Still Loving Sea Shells

I love making seashells in glass.  I think most artists have their "go-to" pieces.  Whether it's just to relax for a few minutes or something that isn't so frustrating and always makes them smile.  Well shells fit that bill for me.

Here is one of my favorites.  I have etched it so it has the well worn, velvety feel, as if it has washed up on the beach recently. And I can assure you that there is no living organism inside. ;)

See you tomorrow!

My StudioMarcy Etsy Shop Is Being Re-Stocked

I am starting to restock my Etsy shop! Hooray.  I will be starting with some of my favorite beads which are in stock and then as I finish up some of my show deadlines, I'll be adding more new ones.  Here is Serena the Seahorse.  You can find her if you go to www.StudioMarcy.etsy.com (and see my other beads too!

Little Tiny Mermaids Swimming Away...

I'm in a "Beach" themed charm exchange and these little ladies are headed to the organizer to be doled out.  Each one is under an inch tall.  I enjoyed working so tiny and have kept some other ones that have even more details on them.  (Love my magnifiers!)

Now, we just need a nice warm beach to complete the picture.

Sculptural Beach Shells Glass Class

Well folks, there still is room in my 2 hour Saturday class at FlameTree Glass in Roswell, GA from noon until 2 pm.  I'd love for you to come join me in making seashells and starfish.  If there's time, we'll dive into something else oceanic as well...the class members will decide.  

Just give Lance and Maureen a call...1-888-FLAMETREE  or stop by their website...www.FlameTreeGlass.com

Back From The Beach!

I had a delightful weekend at the beach. Our friends invited us to stay with them on Sea Island, which is a very pretty resort, with lots of "everything" available. Having grown up on the coast of Connecticut, it takes something pretty big to keep me away from that kind of invitation.

The ocean is like a magnet to me...drawing me and keeping me mesmerized. I think it's not just the ocean itself, but the beach sounds that go with it. The waves, the children shouting, if I'm lucky, a little noise from the Hobie sailboats beached nearby, the birds calling and snippets of adult conversation...although I try not to listen too carefully to those.

This was the beach at sunrise on our last day there. A group of us went down with coffee cup in hand to enjoy our last morning there. I took a lot of photos and will sprinkle just a few in some of my blogs for your enjoyment.

Wishing you a Happy Columbus Day and to my fellow beach loving sis, Happy Birthday too!

Inspired by the Sea

I think you know that anything ocean and beach related really appeals to me. I'm sure growing up on the Connecticut coast and swimming in the ocean had a lot to do with it. (Remind me to tell you my jellyfish story sometime. Sometimes I was a little bit naughty as a child.)

So you can imagine my happiness at being included in the lovely treasury, "Inspired by the Sea" by Luv2Have on Etsy. (She makes wonderful fused glass pendants!

My lampwork bead is in the upper left corner. I made it using a stainless steel hollow tube and two colors of glass. I'm still working on improving them, but have some listed in various colors in my Studio Marcy etsy shop.

And of course I'd like one of each of everything else too. I just recently bought a bunch of sea urchins. I've been making them out of glass for quite a while in a stylized manner, but would like to make a few that are more realistic too. (mine are a bit "pungent" right now. They're outside.

Don't forget that these treasuries are ephemeral. This one will just be up through 6/1/09. Feel free to take a copy of this photo, if you want it for inspiration.

So now you know that one of my loves is the ocean and beach. Do you have a category that you adore also? What is it? I'd love to know.

Seashells

Do you love seashells as much as I do? I not only collect them, but enjoy making my shells out of glass- both realistic and very unrealistic ones.

I think my passion for shells has to do with growing up with the ocean a block away from my house. Collecting shells was just one of my past times, but the beach seeped into my soul and still is important to me, even if I don't go very often.

Yesterday, I was able to snag an Etsy Treasury. Usually I happily construct them with members of my Street Teams, but this morning, I guess the seashells were calling to me.

I did an Etsy tag search to see what was out there and then picked some of the pieces that were interesting to me. It might have been that they had a great design element, or their use of certain shells, or perhaps it was they just plain ol' amused me. (I bet you can guess which one). So here is photo of the Treasury I made, and if you click here, it might still be available on Etsy's website.

Perhaps they were on my mind, because last weekend I showed someone how to make a shell and then I came home and made a handful more of them. Also, I've been asked to teach a special class on shells and sculptural beach/ocean related items. I need to mull over what could be good items that will teach my students certain skills as well as the technique for the bead itself.

So what do you think? If you were taking an ocean/beach bead related class, what would you like to learn? Help me out here and give me your opinion. Out of the comments in this post, I'll be randomly choosing someone to receive a seashell from me. (International comments welcomed too, don't forget- I ship everywhere)

Size Does Matter

Yesterday I received a convo, (that's Etsy talk for conversation or private email), from a customer who had seen this bracelet in Bead Dreams Magazine January 2009 issue and wanted to make her own version of it.

