Color Testing - Gaffer Clear

A couple weeks ago the Gaffer Gals from Gaffer Glass USA had a booth at the Northwest Bead Society Bazaar and they brought samples of their new 104 COE Clear. They wanted us to check it out and I got to my torch is try it out. The striped beads above are CIM commando, peace and Effetre medium red cased in Gaffer Clear. It had a nice working consistency. It was butter soft and melts really smoothly. I didn't have any scumming, but did some little seed bubbles, but they seem to have disappeared once on the beads.It has nice optic clarity and depth.

I have to say that so many lampworkers use the silver glass from Double Helix, Precision, TAG, etc that I really wish that this clear worked better with the silver colors. It turned my Clio green.  I had very limited amount of sample, so I only used it over clio. I'm not sure how it reacts with other silver colors, but suspect will be similar given how silver colors are made. The beads below on the left side are the Gaffer clear over clio (which is over opal yellow). For some reason it was super hard to catch the green in the photo, but the bead on the top is even more green than on the photo. The larger bead on the bottom has significantly less green so much so that you can barely see it, but is over all "muddy" to my eyes, like there is a greenish tinge over the bead. If worked right, it could be ok if you could control the green.  The center of the large bead is partially the opal yellow showing through and is enhanced by the green tinge.  On the smaller bead the top has a green cast over the pink, which gives an OK color to the clio, but the bottom is full on chartreuse green (much more so in person) and it is metallic in real life as well. Really ugly, muddy and not sell-able. It is the same issue that Aether gives with clio, I hunted  for a photo and finally found one, on the right below. At the very bottom is Clio with Effetre clear or zephyr and it is the bright pink we know and love.

Finally thoughts: YAY nice clear over regular colors, NO over Clio. 

I don't know when this will be available nor the price, but if a decent price, will get for casing non silver colors.

Another collaboration

Showing another collaboration between myself and my dad (David Lutrick). This little bowl is very cute with a little surprise on the inside.

Wood in holly (very white wood), black part stained holly and red on bowl is fiberglass resin and my black, red and white bead in the finial. This is a second piece of a complimentary piece made for a collaborative issues of a magazine I'm hoping we are in.

Bead Soup Party Blog Show and Tell Day

My bead soup came from Deci Worland (Blog and Etsy). I was able to make three items and have beads left over. She sent a super cute beetle focal. It is ceramic or clay. Deci said: "The focal is from Andrew Thornton, I am not sure if he made it or someone else. The smaller handcrafted beads are from Jardanne." I don’t know if that is the glass beads or the cool enameled bead. If anyone knows let me know. Deci choose colors that I love, thanks Deci! I really like the bright green color and purple is my favorite. The base color of the focal bead is a deep purple almost black.

I am a lampwork bead artist and I wanted to incorporate my beads into the piece. There are several colors of glass that come close to the color of the beetle background and they all have a neat finish. I made TONS. The color I liked the best did not match at all. I ended up with a lot of beads that looked similar and they are purple or black with a slight iridescent finish. I had a hard time picking them apart and now when I look at the finished piece I can pick out the ones that don’t match the others. Darn it! I’m not sure if it looks OK all mixed up or not. For those that are interested I used Dark Silver Plum and Gunmetal. The color that did not match was Dark Metallic Black.

Deci sent a cooper clasp and these cool puffy copper triangle beads. I need to get more of these, they are so fun! I choose the lightest and brightest green gem beads. I think they maybe moss agate. I anyone knows, please let me know.

I used some bright green seed beads to attach the focal and clasp to the necklace.



Green and purple are a classic combination and I wanted to use these fun shaped purple beads in earrings. I couldn't decide if they should be on the top or the bottom of the earrings, so why not both!

Finally I used the black gem beads (these have a very faint strip of grey/white which is more evedent in some beads that other, but didn't show up in the photo.) I paired these with some bead caps and sterling findings for these cute earrings. I don't know what these gems are, but would like to know I have several left. I think it might be black agate.

I had a great time with the Bead Soup Party. I hope to participate in the future. Many thanks to Deci for sending my beads and huge thanks to Lori for organizing the party.

There lots of blogs to visit for the Bead Soup Blog Party. There are 362 blog particiapants from five contients and 21 contries.

Check them all out here.

At the Gathering Vicariously - Surface Exhibit

I was unable to go to the Gathering this year, but a little bit of me was there, this bead! The Gathering is the annual convention of the International Society of Glass Beadmaker (ISGB) and this year was held in Louisville Kentucky. I have been twice before (Portland and Oakland) and am super super super excited that in one year (almost to the day) the Gathering will be here in the Seattle area. I can not wait! Seeing people that I haven't seen in several years, learning new techniques, selling at the Bazaar, volunteering with my local chapter, seeing great demos and hopefully taking some classes. Can you tell I'm excited??? I'm so stoked that I have my vacation request filled out at work ready to turn in the first day we can turn in for next summer (pathetic I know).

