Home Again and Listing New Beads...Finally!

We're in October, so it must mean that it's time for Halloween Beads!  I am home from Asheville and will write about it this week and post photos.  But in the meantime, I wanted to let you know that I'm filling my Etsy shop back up.

Yes, I know it's been awhile, and I have been busy with so many other things, but I miss listing fun, new beads- especially the one of the kinds on Etsy.  So, if everyone is patient with my traveling schedule, I am so happy to be back.

If you give it a peek, (http://www.StudioMarcy.etsy.com), you'll see stacked pumpkins with a small black crow perched on top.  Justinstein, brother of Frank, The Penguin from Batman, which is not only a bead, but at 2.25" a pretty cute ornament as well, and other beads.  I will highlight them more through the weeks.

Happy to see you again and let's have some fun!
xo
Marcy

One Tree Bead

Do you ever make something because you want to see if you can do it?  Well that was the basis for this Tree bead that ended up morphing into more,'

I wanted to see if I could form a horizontally oriented bead with a hole in the middle.  (yes I can!)  So the hole runs sideways with the tree's hole in the middle.  It was kind of like making a green donut!

This fun bead is available in my Etsy shop, just click here.

Steampunk Owl

I've been doing a lot of experimenting recently.  And I'm not sure where I'm going with it yet.  But here is one of my first attempts at making some sort of clockwork gears encased inside of an owl bead.  I used little metal pieces on other parts of him too.  His beak is made from a little screw and he has brass leaf findings on his wings for additional feathers. I used silvered ivory, hoping to tie the look together, but it might be too much.

I like the concept, but I think it doesn't quite have the look that I'm trying for yet.  Not sure where it will evolve.  I'd appreciate your comments- ideas and suggestions.

Rock Star Owl

Mick the Owl is decked out in his best clothes. I started to design a very different owl and this one just kept getting crazier and crazier. Almost like my hands and head were not connected. Perhaps my hands were ready to make a bird of a different feather?

Mick revels in showmanship. He loves to stand out and be noticed. I think in his owl life, he is the front man of a successful rock band. He does look like one who enjoys strutting his stuff.

Mick has a 1/16th vertical hole and is a little over an inch tall. His base color is a muted purple which shows up more on his back side.

Hope you enjoy my fine feathered friend. Although a little full of himself, he's really a great guy deep down.

Whisper Owl Garden Statue

I saw this Whisper Owl Garden Statue on MyDeco.com website. I couldn't help thinking, this sure looks like inspiration for a bead for me. What do you think? I like the swirls and texture, and the shape. Elements will be perfect to take and run with them.

What do you think? Which elements inspire you or interest you?

Spooky Night ~ Need Your Vote, Please!

It's that time of the year when goblins and skulls are in abundance at FlameTree Glass. It's their annual Halloween Glass Contest and I need you to vote here for my entry, please. If it's not your choice, how about voting for the one you like best. (But psssst, I'm the third one down just in case you want to find me easily.)

My entry is "Spooky Night" and (okay, so I know it's not too spooky, but at least the owl has a bit of an attitude) I'm afraid that really scary...well, scares me. My mind freezes, I break out in goosebumps and I have bad dreams. We don't want that, do we?

But there are some super-duper torches that those generous guys at GTT have donated as prizes and I would dearly love to win one.

And if I win, I'll show you the inner workings on how I put this together and the thought that went behind it complete with photos and perhaps just a touch of interesting commentary about it. My first "Glass-amentary". Scary thought in itself.

Thanks so much for helping me. I promise to make some cool bigger stuff if I win one of the bigger torches. (I'm hoping for second place with the Scorpion that would work on my concentrator, fingers and eyes crossed and knocking on wood.) Here's the voting place again.

See you tomorrow for more glass and creativity chat here at http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com

Glass Challenge Still Going On

Have you entered for this latest edition of the Glass Challenge? I have. My little owl on a branch is right here.

It's in two parts. I made the owl sitting directly on the wood stump and branch as one of my "exercises" in heat control. I do that type of thing regularly. How can I keep everything the right heat and still add unevenly weighted sculptural additions. It's a lot of fun for me- like a puzzle. The base is a second bead, like my typical bead stands with the steel rod holding up the bead. Each one is cased with silver glass to give it that wonderful color combination. The owl was designed with silver ivory to fume it and add details.

The current Glass Challenge has some cool prizes as always. And it's so easy to enter. Just click here to check it out.

And just so you don't make the same mistake I did, below each entry are a series of little dots for rating the submissions. Big blonde moment, I accidentally clicked on the 0/5 dots, instead of the reverse. And you can't erase! Oh duh. So do me a favor, if you're rating them, be careful and don't mess up like I did. Worst is to the left and best is to the right. Snap!

