Hello friends!
Wow, well I had so much information and trials for this post I had to write an earlier post about the process of my silver glass beads just so you could actually get through this blog without your eyes burning out of the sockets from so much reading! lol.
Well I am so pleased with my piece I just don't have words for it. I did so many new things I have not tried before and had wonderful success with them(the best kind!)!
So I will do my best to keep things somewhat short. Please feel free to skim to the design, I know there are a lot of participants for this hop ;)
My Copper Big Hole Donut...
My donut came beautifully wrapped!
Here is the one I received!
It looks like a flowery sun to me. I saw wonderful hints of pinks and oranges. I did my best to capture the color, but you can't quite see it all in the photo. So now to figure out the design and make beads to match....
A sketch for the pendant I wanted to create as the focal point for my necklace.
Making the Beads....
I started out with using some silver glass that I had. I only had ONE rod of this very expensive glass so I had to not only learn quickly how to make the glass SING, but also save some for my actual designs!
Lucky I was a fast learner and had some really great results. I took some notes and the next day sat down to make the beads and headpins.
SUCCESS again! What a lucky girl! Ooohhhhhhhhh the COLORS!
Now to create more beads to finish up the design.
Some smaller size "Spiral Fire Coins". OMG look at the color and luster!
A "Fire Flower" connector ring. Oh the colors again!!
Some signature "Wing Dings" "Fire Dings" to match! I used some wonderful odd lot glasses to get all of the best pinks, corals and oranges!
BUT... I still need more. How about FINALLY cracking open my Painting with Fire book from Barbara Lewis?!
The Enamel failure and finally SUCCESS...
Safety first! Protect your lungs from that fine glass powder and your eyes from the flame!
Crock pot, vermiculite, enamels. They did just post in the forum that these "Annealing Bubbles" worked pretty well too.
Day 1... Kinda burnt? Oxidozed? They chipped too :( Maybe I need a crock pot and vermiculite?
Day 2... crock pot and vermiculite. Kinda better, but still chipping. *hiss*
I talked with Barbara and she was telling me she had great success using dark annealed steel wire(which I love to use for my lampwork glass heapins for its strength, color and lack of leaving fire scale everywhere).
I guess I will at least play with my wire ideas with the junk ones to see how they work up.
I just LOVED this new way Staci did her bails and wanted to give this same idea a try, but Genea style....
I like this idea too. How can I work Karen's new patinated ring into my design??? Hmmmm....
THIS TIME, I wasn't taking anything but success! My days were running out to make my necklace and the weather was BALLZ HOT! I fired up my torch to make my beads and enameled my pins. This time I put them in the kiln with my beads.
Here's what came out!! :D:D:D
I can't believe how much better these worked and turned out! YAY!! Off to coat them in Renaissance wax and then wire away.
Wire it up!...
I wanted to make some sort of "cage" to hold my "spiral fire coins". I made them pointy to match the flower/sun rays on my donut.
Hmmm now I need a clasp! I remember Staci had posted a link to Cindy Wimmer's clasp for our Alice Blog hop. I just LOVE how it turned out! Did you see I added some of Marsha Neal's silk cording as well? :)
Now to figure out how to wire up my focal and get the "spiral fire coin" inside.
Hmmm.....
Getting there....
Now THAT is more like it!!
Now for some wired loopy links to make a chain. Maybe some open hoops?
Some assembly of my wired pieces with my "fire flower" connector ring.
Some recycled Sari Silk.
TADA!!! The necklace! I think this is the most ARTISTIC piece I have EVER done to date! I am so pleased with the design and all of the handmade elements I used to create my piece! *dreamy sigh*
What it looks like worn :)
Thanks so much for stopping by to see my finished creation!
Now go check out what everyone else created!
The Crafthopper
LamplightCrafts
Spice Box Designs
All the Pretty Things
Jean A Wells
Kristen Stevens
LamplightCrafts
Spice Box Designs
All the Pretty Things
Jean A Wells
Kristen Stevens
xo Genea
39 comments:
That was quite a process! I love your necklace - and the enameled wire is quite gorgeous. It is, indeed, a very artistic piece - thanks for sharing the process :)
Wow, that's hot! Love you showing all the steps especially the less than perfect ones because it great to see our idols are real women. It's encouraging to know.
That is absolutely georgeous, I so love what you did with Kristi's component and really enjoyed following the design process.
Amazing Genea, that beautiful glass bead in the center is Geneaus, get it? Genius...Geneaus!! So intricate and creative I'm in love, and that hot pink couldn't look cooler with the copper. It looks fantastic on too!! Thanks so much for joining my hop!!!
