Infinite Charms - Daily Musings from a Lampworking Wannabe!

Etsy, views, and feeling nonexistent...

2011-10-24T23:05:00.000-04:00

What is up with Etsy views? Is it just me or what? My views are so far down it is not funny. I feel like I am alone out here anymore. I went away for 2 years and now I have to start all over again. It is so discouraging. I was so proud of the beads I recently made but that excitement has been short lived. How does one stay motivated to keep up with this thing if no one even looks at your stuff? Has the cheap China beads finally won out over the handmade beads. Should I stick some young people in my basement and force them to make beads for $1 a day so I can batch list on Etsy? How does anyone survive anymore. Maybe I should go back to the nursing books and scrap the beads. :( So, so discouraging.

A dreadlock bead for the road...

Well, here it is October and I am back to melting glass...

2011-10-21T20:28:00.000-04:00

One night I went to work at Target and decided that I was fed up with it. On a whim and without even telling my husband, I put in my 2 weeks notice. Yes, we needed the income but working 4 nights a week, including every Saturday, was really getting to me and the human resource witch refused to let me change my availability. She even had the nerve to change it without even asking me. It only amounted to about $800 a month in income. It was a joke, It wasn't helping me toward my goal of being a nurse. Luckily, I applied at a hospital and I got a job as a patient companion so I will be working to help my career as a nurse. I don't start the new job until November 7th so until then I will be working on some beads. I am so done with working for retail jobs and I don't recommend it to anyone. They treat you like a day laborer warm body and they only give you single digit raises for working your butt off and walking around during the day like zombies because you work every night and never get any sleep. I don't understand how people can stay there for so long, it just isn't worth it.

So, now onto beads. I decided to try some different beads, not just slider/big-hole beads, but tube beads, baking soda beads and some spacers here and there. Since I can make my own schedule at the hospital, I will be making beads more regularly and don't plan to stop for long periods of time like I have in the past.

Back to Sculpting

2011-03-12T17:05:00.001-05:00

This is the first guy I have finished since starting back to sculpting. I made his eyes from soda lime glass.

It's been a very long time!

2011-03-10T18:19:00.006-05:00

I have not posted in this blog in like forever. I am still in nursing school and currently studying for a couple of finals. :( I would rather be making beads or sculpting. I started sculpting again and made some glass eyes to use in my sculpture. I will post the sculpture when it is complete and try to keep this blog up to date. I hope to make some bead sets soon too. I miss doing art and school is driving me crazy.

Glow-in-the-Dark

2010-07-13T22:26:00.005-04:00

One of my new favorite glasses is borosilicate glow glass. I can't afford the soft glass that is glow in the dark so I had to go with the boro. It is a very nice flowing glass unlike some boro that is so hard to melt. If you like boro sticks texture then you will love this glass. If you put it out in the sun, the beads will glow for hours.

Lots of dots...

2010-06-25T01:12:00.003-04:00

I have not done these types of beads for a while. I missed making them but I have been doing a lot of boro lately. I may try making a bead like this in boro and see what I come up with. The thing about going back to soft glass after you have been using boro is the shockability of it and the soupiness. Boro is very stiff and takes a while to shape and get moving. Soft glass shatters in the flame and it feels like hot butter. Sometimes I have trouble keeping it off the table it is so soft. I love both types of glass and do not want to limit myself to either one. I think they both have their good points and bad. I also like the bullseye and coe96 glass even though I do not have a huge amount of either. I always envy other lampworkers that have the option of buying so many pounds of glass. I just never have the money so my glass supply is limited unfortunately. Oh well, I guess you can't have everything but it sure would be nice.

I am in love with boro!

2010-05-27T14:18:00.006-04:00

I have been working with boro at every torch session and I have been getting used to the way it flows. It doesn't pop and crackle like soft glass does, which is a plus. At first I couldn't get the beads round but I use my bead roller now and that really helps. The beads are in my Etsy shop.

I also bought a new bead coring machine. It is smaller and I can core beads where I want to. No more being stuck in the basement if I want to core beads. It is the Impress Bead Liner by Art in the Round. It domes cores too so they aren't so flat as with my other machine.

I am back to glass...

2010-03-24T02:18:00.003-04:00

I just posted this heart in my Etsy store. I love making these hearts and I love boro glass. I believe this one was made with amber purple boro over clear glass and then rolled in frit. I finally mastered the hole making. :) I hope to be making glass stuff on a regular basis from now on and posting in this blog more often. Blogs get boring if you neglect them for too long.

Testing

2010-02-21T12:45:00.001-05:00

Just testing out this iphone blogging app with some stormed beads. :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ignoring my Blog...

