Glass Rings for Jewelry

I found these handmade glass rings in Venice, Italy when I visited this spring. I think they are a lovely rose colored hue. I bought a lot and now, I think it's actually too many. (this is a huge step for me to admit, for those of you who know me.)

So I'm selling some. And some turquoise and deep periwinkle rings too. Yes, I don't just buy one color, I buy a lot. (and there are more colors that I'm not ready to part with yet too)

But I wanted to show you. I take a chainmaille style jump ring and attach it to an earring finding. It looks lovely that way. (sometimes I embellish it more.) and for the remaining hoop, I attach it to a chain as the centerpiece and voila, I have a simple matching necklace as well.

If you are interested in any of them, I have them for sale in my Studio Marcy Etsy shop. I have enough for multiples, if you want a certain number. They make up quickly for shows and jewelry parties while having the handmade aspect, but simple and goes with everything look as well.

Love The Pantone Colors?

I saw these little zippered Pantone Purses and had to show them to you. So many of us artists/creative types follow the trends through Pantone colors each season. So of course these caught my eye.

Under $20, they come in three colors and make great little gifts.

If interested, you can find them here.

Meet Guppy ~ From Plushie to Focal Bead

Meet Guppy. Guppy is the favorite stuffed animal of one of my customers' little girl. Apparently, Guppy isn't allowed to go everywhere the little girl goes, so her Mom decided to find her a stand in who could.

So she contacted me through my etsy shop and sent me a variety of photos of this beloved pink seal. I was touched. Obviously this is a well loved "friend" and as a fellow Mom, I have my memories of how attached my kids became to certain toys.

So let's talk about the process a little. How did I get from step A to step B?

I looked at the shape, the texture and the face on Guppy, to decide how to form this and where the hole needed to be.

Then I picked my colors, which you fellow glass artists know are limited, when it comes to pinks.
I used the Effetre pink and CIM's Gelly pink for the two shades.

My first two efforts, (not shown) were pretty scary. I had tried to give Guppy some texture, so she'd look more like a plushie, but she looked more like a seal wearing a lion costume, as I added fur around her little face. Needless to say, those two got scrapped, but they were helpful in figuring out the body shape and flippers.

On to a smoother and more refined Guppy. No textured fur. I built the body like a large donut shape at first. I wanted to get my height of the body with that. Then I started adding on to parallel sides. A little bit on the side where I would attach the head and face and a lot of glass onto the back side. It looked a little like an asymmetrical torpedo. I wasn't worried about the exact shape at first on the back flipper end, but wanted to get the mass of glass in place.

I added the head in the Effetre pink and flattened the part where the CIM pink face would go. Two dots where the eyes would be added and then the face. Just a bit of black stringer for the simple eyes and nose. I chose not to make the whiskers, because when they're fine lines, they tend not to look very good...at least when I make them.

I shaped the front flippers with a little bit of detail made with pliers and then heated the back flipper side and slightly pulled it out for the elongated shape. I added to large dots of CIM and gently mashed them for the back flippers. A little more plier work for details (and maybe a touch of razor blade for more definition and we were good to go. Guppy is on her way to be wrapped for Christmas. What a fun gift and an everlasting memory.

You can see more angles of Guppy in the sold section of my shop. Just click here to get to it.

Do you have family favorite items that can be translated into glass memories? Or have you done it already? This was my first custom order like this and I really enjoyed making it. I could easily imagine a little girl loving that pink seal.

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 .

Do You Know Beading Color Expert Margie Deeb?

Do you know beading color expert Margie Deeb?

She writes wonderful articles, pdfs, books and does podcasts regarding colors for beaders.

She is busy working on a Spring color forecast and I'm lucky to be making one of the jewelry illustrations for it.

Here is an approximation of the colors that I'll be using but in different proportions.

I was thinking of making a sculptural flower bead with these colors. And as it needs to be finished jewelry for my submission, then use that bead to make a ring. But seeing that it's not due for a little while, I'm open to suggestions from all of you. What would you like to see in these colors? It should be 50% pink, 22% green and yellow- each and about 6% white. I'd love to hear your ideas.
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**Don't forget the free weekly give away in the Artisan Beader Gift Guide, please stop by!**

My New Cricket Torch Arrived!