This piece is so beautiful! I agree - it is super artistic. I would wear it all the time - or just stare at it because it is so cool.
I really enjoyed seeing the creation of your beautiful piece. Thank you for sharing that! Wonderful work!
LOVE it. The colors do SING! The links with the coin beads are just so detailed and perfect. They would have made great earrings too! The flower link, I am in love with. just perfection. A necklace fit for a fire goddess.
Fabulous page turner post. Gorgeous gorgeous necklace. Loved reading all of this.
It's absolutely beautiful and looks great on you, too.
Thanks for all the step-by-step discussion of how you made everything and your decisions along the way. It was very interesting. I enjoy reading how other people do their work.
Wow, wow, and wow! What a stunning piece. I love all your handmade elements, especially the enameled pins. I know you will get loads of comments when you wear this! Thanks for taking us through the process and reminding us that things don't always turn out, and to just keep trying.
Love your design! The colors are fabulous. Hard colors to get in grass. Great Job.
Your glass, Kristi's donut.....Oh MY! I love the colors and how you pulled it all together. Your glasswork is amazing!
What?!?! That's crazy awesome. And perfect for this weather. I have never thought through making the elements quite like that before. Awesome!
Alicia- It was! Thanks so much :) Yeah I am so pleased with my last results! Thank you so much for your kind words! Thank you for stopping by!
Ginger- Thank you! It sure is fitting with our 104 degree weather! *melts* I'm glad you enjoyed the process. I feel it's so important to show what goes into my work. I think that peoples biggest misconception is that everything we create as artists is wonderful. Well, as you can see, "they" are wrong. It's just nice to know that not everything turns out, but we learn so much when it doesn't ;) Thank you so much for your kind words!
Linda- Thanks so much! I was so excited with how it all came together! Me too! As much as I love negative space, I needed to fill that donut hole with a spiral and turn it into a firey sun! I'm so glad you enjoyed the process!
Kristi- Thank you so much for letting me join your hop! I love the donut you sent me, the colors are just gorgeous! Lol! Yep, I get it! Thanks so much!! I picked the bead with the most "fire" in it for the center ;) Intricacy is what I do for sure. Sometimes too complex! Yeah I love the pink/orange with the copper as well! Thank so much! I have been loving wearing it! :)
Peggy- Thanks so much! Awww that is the really the direction in which I want my work to travel! I have been! He he. Yeah I loved looking at it sitting on my bead table :)
Marla- Thanks so much! I really enjoyed showing the steps. There were so many! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Staci- Thanks so much! That is what we lampworkers call it when you can strike and reduce the colors and wonderful iridescence out of the glass(make the glass sing). I was so excited to be able to accomplish it with so little glass! I just love the links too! I know! I ran out of enameled pins for the frames and needed to make more beads. I will probably go back and make earrings. You know every good necklace needs a fabulous pair of EARRINGS! Aww thanks so much! I will see how much glass I have left and try to get one made for ya. That is so funny that you say that. I forgot to give the name of my piece. I think I settled on "Brigid" - A Celtic fire Goddess, as a solar deity her attributes are light, inspiration and all skills associated with fire.
Mary- Thanks so much! I'm so glad you stopped by! Great to see you!
Libellula- Thanks so much! It's so much fun to wear! Of course, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I do too!
Alice- Thank you so very much! Me too! It was really exciting to create so many pieces for my design! I am so glad those finally turned out! I loved working them into my design! You know surprisingly no one has said ANYTHING to me while I have been wearing it! Crazy huh?! Of course, I'm glad you enjoyed the process :)
Pam- Thank you kindly! Yeah I love the brightness! You know after figuring out a few things it comes pretty easily. I am really pleased with the ease of working with this particular color. Double Helix did a great job!
Kristen- I know, right?! I loved our pieces together! Thanks so much!
Jennifer- Thanks so much! I know it! It's been SO HOT! Yay! I'm glad I gave you some new perspective ;)
xo Genea
I love it! You did such a great job on highlighting the focal, while adding GORgeous beads and handmade findings! Wow! So colorful, and so creative!
Fantastic Genea! Thanks so much for sharing your process, good and bad. That is definitely one of the things I look for and love to see in a blog!
