More Color Play

I always get excited when I get a new batch of fibers, and this time I'm playing around with variegated colors.  How cool is that?!  I also played on the torch with some colors I had never used before, and today I will continue to raid my untouched glass stash.  Such a dilemma - play with glass or play with fibers?  Since I'm not teaching this evening, maybe I'll have time to do both.

Here are more leaf and fiber combos from the last few days.  I'll start off with the cool colors.  Actually, all of the colors I've been playing with are "cool", but here I'm talking about color temperature.  This leaf has a bit of metallic added to the surface.  It's a very shiny silver color, which doesn't show up well in this picture.  Much nicer "up close and personal".

Here's a raindrop leaf, sitting on a bed of a wonderful mixture of blues and greens - with just a hint of other colors for some added interest.

Now we'll warm things up with one of my favorites.  Here's another leaf with a hint of dichroic glass.  And it goes so well with these fibers that I'm tempted to keep it for myself!  But you'll be seeing this in my Bead & Button booth in a few weeks.

Staying on the warm side, here I've added some new gold and green glass that I hadn't used before.  I'll be using more of these today, they really are delicious colors!

I used the same colors in this leaf, but I layered them with different colors.  Sometimes I'm asked to reproduce beads and I can't - I don't always keep track of what colors I layer together.  So when you buy my beads, you really do get one-of-a-kind creations!  Gosh, aren't these fibers wonderful?  I could talk myself into working in the wet lab today instead of the glass lab...

And my last combination for the day is another raindrop leaf.  I get a lot of requests for these, so there will be more coming from the glass lab this week.  My plan for today is to make some raindrop oak leaves.  I don't have any of those left, so that will be my main task in the glass lab.

And now for a bit of lunch, then off to "make stuff".  Have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Playing With Colors

This week I'm focusing on the assortment of beads that I will be bringing to the Bead & Button Show.  Yes, I'm making more leaves as well as some other types of beads.  I have a floral focal bead in the kiln that I'm just dying to see when it's back to room temperature.  And I'm going back to the glass lab in a few minutes to make a couple of small beads for a bracelet that's in progress.

Yesterday and today, I've been messing around with colors that will match up with my wool roving.  I just love combining glass and fiber, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.  So this time I'm letting the fiber lead my color choices in the glass lab.  Here are some samplings of where I'm going with this project.

This leaf is a bit on the small side - today I made a few more of these, one of which has raindrops on it.  The yellow on the leaf is very creamy, and I have the perfect accent fiber to go with this combination.

Creating a leaf to go with my red roving was a bit of a challenge.  This one has a very holiday feel to it, but I have at least 3 more in mind that I'll create over the next few days.  Perhaps they'll all feel like a holiday - red tends to do that.

I'll be creating one in very pale neutrals, one in aqua, and one in a pale purple.  Any other suggestions?

Toning things down a bit, here's a combination that I really love.  This wool looks like cinnamon - I can practically smell it!  And this leaf is one of my favorites.  I tend to gravitate toward greens and earth tones, though I don't think I've ever met a color that I didn't like.  This leaf has just a hint of sparkle in it - a faint touch of dichroic glass that only shows up when you view it from a certain direction.

Staying with the earth tones, this brown is heading toward a purple color, and it's really luscious.  Last year I was layering some very unlikely glass colors, and I fell in love with one of the combinations.  Here's that combination with this dark rosy brown wool.  I'll be doing more of these, some of which will have a touch of dichroic glass in them.

And here's my last pair - a pale icy blue wool with a greenish bluish purplish leaf - another one of my glass layering experiments.  I've had several of my experiments go awry, but this is one of the successful ones.  And yes, more of these leaves are on the way.  Actually, I have a set of 5 of these that I've been thinking about turning into a necklace.  If I don't sell them in Milwaukee, they'll be jewelry-bound for sure!

Now I'm off to the glass lab to make those few beads, shut it all down, and get ready to teach my bead making class tonight.  Have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Last Batch For Now

So here is the last bunch of leaves that will be heading up to Sacramento to be put into Poppy Passion Slider kits.  At least the last batch for this week, that is.  It would be so nice to take a leaf break for awhile but I have to make many more leaf beads for sale in my booth at the Bead & Button Show.  That's OK, though, because now I can focus on other types of leaves before I get back into the 3-leaf sets.

