Latest Work

The glass work of Sara Sally LaGrand has captivated me.  I hope I have put enough of my own
stamp on these pieces in doing more realistic flowers.  I found this beautiful cord made with
kimono silk fabric.  The necklaces are finished with Chinese knots and hand-made bronze clasps.

The real inspiration has been to take my glass work further than ever.  I could almost buy Manhatten with all the beads amassed over the years, so I am turning to more sculptured pieces inn the future.
We may not be living in the best of financial times, but that shouldn't stop us from exploring the media we love so much.

These necklaces are currently in a gallery.

Road to Aleppo

I made this bead a while ago, along with  beads from earlier posts, but I have been so
attached to it I didn't want to show it.  Now it is in a gallery, so this is its debut on line.

While I was working on this series of tulips and poppies, with this lovely unpredictable silver glass
base, the middle east was on my mind a lot.   Instead of focusing on the wars, I thought about the often times harsh geology and land of Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and then Syria.  And I recalled the discovery of tulips  in the rocky regions of countries like Kazakhstan .  I thought how lovely a tulip or poppy would be by the side of a stoney, dusty road to a place like Aleppo in Syria, and that is what fueled this bead.  It also evokes my passion for the California poppy, one of the few things I miss from home.

I guess this is enough pink for one post!  I envision this bead as a suggestion of a perfume bottle.  I wanted to try having the flower stand proud, on top and this bead turned out very pretty and just what I wanted it to be.

New Work

 My blog has been languishing in the aether for a while now.  When I get to working on my glass it sometimes moves along so rapidly that I neglect to post photos at all.  Each phase kind of cancels out the previous ones. 

But a lot of nice beads have been made in the last six months and I want to showcase a series from late winter that especially pleases me.  After many false starts on these techniques I finally created some beads worth noting!

I have to give copious credit to many glass artists who share their secrets in on-line tutorials.  The challenge is not so much to learn the "tricks" as to take what we learn to new and personal levels, and that can take some time.  In glass it seems there are always a few glitches, never the same ones, but finally a bead will come out glorious, no chill marks, no uneven surfaces, no smeared flower petals, or discoloration from the silver-laden glass included in the design...and best of all, the colors going into the kiln come back out again just as vibrant, or at least transformed to another acceptable or exciting range of colors.
  

I am Back!

It has been over two years...time I spent on other projects that are now complete, and my torch is lit again for making beads. I have so much to show you, but will start with just a few of my favorite beads. I struggled with a lot of styles other bead makers have made popular while I was MIA, but a good friend suggested doing what I love best, so here are some of those beads!

I learned to make roses with glass cane and apply them as murrini within or on the surface of beads. This style of work makes me so happy! Again, Lydia Muell was a great teacher of this type of work, and I thank her profusely.

Elegant maidens, elegant forms...

It is always an adventure to embark on a new style, well, new to me, and see where it goes. As you scroll down you can see the route my mermaids took, from esoteric and colorful in the beginning, to these simple and elegant forms...less is more, they say.

I love the idea of these maids ascending from the nautilus shape, with textured copper electroforming suggesting the sea foam delineating the two elements. The torsos are etched on most of these mermaids, and the swirling, coiling tails are mostly made with silver-based glass which will always yield a surprise set of colors in the end!

I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed making them. And in your seafaring travels you just may see a sea maiden who reminds you of these.

Beware of ladies on seaweed-strewn rocks...!

Yes, these are the stuff of sailor men's dreams.