fire and glass

This is apparently my favorite palette right now..gray blue/green. It must be since they keep showing up in my work. Sea inspired? Winter? Maybe. It's a lovely neutral and goes with a surprising number of colors.. Reds, oranges as well as pinks..and of course earthy greens and taupes. The clasp was fabricated from a sheet of sterling silver to give recognition to the Goddesses of this world. I created it using a small peridot as the head [arms clasped overhead] as well as one of my own ground flame worked cabochons at the belly. Airy curves and golden flower accents.  Each glass bead has been created in the flame of my torch..organic raised petals and leaves..some glitzed up beads using a bit of dichroic glass. One slate-y piece of Canadian Labradorite. Accompanied with a chunky length of sterling links just for some layered jangle.  It is absolutely unique, and will be worn by women looking for substantial, artist styled, statement jewelry. Named 'Dryad'   ❀ ❀

  Simple confidence can change perception of both audience and artist. ~ Jill Badonsky 
 This post is aimed at fellow jewelry makers but would be of interest to all makers. I begin with the Badonsky quote to point out [that after doing exhaustive! homework..] pricing comes down to a level of confidence.  Do you believe in yourself? I think it may be the very nature of artisans everywhere to be a psychotic mix of humility and arrogance . I’m joking~sort of..but most definitely all of us find pricing our work challenging. We either give our work away or pull back and price too high. This guide is outlined on the jewelrymaking.com site..but there are many out there if you search.  Carefully tally up the cost of your material and supplies, a percentage of overhead + time. [Set yourself an hourly wage that sounds fair to you..your locations minimum wage will give you some insight. I’m not saying use this figure, unless that makes you comfortable. You probably b

Earring give away winner is Val McLaren..yay!! Thank you for playing along everyone and watch for more of these in the coming months.

Just a few of our favorite images from our time here in Qatar.. Our neighborhood in Doha "Closed' Desert outside of the city of Doha, Qatar Sunrise in the Desert Fishing Dhow One of the many Perfumeries in Doha..beautiful bottles and oils Waiting for the Souq to open City center Doha, Qatar City center Doha, Qatar Ally at the Souq Merchant at the Souq the Pearl, Doha Turkish lamp lighting

..but apparently you can get paper. It's called TerraSkin and it handles a little like Yupo paper but with more capacity for absorption. Of course, if there's paper out there that was once stone I need it. I ordered some from Amazon [what can't you find on Amazon, by the way] Im assuming there isn't any here in Qatar, but that's a lame assumption and founded on laziness. Its just so much easier to hit that one-click shopping link over there on Amazon. I had so much fun playing on Yupo paper today. For those who might be wondering, Yupo is not  paper at all, but a plastic material. Many watercolorists find it fun to experiment on a medium that repels the water rather than absorbing it as traditional watercolor paper that is 100% rag will.  With thick applications of watercolor paint .. only very small amounts of water and using only the primaries..cobalt blue, vermillion and ~I think it was hansa yellow..a cool yellow, I did a super quick, instinctive..'

Watercolors..

Handcrafted glass beads by Deborah JLambson ~:Saree:~ ReD! Leaning to the oranges..a ripening tomato red. I'm a lover of organic hues..earthy subtle colors. A lot of greens and blues..But the other day someone asked me a seemingly innocent question.  'Do you have anything in red?' and because I was needing a wee bit of a change, that simple request began a hunt for the perfect red. The reds and pinks are not an easy quest in the glass world. Many of those luscious red rods turn livery and rusty once they're worked in the flame and put through the annealing process. What emerges from the kiln is not the lovely red that you saw in the raw form. But, this one..mm. Called 'Maraschino' [which is more true to the cherry color when worked small] is a glass that comes from a China based company called 'Creation is Messy' or CIM glass. I'm becoming a fan. of both CIM glass and the color red! :-) Handcrafted glass beads~~