I've been eyeing these feather earrings on Andrea Guarino's site for a few weeks and was really psyched to get to buy a pair at the show...then I didn't realize it would be so difficult to choose which color i wanted...should I go red or blue or black...of course there were other customers at the booth, and we were all fondling the pieces, and I was hoping we wouldn't have to resort to leg-wrestling to figure it all out...thankfully they found a set they liked, i decided I NEEDED a blue pair and made it out alive....they are surprisingly light weight for glass, and easy to wear...plus they matched all the freakin' DENIM that I wore during the show...I'll be happy if I don't wear jeans or a denim shirt for another 6 months...

This is a kit from Lisa Claxton called the '20 minute ring'...I picked it up when I met her at Meet the Teachers and couldn't wait to come home and make them...but of course, I couldn't FIND the kit once I got home...relocated to who knows where...I finally uncovered it and whipped two of them out, in different sizes...I also discovered my expensive hand held torch is ruined, after my silver black apparently opened and fumed everything in the drawer it was in...so out it went...great...I just fired up my Lynx and melted the ends of the wire to create the balls...there's always a fire source in my house, which may not be such a good thing, actually...

an 'action' shot of the smaller ring...4 texture plates are included in the kit, but if you have any of the PMC brass texture plates that's what is used, so you'd be fine using those...I tumbled these for 30 min, but they might need some extra pounding to toughen them up...still, they are pretty comfortable now that I'm wearing them...I like a low-profile ring cause otherwise I catch and bang them into everything...I think I'll be making more of these (don't I say that about everything??)

 

This wasn't exactly a class, its a kit that I bought from Lisa Niven Kelly LAST YEAR...but after seeing the kits again THIS year at the show, I figured I ought to at least pull this one out and make it...I still need to darken the wire w/ silverblack, but I can't find my bottle, so I'll have to hunt that down...I really like these, they were a blast to make, and actually a nice mix of being easy and yet a little tricky...but not difficult at all, just a little challenge that I like..Lisa has different colors available, and I'm thinking maybe next time I might do a metallic bead instead of a color...

 

 

Well, I found my silver black, and antiqued the earrings...I prefer the way they look now...something about the dark and light metal just looks more natural to me...

a closeup of my little green/black bead, I didn't get it to puff up very much, but it was my first attempt...the girl who sat next to me, who was very cool but I don't remember her name, she made the COOLEST blown bead in this glass...it gives me hope that maybe I'll try to make another...I loved it...this is a fun technique and making them in boro makes them nice and strong...

I'd like to also say that I really enjoyed this class quite a bit...Doug is VERY good, he's been making beads for over 17 years, he knows what he's doing and he also is good at keeping the class on track...we had a good class, it was late in the week (Saturday) and we were all kinda punchy by then, but he was a great way to spend the day...very helpful, very nice, if you get a chance to take a class, I recommend it...

I bought these beads from my instructor, Dora Schubert...the class she taught (shown in the next panel) was all about metals on glass, but she makes beads using teeny weeny tiny stringer, so I bought a few beads that reflected that...I liked how these rootbeer beads looked, they are about 20mm, larger than they look, but really nice...

These are my class beads from Dora's Metal on Lampworking class...the goal was to use silver and copper on beads for various effects...we even used aluminum on one, but I covered it over w/ other goop so you can't really see the results..I'll have to play with that later to see how it comes out...the main thing I learned in this class was to work slow, cool and out in the flame...I tend to work fast, hot and low in the flame...

a closeup of the watch ring, if you can see there are 3 little pink dots and those are actual 'jewels' from the watch movement...I don't remember which kind of jewel, but I liked them...funky and weird, it reminds me of the Swatch watch I had ages ago (and might still have somewhere) that I could view the interior workings....crazy...

Enamel on copper tubing...this class was one of the more 'basic' classes that I took...I coulda probably bought the tools and taught myself, but I wanted to jump ahead and have someone else show me...my buddy Brenda and I had a blast making these beads, it is SO EASY to do this...just cut the tubing, roll it on a mandrel in the flame to heat, roll in the enamel, and put into a pot of vermiculite to cool...ta da....

the reason i wanted to learn how to make these is because sometimes you want to make beads that are rustic...they should look like you just dug them up outta the ground...you know, the kinda stuff that would work on the Mary Hett's or Susan Lenart Kazmer kinda jewelry - that's full of found objects, weird pieces, strange shapes...I thought making your own enamel beads would fall into those kinds of projects perfectly...and what's cool is, you can sit and make LOADS of these in one sitting, and have plenty to play with down the road...the pink ones are just clear enamel on the copper - the green ones are yellow enamel and the others are blue and purple enamels...

Alrighty then, now you get to see MY ceramic beads from my class with Jennifer Heynen of Jangles.com...I tried my hand at a variety of things here, there are hand shaped beads, a hand drawn flower, a button, a couple of stacked pieces, and then lots of the flat disks that I rolled out w/ the rolling pin...I used some groovy texture presses to get the designs in those, and then painted around them and put small wire in them to make pendants...

