Learning Lampwork

Eye Candy- Dog Paintings

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Rain Garden Frolic

Tub for Two

Smile, It's Summer!
I am a die-hard dog-lover, so I'm finding these paintings enchanting! They are the work of another talented husband and wife team (like the pair of glass artists at Unikal) at Amberson Art. Don't these just make you giggle?

Eye Candy- Rainy Shades

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 06:30:00 +0000

I'm really feeling the purple today. It is pouring here in Singapore (oops, interesting alliteration, lol), and everything takes on faintly violet covered shadows. I guess that's partly why these pillows from Wynne Ford, Wynne Alex on One King's Lane. On the first pillow, I love the richness of the deep purple with burgundy and subdued french blue, olive and coral. And the one on the bottom- the white looks so crisp against the violet background- and ikat seems to be one of my themes for this fall. But sigh, I'm not looking forward to the 18+ hour plane ride home in a few days!

Glass Beads- More Disks

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:00:00 +0000

I think I'm really getting the hang of these disks. Most of the ones I make are wound from stringer. The blue one on the bottom has the best join of the outer ring that I've made yet. You can easily see where it is- about 3 o'clock on the right- but it isn't a huge bulge that jumps out at you before you even see the rest of the bead, lol.

Eye Candy- Ironing Board Cover

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 22:00:00 +0000

If you think of the typical ironing board cover from Target or Walmart, there is very little Eye Candy-ish about them. In fact, they may be about the scourge of the Bland Design World. But this? Here is an ironing board cover with character, with verve, with energy! This gorgeous creation is from Etsy's City Chic Country Mouse- and they have a abundance of captivating patterns. Ironing is such a serene occupation anyway (when not time-pressured), and I enjoy the sensuality of smoothing out wrinkles, the warm smell of starch- BUT- somehow, I enjoy it a whole lot more when I'm ironing fabric to make something- a quilt, a toy- than when I'm ironing clothes. That, I'm perfectly happy to leave to someone else!

Glass Beads- Disk Pairs

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 10:00:00 +0000

OK, so maybe these aren't so pretty, but my skills ARE improving! On the top pair, you can see on the Left where I let part of the disk get too cool while I was concentrating on adding the dots, and a bit of the scarlet took off. But I like the color combo of coral and scarlet. But I like the disks even better in transparent glass, as with the amber below- and this is a nearly matching pair!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:00:00 +0000

The evolution of cones. I like the cone shape- it is, and once I get good at these I'll be making a lot as focal beads, to be used skinny side down with fine chains or fabric hanging down with dangles. Making the sprial-wrapped bead work is dependent on first making the cone shape, and then having a steady hand with the stringer or twistie. I've already learned that it works better to hold the bead relatively steady and turn the bead. And I've learned that if the marvering of the cone into shape causes a splayed narrow end, judicious focused heat can round it back up again. I can't decide if I like these better melted in, or sitting on top of the bead surface.

Eye Candy- Ornate Birds of Thaneeya

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Aren't these birds with their ornate and totally aligned (to their characters) backgrounds astounding. Thaneeya McArdle's website also shows more of her artwork.

Eye Candy- Murano Glass Chandelier?

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Murano glass chandelier- or is it. It certainly looks delicately beautiful in this photograph- in fact, I love it!- but, although it was labeled exactly that "Murano Glass Chandelier"- it was for sale for $200 on a website that connects Chinese sellers with businesses in the US and elsewhere that may want to purchase their products- So I'm not sure this glass has ever visited Italy??

Glass Beads- Stacked Dots

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Stacked dots are getting easier for me to do. At first, I had a lot of difficulty getting the second dot in the middle of the first, etc. That kind of staggered dot can be a great design element, but mostly when you do it on purpose, lol! And I always like this black and white and red color scheme. Maybe I should do a bunch of this style just varying the primary color- those could look cool together in a bracelet, etc.

Eye Candy from Jenine Bressler

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Literally, this does look like very yummy candy!! It is the work of Jenine Bressler, in an advertisment for last September's Maker Faire in New York. All these colors, the stacked dots, the twisted bits- they're almost alive!

Glass Beads- Amber Disks!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 18:53:00 +0000

This might be my best pair of disks yet- I think they are a little more even than these, and the edges are certainly more even than these. And this amber pair is bigger, and has some cute little dots, too! I haven't quite yet gotten the hang of making an even join of the edges, as you see in the black above, and my dots are not quite evenly sized, shaped and spaced. But as long as I see a trend toward improvement in my technique, I'm generally satisfied.

