fire and glass

I leave you this glass clip from Amsterdam for your viewing pleasure ♥ while I don't indulge, I do admire the skill and talent that it takes to create one of these ~ 4

A smorgasbord of great posts for you to nibble at on this glorious lazy Sunday. Best Things to Eat and Drink in Vancouver A small clip from the Hermitage to tantalize and engage: "Welcome Travelers. If your feet are weary, be cheered, for your road is nearing it's end. Follow the sign to the Hermitage. A phantasmagoria of fancy..." Notes from the voodoo cafe ....creativity 'personified' some great photogs found here.. Lettuce eating A Study in Contrasts Turkish Knitting blog An excerpt from " Imagine the North " : "It's a photoblog. I take photos with my phone. I send them to my blog. They appear. You look at them. You leave rude comments. It's almost a relationship." Hopefully your Sunday is a laze around relaxing day ~ I'm off to work...enjoy it whatever you may be doing!

Too small to be a full grown snowman, these little guys are just the right size to dangle on your cell phone, your car mirror or simply add to a plethora of other charms and wear as a pendant. Each measure roughly 4.5-5 cm (including the brass or sterling wire) and are dressed in warm winter attire.. matching toque and scarf. These boys tend to sell fairly fast in real life so I don't take photos of all. While yours may not be the one photographed here please be assured that the boy that is sent to your home will be just as sweet..:) Genuine Canadian SnowBoys or send me a color request

This set of 5 rounds and 1 squeezed cylinder pendant was created with moretti pale gray glass, splashed with warm rosy pinks and corals. The pendant was wrapped with a skinny avacado shard and decorated with a delicate daisy vine...is there such thing? daisy vines~ hmmm. Available on Etsy

As I mentioned I've been on a rather forced sabbatical from the glass for at least 3 months now. I've been looking at some work from the past that I enjoyed making..especially sharded beads . Love blowing the shards and watching the flow and join of glass and color to create one...and I'm feeling the stirrings of love again. ~whew~ I did make some wee little snowboys the other day..no pics yet though. (the one in the image is from last year) I've got one tiny one dangling from my cel as we speak. I plan on having enough of those finished to fulfill a gallery shop order and have one or two up on Etsy by next week end. Promise.

Thank you all for your kind words and for your participation on my blog...you all are some very fine peeps out there. :) The names were submitted to random.org and here are the results...Congrats Miss Melanie-pearl. :) email me your address at imake(at)handmadeglassbeads(dot)ca and I will have your bead on its way to your house as soon as I hear from you. There were 13 items in your list. Here they are in random order: melanie creativequeen tale teresa duni hotrocks swapna willoaks pricilla marsha fishhawk zizba marianne

I'm feeling a little guilty for being so completely absent from you all for the last couple of months... the above focal bead is my way of winning your hearts back. ;) ♥ Leave me a comment and you'll go into a draw for the above bead. I will announce a winner in a week or so~ ♥ It seems my marriage has gone the way of many before me and we are now struggling with the transition of becoming single people. ( Notice how I've avoided the d word? I'll tackle that one another day...:) I've had to supplement my glass with a more regular pay cheque and my balancing time skills have been put to the test. So...that's the reason for my sketchy, delayed, absent minded, half hearted and bemused posts lately. And while some things may be taking a back seat for a time..(for instance this blog will be lucky to get a weekly posting! although I do pop on to read all of your comments) I will find my way through this and be stronger ..

"I've always liked the time before dawn because there's no one around to remind me who I'm supposed to be, so it's easier to remember who I am " so says the Story People

Song Bird

~back into the Bay once more... a couple of sets and a focal click here to visit the auctions

A couple of sweet blogs for you to check out ~ My Gypsy Goods Split Rock Ranch Theresa's Treasures Enjoy your week!

...a spark, kindled by thought Set fire to memory; thus it was that poetry, Longing and imagination came together Gifting me a kind of liberty. Copyright: Rani Turton

and thank you very much! from the creative Duni at Lovely Purses . I love her bags ♥ Colorful happy bags...go visit her shop and see for yourself Passing the award along to some of my favorite stops in the cyber world: the Many Roles of Mom Candles and Ghosts Superb artists!.. Enjoy your week!!

I do love trees..scrawny skinny trees, massive glorious wise trees. They're all beautiful~ I've started sculpting them on beads and because I've got a few of them now, I'm calling it a series. Pendants depicting trees and foilage~ created with sage and copper greens and wired in black iron to complete the organic feel. Strung onto hand dyed silk ribbon in shades of fawn. Number in the series is indicated on the accompanying card and the first is available now in the Etsy shop ..~ called the 'Dryad Series' hear the distant thrum of tree nymphs haunting sultry summer skies spilling untold ancient secrets songbirds in disguise.

and re-visiting old posts. Are you a Magpie too? Thanks for stopping by~

Brass wired pendant in one of my favorite mustard shades of glass...love the color. Silver laden Triton scrolls across the surface. Vermeil and tiny bone discs accent. In my Etsy shop now~

Thank you to Sand and Sea Designs for this lovely blog award...I haven't had time for much blogging these past days so thanks Wendy for giving me a reason for a quick posting! I've been busily working on jewelry orders and unfortunately my studio is in a bit of chaos, so fresh cooked beads from the kiln are scarce right at the moment. That will change soon as I get back on track..bear with me and stay tuned! Passing the award onto these fabulohso blogs: DigiVickie WillOaks Studio Herbs 'n Oils

Elvira Design Rachels Rarities White Dragon Paper AMDesigns by Ann Marie Terraworks

Summertime, And the livin' is easy Fish are jumpin' And the cotton is high Your daddy's rich And your mamma's good lookin' So hush little baby Don't you cry ~'Summertime' by George Gershwin Glorious summer days..lazy hazy crazy days of summer. I adore summer. I try to soak all of the hot sun into my bones and hope it will last far longer than the year before. It never does but oh the days are beautiful ..we could use more rain but I'm sure it will come. For now I'm enjoying the sun.

