Moon Beam - Handmade Lampwork Beads

I love how these beads shine like little moon beams. The color is another fabulous Double Helix "Aion". It would be just dreamy around the neck of a movie star with one of those flesh colored mermaid dresses - who is that movie star I'm trying to think of.

I broke one of them on the way from the bedroom (my photo studio) and the sun porch (my torch studio) so there are only five beads now. The picture is so wonderful I had to share it with you.

Notice please - my pics now have text in the bottom right hand corner. If I get any fancier I don't know what I'll do! These are already in my Etsy Shop.

Love you - Suzanne

Double Helix Head Pins - Handmade Lampwork Beads

This set of head pins is so rich in color they look to have come from another planet. Isn't glass wonderful?

The double helix in itself is overwhelmingly beautiful, but I've also dipped each head pin in Gaffer Blue Chalcedony and then topped them off with a crystal clear dollop drawn into a dew drop just for fun and magnification of the colors underneath.

It's no secret that I love Double Helix glass. It makes me fall in love all over again with why I work with glass every time I use it. Enjoy!

Set includes five headpins on a 3" wire. Plenty of room for earring wraps or inclusion in a necklace or any other piece of mixed media you happen to need them for. Have fun!

Summer in the City - Lampwork Beads - Set - SRA

These beads are "HOT". But just enough cool blue to allow them to be wearable. Very vivid in color and that spells "Party".

The focal is what I call my "Splat" bead. A smash of color, hair fine glass stringer work on both sides and a bubble dot in transparent medium blue on one side. So, you are really getting two, two, two focal beads in one. ;o) Different designs on opposite sides of the bead.

There are three tear drop beads for interest. It will be fun to see what you do with them!

Total Beads: 28
Focal: 1
Spacers: 20
Specialty: 7

All wound on a 3/32 mandrel.

**All are created in my home studio, kiln annealed for durability and meticulously cleaned before sending them to you.

Thank you for supporting an Indie Artist. Your purchase is gratefully appreciated.

Toasted Caramel - Lampwork Glass Bead - Set - SRA

Does this set of beads not look good enough to eat! I'm hungry just looking at it. It is another one of double helix's super colors. It has been wrapped in clear stringer for depth and to magnify the colors running through the bead and its matching spacer beads.

I'll be putting this set up on Etsy as soon as I'm finished adding it to my blog so my friends and family can see what I'm up to today.

I actually sold five strings of beads last night on my Etsy sight. That is definitely a milestone for me. I'm beginning to see how this little hobby of mine may some day grow up into a full fledged business. Well, enough dreaming for today. All I did was take a little advice from the man upstairs. Get back to the basics - spacers. I should listen more often.

Thanks for hanging in there with me. You are the best friends and family a gal could ever have. Geez I love you.

Hugs - Suzanne

Tiny Purple Flowers - Lampwork Glass Beads - Set

Tiny Purple Flowers is a set made of Creation Is Messy (CIM) glass called "Thai Orchid". I have to say I loved the name of the glass and that is why I purchased the rods. It wouldn't have mattered to me what the color turned out to be. Usually I have a hard time getting my purples purple in the photos, but this color seems to be remaining true on my monitor.

These little flowers are so fun to play with in any design. I hope you enjoy them!

I reached a milestone in bead sales in one day yesterday.  Three sets of beads sold yesterday from my Etsy Shop online.  Three sets in one day!!!  I have a grateful heart - it just feels so wonderful to be producing a product that others are enjoying enough to purchase.  It is a dream come true.

"I'm dancing"  Suzanne

Jupiter - Lampwork Glass Beads - Set - SRA

This color has a rich earthy flavor of pinks, oranges, yellows and golden casts. It is an Effetre Italian Glass "Jupiter" is its name.

There are two sizes in this strand of 16 beads. There are 10 smaller spacer beads and six larger beads.

The silver tag "passion" is included in the sale.

All wound on a 3/32 mandrel.

Enjoy!

Confession of a Bead Artist

Yesterday, I left the torch many times to put the beads up for the day, because I just couldn't find my Mojo. I was hearing this big voice in my head saying "spacer beads - go back to the beginning". Oh no, was I being summoned to begin again? Yes I was ! - my answer "No, No not spacer beads". I had this idea that to be a big time bead artist, I had to create these mammoth art pieces of glass that were beyond any ones wildest dreams. Well, maybe sometime in the future. But, reality struck and the reality of the matter is that my pieces lacked any real creativity on my part. I've done such a wonderful job of studying my favorite glass artist's pieces that my mind is full of their ideas and NOT my own. Danger, Danger. My favorite artists, Manuela, Melanie, Annestasia and many others had filled up all the space in my head and there was no more room for me - where were MY ideas?