Back to this bead........

This bead was included in a juried exhibit called: Surface. The instructions for this exhibit boiled down to make something under the surface or on top of the surface of a bead. Sounded like a open call to me. I have this cased bead with a murrini on top. This is the first bead I have made specially for an exhibit. In the past I had submitted beads I already had on hand. I made this bead and this bead only and it turned out great!

My beading buddy Donna was so sweet, so took some photos of the exhibit for me. My bead is the second from the left on the right sided podium.

The venue looks really nice. Someplace I would love to look around in.

Jewelry

Thought I would just share a couple photos of some jewelry. I've been making a lot for an upcoming show, see flyer below, at my local gallery, Up Front in Issaquah WA. The theme is spring Garden and those are my ring, most of a flower like design. The date of the show is 4-16-11 from noon to 8pm.

I also made some jewelry for possible exhibition that my local bead chapter is hoping to put on at this facility, I'm looking forward to see if I get in.

Featured - Fire Diva of the Month

Check out the Fire Diva Blog, I'm Diva of the month. They will have features about me on the 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd. Very cool.

Check out my beads and my interview questions HERE

New Love - Reichenbach Multicolor Dark

I have been playing with a new color (at least to me) Reichenbach Multicolor Dark. I finally have enough photos to share. I have been using 96 COE, I think it also comes as 104 COE. I'm having so much fun with it.

It is easy to comapre to Gaffer Chalcedony and Blue Chalcedony as it is also a striking glass that turns rainbow colors. Striking means that the colors change depending on the length of time in the flame. It is different than Chalcedony, but just as cool to use. See a picture with both colors below.

What I really like about this color is that it is very easy to strike and it gets a lot of blues and purples (purple being my favorite color). Seen here on Olive. Listed on Etsy here.

As you can see in this photo of a bead with Chalcedony in the center and Multicolor Dark on the ends, the Mulicolor does not get the crackling (where it looks broken up). I like this crackling and it is one of my favorite things about Chalcedony, but sometimes you don't want that.

This color turns green and then turquoise the more you work with it. These beads were worked a long time and the second one worked very hot for a long time and it is quite turquoise. I was surprised and pleased with the color. Both of these have Iris Orange (aka Raku) stringer designs.

HALLOWEEN SALE

This week is Halloween and as mentioned previously on this blog it is one of my favorite holidays to make beads for. This week I have all my Halloween themed beads on Art Fire and Etsy ON SALE for 20% off.

NEW LISTINGS - JEWELRY

I have not listed any jewelry for a while as I had everything stored up for the Farmer's Market. I have taken pictures and started listed some of that jewelry. The earrings above are the favorite ones I made for the Farmer's Market. I was surprised they didn't sell as they are super adorable. These are called "bird bath."

This is the favorite necklace I put together with a handmade lampwork bead and vintage enamaled chain.

Click on the pictures to be taken to the item for sale.

PUMPKINS!!!!!

I don't know what it is about Halloween, but I love to make Halloween inspired beads. Orange is not my favorite color (in fact it is my least favorite), but I really enjoy making pumpkin beads and candy corns. I think it is the bright bold colors paired together that I like so much.

Speaking of pumpkins. I came across this video from the Corning Measuem of Glass. It is a glass pumpkin contast. Just up my alley. Now, I have a little paperweight sized pumpkin that I put out at Halloween at work and I just love it, but would LOVE a pumpkin this size (even though it is orange and would like take up 1/2 my bedroom). Check out their really cool mold to make the pumpkin shape. I think I like the creation of the stem the best.

The creation of a pumpkin (pictured above).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7GLoPicKRI&feature=sub

The judging of a pumpkin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzdSb2A9I50&feature=sub

My tiny tiny pumpkins...

TREASURIES

Well, it must be my week I'm in five Etsy treasuries at the time of writing this. WOW, thanks to my fellow Fire Divas for including me in their treasuries. A treasury at Etsy is a curated shopping gallery. People link to items they like and that fit in a theme. Not suprisingly, my treasuries are usually lampwork beads. Currently I have a jellyfish treasury, pictured to the left. It was lots of fun picking out the items and putting them together. Check out my jellies treasury at: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=74706

A couple of the treasuries I have been included in are below. While at etsy find more lampwork beads by using the search term "fire divas."

NEW LISTINGS

I have had fun making large hole beads lately. I listed two today, one on ArtFire and one on Etsy.

Check out my Artfire and Etsy stores for thse beads and more. Thanks for looking.

Write Up on ME

I'm proud to be the May Fire Diva of the month. Check out the write up about me on their blog. What are the Fire Divas? We are a group of lampwork artists that have come together to promote glass bead art. See the Etsy Mini on the left hand side of this blog for a link to more beads by other Fire Divas.

www.firedivas.blogspot.com

BUNNIES

I rarely can pinpoint where I get my ideas for beads, but my bunny bead is an exception. I started making these beads last year around this time to get ready for Easter. I think they are super cute.

