Finally a new set of beads. I have just been feeling so lazy the last few weeks and I'm not sure why. Must be the end of summer blues or something. I really like how the colours in these beads sort of blurred and blended into each other for a soft, almost vintage like patina. They start with Vetrofond Gray Pearl Light Odd. There are a few things odd about this glass. For one, I wouldn't really call it gray (or grey). It is definitely more of a blue, a grey-blue no doubt but still blue. Second, it goes transparent when you melt it like most of the ivory glasses. I've never really seen a blue glass do this and it can be a little weird when you first start working with this glass. The lines and dots are done with Vetrofond Yellow Ochre which is really more green than yellow, kind of chartreuse, CIM Vanilla Latte, the warm, pale beige and CIM Leapfrog, the darker, herbal green.
I did this set (or sets really) in two styles and with two sizes of bead hole. The ornate/focal beads above have a 1/8 inch hole so that they can be used with smaller chains and larger cords and the rounded disc beads have my normal 3/32 hole which is good for smaller cord and bead wire. I really like the idea of of mixed media (wire, leather, cotton, rubber) and sort of tying and wrapping different sections together with different beads which I think will work especially well with this set.
I've decided to list these beads on eBay just for a change of pace and so that I don't forget how. I'm not that fond of eBay for a few reasons but from a marketing point of view, I guess you need to use different channels once in a while. To see them just click this link:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130977637603
I'm still dealing with my polka dot obsession with no end in sight. I think it's like contemporary art for me right now, just something so clean and simple about a dot (or dots). This time using Effetre White, Effetre Red Purple, Effetre Black Metallic and CIM Sangre. The Sangre beads are the 3 large disc beads and they are a luscious shade of semi-translucent, nail polish red. Effetre Black Metallic is another one of those glasses that can vary a lot from batch to batch. This one went heavy metallic on me to the point where the beads look almost electroplated.
There's quite a few focal sized beads in this set and they can be kind of hard to photograph since they all want to be the centre of attention. I've used a great graphite bead shaper from Pegasus Lampwork tools for the large pin shaped bead, the egg shape, and the ornate tiered bead.
I didn't think of it this time but next time I make a set of focal beads, I'm going to use a larger mandrel so that the beads will fit onto 2mm chains. These beads will fit onto leather cord but wouldn't make it over the chain ends.
There's something about summer that just makes me want to see bright shades of yellow and frosty shades of green. Must be some kind of frozen margarita syndrome. This set contains beautiful shades of yellow and green glass and altogether they create this fizzy, "look at me" set of beads. For these beads I've used CIM Sprout a beautiful, pale cucumber green pastel, CIM Key Lime a brighter, more acidic pastel green, CIM Mojito a gorgeous warm, transparent green, Effetre Yellow Lemon Light Special, Effetre Pale Emerald Green and, of course, Effetre White.
These colours just look great next to skin tones and I think that using contrasting elements like red leather or red pearls would be amazing with these greens. All the glasses were very nice to work with, melting easily and playing together quite well. The Sprout and the Key Lime are a bit streaky and will mottle a bit if over worked but other than that they are lovely glasses.
