Coloraddiction

A Bit of News and Miscellaneus Stuff

2012-02-08T02:55:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Hope your February is going well!

Just a couple of housekeeping things real quick...

First, the AGLF has reduced the cost of our annual calendar to $12! I'm in it (three times!) and it's really gorgeous. Legal fees for our case are ramping up, so I could really use your help, if you can! Click the pic to see the calendar and purchase. Thanks!!

Next, stay tuned for a post on CiM Reds coming very soon. I've been testing some of the new reds and an old favorite! I also get help from Kimberly with some of these reds since she loves red glass much more than I do. The testing was really enlightening, so check back to see the post later this week.

An update on my book on color theory - it's coming along slowly but surely! It's probably going to be a lot larger than a normal tutorial from me, because I have a lot more information to get out there, so it's taking longer than I thought. My best guess for release is sometime in June. Hopefully it will be worth the wait! :)

And finally - some pics of my latest beads! I've been having fun with cubes and lentils this past week. These are on Etsy at kseeber.etsy.com. Enjoy! :)

CiM Glass Testing: 795 Adobe Ltd. Run

2012-01-25T16:02:00.000-08:00

Last year I was asked by my cousin Andrea to make her some beads so she could make jewelry in her wedding colors for her bridesmaids. Her colors were peach and aqua - really pretty, right? I of course wanted to say yes, so I did. No brainer.

However, as many beadmakers know, the 104 COE line has no color that can be decisively called peach - in either opaque or transparent glass. The exception is Lauscha Peach, a light transparent which I don't really like using because it's very pale and doesn't translate to peach unless used alone.

So.... I had a challenge for myself - experiment with earth tones and layering to simulate a peach color. I found the solution after a lot of wasted glass and gnashing of teeth. CiM had come out with a new color recently called Adobe. It's a limited run (damn!!), and is described by CiM as an opaque brown.

There's absolutely nothing in this color that says "brown" to me. In rod form, it looks like some kind of bright caramel candy - or maybe a light, vivid terracotta. I didn't see peach at first, at all, so I waited awhile before trying it. When I finally melted it, it went much lighter. And when I tried layering it with a pale pinkish transparent, I got a warm, sweet peach color. Yey!!

Peach is one of those colors that we beadmakers have been wishing, pleading, and begging for over the last decade. I don't know if anyone else knows that Adobe can translate to peach - but I do know that this color is extremely limited. Frantz only allows people to purchase 1/4lb at a time, and CiM has stated this is a limited run - so it's, well, limited. I only hope Kathy at CiM has her manufacturers make something similar to add to their basic line so we can have peach whenever we want.

Now, down to the knitty-gritty. Adobe is a joy to work with. It has a medium density - it doesn't wash out very much when layered, even against black, which is nice. I didn't have any problems with it bleeding or spreading out, or overtaking any other color.

I don't have photos of it used with the aqua colors when I made beads for my cousin last year, but I do have some more current photos. Here Adobe is layered with Effetre Rose Quartz, which is very very pale pink transparent - just enough to nudge the peach color out of the Adobe. The peach is paired with soft purple made of layers of Effetre Violet and CiM Purple Haze. Black is thrown in with clear for contrast. The effect is a sweet, springy combination.

Adobe acts like most opaque CiM colors - nice and stable, with a tiny bit of striation when left solid. It didn't burn easily, didn't pit and basically stayed put where I wanted it. Adobe is brightest when left raised - it warms up a little when melted in. Hope you like the pics - the beads are on Etsy if you're interested. :)

New eBook Coming Soon....Color Theory!

2011-12-20T16:19:00.000-08:00

I am working on a new book dedicated to color theory for the glass beadmaker. This will likely be a lot longer than any of my other tutorials - I have lots of great information to put into this book. It's in the early stages, so it doesn't have a title, price or cover art quite yet. I just wanted to let everyone know that it is in the works and will hopefully be available at the beginning of the new year.

I do know that the ebook will be geared towards the beginning/novice beadmaker, but will have some information even for the intermediates as well. The book will focus on color theory, application and technical aspects of color, and will have some great color combination recipes and lots of pictures. I'm throwing in pretty much everything I know about the subject - so I hope people will find it useful, inspiring and most of all, fun! I'll keep you updated!

Technical Difficulties

2011-12-20T14:05:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone -

Seems I am having some issues with my web host - this is why the pics aren't showing up. I am working on it - hopefully everythign will be back to normal soon! :)

**Looks like we are back up - yey! :)

Cim Glass Testing: 803 Twilight Ltd. Run & 602 Purple Haze Ltd. Run

2011-12-17T12:15:00.000-08:00

I noticed yesterday that CiM has so many new colors lately, that I am way behind in testing! I am going to try and make up for it this year - it's one of my New Year's resolutions.

Today, I am writing about two newer colors - Twilight and Purple Haze. Both of these colors are limited run, so if you like them, get them as soon as you can.

First up is Twilight, a gorgeous neutral transparent grey. This color fills a small hole in the 104 palette - it's not as warm/green as Effetre Slate Gray, and is darker and cooler than regular Effetre Grey. I like my greys to be on the cooler side, and this fits the bill nicely.

Twilight works up well - it's slightly stiff, but not enough to be a problem. It doesn't bubble or scum much - which is nice for a medium transparent color.

It layers really well, too - here with Effetre Dark Grey. I really love the encased stringer it makes - it's a perfect nuetral shade.

It also worked nicely as a layer between the opaque grey and the clear when encasing a base bead - it doesn't lighten too much. It is kind of stiff, so when using on top of a really soft opaque, like white or grey, make sure you use the outer part of the flame to heat it, to prevent the opaque color from melting faster than the Twilight. This will prevent any bleeding from the opaque underneath the encasing.

I saw no odd reactions in this glass when used with normal colors, and it didn't react with the clear I used - DH Aether. Twilight is a stable, consistent transparent color. Yey!

The other color I'd like to review is Purple Haze. I really love this pretty color. However, I think it's been mis-named. I don't consider this color either purple or hazy in any way. LOL I honestly thought that when I melted this I would get some sort of opacity or cloudiness. I was pleasantly surprised when I didn't. It's a pale transparent shade that works very nicely, if you keep it from getting too hot and bubbly/scummy.

Purple Haze is also....well, not purple. CiM describes it as a lavender/blue color shift (a similar, more accurate description was given to CiM's Count Von Count). I found Purple Haze to be a lot less lavender/blue than Count Von Count. I think it sits comfortably between Count Von Count and Effetre's (also mis-named) Lavender Blue. What these people are thinking when looking at these colors is sometimes beyond me, in an amusing way. Thankfully, the name's not really that important, once you get to know the glass.

left-to-right: Count Von Count, Purple Haze, CiM Pink Champagne, Effetre Lavender Blue

Purple Haze also doesn't color shift nearly as much in sun or fluorescent light as other lavenders do. It does a small amount - turning a light lavender color with pink undertones. In incandescent light, it is cool pink with lavender undertones.

In my opinion, we have quite a few lavender choices for both layering and encasing. So I decided to use this pretty pinkish lavender to brighten my pinks instead. Here, I layered it with Reichenbach's gorgeous Opal Raspberry, a warm, deep opal pink glass that I just love (and reviewed several years ago). It's the most saturated pink in the 104 line - and I wish it wasn't an opal! I hope CiM can make this as a dense opaque color some day.

Anyway, Purple Haze changed the warm pink into a cool pink - something which I just adore.

The major note with this color is to make sure you work it cool - too hot and it burns and you get scum. This is particularly true when using it as stringer. However, it does encase well, works as a layering color, and makes lovely spacers. It's a consistent color - no striking or odd reactions that I can see.

I plan to put this pale transparent over pretty much anything orange, pink or purple. It's also a limited run, so get it while you can. Nice job, as usual, CiM!

CiM Glass Testing: 504 Blue Suede Shoes Ltd. Run

2011-12-12T14:30:00.000-08:00

The first thing you should know about this new color from CiM is that it is technically an opal color. This means it's supposed to be slightly translucent, not dense, and kind of glowy.

The second thing you should know is that my camera hates it. More about that later.

I'll get right into the nitty gritty - this color was not fun for me. It's really pretty, but did not behave the way I wanted it to. Part of it is my fault - I wasn't aware it was an opal when I started working with it, and it was hard to tell at first. It only acts like an opal when you layer it - but not when you encase it. At least in my experience.

Blue Suede Shoes is described on CiM's website as "An extremely dark opal cobalt blue", but (with respect to the people at CiM) I have some issues with it being described that way. First of all, it's not extremely dark, unless by some chance you can get it to strike that way. Yes, folks, this is a striking color - technically speaking. If you can do it, it will go dark and opalescent - very pretty. But for me, most of my spacers even were a lighter color - almost a light lapis - with striations.

Blue Suede Shoes, paired with Effetre White, DH Aether and DH Ox.

The only time I noticed any opal charactaristics were when I layered this color with clear (but not when I encased it, which is odd to me.) When applied thinly - as in dots, stripes or on flower petals - Blue Suede Shoes lightened dramatically. It looks more like a light lapis or even a cornflower blue in some of my beads. I especially really loved the look of the blue stripes.

The glass itself does have a nice consistency - especially when compared with other opals. It's not stiff at all - it melts easily.

Blue Suede Shoes does tend to bleed just a bit from underneath an encasing. But it's not too bad - easily overcome if you take the time to move your encasing near the hole.

As for my camera and the pics I took....that's the most frustrating, and not really the fault of the glass at all. I had a good look around the web for images of this blue, and indeed other glass that's a similar shade (Effetre Lapis for instance). Images on the web of this color show a blue that has more green than reality. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get this color to show correctly. But, I got as close as I could. Cobalt blue has the same issues. Maybe it's the way the glass transmits light into the camera lens - I don't know.

All in all, this is a pretty color, if you can get it to behave, don't mind a little bit of inconsistency in color, and if you like opals in general. It's not cobalt, though, in my opinion. It's closest to lapis blue.

CiM Glass Testing: 632 Thai Orchid, 482 Mojito, 403 Army Men Ltd. Run

2011-08-18T19:00:00.000-07:00

For me, the end of summer/start of fall means combining deep purples and lush greens. Yum! This time, I started with one of the newest CiM colors - Army Men - and layered it with Mojito. I then combined the lovely result with one of CiM's older colors - Thai Orchid. Later, I added shades of amber to the mix for a really pretty autumn combination.

CiM Army Men, one of the latest colors in the CiM palette, is a subtle, muted pine green. It falls somewhere on the bluer end of olive, with a lot of grey in it. When I saw this color for the first time, I was reminded of the new version of CiM Commando. In fact, Army Men sits right between Commando and Olive in tonality. Olive has a bit more yellow.

I love the consistency of the glass - it was a dream to melt! It is slightly soupier than some opaques.

Army Men is a dense color, despite its subtle shade, and can be layered and encased without washing out. As many greens do, this color can bleed under encasing, and can take over other color just a little bit. It's not as bad as some Effetre greens, but it is something to watch out for when melting in your decoration.

Army Men is also one of those colors that tends to streak and separate, which can either add variety visually, or be a pain in the a**, depending on your application. I found this only slightly irritating - for the most part, this glass behaved well and did what I wanted.

Alone, Army Men is kind of a "behind the scenes" color - one that works well as a background or filler in your designs. It made lovely spacers! This color really shined when I layered it with Mojito, which I will talk about next.

CiM Mojito is a wonderful companion to Army Men, and a lovely color in and of itself. I've been remiss in waiting so long to review it here for you! In pictures, this pretty pale olive green can sometimes look like just a plain yellow-green shade. I personally think you need to see this one in person to appreciate the subtle, muted olive that it represents. It's slightly grey with only a bit of a yellow undertone. A great layering glass - with any green you want to lighten up and make a bit more subtle. It's the perfect fall green.

As a transparent glass, Mojito is smooth and not too stiff. It didn't bubble or scum for me, nor did it react with anything at all. It's very consistent and has a nice clarity to it. I used it with Army Green for encased stringer, and it was very light and soft. If you want to go darker, stick some Slytherin in there!

Next we have a color that came out really early on, when CiM first started - Thai Orchid.
When it comes to opaque purple, CiM has at least half a dozen that are all really similar at first glance. They are all kind of reminiscent of Effetre's Violet shades. They all have a slightly different way of acting, which is at the same time frustrating and fun.

Thai Orchid is at the dark end of the purple spectrum - a deep, dense violet purple. It shares some of the same characteristics as Effetre Dark Violet, but is more saturated and a little less reactive, depending on the batch you get.

I had two different batches of Thai Orchid - one that was significantly bluer than the other. Both are lovely, though. You can see the difference in the spacers here.

As an opaque glass, Thai Orchid acts like most other opaque violets - it's streaky in the extreme, tends to spread out and bleed a little, and can pit or silver when exposed to different flame environment. It does layer very nicely, though. Without a layer of encasing, the lighter batch of this color doesn't do much for me. Like most other violets, the shade is just too browned out. But layer it with a transparent light purple or even clear and the brownish hue magically disappears, and you're left with a velvety deep violet.

In my Autumn Song beads, I layered both batches of Thai Orchid with the now discontinued CiM Count Von Count (you can get a similar effect with Effetre 081 Dark Lavender), for a lighter but slightly more saturated purple. Wonderful for fall, I think.

Have fun playing! :)

For my Facebook Friends and Fans

2011-08-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

To everyone on my friends at Facebook -

I will be doing an overhaul on my Facebook account. Since I have finally entered the 21st century and gotten an actual smartphone, I am editing my contacts and linking my accounts.

This means I need to separate my business contacts from my personal ones.

What I will be doing is inviting all of my current friends to "Like" my Artist page, and then unfriending all of the people that I don't personally know. That way I still get to keep in contact with all my wonderful customers and visitors over on my "Kandice Seeber" and "Coloraddiction" Fan Pages, and keeping my personal profile for my family and friends and people I have contact with regularly.

This is mostly because linking my facebook account to my smartphone put all of my thousands of facebook friends into my mobile phone contact list, and this is just too confusing for my old brain. :) Separating the accounts makes more sense.

I love you all, and I wanted you to know that I am not unfriending you for any other reason than that I need my business and personal contacts to stay separate. If you find yourself unfriended and you don't think that's right, please do feel free to re-friend me with a message.

Here are my fan pages -
Kandice Seeber
Coloraddiction

((((hugs))))
Kandice

CiM Glass Testing: A Bunch of Opals

2011-08-05T05:30:00.000-07:00

I spent this week with some newer colors (new to me anyway) .....with some interesting, fun and somewhat frustrating results.

I decided to do all 4 of these colors in one post - mostly because all four of them make kind of a tiny spectrum of aquas and teals that all look good together. Also, they all acted very similarly in the flame and in front of the camera.

I'll go through them one by one, and then do some comparisons. One thing to keep in mind as you look at the pics (and this is the frustrating part)....all of these colors were very, very hard to photograph. They tend to look a bit washed out and dirty in most pictures...which I suspect has something to do with the translucency. Looking at the colors on the CiM website, I see I am not alone on this issue. In real life, all four of these colors are more saturated than can be shown here.

The first is 547 Electric Avenue - a color that has been around since pretty much the beginning of CiM. It's classified as an Opal, which means it has a translucent, almost glowing quality. CiM Opals can be compared to Effetre Opalinos and Alabasters - but in looks only.

In my experience, CiM's Opals are much less shocky and picky than their Effetre counterparts, and more compatible, thank goodness! Electric Avenue in particular was really easy to work with. It maintained its translucency for the most part, and seems to be compatible with clear and black as well as the opaque Effetre Light Turquoise I layered it with.

By itself, in spacers, Electric Avenue is a vivid, opalescent aqua shade, which is slightly lighter than it is in rod form. It tended to go more opaque when worked longer.

I played with the functionality of all 4 Opals, sometimes using them as an opaque base, and sometimes using them in place of a transparent, in layering.

