NEW "Gravity Bubble" hollows

Hello friends!

Well I did, infact survive my husband going out of town for the week. I am surprised at how busy I was! I managed to get some beads made and spend lots of time with friends. The week just breezed by and Ricky will get back in town tonight :D It was so much better than the first year he had to go to Vegas for school. It will be nice to have home just in time for the weekend :)

As busy as I was I managed to get a few days of bead making in. I talked with Melissa on the phone and she had told me how everyone at Bead Boutique kept oogling her necklace made with my flopped hollow beads. With that in mind I decided why not make more and offer them for sale? Good beads, of course ;) So off to the torch I went to make some hollows.

The interesting thing about the set of hollows on Melissa's necklace is that they were the pre-design for my "Florbital" hollows. So the beads I made are the swirly sides with the transparent middle.

NEW IN THE SHOP....
"Gravity Bubbles- Rainbow"- This super BUBBLY fun set of 7 - 20-22mm hollow beads are made in bold rainbow colors of: red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, cobalt and amethyst. This set is big enough to make a super funky chunky necklace. The sweet thing about hollow beads is that they are BIG without being heavy. Their reflective surface makes them just as amazing as those large glass "Gazing Globes" people put in their yards :D

"Swirly Rainbow Spacers"- Original name, I know. These cane spacers are a nice variety of rainbow colors in: red, orange, coral, yellow, lime, grass green, teal and cobalt. Spacers add interest to designs or make great earrings. This particular set would make a fantastic addition to the above set of hollows.
"Gravity Bubbles-Spring"- When I made those kiln fulls of hollows I just kept grabbing transparents and cane glass and just kept making whatever. When everything came out of the kiln I was excited to find that these beads all went together remarkably well for not being a planned color combo. Beads are: pink, lavender, pale green, lime, and teal.
"Swirly Spring Spacers"- this set of 6 spacers are in pale springy colors with a few darker colors to make them pop. Colors include: purple, periwinkle, grass green, pink, aqua and teal. Spacers make great additions to sets or for fun dangles and earrings. These spacers would go awesome with the above set!"Vino Noir"- A fun set of different shapes for designing fun. A "Gravity bubble" in ruby wine pink with swirly black sides, pink discs with swirly black rings, 2 swirly black spacers and 2 ruby wine pink spacers. The possibilities are endless!

SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW?

I got my TORCH!! So now I officially have all the pieces for my Mini CC! I still need to have the boys build me a hood so I am debating on if I should set up the torch now or wait. I thought about doing it while Ricky was gone, but I can't crank off the regulator and stuff. If I set up just the torch I will just be able to work faster and larger. I will wait to work with the enamels and silver until I have a hood up and have a particle respirator. I need to do some research to see what is going to work the best.

So I am a total goofball and decided to name my new torch. Want to know what I named it? "Gold Member" after the Austin Powers movie LMAO. It is goldish colored and looks like a penis, right? lol

I got a chance to check out Genevieve Flynn's studio where I will be doing a first friday show in September. Genevieve makes GORGEOUS silver work! Her studio is right in the art district right on Oak street. I asked for the latest show date to give me time to make a bunch of new awesome work with my new set up. It's going to be a blast. I will post a reminder later when it is closer to show time.

OH YEAH! I forgot! My "Vortex Oasis" necklace will be featured in Bead & button in Feb 2010 in their "my designs" section! I have to send off the necklace before October of this year to be photographed in their studio! Isn't that exciting?!

Well I suppose I should go. With the time I have left I may be able to get my house cleaned before my hubby comes home!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Much love,

Genea

More rainbows

Hello friends!

I have some more rainbowy Raku beads for you today! I figured since Kim nabbed up the last lot of them I should make some more and well Raku is pretty so it was pretty easy to keep making them ;) So why don't we take a trip over and see what is in the shop...

