OK, I'm sure you're going to be sick of my beads before this is over, but here's a few from the Sunday batches. The cranberry and purple beads have the colored glass in the core and a casing of clear glass around that with 24K gold leaf on top. The heart bead is my favorite of the day, with that ropey twisted stringer of pale pink with orange stripes. It's about an 1 1/4 inch long. I decided not to melt the stringer in all the way because I liked the way it looked in relief.
Since the move to a house from my last loft, I haven't listened to music while on the torch, but sessions have been so protracted and fatiguing this weekend that I simply HAD to kick out the jams. I've been listening to Black Holes & Revelations by Muse - a superb cd even if I think they are a little full of shit. The guitars are nasty and just what you want from your Rock N Roll, if you're doing it right.
Then there's the cd from Frou Frou which features "Let Go," that song I linked to here last week. Love this one, and in all the best ways it reminds me of hypno/dreampop like Cocteau Twins and Curve and Lush, but with a more lighthearted sensibility. Love the instrumentation on this one.
Here's hoping this cool weather lasts through Monday night, and by then I should have enough beads done for all my immediate commitments. I can't tell you how disheartening it is to know you have to make about 100 beads and by the time you've finished the first one, there's a happy trail of sweat running from the nape of your neck down to your posterior regions - not comfy by a long shot. Funny to think how much dirt and grit and oomska goes into making something so girly, isn't it?
23 comments:
Candy-cane bead! Yay. I love the two on the left in the top picture - my colors, definitely. I love your comment about dirt and grime and whatever else in making something beautiful. 'Tis the hey fever season over here, and I can't keep the window open, but it's not much better when I work with 4-ply alpaca. I've been showering about four times a day to get the fiber off of me.
Keep up the good work. I still, if I may, want to see the finished jewelry ALSO, Phlegmy.
Say, Phlegmy, I didn't know you were already beatified. Have you seen http://tucsondailyphoto.blogspot.com/? Couldn't help looking at the boy-in-skirt also.
I really like the heart shaped one with the candy cane swril on it! That is what is supposed to be...right?
Fantastic!! Love the little nipplely ones too:)
Love the heart bead of course....
Meg, couldn't get the link to work. I got the old 404 message, Page not found. Is it Saint Phlegm? Saint Fatale?
The beads are awesome. The heart with the candy cane stripe is perfect for this time of year. But the purple with gold leaf takes my breath away! Could be b/c Purple is one of my fav colors, just one Goddess humble opinion.
The heart-candy cane bead is sooo kewl (said in my best Cartman voice).
Muse are one of my guilty pleasures too, I'll admit. Publicly I diss them as Radiohead ripoffs, but they actually sound pretty good.
WOW, Phlegm! These are GORGEOUS. You are quite talented. I think those purple/clear/gold ones are my absolute fave. ;D I do agree with you on the heart. It's awesome in relief.
Thanks for sharing. NO, I won't get tired of seeing your work.
I like.
I'm not a big fan of gold, but I like the colors of the beads underneath.
Ilike those. I leane towards more natural beads. Guess thats the injun in me coming out.
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Have a God Blessed Week.
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meg - WOOHOO - candy cane swirlies! I didn't think of that when I was making this, but it is a bit peppermint, isn't it? Sorry you're all sneezy - that gets to me sometimes, and some years I don't even notice hay fever season coming and going. OKOK - a piece of jewelry coming up soon, I promise.
Oh, and yeah, me? St. Rita, definitely. Not! I wonder what she was the patron saint of-- probably undermotivated procrastinators.
mushy - Well, my policy is that beauty/art/interpretation is in the eye of the beholder, so if it looks like a candy cane to you (and your the second of 2 commenters to say so) then it's a candy cane.
nuggetmaven - thanks! I like bumpy beads - they are fun to handle if you're wearing a necklace long enough. I like playing with my jewelry when I'm wearing it. That's probably neurotic, but there it is.
blog whore - Glad you like it!
hollyb - Wow, glad you like it, and there we have another candy stripe reference - yee haw. It was my favorite. Yeah, I like that purple too.
barbara - Candy cane reference #4. Hell yeah I want some cheesy poofs! (cartman rears his ugly voice yet again). Yeah, that Muse cd is like the ultimate realization of a rock opera. What really bugs me about their music being so bombastic and moralizing is I saw an interview with the band on YouTube and the guitarist was obviously taking hits off amyl nitrate (poppers) or some such and not participating. I mean, sheesh, you're on camera, dude, at least pretend you can sit for 5 minutes without needing to kill some brain cells.
janean - Wow - the purple is popular - that's great to know. Aw, I'm really complimented you like it. Most of my finished jewelry sells in a couple local stores and I never see the people who buy it, so I just assume they really like it - I could get quite vain hearing all these compliments.
That said, I'll say I know there are alot of bead makers out there who make far superior beads to mine, but I'm a jewelry maker first, and the beads are a means to an end. I had a hard time finding beads in unconventional color combinations, so I had to resort to making my own to give my jewelry the kind of *POP* I really wanted it to have.
kelly - understandable. The gold is done in the classical Italian Murano style of application, but I wouldn't expect it to appeal to everyone. Glad you like other aspects of them, though
lilfeathers2000 - Thank you sweetie! Well, of course, there's no improving on natural stone beads, and I'm with you on that. This is just something that keeps me off the streets, ya know? I have to have a creative outlet or I'll run mad. And wild.
I absolutely love those beads. I don't wear much jewelry because I'm kind of a lazy tomboy, but those beads make me feel like a little girl who wants to hoarde the sparklies.
Thanks so much, Zelda! It's amazing to me, beads. I can sorta space out and play with them for hours. Good thing, eh?
good picture
HollyB, can I try this again? http://tucsondailyphoto.blogspot.com/
It's Santa Rita, "the saint of those utterly without power who are abused by those having it. She is the patron saint of damaged wives and children, of those abused by men in authority in God's name." All that in addition to making beads and taking photos and being a good sister/auntie, and a passionate music lover. (What have I missed?)
Awesome. They look like little globes. with the continents in gold leaf. Very nice.
jamesee - really? You think so? Thanks. I'm still tweaking the lighting set-up - they look prettier in person, I promise.
meg - wow - well, that's a necessary saint to have around I'd say. Much better than the patron saint of organized sports or patron saint of hatchbacks and tv dinners. WOOHOO. Well, you forgot to mention my splendid collection of colorful shoes.
fathairybastard - wow, I WISH I could cut out a map in gold leaf and apply it to the bead. Then again, I'll bet I could case a bead in gold leaf then etch away the non-map bits. Hmmm... I feel some future projects coming on.
And B Bags - I'm still waiting for the Aeroflot pic.
Whoa mama. Look at the gold leaf. These are superb, PF!!! You are going to sell out!
Your Beads = Fabulous.
wowowowoow. I love it!
meg - barf bags: coming up! Next time I run across the collection - they're in my studio somewhere
lj - Thanks, honey - I'll settle for selling a goodly portion of the lot
heather be - thanks!
kimmer - Glad you like them!
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