Dandelion - the metamorphosis of design

Hello friends!

Sorry for the delay in my blog. You may have noticed that the shop was updated and the posts were linked to Face Book. It just took me until now to get my blog typed up :) Today I would like to share the process of my NEW dandelion designs! I always love to see the progress of a design and thought you might like to get an insider view.

FINDING THE RIGHT DESIGN....
Ok so when I get a design in my head I hop on down the the torch and start creating. There are many design elements that got into picking the perfect glass for your design. First I had to decide on the base color.Here is the first design I tried to make. In this photo are the small dandelion puff flowers with a stem. The first bead to the left has a base of Uranium Yellow(which looks yummy lime green to me). The flower is a dot of effetre white with Messy Cirrus on top. This dot was flattened and then creased with a razor. Unfortunately you can't really tell that I used Cirrus on the bead, it just appears to be clear.

Next I thought that maybe Cirrus would better show up on an opaque base. The dandelion puff flower is the same combo as above, but on a base of effetre pea green. As you can see Cirrus still appears to be clear. Bummer! Cirrus is this fantastic color that is a white opal that I thought would be perfect for the hazy, fluffy puff of dandelion seeds!

Then onto the final design. Same base of Uranium Yellow, but this time it was etched to add some inner glow, which I think looks fantastic! As you see I have also changed the dandelion puff design. This tiny flower has tremendous detail for it's size. For the new dandelion puff design I used Messy Marshmallow which is more of a hazier white opal. Now this color was PERFECT! I accomplished the hazy translucent white that was perfect for my dandelion puff! Flattening the dot of Marshmallow gives it a bit more of a transparent look since there is a smaller mass of glass. The decorations on top are hair fine stringers of filligrana to give it the details of the seed stems and seed bottoms combined with the fuzzy puff appearance of the dandelion. SUCCESS! This was the final design for my "Dandelion's Life set"!

LARGE DANDELION PUFF...
Now that I got the small dandelion puff flower figured out it was time to do a larger detail puff flower close-up bead.Again you can see I tried a few different bases before deciding on which I liked best. The first bead is the same puff combination on a base of Messy Dirty Martini. As you can see the Marshmallow shows up very well on the base, but it was still not quite the right green that I wanted for the design.

Next you can see the same dandelion puff combo with an etched Uranium yellow base. I liked the puff design, but still wanted to add some more detail to the puff.

The last design which became the design for the "Dandelion's Life" set and "Fly Away" bracelet is the same dandelion puff on the Uranium Yellow base etched, but I added some curved details around the flattened dot of Marshmallow. I really liked the way it gave extra dimension to the dandelion puff.
Here is a photo of the beads etched and shiny for comparison. The dandelion puff's main flower was painted in nailpolish as a resist to the etching leaving it shiny while the base is etched! Below you can see the dandelion seed design, which I think is SPOT on!

YELLOW DANDELION FLOWER...
Now to figure out the yellow dandelion flower design. As you know dandelions are 2 shades of yellow with little stringy petals.For the first design I used 2 shades of yellow, one being Vetrofond odd Sunshine yellow, and one of the effetre dark yellows for contrast. I then creased the flattened dots to simulate the petals of the dandelion flower. It made a pretty cool sunburst design, but it wasn't quite finished.

The second design I added a flattened yellow dot to the center to simulate the center of the dandelion flower. This little addition made the perfect design!

NEW IN THE SHOP....
Now that I had my dandelion designs all figured out it was time to create beads for sets and jewelry for the shop!Here is "Dandelion's Life". This set was a bugger to photograph! The etched green turned out more vivid green that it was and the yellows turned out more dull than they were. The green is a nice pale yellow green and the colors are much more orange than they appear. Also in the photograph the details don't seem as sharp, but they are much more apparent in person.

As you can see the set is a fantastic representation of the dandelion's life cycle which I think turned out fantastic! Here is "Dandelion Seed". This sweet little etched 3 bead set has a focal lentil with a dandelion seed and 2 round spacers.
Here is the AMAZING asymmetrical "Fly Away" bracelet. The bracelet got it's name from the bali silver butterfly charm and the "flying away" of dandelion seeds as you blow them into the wind. This design has beautiful etched spacers, large dandelion puff, and dandelion seed lentils, along with Hilltribe silver lentils, stamped spacers, sterling silver rounds and white opal Swarovski crystals. I absolutely LOVE this bracelet! I think it's my favorite piece aside from the "Dandelion's Life" set!
This necklace is actually SOLD, but I thought you might like to see the design anyways ;) This little beauty is a simple dandelion seed pendant on a lime green satin cord.
Here are the "Glowing Green Trapeze" earrings to complete the set. These sweet little earrings are etched yellow green spacers suspended from teeny chain. Wire wrapped to the top are Swarovski crystals in white opal that hang from my FAVORITE ball earwires! These earrings are so pretty and dainty. They are so light you can't even feel them in your ears!

I had just 2 little St. Patty's designs for you Irish fans out there!

Here is the "4-leaf clover- Heart petals" shamrock pendant. As you can see it has lots of yummy greens with some Swarovski crystals and a pressed glass shamrock dangle!

Here is the "4-leaf clover- petal leaves" shamrock pendant. This also has lots of layers of different transparent and opaque greens with Swarovski crystals and a pressed shamrock bead dangle.

NEXT WEEK IN THE SHOP....
I will be working on some more super VIBRANT Vortex Flower pendants! I made the new flower's in some BEAUTIFUL Bullseye glass in regular stock and odd lot colors! Lots of yummy PINKS, PURPLES AND GLITTER GLASS! I also made a flower in pink, peachy pink, orange, and orange glitter, and one with darker blues, greens and glitter! Stay tuned!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Much love,

Genea