Woo Hoo... It's My CRICKET!

Here's my actual torch taken with my computer's camera.
Please do not notice either the dust or the messy bookshelves behind me.



I know I've been blog tagged, but that will wait until tomorrow, because I have a new torch to tell you about today.

My new GTT Cricket torch arrived and I'm excited. I haven't connected it yet, but wanted to show everyone what one looks like, if you haven't seen one. Mine is pink with lime green knobs. I know the price of this one sure caught my attention quickly. (Introductory sale base price $139 USD, plus color upgrades that I chose.)

I tried this out at the ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers) Gathering this summer while it AND another Cricket were hooked up to a 10 LPM concentrator. It had a nice strong flame and could focus down to a small point pretty well too. My try out time was short, and it was late at night, but I sure liked the idea that I could hook two torches to my 10 LPM Regalia concentrator at home. It was designed specifically to maximize the abilities of low flow oxygen concentrators like a 5 LPM.

If any of you readers out there know whether there is a torch mounted marver that fits with it, please let me know. That's part of my delay of hooking it up. I use my marver so much, I'd like to have one before I switch over. My trusty Minor needs to go get a good cleaning. Once that happens, I'll try hooking both up and see how well that experiment goes and let you know.

Do you have a Cricket? Or a torch that you think is exceptional? Tell us about it. So often people ask for recommendations for torches, but I'm always reticent to suggest, unless I've used a certain model extensively.

Tomorrow will be tag day about me and I'm sure something about glass and beadmaking. Next week, I'll be announcing two 2-day classes that I'm teaching in February and how to sign up for the lottery to get into them.

Until then, happy torching!
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Cactus... Inspiration and Free Tutorial

Inspiration always comes from funny places. Sometimes it's as simple as something that is staring you in the face.

When my son came home from college, he brought two cactus with him. One of them was this one pictured. He added the mustache, which is a family joke.

This inspired me to make some of my own cactus in brighter colors that I prefer as you can see. These don't hurt like the original ones when you touch them, and they even require LESS watering. This one is available in my etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15088842

If you'd like to make a cactus of your own, here's a quick tutorial.
104 COE Soft Glass Needed:
Pea green (opaque)
Transparent Grass Green
CIM Gelly Pink
Transparent Pink - any one (not sure which one I used)
1/16th mandrel, pliers, marver and of course, torch and kiln

The main stem is your base bead. Lay on the pea green in a modified barrel shape. Make it as long as you want. I usually keep mine under an inch. I want to keep it a little larger at the base and slightly taper off towards the top. On purpose, I don't want it to be exactly even and sometimes we need to change old habits of perfect symmetry.

To build the "arms", I heat up a gather of of the pea green (better for it to be a little too much than too little). Then I heat up the place on the base cactus where I want to place it. Hot glass to hot glass melds and connects much better than if one side isn't pre-heated. I hold both pieces of glass together for a second for them to connect and place that section in the edge of the flame to make sure that is totally joined. Then I slowly hold the gather rod at a perpendicular position and barely pull out and then change the angle so the arm becomes an "L" shape. I flame cut the end of the glass slightly tapering it at the time. Repeat for the other arms that you choose to add. Remember, this piece needs to be thought of as a pendant, so you need to have at least one side, where it will lay well against the body.

Now to add the needles. As you can see, they are simple dots laid down in vertical lines along the cactus. I like to start with one line on a totally open side, and then work around the cactus.

Finally the flowers are ready to be added. I make base medium sized dots- kind of like a basic flower petal shape in the opaque pink. I like 5 dots, because it's an uneven amount and when you're going around the mandrel, you can make it with that number, as long as they're large enough. On top of the opaque dots, I add bits of the transparent pink to add a little depth. Then I take my pliers and squish them out to petal shapes. Just twist and turn them a bit to make them look the way you want.

Hope you enjoy making this cactus and that you have as much fun with sculptural beads as I do. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. You can post here, or convo me through my etsy shop, http://www.StudioMarcy.etsy.com

I would love to do a follow up on this Cactus How-To. After you make your cactus, please send me a photo of it, so I can post it here to show others.

Marcy