that perfect, one of a kind bead that will just fit your ideas right down to the ground..... my I say, "HA!" You will come away with at least three to start with. Soon, when you look around, your work space is littered with these gorgeous works of art, and you are bewildered. "Where did they all come from?" you mutter to yourself. There must be about twenty of them, right there, and you know there are more, which you have carefully labelled and put away for future use. What happened to that one bead that you were looking for? I can tell you - you found it, and then you found one more, and one more, and...well, no, you really shouldn't spend quite that much on ONE bead, but...JUST one more!

Have you been here? If you haven't, you have not yet contracted Lampwork Bead Lust. Hope you don't, if you haven't; if you do, you will soon be forced to mortgage your home and sell your car. Then you will be down so low, you might even be considering asking for a loan from your in-laws to keep your addiction satisfied. I guarantee you will need to cut up those credit cards.


Now, I am not complaining (although it sounds like it!) about the price of lampworked beads. The artists who make these should get every penny of their purchase price, as each bead is a little work of art in its own right. And these people are TALENTED! No, I am not complaining on the pricetag - I am more worried that I cannot stop buying them! I am hopelessly and completely hooked. I cannot stop myself from going to Etsy and searching for Floral Focal Beads. Or just Focal Beads. Or Organic Focals. I cannot stop myself from going to Ebay and searching for those things all over again. I cannot seem to stop myself from bidding on them, or asking sellers questions about them, or drooling over them. Most of all, I can't stop buying them and then waiting impatiently for the mail to come. My poor husband is so sick of going to the post office. (Don't be silly, I can't go myself, I am BEADING.)


I have to show them off; here are some of the beads that I have bought, or that my client bought, that I have worked with or that are waiting for me:

Mighty Oak Focal by Lloyd Osborne.

Floral Focal by Koi Creek.

Floral Focal by Bits and Baubles, Etsy.

Ocean Oil By Shari Slonski, Ebay.

Jeweled Desert by ElysiumBeads, Etsy.

Aren't they gorgeous? Could you have resisted? I can't possibly put photos of all of them up here or the blog would go on for ages. But I have to find some way to resist...I can't keep on buying and buying! But maybe just one more...

Snowbound and Harvest

Wow, what a busy week! Between all the errands and housework, somewhere in there I found some time to bead, and my husband found the time to take the photos. I have completed one new necklace which I entitled "Snowbound" after the name of the beautiful lampwork bead that adorns it. This is simply spiral stitched, with three bevelled onyx beads and a beaded toggle to finish it. The lampwork bead was made by That Bead Girl, and I found her on Ebay, if anyone else wants to look - she is a wonderful artist.

A also managed to make a small bracelet using a filled netting technique which is new to me, and lots of fun. I will have to make another one, and think of something more blingy to make it with - although think that all crystals would be a bit too much. I used freshwater pearls in lavender and threw in some 3mm crystals for contrast here and there and used sterling for the clasp. I think this looks vaguely wedding oriented, which is definitely off beat for me!

Lastly, I came up with another cuff (of course!), and this one actually has a bead as the centerpiece rather than a cab. I believe that this is an agate, but did not think to write down the name of it when I purchased it. During the making, I kept thinking of fire, but when I was done I felt that the colors were more autumn than burning, so I named it Harvest. The picture at the top of my blog shows it full front, so I include a picture from the side:

I used less 15s in this one than in the last two, and put in two cubic zirconia crystals which I adore. I also had just gotten in some really gorgeous size 1 bugles, which I decided fit in there great.

This week has really been full of design and inspiration challenges, as well. It seemed that every time I turned around I was questioning what I had started, and wondering if the colors worked, or having problems with the next step. For two days I have been wandering through my bead collection (HUGE!) and sorting and organizing, in the hopes that something would hit me over the head and say "Create with me!" I took a grip this morning and have started gluing up the next cuff, but am still feeling creatively stuck. I am hoping that the muse will return VERY soon! In the meantime, the focal beads have arrived for two more of the commissioned necklaces, and as soon as the supporting beads arrive, I will be getting started on those. (These focals include the big, intimidating, expensive focal - so everyone cross their fingers for me, please!)

On! On with the beading!

Long time, No blog!

I did not realize until today how long it had been since I wrote here, and boy do I need to get going! I have since finished two more necklaces and a new cuff. The cuff is my favorite, I had a wonderful time making it and was sorry when it was finished, even though I couldn't wait to wear it!

Lavender Dreams : This is the second commissioned necklace, and I made matching earrings to go with it. These gorgeous lampwork beads were handmade by Kandice Seeber of Air and Earth Designs, which my friend fell in love with. I love them as well, and think that they go great with the gold findings. Please visit my website for a closer look at this so you can really appreciate Ms. Seeber's work!

Deco : This second necklace's fate is so far undecided. It may be for my commission, or my friend may elect to have me create a different neck piece with a different focal. This is a stone bead rather than a lampwork bead, and I had to make it into a pendant as it was soooo heavy. It is rhodochrosite bead, with faceted onyx and crystals. I decided to call it Deco, although I am still not sure that I am happy with the name.