2010-02-16T13:42:00.002-05:00

I know I have been ignoring my poor blog. I have been taking a class in anatomy which is for my nursing degree. This class, along with the huge amount of snow and cold has been making my lampworking sessions non-existent. I plan to shovel the stairs on the deck and try and fight my way to the propane.

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Silver coring pandora beads and boro heart

2009-10-14T23:05:00.009-04:00

I have finally decided to put my expensive Jim Moore coring machine to good use. I have been coring my beads. I screwed up a few because of using the tubing cutter instead of the mini saw I bought at harbor freight. I also cored some unevenly. I don't know why, but when I use a tubing cutter to cut the tubing, it puts dents into the tubing and looks really bad. Even though I have to deburr and pull off some leftover silver when using the harbor freight saw, the tubing ends up looking perfect with no flaws. I deburred and even sanded when using the tubing cutter but I still get flaws so I am going to discontinue even bothering with it.

I also decided to hook my phantom back up to play with boro. I have been trying to make hearts like Mr. Smiley does from his tutorial. Also, I absolutely love encasing with boro, it is so much more pleasant than encasing with soft glass. If I wouldn't miss the colors of soft glass, I probably would stick with boro from now on. You can stick boro right in the flame and it won't crack and fly everywhere. A bead will not crack if you leave it out of the flame too long and then put it back in. It is just a wonderful glass to work with. You will be seeing a lot more boro stuff from me now on. :)

Dreadlock Beads

2009-08-03T15:49:00.004-04:00

I have always loved dreadlocks and even wore dreadfalls in my hair a few years ago. I have been wanting to do it for some time now and I finally did it, my first dreadlock bead. It is over in my Etsy show here. I hope to make many more in the future.

Beautiful Dog Leads...

2009-06-29T00:03:00.004-04:00

Ok, enough of me neglecting my blog, I want to share a talented artist with you. The artist's name is Laura and she takes lampwork beads and kangaroo leather and turns them into a functional pieces of art. She makes beautiful dog leads you could use in a dog show. She has bought quite a few of my pandora beads in the past. You must go check her beautiful dog leads in her Etsy shop. Personally, I would love to have one and I don't even show my mastiff.

Striking Color Glass is awesome...

2009-05-30T11:13:00.006-04:00

Yes, I know it has been a while since my last post. I have been busy with school, so instead of torching, I have been studying chemistry and biology. Now that the end of the quarter is winding down, I need to start torching again. I miss it and think about it daily. I have torched a little bit sometimes during the day and I tried striking color glass that I bought on Etsy. I absolutely love it. Unfortunately striking color glass is not plentiful. You can find it here when it is available. Also, it is only sold in 1 pound lots, so it is expensive and once it is listed, it goes fast. Both of the following beads have been made with striking glass topped with diamond clear. There is something about diamond clear that makes it sparkle.

Back to school....

2009-04-10T23:53:00.002-04:00

Sorry I have been non-existant in this blog. I have been taking a break from making beads since I started back to college. I have been working on my pre-reqs for nursing school. I have always thought about becoming a nurse and I finally decided to go for it. I decided to go for it because the economy is bad and I often worry about my husband losing his job. I figure if I have a job I enjoy and pays well, I won't have to worry anymore. I tried to make beads into a living but I realized that if I am forced to make beads then it won't be fun anymore. I want to enjoy making art and the part of it making a profit being a fringe benefit not something that is forced and must be relied on. This terrible economy has opened my eyes in many ways. Also, if I work as a nurse, I can work three twelve hour days and then spend my days off making beads. The only thing that troubles me about being a nurse is all the science courses I have to take. Science has never been my strong point but I think I am up for the challenge. I will make more beads eventually. I want to work on some murrini roses since I bought the tutorial the other day.

To everyone that got redirected to this blog...

2009-03-03T13:24:00.004-05:00

I have redirected my polymer clay doll blog to this glass blog because that is where my interest is now. I no longer make polymer clay dolls, I just don't have the interest anymore. When I discovered glass I planned to continue making dolls but the glass won out. I could no longer force myself to sculpt dolls for hours and sometimes days to sell them for practically nothing. The last few dolls I made I decided to keep to remember the time in my life as a dollmaker. The dolls were on Etsy but I took them down because the wonderful economy created by the greedy corporations has made consumers scared to buy anything that is not a necessity because they are in fear of losing their jobs. Glass items are different, it doesn't take days to make one bead so you can sell them at a price that is reasonable in a bad economy. What I also love about glass is that I don't lose interest in making stuff because it doesn't take days to finish. When I was making dolls, many times I would lose interest in the doll and it would go unfinished. So I am sorry to the people that land here after being linked to my doll site but I will be working in glass from now on. Please remember that I can also sculpt in glass so in time there may be some Halloween or gothy type beads and sculpture. Sculpting in glass is going to take some practice though since it is a whole different medium than polymer clay.

