Tool Time Drawing For One of My Beads

And the winner is...... (drum roll please).... Melanie! Melanie, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before, so thank you for visiting and commenting on my blog. I really appreciate it and thanks to all the other people who commented. I will contact you for your address, so I can send you a bead.

What a fun combination of answers for my video blog's question about my new brass tool. From beadmaker prod, to belly button pusher, to a hat maker and petal pusher. Each one had their own merit.

The tool turned into quite a question mark to me. first I tried to see whether I could get an exterior bead shape from it. I used a light pastel opaque for its pliability, and it wouldn't hold that shape. The bead kept wanting to round up. so it ended up looking more like a modified egg shape. So the shaping aspect didn't work...yet. (You know me, I'm going to give it another try sometime.)

That leaves me with using the to indent this blue glass bead. First I tried a simple indentation and with the shape of the original bead, it reminded me of a sugared Easter egg that has the little flowers, bunnies and chicks in frosting on the inside. I tried a simple one with a sculptural blackbird on the inside and a tree on the outside. I'd like to take this concept a step further at another time and get more intricate. It would be fun to try it like a silhouette and do people faces and decorate the edges of the circle like a picture frame. And of course, I'll need to try an Easter theme at some point too. Lots of possibilities.

My second bead, I call "Singing Tommy", which is pictured above. I decided that tool would be able to make a large and wide open mouth. To make the depth more apparent, I first melted in a black dot and then pressed it in. I used a #420 Effetre coral for the tongue which was to accent the hole. If I had wanted to draw more attention to it, I'd maybe have tried a brighter or lighter pink that would show up even more against the black.

If you've read the comments, they were varied and lots of fun. I might try some of the other ideas in the future, but unless I get really frustrated, I might skip burning it.

Both of these beads are available in my etsy shop, http://www.StudioMarcy.etsy.com .
And please come back for more online coaching, tips, tricks and who knows what else!