Could I make her a mermaid and a seahorse that are .5" tall? That's just under 13mm. I measured the mermaids on this bracelet and they are about .7" or 18mm and remembered how hard it was to make the wee complicated beads.

She explained that she wanted a more delicate bracelet and the smaller charms would better fit into her design.
Needless to say, the seashells, sea glass and other less detailed and rounder beads would be so much easier to reduce and she did choose a starfish and palm tree in the diminutive size too. So today, part of my studio schedule includes attempting a half inch mermaid.

Charm sized beads are a great way to use up stringer and other little bits that are hanging around your bench. I love making sculptural miniatures which make great charms, earrings or dangles. I keep a small section, (ha, ha) in my Etsy shop.

If anyone else wants to join me in trying this, I'd love to see your efforts. The colors of her hair and tail have been left up to me. I'm smiling thinking that yellow could be interesting. That way I could make her wearing an itsy bitsy teensy weensy yellow polka dot bikini, that she wore for the first time today. (Please note, the last line is only amusing if you are about my age and know this song. But if you do, it will probably be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. My apologies.)

Key West Vacation and Inspiration

I had made this bead quite a while ago and named it, "Vacation Wishes". As I was going through my vacation photos, I realized that this bead must have been lucky, because mine had come true.

My friend's husband had won a house for a week in Key West with with a $25 raffle ticket and they generously invited us and another couple to join them in their bounty.

The weather was gorgeous, the tropical plants were plentiful and you couldn't beat all the fresh fish right from the day's catch. I can see why people go down there and return often. There were a lot of characters living down there and they seemed to pride themselves in it.


We stayed in Jimmy Buffet's previous home and the most recent guest had just been Hulk Hogan. That sure made us laugh.

It was a very nice, but definitely not over the top place with three bedrooms and two baths, but the best part, was that it was right on the canal, so a boat could motor right up to the back. I spent a lot of my time on that back dock near the water. A resident blue crab, lots of little brown and white jelly fish and other fish seemed to be the major inhabitants among the coral. I really enjoyed watching them, checking out how the current was and that red kayak that you see in the photo got plenty of use too. We'd kayak around the neighborhood and get a great view of what houses and boats were nearby.

For those of you familiar with Key West, it's not all lazy days. The nightlife is quite active too. We did our share, but tended to gravitate to the outdoor local hangouts in the harbors where people and sunset watching is at its best. There are plenty of characters down there for sure. We did a bit of the tourist stuff and I noticed they could use a few lampworkers down there. The cruise ships come in and the town is packed.

But for me, I'm okay returning home. Yes, my friends continued sending me photos of their fun filled days as they stayed for the entire week and I was sorry to miss the rest of the explorations. But I'm anxious now to incorporate some of my photos and sketches that I made down there into some tropical beads. Our International Society of Glass Beadmakers' annual Gathering will be in Miami this summer, so I'd like to have a small line of beads that are in tune with the locale. This short vacation was perfect for the inspiration and photos to get me started.

Meet Marabelle the Seahorse

Meet Marabelle the Seahorse.  She's a feminine seahorse who has all her curves and maybe a few extra details.

Brad Pearson taught seashorses in his class last week.  His was quite different, and of course, each time we learn something, we need to change it and make it our own. 

So his "boy" seahorse example, which had a black body with white enamel over the stomach and red details, morphed into my girly one with two toned transparent fins and pink lips & cheeks by me.  She also is a bit curvier and was built differently  on the mandrel.  I made her go straight up with the hole going through her head.

What is interesting to me, is that each one fits with each of our personal beadmaking styles.  I would have loved to see his include a little of his masking technique that is so beautifully done.

For another view of her, visit Marabelle and her other friends in my Etsy shop .

Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka- Glass Artists

Rudolph and Leopold Blaschka were a German father and son team of glass artists who were hired by Harvard University to make glass flowers for their botany department in the late 1800's. They also were known for their representations of invertabrate sea life.

You can see their story on the Corning Museum's video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHOx5H5vNx4

Or you can read about them here: http://www.journalofantiques.com/Feb04/featurefeb04.htm

I saw their Harvard exhibit while attending the International Society of Glass Beadmaker's (ISGB) Gathering in Lowell, MA a few years ago. Their work was magnificent. And thinking back to the exhibit, and now to the changes that have been made in the glass world- tools, equipment, types and colors of glass, it makes their artistry even more astounding.

Often times, lampworkers discuss whether glass is "art" or "craft". This topic will continue to be argued long after I'm gone. To me, I don't know how you can call their glass botany and sea life anything but "Art".