NEW IN THE SHOP...
"Elements of Life"- a fun little set of 5 lentils on one of my favorite backgrounds for Raku, Red Roof Tile. This particular batch has these lovely streaks of mustard yellow along with it's normal terra cotta color. The symbols are: earth, fire, wind, water and heart. The rainbowy colors include: violet, burgundy, teal, amber, chocolate brown, midnight blue and more.
"Green Girl Tye-Dye"- This little girl got her name after earth day and with the variance of colors Raku makes it makes me think of tye-dye shirts. I figured a nice earthy yellow ochre base would be a nice touch to the vibrant colors of Raku. I would have to say this is my favorite set out of all of them. I like all of the different twisted, poked and raked designs, oh... and COLOR :D
"Mystic"- This set had all of the magical elements like a Goddess, healing hand, and evil eye along with a few spotty spacers to finish it off. I had first thought to combine this with the elements of life set, but then decided to keep all of the magical stuff to it's own set ;) lol Besides, if you like both together you can always get both sets ;)
"Rainbow Daisy"- a fun tye-dye looking raked rainbow daisy is 5 petals on the front and 4 on the back. Spacers are spotty raku. When I made the other set of lentils this bead didn't quite fit into a set, but it was so pretty I thought it would make a nice mini. I mean why not make a cute pendant and earrings, right? :)"Rainbow Leaf"- a simple line drawn leaf with a stringer twist decorates the front and back. Spacers are Raku spotted. Again, this little bead didn't really make it's way into a set, but WOW! Can you believe all of the COLORS? It was too pretty to just stick in a bowl so here it is with 2 little spacers to make up a sweet mini set :)

WHAT ELSE IS NEW?...
Well I wish I could say more exciting stuff, but not really. lol. Just all of that fun stuff like yardwork!

I just heard Ricky call me for dinner so I guess this will make my entry short and sweet. I mean do you want to keep a man waiting that just cooked you some yummy bow tie pasta with chicken in delicious 4 cheese rosa sauce?! Me either! :D

Have a fantastic night.

Much love,

Genea

Artistic ideas belong to no one single person

Hello friends!

I just HAD to share this link. I found it through Andrea Guarino-Slemmon's post on FB. The Artistic Timeline by Michael Deming. His post talks about how all art is essentially "borrowed" and how even if you share you techniques with students they will never be able to do your work, and to keep art evolving. This is such an incredible post. Please take the time to read it and be enlightened :)

Much love,

Genea

Inspiration all around you

Hello friends!

I had the best intentions of getting this finished yesterday, but Holly and Brandon ended up stopping by to drop off some dog food and look for some deals on moving trucks. So I can't pass up this part without telling you one of my favorite quotes. "The path to hell is paved with good intentions". It just always seems like such a fantastic quote about intentions. Ok so since that is out of the way....

Well my good friend, Kim came to visit me yesterday and picked up a bunch of beads so unfortunately for you all I only have 3 sets to offer this week. I know you are probably curious to see what she bought right? How about a little peek?

THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE ALREADY SOLD....
WOW! Just look at this collection of Raku beads! So you may have noticed that all but one set of these were listed last week on Etsy. I can't wait to see what Kim makes up with these amazing beads! So I would like for you all to meet "Sedona". This is a newish color released by effetre. Isn't it AMAZING with Raku(not that that is hard to do since Raku is amazing on just about anything). The rod itself is kind of this dusty rose color, but as you can see after being worked in the flame you get all different colors! There are pinks, purples, hints of brown. Just AMAZING! I got some really GORGEOUS colors with the Raku as well. It's strange how that all works out. I think this set got the most intense colors and shifts out of all of the sets. I can't wait to get my new torch hooked up. All of that extra heat makes for some INTENSE Raku colors! :D
Kim also snagged this awesome set in intense dark blues, and teals by Creation is Messy. I used: Cornflower, Fremen, Mermaid, Great Bluedini, Leaky Pen, and Pulsar.

Now that you may be heart broken about what you missed why don't I move on to some things that are still for sale?

