Andrea Guarino-Slemmon's class

Hello friends!

This week I will be focusing on some winter and Christmas themed items in the shop. I am also running around all crazy trying to get ready for our next show this weekend. I finally got my pictures edited from Andrea's class as well. Read on for more details....

NEW IN THE SHOP....
"The first snow" Nothing is as remarkable as the first snow of the season where snow falls silently over a bare slumbering landscape. Celebrate the first snow with this snowflake pendant. A base of etched clear is decorated with thin white snowflake lines and soft blue accent dots, sparkling Swarovski crystals in colors of: crystal ab, white opal and light sapphire cluster from the bottom.

Today's SNEAK PEEK item is a "Sled dog" pendant. My child hood dog was a darling blue-eyed husky named Mandy. Sled dogs always make me think of winter and of her. Sled dog is on a black lentil base with a white mask and muzzle handing from a 6mm sterling silver soldered ring.

ANDREA GUARINO-SLEMMON'S CLASS....

Here is my class update, FINALLY! ;)It's always nice to start out with a picture! Andrea was kind enough to let me photograph her tray of dazzling beads. Here you can see some of the beads we learned how to make in class.

I don't think I can say enough great things about Andrea. She was such an amazing teacher, so the next classes I take will have some pretty high standards to live up to! Not only is she an amazing glass master, but she is very down to earth and has so much knowledge to share. Watching her work the glass with such ease was truly amazing. Taking her class gives an even deeper appreciation of her work. There are so many steps in creating her works of art. To view her work visit her page at www.andreaguarino.com and pick up some beads while you are there.


The class was held at a lovely woman named Sandy Hagen's house in Omaha, NE. She is such a wonderful woman! She had a fantastic studio set up and was just so hospitable. She had all of the supplies we needed and had a well stocked kitchen full of fantastic food to keep us all at optimum performance ;)

In this picture you can see the teacher's table. Andrea sat on the far left and 3 students could sit at the other stations.
Here are the other student's work stations. Man was I spoiled! We worked on Mini CC's with tank oxygen. I'm pretty sure I Jizzed in my pants! lol For all of you that aren't familiar with that song. You can follow the highlighted link. There were another 6 torches set up in this area with a lovely view of her back yard through the sliding glass door. Here is a view of the backyard. I bet it was even more beautiful when everything was in full bloom.
Here was my work station. Kinda messy huh? lol. We had A LOT of glass and materials!
Here are my beads from the first day. The picture doesn't really do them justice. Sorry, but these beads will NOT be for sale. I feel that selling them would be disrespectful to my teacher.

The first bead we learned was the "star gazer" bead on the top left. This bead was made with enamels and fine silver wire.

The second bead we learned was the "stripe bead" it is next to the star gazer beads. This bead was also done with enamels.

Next we did the off mandrel hearts. HOLY CRAP did those take a lot of different steps and juggling hot glass. We used some of Jim Moore's AMAZING glass tools which made it super easy!

Next we made the" moth wing beads. "You can purchase this tutorial from Andrea's Etsy shop. They may just appear to be silvered ivory, but they aren't! There really is nothing like making the bead in person. I don't think you can fully grasp the amazing beauty of this style bead until you make one yourself!

Our last bead for the day was the "ammonite" bead. This one was one of my favorites! You probably can't tell from the picture, but the one on the left was more fumed than the one on the right. My torch had a stuffy nose from it's clogged port so this one didn't get the silver it was supposed to. Andrea was kind enough to light up her torch for me to fume my work when I go to that point. I would run from my torch to her torch, fume and then run back. While I was running through I would say "hot bead coming through!" lolHere are day 2's beads. On the top left and top right are "Galaxy beads". They were the first bead of the day.

Next we did the "Quiet Tides" bead on the bottom right(this one was one of my favorite beads I made). This bead was made with Double Helix's new color Aurae, again, there really is nothing like seeing this glass in person. When they say it has the look of mother of pearl, they sure weren't kidding! There are opalescent rainbows all over the bead! All I can say is WOW! I totally swear by our torches and tank oxygen too! I think it TOTALLY makes a difference!

In the middle was our "Flower Dot" bead done with silver and silver glass. The range of colors you can get are just remarkable. AGAIN, I swear this glass loves the Mini CC and tank oxy. The colors come so easily with little effort!

The final bead we made in class was called "Sea Garden" this bead has an incredible amount of layers and techniques all in one fabulous bead! I mean, WOW!
A class wouldn't be complete without buying one of your teacher's beads. This is the bead I purchased from Andrea. I am not sure what it's name is, but it sure is PRETTY!

Ok so if this doesn't convince you to go take a class with Andrea, you should probably get your head examined! ;)

This concludes my blog for today. I need to get my creative brain working so I can head down to the studio.

See you soon!

Much love,

Genea