I'll be making some oak leaf beads for sure - they're my favorite!  They're a bit time-consuming to create but they really make me feel good.  Perhaps that's because when I was a kidling we had a big oak tree in the back yard of our first house.  Lots of warm fuzzy memories from that place, including the thunderstorms and the winter blizzards.  And odd sort of "warm fuzzy", those blizzards.

Perhaps I'll try out some ginko leaves before I hit the road.  I haven't done those yet, and it would be nice to have something new on my leaf board this year.

I went a bit crazy yesterday and created some pink leaves.  Pink leaves?  Well, yeah - we decided to do a line of "pastel" kits last year where the poppy and the leaves were the same color.  Since I have a new pink glass this year I just had to throw in a set of pinks.  Maybe Nanette will decide to put these with a fuschia poppy instead of a pink poppy.  She always surprises me, and I won't get to see the finished kits until we're in Milwaukee.

This is the rest of what came out of the kiln this morning, and they're in the box waiting for me to head out to the post office.

Although I've been making leaf beads every day for the last who-knows-how-many days, I do make the occasional non-leaf bead just to keep myself from screaming.  These would make a fine bracelet, but I won't have time to put them into a wearable.  They'll be in my booth for someone else's creative endeavors.  Hubby called them "JRT seeds".  Say what?  He told me that they're so happy and silly and energetic that he was sure if I planted them, I could grow a Jack Russell Terrier.  What a concept!  These beads are all encased in crystal clear glass, which doesn't show up well in the picture.  Too bad, they have so much depth!

And now I'm off to mail out my beads, grab a bite of lunch, and get back to the torch. Have yourselves a wonderful creative day!

Turning Over a New Leaf

Yep, more leaves.  I'll be making leaves every day until it's time for me to head out to Milwaukee.  All of you are probably looking forward to that day so that you can finally see something other than leaves out here.  Well, before I take to the friendly skies I'll be sure to create a surprise or two for you - and for me, just so I can maintain my sanity!  LOL!

But for now, I'll leave you (pun intended) with my latest "crop".

More sets for our collaborative jewelry kits...

... and some larger leaves.

And now it's time for me to cook some food, then head out to cook more glass.  Have yourselves a wonderful creative day!

Happy Mom's Day...

... would you like leaves with that?

Today I'm going to spend a bit of time away from the glass lab, the wet lab, the bead lab and the computer (as soon as I'm done here...) and take mom out for a bit of a stroll.  Poor dear gets cabin fever and I have some ideas how to fix that problem on this beautiful sunny day.  She loves flowers (yes, and leaves too...), so we're going to go where there are many of them to look at.

Can you tell I have leaves on the brain?  Not only do I have to make 90 leaves for our jewelry kits for the Bead & Button Show, but we have an order for at least 2 more of those kits right now as well as all the leaves that I need to have in my own booth.  Are you tired of leaves yet?  

        Yes?  Well, at least you can click away from these blog posts.  I still have to make all those leaves!

         No?  Good!  You'll get to see a lot more of what's coming out of the glass lab over the next few weeks.  :-)  

I also have plans for a few more wet felted vessels before it's show time.  At least one of them will have a leaf or two on it.  (Really?  Now there's a news flash!)  The others will hopefully have a few surprises.  Shhhhh.... can't tell you yet.  I have some fun ideas floating around in my head, I just need to get out to the wet lab and get them done.

But today I'm off to go flower-peeping with mom.  For those of you whose moms are still with you, let mom know that you appreciate her.  Now I'll leave you with my latest batch from the glass lab.

Bunches of Leaves

I don't usually make beads during the days on which I teach my evening bead making classes.  But with the Bead & Button Show about to happen, I don't have the luxury of doing other things on those days.  And this month, I'm teaching 2 nights a week.  So yesterday I spent some time in the glass lab making more leaves.  Today I had to make a non-leaf bead to get my mojo working, but I did make a few more leaf sets.  