Electric Avenue encased well as a base with clear, and turned a bit opaque. As plain stringer, it stayed opalescent. When used as an opaque flower petal base, it went slightly opaque, but you can almost still see the black bead underneath. However, when layered on top of Effetre Light Turquoise, as seen here in the left floral, and underneath a dot of clear, it went a nice transparent light aqua. Interesting! I liked this color - easy to work with, not a lot of bubbling or burning, a nice soft consistency and a lovely color. Now if I can just get the song out of my head!

Next we have 598 Atlantis, a teal blue Opal that reminds me a little of the color Mermaid. Atlantis is very similar to Electric Avenue in consistency and workability.

As spacers, this color tended to vary in opacity a lot more - it was hard to actually make two alike! There is some streaking in some of the more opaque spots.

One major difference between the two colors is that Atlantis seems to be a bit more sensitive to temperature. It was the only color to crack under a layer of encasing - but only on one of the beads I made this week. The crack along the hole is thermal, which means that it most likely got too cold as I worked it. It seems that the longer this color is worked, the more opaque it gets, so keep an eye on that heat if the color solidifies!

I tried the floral experiment on Atlantis, as I did on Electric Avenue above, with similar results. The flower on the right appears very translucent because there is no layer of opaque Light Turquoise. I think it's a really pretty effect. Atlantis stayed dark when layering, but still acted like a transparent when I needed it to, as on the left floral here, sandwiched between the Light turquoise and the clear.

Moving on, we have 499 Rainforest, a teal green opal. Again, the consistency and workability were very similar to the other opals I have covered in this post. Pretty much everything about Rainforest is the same as its sister color Atlantis, with the exception of hue. No shockiness, no bubbling or scumming, a soft, buttery melt and a lovely vivid color.

One small difference is that Rainforest doesn't go opaque quite as easily, and sometimes will only opacify in spots on the same bead (near the hole, most of the time) and stay translucent elsewhere.

This Opal is the darkest of the four, although that is difficult to see in the photographs. The stringer is especially dark and lovely (pics below). No floral experiment with Rainforest - I suspected that the results would be very much like Atlantis.

The last of the four colors I tested this week is the newest one - 404 Jade Palace Ltd Run. Jade Palace is the newest and lightest of these, and lands somewhere between light teal and seafoam green.

I also found that this color had just a tad more of a tendency to go opaque than the other three. It made strikingly lovely stringer, reminding me of jade gemstones.

Again with the floral experiment, with similar results. Very glowy, translucent florals when no opaque is used, but very normal looking florals when Jade was layered.

Now, I saved the best part for last - a little bit of a surprise that happened when I experimented with using the Opals as transparent layers.

I love when my experiments yield happy results! It turns out that all four of these colors tend to spread out when melted into the base bead - something I think probably happens with a lot of Opals. This makes them wonderful for dot distortion - just like Rubino Oro! In these dot beads, I layered each Opal on top of Light Turquoise and then melted the dots all the way, creating some lovely shapes that fit together like puzzle pieces. The dot distortion with these colors was really forgiving and easy. Fun!

Last but not least, here are some pics of the beads I made this week with all four of these Opals, plus Light Turquoise, Black and Clear. They are on Etsy. :) Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

CiM Glass Testing: 502 Midnight Ltd Run

2011-07-29T01:07:00.000-07:00

CiM's new color Midnight is.....well, it's weird. But in that good way that makes me want to look at it all the time. :)

On their website, CiM describes this color as a dark transparent shade that color shifts between navy blue and purple. I had a different experience entirely. I'm not saying they are wrong.....but I never got any blue or purple out of this color - not in sunshine, fluorescent or incandescent lighting. What I did experience is a color that is both dense and subtle, dark and not altogether that saturated. Midnight seems to be kind of a paradox.

In rod form, Midnight is so dark that it can easily be mistaken for black. Even holding it up to the light, you can only see the barest hint of a transparent charcoal grey with maybe a tiny hint of blue.

When I pulled it into this swatch, only the thinnest part, towards the bottom end, can be seen as a dark transparent grey. When pulled into stringer, you can definitely see it as a transparent charcoal grey that is the kind of neutral color that reminds me of black and white photography. There's little saturation, even though the color is very dense.

Unlike many transparent glasses, it didn't bubble or scum very much. It melted evenly without shocking, which was nice.

Midnight is a relatively stiff transparent glass. It's one of the stiffer CiM colors, in my experience - even more so than Simply Berry Unique. This means that the color did not spread out much - even when thickly applied - without the aid of a metal tool to move it and press it. This made the glass kind of a challenge to work with.

When encasing, I had to apply a thin layer of Midnight over some pale opaque grey (in this case, Vetrofond Pearl Grey), move it to the edges of the opaque, and then encase it. When encased, the color lightened considerably into a lovely neutral charcoal grey.

Using this glass for layering did pose a bit of a challenge, but one that was well worth the effort. Dots stayed put and didn't spread or bleed, which is nice when you want round, small dots. Midnight is really gorgeous when clear is applied heavily over the top of it - like raindrops. When layered over the Pearl Grey and pulled into stringer, Midnight goes very light - which you can see below. The scroll bead has the Midnight encased stringer, while the bead in the middle has bumps which are layered with Midnight.

I had a lot of fun working with this glass. I adore grey these days, so Midnight was really inspiring. It made me think of mysterious shadows and the play of light at nighttime when you can barely see. These bead sets were made to feature Midnight in its various applications. It's layered with Pearl Grey and DH Aether Clear, and paired up with Pastel Ink Blue and Dark Lavender. An oddlot of DH Ox created the metallic effects.

CiM Glass Testing: 201 Marigold Ltd Run

2011-07-28T23:59:00.000-07:00

Before I get into the nitty-gritty about this lovely new color, I want to mention a couple things about some small changes over at Creation is Messy. As stated on their website and in their latest newsetters, CiM has changed the way they label their newer colors. Instead of the "Unique" label, they are now using "Ltd Run" for odd lots and colors they may not make again. I think this helps with some of the confusion around the term "unique", and lets us know that the color being sold is probably going to be limited or might change with each batch. CiM's FAQ page has more information about why they have re-branded their color and how that might effect suppliers.

Now for the fun stuff!

People who know me and my work may have noticed that yellow is one of the colors I use the least in my beads. And when I say yellow, I don't mean the buttercream shades I use (like Opal Yellow). I mean actual yellow - the primary shade and it's derivatives.

Once in a great while I get a hankering for yellow beads. Good timing, because CiM just released several new shades of yellow. The one I decided to test first is called Marigold.

In my opinion, a prettier yellow does not exist in the whole 104 coe lineup. In my opinion, yellow is one of those colors that is a bit overlooked and under-represented in soft glass. Unlike orange which is all over the freaking place. I'm not sure why that is, except perhaps that a lot of people don't really get all that excited over yellow.

Personally, I find that most of the opaque yellows in the soft glass line are streaky and somewhat tempermental. The exception to this was 412 Dark Yellow many years ago. It seems to have changed over time, though.

Marigold is different. Like many of the CiM colors I have tested, this opaque shade is very stable.

Marigold is not too stiff, not too soupy when melting. It melts very evenly and has a really nice consistency. I didn't notice any bubbling or shocking when melting on my Minor Burner. Like most yellows, Marigold turns a pretty shade of orange when heated, but gradually cools back into its original shade.

One really wonderful thing about Marigold is that it does not lighten when encased or pulled into stringer. It's a very vibrant, saturated autumn yellow that fits the name of the glass perfectly. Even thinly applied dots retain their vibrance.

Marigold also doesn't seem to spread out, bleed or overtake any color it's paired with. It encases easily and layers like a dream.

In these beads, Marigold is layered with clear (DH Aether) and paired up with Effetre 247 Pastel Ink Blue and Effetre Rosatta. Plain, shiny black (Vetrofond) makes the colors pop.

Now I'm itching to make pumpkin beads and maybe even squash beads with this color for fall. :)

Beadmaking Tutorial Sale, and New Colors Coming Soon!

2011-07-19T23:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, so usually when I do a tutorial sale (a few times a year) I do a buy-one-get-one-free kind of deal. This sale is different. Until midnight Friday night, all tutorials in my Etsy shop have been marked down by several dollars each. There's no buying limit or minimum for this one. This only counts for the Etsy store - the tutorials on Coloraddiction (the same ones) haven't been changed. That's because I don't want to change the PayPal buttons. :) So check out my Etsy store to see all 7 of my beadmaking tutorials on sale.

So....why the sale you ask? Well, for a few different reasons. First and most important - to help my current precarious financial situation. I won't lie - I am in a bit of a mess, and have been for awhile now. Those who follow the blog know about the lawsuit, so I won't get into that except to say it's still going on. We're struggling - like so many people out there - so every little bit helps.

Also, sales of tutorials have slowed a bit, and I want to give some extra incentive to get mine - which are great for newbies just getting into beadmaking, as well as intermediates who haven't run across my work until now.

Third, I am thinking of retiring a few of the older ones, so they will likely be disappearing after this sale is over.

Will I be doing any new tutorials? The answer to that is probably not for awhile. I am a bit burned out on them and want to focus more on beadmaking. Plus, I have run out of ideas. :)

In other news - there are new CiM colors out to test, so look for new posts on those very soon. CiM has made some gorgeous new greys that I am excited to try, as well as some opals that I really need to experiment with. CiM has been releasing a lot more colors lately in their new Ltd Run category, and those will be fun to test. I sure hope they continue to release colors which will be in their permanent line-up!

That's it for now - I hope everyone stays cool and has a fun summer!

Transparent Glass; Simple Can Be Beautiful

2011-06-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

I sometimes get caught up in creating complex color schemes using layers of glass to create new shades. I spend lots of time pairing colors to see how they make me feel, and to get that one perfect purple/green/pink/aqua, etc. I love doing that - it feeds my creative soul. I get lost in the color schemes, spending more time figuring out which glasses to use than actually making the beads.

Recently, though, I've felt the need for something simpler. Something purely basic and easy on the eyes. Maybe it's that my creative muse is a bit weary these days, I don't know.

I've been inspired lately by the weak sunshine we've had - those somewhat sunny but still cool days that peek out during the springtime here in the Northwest. That subtle sunshine can be made even more beautiful when seen through transparent glass colors - rich purples, soft pinks, vivid greens, honeyed ambers and sparkling aquas. Without any opaque backgrounds to block the light, these transparent shades twinkle in the sun, bringing about feelings of summer warmth and cheeriness.

Made in 2006 with Czech Tobacco (I think) and Effetre Ink Blue Violet

It's been a long time since I made transparent flower buttons. I did a few several years ago as an experiment, and they were really pretty. Back then I was kind of all over the place creatively, so I moved on to other designs without really exploring the transparent nature of these beauties.

This last couple of weeks I have had occasion to make more, and they really can be addictive. I've been basing my bead designs to match the flowers I've been making - sort of letting the colors choose themselves by pairing transparents in pleasing combos that would look good in the sun.

Effetre Lt & Med Topaz and Vet. Light Violet

Shank on back

I've refined the design a little bit - but they are essentially the same kind of five-petaled flower that lives in my mind as a sublime shape. It doesn't have much basis in nature - I don't model my florals after any specific type I see outside - but more after an artistic version I see in my head.

Greens Eff. Olive and CiM Mojito

Here are a few examples of flowers I made last week, in colors that just sing to me. Below, a wonderful berry pink emerges with some layering or light and dark transparents. These are little - under 1" in diameter, with 1/16" holes through the back.

Pink is Vet. Rubino layered with Eff. Rosatto

At first I stuck with the same shape, but then decided to change it up a bit with some indented petals. I also flattened the shank in later versions to allow for easier placement in jewelry designs. The shapes don't look as pretty in two dimensional images as they do in the hand, but you can get the idea. :)

Eff. Olive, Dk Lavender, Vet. Rubino

CiM Mojito, Vet Lt. Violet and DH Lt Aurae

Flattened shank

Eff. Ink Blue, Dk.Lavender, Olive & Mojito

All of these have sold from my Etsy shop, but I have even more flowers made and ready to be cleaned. This time I worked in bright aquas and lime greens. They'll be up sometime this week. :)

Evidently I Have Broken My Blog :)

2011-04-20T01:47:00.000-07:00

So, it was recently brought to my attention that the comment form has disappeared on some of my posts - especially the newer ones. So that last post asking you all to let me know what you think about a new tutorial was kind of pointless! LOL

I think I know how I can fix it, but it will take some changes to the look of the blog and such, so please bear with me as I mess with the settings and html file.

In the meantime, I just listed a bunch of small sets over in my Etsy store if you want to browse. Here are some pics - click on them to go see.

Should I or Shouldn't I? A Beadmaking Tutorial Conundrum

2011-04-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

So for the last few weeks, I have been tossing around the idea of doing another glass beadmaking tutorial. I want to possible continue the Glass Color Families series and do maybe greens or purples. Please bear with me while I do some "out loud" thinking on this idea.

Now, another color tutorial may sound like a fabulous idea at first, but I think a few things need to be considered before I decide to do it.

First, have you all been kind of inundated with too many tutorials these past couple of years? Would one more just be too much? After all - each tutorial costs somewhere between $10 and $25, and who can afford the zillion that are out there?

On the other hand, several people have suggested that they would like more color-specific tutorials, so maybe I am off base there.

Secondly, I already have a color blog - would a tutorial that costs money be a little overkill? When I did the other Color Families tutorials (Browns and Pinks) I hadn't done a whole lot of blogging on specific color groups yet. But now there are a whole lot of posts here on different glass colors.

On the other hand, I haven't covered every purple or every green out there (nor would I be able to, even in a tutorial - I can only cover what I have experienced), so there might be ample information to cover in a tutorial. And my tutorials are a lot more detailed, with a lot more pics, than my blog posts are.

Finally, are people less interested in tutorials due to market saturation than they are in my actual beads, or is it the other way around? To be honest, it's not easy to answer this question. I sell some of both. The economy may play more of a part in the demand for my work than actual interest does.

So......the only solution is to ask you, dear visitors, what you think. Would you be interested in a color-based tutorial? Or is there some technique of mine you would be more interested in learning about?

Would you rather see me focus on more beadmaking? Although I have to admit that my beadmaking mojo has been severely lacking as of late, so there have been fewer beads available.

Do you already have some of my tutorials, and can you comment on their value? I would love to know what you all think. All suggestions, comments and questions are welcome. Except for spam, of course. That will be summarily zapped. :)

CiM Glass Testing: 497 Appletini and 500 Azure

2011-02-15T02:32:00.000-08:00

I was so excited when I opened the package containing several new CiM colors ready for testing last week.....the brightness and saturation of CiM's new color selection is refreshing in this cold weather!

The first two colors I am going to review for you are two of the best in the group - Appletini and Azure. I'll do Appletini first.

497 Appletini is pretty much what it sounds like - a light transparent apple green, crisp and springy. This shade falls somewhere between Effetre Pale Emerald and Effetre Yellow Green. It fits nicely into the 104 coe palette - not an exact replica of anything, but close enough to substitute if you desire.

The main difference between CiM Appletini and its Effetre counterparts is that CiM's glass tends to be less scummy, clearer and a little stiffer. This shade isn't as stiff as some CiM's transparents can be, so it was great for layering and encasing.

When I used it in these sets, I layered it over CiM Elphaba for a vivid spring green which turned out really lovely. I did notice that it will bubble if you get it too hot, especially from the end of a stringer, so be careful with that.

Appletini doesn't have any reactive or striking elements that I could discern - it's a stable and consistent transparent color. Not much in the way of spreading or bleeding - it stayed put on every bead I used it on.

CiM Azure is quite a different animal. It's a super-saturated deep aqua shade that is darker and bluer than Effetre's Dark Aqua. Its saturation reminds me of Effetre Intense Blue.

I have to tell you that images of this color might not do it justice. What sometimes happens with saturated glass is that it can appear washed out in photos - at least with my camera. I'm not sure of the technical aspects as to why, but it happens with most deep transparent colors - especially in the blue/aqua/teal lines.