Oceans : This is the cuff!!! I love this cuff, did I mention that? I am keeping it, I think, as I could not bear to part with this one. I am hoping that I will find another Blue Lace Agate cabochon somewhere (anyone seen one?) so that I can make another one to go out into the world. The cab is surrounded by crystals and the two side cabs are Labradorite. This has so many different kinds of beads on it that it would take a whole page to list them, so I haven't. I have side views of this on the website, as they are both different and asymmetrical.

I also have completed my first pair of woven earrings in a year, and put them up on Facebook and the web site. They were fun to make, but really easy, so they gave me a break from the complexity of Oceans, but they took no time at all! I am thinking that I may make some more, whether they be metal or woven, as I am thinking of listing a few things on Etsy to just kind of dip a toe in the water.

I have also had a local store owner offer to have some of my pieces for sale in their shop this week, which thrilled me beyond belief! I may actually be on my way, and I am so excited about it!

First Commission Necklace Finished and My Web Site

First, I have to say thank you to all the lovely comments I have gotten on my bracelet and a BIG thank you to bead maven Linda Jones for introducing me to everyone!!!!

Then I have to put down that I finally finished commission necklace #1 (there are five now), and that I had a great time making it. I also finished #2, but do not yet have pictures, that will be coming soon. I am calling it Caramel Cream for now; when it finds its new home, they may well call it something else. This rope is a version of three drop peyote, using 15s and size 11 triangles. The lampwork focal bead is from Milminedesigns, which has plenty more lovely creations in there if you visit Etsy.

I have put a link to my web site on here, so that if anyone would like to see more of my work, they can just click to visit! Please come and look, let me know what you think, and I love feedback, email me if you have suggestions!

Commissions aside, I have fallen completely in love with making these embroidered cuffs, and see many in my beading future - as a matter of fact, my husband is really starting to worry about the cost of cabochons about now! Off to bead...

Coral Romance is done!!

Well, it took a week and a half, but the cuff is done!!! I am thrilled with it, and hope that everyone else likes it as well. It had a fossil coral centerpiece and some smaller peices of fossil coral on the sides as well, with freshwater pearls and crystals, and mostly size 15 seeds - boy did THAT take awhile!!!! This one was harder to compose than Gypsy, and gave me some challenges along the way, including redoing the center and redoing the edges twice, but I really do think it was worth the frustration. When I visited my favorite local beadstore, the owner commented (it was in progress at that point) that he thought it looked like royalty; but when I finished it, all I could think of was that it looked romantic, as if it belonged on the arm of some lovely in a period novel, hence the title.

I have also just completed one of my custom ordered necklaces, but my husband said I should wait to post the pictures, as the lady that it is eventually intended for (they will be Christmas gifts from my friend to her family) might see it before she should! It is quite nice, even though I felt that it was a little too like one of the necklaces I had already made. I am hoping that they will be quite pleased with the result.

So now I am on to the next of the five commissions, and thinking (of course) of the next cuff or necklace to embroider...too many projects, not enough time!!!!

Commissions!! Mighty Oak Focal!! Heaven!

I am not planning on writing every day, but I had to post today, HAD to. My best friend has commissioned me to make FOUR necklaces for her to give as Christmas gifts this year, and the necklace she chose is one that I love to make. Even better - each one is to be different, so there will be NO boring repetitive colors, etc, and we are looking forward to sitting down together to shop on Etsy for some gorgeous focal beads to get started with. What more could a beader ask for??

A focal bead that she has had her eye on for herself for weeks now, of course!!! I have purchased one of Lloyd Osborn's beautiful focal beads; it is titled Mighty Oak, and has the most beautiful tree on it, which wraps lovingly around the bead. I have a special love for all older trees, especially the really gnarled and ancient trees that you see with huge trunks and limbs that grow every which way but straight up. This is definitely one of those trees, but it is still young enough to be full of greenery, bursting with life, so majestic. I seriously cannot wait until this arrives so that I can begin designing with it (and fondling it, of course).

Now i have to bone up on focals and the best way to use them, as it has been a long long time since I did any stringing...but maybe it won't be strung...maybe I should weave something to set it off....lots of fringy things, some leaves - hey, maybe Lloyd would make some leaves to go along with it!!!!

Blogging? Me? Nah....

Well, that was how I started out. But then, after the website, and the facebook page...well, I started to think that it might be a good idea after all. I saw some really nice blogs by other bead artists, and thought to myself, "Self, that looks like it would be great, and not too hard to do!" On the other hand, would it take time away from beading??? Because that is the main focus of my world most of the time, when I am not taking care of my home and my family - which includes four dogs. The website took some (not a lot, as I do not do all the work on it alone), then facebook took some; maybe this would take too much...? I decided it could not hurt to try it and see how it went. So, I will foray briefly and see how it all goes. At the very least, I should learn something (and no day should ever go by without learning something), and have a chance to show off yet more photos of my passion - BEADS!
So I have started with a photo of my newest cuff as my 'portrait' and am going to add in here the in progress photo of a peyote stitch bracelet that I am test beading for the lovely and talented (and funny and wonderful) Linda Jones:

Linda designed this pattern and posted it on her blog and I fell in love with the colors and the way that it works off itself. I am looking forward to finishing it so that I can post the picture on facebook with kudos for her.

In the meantime I am thinking and pondering the design for my bead embellished purse, which I think may be the next project to start on, since all the Christmas ornament gifts are done...but I could start another cuff like Gypsy...or make a necklace...or go through my whole bead stash...