NEW Series, "Sugar Beach Rainbows", "Naked Sugar Beach Rainbows" and the process of creating a new series.

Hello friends!

Have you seen them?? They have been BLOWING up all over Facebook! 

Check out this screen shot from my Facebook page! Wow, exciting huh?!

I would love to introduce my NEW series of beads "Sugar Beach Rainbows" and "Naked Sugar Beach Rainbows". It all started out with a single bead and turned into an entire series of new work! Below is the bead that started it all :)

 I don't know if I am completely done with the series just yet as I have NOT made any glass headpins or spacers ;) The chilly temperatures of what's left of this half ass winter are keeping me from CRANKIN'  out beads in my studio. Looks like we will get some more snow over the next couple of days our "big" 1-5 inches of snowfall. *cough cough* Then temps will climb back into the 30's and even up to 55.

A new series really starts out with laying out all of the colors you want to use and getting out your scientist hat. This is the development phase. Not all colors will work out the way you planned so it's a good idea to test things out before doing an entire run of beads. You could think something will work out perfectly only to find out you made an entire run of beads that could use a few more tweaks in the design. 

So step 1. color choices, step 2. color tests. This is more important for stone texturing. Not all glasses like to make that pretty texture. So this is really important to figure out before moving on. After all of those steps are done, next comes color layering. I wanted the look of the colors gently fading one into the next. This works really great if we have a TON of colors in that specific hue, but is harder when we have all of like 3 hues for our pinks. We have super pale, one slightly lighter and then hot pink. This doesn't really make for easy color transitions. Luckily our friends over at Creation is Messy are kind enough to try out new colors and adding some fantastic new additions to our existing palette. Finally someone that will listen to our color requests :) 

So lets take a look at one of Messy's wonderful new pink additions to our palette, Blush. On the left you can see the original batch. Hubba hubba, huh?! Is that a SEXY pink, or what? That is the OLD batch of Blush from when the first color came out. On the right is the newer batch that came out kinda recentlyish. So you can probably expect to see more of that hue. It never does hurt to ASK when you order your glass though. The color does shift all the way across the entire lot of glass they receive ;) This is where I will 1. Tell you to be sure to ask when you order, and 2. One of the MOST important gems of advice I can give you... If you find a color batch you like ORDER A LOT. Glass changes ALL the time. So if you find that one batch you like STOCK UP the next batch could be totally different. Reactions and colors.

Anywho... so as you can see the older batch is darker and the newer batch is lighter. The newer batch fades more gently in color so that is the one I decided to use.

Oh and you're welcome for me telling you one of the colors I used :P As a lampworker one thing aside from skill is knowing your color palette. This is one of your BEST weapons from setting yourself apart from everyone else out there. You may be able to do the same techniques as everyone else out there, but color layering and being able to pick out colors that  look beautiful together is actually a skill. One I didn't realize I had until I met some people that didn't have it. I have to thank my mom for that one. She too has the gift of pairing up colors. 

Now let's take a look below. Before moving on for the headpin designs I tried out a few different things to see which I liked best. On the left you can see this is the "naked" style with no color core underneath. You can see the colors fade more gently, but it's hard to see that there are actually 3 colors on there. The next 2 are different layers with cores. No, I can't tell you EVERYTHING. Some things you need to go sit down in your studio and to yourself. This is what makes you a good artist. Go do your homework :P

So lets back track a little bit and start back with the first bead I made for the series. Of course you knew I would start with green and blue, right?! ;) So the bead on the top right you can see kind of fades from yellowy green to a more minty green and the bead on the bottom fades from green to more aqua blue. The bead on the top right is the original bead and the bottom right is the bead that is featured in the "Sugar Beach Rainbows" set. After creating the different beads I got curious. As you can see with the white cores you can see the stripes of each color. You can still see them with the "naked" style bead, but they fade more gently on the bottom left. On the top left you can see that the colors fade almost invisibly. How does that work? Well remember when I told you that the more colors you have in that hue the easier it is to color transition? Case in point....

Now it's time to make some beads! So grab that glass and let's get to work on a run of beads! Here you can see the original set of "Sugar Beach Rainbows".

What is a collection of work if you don't make some focals?

Sugar Beach Rainbow "Warm Rainbow". SOLD.

"Naked Sugar Beach Rainbows"

Naked Sugar Beach Rainbows "Warm Rainbow"

Naked Sugar Beach Rainbow "Cool Rainbow".

So hopefully with this post this gives you a little bit more of a look into the process and why I charge what I do for my work. It's easier to put value on something if you understand all of the work involved in the final product. So let's recap... 1. Color choice. 2. Color development. 3. Surface texture. 4. Test run of beads. 5. Series run of beads. 6. Cleaning beads. Did you know there is actually a science for this? My stone textured beads go through a rigorous cleaning before they look like the finished bead. They sure don't come out of the kiln looking so pretty. To paint a move vivid picture. Imagine excavating dinosaur bones. 7. New design development. Trying out more styles of beads to fit in the series. 8. Photographing, editing, listing. 9. Promotion and introduction of new work. 10. Tying, pricing beads. 11. Packaging, and shipping new beads.  Wow, that's a lot of work, huh? One of the many amazing services I offer you, my lovely treasured customers. XOXO.

Thanks for stopping by to read about our new series. I hope you find something you can't live without!

xo Genea