See you on Sunday (remember, I'm now taking Saturday off) here at http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com

Hooters For Hooters - Breast Cancer Awareness

I am a big supporter of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the Susan B. Komen Foundation.

Unfortunately, too many of my friends, relatives and acquaintances have been hit hard with breast cancer.
I sure wish a cure could be found.

So this year, I decided to do try a different style of donation to this worthy cause. I designed a line of focal beads called, "Hooters for Hooters".

I love birds and the owls just seemed like a natural fit. Each one is sporting a light pink ribbon. You will need to make the hooting sound yourself. Hope you smile over the name, I do when I think about it.

I've started listing them in my lampwork glass Etsy shop and will continue add them over the next week. Each one is different. Now I am playing with the idea of putting a few in corsets as well. If you have a special color combination request, feel free to email me at StudioMarcy(at) gmail.com

Help me support this worthy cause as half of each sale will go to the Susan B. Komen Foundation. Currently I have six of them. If they all sell, I'll be happy to make more. These little owls are hooters for hooters.

Turn Glass Into Wood

I love so much about nature. Plants, flowers, birds, cute little animals all intrigue me. (well, except for some weird bugs which give me the creeps).

Sometimes it's fun to give them a place to hang out. Often trees, stumps and vegetation fit into that concept, so what's an easy way to make glass look like wood?

I use some silver glass that is from Striking Color on Etsy. I use it over a transparent base and just encase that glass well, so I don't waste the more expensive glass.

Here is an example. It's my "Owl on a Branch" which is in my Etsy shop. (I know, real original title. I must not have been feeling verbally inspired when I wrote it.

Only two beads make up this piece. The owl and tree are one piece, (boy was that fun to make. Talk about heat control!) and that bead sits on top of a flat stand to counter balance it.

So play around with the glass in a different way and see what you come up with. I like this for wood, but next, I want to make some birch trees, and of course there's this one plant in my yard, and of course the Crape Myrtle bark.....the list goes on and on.

See you tomorrow at http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com

From Purse to Bead?

I like looking all over for inspiration. I recently saw this handbag, and I swear, it looks like a bead with a handle to me.

So I thought I'd go over my thought process and how I would approach changing this purse into a bead.

I'd start with a chubby barrel shape in Moretti's dark gray. Next I'd add a swipe of dark ivory for the face and chest, not worrying too much on shape, because I will be adding wings.

I'd add the face next starting with the eyes working from the outside of them towards the center stacking dots and melting them in.

Next, I'd add the eyebrows after warming up the eye area and pushing it into the diagonal shape, then dotting on the beak & chin.

The wings with the original dark gray could be added next and I'd probably use the sharp end of my stump shaper to form the texture. There's probably a tail on the back side, which is an important feature for any bird- probably 2-3 swooshes of glass for that. I'd also add texture to the front body section with a piece of round brass tube or something like that.

Finally, I'd add some large dots for ears and pull them into shape. A final adjustment on the features and bada bing, I'm done.

Now that I've provided a blueprint for you- let's see some owls out there. Different colors, shapes and faces will all be enjoyed. Here's a little lampwork bead that I made before I saw this handbag.

See you tomorrow.

What Big Eyes You Have

I enjoy making little owl beads in bright colors and even sometimes wearing clothes or accessories.

Meet Sven, the uber cool owl.

This time I wanted to change it up a little bit and instead of wearing a necklace, hat or peace symbol, this one has particularly large eyes. Which makes me think this owl has had too much coffee. He looks a little stressed out. I've felt that way plenty of times.

I used commercial murrini for these, because there they were, sitting in my murrini container just staring at me.
(Of course you can easily make them too.)

These give you a good view of how they are made. You can see the center core color which is a dark transparent green, like deep grass green and then opaque white, medium grass green
transparent, opaque white again and then light grass green transparent. The darker core going to a lighter outside color makes the center visually recede.

When I apply murrini, I spot heat the area where the murrini is going and I gently warm the murrini so it doesn't crack when placed on the warm glass. I use my tweezers to place it where I want it to go. At that point it is sticking out a lot. Gently heat the base bead around the edges and again carefully push it a little farther in. If you heat directly onto the murrini and make it too warm, the design will distort. And it seems like the opaque white spreads really easily if too warm. So slightly heat and press over and over until it's in place.

Because the rectangular murrini shape gives him a bit of a 60's mod feel, his eyes definitely have the starring role. I wanted to keep the rest of the bead simple, so it would not distract from them. The back side has his little tail that I make in the shape of a heart.

This bead is less than an inch tall. And if you enjoy a pun or two, I was on quite a roll, when I wrote the description. Click and enjoy. And then go use up some of your old murrini in a bead and send me a photo. And remember, stepping outside of the coloring lines in how you use them makes your beads interesting and unique. I'd love to see what you create.