In reality, Azure is so deep that I ended up encasing this spacer in clear to bring out the color. And in the bead sets pictured, the azure is actually a lot more vivid and saturated than you might be able to see on your monitor. The closest comparison I can come up with is that of Swarovski Capri Blue crystal beads, which are a near perfect match.

This bluer version of aqua isn't present anywhere else in the 104 palette, making it a really welcome addition, in my opinion. When I pair it with Appletini/Elphaba, it just pops. I can't help but think of summertime when I look at these colors together. It makes me want to try on swimwear - and believe me when I say, that is totally not in my character!

The consistency of Azure is a bit stiffer than Appletini, but really clear and sparkling. It doesn't bubble nearly as much as Effetre aquas tend to - it melts like butter. It does need a slightly hotter flame, which makes layering a bit tricky when your opaque color isn't very stiff. In these sets, the Azure is layered over Effetre Sky Blue, which is a soft opaque, so the Azure didn't spread out as much as I expected. It still turned out pretty when the Sky Blue outlines appeared on many of the layers.

As with Appletini, for Azure I didn't notice any reactive or striking properties - just basic, stable color.
I am really happy with these new colors so far - and CiM's website says that they will be available this March. Yey!

Changes and Updates - New Colors Coming!

2011-02-10T18:44:00.000-08:00

Just a quick blog today....

I sure have been absent for a long time! I want everyone to know though that I have freed up quite a bit of time, so there will be more frequent updates here on Coloraddiction. Starting off with some brand new CiM color reviews coming this week! I just tested a batch of the most vivid and beautiful colors I've seen in quite awhile, and I can't wait to review them for you.

I also wanted to let people know that I am no longer affiliated with the AGLF, so you will no longer see me updating about that here - no more pestering for funds, no more depressed posts about stress and fear. All I can say about that is that I am no longer a member of AGLF. The reasons are only important to me, so I won't bore you with details. This frees up time and and effort, so I will be concentrating more on glass and beads. Yey!

So stay tuned for the next color review, which will be CiM's new colors Azure and Apple Martini.
See you soon!

AGLF Has a New Website, and I am Still in Love With Gray

2010-11-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been a month and a half since I last posted here! Time sure flies when you're busy. :)

First off, I would like to announce the new website for the AGLF - aglf.info. On the website are links to donate, buy the calendar, purchase beads, jewelry and other art, and more. We would really appreciate your visit! For those who want to read more about AGLF and what it's about, please see my earlier post here.

As for beadmaking, I have been doing lots. I am currently selling my beads in small sets in my newly re-opened Etsy store. There's nothing there at the moment but tutorials, because the beads are selling as quickly as I can get them listed - which is wonderful! So if you're looking for my beads, keep an eye on the store there. I do email my mailing list when I put up a batch of beads, so if you want you can sign up for that at the bottom of my website.

And now for some beads!

CiM Adamantium remains one of my favorite colors of the season so far. I am loving gray even more than brown this year - and this dark charcoal is just lovely for fall and winter. I paired it with pink last week, and it turned out so pretty.

Pink and gray remind me of my teenage years back in the 80's (OMG I'm so old...). That color combo was everywhere, and I remember making friendship bracelets with embroidery floss in pinks and grays all the time. Friendship bracelets.....ahhhh flashbacks. :)

I'm looking forward to pairing this soft, dark grey with other colors such as pale blue, deep teal, light purple, and maybe some more black and white.

I am also excited to be trying my hand at striking and reducing Double Helix Clio, a sweet pink/amber glass that reduces a soft metallic that I find heavenly. I've already made some beads from it and will be making more. I don't have pics yet, but look for these in my Etsy shop within a week or so!

Have fun playing this week, and stay warm!

CiM Glass Testing: 874 Adamantium Original and 874-1 Unique

2010-09-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

I love grey - and it seems to be a really hot color this year. CiM's Adamantium has been compared to Lauscha Cocoa, but I think that's not really an accurate comparison.

Adamantium is a warm dark grey, whereas Lauscha Cocoa is more of a dusty cool brown. I love both colors, of course!

I'll talk about the original version first.

This khaki grey came with relatively few surprises, which is good for me. It's a slightly striking color, and can striate some when not encased. It's still pretty dense - not much washing out under transparent glass, and layers very nicely. I didn't have any trouble with it spreading or bleeding - which suprises me a little bit. This color is somewhat close to Effetre's original Sage (Sage is lighter than Adamantium, and has a tinge more green), which bleeds quite a lot (especially in stripes!). So I expected this color to bleed as well. I was so happy it didn't!

I also expected this color to be somewhat shocky, as Effetre's shades along this line are all a little shocky. Adamantium isn't, thank goodness.

I seem to keep repeating the observation that CiM's glass is consistent and less troublesome than its Effetre counterparts - this remains true for me. I'm beginning to switch over to CiM versions when they are similar to Effetre. The quality just tends to be better.

What I loved best about this color is that it didn't lighten much at all when I encased it in clear - even in stringer form. Usually opaque colors fade somewhat when pulled into stringer - especially under a layer of clear. But my spacers and stringer look much the same in color, which makes me happy.

The unique batch of this color - 874-1 - is slightly lighter and warmer than the original, but only just. I noticed very few differences in consistency and workability. Even the swatches seem very similar. The original batch is on the left. The spacers show the difference in color. It's worth nothing that the unique batch is a bit smoother in color - no striation occurs. No bleeding, spreading or much striking, either.

The unique batch is even closer to Effetre Sage than the original - so much that I might replace the Sage with this Unique version.

The bead sets shown are Adamantium original with black, white and clear. They're all on Etsy as well.

CiM Glass Testing: 586-1 Mermaid Unique

2010-09-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

Rarely, a unique batch of a regular color comes along that I actually like better than the original. This is one of those colors.

Now, the regular version of CiM Mermaid is a lovely, saturated teal color. I've blogged about it before - once I got a non-shocky batch of it, I really admired this glass color.

A few weeks ago, I got the new release of the unique batch - 586-1. And OMG, you guys. It's freaking delicious! It's deep teal-blue - both darker and more saturated than the original, and slightly less green in color. It's so dark that there's not much washing out when it's encased. Stick some Leaky Pen over it and you have a color so deep, so rich, you can get lost in it.

My camera actually lightened this color a bit when I snapped pics of beads made from it, so imagine it slightly darker and more saturated.

The swatches shown are of the regular version (right) and the unique version (left) so you can see the difference. This shade is a color I have been hoping for for a long time.

Working this glass is pretty darn easy. It doesn't bleed at all, and only striates a little bit. It's dense - a little goes a long way. It's neither stiff nor soupy for an opaque - the consistency is right on. It doesn't bleed or spread out much at all - when I used it with Adamantium it didn't fight for space like I would expect a green/blue to do. It's not reactive from what I have seen so far, but I haven't used it with any silver glasses.

It's just a gorgeous, dense, super-saturated teal that pairs wonderfully with Leaky Pen and Clear, or can be a gorgeous base all on its own. I am totally getting more of this when I can.

Here are some beads I made with this color and Adamantium grey. They're on Etsy if you're interested!

Cautious But Hopeful

2010-09-23T12:48:00.000-07:00

After a six-week break, I lit the torch again a couple of days ago. And it felt.....wonderful.

I've been really depressed this last several weeks, as you probably saw in posts before this. My life has been in turmoil, and the break I took was nothing like a vacation. I've been looking for a job, and while I knew it would take awhile to find something, I didn't realize just how hard it would be. I've really been dragging my feet. It's probably because I just don't want to give up on beadmaking as my career.

I can't say I've made up my mind at all as to what I think I should do these days. All I know is that I finally was able to make beads without bursting into tears.

The colors I am using are dark - my mood is dark - but the creating brought me some peace and some hope. So I am going to continue to try.

I think I might even put some beads up for sale soon - maybe on Etsy. Just to test the waters again. The summer was incredibly slow, sales-wise, but the grapevine is saying that people are starting to want to buy beads again.

So maybe this is another chance for me to start again - somewhat refreshed and hopeful. I would like nothing more than to keep making beads and make somewhat of a living at it. I feel like that's where I belong. But a bunch of things need to happen for that to become my reality again.

I need to get out more - see people, socialize. Maybe attend shows and meetings, etc. My sales need to be decent enough to pay the bills. My muse needs to hang out in the studio more often. And so on.

So I am cautiously optimistic. And kind of embarrassed and my constant indecision. And hopeful that people won't judge me too harshly.

Last Tuesday I made beads with black, white and grey glass. They turned out really pretty. :) Pics to come soon.

Fall Color - Like a Deep, Relaxing Breath

2010-09-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

Fall is my favorite time of year, as most of my blog readers already know. Truthfully, after a hot summer, seeing fall foliage and color relaxes me and makes me feel like I can finally breath again.

Now, I know that fall colors usually come out months - even years - before the actual season starts, but I have kind of been preoccupied. So I hadn't really noticed much color until I watched the latest Project Runway. Last year I wasn't thrilled with their color asthetic on that show. This year is another story. Even the colors the judges thought were awful got me excited! Lots of rich, deep jewel tones, greys and silvers and lots of earthtones. The plum and silver resort-wear swimsuit ensemble on this week's show was just gorgeous.

Now, I am not sure if it's my mood or my fashion sense, but the Lenzing fall color forecast - specifically the "Identikit" section, near the bottom of this page - really speaks to me. Dark, rich, and very futuristic. Silvery greys, blurry browns and feathery greens soften the heavy purples. I want clothes and beads made of these colors right now.

Pantone's selection of autumn 2010 colors is a bit more lively - more saturated and friendly. I do like the colors - but feel as though some of them are somewhat summery. Maybe good for Indian summer weather, if we had it. The bright coral and vivid, juicy purple shades are somewhat heavy-handed for me this year. Seems like the designers are in love with the mossy green "woodbine" this year though, and I agree with them. It's gorgeous!

The understated quality of this year's camel and metallic selections speak to me more than the pale blues and bright reds on this fashion site that showcases the runway. And I am in love with all manner of olive green!

I'm also enjoying the color selections over at Cut and Sew - rich chocolate brown, soft camel tan and even a subtle medium bluegreen. Put those together and you get bliss!

Happiness is a set of fall colors. Even the vivid oranges, purples, greens and black of Halloween motifs are making me happy this year. Now I just have to get my glass mojo back and I'll be set. Go Autumn!

2011 Calendar Preview and Pre-order

2010-08-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to announce that our 2011 calendar is now available for pre-order! It will be ready for shipping next month. My beads are on a couple of the pages, along with more gorgeous beads, jewelry and artwork. Last year's calendar was a great success - so hopefully you all will love this one just as much! Click on the pic to check it out. Thanks all!

News and Some Major Decisions

2010-08-19T01:46:00.000-07:00

Warning - this post is long, but important for anyone interested in my beadmaking career.

As many of you know by now, I have been going through some major life crises over the last year or so. I won't go into the details of those - you can read through older posts if you haven't already, and are interested.

I've been doing some heavy thinking for months now and have finally come to some decisions about my life and about the future of my career in beadmaking.

At the end of this month I will begin applying for some jobs outside the home. I've got a couple in mind at Costco main office, where my husband works. Both jobs sound challenging but will offer a couple of really needed changes in my life.

Working outside the house will reacquaint me into being with people on a daily basis again, something I badly need. Being self-employed, I have been relatively reclusive for the last 8 years. Making and selling beads is a one-person thing for me, so I've spent most days alone either in my studio or in my home office.

For the most part I have enjoyed this alone-time. I am an introvert at heart. But after so many years, one longs for daily human contact. My husband, of course, is always there for me. And I have always had great friends that I keep in contact with and see occasionally, but there is nothing like daily contact with peers - even for just a little while.

I of course can't be absolutely sure I will qualify for any job, but I will be applying and interviewing until I find one, and it may happen quickly or might take awhile.

Here's what will happen with my current situation:

Air & Earth Designs, my main website which features my handmade beads, will stay online until I find a job. I will be removing the custom order element soon, because honestly there hasn't been any demand for at least a month, and I find myself dreading the idea of doing any more custom work. The Beads For Sale page will feature any beads I make between now and when I get another job. Once I have another source of income, the bead selling part of Air & Earth Designs will go on hiatus indefinitely. Air & Earth Designs will remain only as a gallery and portfolio of my work, as well as a place to announce classes and shows.

That doesn't mean I won't be making beads anymore - I don't think I will ever quit making beads. I want to somehow recapture the joy and bliss I once felt when creating. I think that if I turn it back into a hobby that will happen. Beads I do make will go into my inventory and will be sold when and if I register for any shows, and gives as gifts to family and friends.

Bead shows I do will likely be only in my local area for awhile, due to financial concerns. I really want to do the ISGB Gathering in 2012 when it comes to Seattle. Before that, I am sure I will do some smaller local shows and maybe even the Puget Sound Bead Festival or some other show in Washington, California or Oregon. I will have to wait and see as to whether I will end up participating in any larger, national shows, as travel is really too expensive for me right now.

As for Coloraddiction, the tutorial website I share with Kimberly, that will stay up, probably for a long time. I will likely continue to do the occasional tutorial, and I know Kim has some in mind as well. I know I want to continue teaching skills to other beadmakers and I am sure Kim does as well.

As for teaching in person, some things are already in the works for me. I will try and teach as a side job, taking trips to teaching locations on occasion when the opportunity presents itself. I will announce those locations on Coloraddiction and on Air & Earth Designs.

I have loved creating for myself and for my customers - I really have. The floundering economy and the depression and anxiety have just made that almost impossible this last year, so I need a change. Will this change be permanent? I honestly don't know. It may be that I might not be able to reintegrate into the work force - I might just not be personable enough. I may not be able to handle working outside the home. Who knows. But I want to try, in the hopes that it changes my financial situation and my emotional well-being for the better.

As for those who might wonder whether this is in part because of the lawsuit against me (and a group of other artists) that I have previously mentioned. The answer to that is yes, but only in part. The stress of being continuously defamed and erroneously reported for fraud is incredibly debilitating. The lawsuits and what has come with them has taken a serious toll on me creatively, emotionally and financially. However, something tells me I might have come to these decisions eventually anyway - this just speeds things along somewhat.

I know, however, that I have done nothing wrong, and I have proof of that. But the lawsuit remains and I have to continue to be involved until it's settled, and that takes away from what I really love to do - which is create gorgeous things.

Creating in general, for me, replaces my ability to have children. It's something I need to have in my life - like water or air. Hopefully these life changes will enable me to get back to the joy of creating soon.

If you've read this far - thank you. I really appreciate your time and concern.

All my love,
~Kandice

Random Stuff This Week

2010-08-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhh. It's 8 million degrees outside (read: 95), and I am so thankful for my small, portable air conditioner.

This week, I have spent most of my time here in the office doing computer stuff, so I haven't torched a whole lot. It's too hot!

I did manage to get a few beads made, though. These are wistful wishes for cooler, autumn days.

I made my first pumpkins of the season, changing up the green for the scrolling vines to CiM Soylent encased in Effetre Grass Green. I really like the difference it makes - the green is still earthy, but a little more vibrant than I have had in the past.

I used various shades of Effetre Coral for the oranges - Coral makes the best autumn orange, in my opinion. They're not really coral in color at all - funny how Effetre Coral hasn't actually been coral in a long time.

I made more beads - they're listed over on my Beads For Sale page on my website.

I'm looking forward to going to the Frantz Art Glass Bash next weekend in Shelton. This is always a fun time - lots of demos and such. They always have huge glass sales during the bash, but alas, no glass for Kandice this time. I don't have the extra funds to spend, but I am still going to go. There are always lots of fun people to chat with and wonderful beads to look at, so hopefully this will help with the creative mojo, which has been on what seems like permanent hiatus lately.

Lastly, I have been working on a couple of websites....namely Coloraddiction.com and Kimberlyaffleck.com. I've been meaning to redo both of them for awhile now - and I finally just took the time to do it. Both are done in a similar style with different colors. I think both sites look more polished now - what do you think?

That's pretty much it for now - I hope everyone is staying cool! :)

Decorating With Stringer Tutorial!

