Creativity Flows July 5, 2010

NOW... creativity is flowing! I've finished the Charms for Charity and become what one of my friends calls a 'bead hoard'. I saw a set created by Bastille Bleu Lampwork Beads and the juices started. It was a blue 'chintz' set that made me think of my grandmother's house, my two great aunt's cottages on the beach in Maine and shabby chic all rolled into one.
I'm pretty bad at remembering people's birthdays... correction - I REMEMBER I just don't always get the gifts/cards, etc out in time and this set made me think of my god mother and the fact that her birthday was in May and yes, I still hadn't sent anything.

She has a cottage in Maine and I thought ohhhh this would be pretty for her! So the ideas started flowing. Definitely a bracelet. I just finished one for a friend to give to her friend and I love how it came out. I need to make more!

Problem! How could there be a problem? Some other lucky soul picked up the Bastille Bleu Lampwork Beads before I did!! Yikes! So I sent a note to Nikki and said - next set has my name on it. She convo'd me back and sight unseen I became the owner of a pink set.

The next day I had hollow form class at the Memphis Botanic Garden with Brandy Boyd (my silver clay deal... ahhh teacher). Instead of the typical class with burn out cores we did lentil beads. How exciting!! I wanted to create a big focal lentil bead and have been thinking about it for months! Now I had a chance to make small ones as a test... AND it clicked something else in me ... HAND MADE SILVER BEADS for the charm bracelet!! Plus... did I mention that she's into antique swarovski beads??? Well, she's got me hooked on those too so I picked up a bunch of square rose swaros, some pretty green and dusty blue bicones and rounds. Woo hoo - creativity flows...

THEN... (you knew there had to be a then right?) my beads came in from Bastille Bleu Lampwork Beads - O M Gosh! they are beautiful! Now I'm on a roll - I read Kate McKinnon's book Sculptural Metal Clay and have come to the conclusion that I HAVE to have a dapping block so that I can make bead caps - yep... bead caps! So off to Harbor Freight I went in search of said dapping block and the metal clay gods were with me... they had two in stock in the store so no waiting for me!

On the way home I swung by BB&B (coffee needed! ;o) ) and Hobby Lobby. Not a safe place either of them but I lucked out and found some AWESOME cutters!!! Larger rounds (they are for biscuits actually!) for my big focal lentil I want to do and some smaller size cutters that will make great shapes for bead caps that I can then carve and add designs to.

I've spent time the past couple of days texturing and cutting pieces of metal clay to be fired into bead caps. I also created a smaller version of my carnation lentil bead to see if it's the correct size for charm bracelets. I also created a little larger one of a sand dollar for the shabby chic bracelet. All that's left now is to fire the pieces "full fire 1650 for 2 hours" as instructed by Kate's book so that I can dome the bead caps with the dapping block.

I know that the beads I've purchased for this bracelet probably will not need (nor work) with bead caps - the cool thing about these beads is they have the bumps on them that people associate with lamp work beads but the location are around the holes in the beads leaving the center decoration visible and lovely! :o) BUT I'll need them for another project also floating around my head! :o)

OK, enough yapping, I'm off to fire the caps and lentils!
Have a great week!!

PS... look at some of the beads I've scored over the past few months... now you'll understand why my friends call me a 'bead hoard'. (These are only the ones I've shot... "Hi my name is Cindy and I'm a bead addict"