Now here is a beautiful pair of earrings from Aunti Di of Auntie Di’s De-Lites on etsy. She used two of my gold leaf wrapped amber beads to create these warm golden coffee earrings accented with gold vermeil (gold plated sterling silver) rope edged spacers and genuine swarovski crystals. Now thats what I call golden goodness!

Be sure and also check out her other etsy shop Shine Your Hiney Soap Co, full of truly mouth watering handmade vegan friendly soaps. When I purchased my first bar from her I was hooked. This soap rocks! Her soaps smell so good you almost want to take a bite. My favorite scent so far is the Nag Champa. Yum!!

In an effort to clean out my store before the USPS postage rate change, I’m having a special sale in my etsy store. I rarely ever do sales but I have 240 listings and have to edit each of them individually to reflect the new postage rates comming next month. I would rather pass on some savings to my customers than spend a day editing all my listings.

So here’s the deal…

From April 25th through May 12th Free shipping to all U.S. locations for orders over $19.99! **Put “freeship” in message to seller and wait for revised paypal invoice before paying**

Or…

Buy two focals and get second focal of equal or lesser value half off! **Put “focal” in message to seller and wait for revised paypal invoice before paying**

Here is something fun, and perfect for wearing to clubs, concerts, or other dark places . Beads that glow in the dark, how cool is that!?

Depending on the light source you charge them with. They are able to glow from 4-10 hours. Just put it on one of my sterling silver snake chains that are available at my etsy store and your ready to go.

I’ll most likely be making some more glow in the dark beads, so if you like this one make sure to check my etsy store for updates.

To a lot of new buyers and or admirers of lampwork beads, if you tell them that your beads are annealed you will most likely get that “huh?” expression in return.

If you are a buyer of lampwork you need to educate yourself. Otherwise you run the risk of buying beads that may only last a day. It’s your money and you should know what you’re buying.

When glass is heated, pushed around, and shaped while making a bead the molecules in the glass are taken out of order and jumbled all around putting stress on the glass and weakening it. When glass is heated it also expands and when it cools it contracts. So, say you make a bead and you take it out of the flame and lay it on the table in front of you. It immediately starts cooling off and therefore contracting. If you were to simply place the bead down when done and let it cool off on its own. It’s very likely to shatter or get hairline cracks due to the pieces temperature not being the same throughout the whole piece. Any stress or cracks in the final glass piece will severely limit the longevity of the bead. This is where annealing comes into play.

If you want to enjoy your beads for many years or if you are a lampworker and want happy customers, annealing is a very integral step in the bead making process. Most all new bead makers will start out cooling their flame worked beads in fiber blankets or vermiculite. Both serve the same purpose of cooling down the beads slowly helping the beads not to crack. That however is not enough, they are still stressed and could crack or shatter in a matter of hours days or our years. You just never know when it will happen. When someone states their beads have been annealed in a blanket, or flame annealed, run for the hills!

Annealing cannot be done in a fiber blanket, microwave, an oven, or in the torch flame. Glass needs to be put through a very slow and even cooling process that can take up to 6 hours or more depending on the size of bead. A kiln is the only way beads can be annealed. A kiln is used to heat the glass to the correct temperature where the molecules in the glass are able to move around evenly again and properly realign themselves. Once that has occurred the kiln is then slowly ramped down keeping the heat even throughout the bead to prevent stress and keep the bead from forming hairline cracks. After the long process has finished the beads will be back to the original strength and ready for use. That my folks is what is called annealing. If it’s not annealed it shouldn’t be for sale!

Article Contributors:
Joe Holford www.AvenueBeads.etsy.com
Marcy www.StudioMarcy.etsy.com
Kari Madera www.GlassFairy.etsy.com

Yes, today the part for my kiln finally got here. I was beginning to worry I’d have to go without making beads for another day. But! I heard a knock on my door while I was in the basement late this afternoon and I flew up the stairs to find a box on the porch.

I practically had to take the whole kiln apart to change out the heating element, but it wasn’t to bad once I figure it out. I’m just glad it was the heating element that was broke. If it was something else that would be another week of no bead making. But it works and now I can get back to my addiction with glass

Lots of catching up to do…

The part for my kiln didn’t come today and its been 6 days since I made beads. I really hope it shows up tomorrow. Going through some serious withdrawal issues here Its going to be even worse if the part that is being sent isn’t what’s wrong with the kiln. I think I’ll explode if that happens.

I did how ever at least melt some glass today. When I’m not making beads my brain is always in over drive thinking up new designs. Well something popped into my head so I decided to make a bunch of twisties for my next creations. Making the twisted canes are actually quite relaxing to make as odd as that sounds. I don’t make them that often and I probably should but that might have something to do with me being addicted to using dots in a lot of my beads

Crossing my fingers and hoping for a package at my door tomorrow…

I hear the boss coming and you better look busy! Just kidding. What I really want to say is its getting close to that time. What time your wondering? Its time for a contest I say!

If you’ve purchased any of my beads or plan to soon, you are in luck. Put your magic to work and create a necklace, earrings, bracelet, or anything else with one or more of my beads. Then prepare to show them off for you chance at some free stuff!

So get your thinking cap on and get creating. The call for entries is comming soon!

Check the FAQ to read more about the contest

Never lose your scissors again. With this scissor fob you’ll never have to wonder “are these my pair of scissors”. Alison of Holdfast Designs on Etsy.com has used one of my adorable panda focal beads for this fob. Would make the perfect gift for a scrapbooker, crafter, or for yourself of course

Feast your eyes on these beautiful earrings from Kathi using two of my yummy striped choco-mint beads. Whoever buys these earrings better protect their ears so they don’t get nibbled right off

Like any other day I went into my studio, turned on the kiln and lit the torch. I set out to make some more implosion pendants like the blue daffodil to the left. This time I was making a mushroom that turned out pretty neat. I turned to open up my kiln door and say the temp reading 60 degrees. Sometimes I get ahead of myself and start torching and forget to start the kiln. So I thought I forgot again. I started the program again and put the bead back in the flame to keep it warm. Unfortunately the temp just sat there blink 60 degrees. My stomach dropped and I felt like I just lost my beloved pet. Luckily I still had a fiber blanket that I could put the pendant in so it wouldn’t crack.

I contacted the kiln maker and now I sit here and wait for the replacement parts while my torch sits there all alone waiting to be used. I’m not sure how long its going to take to get here but I hope its soon. I’m going crazy So many ideas in my head that I need to make come to life.