2010-07-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

It's done - yey! The overwhelming winner of the tutorial poll I put up awhile ago was stringer decoration, so.....your wish is my command! The new tutorial is packed with info about stringer decoration on lampwork beads. It's geared toward the novice beadmaker, but there's a lot of good stuff in there that I think intermediates might be interested in.

I hope you'll check it out over on Coloraddiction. And now.....sleep. :)

Bunches of Stuff

2010-07-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

Lately, it seems as though this blog has been less and less about color and art, and more about life and conflict. That's just the way it goes sometimes, unfortunately.

Life has a way of piling things on - and it seems like so many people in my current large circle of family, friends and peers are dealing with huge....uh....piles. :)

I'm included, so this post will largely cover the latest stuff, to keep everyone up to date and also ask for a little help. Again. :( This post will be long. Stupidly long. So if you're inclined, grap a cup of tea and settle in. If you get to the end, you'll be rewarded with bead pics! :D

First, the latest in the Ullja v Artist dealio is that after we dropped our suit against her for lack of funds, she has evidently decided to turn the tables on us and sue back. (Previous posts of mine will inform you if you haven't heard about this before).

Now, she's not suing everyone who was on the last lawsuit - and she has added some new people to the mix. Her choices seem a bit random to some of us, but whatever. The suit isn't really official yet - none of us have been served - but papers were filed by her sometime in the last couple of weeks. I wasn't surprised given her blog posts (which I am not linking, sorry).

So, we're being sued by her for defamation and a host of other bogus things. The suit has no merit whatsoever, but we still have to defend ourselves somehow if this actually goes forward. Therefore, the AGLF fund that we have for legal issues is being used again for fundraising, just in case.

{sob story} Many of us on the suit are really strapped for cash - and really, who isn't these days? So, we're hoping some of you who have the means can help.

Along with accepting straight donations, we're also doing a couple of other things.

On Etsy, we have opened up a store where artists are donating items to sell to benefit the AGLF. There are some really lovely things there - you can check them out here.

We're doing a 2011 calendar (the 2010 calendar was a huge success and turned out beautifully). We need submissions from artists - some 300 dpi pics and links to your websites would be wonderful. You can send your submissions to me and I will forward them on to the person doing the calendar layout. Once we have the calendar layout done, we will be posting info on how to buy it. I had images in last year's calendar and have also submitted to this one - and I would love it if you would join me! Any kind of handmade art or craft is welcome - beads and jewelry and soaps were in last year's calender.

My humble thanks go out to the people who are donating their time, money and art to help us out.

Moving on to the next topic.....what the bleep is going on with me and beadmaking?? Well, the truth is I don't really know.

Many people have noticed that I have had fewer and fewer beads listed on my website for sale, and haven't been all that vocal in the forums or online anywhere. There are several reasons for this - not the least of which is this weird Ullja stuff.

Another reason is that sales are really very slow. My husband and I are struggling financially in a pretty serious way, and this has created a major depression for me. I'm prone to depression and anxiety anyway, and when this kind of thing happens it saps any creative energy I have. So making beads, while necessary, has been literally like pulling teeth. I've wasted a lot of time and glass trying, and only getting about a 40-50% success rate, which is awful for me.

It's kind of a catch-22. Sales are slow - people are strapped for cash, so they aren't able to buy beads. I panic, because we aren't able to sustain ourselves, and it becomes harder for me to make beads anyway.

Soooooo lately I have been looking for outside work. This terrifies me because I have not worked outside the house for 10 years now, and I have no idea what I am qualified for or where to start. More panic and anxiety ensues, which cripples me at points.

Still with me? I know - it's depressing, and it's all too common everywhere these days. Many, many other beadmakers are going through the same thing. It sucks but there it is. Beads just aren't a necessity, and things which are not needed are sometimes dropped from our budgets in times like these.

I'm kind of in a holding pattern at this point - and trying to decide what I should and am able to do. Right now, I am still making beads when I can, and exploring other avenues of income. To be honest, it's not as going well as I'd hoped, but I will keep trying. I have one more bead order outstanding, and then that's it. It's been a very long time since I have not had outstanding orders to fill.

I did have a couple of fruitful bead sessions last week, where I was able to finish up a bead order and also make a couple of small sets in colors I really love. Amber and green - fantastic fall colors. And with this heat, I am really, really looking forward to fall.

Friends, I'm going to be straight with you. I really, really hate boring you with all this stuff about how bad things are for me. I can't imagine anyone wanting to read all these tales of woe. I am an independant, self-sufficient person, and I don't like having to depend on anyone for help of any kind. But so many people have asked after me, and I really appreciate that. The artist community has really been very supportive of me lately, and it really moves me that people I have never met in person are checking in on me and being so kind. I almost don't know what to do with it - except say thank you.

And so the end of the post approaches (finally, for the love of gawd!!) and I promised pics. Here they are....click on them to see them on my website.

Hugs to all. :)

Beadmaking Tutorial - What Would You Like to See?

2010-06-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Sooooo, I am planning on doing another tutorial. I have a few ideas in mind, but I thought I would ask what you all might be looking for in another tutorial by me. You can choose one tutorial below as your favorite, or even suggest something new in the comments section. Please feel free to elaborate! You can see my other tutorials on Coloraddiction.com.

Here are some pics to show what kind of beads I am talking about.

Twisted Dot Beads

Flower Buttons

Stringer Decoration

Artisans vs Ullja Kuntze

2010-06-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

Since I was a plaintiff on this case against Ullja Kuntze for defamation, I am posting a copy of this press release. I would like to add my own heartfelt thanks to all who helped on this. I am sad we have to drop the case - but finances our not on our side. Ms. Kuntze seems to have endless deep pockets and a distinct desire to continue slandering me and countless other artists.

I personally have proof from the State of Washington that I have always paid my taxes and am completely legal.

*****

The Plaintiffs in the defamation case Liz Putnam et al v. Ullja Kuntze have filed to withdraw their motion seeking relief against Ullja Kuntze for defamation (libel and slander per se) and fraud.

The Plaintiffs arrived at the decision to withdraw after Ullja Kuntze, with much delay, finally complied with court-ordered disclosure and provided documents confirming that she publishes the blog "handmadeartisanfraud.blogspot.com" and has made false tax evasion reports specifically naming the Plaintiffs and many others to the IRS and state revenue offices around the country.

During the legal proceedings, the Plaintiffs attempted settlement with Ullja Kuntze and requested that she remove the blog, but Ms. Kuntze refused. The high cost of pursuing the case to completion has been weighed against the satisfaction of her admission that she is the publisher of the blog and the person behind the spurious reports to local authorities against artisans around the country. The investment to date resulted in obtaining evidence of her acts, an ample and welcome reward.

However, to pursue the case to completion and obtain an injunction against Ullja Kuntze ordering her to take the blog offline would be very expensive, given her lack of cooperation to date. With proof of her wrongdoing, the Plaintiffs and others targeted by Ms. Kuntze have the needed evidence to protect their professional and personal reputations individually.

The Plaintiffs wish to thank everyone who contributed to the legal costs and to assure their supporters that with proof of Ullja Kuntze's guilt, a win in civil court is not necessary. Thanks to the support of the artisan community, the evidence of Ms. Kuntze's acts is now a matter of public record for all to see.

Case information is available online at the Harris County Clerk's website. The case number is 200966253 and can also be located searching for Defendant name "Kuntze, Ullja".

Another Bead Exporter Stealing My Photos

2010-06-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone....

Just a quick blog to ask that people please not buy from this company from India - JPM Beads N Findings - they have lifted quite a few of my bead photos - even some more recent ones - to use on their website to lure people to buy their mass-produced beads. This company did not ask my permission to use my images - they just lifted them off of my website Lampwork.net.

There are a ton of images of mine all over their site - some to represent beads they sell, and some used as graphical ads and column headers. It appears that they have used the images of several lampwork beadmakers - mixed in with what appears to be their own images of their inferior work.

I have dealt with this kind of thing for years, and I have no real recourse. The only thing I can do is inform the public and ask for your understanding. Please feel free to spread the word if you feel inclined to do so.

And now I have to go try and make beads with a heavy heart. This kind of thing always steals my creative joy.

Glass Testing: CiM 492 Sherwood

2010-05-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

Where the heck have I been for, like, the last 3 months?? I know, I know, it's been awhile since I have brought you anything new. What can I say? Life has been busy. I could bore you with all the details of medical issues with both my husband and me, traveling to see family, financial fun (or not)....but I think I would rather talk about new glass!

A few days ago I got the newest CiM color Sherwood to try out. So I made a couple of small sets using it and another color I have never tried - Effetre Dark Periwinkle. I thought they would look pretty together and I was right! At least I think so. These colors were tough to photograph together, so the blue looks way too blue, but the green is about right on my monitor.

Sherwood is a pretty typical opaque medium green - and by typical, I am not talking about the color, which is lovely. What I mean by it is that this green, along with most opaque greens in the 104 COE palette, tends to be quite dominant. It can bleed a little, and suck up other colors which are applied near it. It's not nearly as bad as some of the Effetre greens, which means it can be used as a layering color as long as you're careful.

It also does have a tendency to be streaky even after encasing. I wasn't all that bothered by it, though, because it is such a pretty shade of green. It falls right into the palette - not as yellow as Split Pea, less vivid than Soylent, and greener/darker than Celadon.

When compared to other brands, Sherwood is probably closest to Effetre Petroleum Green, but is not quite as blue, less streaky and slightly less dominant.

Like most other CiM colors, Sherwood has a great consistency when melting - not too stiff and not too soupy. It does encase well - only bleeding slightly, and makes really pretty encased stringer. I didn't find it to be shocky, which surprises me, as many opaque greens can be very shocky.

All in all, a really pretty medium to dark forest green shade.

Glass Testing: CiM 590 Great Bluedini

2010-02-15T17:47:00.000-08:00

I'm back with another color test - this time it's Creation is Messy's new transparent teal called Great Bluedini.

Quality-wise the color is really nice - right in line with CiM's colors in general. Perfect stiffness, very little bubbling or scumming, lovely consistency and stability.

Great Bluedini doesn't seem to do anything unexpected - not a lot of bleeding, spreading, sinking or reacting to other colors. It layers well, keeps its vibrant teal color and is dark enough to encase.

I would compare this color to Effetre's Dark Teal, which is a premium color in that line. Great Bluedini is only just a teeny tiny bit bluer than Dark Teal - a difference so slight that it's hard to tell unless you're holding a rod of each side-by-side. The two colors are almost identical in hue and shade.

I think the only difficulty I had with this color is when I photographed it. My camera tended to wash out some of the color. It's really very vibrant.

I am definitely looking forward to more new colors from CiM - and hoping that they will make something new instead of duplicating what's already out there. However, it is nice to have that duplication - just in case the other isn't available. And CiM's color does tend to be slightly more consistent and stable than other brands in 104 coe. If they keep up the quality, I personally will choose them over other brands when I can.

Here's a set made with Great Bluedini, Fremen, Elphaba, Olive Transparent and Diamond Clear. I had a lot of fun! It has an hour left on ebay if you're interested. :)

Glass Testing: CiM 589 Zachary

2010-01-13T14:21:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I have done some glass testing! This time I am testing out Creation is Messy's new opaque called Zachary. The glass is named after the owner Kathy Seamands' brand new baby boy! Congratulations, Kathy. :)

Of course, given its name, Zachary is a lovely baby blue. It's a dense light opaque glass that is a couple shades lighter than Effetre Periwinkle.

Zachary reminds me a lot of CiM Dirty Martini - not because of the color, but because of the density of the glass and the consistency. I really love that CiM's opaques have the ability to keep their color even when they are very light.

Because of this, Zachary makes a nice base for layering, and also stands well on its own. It's not too stiff, but not too soupy and has no bleeding/spreading effect that I could see. It also doesn't tend to seperate and streak like Periwinkle can sometimes do.

Zachary of course makes a great base under all the transparent blues in the 104 COE line - I have used it with Medium Blue and Intense Blue in striping and it works great. In the beads pictured, I experimented with layering colors I normally wouldn't put with blue.

In this first set, I layered it with Effetre Light Steel Grey and touches of clear. The effect is a rainy, icy tone which I really love.

The second set features Zachary layered with Effetre Dark Lavender. This pulls out the blue in the lavender - still icy but a little more cheerful.

Both transparent colors reacted well with Zachary, meaning the opaque light blue is a really stable color and encases well.

I don't normally get excited over blues, but this color kind of fits my mood lately and is pretty much a home run in terms of workability. Yey!

Divine Spark Designs - Jenny Friske-Baer - AGLF Featured Artist

2010-01-13T13:54:00.000-08:00

The first person I want to blog about (see the last post for what I am talking about) is Jenny Friske-Baer of Divine Spark Designs. She makes boro and soft glass beads as well as some really pretty metal findings, cold-worked beads and bunches of other cool stuff. I really love her little bird house beads - very sweet! She did up a little bio which I will paste below. Check her out at her website and also her Etsy page!

"My name is Jenny Friske-Baer and I started Divine Spark Designs in December of 2002. My goal is to provide beautiful, unique, handmade lampworked beads, glass and jewelry that will reflect the love and good energy gone into their creation and perhaps inspire others to discover their own Divine Spark within.

I started beading over 10 years ago (who can remember?) and I blame the addiction on my sister Gretchen! She got me started and soon after I often couldn't find that "special" bead for a project. All of you fellow beaders know what I'm talking about - that perfect bead that has to be a certain color or shape or texture to finish off a project (or maybe even start one!). So I decided to try and learn how to make them myself. After sitting at a Hot Head Torch for an afternoon under the expert and patient instruction of my dear friend Kandra, I was hooked! I played for about a year on the Hot Head - saved my money - and now I work on a Bethlehem Barracuda Torch as well as a Lynx Triple Mix torch from Glass Torch Technologies.

Everyday I feel blessed that I am able to sit down at the torch to try and create something that others might find beautiful and full of good energy. And I feel blessed that the love of my life enjoys working side by side with me in our studio (a fancy word for garage!) creating many wonderful fused pieces and stained glass works of art."

AGLF - Battling Fraud Allegations, etc.

2010-01-12T05:43:00.000-08:00

Hi all! As some of you may know, I am one of the many lampwork beadmakers and artists that have been targetted by a woman in Texas and accused of tax evasion, fraud and lawbreaking.

A bunch of us have a lawsuit out against this person for defamation (see Ulljas.com for more info on her) and are selling a lampwork calendar as a fundraiser.

The proceeds from the calendar sales are going to the Artisans and Glassworkers Legal Fund to help with the legal costs. The calender is just gorgeous - full of bead pictures - I got mine last month and have it hanging in my office.

Along with the calender sales, we are also trying to help everyone who has been listed on this woman's blog (which I am not linking here - you can see it by checking out Ulljas.com) by blogging about them and moving them up in Google searches.

Many of the artists targetted have been seeing the fraud accusations pages in the Google search results, on the first page. This is hurting their businesses. So, by blogging positive things about these artists, it helps move the negative, untrue stuff down in the search rankings.

I will be taking part in this myself, right here on this blog. If you want to help out, I encourage you to click on the links to the artists's websites in my blog posts and checking them out. There is some wonderful talent to behold.

I, myself , was a target of Ullja - and have been written about on her blog and website. However, her stuff hasn't shown up on my Google search results until page 10 or so, thank goodness. So I am trying to help out the others who haven't been as fortunate.

Anyway - if you've made it through this confusing stuff, yey! :) Now, on to some talented people. Thanks for reading!

Inspiration - Swarovski's New Ad

2010-01-07T23:06:00.000-08:00

Swarovski pairs together two of my favorite things - their brilliantly colored crystals and.....kitties!!

Swarovski House of Cats - be inspired!

New Tutorial Today!

2009-12-21T06:14:00.000-08:00

Good morning all! Happy Holidays to those who are celebrating this winter season. I have been working all week and weekend on a new tutorial - I wanted to get this out before Christmas - and here it is!