Why am I making so many leaves?  My part-time collaboration partner Nanette makes jewelry kits for a beadwoven piece that she designed called the Poppy Passion Slider.  Each kit contains one of her lovely poppy beads and 3 of my small leaf beads.  Last week she told me that she needs leaves for 30 kits over the next 2 weeks.  Yikes - that's 90 leaves!  I hope I don't have to let her down.

Here are some examples of the Poppy Passion Slider.  I made the first one and used an extra leaf.  Nanette made the second one with a kit and the third one with two kits put together.  This is our 4th year selling these kits, and they're still in demand - how nice for us!

Here's the rest of what I rescued from the kiln this morning.  Some of them will go into kits, others will be for sale in my booth.  

And tomorrow I'll be hitting the torch nice and early so I can finish up the first half of the 90 required leaves.  On that note, I'd better go get a good night's sleep!

A Little Foot Stompin'

No beads or fiber today, but I'm going to share a tidbit of personal info with you... in my "former life" I was a musician of sorts.  Yep, I started playing music by ear when I was 3 years old.  I had one of those little one-octave toy pianos - think Linus - and I could play the melodies of all my little kiddie records.  About 10 years later, my folks gave me a small Hammond organ for Christmas/birthday (they're 3 days apart).  And a few years after starting music lessons and loving it, I got the "almost real deal" Hammond - a model B2.  It was like the B3 without the Leslie speaker.

Some of my fondest memories of that period of my life are of the times when my cousin, Art Ross, would come over and we'd jam.  He was a fourth-generation fiddler and also played guitar a bit.  He couldn't read a note of music, but oh did he have an ear!  When he played his fiddle, I would accompany him on the organ;  when I played lead on the organ, he would accompany me on the guitar.  Here we are way back then - Art was 27, I was 15.

Art and I had different musical backgrounds and experience.  His repertoire consisted mainly of French Canadian fiddle tunes; mine comprised various genres - pop, folk, latin, big band, rock & roll, and on and on.  One of my "show-off" songs was Tico-Tico.  This song wasn't originally meant for the organ, but even way back then it was my kind of music.  This is the way Tico-Tico was originally intended, performed here by Carlos Barbosa-Lima and Berta Rojas.

I decided that I had to teach Art to accompany me on Tico-Tico, since I was the one "showing off" - you know how 15-year-olds can be.  Often times, we'd have friends and family over at the house for impromptu get-togethers or planned parties.  When Art and I played Tico-Tico, we'd bring the house down.  

Soon thereafter Art got married, and over several subsequent years he and his wife had 3 children.  Patrick, Art's middle child, was 8 years old when he asked his dad to teach him how to play a tune.  So began Patrick's foray into the world of music.  He and his dad spent a lot of time playing music together and competing in regional fiddle contests.  Unfortunately, Art met an untimely death when he was in his early 50's,  and I am still very saddened by this.  

So why am I chatting about this today?  Patrick and I are Facebook "friends", and a few days ago I had the pleasure of seeing his FB link to a video that he uploaded to YouTube.  And it gave me goosebumps!  I wanted to bring him to the attention of my fans and followers, so here's Patrick playing his own improvised version of... you guessed it... Tico-Tico.

Not exactly what you'd expect to hear from a fifth-generation French Canadian fiddler - but oh, cousin, YOU ROCK!

And now I'm off to prepare to teach tonight's bead making class. This is the first week of my latest Beadmaking 1 and Beadmaking 2 classes in San Jose and I need to be on my toes, so to speak. 

Have yourselves a happy and creative day!

A New Treasury

Despite the fact that I should be in the Glass Lab making beads, I managed to snag a Treasury on Etsy today. I've been so busy that I haven't been creating as many treasuries as I'd like, but this one was definitely calling to me. It will be active until Thursday morning, so you can check it out for a few days.

Here is Rusty's Got the Blues!

The prior treasury that I created is no longer active, but here it is - Betwixt and Between.

I'm always inspsired by the talented folks I find on Etsy, and I enjoy sharing their work with whomever I can.

