We have selected the top 10 names (wasn’t easy) of all those submitted for the new mottle shards naming contest. Now it is time for you all to decide what these shards will be named. The shard name that receives the most votes at the close of the poll will be the winner and that person will receive either a free .5 ounce bag of these fantastic new shards, or a set(2) of swizzle sticks!

The voting will end on Jan 20th 11:59pm (central).

Happy voting! Good luck to those who’s names have been chosen!

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Lampwork Artist Sale and Giveaway

Start this new year off with a bang!

20% off the following items.
•Shards
•Streaky Stringers
•Veining Stringers

15% off the following items.
•104coe Dichro Strips
•96coe Dichro Strips

But thats not all…All orders over $35 will be entered into a drawing where one lucky person will be receiving one of the new 104coe Bundles of Color!

Sale Ends Saturday Jan. 9th 11:59pm central time

Who’s ready for another shard naming contest!?

Here’s the details/rules…

The naming contest will start now and expire Friday Jan. 8th 2010 at 11:59pm. There will be a limit of one name submission per person. Please post your name here in this thread. If there is more than one person with the same name submission, the person who posted the name first will be the one that counts. After the close of the submission process we will go through all the names and pick our favorite top 10 names. A post will be made here on this blog revealing the names along with a poll for voting. The poll will run from Jan. 11th thru Jan. 15th.

The shard name that receives the most votes at the close of the poll will be the winner and receive either a free .5 ounce bag of these fantastic new shards, or a set(2) of our Marble Stix unique glass swizzle sticks. I’ll post a photo of the set of swizzle sticks soon, but you can go to the following link and get an idea of what they look like. http://www.etsy.com/shop/AvenueBeads?section_id=6205965

Now that you’ve read the boring details. Here is the awesome new shard that’s just waiting for it’s new name.

Yet 2 B named - 104coe Mottle Shards
http://www.avenuebeads.com/index.php…roducts_id=483

If you would like to get in on this contest, please go to the following link to submit your name. http://lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148918

Now that you’ve seen how these were made live on camera. Here are the pieces all in their crystal clear detailed photos

First off, here is the set of marbles that I made for a gift. Had I more time I would have made these a bit more elaborate, but their birthday is tomorrow lol. So I had to settle for quick and simple Either way the colors in these are very nice. And lucky for me they all came out of the kiln the same color. These are for a marble game and the set needs to look the same so the player knows which ones are their marbles. And if your wondering it’s a game called Aggravation

We also had a request to show how glass is fumed. This bead at your right is a dark ivory base overlaid with silvered ivory shards and a couple murrini chips. We then fumed it with silver giving this bead a really nice warm golden wheat color. You can’t see it in the photo, but the murrini chips also have goldstone in them, but due to the fuming it sort of hid the sparkle.

And now the bead you all couldn’t wait to see Now mind you, this is not my best encased floral. I messed up the petals on two of the flowers, but hey nature isn’t perfect either right? I used two different stamen canes in this bead along with nile green vine cane, and leaf cane.

Both of the beads from last night are now up for purchase in our online store. I hope that everyone enjoyed the show last night and will be back for the next broadcast!

so little time!

Even though we just released a bunch of new shards, there is already a handful of new shards and other supplies right behind them ready for release. There is also a bunch of new silver glass (TAG) that we’ll be adding to the shard list that is still in rod form, yet to be turned into shards. So in total we probably have about 10 new colors just waiting for their “birthday”

On top of that, I have ideas in my head that I don’t know if I’ll ever have time to get them out. I would like to increase the murrini selection, finish upgrading the website etc.., however blowing shards and filling orders takes precedence over that.

Some days I wish I could clone myself, or make it so there is more than 24 hours in a day. Perhaps then maybe I could get on top of things and really get some work done lol. The funny part is, when I had a full time job, it almost seems like I got more done during that time. Maybe it was just because I had less time to get things done.

At any rate, I’ll just keep plugging away…

Use this gallery for inspiration and see just what kind of beads can be made with our unique premium shards. Or just spend a couple hours drooling over all the pretty beads :). Each bead in this gallery has been made using our Dark Silver Plum (DSP) shards. Check back often as new beads will be added to the gallery on a regular basis. Please feel free to leave your comments, questions, or suggestions.

If you have any beads that you made using these shards and would like them included in the gallery, please let me know.

[View with PicLens]

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

~Joe~

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!

Click on photos for full view

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.

Click on photos for full view

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!

Click on photos for full view

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!

~Joe~