For the last year I have gotten the occasional request for a tutorial on how I do my encased stripe beads. Now, I know this is not the most original technique out there, but there are a lot of beadmakers who haven't quite mastered this style. Also, I wanted to do more than just give a basic step by step on the stripe bead.

This tutorial does cover the basic stripe - but also talks about some of the variations to get a more vivid, complex stripe bead. I also give some advice about what colors I love to use, and a few colors that just don't play well. And of course, there are lots of pictures!

I came up with a price of $14 for this 17 page pdf file. I hope you will take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Lovely Color Inspiration

2009-12-16T09:05:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post a quick blurb this morning - my cousin Andrea has a new blog about weddings....and she is inspired by color! A woman after my own heart. She has some lovely color articles up that just may inspire some creativity. I know I love the Slate, Hot Pink and Creamsicle post. Her photos are delicious and her writing is effervescent and fun. Can't wait to see what else she comes up with. :)

Comfort Beads and New Discoveries

2009-12-14T06:17:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, when I am down in the dumps (which is so often the case around the holidays), I feel the need to just make beads that are comforting and which make me happy. These past couple of weeks I have really fallen back on those most-practiced color schemes and designs.

Pink and brown is one of those color schemes that I have done so many times I can almost do them in my sleep. The colors bring up rose petals and cappuccino in my mind. I hope they never go out of style, because making them always puts a much-needed smile on my face.
I put black in there for some variety, and because lately I have been putting black in almost every set I have done.

Black is the color I use when I am looking to really highlight the other colors. It really makes everything pop right out. Also, when I use a lot of black, it's usually reflective of my mood - dark and introspective.

Last week I stumbled on a really pretty glass pairing that brought out the most gorgeous shade of liquid gold - metallic and delicate.
Opal Yellow encased with a bit of Double Helix Light Aurae, reduced just a little to bring out the metals. You can bet I stuck these colors right on black for a set of classic beads that I think would go with anything. I've never been able to get such a pretty shade of gold before - and I am not much of a gold lover when it comes to metals.

That kind of discovery on my own makes me happy, especially since I am not usually a silver glass user - I tend to shy away from those glasses. The Double Helix Aurae shades are a definite exception, though. Someday let's hope they do a pink one, so I can have both comfort and newness in one set of beads!

Oh, yeah - these are all for sale on my website - click the pics to see them.

Glass Testing: CiM 586 Mermaid, UPDATE

2009-12-09T13:08:00.000-08:00

When last I wrote about CiM Mermaid, it was a brand new color that I had received a rod of to test. Apparently, I got a bad rod, because when I was recently asked to re-test it just in case, I had a completely different experience than the last time. So here I am to update you on the properties of this pretty glass!

Before, I had major issues with shockiness and cracking. Thank goodness that was just an anomaly! The new rods I got to test were from the same batch as the first rod, but no shocking whatsoever.

The stability of this glass in the flame is by far the biggest change from the first time I tested the glass - and I am so glad about that, because this color is just gorgeous. Here are some other things I have discovered about Mermaid -

It's not as streaky as it was the first time, which is nice, but still does streak and separate a little bit, like most green opaques do in the 104 coe lines. Encasing doesn't seem to reduce this effect much, but it's subtle, so I kind of like it.

One really nice thing is that Mermaid doesn't seem to bleed or spread nearly as much as I expected it to - most dark opaque greens bleed like crazy, making them hard to layer or encase. I was able to encase stripes of Mermaid over black with no problems at all.

CiM Leaky Pen seems to be a perfect match for Mermaid - encased stringer with these two colors is just fantastic. Very vivid and pretty, I think.

I've used Mermaid in several sets now, and I am very happy with its density and depth - and this color is not a repeat of any other color in any 104 coe line, which makes me happy as well. I have already bought more and will continue to experiment with it.

Black Friday Weekend Tutorial Sale!

2009-11-27T12:31:00.000-08:00

Hi all!

I would like to offer everyone a special sale. From now until Sunday night, when you buy one of my tutorials on coloraddiction.com, you will get one of equal or lesser value for free! This is great for gift giving - buy one for your friend and get one for yourself! I am happy to email to two separate people or to the same person, whichever you like. Just mention which tutorial you would like as your free one when you order, and please don't forget to give me the email address(s) you would like the tutorial mailed to. This sale is valid for any of the five tutorials listed on this page:

http://www.coloraddiction.com/kandices.html

Sale ends Sunday night at midnight!

Feel free to spread the word!

Thanks. :)

Grandmas and Christmas Colors

2009-11-03T10:05:00.000-08:00

Hey, I know it's nowhere near Christmas-time yet, but I am in the mood to share something festive and sweet.

Around the winter holidays, I start to reminisce about family - and especially grandmas. See, in my family, grandmas are all about Christmas - pageants, skits, dressing up in adorable holiday-themed costumes, and of course.....singing. Oh, the singing! I have about a million cassette tapes with holiday songs sung by various family members as children and adults. Listening to them brings up precious memories and feelings of sweet nostalgia. And maybe a tiny bid of sheepish embarrassment at being taped singing completely off-key. But it makes the grandmas so happy.

So whenever I start working in holiday color schemes while making beads, I always have my grandmas and great-grandmas on my mind.

This year, I got to start the Christmas color schemes early. My Grandma Betty (my mom's mom) asked me last month if I would make her a holiday-themed beaded charm for her to give to her long-time friend for her birthday in late November. Of course I said yes!

Grandma and her best friend Verna met when they were just 7 or 8 years old. They went to school together in a place called Manti, Utah. They lost touch after being friends for a long time, and Grandma says she ran into Verna again when they were in their 60's. Now they are best friends again - what a small world!

So Grandma wanted something special for her good friend - something unique and meaningful. Verna's birthday is later this month, and Grandma says she puts up a tiny Christmas tree for the holidays around that time. So a handmade charm would be perfect for Verna.

I smiled the whole time I made beads for this charm, because I can just see the grandmas of the family in these colors - cheerful red, snow white and fresh green. The fact that the charm is to be given as a gift to a dear friend of Grandma's just makes it sweeter.

So Verna - happy birthday! I hope this charm makes you smile. I am happy that my wonderful Grandma Betty has such a good friend.

Question

2009-10-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

Hey all! I have a question for you....

I have been thinking about starting a personal blog for awhile now. But keeping up with two blogs might be a bit much for me. So I am wondering - should I mesh the this business/bead/color oriented blog with more personal notes? Or do you guys even really want to read anything personal?

Should I keep this blog totally on topic, or would it be interesting to any of you to see more stuff here about my life? Would you just skip over the personal stuff to get to the bead/color/glass related posts?

I'd love to know your thoughts - please feel free to post in the comments one way or another, and why, if you like. Thanks for reading!

Glass Testing: CiM 487 Poison Apple

2009-10-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

If I was going to love an opal translucent CiM color, this one would be it. Poison Apple is a gorgeous color - very bright and really tempting to eat.
Of course I will probably be in the minority when I say that I really like that this color goes opaque in the kiln.

Poison Apple glass is really a dream to work with, and that's one of the reasons I will probably buy more of it. I generally don't stick with translucent colors because they are hard to layer, but this color is one exception.

The glass itself has a wonderful consistency and is easy to pull into stringer and wrap on the mandrel. I had no issues with cracking or annealing temperature. (some translucents need a different annealing schedule).

I really love that this color is so vivid it's almost neon. Even after annealing, the color is bright and almost animated. The shade of green reminds me a little bit of Effetre Nile Green, but with more saturation and slightly more yellowish. It's not as yellow as Pea Green. When compared to Elphaba, Poison Apple is slightly darker and has more blue. So it sits between those colors and has more saturation than all of them.

As for the transparency - Poison Apple looks great encased - nice and opaque, mostly without streaks, and not as dense as most opaques are. As a base, it has a few streaks, but is really a delicious color. When used as stringer decoration and melted in, it had a typical separation line, like in many opaque greens in the 104 glass line.

When layered, it does tend to stay more translucent/transparent, even after a cycle in the kiln. This means that it retains a kind of glow when used in raised florals - some of it goes opaque and some of it stays translucent. It's very pretty, but not as dense as I would normally like.

The bottom line is that this color is so gorgeous I might stray away from my otherwise strict (and slightly snobby) adherence to pure, stable glass. But mostly as a base or in florals, and not as much as a layering glass (line in encased florals or stripes). It might be fun to try this in an encased stringer though....Yey!!

Glass Testing: CiM 586 Mermaid

2009-10-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

CiM Mermaid - here's another color I would really love to like! Actually, I do love the color - it's a deep opaque teal that doesn't occur in any other 104 glass line that I know of. It's deeper than the Effetre Ocean Green we all love, and bluer than Effetre Petroleum.

What I don't like is the workability of this glass. This is one of the first times I have been disappointed in the quality of one of CiM's colors. However, I only have one thin rod of this, so there's a chance it's a fluke.

One of the first things I have noticed is that this rod of Mermaid was incredibly shocky - even more so than most of Effetre's handpulled stuff. Mermaid cracked down the rod when I tried to heat it - even after a quick pre-heat in the kiln. The tip kept splintering, so it was hard to get a gather going to pull stringer. It was virtually impossible to use this as a base for encased stringer - which is really what I wanted to do with such a dark, saturated color.

I also noticed that this glass is stiff and melts in kind of a clumpy way. You can see that a bit in the swatch above.

Mermaid did make gorgeous spacers, though - once I was able to wind it wround the mandrel. It's streaky and seperates quite a lot, which can be pretty in the right application.

When encasing a base bead, I noticed that Mermaid bleeds a lot - coming out under the enges near the hole, even after I pushed the clear over it as much as possible.

These things make it hard for me to use this pretty color as a layering glass. As a base, it's probably great, as long as it's not encased.

I will ask and hold out hope that CiM reformulates this color so that it's more stable. Otherwise, it's yet another of the dozens of highly reactive, persnickity glass colors other glass lines have been flooding us with lately. Boy I'm grouchy. :)

**Edited to add: Seems like from what everyone is telling me here and in other places I might have gotten a bad rod of Mermaid. So as soon as I can get my hands on more, I will re-test it and hopefully it won't be shocky for me. If it's nice and stable, I will be one happy lampworker!

***Edited again: I have retested this color with wonderful results! Click here to see.

Glass Testing: CiM 788 Mink

2009-10-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

I really want to like this color. Seriously, because I generally love any shade of brown! However, CiM's opal Mink just does not do it for me.

How, this kind of criticism is not meant to state that this color is bad for anyone who works with glass....it's not. It's a relatively stable, easy to work with color that is fine for anyone who likes to work with translucent glass. I'm just not one of those people.

If this color were opaque, I might like it. But the translucency makes it look slimy and kind of puts me in mind of slugs or snails. Now, being from the Pacific Northwest, you'd think I would love slugs! But, no. Ew. So there's an ick factor with this color that makes me really not want to use it in any bead I would make.

Now, I did see a horse bead on CiM's site made with this color and it's actually not bad looking. Still a bit on the slimy side, but if you're into making sculptural beads or organics, this might be the glass for you.

Some of CiM's opal colors do go opaque in the kiln, but this isn't one of them. It stays a dark, translucent brownish grey.

I will say that I found the glass itself to be easy to melt and easy to work with, so that's a plus!

Glass Testing: CiM 483 Slytherin

2009-10-12T14:45:00.000-07:00

I kind of wish CiM's newest green Slytherin was called Perfect Pine! For one, we wouldn't have to worry about JK Rowling's lawyers seeing the name, and for another, it is the perfect shade of deep pine green.

I really love this color, so it's going to be hard to come up with any constructive criticism. :)

When I got my hands on some Slytherin, it at first reminded me a little of Effetre's transparent Sage Green. At a closer look though, you can see that Slytherin is a little more olivine in tone, making it a wonderful shade for autumn color schemes!

Slytherin has a wonderful consistency - not too stiff and relatively little in the way of bubbles or scum. It was a dream to use in encased stringer. The stability of this color is also really nice - no reactions, reductions or bleeding as far as I can see.

This is a very dark color, so it's really not a good one for a thick base...you can see that even in a small spacer, Slytherin does not transmit a lot of light, making it appear black or intensely dark green.

Therefore, Slytherin works best as a layering color. Really the only thing I can think of to improve on this pretty green is the fact that it does lose some of its dark intensity when encased. The green lightens up quite a bit as you can see here in this encased flower bead. It's still very pretty though. Here it's layered on top of Dirty Martini and encased in Diamond Clear.

A thicker layer of this glass without an encasement yields a gorgeous shade of pine that looks great on raised florals and is stunning over Dirty Martini as an encased stringer. I really love it here!

CiM says Slytherin was created as a green version of Leaky Pen, which I think was quite successful. You can see it here - this set was made with Slytherin, Dirty Martini, Leaky Pen and Fremen - all CiM colors - and Precision Diamond Clear. They look lovely together. Yey CiM!

Miscellaneous Color Stuff

2009-09-30T20:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't torched in two weeks. I've been either sick or traveling to family events, so my poor studio has been sorely neglected.

However, I am feeling better now and am just chomping at the bit to melt more glass.

I just got some more stuff from CiM to test and write about, so I will be working on that in the coming weeks, along with more testing for Frantz. Before I get to that, though, I have a couple of random stuff to talk about.

First off, I was saddened to find out that the CiM color Tamarind is no longer available in its original form. I wrote about that gorgeous caramel brown last month. I LOVE that color. I have no idea why it's not being made anymore, but I plan to ask CiM the next time I email them.
Currently, you can get something called CiM Tamarind Unique, which looks to be much lighter and more of a putty color. Since CiM already has several similar shades like this (such as khaki, stone ground, and others) I am unsure as to why they are selling this version of Tamarind. Maybe it's a fluke - who knows. But I will be finding out - and I will try my best to talk them into offering Tamarind in its original form. There's no other color even close to the original in any other brand, so hopefully CiM will follow my advice. (oh, please, oh, please!)

CiM's latest colors that I got in my test packet look really interesting. However, only one of them is opaque (called Mermaid, which looks really promising), and two of them seem more translucent or opal (called Poison Apple and Mink).

I may be in the minority here, but I am really not enthusiastic about all the semi-transparent colors that have been coming out lately from CiM and others. Colors that are neither transparent or really opaque are all but useless for me. As pretty as they are, I can only really use them for spacers. They don't layer well and tend to be persnickity in the kiln (meaning they can sometimes crack if you don't follow a specified kiln program that may or may not work with the rest of your regular 104 COE glass).

I know a lot of people use these opal colors for their bases - My friend Kim Affleck does this really well. However, I work very small and just don't like using these colors as a base. It's just personal preference, I guess. So if you see me review these opal colors with less of a positive attitude, that's why. It's not that these colors aren't perfectly fine in general. It's more that I don't see them working for me specifically.

Here's what I look for in glass for my own particular tastes:

For opaque colors, I like them to be very dense (no tendency to turn translucent at all) so that I can layer them.

For transparent colors, I like lots of clarity (no tendency to cloud up or opacify, even if it's a striking color) again for layering.

Lack of reduction effects unless I am specifically looking for a particular kind of reduction - such as with DH Aurae and its silver reflective coating.

Lack of reaction - I prefer a stable glass that doesn't react to other glass unless I am looking for a particular effect (such as Rubino's spreading or Ivory's feathering)

True color - glass that stays close to the color as the rod even when layered. I like dark colors to stay dark and light colors to retain their color and not fade completely out. I also prefer my opaques to stay as vivid as they are without greying or washing out.

Stability - glass that isn't shocky, doesn't striate, doesn't scum or bubble, doesn't turn muddy, doesn't crack when encased, etc.

Basically, I am a color purist. So that's what I look for when I test new colors, and those colors get the best reviews from me. Snobby, I am sure, but I know what I like. :)

One last thing - and this is completely shameless and self-serving, so feel free to ignore.
I've been sick and unable to make beads lately, so I am completely broke. So if you have ever wanted to buy one of my tutorials from Coloraddiction, now would be a great time. They're available on the main site, and also on Etsy. It would be so helpful to me, and hopefully helpful to you too. I would be forever grateful! Thank you. :)

SALE! Buy one of my tutorials, get one of equal or lesser value free! Just let me know which one you would like in the notes section of your order. Sale ends Saturday, October 3, 2009.