Glass Beads- Autumn Mist

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Aren't these beads sweet? They are titled Autumn Mist from Unikal, a Swiss duo of glass artists. They look to be hollow beads? I can sort of figure out how the left and right beads were made- layered dots very lightly raked. But the middle one still has me puzzled. It it possible that each grouping of 4 was made by placing 4 small dots, and lightly raking each one? It's hard for me to believe a human could have such precision! Or perhaps it it was a cane with the same background color as the main bead?

Eye Candy- Gorgeous Zebras on Bright Yellow Ground

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:00:00 +0000

This fabric is so amazingly cheerful and full of motion. If I got my hands on some, I know I'd make something fabulous from it! This is another beautiful find on the Austrailian blog AbsolutelyBeautiful.blospot.com.

Glass Beads- self-colored bumpy bead and equator bead

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:00:00 +0000

I love the look of the bead on the left- the pale transparent green with a profusion of dots in the same transparent green. On the right you see a pale blue bead made on a larger mandrel. I like the way the melted-in twistie around the middle worked. Too bad the bead is so uneven- I wound the glass unevenly and was unable to ever get it to quite even up. Ah, more practice!!

Eye Candy- San Francisco Airport Cacti

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 22:00:00 +0000

I didn't find any attribution for these cacti, but I still thought they were really cool. The zig-zag chocolate and turquoise could almost qualify as a missoni-derivative. The more linear-drippy cactus? Look at those colors close up- amazing and dazzling!!

Glass Beads- Snail Twisties

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:00:00 +0000

These beads look so complex- like snails- but are actually quite simple to make. One takes any type of twisties, wraps them a few times around a base bead, and melts the twistie into the base bead. I love these!

Inspiration-Color Study #7

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:56:00 +0000

Aren't these sweet colors? The pale pink, spring green and a soupcon of lilac- With autumn settling in here in Ohio, the outdoor- and in-store displays and merchandise- is all in the rusts, browns, maize and yellow ochre- so a touch of the opposite is refreshing now and then.

Glass Beads- Encasing stripes

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:08:00 +0000

I remain fascinated with the way that encasing (covering in a thin layer of translucent glass- usually clear) magnifies the details of the glass beneath. On the top, you can see that I made a small glass bead and wrapped a simple twistie around it- then put another layer of clear over this. On the bottom, using two smaller clear beads to prop it on its side, you see the same bead- and look how large and fancy the stripes appear! I am going to have lots of fun experimenting with this effect!

Quilt Diversion- Red Pepper Baby Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:00:00 +0000

When searching for ideas for a baby quilt for a co-worker, I came across the top quilt on red pepper quilts, and pinned it to Pinterest. Of anything I've pinned, this has had absolutely the more repinnings, so it is apparently an appealing design to a number of people. I decided to make a derivative quilt for a coworker who is expecting a little girl in February. Aren't these soft pinks and greens just the right thing for a February Girl?

Glass Beads- Big Hole Bead Earrings

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 20:51:00 +0000

I promised these beads would show up again as finished earrings.

I'm particularly proud of an original variation, wrapping two different colored wires together, the aqua and the silver- I really love this look!

Eye Candy- Art Deco Jewelry 2

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Here are some close-ups of the art deco jewelry from the advertisement in the hotel guest book. This first pair of earrings begins with that charming hexagon and descends to the loop with a diamond (or facsimile thereof?) dangling gracefully within it.

This star appears to be a brooch- It'd look great on some of my suit lapels!

And this earring pair certainly presages the oh-so-trendy chandeliers we see so much of nowadays.

A Dark Trio of Bumpy Glass Beads

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:00:00 +0000

This is still one of my favorite bead designs- the bumpy beads. As you see looking back at earlier Bumpy Beads, I'm now getting my dots smaller, a little more regularly space, and a bit more even in size. Compare them, however, to the beautiful precision of this bead set by Francesca DeCaire, and you get an idea of what I'm aiming for. It's kind of like cooking, in a way- the first attempts may not be beautiful, but at least they are tasty!

San Francisco- Union Square at Night

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:00:00 +0000

In these photos, I was trying to capture a bit of the speed, the energy, the vibrancy of Union Square in early evening, as people walked/drove/taxi'd to their evening destinations.

Glass Beads- Ugly Barrels with Twistie Spirals

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Here are some barrel beads covered by sort-of-spirals of twisties. For the top bead, I left the twistie protruding, for the bottom, I melted it completely in. I like both styles. The colors, however, stink. But as I was just using up scraps to make twisties and practice controlling stringer into spirals, I guess I got what I intended/needed.

Eye Candy- Very Random San Francisco at Night

noreply@blogger.com (Karen98) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:28:00 +0000

These are photos I took returning to my hotel after dinner one night. Definitely not photographic excellence photos- but the sense of movement, of energy- is entirely accurate!!