The snow is coming...

I encased a base of snowy white with blue iridescent dichro and got some of the most amazing sparkle! It looks like a sparkly blue ice cube but in bead form! The colors shift from blue to light teal to a light pastel pink. Very iridescent.

To finish the bead I added a single core of 925 sterling silver. (Not glued in rivets)

Before you wonder, the photos are accurate. As I type, I am sitting in a dimly lit room (it's night time but this listing will go live tomorrow morning) and this bead is unbelievably bright just by the light of my computer screen. Two layers of dichroic glass- together in a rainbow bliss- this bead will dazzle your eyes- and add sparkle to your wrist! (Or neck, if you so choose) Enjoy!

This bead is another chameleon! The *barely* visible swirls of gold mirrored glass drape over a bright base of orangey copper dichroic- sometimes the scrolls are pink mirrors, sometime they are gold, and mostly they >>>disappear<<< but you can always see the dichroic sparkle underneath! The photos show the colors to be a bit bold, as I think our naked eye can't quite pick up those colors as well as the camera did, especially with enlarged photos. It's more like a fiery sparkle shining from underneath barely mirrored sunglasses... this is a really fun bead and it is fun to watch it constantly change. (via ebay.com)

I am so proud of this one. I am going to miss it when it's gone!

Beautiful swirls of pearly sea foam glass drape over a sparkly base of teal dichroic- the scrolls shift in the light from transparent Caribbean blue to shimmering abalone with mirrored gold highlights, and at times >>>disappear<<< but you can always see the dichroic glimmering underneath! The photos are absolutely spot-on and I think in person this bead is even more incredible... I almost kept this one for myself! Every time I make one of these beads it is a mini adventure, as the glass likes to take on a persona of its own, making a truly one of a kind treasure.

New Lampwork Beads listed on Etsy!

It is Friday and it's actually not blazing ho so I want to get to my torch. Spent all day yesterday making more heart window murrini and many many twisties so I can make a few "Fun with Kerosene" style lampwork beads!

Very pretty copper verdigris is swirled with a reflective glass that reduced to a golden amber blue depending on how you hold it in the light- pretty purple dots dance around the bead in gorgeous peacock colors.

A dark and mysterious bead, for someone who enjoys collecting something different. I used dark glasses that bloomed to mirror shines but they are very subtle,except for the amazing outlines that resulted when I added little chunks of a now discontinued glass called "Terra". The Terra produced very bright "silver linings" to the little clouds floating in the midnight sky!

Lampwork Classes You Shouldn't Miss!

I have so many classes I want to talk about. So far I have had the honor of being taught by Pati Walton twice, John Olson, Heather Trimlett, Melanie Moertel, Barbara Becker Simon, Sara Sally LaGrand AND Kristina Logan!! Each class was incredibly awesome in it's own way and I can't wait to share about each one here. IF you have any doubts in your mind about taking a class with one of these talented icons of Lampwork please be assured that you won't regret a single second!!!

Ruby Sunset Lampwork Bead for your Trollbeads® or Pandora® Jewelry system

This new glass called "Clio" by Double Helix is so incredible- the ruby and amber tones that come through are just heavenly! Here I encased Clio with some vibrant coppery dichroic glass and added some wisps of goldstone. This is a larger bead in a nice round shape, sure to catch the sunlight during the long summer days ahead! Dominant colors are coppery pink but there are hints of ethereal blue depending on how the light hits it.

Sensory overload, and how you can become immune:

It has been too long since I last made an entry! I know I'm supposed to be talking about lampwork beads but, too much Facebooking I suppose. Ironically I like to write and often come up with ideas of things to write about but this is usually right before I fall asleep. So of course being more interested in sleep I nod off instead of jotting down my ideas. Well this is changing! Instead I have my iPhone on my nightstand and I type in a subject before it vanishes into dreamland with me. So I won’t tell you about the dream I had of John Travolta chewing on a teddy bear, but rather something that popped into my head that was an observation I’ve tucked away… Like what it was like to visit Chicago after moving away for 6 years. My husband and I met one of my girlfriends at a tea shop in Lincoln Park to catch up and relax for awhile before heading back to be with family. Well, I really couldn’t believe the bizarre feelings I was experiencing – the homesickness, feeling of belonging and the bizarre “how did I live here and not notice just how much stuff is going on every second of every minute of every hour that I sit/walk/wander here?” There were just too many things to look at. Too many people to inspect, facial expressions to read and fashion sense to evaluate. Where is she going? What did he order? Do those two over there know they look like they’re not getting along? I know for certain that I noticed all this before, but I’m guessing it was more subconscious, and possibly not registering…

Now suddenly my synapses were firing all over the place, and there it was- the pulse, the vibe of a place, the IT thing that people talk about but can’t describe. Then I felt a flush of remorse for ever moving away in the first place. I miss Chicago so much. Smart, no-nonsense people. I miss the cynicism, but not the criticism. It was just plain awesome to see so many people out and about, strolling along the narrow tree (and obstructive parking meter) lined street, stepping in and out of shops, chatting, pushing strollers, walking dogs, reading newspapers, postulating about music and film… and occasionally yapping about the Cubbies. Yes, my east coast friends, Chicago is a real city. (There are a few things that are completely and utterly wrong about that place, but there’s no way I’ll ever bother discussing it here.) I’ll even gracefully ignore the “It’s just fly-over territory” comments I received when I started meeting people when I lived in Los Angeles. Hurmph.

So back to my euphoric café outing… I sipped my (immensely trendy) tea and learned about the film festival my friend was orchestrating and started feeling cultured by proximity? Default? What is that word? Either way, it was all very fascinating compared to the sleepy suburb of Phoenix in which I now live. I’ve gotten so used to things being rather, shall we say, calm. Or perhaps I am projecting. Me? Calm? Sure why not. But really the point is, I have gotten so used to calm and consistently tame surroundings that being back in Chicago made me realize that I was probably operating at a constant rate of stimulation, if not stress, for the 8 years I lived in East Lakeview. So folks, what we have here is the problem of extremes. I went from living in a 24/7 party place, to a suburb that is about a 20 minute drive away from anything remotely trendy. (Trendy? Is there a better word? That sounds so negative. Bah.) Luckily there are a lot of really cool burgeoning (I love that word- inside joke) places in central Phoenix, but we are just so far from them.

So I was making a point. That day at the café, I realized that I am no longer immune to sensory overload. Maybe it’s ADD or just keen attention to detail, but I was determined to not miss a single thing. I had gotten rusty, perhaps become analog in my ability to register everything going on around me. It’s such a tragedy, really. However, now I am a really cheap date. Two glasses of wine and I’m rambling on and on about Chicago.