Day Five: Vampire Choker

Little Vampy Bites

 I saw something like this on a random blog I "stumbled" a while back, and I really thought it was the cutest little vampire tribute. Instead of something super dark and spooky, it's simply a choker made with clear beads (In this case some cute iridescent beads that I've had for at least a decade.) with two little spots of red that just about fit along the jugular to look like tiny neck holes from a vampire bite. I really like the way this looks, and with the heart shaped clasp, I feel it's a great vamp-love tribute.

Close up of the Clasp

I think the original I saw was made with really sparkly beads, but I didn't want to make an identical one, or have anything that had too much sparkle, since I'm not a "Cullen" fan.

Fairy Tale Beads (Day 5 of Bead Week)

All this week I have shown you pictures of beads that I have made, and today's no different. The main difference is that the beads today are beads that even though I made them, still take my breath away when I realize I did.

They are the prize stallions, the blue ribbon hen, the honor students. Did I set out to make them better? Of course, I try to make each bead better than their predecessors, but these beads evoked something that i wasn't sure I could capture yet, a process I had only read or a technique I've never heard of. Are they perfect? No, not yet, but I will keep lamp working my beads until I am so satisfied with them that it has become child's play.

Flame working glass is an amazing experience. To take cold glass rod, heat it till it melts then wind it around something is an experience! It's like the first time you got to play with modeling clay. These amazing colors that did just what you told them to do, but alas you didn't quite speak their language. Well I am learning the language, and it still comes out stilted and with a Neanderthal like quality, but I'm getting there, and these beads are the proof.

Experimental Beads (Day 3 of Bead week)

So here are some fun beads that I've made previously. These are all experimental beads, but have been a ton of fun to make.

The large gray bead was an experiment in dots. First I made a rather large gray bead, then I put a dot of orange in four spots around the bead. Then I melted the orange spots into the bead, getting it back to a smooth surface. I then added a red dot on top of the orange, melting it in as well. Wanting to see what else I could do with a dot, I put two blue dots between each of the orange and red "eyes". These I did not melt in. I love this bead and it's obnoxious color combinations. It reminds me of a gods eye from girl scout camp. =^..^=

The turquoise bead was an experiment in laying down black stringer. I made a small bead, and then just took a black stringer and laid down a thick curvy line. After melting it in, it just looked marvelous!

The red ladybug bead, was another experiment in melting dots. I was planning on doing the entire surface of the bead in black dots, but I ran out of map gas, so some of them ended up being raised on the surface. I really liked the way the black melted into the red, and was having a lot of fun before the unfortunate gas incident.

The final bead, the white bead with the red and black swirls, was just a way to play. I made a new shape, kind of square and triangles and just odd. I took very thin stringer and laid down lines of red and black, I then took the stringer and and swirled it over the surface. I am not quite sure how it ended up looking like it was swimming over the surface, but I will be sure to try it again.

Simple Glass Beads (Glass Bead Week Day 1)

Yep, I decided to do another theme week this week.

About six months ago I bought a hot head torch, the most basic bead working torch you can find. Turn on the gas light the gas and you are ready to go. It's design is simple and easy to use. These are my some of the first and most basic beads that I made using my amazing torch. The gray bead was supposed to be gray which is a miracle, since most of my grayed out beads were to be pink =^..^=

I had found an ad on Craig's List for a hot head torch and supplies for fifty dollars, being a frugal crafter, I went for it! Thank goodness I did. I feel like I rescued this torch from the gentleman I bought it from. Just a guy working in a head shop, but I worry that he was probably trying to make pipes and realized it was really hard.

I find the number of glass artists that use their art to make drug paraphernalia reprehensible. I know there is money in it, I understand that, but it just seems like it cheapens the entire trade.