And speaking of inspiration, once I get my work done for the Bead & Button Show I'll be adding a new feature to my blog involving inspiration.  Many folks ask me where my inspiration comes from.  I'll be writing about this and sharing my thoughts and processes with you.

But for now, I'm off to finish up my day's work and perhaps muck around with some fiber.  I always finish fulling my vessels in my lap in front of the TV, and tonight I'll be plunked down in front of "Dancing With the Stars".  It sure would be nice if I could put out a vessel to dry by the time voting starts, yes?

Have yourselves a happy creative day! 

Etched Leaves

So here they are, all nice and etched. Yes, that's right - there are a few more in this picture than in the picture prior to etching. I had a couple of them already masked, just waiting for the bath. I'll be making lots more of these for the upcoming Bead & Button Show. If you're going to the show, come see me in booth 1221!

Mid-Process Beads

I just love word-of-mouth!  One of my bead making students bought a few of my leaf beads, put one of them on a leather cord, and gave it to a friend of hers at the gym.  Another friend at the gym saw it, said that the necklace was "amazing" and that she wanted one.  Thank you Lisa for spreading "bead love"! And Terri, you'll get pix as soon as I etch these babies.

So here are some of my "rain drop" leaf  beads, freshly cleaned prior to the final process.  The final process is masking off all the drops of water, etching the beads, then cleaning off the masking agent.  I'll get these finished today, then get some pix of the final leaves.  These are the most popular leaf beads that I make - next week I'll be making several more for the upcoming Bead & Button Show.

Now I'm off to do some masking, then out for supper, then some etching. Maybe tonight I'll get in a little fiber work too, yeah!

New Beads Today

This morning I managed to get a reasonable start on my day - beads are cleaned and wired into sets, breakfast is finished, bills are paid - yay!  Now I must package up my "Divers" felted vessel and ship it off to its new owner.  Yes, a long-time cyber friend of mine purchased this beauty yesterday so I'll have to say good-bye.  But I'm so happy that it's going to a good home!  Here's the vessel again - thanks Pam for your inspiration!  

And now for some beady things... I've been making leaf beads for about 4 years now - who knew they'd be so popular?!  I hadn't planned on making a career out of leaf beads, but there is such a demand for my leaves that I just can't let it go.  Besides, I really love making them!  Having grown up and lived in New England until the tender age of 22, I still miss the landscape there.  We don't have nearly as many trees here in the San Francisco Bay Area, so I populate my life with leaves of glass.  One would think that after 4 years of leaves I'd be tired of them.  But with all the glass colors available to me, it'll be a very long time before I'm done experimenting with various combinations and techniques.  It's fun getting creative with my leaf colors - who says they have to be the same colors as you'd find in your back yard?

Here are my latest leaf sets - these will be coming with me to the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee.  First are my "Mardi Gras" leaves.  These happened by accident a few years ago.  I thought I was picking up a rod of amber glass but it turned out to be bright yellow.  When I finished the leaf I realized I had made a blunder, so I only made one.  When it came out of the kiln the next morning I was pleasantly surprised and decided to make more.  They have become one of the most popular color combos I've ever done - go figure!

The next batch has a very autumn feeling.  These are very time consuming to make.  I use 8 different colors in each leaf, so they turn out a bit larger than some of my other leaves.  Here are my "Harvest" leaves.

And now it's time to pack and ship my vessel, then head back to the torch.  So many leaves, so little time...  Have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Another Treasury Roundup

Before I head out to the glass lab for the afternoon, I'm bringing you the Etsy Treasuries in which my work has been featured over the last few weeks.

blingbychristine included my "Flowers At Dusk" bead in her treasury "Beachcombing!".



Thank you, Christine! Be sure to visit her shop for some fun bling, such as this "HEMATITE, SPIDER WEB AGATE and GLASS bracelet".






rosebud101 included my "Night Blooms" bead and my "Soie de la Provence" pendant in her treasury "Team Wetsy".



Thanks, "rosebud"! Be sure to visit her shop for some fun and funky lampwork, such as this "Blessings Handmade Lampwork Blown Vessel".









