Historic Day - New President and New Web Presence on Art Fire

It's a big day today. We have a history making Presidential inauguration that so many people are excited about. I know I'll be catching a little of Barack Obama on the screen.

And in a far smaller way, but still historical for me, I've just signed up to sell on Art Fire. My web address there will be http://www.StudioMarcy.ArtFire.com. Or you can click here. I've just included a couple of items to test the views and see how it works. If I like it, I'll stay, and if not, I'll end my presence. I still love Etsy and will have most of my inventory there, but thought maybe I could catch a few new folks on the new forum. We'll see.

Anyone else on Art Fire? Tell me how you're doing. What do you like about it and what don't you like about it? Are you selling, or getting the views?

If you're on Art Fire, stop by and say hi. I'm going to sign up for google analytics, so that will help me test out some of those features too. And tomorrow, let's chat about making beads. I'm ready for it. Today will be a long day in the studio working on custom orders.

A First Attempt At Making An Obama Bead

With the excitement swirling around of America's first African American President, I felt the need to attempt a bead to commemorate the occasion.

Unfortunately, I didn't do him justice, but for a first try, I'm pretty happy. I learned a lot from the experience.

Finding the right colors for it... I wanted him to look more Presidential, so I used a dark blue for his jacket, a white shirt and red tie complete his outfit. If I were making this bead again, I would use the same colors, but build him differently with both the front and the back a little flatter and more squared up.

For his skin color I tried a few and decided upon Red Roof Tile. This photo is a little lighter than in person and the glass color adds a nice shade of brown mixed with some warm reddish colors. When you're debating which color to use, make tiny spacers on a mandrel and leave them to cool on your table. That way, you'll be able to immediately see whether the colors are what you'd like.

And finally a few comments about his appearance. I noticed in photos that he has short hair. I tried to make dots with a stringer and then partially melt them in. I used a commercial stringer and think next time I'd use a hand pulled one, because these dots were too large and didn't give him short enough hair. I tried to make a smile, but next time perhaps using a murrini that has the teeth and lips in it, might be better. His head is small and it was hard to work in such a small space. And finally, one of his characteristics is that his ears stand out a bit. I was sure to do that, to help identify who I was trying to characterize.

Hopefully, my lessons learned will help you look at photos and people a little differently when making beads.