lo and behold

I promised my Aunt Alice a bracelet when I saw her at Thanksgiving.  I didn’t forget (I haven’t forgotten the one for you, Roz, either!) – let’s just say, I took my time.  It will go into the mail this week. Aunt Alice said she likes shades of green and olive, shades of peach and coral.  I had this stone in my stash and I don’t remember where I bought it or what it is.

Does anyone recognize the stone?  I  think it’s natural.  The back side has no orange, just a beautiful mottled creme pattern.  The rope is made from four beads: a copper metallic, an AB brown, a lined olive, and a lined tan.  I don’t know how to describe them any better than that.  It’s four beads crocheted on six around.  If you want to understand it better, drop me a note. 

While I was at it for my Aunt Alice, I decided to also make a bracelet for her daughter, my cousin Ariel.  Ariel’s bracelet is the same pattern:  four beads crocheted on six around, but each bead is a different shade of blue.  This picture didn’t really get the color right. The four different blues weave together to make a rope that looks one color (to me) but a color that has movement and texture. I love this pattern, and I am often experimenting with what it can do. Subtle and elegant. This one reminds me of the Mediterranean sea, or at least what I imagine the water is like at a tropical beach. 

Lastly,  while I was on a roll, I whipped up small bracelet for Ariel’s daughter, Aliya.  She just had her fourth b-day.  I love these flowers, but I don’t do them very often because they are kind of a pain to string.  This one has inspired me to do it more often. This bracelet is sooooo sweet. 

Let me know if you want one, and I’ll make you one special. Any color flowers you want! 

Not really!!   The house is still standing, and nothing yet has been burned.  I’m very proud of myself! 

I’ve probably got terrible form here with the position of the glass, and I look terribly shlumpy in those grey sweatpants, but what the heck – I haven’t burned down the house and I’m playing with melted glass!  I’m so glad I never threw away that old camping shirt.  It’s wool, (natural fibers aren’t flammable like my everyday fleece is) but lightweight, so it’s perfect for “torching.”

I don’t have a kiln to anneal my beads yet, so I can’t do anything much with them except give them to my kids and/or collect them.  I’ve taken to wearing this set myself.  I don’t know if they really look any different, but the left bead is aqua stripes on dark blue, and the right bead is the opposite.  Aren’t they nice and evenly shaped? 

The only problem now is that I don’t want to do anything else, like make dinner, or earn money, or talk to my family – know what I mean? 

In the months since my last post, I took a class in glass bead making at  Snow Farm Craft School. I have always loved glass art, and I was terrified -  that taking the class was going to change my life forever.  I mean, how was I ever going to manage the space and money and equipment to make glass beads after the class ended and I was in more in love than I even started?   I decided to jump first and think later. 

So now, that box?  That’s my new torch, known also as a hothead, the smallest, simplest, cheapest torch there is.  I decided after much thinking that I just needed to set myself up as simply and quickly as possible.  I needed to take one step at a time, not figure out the rest of my life as a glass artist.  This torch runs on small cans of gas you can buy in a hardware store.  It will be loud and imprecise.  I might outgrow it fast, but I know I need lots of practice, so my plan is a summer of practice and play.  No kiln.  No selling beads.  No making jewelry, just making beads, hundreds at a time.  My teacher at Snow Farm said that when her teacher showed her something new, he would then tell her, “Go make a 100.”  And that’s me.  I”m going to make hundreds of anything I want to.  

I didn’t even sweep the floor.  I bought a fire extinguisher and lit up.  And guess what I made?

These are better than anything I made in the class.  I actually think the lower heat of the hothead helps me have more control. Also, I am trying a different method of making a base bead than the one my teacher taught, and it seems to be working much better. I could barely ever get a round bead the way she showed me and now,  will you look at that? I”m hot!!