This week I took a 2-day Intermediate Lampwork class at Starleen’s Studio. She is an excellent instructor and really bends over backward for her students. These are beads from Day 1 here. The pink beads are a “striking” (read finicky) color called Rubino Oro, one of the best pinks out there. The one with flowers was done by Starleen, but it looked good with the encased frit beads. To their right is a study of how different families of glass act when molten, so they’re just plain rounds & spacers. Stringer/twisty application is in the center (staged on a goldstone stringer to get them to sit right), a Sahara bead (looks like a round candy corn), and an aqua feathered tab (sounds totally 80’s) . Day 2’s beads had to stay in the kiln to anneal, so I’ll get those in the mail later.
On Saturday my friend Mary and I are heading to NYC to take Sharilyn Miller‘s Twining Vines class. She lives in California and doesn’t come out this way much, and she’s one of the country’s top wire workers. Her book Bead on a Wire is one of my favorites.
New classes are starting at Sparkles, too! I just posted my December schedule.
As much as I love surfing the web to see what’s going on in the world, what I really need to be doing these days is making jewelry for the upcoming shopping season. Forgive me if I don’t post as often, the highlight of your day though it may be. I’ll try to slap stuff up on the Sneak Peek page as I make it, just to throw you guys a bone (you who are here for new stuff).
Today I practiced my disc cutting, stamping, filing, riveting, and dapping. The first set is a pair of sterling discs stamped with maple leaves and acorns with a copper rivet in the center. Steve started the day by asking me if I was going to make jewelry (instead of surfing the internet) and I responded by hammering the rest of the day. Working from home does have its drawbacks.