So in the mean time, I will be selling off most of my doll/fairy making stuff on ebay for others to buy so they can begin creating wonderful things in clay. I have a link to my ebay on the side of this blog and here so please keep checking it to see if there are any dollmaking items you would like to buy:

Items on Ebay

If you still want to see my polymer clay dolls please visit my doll flickr page where I have most of them posted.

Doll Flickr

My mojo is finally back..

2009-02-26T13:57:00.004-05:00

Well, after being sick for almost 2 weeks, I am finally back to torching. I have been playing with boro for a couple of days trying to make pendants from Mr. Smiley's dvd. Last night I decided I was frustrated with boro, even with the very hot outer flame of the phantom. I decided I would rather play with soft glass and one of the beads is ruined because I accidently used a clear boro rod to make accent dots. I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't stick to the bead but then when I took it out of the kiln this morning I discovered cracked and smashed accent beads all over the bead. I try to keep the boro on one side and the soft glass on the other but unfortunately they got mixed up. The following bead luckily didn't get any boro mixed in with it, I used ivory, hades black, kronos2 and encased with marine wave. I don't know if I like marine wave that much. It tends to get scum on it and it gets all bubbly kind of like moretti clear. I tend to like laushca for encasing because it is so clean and pretty but I had to try Sarah's tip on hades and marine wave to see what would happen.

Sorry I have been absent..

2009-02-16T23:26:00.003-05:00

I know I haven't been writing in here but I have been pretty sick and I still am so I haven't been torching. I think I have the flu and have been fighting it for the last 5 days. I did list some beads last week but they were beads I made a couple of weeks ago. I haven't really felt like being on the internet that much and have been sleeping a lot. Everyday I wake up I hope it will be gone but it continues to stick around. I am hoping it will be long gone by the weekend so I can do some torching soon.

I thought I was gonna make beads tonight...

2009-01-20T23:19:00.003-05:00

but once again it is cold as hell outside and torching requires makeup air. I really need to run some ducting to underneath my workbench so I don't have to feel the cold air. Of course by the time I am able to afford the ducting it will be spring, you can't win. I will have to run ducting all the way from the bathroom in the basement to my workbench. I think it is probably 30 feet. I could do that or I could simply move to southern California. I would love that but would probably have to live in a shack with their rent prices. :(

Maybe some precious metal clay beads...

2009-01-13T23:49:00.003-05:00

It is going to be excruciatingly cold the next three days so I think I am going to take a break from the torch and maybe play with some precious metal clay that I have. I have been wanting to make some pandora/troll/biagi beads out of precious metal clay. I will only have to go in the basement to put the clay in the kiln. My basement gets extremely cold when it is in the single digits and especially when I open the window for fresh air. I will probably work with the clay in the bedroom or upstairs where it is very warm. I really can't wait till spring, this winter has been so brutal. In the previous few years we would have cold snaps and then it would warm up to the 60's but this year it has been straight cold since November. I just don't like it and can't wait for it to end. :(

Photography tip...

2009-01-09T00:14:00.006-05:00

I saw another beadmaker's photos with a cool reflection under her beads when I was looking through Etsy. So I thought about it for a while and I came up with an easy fix rather than having to run out into Antarctica to get something. I remembered that I have white shiny plates so I decided to turn one over and wala, I get a reflection in my photos now. :)

Here is the setup:

Iphone Webcam

2009-01-03T21:26:00.006-05:00

I thought it would be cool to record me making beads live so I signed up at flixwagon. I don't know how good it will be because I am using my iphone via wifi so try not to expect much. I will post to twitter when I start it up. The link to my webcam site is: My Torch Webcam.
It saves all the streams so if you miss the live recording you can look at the previous ones. I may have to build a holder for my iphone if the angle doesn't work. In the future I hope to get a wifi webcam with better quality maybe when I can afford it. The webcam will probably be after I save up for the deluxe mandrel spinner and the foot pedal. I have started selling stuff from my previous art hobbies to save up money for all this stuff. Glass is an expensive hobby when you want stuff.

It is 3 degrees right now...

