Everyones flower gardens should be well into their full bloom. I know ours is certainly alive and bursting with color. With our new blown glass bud vases you can bring some of that color and wonderful smells indoors while displaying them in something just as eye catching and beautiful as your flowers.
Each one of these bud vases is a one of a kind work of art. They may be small but pack a big visual punch.
An excerpt from our latest live lampworking broadcast showing how I make blown vessels. This one is more of an experiment of making them without the glass handles and adding wire handles once annealed. Finished piece is pictured blow video.
This is a clip taken from the live broadcast so you may hear me talking to the viewers in the chat room. If I say something that doesn’t make sense, that’s why
I’ve started listing focal beads on eBay again as of a couple weeks ago. Most of them have been selling for acceptable dollar amounts. Lost a couple to really low bids but it all evens out in the end I figure.
Well today I put up a risky auction I have been tempted to put up on of my blown hanging decorative vessels/jars ever since I started making them. It won’t be a huge risk due to the fact I started the bidding at $30 instead of my usual .99cents. Still has me nervous though. These blown pieces take a minimum of an hour to make. I figure if it sells for $30 I will get at least a little money from it.
Well here it is, your chance to get this gorgeous piece at wholesale price!
After another week of not being able to broadcast, we were ready for some Friday night fun. I was really tired but didn’t care, I had to say hello to everyone! Missed you guys.
This first bead is actually the last one that I made last night. It is a base of bright lime green rolled three times in the fine size Sea Breeze Fusion Frit. Love the contrast between the base glass and frit colors.
The other focal bead that I made last night was made using our new 104coe Raku Milli chips. These are so much fun and add an interesting element to any bead. They are rather unsuspecting in chip form but after they are placed into the bead they explode with their gorgeous rainbow of colors. The shards that were used on this bead were the Aurea shards.
And of course I had to make another one of my decorative hanging window jars. This one came out much different that I had envisioned. The base was iris gold which usually turns into a really pretty deep avocado green tone, however this time it changed to a really pretty blueish green opaque. This newest jar is currently available in my etsy store.
Lastly, this is the conch shell that I made last night. These are very fussy things to make. Keeping the whole thing from cracking while your working is not an easy task. This one did crack but I only made it for demonstration purposes anyway, had no intention of selling this one.
During tonight’s broadcast we will be playing with some new shards, the Motley shards that we took over production for from Janet’s Glass. I’ve made a paddle with them last week and this is a gorgeous shard! Looking forward to getting them on a bead and seeing where it goes from there. These shards should be available for purchase soon. I also haven’t made a tree bead in a long time so I will probably make another one of those and incorporate some other things into it like the raku milli chips for something new. Guess we’ll see, tune in and find out
I have a bunch of catching up to day in the way of bead “show off” photos, so this post is probably going to get rather long
After about 4 years of trying to find my niche, my style, my “hey that’s an Avenue Beads creation” type of work. I think I’ve finally stumbled upon what I’ve been striving for.
Window Jars
These decorative jars that I’ve been making for the past week or so have really been exciting. As I’ve said in the broadcasts this is probably the worst timing for coming out with pricey items, but I am having way to much fun creating these. Their colors, form, and style are unique and eye catching, but wow do they take a long time to make! On average they take an hour to an hour and a half to make. Sounds crazy for a piece that measures in at 1 1/2″ tall doesn’t it? Each one is made up of many layers of stacked dots of beautiful colors that create a mosaic style pattern of compact shapes and color. Below are the newest additions that I have made and are available for purchase in my Etsy store.
Blue Prism Super Silver Shards
We released our newest batch of shards last night. The first mix of the new Super Silver line. So I made two more example beads with it last night. Both of them show how versatile this shard is. It is able to achieve so many different sheens and colors. Both of these beads are also up for auction on ebay.
Ornament Giveaway
Free giveaway during tonight’s broadcast! If you stick it out to the end tonight you have a chance of winning the below item. Barry has been after me to make our own ornaments for our Christmas tree and I finally tried the first one It turned out great visually but it blew out lopsided. So I’m giving it away to one lucky person!
You don’t have to do anything special to win, you just have to be in the chat room during the drawing. Although if you want to leave a comment on this post or vote for me at myohmyshops I won’t stop you
Man, am I ever having fun with these new window jars that I’ve been blowing! I’m starting to get my technique down so as we go along the jars will most likely get more complex in their design.
The two that I made during last nights broadcast came out great! The first one was made with a gold pink base that was rolled in our Cherry Smash fusion frit. Finished with a raku rim and hanging handle.
The second one that I blew I decide to have serve a bit of different purpose. I will be grinding the bottom of this one flat so that instead of hanging in a window it can be set on a window sill or a shelf/counter. This one is my favorite one so far! The colors are beautiful. I still have to do some cold work on this piece. So as long as I don’t mess it up on the lapidary, it will be listed in our store as soon as it is finished.
Lastly, I got to use a new tool that I’ve been wanting to get for some time. Its for making the loop in off mandrel pendants. They are called “Peter’s Tweezers” and they really cut the time down in trying to get that perfect pendant loop. I can see already that this tool is going to get a lot of use. I got it from Flamekissedglass.com and you can’t beat the price of only $7.00 !
This was the pendant that was made during last nights broadcast using these tweezers. Base of light ivory with dots of Cobalt and Aurae. Check out how the Aurae nicely fumed the ivory!
We’ll be in the studio a little later today and will be making more jars and pendants. Check in about 4pm central time and we should be live! www.Justin.tv/avenuebeads
We had ourselves another fun filled night! Had a small group of watchers but we still had a great time on the broadcast. Thanks to all of you for tuning in.
First up is the example bead that I made for the “fine” size Rosewood Fusion Frit. This is a woody mix that will lend itself well to organic beads. I forget what the base glass was, I think transparent cobalt. It was wrapped in silver foil and then dipped into the frit, shaped, carved and it came out beautiful!
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Had to try another scarab bead last night, and this one came out much better. Still have some fine tuning that I’d like to do with my details though.
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Also made another example bead last night with the yet to be released and named Super Silver shard. I think this is going to be one of my new favorite shards to use. Bead was made with a trans cobalt base wrapped in my Raku Ribbon Twist canes and then overlaid with these new shards. Yum!
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And lastly, something new that I’ve never tried before. I call them Window Jars. They have no other purpose other than to look pretty hanging in your window :). I suppose you could put some kind of keepsake in them if you wanted. The first one I made went on without a hitch. The second one however cracked on me just before I was ready to put it in the kiln. Didn’t bother me all that much because I didn’t like how the mouth or handle came out anyway.
Now just imagine one of these (or several ) hanging in your window with the sunlight playing with its colors. I will definitely be making more of these for sale!
Click on photos for full view
I have a bunch of orders to fill (Thank You!) so I’m not positive if we will be broadcasting tonight or not. I will be sure and keep you all up to date if I have the time to turn on the camera. Catch you all later!
