Nervous Adventures in Copper & Lampwork BeadsApril 16, 2010

Greetings friends!!

Welcome to my nervous adventures in Copper and Lampwork Beads! I have already admitted my newly acquired addiction to beads... no, not just any beads but HAND-CRAFTED, Made in the USA, Lampwork beads. And not just any - I get mine from some very talented deale... ahhh artisans!

One of these is Canyon Echos - I purchased a couple of sets from her, the first being Desert Dreams. I'm sooo nervous about using these beads! They are so pretty - and professional and... oi! OK so, I saw this set and even though it has silver in it, I thought COPPER! For some reason I kept seeing wood when I look at these organic matte beads. That led me to thinking about bark... branches... you know - wood.

I pulled out my design book back in Feb and kept doodling a bail that is based on a tutorial by Deb Fitz of Paradise Cove. Except my bail kept turning into a piece of wood. Like a cut down branch w/ a thin branch still attached and swirling around to encompass the focal bead.

I have also fallen in love with Viking Knit Chain - and I learned to do this (thanks to one of my other deal... ahh enabler... ahhh artisans Nikki at Bastille Bleu). I kept seeing my chunky bail sliding on the viking knit chain.

That meant I needed end caps to finish off the chain and lead to the rest of my pretty Desert Dreams beads. Finish that off with a copper closure and POOF you have my first 'real' piece of creativity.

I used Art Clay Copper to create the branch, endcaps, and closure pieces. I crafted them and added the texture by hand before they dried. I feel more comfortable right now creating the texture of the bark when the pieces are wet rather than carving when they are dry. I fired the pieces w/ a butane torch, pickled and then tumbled them.

One of my evenings watching Project Runway I wove the Viking Knit chain. I love this chain. I love the fact that you start w/ a dowel and wire and end up with this smooth, silky feeling chain! And depending on how 'thick' you like it you can practically make it fit whatever need you have.

My hope is that the artisan of the Desert Dream bead set approves of the design and craftsmanship of the piece. Did I mention I was nervous? :o)

February 11, 2010 BEADS! I Love Beads!

I love beads.

I didn't realize it, but I do - I love beads. While working and learning and sucking the minds of my online mentors dry as I grow my metal clay addiction some how beads started to grow on me.

It could be the fact that I am SURROUNDED by these fabulous artisans who make the most gorgeous glass beads. It could be that I'm SURROUNDED by these fabulous artisans who USE beads to make gorgeous jewelery. Whichever it is, however it happened... I LOVE BEADS.

I have a small mason-like jar of what I call "Inspiration Beads"... beads made by Deb Fitz. These are so beautiful. They sit in the jar waiting for a design worthy of their beauty to dribble out of my brain and into my design book.

THEN... I bought the cutest (CUTEST) little cupcakes and lady bugs from Bastille Bleu. They look cute in the pictures, but photos do not do them justice... they are the cutest, littlest, sweetest cupcakes ever!

THEN... tonight, I ordered from Canyon Echos Johanna makes these gorgeous, organic beads that just look so natural and yet have these cool swirls of fine silver through them. I'm so excited to use her beads with my silver!! Here's what I ordered tonight... but add 2 more, slightly larger spacer beads to the brown set. She's special order making them for ME tonight. Yes... FOR ME! makes me all happy inside!!! :o)


OH OH.. and I know they are not beads, but I bought Titanium too. I used two gorgeous pieces of crystallized titanium that I got from Holly Gage in two pieces I made. AND when Chris & Holly sent out the email that they had to pull them off their site for a while I ordered three more pieces because they spoke to me... something pretty about them - and they too sit waiting for something gorgeously worthy of themI cant help but see grapes (thanks to Chris' description! :o) ) in the piece to the right and thanks to his power of description, I have an idea in mind for a larger pendant/closure piece. I'm excited because it will be the hardest, largest piece I try. And the piece in the middle... something about that chocolate 'lace' piece made me love it. I almost want to snip it into two... but the jury is out on that.

And finally - but not least. It is my goal to 'pay it back' to the people who help me on a daily basis as I learn and grow in this exciting medium. So I have allowed myself to purchase from the great artisans above and from some gorgeous jewelry makers. I lusted after this pewter heart necklace the minute Keirsten of Lune Design posted it.
And then when she posted the adorable earrings, I had to make them mine. Happy Birthday to me! The gorgeous pieces have a ton of garnet (my birthstone) in them and I simply love the look AND feel of these pieces. OH and her blog - the Cerebral Dilettante- hilariously delicious!!

And .. yes, there's more. I was asked by my brother and his new wife what I would like for my birthday ... well, I'd already bought the set above for myself (he he he) ... but I had my eye on a piece by Holly Gage. "When Peace Talks" this piece is strong, and meaningful, and gorgeous. All things I admire. And poof... two days after my birthday a gorgeous "When Peace Talks" arrived! Sterling silver on black cord w/ Venetian blue bead. mmmmm!! :o)

October 10, 2009: Enameling on Copper

OK so it's not fine silver clay BUT what you learn for one medium you can translate to another medium! :o)

Yet again a great Saturday found me at the Memphis Botanical Garden (MBG) and a class on Enameling on Copper being led by whom? Yep, you got it... Brandy Boyd. (I mentioned I consider her my "dealer" in this addiction right? :o) )

What a great time we had learning to enamel. This I will have you know is one of the techniques I needed to learn to work on Mom's Mother's Day pin. Check this off now!

OK did I written about Facebook? After spending a TON of time online researching this new metal clay addiction I thought - I wonder if more people than Brandy and I on Facebook love this medium. I found fellow addicts! And they are GOOD - CRAZY GOOD! This awesome group of artists have become my mentors. They deal with me asking questions: how do I do this? where do I find that? can this be done?

There are so many great people that I am learning from I can't even list them all. The ones listed here have websites with information I find interesting, helpful and inspiring. The first is Brandy Boyd and when she gets her site back up... I'll definately post aside from her metal clay, polymer, enameling skills - her photography skills are crazy good.

~ Pam East: www.pameast.net
~ Pam also has a great book "Enameling on Metal Clay"
~ Gordon K. Uyehara: www.honudream.com
~ Holly Gage: www.hollygage.com
~ Deb Fitz: http://debsdream.blogspot.com/
~ Lorena Angulo: different flavor - http://blog.lorenaangulo.com/
~ Kristi Bowman: http://DreamSome.Etsy.com

Photos from class can be found here:
Enameling on Copper