2008-12-22T02:14:00.004-05:00

And I actually got on the torch for a couple of hours and made some beads. I hope they don't crack in the kiln like one did the other night. It got pretty cold while I was torching and the basement window has ice on it. When I unhooked the propane hose and the ventilation fan was blowing on me, I thought I was gonna freeze to death. On Wednesday it is supposed to be 50 degrees, it will feel like summer. Weeee!

Some beads I did that I like....

2008-12-19T12:51:00.003-05:00

I made some beads the other night that I really like. I wish I could torch all day today. When Sebastian goes to preschool I will have so much more time to torch. :)

The sun is actually out today, I almost forgot what the sun looks like. This morning Sebastian said, look the sun is out and the sky is finally blue.

Winter is annoying....

2008-12-18T02:29:00.003-05:00

I was planning on torching tonight as I have the last two nights until I discovered that the deck is now an ice skating rink and I have no salt. I would have to walk down two flights of stairs to plug the propane in. :( Also, I kind of injured myself falling down the cement stairs on the front porch as I was taking out the garbage. I guess in the winter you must check the ground first before walking on it. Yes, it snowed in Palmdale, California but what do we get here, sleet and ice. :( I never realized how hard cement stairs really are. I will probably be paying for it tomorrow, I better go to Lowes at get some ice before it sells out like last year.

Discouraging Torching....

2008-12-13T00:22:00.003-05:00

The last few days have been discouraging as far as beadmaking for me. I have went down to torch 3 days in a row and have only made 1 nice bead. I tried to make a snowman twice from a tutorial on lampwork etc and they both cracked. Soft glass is hard for me, especially white. It gets very soupy really fast and then the bead gets lopsided. Then when I finally get something going, one part of the snowman gets too cold and cracks when I heat it back up. I wish I had more white in boro because boro lets you leave it out of the flame for a long time without cracking. I think people that can make big beads and sculpture with soft glass are really good at what they do. I am just not there yet. It is like the more complicated beads I make the more problems with cracking I have. :( I don't think I am going to torch tonight, it is 19 degrees right now, brrr. I am so tired of the cold already and winter hasn't even started. :( Only a little over 3 more months to go till spring.

Sasha's Silver aka Michelangelo

2008-12-07T23:38:00.007-05:00

I am absolutely in love with this glass. It is made by Northstar in their Precision 104 glass line. It is easy to strike and the colors that come out look kind of psychedelic. The other silver glasses I have worked with aren't as easy to strike, you have to heat the crap out of them to get anything. Sasha's silver is the easiest. I had trouble finding it at first because I was looking for Michelangelo, I wonder why they changed the name to Sasha's silver.

I have decided to start listing the glass companies I have dealt with and have had a good experience with in my sidebar. I haven't had any bad experiences with any yet but some I like extremely well because of good communication and fast shipping. I just thought I should share this with everyone because I think good companies should stand out.

Wishlist and Etsy....

2008-12-04T13:43:00.002-05:00

Gosh I would love one of these...

Bead Press

Maybe I will be able to get one when the tax refund comes in. I also want a foot pedal for the Phantom which is $380. :( It never ends. I ordered a "mother marver" from weaverind on ebay. I decided to track it because it should have been here by now. It turns out that it got forwarded to the wrong address, I sure hope it finds it way here because it is kind of expensive to lose and I don't know if weaverind would send me another one if it did get lost by the post office. I am crossing my fingers on this.

I sold my first 4 beads on Etsy yesterday. I am thrilled. It is very encouraging when you sell stuff. :) I have a couple more beads to post but I haven't taken pictures of them yet, maybe later. :)

Shophandmade.com

2008-12-02T19:57:00.003-05:00

Has anyone tried shophandmade.com, it is free. The only fees you have to pay are to paypal. I have opened up a store there and at Artfire.com I just have to build up some inventory. Also, has anyone been on mycraft.com, a crafting social network, they are really nice over there. I also discovered a site called Beaders Showcase which is a site for lampworkers and beaders, the url is http://www.beadersshowcase.com/. Yes, I am bored because it is winter and I can't blow glass during the day because I am home alone with my 4 year old and I am trying to get some views and traffic to my blog. I am trying to avoid paying advertising fees but I really need to start making money to fund my glass addiction. It is definitely a better addiction than drugs or alcohol because you can actually make money doing it. I saw another lampworker write something about glass being like crack, an addiction you just can't quit. I am beginning to believe that person. I think I am addicted, I just wish when I would follow someone's tutorial, my bead would look like theirs. :(

Double Helix and silver glasses.....

2008-12-02T13:50:00.004-05:00

I wish I would win the lottery so I could buy a pound of each type of silver glass out there. I tried Double Helix Triton last night. I didn't get the metallic sheen that most people get but I still think this bead turned out looking cool. :) I put it in my Etsy shop.

