fire and glass

Tagged by the lovely seamstress Nicole of NicoDesigns (check out her awesome handbags...Love this one!) to play the 6 x 6 game ... The rules are: 1.post the 6th photo in your 6th folder. 2. tag six more peeps to play. My sixth folder contains family photos and this one was taken this Christmas of my two beautiful girls. My daughter and her daughter.. Now, I wonder what these crafty ladies have in their folders....(they're under no obligation to play, of course..:)) Simply Shiny Fit, Fabulous and Forty My Art and the Mom in Me Homebound Broken Teepee Spotted Cow Soaps Go ~take a look!

My studio is most always in ordered disarray..( I say 'ordered' because I do know where everything is ) There's not a lot of clean counter top showing in my work area, but rather an assortment of various glass rods and stubs along with tools and, since it is in the laundry room, sometimes even the odd sock. Yesterday, for some silly reason, it became overwhelming. I cleaned away all of the used glass rods that spill onto the work area and then pulled out only shades of amber. I love amber..rich dulcet honey hued amber ~ there's something sexy about the color.. I added a rod of ivory and a skinny rod of Beautiful translucent golden Reichenbach for high light and texture. The result is ' Tiger Bite ' ...a large set of 29 encased tiger striped glass beads. Now to actually organize all of those half rods and stubs of glass I cleared away...

To my top droppers at Entrecard ~ some superb spots to visit there. Give them a look see. Altered Events John Wright Art You-niquely Chic A Rose By Name The Beadings and Buttons of Randomcreative Laane on the World Behind the Bit Three Fates Design~ Beaded Jewelry What a Bald Guy told me about Technology What the Bald Guy needs to know about Sports

For me the fun of this business I'm in is in the glass... creating a tiny work of art ( hopefully! ) from raw glass and a flame always sets my little heart aflutter. But, I'd be drowning in a million glassy orbs if I didn't string them together every so often and make something to wear. Therein lies a whole other pleasure...different, but very pleasurable all the same. Gathering elements together that are cohesive and play off of one another in different and unique ways ~ that is the labor of good design. I like an unexpected mix of materials ~ the metals especially, like oxidized silver and copper..I do love that. Personally I've never liked gold with any other metal, but that's just me..I know that there are some beautiful designs out there that work wonderfully. I've just not found it to be true for me. I also like to mix the humble little seed bead with the more expensive components like freshwater pearls. I love the tiny Czech beads..oh the ...

Star of the East - Special white earrings This artist lives in Turkey and has collected sea urchins during her many walks on the beaches there. She sure makes beautiful use of them! Irregular Expressions - Saga ~ freeform crochet necklace A family shop in Istanbul with the beautiful creations made by the mother and the daughter and son helping her with the shop details. Be sure to click on the image to see the close up detail..truly a work of art. V Silcox Designs - Spike Coffee Mug Lively hand painted glass pieces full of movement and light~ I had a hard time choosing which one of the wonderful works of art to highlight . Dinglewear - Wrist Cuff Just one of the many cuffs in this artisans Etsy shop. Many of her cuffs are constructed of leather, but this one is fun and sweet and comfy looking, don't you think?

Ironically, the greatest difficulty in being self-employed is being your own boss. My life is full of many distractions..as all of yours are as well, I'm sure, and I've often thought I would get so much more accomplished if I rented out a studio space and left my home for a few hours a day to work head down in a room that housed nothing but my glass and a torch. So how do you make yourself pull up your socks and get to work when there's no one to answer to but yourself?

The first name drawn out of the bowl was Hot Rocks and the second was Laane, so congrats to both of you and a big thank you to you and all who participated. There are enough mouth watering color combinations there to stir up any ones creative block~ On a side note I've been experiencing some computer problems so please bear with me..especially those of you from entrecard. I'm doing my best to drop but I truely appreciate those of you who are dropping on me without a reciprocal drop...hopefully things will be on track within a day or two!