NEW DESIGNS and a shop update! Introducing "Rainbow Serpent Coins" !

Hello friends!

Well never a dull moment, and with the show RIGHT around the corner things are getting even more intense!  I have been just plugging away making beads in the studio and trying to stay cool in the HOT and HUMID Missouri/Kansas Summer. 

I posted a video from my phone of a storm that rolled into Olathe the other week and was so pleased with the video quality and upload ease I did a few lampwork videos too! I thought heck why not, right?! I will just post the link to my business page since they take awhile to upload on each site and for some reason youtube didn't recognize the video format. 

I am super STOKED about my new Sea Urchin designs. I honestly put one of the stamps aside because I didn't think it would work up into a design. Well luckily this new one worked perfectly! 

Here is the "quick view" of what is new in the shop if you don't want to read past here.

I just love these photo collages. They make everything so pretty and give you that great way to see everything all at once :D

"Painted Desert Pods" pair. I had made these awhile back and just never got back to them until now. Staci created these beautiful earrings below and that kinda lit the fire under my butt to make some more ;)

So pretty! I just love our beads together! 

Rainbow Serpent Stick "Ivory Rainbow". Wow! Just look at all of the amazing colors on this baby with all of that curdled and webbed ivory goodness! 

And if the front wasn't already amazing enough, this is the back side! :D

Rainbow Serpent Stick "Teal Tide". You know how I love my collections of beads to match everything ;) This is no exception. The back side has a pretty stripey rainbow like the other serpent sticks. 

Rainbow Serpent Coins "Ivory".(One) Lots of gorgeous color variation on these! Nice soft pastels on one side and vivid, orangey, golden, pinky, violet on the other side! So pretty on that ivory base.

Rainbow Serpent Coins "Midnight Rainbow".(One) Um holy YUM! Don't you just LOVE that high contrast of vivid color against the black? These even have that lighter side as well, but more minty greens with a splash of pale pink and some yellow. 

Here are some GORGEOUS reversible earrings I created with some other beautiful art components: Black Raven Canoe beads by Starry Road studio, Color drenched hoops by Miss Fickle Media, and Copper bright patinated Urchin Sticks by Kristi Bowman Design.

Thanks for stopping by this weekend!

See you soon!

xo Genea

Friday MIXER... well in glass ;) Shop Update.

Hello friends!

Happy Friday! Who doesn't love a mixer? Well normally you know that involves some nice frou frou drinks and unwinding after the work week. Well I have a little Mixer for you in my shop! I asked my Bead Babes if they thought anyone would be interested in some random sets of 3 headpins. You know a nice little sampling of this and that. They said yes, so I figured what the hell, right?! So there they are!

Mixer 1- Flowers- This set is a fun mix of 3 experimental designs. Just some fun I had making some glass, but never got around to making more. These are little cone flowers with a pod center and dotted center along with a bumply round. Fun!

Mixer 2- Dot, Pod, Swirl- A wonderful "Swirl pod," spiral round and bumply glittery round. 

Mixer 3- Rainbow Sand and Storm- Um... YUM! You can NEVER go wrong with a little raku, silver and some earthy tones. I just LOVE this wonderful sandy golden brown and this earthy brown gray! So pretty! This is another set of experimentals, oh and one from when I made these earrings for myself ;) 

Galaxy beads are by MAKU Studio and Paisley Cones are by Kristi Bowman Designs ;)

Mixer 4- Electric Lime Mini- Some wonderful stone finish, etched and shiny and shiny headpins. Some from a mix I made for MAKU and some from a mix made for Marsha Neal Studio.

Mixer 5- Rainbows and Galaxies- A little sampling from some headpins I made for MAKU and Karen Totten ;) Some shiny, and shiny and etched. Soooo pretty! 

WHAT ELSE IS NEW??

Well you remember me being at the end of my rope? Turns out it was just a small drop to get down ;) You should SEE what I created! I am just astounded that I not only got it to work, but just how INCREDIBLE the design is! That is all I can tell you for now. This work has a story to go along with is. Beauty often has it's troubles. So stay tuned next week to see the new work unveiled!

Have a wonderful weekend! 

See you soon!

xo Genea

Krisit Bowman, Copper Big Hole Challenge REVEAL!

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!

KristiBowmanDesign

Dragonfly Close

Karen Williams

Staci Louise

Teathered Cat

Pine Ridge Treasures

Jennifer Cameron

Karen Totten

GeneaBeads(You are HERE)

Linda Larsen

Barbara Lewis 

SueBeads

The Crafthopper
LamplightCrafts
Spice Box Designs
All the Pretty Things
Jean A Wells
Kristen Stevens

xo Genea

Art Jewelry Elements & Copper Big Hole Hop by Kristi Bowman Design

Hello friends!

Wow what a great day! Not only was I invited to join the Art Jewelry Elements group, but I also got to join in on Kristi Bowman's Copper Big Hole Focal Blog Hop! Double Bonus!

I am super stoked to be part of an amazing new group that specializes in art jewelry elements, and man oh man, do we have some fantastic members! Be sure to click my side bar for details on the group and Kristi's challenge! 

Thanks for stopping by to be excited with me!

I'll see you shortly cause I have SO much stuff I have been working on! 

Have a fantastic evening!

xo Genea