2008-11-28T21:19:00.003-05:00

I finally got the courage to list a couple of Pandora/Biagi/Troll beads in my infinitecharms Etsy store. I plan to try and list a few beads everyday. The thing I have noticed about Etsy is if you don't keep your shop current and list almost everyday, you don't get much business. I have heard that the secret to success there is listing everyday. I guess I will try that and see what happens. Wish me luck.

Silver Cored Pandora/Biagi/Troll Beads

2008-11-21T00:42:00.004-05:00

I finally figured out how to core a large holed bead using sterling silver tubing. I followed a tutorial I found on Lampwork Etc. but I had to change something. He suggests not annealing the silver, I had to anneal it because it was just too hard. I don't have any charcoal to sit it on though so I hung it on a small mandrel and just threw it in a baby food jar filled with water when it turned orange. The annealing help out a lot, it flared very easy and didn't collapse. I need to get some stuff to polish the cores though. This bead was fumed with silver leaf, I like the webbing but not the sides of the beads. I am waiting on my fine silver I won on ebay to fume with and try out the moth bead tutorial. :)

I want to try electroforming my beads, it looks so cool. I feel the startup kit is too expensive though so I am buying my stuff little by little. I found a used digital rectifier in a local pawn shop for $52, that beats the new ones on ebay that sell for $70 plus $20 for shipping. I don't want to spend more money than I have to in these distressed times. :(

I'm addicted to focal beads....

2008-11-19T21:49:00.004-05:00

I was reading "Think Pink" the other night and decided to just play and make a focal bead. I loved making it so I plan to make more. I did screw up on the colors though and I got my double helix nyx bubbling so it really didn't turn out like I wanted it to. Oh well, I still like it even though it cracked. I plan to spend more time making glass rather than with my polymer clay sculpting so hopefully I will have a lot more to post from now on. :)

My New Workspace....

2008-11-10T12:42:00.005-05:00

I spent the weekend making this "Barley" box. I made it from wood, stainless steel sheets, and metal tape. I tested out my Phantom inside of it and it works perfectly, even the outer fire. It seems to pass the smoke test even though my nose was kind of stuffy. I want to eventually replace the flexible ducting with rigid ducting, I want to put a permanent propane connection into the house using rigid piping, and I want to add a fresh air duct running from my basement bathroom to my workbench. My Blastshield will probably get here on Wednesday or Thursday. I love my new box, no one helped me with it, no male help, I did it all by myself. I sawed all the wood with the miter saw, nailed/glued it together and I attached all the sheet metal. It may not be perfect but I made it and I am proud of it. :)

My New Torch!

2008-11-03T10:53:00.003-05:00

I found out back in August that I had some unclaimed funds in Indiana left from my grandmother's estate so I took the plunge and bought a Phantom. I ordered hoses for it but last night I was so anxious to use it I cut off the connectors to the hoses I have and connected it. I can only connect the inner fire right now which is a Lynx. This torch is amazing. I bought a Hurricane to run the outerfire but hooked it to the innerfire at first and it made the flame just too much for me. GTT torches are said to run really hot and they are right. I can't even imagine how big the outerfire is and I am nervous to run it. I will have to build a fireproof Barley box so the flame does not hit the wall. When I get the tax refund in February I am gonna buy a foot pedal. :) I am keeping my Mega minor for a backup torch. I still love my little red torch. I made a soft glass bead and a boro pendant last night and the thing I noticed is the amount of time it takes. I can see making more beads in an hour. The bead I made maybe took 2 minutes to make.

Finally, an implosion pendant I like....

2008-10-28T13:16:00.001-04:00

but of course I dropped it in the bathroom sink and broke it. I need to work on getting the bail on the pendants better. I like the color I used for the implosion but unfortunately I don't know what the color it is so I don't know how to reorder it. I can't figure out if it is Momkas or Northstar since I got it from my huge box of mixed shorts. It is a striking color that changes when you heat it. I guess I will just have to buy color until I find it. :( I have ordered some fuschia from Glass Alchemy, amazon bronze frit, and antique beauty from Generations Glass.

Spreading Colors!

2008-10-10T01:08:00.003-04:00

I was playing around with spreading colors by following Sarah Hornik's tutorial. They never come out quite as nice as hers. :(

Finally, a bead I actually like....