NEW IN THE SHOP....
ALL OF THESE ITEMS ARE CURRENTLY FOR SALE. So in the future, just so there is no confusion, anything with a hyper link to it means it's for sale.

These 3 sets were inspired by a re-usable cloth bag that my friend, Amanda bought for me. The colors were pretty funky so I dug in my stash of Bullseye glass to find the perfect colors to match.
"Heart Burst Tabs"- This set of 5 creased tab beads is in colors of: petal pink, lilac, mulberry, bubble gum pink, white, and lemon yellow. The creased base has a flattened dot with a raked heart on top and flattened dots on the sides. The back is creased with no texture on the back for comfort in wear."Window Stripes"- set of 6 round stripe beads encased in clear in colors of: lemon yellow, white, mulberry, petal pink, bubble gum pink and lilac. These beads have so much depth with their base of clear and stripes on top. When you roll the beads on a surface you can watch the stripes of glass move. It's like when you are in a car with the sun shining through the trees and it does that strobe light effect thing. lol. These would be great with the above set with the stripe beads inbetween the tabs. "Heart Burst Tab Mini"- 1 lemon yellow based creased tab is accented with a flattened mulberry dot and bubble gum pink raked heart. On the sides are flattened dots of white. 2 bubblegum pink spacers are added for the perfect little mini set. This set would make a fun ring and pair of simple earrings. OR... You could always add it with the above sets for a few extra beads when designing :)

WHAT ELSE IS NEW?...
I thought you might like to see "THE necklace" actually on a person. I dressed up Holly when she was over the other night. I took about 3 pictures of her and she kept blinking! This was one of the pictures where her eyes were the most open. lol.Here is a profile pic. Yes, I know, it's blurry, but again with the blinking. I wanted to try to catch her off guard when she was talking with the boys in the other room. You may not have noticed right off, but the earrings are actually hanging through her gauged ear holes. She has clear silicone gauges and the ear hook actually goes through the holes. It looks pretty cool considering that when you gauge your ears you lose all ability to wear pretty hook earrings. That is exactly when I let mine shrink back down. Well that and the gauges smell like funky belly button! *blegch*

Anyways, not too much else is going on. Well nothing earth shattering.

I was really excited to get an old printers tray from my friend Sue and Jim! I have it hanging on my wall with some of my lampwork beads and beads I have collected from other lampworkers :D I should take a picture and show you.

Well I suppose I should get to it. I have to run over to Holly and Brandon's and help them move.

I hope you are having a awesome week and enjoying the warm weather of spring.

Much love,

Genea

SALE in the shop on Easter and other stuff.

Hello,

Very quick update. Sale on Etsy. Some Easter stuff and a few other beads. Genea Beads Sale on Etsy.

Enjoy!

<3 Genea

Rainbows and colors outside the box

Hello friends!

I think you will enjoy my offerings for today! Not only are they rainbowy raku, but I even chose different color bases out of my normal color schemes!

Wanna see?

Wait... just before we move on I thought you might want to see who was staring back at me through my camera lens.My PIGGEH. He he. Isn't he soooo cute?! I just LOVE this bank! Thanks to Amanda for gifting him to me:). I thought it was funny that he just happened to be chilling on my photographing table when I was done taking pictures, so I thought I would add him as well just for funzies :D

Ok... moving on....

