Branching Out ~ Chandelier Making

I've been working on building a chandelier for a few weeks now. It's a slow process when one is a bit indecisive. I'm not usually, but this really brings it out as it's my first light that I've made.

I bought a simple base at a local shop and decided to change out its decorations and embellish with my own lampwork and bead collection.

What a lot of fun! Because the base of it is so non traditional, I had a bit of a hard time getting started. The "theme" of it changed three times, until I finally settled into what I felt comfortable with. (oops, sorry about that dangling participle there).

I went from a colorful "over the top" style to a neutral, textural earthier kind of "spirit animal" theme. The amount of metal in the base and modern design needed a less-is-more type style than what I originally planned. (which was my more-is-more aesthetic)

So I gathered my supplies of creams, whites, grays, brown, metallics, crystals and various textures and shapes and sorted the beads and embellishments. It made it a lot easier to line things out and test string them to see if they were looking like I had imagined. I used my lampwork glass, bone, ceramic, coconut husk, wood, and other mediums to get the look I wanted. To keep the cost down, I didn't make it all lampwork, but the highlights include sculptural focal beads that I made just for it. Then it was time to get to work. And I'll show you the results of the finished chandelier either tomorrow or Thursday.

Because...well, as I'm writing this, I'm wondering if there's just one more thing that I want to do. Now I'm considering whether to alter the base metal color of the chandelier. Sure, it would be a lot of work, but I just have to ponder that scenario for a little while longer...darn, these aesthetic choices are tough. Darker or lighter? Burnished copper or burnished aluminum?

See you tomorrow at http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com. I'm not sure whether it will be the continuing sage of the chandelier or something different. We'll know first thing tomorrow morning. Thanks for stopping by.

Lights, Camera, Action-

This past weekend a group of friends and I went to a nice beach resort for an end of summer get together. Of course it had the delicious food, beautiful beach and the other qualities that resorts normally require.

But as usual, I tend to look for the details of a place. What is interesting to me? What might relate into the glass world? Lighting often does. And I was busy snapping photos of their lovely ceiling lights that were metal over glass.

The top photo is of one that I spied in their spa building. The combination of geometric with swirls intrigued me.

The center section reminds
me of blossoms with leaves in a very graphic design way. It fit its surrounding.

I found the second fixture in a more social setting. It too was in a hallway, but near their upscale restaurant. The leafy pattern swagging the side along with the swirly design that has a hint of floral again caught my attention. How would one interpret this pattern? It's much more intricate and less easy to replicate. (not that I'd want the exact one anyhow).

So next time you go out, don't forget to look up.
You might be surprised at what you see. It could be the inspiration for your next bead design.

See you tomorrow for my next blog post on http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com. I have some glass comments that I think you'll enjoy.

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.