This artisan bracelet was created with my own flameworked glass beads, a few brass and ceramic discs along with some superb wee 22k gold marbled toho beads. It closes with a sterling silver lobster clasp. Very delicate and feminine. Measures 7.5" and can be re-sized for any wrist. Lovely sea greens and rusty warm ochres...one of a kind. Gift boxed with a small signed artisan card. Click on the image for greater detail.

A big congratulations to Laura Bracken for the winning bracelet in last weeks Lampwork competition. It's a beauty! Up next are the necklaces ..you still have time to send an entry~ If you're eligible be sure to enter for the upcoming competitions for earrings and anything that can be worn containing your own lampworked glass or another artisans lampwork. A little friendly competition among peers is great exercise for the muse~ ♥

Are you in the mood for a contest?..how about 5 of them?..Fellow lampworker Laurie Smith is running a series of contests for both lampworkers that design using their own beads as well as jewelry designers using other artisans lampwork beads. Check it out ..and if you design with your own beads or other artisan made lampwork beads please do enter! Even if you don't enter take a moment to take a look at the beautiful entries, and vote !

Thanks everyone for playing along and signing up for the newsletter...I promise you won't be inundated with letters..ha. I'll be doing good to get one a month out but I'll make sure they're news worthy. Here's the list from random.org and Congratulations to Miss Benita..send me your snail mail and I'll have this bead on its way to your house~ There were 9 items in your list. Here they are in random order: Benita Nicole Leah Shelley Shelby Tracie Theresa Coleen Laurie Timestamp: 2009-05-25 13:46:05 UTC on a side note..as an artist I of course enjoy layouts and graphics and am quickly bored with the look of my own site or blog. I've left my site alone for some time but this blog was due for a shake up don't you think? I found the Cutest blog on the Block site yesterday and couldn't resist.

'Tangerine' Sign up today and tomorrow for my n e w s y newsletter and your name will go into a draw for this flameworked glass bead. Encased sparkling dichroic glass on juicy tangerine~pale blue floral. A tart little focal. Measures about 18mm. Sign up box is on the right..

Both Adam and Kris are amazing ~ but this song, 'Mad World' sung by Adam was just achingly beautiful. This isn't the live version but its much better quality. If you didn't get to watch last night..give this a listen.

Lampworking is a type of glasswork that uses a gas fueled torch to melt rods and tubes of clear and colored glass. Once in a molten state, the glass is formed by blowing and shaping with tools and hand movements. It is also known as flameworking or torchworking, as the modern practice no longer uses oil-fueled lamps. Although the art form has been practiced since ancient Syrian (1 Century B.C., B. Dunham) times, it became widely practiced in Murano, Italy in the 14th century. In the mid 19th century lampwork technique was extended to the production of paperweights, primarily in France, where it became a popular art form, still collected today. Lampworking differs from glassblowing in that glassblowing uses a blowpipe to inflate a glass blob known as a gob or gather, thereby inflating it by blowing air into the blowpipe, whereas lampworking manipulates glass either by the use of tools, gravity, or by blowing directly into the end of a glass tube. Early lampworking was done in the flame

Did you notice the brand spanking new 'subscribe to my newsletter' box? Well, technically it asks you if you want to preview the latest from Sweetwater Designs...over there in the right column.. If you sign up now through this holiday long weekend I'll send you 300 Entrecard credit s ..yes, unfortunately this only means something if you're an Entrecard member. Please leave me a comment if you want to receive the EC credits. For those of you who are not..I'll think of something interesting to entice you with next week.

Highlighting a few of my favorite suppliers for your perusal this fine sunny morning.. Each of these has been a good experience for me and come straight from my list of choice sellers. Enjoy.. Cahootz ribbons ..I've always only purchased the ribbon but I see she's also selling some mighty fine looking head pins there. The ribbon is ultra fine quality..I loved the colors I ordered and was super happy with her. I ordered a small leather wristlet for my Mom from this gal in Victoria, BC quite some time ago. The customer service was knock out but the wristlet was so well made and Mom loves it to this day.. Hollyhawk is the name of the company. I think I'm in love with this leather card case now.. This seller is on the bay.. Flat Earth Trading Company. I bought a wooden bust from him for jewelry display and like it alot. Service was superb. They're in Arizona. hmm, those would look great with some of my bracelets and necklaces hanging from them... Another lady with a fun

For one thing she’s always known exactly how I feel…how smart is that? when half the time I myself am at a loss. She has mothered six children and sustained more than 40 years of marriage before Dad passed away more than 10 years ago. You have to be very near brilliant to pull that one off. Growing up my mother derived great satisfaction in being self-sufficient. While we lived on Vancouver Island we had a small acreage. Just enough to keep a couple of cats, a dog, a cow and a few laying hens happy. She and Dad planted gardens that produced copious amounts of corn, carrots and potatoes. Not to mention her tomatoes, strawberries and grapes. They all flourished under her green thumb. Most of our clothes were sewn from Butterick and Simplicity patterns. I have some treasured recollections of hiking myself up onto those stools and leafing through the massive pattern books in Woodwards while Mom tried to find something I would like. An impossibility, I’m sure. This was the 70’s and I want