NEW IN THE SHOP....
I don't even know which ones to list first... They all turned out pretty awesome! Ok.. how about the super unusual ones, as in the set of RED. Eep! Can you believe I made red beads?! Lol."Scarlet's Rainbow Roses"- A set of 5 deep scarlet red lentils have rainbowy raku twist roses on the top with speckles of raku on the back. The rose centers are a bubble button mirror dot that makes a sweet reflection!More views so you can see ALL of the color :D Mmmmm. Can you believe the color of this glass is called "Orange Punch". Pretty sure they turned out RED. One of arts little happy accidents, I guess. ;)
"Scarlet's Rainbow Raindrops"- A set of 6 round bead spacers on deep scarlet red. It seems like you can never have too many beads for designing. Spacers make a fantastic addition to designs!
"Mermaid's Rainbow"- A set of 5 lentil beads on Messy's newest tealy blue, Mermaid. Designs are twisted and raked in rainbowy raku stringers. The neat thing about Raku is that it seems to escape Mermaids organic nature and all of the lines and dots remain crisp. Usually Mermaid has more of an organic nature to it and likes to swallow dots and lines.If you want to see more of the color and detail you can click on the image and it will open to it's 800x800 normal size in a different window :)"Mermaid's Rainbow Mini"- a set of 3 lentils with rainbowy raku dots and lines. See all of those neat streaks in the base? Mmmm pretty!"Rainbow Clay Tiles"- a set of 7 tile shaped on a base of muted khaki with lines, dots and swirls of rainbow raku. I love tiles! They are just as awesome as lentils with their smooth shape. I always had great luck with getting amazing colors on this color base :)The very last picture in the 4 block is the "back" side of the beads. The designs are the same on both sides, but due to Raku's color changing nature the colors are different on either side ;)
"Rainbow Canyon"- a mini set of 3 lentils on a warmer tan base with swirls and dots of color changing raku rainbows. I was curious to see how Canyon de Chelly would do as a brownish base with raku. I really like the results. It's a little more brown than my favorite Stone Ground :)
I think this little set would be nice combined with the "Rainbow Clay Tiles" into a braclet with the pattern going- tile, lentil, tile, lentil. I love to mix the shapes together for visual appeal :)

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?...
I will be receiving my NEW concentrator for my UPGRADE! Woo hoo! I can't wait! I suppose I have not told you yet, huh? Well I will be upgrading to a Mini CC with a 15lpm concentrator! I can't wait to get this baby set up! I will need to wait on all of my parts and then build a hood before I can use it. I didn't want to get you all excited before it was up and running, but now you know it's in the works. I am even getting a splitter so I can run *crosses fingers* both of my torches. The electrical is old in the house so I don't know if I have enough power(this is where you insert the Star Trek quote! lol) to run all of that machinery without blowing fuses.

Ok so you probably want to know how this information will effect you right? Well, with this torch and ventilation system I will be able to make HUGE beads, fume with silver, use enamels and all of that fun stuff! Having two torches hooked up will allow me to take on STUDENTS. ;) Pretty sweet eh? Now this is a work in progress so I am not sure of the exact date that ALL of this is happening, but like I said, it's in the works :D

A huge THANK YOU to the person that is making all of this possible! :D I couldn't be where I am without you!

In other news I have just been knitting more calorimetries. Can you believe it? lol. They are just fun to make and I can justify making a shit ton of them cause they can be gifts right? What can I say, it's nice to have something relaxing that keeps my hands busy and allows me to sit on my couch and be productive. lol.

Well I should be off. I need to shower and get ready for later. Holly and Brandon will be making their weekly trip out to see us and Amanda will be by too. I just LOVE it when friends come to hang out :D

Have a fantastic day!

Much love,

Genea

"THE" necklace and inspiration from fiber into beads

Hello friends!

Ok, ok, I know I am late with my update for the week, but I just wanted to keep making beads. I mean there is nothing wrong with that, right?! So since I am late posting I also have some other awesome things to show you like my FABULOUS necklace that was inspired by the Vortex Flower pendants and some knit items!

NEW IN THE SHOP....
Inspiration comes from all over! I was inspired by a skein of yarn for these two sets!
Too bad the yarn didn't work up as pretty into fabric as the glass worked up into beads!
"Lavender Fire"- a set of 3 round beads in:Red coral, orange, and lavender. Pretty amazing huh? There is just something about the intensity of the red and orange against the pastel lavender. Designs include a triangle bead, twist rose bead, and a dot and line stringer bead.

"Rose and Phoenix"- a set of 5 beads in: Lavender, pastel pink, red coral, and orange. Again the intensity between the pastel colors and vibrant reds and oranges is SO yummy! Bead styles are:masked dot beads, stripe bead, poked-eye bead, and a raised creased daisy.