Your fireflower components are simply gorgerous, and it was fun seeing how you pulled it all together. I've never done any enameling, so I found it especially interesting what you went through enameling the wire components. I didn't know where you were going with it until you got there and then it was an 'ah ha' moment. :)
Wowie wow wa wowza! That is just AMAZING! I loved seeing the whole process, and made the huzbeast come look too. I keep saying I will not try torching, keep repeating it over and over in my head, must NOT open another aspect of beading, but you really tempt a guy with that magic you create. I love, love, love your glass, but that's only equaled by your completed piece. You are truly a gifted artist. I love the colors you used, and that they fed off the brilliance of Kristi's component. It's a beautiful piece, and just lifts the soul to look at it. --Diane
Thanks so much for sharing your design process with us - very interesting to see how you go about designing and making your jewellery. The result is absolutely stunning - I love the colour combination, the use of material and how it all comes together in the end.
Desiree Malan
Earthbutter Studio
South Africa
Genea! I love the necklace, its beautiful. AND I really enjoyed seeing your design go from paper to final piece. Glorious...what talent you have.
Heather- Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm so glad you stopped by :)
Karen- Thanks so much! You're very welcome. I was happy to share my process ;) I'm glad you enjoyed both the successes and failures of the process.
Thank you! I am so pleased with how they turned out. You know I actually cracked the ring of my "fire flower" when I created it? It got too cold and it cracked while I worked it! I super heated that spot on both sides and was able to "heal" the glass! *whew* Yeah who knew there was so much involved with getting them just right. I knew enameling would be the next logical step for me since I already work in glass ;)
Dragonfly Close- Awww you are too kind! That is so cute you had your hubby come check out the design as well. I make mine do that too! He he. What good guys they are to humor us ;) If you don't want to invest in the equipment try checking around your area to see if you can take a class somewhere. See if you like it before investing in the equipment and supplies. It is HARD, so if you venture out, know it takes lots of practice to get where I am. I have been practicing for 9 years ;) Thank you so much for your wonderful, wonderful comment :)
Desiree- Sure thing! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I love pictures! Awww thanks so much!
Shelley- Awww thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed my post! Thank you so very much for your kind words :)
xo Genea
I love your necklace. It is truly an artistic piece and you put so much work into it making everything. I wish I could do that! But, alas, I am but an assembler. Great job!
Great fun to see how you worked your way through the design - better than most how-to magazine articles! Love how it all came together with such a beautiful outcome. Just a really lovely necklace!
Absolutely gorgeous. the color are like candy. I'm salivating. You should be very proud.
Jean- Thanks so much! I did and I'm so glad that it all worked out so well! You can! Just give it a try! ;) Thanks so much!
Gretchen- Thank you :) Awww thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed my post and that it was a good read.
Pyxee- Thanks so much! I agree! I am! :)
xo Genea
All I can say is WOW!
Thank so much Mary!
That is flipping awesome -- gimmegimmegimme! And I loved seeing the process.
Love it love it, gimme gimme!
And thanks for showing the process, too!
Thanks :D Sure thing! Thanks for stopping by Lori! xo G
Wow!! That is absolutely fantastic. Thanks for sharing your entire process. I appreciate how time consuming learning new techniques can be, yet so very rewarding.
Gorgeous! I loved the color in your glass beads and they're exquisite with all the rest of this. Great job.
Oh,Genea how fabulous! Thanks for sharing your design process too!
Love this photo journey into your creative process! Especially the dust mask! lol
Emakaye- Thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed my post! Yeah for sure. I'm glad you appreciate my hard work ;)
Sherri- Thank you! I love the colors I was able to achieve with the glass as well! It was really exciting to learn how to work this new glass!
Lori- Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it! thanks for stopping by!
Karen- Thanks! I tried to keep the wording down and use lots of photos :D Lol yeah it makes me think of Diana's photo in her Raku get up! Lol
xo Genea
Genea, I just love your jewellery designs. They are so unusual, unique and artistic - ervy time I come over to a blog hop in which you are taking part, I am blown away by your designs! Absolutely stunning.
Rebecca- Thank you so much for your kind words :) You are so sweet. I just got really lucky that my muse had so many wonderful ideas for my piece. It just gave me that little extra push to try those other techniques I had wanted to try for a long while ;)
Thanks for stopping by!
xo Genea
Genea, this has got to be one of the most illustrative and heartfelt blog posts I have seen in a very long time - really going in to the process from behind the scenes from start to finish. I am truly amazed at the thought you put in to your design, and how you carried it out so successfully - from creating your own (AMAZING) coordinating beads, to working with new techniques like the enameling. And what's more, you pulled in ideas and concepts from other designers and used them in your own unique way. I really LOVE the color scheme you created with your WingDings - pinks and oranges - so lush. Thank you for sharing every step of the way. The finished piece is totally swoon-worthy! ;-)
Cindy- Awwww thank you so much for your kind words :) I am flattered that you enjoyed my post that much :) You're welcome. Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and comment :)
xo Genea
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