Barbie Grows Up with Jonathan Adler

Jonathan Adler has brought Barbie into the modern age in a grown up, and very funny way.

Known for his creative and whimsical way of looking at things, (oh I love his style), here are four canisters from his Barbie line that crack me up. Each one is available separately.

And of course, there are his other containers that I have loved for years. He says they're for those, "beyond denial. stash in style"....including jars for "Uppers, Downers, Quaaludes, Dolls & Prozac". (and a brief disclaimer...I don't take any of them, but find the concept hilarious.)

See you tomorrow for more fun, glass and entertainment! http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com

Lamps Make Great Bead Shapes

I love sculptural lamps. They just look like beads to me. You can view them as just the base or the base with the shade.

One of my favorite websites for divine inspiration is Jonathan Adler's. He's a former potter who is huge in the interior design world. He seems to love texture with a touch of humor- my kind of guy.

Adler's entire website is filled with items that could give you great ideas. He has vases, pillows, lights and all kinds of decorative objects. Whether it's the shape, texture, or even color combination, (he seems to favor retro a bit), or if you just want a smile, I suggest you pop by.

Kind of like an elongated melon, isn't it? Pretty, somewhat sinuous, and it would look nice in a single color or multiples.


(how I'd love to see it with a different color in the indentations!)

The bottom two photos include one of his lamps and then a bead that I made using it as inspiration. I actually made a lamp this time, but I would use the lamp base shape probably more often for a bead. I didn't get the pear shape as well as I would have liked. That will teach me to hurry.

But I did have a lot of fun with it. And I'm going to pick another lamp style and make a bead out of it. The aspect of picking a shape and practicing the hand / eye coordination that you need to mimic the shape is good exercise for any beadmaker.

This lamp has already sold. But when I make more, I'll show you all, so you can see it before it is listed in my lampwork glass etsy shop.

So until then, I'd be really happy if some of you take this challenge and then send me a photo. Make a lamp or another item from Adler's shop and send me a photo of the item and your bead. I'd love to show them to everyone else in a blog post. You can write me at my StudioMarcy@gmail.com email address. I'd love to see what you do.