These two sets remind me of the beads that Jan nabbed up called "Arizona Sunset". Here is a picture of the beads if you can't remember what they look like.Aren't they GORGEOUS? There is just something about orange and purple! :D

Next I have a few black and white beads for you....
"Movement" a set of 5 black and white beads. They are called movement because of all of the twists and movement in the beads. Bead designs include: stripe bead, twist dot beads, poked-eye bead and a triangle bead."BW spacers" original name, I know, but what else do you call plain black and white spacers? This little set of 6 spacers is fun strung by itself or added with other beads for designs. You could always add these little guys to the set above for more design possibilities.
"Daisy Cakes- Cupcakes"- This fun set of 8 cupcakes are baked to golden brown perfection and topped with pastel rainbow colored icing along with vanilla and chocolate! The cupcakes have ruffly edges and rainbow sprinkles. The cupcakes were inspired by my "Lovey Cakes" that I made for Valentine's day. If you take a birds eye view of the cupcakes they look like little daisies. Be sure to send a big "thank you" to Ricky while you check out with these babies! I wanted to include ALL of the cupcakes in one listing so Ricky suggested selling them for $77 instead of the usual $12 per bead! That is a savings of 20%! Woo hoo!

THE NECKLACE YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR......
Ok are you ready? Remember the "Vortex Flower" pendants and how I said that they were a proto-type for a necklace design in which I was working?Here is the "Vortex Flower" pendant if you missed seeing the design earlier.Here is "THE necklace". Lame name I know, but I am still working on the perfect name! Isn't it AMAZING?! It quite literally took me DAYS and HOURS to make! When I started the design I had NO idea how I was going to put everything together. I just got out all of the beads and designed as I went. This usually isn't the norm for me. I must say I am SO pleased with the results for lack of better words. I got done with this piece and couldn't believe that I had actually made it! This is probably the most beautiful and amazing piece I have EVER made!Here are some more shots of the necklace. I submitted this necklace to Bead & Button magazine in the hopes of getting it printed on their cover. I did hear that most of the cover pieces they choose are pieces that have instructions inside. As you can see by the tremendous detail in this necklace it would take me FOREVER to write up instructions. Due to the sheer amount of beads and baubles in this knotting and macrame necklace there really weren't easy ways to anchor this baby down to get everything on the necklace. How the hell do you put that into instruction? Would it be like you have to have monkey fingers and be able to hold 8bagillion cords while knotting and adding on beads all at the same time? Lol

This piece is incredible for other reasons than just the beads and how it was assembled. Did you know that it is a piece for all of the senses? Visually it's just incredible, it's very tactile with so much texture, there are numerous bells on it so you can hear the tinkling from the bells and from the pressed glass beads, and crystals clanking against the lampwork beads! Pretty AMAZING huh? The necklace, even for it's weight feels just incredible on. I mean a piece with this many beads on it is definitely heavy, but WOW!

Now you know a necklace isn't a necklace without a fabulous pair of earrings....
So the earrings are pretty much smaller scale "Vortex Flower" pendants. You would think that the earrings would weigh a ton as well, but for their size and weight they are very comfortable to wear and just accent the necklace perfectly!

So why did I decide to make the necklace and earrings? Well I really wanted a SUPER fabulous piece that I had designed and made myself with no input or ideas from anyone else. I wanted to make a fantastic gallery style piece that I could submit to the magazines for a cover piece.

SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW?...
Well after spending so much creative energy on my necklace I needed to do some knitting to unwind.I absolutely LOVE my knit wool calorimetry that my friend Holly made for me, but as you may know. Wool is BALLS HOT in summer. I made these guys out of cotton. They definitely don't feel as amazing as the natural fibers, but they are light weight enough to wear in spring and summer and still keep your head secure and snuggly!

Well as you may know it's FRIDAY and that usually means making plans for the weekend! I am going to start getting ready to go out!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Much love,

Genea