DoBeadDo included my work in two of her treasuries. First are my "Lush" felted vessel and "Seaside" bead in her treasury "She Sells Shades of the Seashore".

Next is my "Twilight Bouquet" bead in her treasury "April Showers brought May Flowers".




Thank you, Carrie! With the weather warming up, check out her shop for some new summer time jewelry such as this "Beach Glass Bangle".








That's it for this week's Treasuries. And now I'm off to grab a bite of lunch and melt some glass. Have yourselves a happy and creative day!

New Week... Busy Week!

I'm now on a countdown of sorts, getting ready for the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee.  This is my biggest show of the year and there's so much to do to prepare!  I'll be spending a lot of time in the glass lab, making new beads for the show.  Most of these won't show up in my Etsy shop - not enough time to do it all!  But I'll be showing you pictures out here - and perhaps tempt you to come and see me in Milwaukee, yes?  That would be wonderful!  I'll be in booth 1221.  Hint, hint...

I almost titled this post "Best laid plans...".  In a couple of prior posts  (Roses In The Wet Lab and Old Friends - Redux) I talked about the felted vessel that I made, inspired by Pam Brisse's Rose Garden bead.  After the vessel was dry, I auditioned the "handle" bead that I made as well as Pam's Rose Garden bead.  At that point I decided that the vessel was the wrong shape and size for those beads.  Back to the drawing board!  But not for long... I knew exactly which leaf bead to fetch from my stash and I decided to embellish the vessel with a technique I use for some of my jewelry.  I've turned the entire vessel into a garden.  This is my most ambitious vessel so far - many many hours and lots of glass and stones - and I've just listed it in my Etsy shop.  Come see my Summer Garden!

I've also just listed the vessel that I created using Pam Brisse's "Milky Way" bead.  The entire vessel was created based on this bead, and it's one of my favorites!  Although Pam called this bead Milky Way, I went in the other direction.  Come to my shop to see my Divers Vessel!

And last but not least, here is my Solar Vessel - and wow, is it hot!  These colors will brighten up any spot in your room, guaranteed.

And now I'm off for a bit of lunch and some torch work.  Have yourselves a fun and creative day!

A Few New Beads

My torch time has been a bit limited, but I did manage to make some new beads that I will have at my booth at the Bead Society of Northern California show tomorrow. If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, come to the Oakland Convention Center and visit me in booth 315. Beads always look WAY better up close and personal! This is particularly true with my "cotton candy" beads. They have a sweetness and glow to them that I just cannot capture in a picture.



I'll have a few more sets of these in different colors. I also created more Seaside beads. One is currently in the kiln, here's the other.


And of course, I had to make more leaves! Here are some new ones - the one on the left is my fave! - and I have more in the kiln.



I also have beads and leaves waiting to be etched - my post-supper activity for today. Talk about last minute - that's me all over!

I'll be starting my de-stash process at this show. I have boxes of lampwork beads that I purchased from other bead makers years ago and I figure that if I haven't used them by now, it's time to say good bye. These are what I call "utility" beads rather than "collector" beads. Good grief, there's no way I can part with my collection...

And now it's pizza time. I look forward to seeing you at the show tomorrow!

Countdown to the Bead Bazaar

Ah, the morning started out nice and sunny. My back yard trees are filling in, the birds are singing, and life is good. Maybe I'll spend a bit of the afternoon out in the sunshine.

I need to put myself in a tranquil frame of mind because this is officially my "crazy week". It's always this way just before I do a show and this being tax week just complicates matters. There's always so much to get done and never enough time. That being said, I probably won't be spending a lot of time here on my blog this week.

If you happen to be in the San Francisco Bay Area this Saturday, the Bead Society of Northern California is having its annual Bead Bazaar. Come on over to the Oakland Convention Center at the Marriott Hotel and visit me! I'll be in booth 315, right next to my buddy Nanette Young-Greiner of Scorpio Beads.


Here's more info about the Bead Bazaar, just click on our logo below - hope to see you there!



Now go have yourself a wonderful creative day!

Happy Easter ~ Happy Spring

Wishing all of you a glorious day!