Glass Testing: Effetre 414 Butternut

2009-09-03T17:56:00.000-07:00

Effetre's brand new Butternut color is so aptly named - it actually looks like real butternut squash to me!

As much as I really love fall colors, this one falls just a bit short for me, for several reasons, but I am going to start with the good points first.

Butternut does act just like a coral in the flame - meaning it has a nice consistency and a dense color. It works well, and is neither stiff nor soupy.

This color does encase very well - in fact, that's probably the only way I personally would use it. It does not bleed a lot and keeps its bright color through a thick layer of clear.

Its main negative point is that the glass does not stay bright yellow-orange, as I would like. The color tends to fade in and out and striate a kind of greyish green in some spots. This means it might be nice for organics, but for the kind of beads I make, it probably won't work. The golden yellow orange shade is lovely, but the grey streaks are a turn off.

I think I would be better off using one of Effetre's other regular yellow shades, like Dark Yellow or Red Roof Tile.

Glass Testing: Effetre Rosewood

2009-09-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

This pretty color, which has no number that I can find, is a new one from Effetre which unfortunately has only been available at Frantz in their auctions. I am really hoping that this glass will be listed by rod there soon!

Rosewood is a lovely shade of burnt sienna/brick/terracotta that striates and stays nice and saturated.

It reminds me of a painted desert, and I think would make lovely spacers and a gorgeous base for organics.

I like the density of Rosewood - and its tendency to keep its bright color even when encased. It does spread, but only slightly, and was not difficult to layer.

I would LOVE to see Kimberly Affleck use this as a base for a seahorse! I think the woodsy, painted feel of this color lends itself very well to an organic look - but might even be nice with encased geometrics and florals.

I'll be keeping my eye out for this glass!

Glass Testing: Effetre 281 Marmorin Light

2009-09-03T17:16:00.001-07:00

Continuing on with some glass testing today, I have three colors I am going to review. The first is Effetre's new semi-opaque called Marmorin Light (available at Frantz Art Glass in their Beyond Beauty Assortment).

This color is weird, but I can totally see how great this might be if used in making organic designs. It looks sort of moonstone-y in the rod, and when pilled into the petal for the swatch, it stayed that way.

In the flame, this glass goes a translucent dark grey that can kind of be hard to see when you're applying it to another dark glass, like black.

This seems to be a striking glass, going opaque gray in spots as you work it. You can get a stringer gray color by striking it over and over, allowing the color to cool and reintroducing it to the flame very slowly.

Marmorin light does tend to bleed a little bit, and does separate and striate a little as well. The effect can be seen in the encased spacer, here with Diamond Clear. You can also see it striate over black, which I think is a lovely effect.

The biggest surprise with this color was the tendency to turn an olive-ish grey in the kiln when used as a solid base. It certainly was nowhere near that color when I put it in there!

All in all, I think this color is interesting, but probably not a color I would use for my usual geometric and floral beads because if its reactive properties. I think it would make lovely olive-y spacers and a cool base for organics, though!

Win a Tutorial!

2009-08-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

Lori Greenberg is having a contest over on her blog to win one of my tutorials! She interviewed me last week on Beadnerd and decided to review the Raised Flower tutorial and have a giveaway. Take a look at her blog over on Beadnerd - it's a wonderful business blog for artists. Her personal beadmaking blog is great too! Thanks Lori!

Glass Testing: CiM 773 Tamarind

2009-08-09T22:50:00.000-07:00

This is another color I am blissfully happy with - yey CiM!
Tamarind is an opaque caramel color with a slight tendency to strike at first. However, this color evens out and gets dense as it's worked, especially when other colors are layered on top of it.
The color is so much like candy!

Tamarind is slightly stiff, but very smooth when melted. It encases very well with no bleeding, and stays a true caramel color with very little striation. Tamarind is one of the most stable opaque browns I have ever seen - making it perfect for layering and decorating in geometric patterns and florals.

Paired with CiM Maple it is the perfect brown. Layer it with any of the Effetre Ambers it makes lovely dense fall colors.

This is one opaque color that I would use alone, as a base, as it is saturated enough to pop as an autumn shade.

Makes absolutely wonderful spacers.

In the set shown here, the focal has a Tamarind base and is decorated with melted scrolling that is a Tamarind stringer encased with CiM Maple. The flowers are DH Aurae. Reducing the Aurae for the metallic look didn't cause a lot of reaction in the Tamarind, which is nice.

The set below is a variety of beads which contain a lot of Tamarind both as a base and as a layering color with other opaques and transparents.

Glass Testing: CiM 780 Maple

2009-08-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

This color is fantastic. I am so happy with it that I plan to buy a bunch as soon as I have the cash.

CiM Maple is a very stable medium transparent brown which is the perfect light coffee color. What's particularly lovely about Maple to me is that it does not strike and does not react - it stays that true medium brown. It's not so dark that you can't make spacers with it, but not too light that it won't show up when encased.

Maple's consistency is slightly stiff, like most of CiM's transparents, but not too stiff. The glass does darken a lot in the flame, but lightens and evens out while cooling.

Using this color to layer over other opaques is wonderful - it doesn't get so dark that you can't see what's underneath.

This was always the color I went for when trying to hand-mix my own brown - and could never quite get.

Shown here are some beads I made (which are on ebay) with Maple as one of the main transparents. Also a plain spacer is shown.

Pair this with Effetre Mud Slide or CiM Tamarind and you have heaven. Bravo CiM!!

Glass Testing: Effetre 209 Sea Green

2009-08-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

I'm not fond of this color - the name or the color itself. Sea Green the glass is much darker and more primary than the name suggests.

Sea Green striates and separates like most other Effetre opaque greens, which makes it a color that I will likely not work with.

It also bleeds when encased, and takes over other colors, making it likely a lot more palatable to beadmakers who make organic beads or like reactive, unpredictable glass.

That being said, when it is encased, minus the obvious bleeding, the color does lighten and is prettier that way to my eye. It does retain striations when encased, though, making it possibly a good glass for making vine stringer.

I would not use this color for the geometric designs or florals that I tend to stick to. Again, this color is only available currently through Frantz in their Beyond Beauty assortment.

Shown here are a solid basic round and two attempts at encasing a solid base.

Glass Testing: Effetre 420-MS Coral Martian Strata

2009-08-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

Yet another Coral batch in a long line of variations on a theme.....as a beadmaker, I am over all the Coral batches.

They are all starting to look the same - I think Effetre can safely move on, as long as they release a color that is actually Coral.

This batch is pretty, though - a very dark variation with striations of tomato red mixed with a slightly pinkish hue that fades in and out. Martian Strata does separate even more than most of the other corals I have worked with, hence the name I imagine.

As for the way the glass behaves, it is very similar to other darker corals in that it doesn't bleed when encased, and evens out slightly under a thick clear layer.
It stays relatively dark under a clear encasement, and makes a nice layering glass.

This is another color that is only offered in the Beyond Beauty assortment at Frantz until they get the color up individually. I would be so much more interested if there were not forty zillion other coral batches already in the Effetre line. LOL

Shown here is a basic sold round bead as well as a bead layered with clear and Martian Strata dots to show the stability.

Glass Testing: Effetre 703 Mud Slide

2009-08-09T21:42:00.000-07:00

When I first melted this color, it behaved much like Effetre Powder Pink (without the terracotta orange color) in that it grays out in the flame and has a blotchy striking pattern which is difficult to control. Mud Slide strikes to a color that is a lot like the drink it might be named after - a dense light brown bordering on a pale clay. Once it strikes evenly, it makes a wonderful opaque base for darker transparent browns such as CiM's new Maple (post about that one here).

Mud Slide is relatively non-reactive as far as I can tell - it works well with other glasses and does not bleed when encased. The color evens out under a layer of clear encasing, lightening to a true tan shade.

Pictured beads include a solid lentil, an encased spacer, a solid basic round, and a round with a base of Mud Slide, decorated with a scroll in encased purple stringer.

Like Powder Pink, Mud Slide tends to even out when worked longer and when layered with other glass. It only separates and gets blotchy when used as a solid base and not pressed or worked. It's a lovely opaque shade that would make a nice base for many transparents.

So far, the only place I have seen where Mud Slide can be purchased is at Frantz as part of their Beyond Beauty rod assortment. Hopefully they will add the individual colors of that assortment soon!

This set was made with Mudslide and a variety of other colors including CiM Maple, Tamarind, Effetre Topaz, Dark Red Brown and Diamond Clear. Mudslide was the lightest opaque used, and was mostly used in layering to achieve the lighter fall colors.

Glass Color Testing!

2009-08-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, before the heat wave of doom, I was asked by Mike over at Frantz Art Glass to help out with some glass testing on some new colors he had in. I said yes of course! So I will be posting a lot more on glass colors in the coming weeks - for both Frantz's glass colors in Effetre and whatever else he gives me, and also for CiM (Creation is Messy). I've been slacking off in the testing department for CiM, so it's about time I get back to it.

Anyway, I am going to do one post per color, and will begin tonight with the 5 colors I have finished testing. Stay tuned!

Something About Aurae

2009-07-19T07:02:00.001-07:00

So I used to hate silver glass. Why is that, when it's one of the most popular kinds of glass to use these days? Hmmmm - mostly because I tend to work cool and small, and the silver glasses tend to work very well in larger focals that have lots of glass layers and take a lot of heat and time to make.

I also had a hard time getting the really great reactions out of a lot of the silver glasses from Double Helix, TAG and more. Until now.

I finally broke down and bought some Double Helix Triton and Aurae after I read how easily they reduced with metallic effects, and after I read that Aurae would keep some of its metallic iridescence even when encased.

YEY! It's true - at least with Aurae (I haven't tried Triton yet). I found this glass incredibly easy to use - it reduces even easier than the Iris Blue I used in the beads in the last post. And the color is much lighter and more airy. Where Iris Blue reduces to a heavy silver, almost gunmetal color, Aurae goes golden and stays light. It has lovely reflective qualities, while still allowing some of the pale amber/rose to come through the gold.

The reaction is so easy to get that you almost don't have to do anything...just turn the oxygen down a little bit and make sure your flame isn't too terribly large or hot, and the golden glow quicky blooms over the whole bead. Add some clear to that gold and you have some lovely abalone shell iridescence. So. Pretty.

Here are my two first sets with it - and I plan on making more and more as time goes by. Next to try will be Triton - can't wait! :)

Comfort Beads

2009-07-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

It's hot. That's not all that surprising given the fact that it's July, and in Washington that's essentially one of two or three months where we get hot weather here. I hate it though - who can make beads in this kind of heat? Man, I feel for people in places like Florida. Except maybe they like the heat, I dunno. Certainly the people who are going to the ISGB Gathering this year will have to deal with it! Not me. :)

Why am I talking about the weather? Well, weather can really effect my creative motivations. When it's hot like this, I barely want to think or move, let alone fire up the torch and create something pretty.

Soooo, I tend to fall back on colors and glass which are comfortable and familiar to me. Glass that I can practically manipulate and work on with my eyes closed. (Not really, Mom!! Metaphorically, of course.) And in the case of yesterday....that means pink and black! (I mean, really - did you expect any other color?)

The nice thing about these beads is that I added a little bit of spice in the form of metallic accents using a reduction color called Iris Blue. Iris Blue is a Reichenbach color that reduces a lovely metallic oil-slick sheen that goes well with the pink and black in these beads. It looks bright blue in the rod, but once you turn down the oxygen and bathe the bead in a little propane flame, you get that lovely silver.

The pinks are of course the usual suspects (see my auction for the list), so I had a fun time at the torch without having to plunge too many mistakes in the old water jar. Ahhhh pink. I love it!

I also got lucky and turned out some matching pairs for those people who have been asking for them for earring making. Matching pairs are sometimes hard - I can never get the sizes as exact as I want them to be. But this time, I got three pairs out of the deal, so those are in with the set. (not in addition to - there are 27 beads total, including the spacers).

These are on ebay tonight!

Changes

2009-07-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

I've decided after a lot of thought to remove all ad programs from the blog save one - Project Wonderful - for a few reasons.

First, the blog seems very cluttered. One ad program will be enough - one that will feature sites and blogs which are artsy or crafty, or are at least in some small way related to my own.

Second, a lot of changes have been happening with the other ad programs I ran - Entrecard and CMF, and I just don't have the time or energy to keep up with all of that. I would rather make beads and talk about making beads! :)

I think Project Wonderful is a great, affordable resource for artsy websites and blogs, so I will stick with publishing and buying their ad space.

Rising Star: CiM 476 Olive

2009-07-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

I'm always excited when a glass maker announces new colors - but this time I am even more so. Creation is Messy has several new glass colors just in time for fall beadmaking! Their version of olive green comes in two shades - the lighter of which I am talking about in this post. The darker is called Commando, which I hope to cover later on.

CiM Olive is a gorgeous opaque shade which has a nice, medium density and a lovely saturation. There aren't any colors I can think of in other glass lines that compare to this color - it's got less yellow in it than the Lauscha version of Olive, and slightly more than ASK's old Mediterranean Olive.

What I like best about this color is that it's a lot less reactive than most opaque greens in any line, and it also doesn't spread or bleed nearly as much. It encases really well and keeps its rich shade under a heavy layer of clear.

In these beads I paired the Olive with some Effetre Light Sky Blue. The clear is of course Precision Diamond. I love the crispness of these colors together.

Olive also goes very well with rose pink - shown here in these beads (on auction until tomorrow). A totally different mood comes out with this pairing.

More to come, soon!

Some Colors of Summer

2009-06-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

A nice little heat wave passed through our way last week (and by nice I mean kill me now), and it kept me in mind of those effervescent, summery colors of lime and sky blue. So I made more of these beads in my "Water Girl" scheme and threw them up on ebay this afternoon.

Colors like these make me think of island beaches and oasis pools at night with sparkly water and shimmering stars. And most of all, cool air. Oh, blessed cool air! lol

It finally cooled off yesterday and actually even rained and thundered a little bit.

At any rate, I love these colors and how cheerful they are in the heat of summer. The black base and clear encasing bring out the saturation of the colors a bit, and made them a little tough to photograph, but I think I got them okay. Click the pics to see the auction - more pics are there on ebay.

End of the Saga, and on to Better Things!

2009-06-01T07:27:00.000-07:00

So, after a week or so, I have some clarity regarding the stolen pic issue. (read the last two posts for more info.)

As it turns out, Tartsie, the Etsy member who used my bead pics in her banners for sale, replied to my inquiries about what was up with that.

She claims to be very young - right out of high school. She also let me know she got my pics from something called Flickr Creative Commons.

Now, the high school thing - well, first off, I am not sure I believe that it should be a good excuse, but I can let that go, I think.

However, the Flickr Creative Commons thing is just strange. I did at one time have a Flickr account, but I never uploaded anything to Flickr Creative Commons. From what I understand, Flickr Creative Commons is an area of Flickr where people can grant licenses giving permission for use of their artwork. However, none of the license agreements I read there grant permission to sell the artwork to others.

It's confusing, I know. At any rate, Tartsie claims that someone else must have put my pictures there if I didn't, because that's where she got them. She was unaware that she did anything wrong. I am not sure if I believe and/or agree with that, but there's not much I can do other than what I have already done.

The person who bought the banners has graciously taken them down and replaced them with something else, for which I am very grateful. Tartsie's shop on Etsy has been closed for a long time, so I am hoping this won't happen again with her.

However, this is a common thing, and I am sure it is happening elsewhere as we speak. All I can do as an artist is hope that people will listen to me and use their own images in their marketing. I also fervently hope that people who make and sell banner ads, avatars and web graphics will consider purchasing images legally and not resort to lifting them from the web, even from a place called Flickr Creative Commons. Obviously, it's easy to illegally post images there.