I have to say, I did write to Manuela and told her I was copying her beads a while back. She very graciously wrote back and said "Take your time Suzanne". Your own ideas will come. I am forever grateful to her for that because I learned many techniques copying her beads. Melanie's as well, however, I wasn't as honest with Melanie or the others as I was with Manuela. I'm sure they would have told me the same thing Manuela did because they also are, by all accounts, free spirits and loved by all.

However, I've considered myself such a beginner that after two years of torching I had lost all confidence in coming up with my own ideas because there are so many talented bead makers out there - they are all better than me, and there will always be someone better than me. This was a crossroads for me in my bead making career. Was I to become, in my own mind, an apprentice once again beginning with SPACER BEADS. I made a decision at that point. YES, WAS MY ANSWER. YES. After all, am I making beads because I love it. Or, was I making beads to be better than anyone else? I had become what I never intended to become. A copier.

So, I am back at the beginning. I am going to make the best spacer beads I can make. They will be so easy for me that by the time I am able to make a bead that is actually my own idea, it will pass my biggest critics approval - that being ME.  I'll be pulling many stringers and making many twisties too.

So much for the haps and the mishaps in my bead making kingdom in my own mind for today. More than likely you will be seeing many, many spacer beads in the upcoming posts. Let's see where we go from here.

A funny thing happened when I came to that conclusion. I got really really full of joy and inspired. I learned that by being WILLING I have a new found love for bead making. I loved coming to the torch today knowing it is a spacer making day. One day at a time I believe to see improvements in my spacer beads as new ideas come whirling around in my brain as I wind that glass in my own way. I will continue making spacer beads until that happens. I may be here for a long long time. Who knows. Maybe I'm suppose to be the best spacer bead maker in the world. ;o)  Acceptance and Surrender.

Much love in following my posts. You are my biggest fans and I in sharing my heart with you I've found a new freedom.

Suzanne

Carribbean Cruse - Lampwork Glass Beads - SRA

I just love this little set of Mardi Graish beads. There are 20 free shaped spacer beads and four focal beads the little wrench spacers are purchased and also included.

The playful colors seem to dance to the beat of their own drum.

Each is wound on a 3/32 mandrel. They are strung on a hemp cord for easy undoing to place in your very own designs.

The opposite side of the focals is also decorated with hair fine stringers of glass as well.

Enjoy!

Singing - Lampwork Glass Beads - SRA

This nice little set is a string of three barrel beads and one large round bead encased in clear magnifying the design with three barrel spacer beads each in pea green, teal blue, purple and black. It reminds me of waves of music dancing in and throughout these beads in color.

All handmade by torch and immediately switched to a digitally controlled kiln for durability. Stringer work is done with hair fine pulled glass.

All wound on 3/32 mandrel.

Enjoy!

Sandy Shores - Lampwork Glass Beads

Sandy Shores is a double helix color I found in my glass stash and french blue Italian Effetre. I wish I knew the name of it to share with you. The french blue is a beautiful contrast with the layers of the dh glass.  The beads are encased in buttery clear glass for a 3D look.

These beads put me in a dreamy mood for the ocean beaches somewhere exotic far away from home. Or, just down the street to the Venice Beach Boardwalk right here in LA.

This set is wound on a 3/32 mandrel and can be found in my Etsy Shop this evening.

Enjoy!

Tribel Ocean - Lampwork Glass Beads

This is a lovely set of four focal and 13 spacer beads. I used intense blue transparent, pea green and silver plum of the finest Effetre Italian glass . You can see the rods of glass behind in some of the pictures.

The beautiful transparency of these beads is much prettier in person. As are all glass beads. You have to hold them to believe them.

All were created in my home studio, kiln annealed for durability and meticulously decorated on both sides with hand pulled hair fine stringers of glass.

Wound on 3/32 mandrels. Enjoy them on Etsy this evening.

Banana Split - Lampwork Glass Beads

MMM MMMM Yummy. This is a new color for me to play with. It's called "Yellow Banana". I mixed it with berries and - Ola - Banana Split !

So summery and cool. There are six focals and 15 spacer beads in this wonderfully delightful set. Birds and flowers, my handmade murrini's, free shaped and whimsical.

They are being shown on a black rubber cord as loose beads.  They will surely incorporate in alone or all together in a necklace, bracelet, or any design of your choosing.

I hope you enjoy them.

xoxo Suzanne