PISMO Gallery Bead Invitational!

I am honored to be invited to participate in this PISMO Gallery's prestigious event in May. This will be the first time my work is featured at a gallery and I am both excited and intimidated to be shown alongside some amazing artists!

Lampworked glass bead pendant with a crochet necklace




Big-hole Leaves series lampworked glass bead with a crochet necklace




Big-hole barrel-shape lampworked glass bead with a crochet necklace





Ginormous Capped and Cored focal bead series with cored accent bead and sterling silver necklace


Ginormous Capped and Cored spherical focal bead series with cored accent bead and sterling silver necklace

Ginormous Capped and Cored spherical focal bead series



Ginormous Capped and Cored spherical focal bead series


Humongous Capped and Cored Hollow focal bead series


Humongous Capped and Cored Hollow focal bead series


Flora focal bead series


Flora focal bead series

Big-Hole Bead Obsession!

And no, I am not talking about 3/16" / 5mm-hole beads for Pandora style bracelet or my Ginormous Capped and Cored Series which also only have 3/16" hole!

It started with just 5/8". I had fun incorporating my Leaves Series using the large-hole mandrel. I put it on one of our crochet necklaces and will probably send this in for the Bead Invitational at Pismo Gallery.



After making a few more,I got ambitious and decided to try my hand on using a 1" mandrel (just happened to have one laying around)! I had so much trouble keeping the bead from cracking - for the 1" metal mandrel acts as a huge heat sink - that I had to modify my design a bit. Tried it on the 5/8" first . . .



. . . , then was successful in making two 1" ones!





Here is to show how really big they are . . . I don't have very big hands! :)

Double Helix Murrinis - February 2011 Mix

If you are interested in seeing what many of the Double Helix murrinis from its February mix look like applied, I have put the following together. I apologize in advance that some of the images are slightly blurry but they should still give you a good idea. I also want to point out that I haven't extracted the full potential of many and will be playing with them more. There are some I haven't gotten to trying yet. Check back for more pictures!

Examples of murrini close-ups follow murrini rods positioned from left to right:


Please note that the middle murrini rod shown above is dark blue (not reddish).








Please note that the far right murrini rod shown above is dark blue (not reddish).








Please note that the far left murrini rod shown above is dark blue (not reddish).












Hearts!


Please note that the far left murrini rod shown above is neutral in color (not reddish).





Check back for pictures of the last two heart ones! :)

Using my butterfly murrinis on my beads!

In my last post, I showed the quarter-size butterfly murrini for my paperweight along with some smaller ones for my beads. I finally had a chance to use them! Two of my Ginormous Capped and Cored series with the wee butterflies! Both made with Double Helix test batches.



Many of my students and customers are always surprised when they actually see my beads in person for they are usually bigger than they thought! Here I put a bunch of my spherical beads in my hand so you can get a point of reference. The smallest one may even be a wee too big for Pandora bracelets! :)



Speaking of GINORMOUS - here is one that just kept growing! The largest capped and cored bead I have ever made.