Again, using the philosophy of buying beads from my instructors, I loaded up on two different looks- this one I call 'candy' cause the colors are bright like suckers...my thought was to mix the large and small beads in one strand, but I haven't played with them yet, so I dunno how its all gonna turn out...

And finally I spotted these little blue Raku beads at her table on the show floor, and thought I could do a simply bracelet weaving some leather over and under the beads so they lay flat...we'll see if I ever get around to actually DOING it...or will these all sit in my B&B bag like all my other projects and goods have the past 3 years...sigh...

Jennifer also has this colorways, that I call 'cowboy' cause its kinda like my cowboy color line of cocoa and denim...I like the neutral, brownness of it all...

A really groovy kit that I picked up at the show from Laura McCabe...I made one of these crystal bursts a couple of years ago, so I figure I can attempt the bracelet (the black one, pictured on the left)...it was actually pretty easy and fun to make one, do you think it'll be just as fun to make 7? Her booth was packed with people buying stuff hand over fist...that's always a good sign and I like to see what other folks are willing to battle other people for...

You've already seen this bracelet (perhaps), but it was one of my class projects, so i wanted to include it here again...Lisa Niven Kelly's Stamped Ladder bracelet, it was pretty groovy to make...I bought enough silver to make another, I just need to figure out what I want the next one to look like...maybe I'll make it more textured and less pattered...I like the Question Marks, Moons, Stars and Suns, I kinda refer to this as my "Lucky Charms" bracelet...

UPDATE - Lisa has put the bezel wire for sale on her site...However, since this is a CLASS that she teaches, there are no instructions for the piece available at this time...and I am unable to share the info with you on how much to buy, what to do...I'm sure you understand...but why not buy some and make your own unique creation with it, right? Its a free world...

I REALLY enjoyed this Mary Hettmansperger class (see below) and felt that these dudes needed to be showcased on something more appropriate for their colors...so i bought some pretty kumihimo braid kits from i-bead and just strung them up (no kumihimo for me, although I hear its pretty easy to do)...I like how they turned out...I think eventually I'll put proper clasps on them, right now the strands are just knotted, but everything will happen when it happens...I'm just happy to be able to wear these, although I will admit, they DO tend to poke me with their sharp, pokey ends and by the end of the day I'm glad to take them off..

This is the lobster man...he was a simple sticker that I applied, then added the little accent dots using the Sharpie marker...because he is a simple shape, he turned out great, and easy to read...

I think this swirl disk is my favorite..I hand drew the swirls using the sharpie marker and the holes were already punched in it, so its ready to wear immediately...and the hand drawing makes the piece look a little rustic (the nice way of saying 'low quality')...

This piece was made using tape - just tear some pieces, apply and etch...peel the tape away and there ya go...try to make the tape rough around the edges for a more decorative look...simple simon...

 

This is my PMC class with Celie Fago...the drum bead is made from PMC, that we then added 24kt gold onto...I've also added teeny CZ's for some razzle dazzle...the color patina is a pretty bronze, but eventually it'll wear off and I'll re-patina it to a soft silver and gold...the drum flips over, so I have a flower on one side (shown) and a spiral on the other...everyone's rings turned out fantastic...I bought a buncha equipment to make more of these, I just need to add a few larger pieces of hardware (an ultralight kiln, etc) to the arsenal of tools and I hope to get more keum-boo projects made...this was a very fun class, and Celie is fantastic!

These peapods are so cool looking and so easy to do, I made the first one on the left, and then later in the day made 3 more...perfect for highlighting pretty beads...Mary made one in silver w/ pearls that sounded very pretty...I like the dark colors cause they look like something from the earth...dig up treasures!

 

My Tuesday class was with Mary Hettmansperger (Mary Hetts as she's known) and we had a great time constructing all sorts of dangles, jingles, and slingers...I have a few more pieces that are 'in progress', I am gonna look for some cool beads at the show and then I can complete them here in my room...I'm really pleased with what I accomplished in one day, tho...Mary is hilarious, a really good teacher, I liked that we were set to our own devices to just roam and go...everyone's projects were unique and fun to see...

I love these pendants, I call the 'chinese' because they kinda have an oriental feel about them, like lanterns...I tried wearing them as earrings, but they really are just too big and heavy...so I think I'm going to find a pretty black cord at the show to string them on...really easy project, you can't see how the copper is patina'd, but its full of color...the pendant on the right is actually a bit of a wonk - I folded the metal down too narrow, so I had to refold the steps into the shoulders, which made the kind of step look...but who could tell?

This was the first piece I made in class, its a group of various colors of copper, brass and silver that has been patina'd in the flame to bring out the colors...I also embossed some powder on the brass to create the dots...there are teeny screws and brads and rivets and eyelets, with washers and rubber bits for movement...it makes a pretty wind-chimey sounds when worn...Its very lightweight and I love it!!

A trio of peapods, you can see the two on the right are not quite finished - I need to just wind the wire a round the piece a few more times, but i had to heat the end to create the little red ball on the wire, and then we had to scoot outta the class because another class was taking over...so I'll wind them down today sometime...They'd make cute little earrings or pins as well as pendants...This class is so versatile and perfect for collectors who like to gather up lots of beads, trinkets, charms, washers, spacers, metals, bits and thingys...