2008-09-29T00:48:00.007-04:00

I finally made a bead that I like and would wear on a bracelet if I had one. I made a couple others too but they were wonky. One was made on a 1/4 inch mandrel which I think is too big for a Pandora/Troll/Biagi bracelet. The one I made on the big mandrel, I tried to core with copper just for practice but I had to order some more tools because the ones I have are just not making it easy. I made the big mandrels out of metal rods I purchased at Lowes. I don't know why but the big rods get hotter and I have to hold them further back when making a bead. I am hoping I will be able to sell some beads soon since they are looking much nicer now. Hubby keeps telling me that I am spending too much money and I need to make some with what I have got so I guess I will try. :) I wish I was rich and had an unlimited amount of money to spend.

I forgot to mention, I love Fusion bead release. It is my favorite of all of the bead releases that I have tried. It is smooth and strong and never cracks or flakes off like some of the others. I also had to start wearing a respirator while beadmaking because my lungs were feeling sore afterwards even with a 1000 CFM exhaust fan and a lot of makeup air. I even have a blastshield which keeps the fumes away from you but there was still soreness. I wore the respirator for the first time today and once you get used to wearing the thing it isn't so bad. I used to hate it because it made me feel claustrophic and I would hold my breath. I kind of got worried about the sore lungs when reading a thread on lampwork etc about this lady that had bleeding in her lungs so I think I prefer the respirator to bleeding lungs. I made beads today and since I wore the respirator, I don't feel at all sore. It seems as I get older I have become sensitive to more things than I used to be. I don't think everyone needs to wear a respirator, just people that are sensitive to the fumes and people that fume metals a lot, you don't want to turn grey like they say you will. I also bought a creation station and I absolutely love it, no more resting my elbows on my knees. I highly recommend it to everybody and it is worth the $89 I spent on it.

I have been absent.

2008-09-17T20:26:00.003-04:00

Sorry I have been absent from here. I have been working on a painting and then we lost electricity on Sunday until Monday because of the wonderful winds from hurricane Ike. I have since moved back to soft glass beads and trying to work with stringers. I tried boro beads but I can't seem to find a bead release that is strong enough to not crack and flake. I love bucket of mud for soft glass. It is the smoothest bead release I have ever seen. You never have to dip it twice because the bead release always goes on perfectly the first time. I found some Fusion bead release which boro people recommend so I ordered some of that but haven't tried it yet.

I have to give kudos to this seller, I don't know how he does it. He lives in Seattle and I live in Ohio, he ships first class mail and it only takes like 1 or 2 days for his stuff to get to you. He also has an Etsy store. I have ordered bails, glass epoxy, and bead release from him and it is always fast. Here is a link to his bead release auction:

Fusion Bead Release

Failed attempt of fumed implosion.

2008-09-03T15:51:00.002-04:00

So I tried to fume a clear boro rod with silver leaf. I even put on the uncomfortable respirator. It didn't work, the silver leaf just burnt off. All I fumed were a bunch of bubbles. I think I am going to find a silver dollar laying around the house and cut a piece off of it. Maybe that will work better. I think the pendant is better shaped than the last one but it does have a punty mark and some dullness on the front of the pendant. I tried to make the bail without the mandrel but I was unsuccessful at doing that. So I made the bail with the mandrel and of course the bead release cracked and flaked off as usual. I bought fosterfire smooth and tuff and it is not working for me. I am going to order some bucket of mud bead release. It supposedly doesn't crack and flake with high heat, I guess we will see.

Two pieces today since I didn't do yesterday!

2008-09-02T14:52:00.000-04:00

Since I promised I would post a pic of something each day and I missed yesterday, here are two photos. The first one is a marble, it is the first marble I was able to make completely round. I was so happy that I finally was able to finish one and it wasn't flat on one side. :) It is made from boro glass. It does have a punty mark that is not completely smooth but I figure I will improve soon I hope.

The following photo is an imploded boro pendant. I have wanted to make one of these for so long. It wasn't too bad to make but it would be nice to have more heat so it wouldn't take me a whole hour to make one. I am saving up for a GTT Phantom. I also had a problem with the cold punty so I didn't get a nice round dome. I need to practice more. I can't wait to try making a fumed pendant. Right after I took the picture, the bail fell off. :(

Back to bead a day or a marble a day!