My mom has a Terra Cotta pot with a large Lop Rabbit on the front. Neither of us can remember the artist, but she got the pot at an art's fair in the Seattle area. This bunny is so sweet, look at that face. One day I was thinking about what to make next and I was looking at the pot and decided to try. Here you can see the pot with the circles drawn on where I was looking for the basics of the design.

First a drew a pattern on paper to get the shapes down, then did some dots on the bead and pushed and pulled the dots into ears, a face, and legs.

Tada..... bunny bead. Both of these bunnies are available on Etsy. I also have a bunny bead on Artfire. Check under the user name: Lutrick

GAFFER GOODNESS

Today I went to Gaffer Glass in Kent for Fire and Rain event (my local ISGB chapter). This glass is 96 COE and has great colors. It is made in New Zealand and is mostly used for glass blowing (vessels, ornaments, etc). I can not say enough wonderful things about the staff in Kent. They are very nice and so helpful each time I'm there.

I really like their glass, it is helpful that it is the closest glass store to my home.

(These earrings are made of Gaffer and are available at my 1000Markets site)

I like the transparent colors a lot, but mostly the lighter colors. Because their colors are used to do glassblowing and are very dense (so that when you blow them thin, the colors stays). Some of the colors you have to pull into a stringer to use as they are so dense. They are making more and more colors for the lampworker and coming out with new colors all the time. I got a new color today that they just got in. It is Chalcedony, it is supposed to be like Raku. Hope I can get it to work, I'm not so good with Raku.

As beautiful as the transparents are, I mostly like to use their opaques. I especially like Taxi Cab Yellow (not the right name, it is orange), Chartreuse, and Robin's Egg Blue (see the photo above).

Their veiled colors are great as well.

SPRING TIME, WHEN WILL IT COME?

Ok, so I know spring will come on March 20th, but it seems to take forever to get here. I always look forward to the flowering trees in this area. I love the smell of a cherry tree in blossom, it is not a sweet smell, but a crisp new smell that I love.

Many thanks to Marcy Lamberson and the ladies at the blog Watch Me Create for including my spring etsy treasury on their blog. It is always exciting to see myself mentioned in someone else's blog.

Here is a link to their spring write up.

http://watchmecreate.com/?p=2337

ART FIRE

I have decided to set up an Art Fire account. This is a selling site similar to Etsy. One of my posts below talked about my New Year's Resolution to make bright beads. I have made some bright ones and listed them at Art Fire. Check my new shop out at: http://www.lutrick.artfire.com/.

NEW CAMERA

Wow, what a difference a wonderful camera can make. I used some of my Christmas gift money to get a new Nikon D80 camera. It a so nice. I wanted an SLR camera for a while and finally took the plunge. I'm very happy with my new pictures. Just think after I take a class how cool the photos will be.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

It is that time of year again, time to come up with a plan for the next year. Last year's resolution and this year's for my beadmaking are the same; to use bright colors. I really like making organic beads, but I'm drawn to the bright beads. At my studio I tend to gravitate to the greens and browns, but if I'm shopping I want the bright reds, blues, greens and purples. I'm not sure what this means, but I'm going to try to make brighter beads this year.

Seen here are a few attempts at bright beads from this year.

If you are looking for a reason to buy beads, check this out.

Helen Simon wrote up this list and allowed people to share it. I thought I would post it here on my blog.

Ten Reasons to Buy Quality Lampwork Beads:
© copyright 2008, Helen Simon
http://www.helensharvest.etsy.com/

1- It is original and unique art. No one else will own or wear it.
2- You can meet the artist in a cyber way thereby understanding your purchase. You can inquire about the inspiration. Most artists are delighted to talk about their work.
3- It will outlast quilts and even painted canvases, with proper care, perhaps for millennia. Ancient Roman beads are commonly available, even on Ebay.
4- Because of its longevity, it will enhance your portfolio, and provide inheritance for your heirs. What a lovely, thoughtful gift of art to your appreciative loved ones!
5- You can wear your art, expressing your daily mood, your ensemble often secondary to your Lampwork.
6- You can request custom work for a special occasion. Most artists are honored to help with special orders.
7- It is small, so easy to store with other precious treasures.
8- Your purchase will have inexpensive shipping because it is light.
9-Your unique Beads may inspire your original designs worthy of being published, winning contests and prizes.
10- It is FUN to buy, own, give, be inspired by, and wear

Some of my own:
A - It is beautiful.
B - The size fits everyone.
C - If you make your own jewelry, you can buy handmade beads for double the handmade goodness.
D - You can create custom jewelry to go with every outfit you wear.
E - Support artisians, not mass produced items.