Aaaaanyway, I am moving on from this. I made some pretty beads yesterday, so if you read this far, thank you - here are some pics! :)

Answers to Questions

2009-05-22T15:35:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone - I want to thank you all for your comments on my last post.

Here are the answers to some of the questions in the comments section -

Yes, I did convo the person in question. She did reply to let me know that she had no idea the images were stolen - that she did indeed buy the banner and avatar from someone else on Etsy. That person's Etsy name is Tartsie, and it looks like their shop is empty.

I've contacted Tartsie, and I plan on contacting Etsy about it. However, I imagine Etsy can do nothing other than possibly kick Tartsie off Etsy if I can prove the banner/avatar came from them. I am not sure I can do that because the banner/avatar was a custom order.

To Alan - yes, I understand completely what you are saying. If someone bought my beads and took their own photo to use on their website, I would have no issue with it, unless they were insisting they made the beads themselves. That's still misrepresentation. I've only ever had that happen once, though. For the most part when this happens, people are using my own images to promote either their sales venue or their career as an artist.

Of course, if people are using my beads in their own work, that's completely different.It's an honor for me when I see my beads used in jewelry or other art.

Su - thank you for deciding to post about it on your blog - I appreciate that!

As for Jewlz076, she has asked for time to get another banner/avatar up, and I have decided to give her that time. It's not her fault someone was so unscrupulous as to sell her stolen images. It's my hope that she will ask whoever creates her banners to use images of her work - that would make the most sense.

And a heartfelt thank you goes out to the person who reported this to me - Angela. I really appreciate the time she took to look out for me. It was really kind of her.

A Heartfelt Plea

2009-05-21T20:13:00.000-07:00

This plea goes out to anyone who creates and sells handmade items online.

It's simple, really. Please use your own images to represent your work. Don't lift images from other artists, unless you have their express permission. If you do, you're hurting them and misrepresenting yourself!

Case in point - something that happens to me all too often - I was informed by a very nice person who is a member of Etsy that another Etsy seller is using my images in her banner and avatar for her shop. The image is of a bead set that I made and sold years ago to someone other than the seller who is using the image. The seller, whose Etsy page is here, appears to be a jewelry designer. Her shop looks relatively new, as she doesn't have many sales or any feedback from buyers.

Those beads were very special to me - as all my beads are. They are pieces of my soul.
It might be different if this were a customer of mine who made jewelry out of beads she bought from me, and had asked to use the image, but this is not the case. She is using my work to represent herself and her own work. This is misrepresentation and copyright infringement.

Here are the beads as I photographed them. You can see that her image is directly lifted from my own. The set is called Moonlit Magenta.

Please, people, when you do this it hurts. Take the time to learn how to take good pics of your own work. Don't steal images from someone else who has already put in that time and effort.

Also, please don't comment and tell me I need to watermark my images. I have done that and it doesn't deter the thieves - it just makes my pics look bad. They can find a way around it - believe me.

Anyway - there you have it again. Just another installment of Kandice's Seemingly Weekly Copyright Infringement Notification Service and subsequent gnashing of teeth.

Too Dark For Summer?

2009-05-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

I just pulled these lovlies out of the kiln this morning, and was a tad surprised to see how dark the colors turned out to be. Normally in the summer I like to work a little lighter. I still like the color combo though - so I listed them on ebay. What do you think? Take the poll below! :)

I Made More Beads - Finally!!

2009-05-09T06:34:00.000-07:00

Geez, it took me long enough! I've been in a creative slump lately, but have been clawing my way out this last week. I'm pretty happy with these sets, which you can check out on my website if you would like to purchase.

Fine print: They're all realy small - approx 10-12mm along the holes - don't let the huge pics fool you. These are bead sets, not bracelets - they are just strung on wire with crystals for presentation. :) A few people have commented on my bead sets as if they're jewelry, so I just wanted to clear that up. And yep - you get the Swarovski crystals with these, too, if you purchase them. And each set is one of a kind.

Cherie Blossoms sets 1 and 2 - pink and green, yey!!

Glowbug - I love how the lavender color is translucent and kind of etherial looking.

Luna - my take on that pretty grey/purple coloring that I posted about earlier from the automobile ad in InStyle.

What do you think of them? :) You can also check out my Gallery Pages to see my earlier work, if you like.

Respond and Rework

2009-05-08T07:41:00.000-07:00

I got this idea from the BeadedLily's Sketchbook blog - sounds like a fun meme!

THE RULES:

Rules of the meme: Respond and rework. Answer the questions on your own blog; replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention; add one more question of your own.

THE QUESTIONS:

What is your current obsession?

I'm currently obsessed with knitting stuff for my niece Morgan. Any excuse to knit, and I am taking advantage of that. :)

Which item from your closet are you wearing most lately?

A light purple peasant top I bought from Avenue a few months ago. It's so soft and pretty and feminine.

What was the last thing you bought?

A baby shower gift for my friend Heidi.

What are you listening to right now?

My Pandora station, which at the moment is playing "Blow by Blow" by Magnet.

What are you reading?

"Breaking Dawn" by Stephanie Meyer - the 4th book in the Twilight series. The series is tons better than I thought it would be, and not just for teenagers. Wow!

What 4 words would you use to describe yourself?

introverted, creative, sarcastic, soft-hearted

What is your current guilty pleasure?

World of Warcraft. Oh, shame on me. :)

What would you do if the internet was irreparably damaged and you had to find another way to connect?

Pffff I would probably just stay unconnected and read a book. :) I'm not a phone person.

Where would you go if you could travel anywhere right now?

Murano, Italy - I want to see all the glass!

What was the best thing you ate or drank recently?

I've had no appetite lately, so I would have to say the Starbucks blueberry scone I had a few days ago.

What flower are you most anxious to see bloom this spring?

Oh, the cherry blossoms and daffodils I love have already bloomed and are just gorgeous! I also love seeing the roses and gerbera daisies.

What are you most happy doing?

Taking long drives with my husband to nowhere in particular.

Care to share some wisdom?

I have wisdom? Hmm. Well, one pearl of wisdom would be that we never really know anything.

If I walked into your work space today what would you want to show me? What would you want to hide?

I love showing off my glass cabinet with all the colors sorted out. Can't say I would want to hide anything, though - I'm disgustingly organized according to my peers.

What make you laugh out loud?

Reruns of Friends and the ICanHasCheezburger website.

Want to do the Respond and Rework meme? Post it on your blog, then come on back and do the Mr Linky below!

Tag, I'm It!

2009-05-02T21:32:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged! So, as usual, I made a graphic. Please feel free to swipe it for your own tagging pleasure. :)

Cen over at Cen's Loft tagged me today with some fun questions. The game is to answer the questions and then tag other blogs to do the same.I love stuff like this. Don't forget to let the other blogs know you tagged them, and to link to whoever tagged you!

Here are the questions -

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. Seeing the new Star Trek movie

2. The new Harry Potter movie!

3. Autumn

4. Finishing the dress I am knitting for my niece Morgan

5. Morgan's first birthday!

6. Not having to worry about money (okay, that's wishful thinking)

7. The ISGB Gathering coming to Seattle (wishful, again)

8. No more war

8 Things I did Yesterday:

1. Worked on my new website (more on that another day)

2. Dropped Entrecards

3. Played World of Warcraft for a little while

4. A load of laundry

5. Made beads for the first time in awhile - in light purples, greys and blacks

6. Listened to Pandora while working

7. Petted my kitty Ember while she played with my feet

8. Hugged my husband

8 Things I Wish I Could Do

1. See my family more often

2. Create without worrying about selling

3. Have a baby (yes, still)

4. Travel - all over!!

5. Play the piano

6. Get rid of guilt

7. Keep Ember from peeing all over everything (Thank goodness for Nature's Miracle!)

8. Fly

8 Things That or Shows I have Watched

1. American Idol

2. Dollhouse

3. Bones

4. Friends

5. Fringe

6. Ghost Hunters

7. Storm Chasers

8. Mythbusters

Now, to tag 8 people and their blogs! :) Man it's hard to pick just 8.

1. Sand & Sea Designs - Oh, her jewelry is luscious!

2. Lampwork Beads by Lara - a blog by a local beadmaker and friend

3. Dogmaw Blog - another beadmaker favorite

4. Deronda Designs - and yet another!

5. 2 Witches Blog - one of my faves on Entrecard

6. Split Rock Ranch - another fave!

7. A Rose By Name - lovely beadwork!

8. Gregorio Art Studio - a very interesting blog

My Favorite Color for May

2009-05-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

Yey, it's May! Happy May Day and Happy Beltane, everyone. This midpoint of spring makes me think of lovely, cheerful spring green hues that are just a shade or two away from yellow and lime - the perfect color for the fresh new blooms of the season.

In glass, Effetre 071 Transparent Yellow Green is the perfect color. I adore this color - it's light enough to encase with and lends a crisp, vibrant aspect to the beads I make with it. It's one of those versatile glass colors that will go with anything, I think - especially purple!

Try layering this easy-to-use color over Effetre Uranium Yellow (as shown in these beads), or CiM Dirty Martini. For darker shades, try Effetre Copper Green, or layering it with other, darker transparents such as Effetre Grass Green for lime-ier hues.

Have fun! :)

Color Inspiration

2009-04-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

For me, there's nothing like a colorful fashion magazine to get my creative juices flowing, and the April 2009 issue of InStyle certainly does not disappoint! I picked this up at the store because it leaped off the shelf screaming at me - it's "The Color Issue"! Yey! A whole issue devoted to color and fashion. Even the ads are gorgeous.

In fact, I think many of the ads even outshine the articles when it comes to color schemes and visual creativity. Whoever's designing some of these ads is a genius.

There do seem to be some recurring color themes throughout the issue. For the most part, the colors are either incredibly bright and saturated - like the colors of the rainbow, but even more so, or they are muted and subtle. Some of the little blurbs have clothes or items laid out in rainbow order, and they are bright, vivid and almost jarring. Other articles show the subdued but not quite pastel colors of spring. And there's lots and lots of grey! I'm excited about the grey because I love mixing grey glass with other colors.

For instance, check out this blend from a Chevy ad whose tagline is "cargo couture". It makes perfect sense. The car in the ad is silver, and the rest of the page is a lovely shade of grey/berry that just is lovely. Grey/silver and shades of purple are sprinkled over many pages of this issue, so I detect a trend here for the coming season, which I might duplicate in beads soon!

Purple and lavender, along with violet are all really popular in this issue - and pairing them with reds, fuchsias and black is all over the place.

This Mac ad scheme is shown in an ad with a woman wearing a stunning dress of feathers. The effect is so pretty, I almost want to frame it. There's a darker version of this vivid scheme in a Coffeemate ad towards the end of the issue.

Throw in some deep red and chocolate brown with the purple and a bit of tuxedo black and white and you get this delicious scheme, shown in a dress ad by Badgley Mischka.

I think my favorite ad of the bunch is this two-pager by Got2Be hair products. The picture is lush and opulent. I'd buy these without caring what they contain, just to have the bottles, which are a sweet combination of berry and creme brulee that kills me dead. If I can figure out which glass colors will give me this combination, beads will definitely be made.

Some of the ads and articles featured colors that I never would have put together on my own - like this one, shown in a shoe ad from Privo by Clarks. The black/maroon and grey/camel shoes are floating on a sea of greyish aqua blue that I can't even think of a good name for! The effect is lovely and soothing. And totally makes me want to buy the shoes.

Another totally unexpected delight is the ad by Dexter and Payless Shoes, which features a girl in a bright yellow sweater lounging on a grey/blue/aqua sofa chair thing. Her shoes are cute, but I don't care, because they are totally outshined by the black/yellow/blue of the ad. This weird shade of grey/blue/green is in quite a few places. I just wish I could think of a name for it.

A more subtle version of this color pops up again near the end of the issue, in the feature article section. Stones, greys, peaches and this lovely blueish whatever look so pretty together in the "Pastel Done Pretty" pages.

Another highly popular color this season is green - of all shades, it seems. Whether paired with grey or popping with lime and orange, it's everywhere.

I love, love, LOVE this version of subtle green that tends to show up everywhere - it looks gorgeous with the silver metallic accents in this issues "Spring Trends" section, and even alone with creamy whites and lighter mints in the Macy's "showered ever after" ad.

A brighter version of lovely spring green shows up with yellow in a pretty ad by XOXO. The dress is just stunning - like a flower.

Here it is again with oranges and yellows on a perfect silvery grey background in a Clorox ad, all paper flowers. Bliss.

There's so much more color in this magazine that I didn't show - you should pick up an issue. I'll have bead color ideas for months!!

Off Topic: Entrecard, a downward spiral?

2009-04-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

Don't know what Entrecard is and why you should care? Widget is on the right - look for the yellow E.

Mkay. When I first signed up with Entrecard for my blog, I *loved* it. A free way to advertise my blog while discovering new blogs to read myself. Actual targeted advertising, on blogs whose visitors might actually want to read my posts. A fun way to earn credits - something I could do while drinking my morning coffee and waking up.

That does still exist....but, of course, change is inevitable here on the internets. And changes abound at Entrecard - some of which are frustrating and confusing.

I won't bore everyone with all the mathematical details - lots of people have already posted in their blogs about that. Suffice it to say that Entrecard has a new paid ad system, and a new forum policy.

I whole-heartedly disagree with the forum policy, which stipulates that people cannot read or post in the main forums unless they have purchased 400 or more ads. I have been with Entrecard for several months and I have just over 400 ad purchases - and I buy ads a lot. The forums were useful for newblies, so why they decided not to let them in, I will never understand. Apparently, there were a few people posting negative stuff over there, but hey. That's normal in every forum environment - that's what mods are for. To just ban half your users is immature and most assuredly a knee-jerk reaction. For certain, not all the negativity came from newbies.

As for the paid ad policy - I am on the fence. Most certainly, it has not been handled well by the powers that be over there. Many bloggers have opted out of allowing paid ads, and that's their choice. I kind of don't blame them - I mean, there's not much in it for us to accept the paid third-party ads. We aren't being paid for them - Entrecard is. And while I do understand the need for entrecard to make some money to keep the system going, they have done so at the expense of their most loyal users - the people who drop and spend their credits on ads. Those people only get their ad shown 50% of the time on blogs which still accept the paid ads, and that's really not fair. It's those people who really keep Entrecard going, in my opinion.

Am I still accepting paid ads? Well, yes, for the time being, but I am being very selective as to which ones. I still won't accept ads from sites which are completely unrelated to my content, and I am favoring the ads which are obviously from Entrecard bloggers or art/craft sites. I may change my mind on that soon - it depends on whether Entrecard decides to make this easier by offering more widget options, etc. I do see their need to make some money with the paid ads so they can keep offering Entrecard to us.

They do say that the reward for all this is the ability to cash in credits for money. However, for now, only certain people are being allowed to cash in, and the credit-to-dollar ratio is still pretty low. It's not really all that worth it to cash in, unless you've been hoarding credits for months and months. In which case, you likely won't be approved for the cash in service, due to the prerequisites there (higher priority given to people who spend credits on ads, place ads in the market, drop cards, etc.).

It's all so chaotic. Entrecard has implemented too many changes in too little time, with not a whole lot of obvious planning.

I'm sad because I really love the whole Entrecard concept. But I am going to take a wait-and-see approach and hope the storm passes without too much damage.

It's Done!

2009-04-16T16:22:00.001-07:00

Today's post is short and sweet - Making Simple Raised Flower Beads is done! I hope you all like it. :) The price is only $13.00 - click the pic to see!

Off Topic: Stolen

2009-04-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

**4:15pm -Update - yey! The offending website mentioned with the image below did remove the pic. They didn't respond to my email or apologize or anything, but at least the pic is gone. **

When someone steals images to use for their own benefit, they are stealing pieces of an artist's heart and soul to use for their own gain.

It's happened to me a lot in my journey as a beadmaker, and no matter how much I try to ignore it and tell myself to get over it, it still hurts just as much.