2008-08-31T11:37:00.000-04:00

I have been gone for a few days from this poor blog. I was sculpting and I got asked to do a painting commission. :) I originally planned to sculpt and paint throughout the day and then torch at night but that doesn't seem to be happening. I start a clay sculpture during the day and then I just can't seem to put it down until it is done. I know I probably sound like a bad mother saying this, but I can't wait until my 3.5 year old starts school. I can't wait to have time totally to myself where I can do what I want during the day. Right now the only time I have time to myself is to stay up until 3am. I know this sounds selfish but it is just how I feel. I couldn't even imagine having another baby and having to start all over. I feel bad about this but my son is going to have to be an only child just like I was. There are just too many things I want to do with my art so I do not have the time or patience to have another child. I see people in the stores with 2 or more kids and I just don't know how they do it. Also, I still haven't totally lost the weight I gained when I had Sebastian so I couldn't imagine putting even more on. Oh well.

So from here on out I am going to try and post something of glass that I made each day. It may be a bead, marble, or sculpture but I will make sure it will be here. I also want to start making youtube movies for beginning flameworkers. I know I am a severe newbie and still have imperfect and wonky beads but I think I have mastered just the plain bead. They come out absolutely perfect, it isn't till I decorate or encase them that the wonkiness comes in.

The following bead was an attempt of one of Corina's step by step beads out of her Passing the Flame book, a favorite by the way. I highly recommend this book to any beginning lampworker. :) The bead didn't come out like hers which is what usually happens when I try to do her step by steps. I added some rubino oro dots to make it look at least a little cool. :)

I've lost my marbles!

2008-08-21T22:40:00.001-04:00

I know I said I would make a bead a day but I kind of went on a detour. I have been trying to make marbles the last couple of nights. Why marbles? Well, I received the 5 pounds of boro and my marble mold that I won on ebay so I wanted to try a marble. When I was a kid I used to collect marbles. I've noticed that not a lot of women glassmakers are into making marbles. I wonder why that is. Maybe they don't like not using a marver. I actually love not using marvers but using punties takes some getting used to. I still haven't mastered the cold punty, for me it just turns into a fused punty. I rented Essential Marbles from Smartflix and their method of removing the extra glass off the marble just doesn't work for me. Oh well, maybe I will make another marble tonight, hopefully I will get both sides round instead of just one side.

Besides making marbles in boro, I wish I could master how to make boro heart pendants, I guess that will be next. I just wish I could ever focus on one thing for a while.

Spreading Colors and A Bead a Day!

2008-08-19T13:46:00.001-04:00

Ever since I got Sarah Hornik's tutorial I have been playing around with spreading colors. I made this one last night. I think I like it. The thing I really like about spreading colors is you can use just 3 colors and it will end up looking like 6 colors instead. The colors spread and sometimes make outlines and different shades. Tonight I am going to try and make more than one bead with the same style, maybe to make a bracelet. I just wonder how in the heck you make them the same size. The sizes of my beads seem to vary all over the place. Hopefully sizing comes with experience. The following bead is made from soft glass with the colors opal yellow, turquoise, and EDP. I will try to post at least one bead per day to keep track my improvement. After a year I will come back and look at them all and see if there is any improvement. I love watching artists grow so why not watch myself grow. So from here on out, it will be a bead a day. :)

I plan to also begin making marbles. I wish I could torch all day but I only get to do it after my husband gets home because I have a 3.5 year old and daycare is just too expensive even though I do think it would be good for him to be around other children.

Myspace!

2008-08-19T00:05:00.001-04:00

I created a myspace for just my lampworking so if you are on myspace please come by and add me as a friend.

Infinite Charms Myspace

Boro and Photography!

2008-08-18T13:32:00.001-04:00

I recently ordered some boro shorts so I could try out boro. The shorts kind of suck because you end up not knowing what color you used but it is still fun to play with it. I just attach it to some 10 mm boro clear that I bought so I don't burn my hand when using it. It is easier doing it that way rather then putting it in to the hemostats. They have really cheap asian boro 10mm at ABR Imagery and they ship very fast which is a plus. The short I used to make the following bead was basically black and white striped. From looking at what I have left of the rod, I think it is called Momka's challenge - antique beauty. I love boro but because it requires a lot of heat I had to purchase some Fosterfire extra strong bead release. The fireworks bead release just wasn't cutting it, it would crack, flake and get into the glass while I was making the bead. :(

So now that I am making beads I had to change my lightbox setup. I was using a lightbox indoors using 3 clamp on lights but it just wasn't cutting it so I got a white carboard envelope, a rubbermaid tub, and a camera on a tripod. I take the pictures outside on my deck in the shade and it looks a heck of a lot better than inside. It's just going to be rough in the winter. :( It's amazing that something that wasn't the least bit expensive can produce such nice results. :) There is an expensive part though, my camera is a Canon 10D with a macro lens. I like it because I can adjust my settings manually, I don't like autofocus and auto anything else. I took a black & white photography glass in 2004 and ever since then I need everything to be manually adjustable or I don't feel I get the best photo possible. I have a sony 707 which is a point and shoot camera but I don't use it for macro because it is a point and shoot which does everything for you. I feel the photos are a bit grainy for my taste. So back to the Canon 10D, they are going for about $200 on ebay which only includes the body, the lense will be separate. I don't have the greatest lenses, they are Sigma lenses. I would prefer a Canon macro lense but they are very pricey so that will have to wait. When I originally bought my 10D it was around $1200 including the lenses but that was about 4 years ago. They have better digital SLRs nowadays with higher megapixels so if you have the money then go for the new cameras, if not then the 10D is a really good camera and easy to use once you learn the basics of SLR cameras.

Please disregard the wonkiness and bubbles of the bead, I made it before I received my boro glasses which I shouldn't have but I was just very eager to try it. I was trying to hurry so I wouldn't hurt my eyes. I was wearing shade 3 welding glasses plus my didymium glasses. I now have my boro glasses that I bought from Aura Lens. They had some auctions where they were selling the glasses cheaper than on their website and I couldn't pass it up. I bought these glasses: Boro AGW-325 goggles. I am surprised more people didn't bid because it was a real good deal, if I bought them on the website they would have been about $300.

2008-08-11T00:49:00.000-04:00

I bought Sarah Hornik's tutorial Think Pink and I decided I would try to make one of the beads the other night. I knew it would crack if I didn't put it directly into the kiln after I made it so I preheated the doll kiln since the mandrels are too long for the paragon I have without the bead door. The doll kiln kind of sucks as an annealer because you have to open the top door and lay the mandrel on the kiln shelf. I used some kiln furniture so it wouldn't roll onto the floor bottom. A bead door would be so nice so I could just slide the mandrel right in without having to put on the huge oven mits. I guess that will be next. It's like you always need something new. Well, here is the bead, I think I overheated the rubino oro a little too much but otherwise I am happy with it. It isn't too bad for someone who can't even do swirlies with a stringer yet. I burned my thumb the other night while trying to do swirlies the way Corina describes it on her dvd. :(

If you don't know who Sarah Hornik is then you must check out her blog, after I discovered her beads I had to try lampworking.

Sarah Hornik

My Glass Studio!

2008-08-08T01:22:00.000-04:00

I've taken some pics of the area I have transformed into my glass studio. I also have a painting, sculpting, and glass cutting studio in the basement. So basically the entire basement is my place. I haven't been using the other areas of the basement lately cause all I feel like doing is making beads and playing with glass. :) My DH thinks the basement is very boring and doesn't like to be down there much. He tends to favor the couch in front of his laptop. He actually said he would melt some boro someday but I just can't see it. So here are the pics, please don't mind the ugly wall with the flowers on it, the previous owners used to have a beauty shop down there which is good because I have separate circuits for my fan, oxycons, and my kiln.

My Mega Minor Torch

The new black cased oxycon from Oxygen Unlimited

My ghetto ventilation fan

I'm Finally Set up on my Real Torch!

2008-08-06T00:27:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally received my oxycon. I guess the first one they sent to me got lost because it never showed up. I contacted Brent(Mr. Smiley on lampwork etc.) and they immediately shipped me another one and it came this week on Monday. When I opened it up I was surprised because it had black metal casing and looked a lot cooler than the usual oxycons. I have been playing with my new torch and I am loving it. The glass becomes round like it is supposed to and it really flows. The torch is a red mega minor and it is so quiet compared to the hothead. Now, all the noise is from the squirrel cage fan I use for my ventilation system. I will take some pics and post them soon. I will make some youtube videos of my beadmaking adventures also. :)

Welcome to My Blog!

2008-07-17T21:19:00.000-04:00

I've decided to make a separate blog for my lampworking, pendant making and jewelry making in general. :) Unfortunately, I am currently working with a hothead torch. I know many people love their hothead and some bead artists make such beautiful beads with a hothead but it just doesn't work for me. I bought some Lauscha and Vetrofond clear because I was getting scummy swirlies all the time when working with Moretti clear. Maybe I was holding it too close or something but it is so irritating. The Lauscha works great but unfortunately I bought stringers. I bought some Vetrofond clear rods and they are so stiff and hard to melt with the hothead so I can't get the bead shaped properly because it just takes so long. So in turn I end up with a bead that looks like the following, it started out beautiful for me but then when I encased it with clear it ended up deformed. :( Why is my oxygen concentrator taking so damn long to get here, I ordered it on June 18th and still no oxycon. My mega minor torch sits down there waiting to be used.