Case in point - I got a message from a fellow beadmaker this morning that this website stole this pic for use on their lampwork section.

Now, I am sure some people think, hey, that's a form of flattery - I should be glad. Yep, I've been told that before, but no. I'm not glad. Now, if people are lifting images just to show to people and say hey, look at these beads, I am generally okay with it.

But that website is using a pic of my beads to sell their beads, which are mass-produced. They're using me.

I've emailed the offending webmaster, and hopefully the pic will be taken down soon. However, who knows - when this has happened before, the owners of the websites usually do not respond, and the pics are usually left up.

I write about this now, because it helps me to talk about it, and because maybe it will deter some people from committing the same copyright infringement. I am sure a lot of people don't know how wrong this is.

Many beadmakers have told me that talking about this is like beating a dead horse. I just have this to say - if the violations are still happening, the horse is not dead to me.

Anyway. It's worth mentioning that this website and company lists itself as being in California, and the shop is hosted at Yahoo, I believe. If they don't remove the image within 24 hours, I will be reporting them to Yahoo.

Oh, and yes, I do know about watermarking (doesn't work, they remove it) and other copying deterrants. I've been through this so many times that it seems I have some sort of target on my back. I can't remove the target, but talking about it does help, so thanks for putting up with that. :)

What I am working on these days...

2009-03-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

I have been uncharacteristically quiet in the beadmaking community and on my websites lately, so I thought I would write up a quick update. I am still alive, I promise!

These days I have been making progress (slowly but surely) on a new tutorial. Several people have asked over the last few months if I would put out tutorial on raised flowers. I did have a very simple set of instructions up on my website for awhile, but I knew those weren't in depth enough and didn't answer everyone's questions. So I pulled that down and reworded it - adding much more information and lots of action pictures. I am also expanding it a bit to add in some info on alternative designs and possibly some stuff on color.

It's about halfway done now, so I am hoping to speed it along to the finish line really soon.

It's been a tough few months for me lately, so that's why I have been working so slowly on this and why I have been so quiet. There's a good possibility I will be taking an extended break from making and selling beads, but we'll have to see how that turns out soon. For now, I am hoping to have this tutorial available for purchase on Coloraddiction within a week or two.

(((((hugs))))) to all! :)

Mood Swings and Color

2009-03-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

My mood has been melancholy, lately, and it's no surprise that this effects what colors I choose when making beads. Have you ever noticed your mood and outlook having that kind of effect on your art or craft? I've seen this a lot lately.

I do know that seasonal changes and weather effect my moods and therefore effect my color choices more often than not. In spring, if the weather is nice and my outlook is cheerful, I tend to like using the pastels of the season - especially corals, lavenders, mint green and light pink.

But more than a seasonal change, my general life circumstances can really steer me toward a certain color or scheme. These days I have been drawn to black and grey - and not just because they are pretty and fashionable. Black is a comfort to me and grey is soft and welcoming - really mirroring my need for comfort and familiarity in these uncertain times.

When I am excited and happy, I find myself choosing brighter colors that reflect that frame of mind - vivid pinks, oranges and corals, along with bright purples and aquas.

In times of abundance and security, I find myself drawn to shades of saturated greens and blues.

And of course, when I feel love and harmony, I stick with all shades of yummy pink.

Have you ever just stared at a variety of colors in say a stash of Swarovski crystals? That can improve any bad mood!

Is Grey the New Brown?

2009-03-04T12:03:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure if it's all the rain we get this time of year, but grey has just been calling my name lately. For me, grey is a nice alternative to brown when you want to have beads that will go with cooler colors instead of warm. Grey adds a touch of understated class, and goes really well with silver.

This week I have been playing with adding touches of grey and black to my favorite lighter colors. The results are sets of beads that I kind of think of as business suit beads. I am of course calling them my Midnight Rain series, and they can be seen over on my website if you are so inclined.

In the 104 COE line of glass, there are a few shades of grey, and I look for the more neutral shades. Grey can look khaki green if you don't pick the right one, and that adds a little too much warmth to the color schemes, in my opinion. I went with Effetre Dark Grey for these, and used clear as my encasing to brighten everything up a bit. You don't want too much grey!

I think the contrast of black added a nice backdrop for these pretty colors, and it sets off the grey nicely. And who doesn't love pink and grey? Pink and grey were big in the 80's when I was a teenager, so the combo is kind of nostalgic to me.

I did wonder if these combos were a bit too dreary for the upcoming spring season, but decided, well, nah. Sometimes understated class can be a welcome change when brighter, paler colors are in season.

Why Pink?

2009-03-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

These past years that I have spent learning to make beads and falling in love with the process, I somehow became known in my little corner of the beadmaking world as the queen of pink glass (and other pink names). I sometimes have felt almost like a "pink pusher" or drug dealer of sorts when it comes to pink glass - especially the odd lots.

So why is it that I became known that way, and why do I love pink so darn much? I mean, I don't wear a lot of pink. I don't have a lot of pink decor in my house (much to the relief of my husband). However, I absolutely cannot get enough pink glass, and I have a soft spot for any bead, yarn, paper, or craft of any kind that uses pink.

For me, it's not as much about pink as a solid color - it's the pink spectrum of colors, and pink paired with other colors that gets me excited. Show me something that is verigated pinks with maybe some coral, orange and cream thrown in and I just bliss out. Pair pink with deep brown or khaki green and I am in love.

It's not that I love pink with everything - there are some colors which I cannot pair pink with. I dislike pinks and blues used together, and this includes aquas and teals, too. And pink and purple? Only once in awhile can I accept something so incredibly girly. :)

I honestly don't know what the deal is with me and pink. I was never a lover of pink as a child or teenager - I liked jewel tones and vivid oranges, yellows and purples as a kid. My fair skin and reddish hair do not make a good base for pink clothing, so I didn't wear it all that often, unless it was with white in spring, as a print or something.

But pink beads? Oh, yeah. I'll wear those any day. Maybe the little girl in me is finally making herself known and wants to paint everything cheerful shades of rose and fuchsia. Who knows? I'm just glad I have a wonderful medium to use to express my love of all things pink.

Off Topic: Entrecard Top Droppers

2009-03-01T08:55:00.000-08:00

Every month, Entrecarders like to show a little love to the people who have visited our blogs the most. Here are my top Entrecard droppers for the month of February. Thanks so much guys!
Also, you can add your entrecard Blog to my new EC Drop List! This list is more general than my webring - any blog with an EC widget can join it.

Top EC Droppers for February

Youniquely Chic
All Blogspot Templates
Dallas Marketing Services
ThemeLib
Outlandish Observations
my review
Dunia soer
John Wright Art
Unique You
Stroll Through Storyland

Glass Color Families: Pinks out now!

2009-02-23T05:36:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to announce the new tutorial up on Coloraddiction now! Glass Color Families: Pinks is the second installment of my color series. It's 30 pages of pink glass goodness! I'm a bit nervous about it, but I think it turned out pretty well. Here are a couple of screenshots. If you go to the website you'll see a description there of what the tutorial covers and how much it costs. I hope you'll take a look! For now, I am going to go sleep! :)

What's Coming Up

2009-02-19T17:27:00.000-08:00

So I've been working on the next installment of my Glass Color Families tutorial series for quite awhile now. I'm finally almost dine, so I thought I would post a little announcement with a teaser picture. Yes, Pinks!!

The tutorial will be listed on Etsy as well as my main Coloraddiction tutorials site hopefully by the beginning of next week or sooner. This is a pic of all the petals I have pulled for the tutorial - each of the petals is a glass color I will be covering in the tutorial.

They are all 104 COE glass from CiM, Effetre, Reichenbach or Vetrofond. Some will be covered in more detail than others, but there will be blurbs on all of them. I will also be covering some techniques that are related to the pink glass.

The tutorial is geared towards the novice beadmaker, but is useful for a range of skills from beginner to advanced.

I'm not sure yet what the price of the tutorial will be, but it will be larger than my Browns tutorial, so might be a little more than that was. Anyway - hope you all will stay tuned! If you want to, you can sign up for the mailing list on Coloraddiction - I will be announcing the tutorial there when it's released.

When Color is...Well...Weird

2009-02-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

One of the most challenging, and well, the most fun, aspects of working with glass is that there are a lot of times when what you pull out of the kiln the next day is completely different from what you put in the night before.

No, I don't mean that my beads are shape-shifters...I mean when it comes to the colors of the glass I use. :)

The chemical properties of glass are such that in many of the colors there is the tendency for changes to happen in the flame and even in the kiln as the glass is heated, cooled and annealed over time.

This happened to me yesterday, and when I opened the kiln this morning to look at my creations (this is a lot like Christmas morning, let me tell you) I was slightly shocked and had to stand there for a minute in the freezing garage studio peering at the color of the beads.

See - the rods I used were meant to give me a much lighter, cooler color scheme - more lavender, more pale, creamy yellow and less deep, caramel tones and a lot less pink.

That's not to say I am unhappy - in fact, I love the way these turned out! It just goes to show you that sometimes the glass has a mind of its own and will not conform to your preconceived notion of what it should look like when cool.

Color is sometimes best when it's completely unexpected - that's when I fall in love the hardest.

This set, which I am calling Opal Kiss, was made from the following colors - Precision Diamond Clear, ASK 104 Caramel Apple (for the metallic gold effect), CiM Heffalump and Pink Champagne, and Effetre Rosatto, Opal Yellow and Pale Topaz.

I believe some of the darker effects came from the Caramel Apple reacting with some of the other colors. Caramel Apple is a very reactive color and reduces a pretty metallic gold. I think the dark lines appeared when it touched some of the darker transparent colors such as Pink Champagne.

Anyway - enough of the technical stuff - they just turned out pretty, and I am not sure I could duplicate the effect on some of them if I tried to. So, they're on auction!

Colors Remind Me of People, Or

2009-02-08T10:45:00.000-08:00

People remind me of colors....

Often when I am working on choosing colors for a bead set, my brain is busy thinking about random stuff as well (multitasking?). Sometimes, a person comes to mind, and I end up picking colors that remind me of that person without even realizing it until later.

In this case, it was my mom Karla, and this is the set that came out of the kiln this morning.

My mom is a beautiful person, with a classic and comfortable style - kind of like these colors. The sweet, earthy berries and effervescent limes remind me a lot of her personality.

Mom's kind of complex, too - while on one hand she is familiar and warm, she is also bright and quietly cheerful, and I love her!

Karla's Garden beads were made from CiM glass in Heffalump, Dirty Martini, Simply Berry, Effetre glass in Grass Green, Olive, and Precision glass in Diamond Clear.

Even the glass names remind me of my mom! How weird is that? What colors remind you of your mom?

These beads are of course on auction - click them to see!

Looks Like Fun!

2009-02-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

Yep, more off-topic Entrecard stuff!

This contest looks like a lot of fun, and there sure are a ton of prizes and ways to enter.
Of course, it could be that I just dig the colors in their new banner. Seriously - cool!

Entrecard is great, come join in, and then enter the contest. :)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-02-04T07:32:00.000-08:00

Click to see the auction!

Blog Award

2009-02-01T01:58:00.000-08:00

How sweet - I got another award from Saffie's Blog - this one is called the Kreativ Award - thanks so much!!

The rules are to nominate 5 blogs which inspire me, and link back to the blog which gave me the award. Also, let my nominees know by commenting on their blogs. So here goes!

Kimberly Affleck - her blog is new, but her beads are so inspiring, and she is a lovely person!

Ever After Artistry - gorgeous beads and a clean, simple blog - perfection!

Nagibeads - she tests glass and has the cutest hearts!

The Glass Owl - a delightful blend of weird and cute - her owls are so much fun!

Lampwork Diva - Cindy's blog - just overall lots of fun to read!

Thanks for the great blogs, you guys. :)

Off Topic: Entrecard Contest Entry - Who's My Fave?

2009-01-30T23:11:00.001-08:00

There's a contest going on at one of the blogs of Entrecard, and this is my entry. To enter, I need to answer this question:

What is your fave Entrecard blog site and why?

My favorite blogger over at Entrecard is also another beadmaker and bead blogger. Her name is Jenelle, a.k.a. Sortafloweringdesigns, and her blog is called Glass Muse.

From a purely asthetic point of view, this blog is gorgeous to look at. Juicy colors, lots (but not too much) going on in the blog, and stunning beads to look at. Browsing her blog when I drop my card there everyday brings a smile to my face. She's got lots of great content on a variety of artistic and glass/bead/jewelry related topics, too. I'm most drawn to her brilliantly colored beads and her sweet, floral graphics.

Jenelle also has another section of her website devoted to the Entrecard dropping system, which brings up art and hobby blogs for me to drop my card at. This makes my day easier, and lets me see some really pretty, artistic blogs. You can join her list, and your blog will be put in her code, which when you click on it brings up ten entrecard blogs at a time to drop your card at. What I like is that the blogs listed are all hobby, art, fashion and craft related. I usually stick to those kinds of blogs when I am dropping.

Jenelle is a talented artist, brilliant marketer and colorful soul. That's why she's my fave over at EC!

If you want to enter this contest, please visit the website in the widget below. You can also visit Entrecard here to see what all the fuss is about. Don't forget to join my Entrecard webring, too!

Contest Sponsors:

Viral Emails

The Lie Politic

My Reality Television

Sinigang For the Soul

Blogs That Follow

Entredropper.com

Spring's Not Here Yet, But....

2009-01-29T00:55:00.000-08:00

Making beads in spring colors just seems right. Spring is nature's hopeful time when everything is new and bright....and we sure need that in this world right now. We got that hint of hope last week with the changing of our leaders in office, but for the rest of us regular folks, it's taking some time for spring's newness to come upon us.

These rays of hope have been peeking through for me, thank goodness. The depression of this last winter is starting to lift. I'm not normally so depressed over the winter months, but this year was quite difficult for me, like it has been for many people.

Color always lifts my spirits, though. Playing with color and light seems appropriate this time of year, and pink always makes me smile. So I paired it here with that lovely green I captured in my last bead set to make beads in a classic spring scheme. I think these turned out really well.

I was moved again to list them on ebay, because the last set is doing quite well. So, yey - here they are!

The set, called Strawberry Fairy, is playful and happy - something which I want to be right now. I almost always equate the pairing of green and pink with fairies. I'm not sure why - it's a feeling I get. That forest-y dew of the green with delicious, sweet pink makes me think of those pretty little nature spirits. It's hard to put into words. And the designs are fairy-like - with tiny flowers and dots and scrolling lines, these beads could almost be little fairy furniture.

I had a lot of fun making them. Hopefully the fun trend will continue!

When Color Just Works

2009-01-24T19:02:00.000-08:00

I finally got my butt back on the torch the other day, and let me say - it was so much fun! There's just something that happens to me when I pick out just the right glass colors to melt and layer together.

I've done greens with purples many times before, but I have never combined these particular shades. The glass colors I used on this set are from CiM (Heffalump and Dirty Martini), Effetre (Dark Lavender, Dark Violet Transparent, Yellow Green and Sage Green Transparent) and Precision (Diamond Clear).

Oh, magic! Usually, instead of the minty freshness of Dirty Martini, I use the reactive Copper Green. Using DM gave a cleaner, crisper finish to the mint green opaque base on these beads, without the tendency to patina with copper that Copper Green has. And the opacity was dense and smooth. (Opacity? Is that a word? Opaqueness?)

Heffalump, Cim's lavender opaque glass, replaced my usual Effetre Pale Lavender. Heffalump is more vivid and has less of a tendency to fade than PL, and just glows under lights.

I normally use a lighter shade than Effetre's Dark Violet Transparent (like, say, Ink Blue Violet), but with the Heffalump, it just sings. It's so deep I had to really layer it thinly, but encasing it with the Dark Lavender Effetre really helped bring out the color.

Yum. I am really happy with this set. So happy that I couldn't break it up into smaller bites like I usually do to list them on Etsy. This time I just lumped them all together and put them up on ebay - something I haven't done in months. There are more pics at the auction, so have a look!