I work mostlywith borosilicate glass (better known as Pyrex), which tends to make me a mandrel-killer. These mandrels are stainless steel TIG welding rods so are meant to handle heat…just not the kind of heat I need to make that glass MOVE where and how it’s supposed to move. I burn through 3/32″ mandrels routinely […]
Last night’s crystal-shaped beads were more successful than they’ve been in the past. Definitely I don’t need to be making encased crystals until I get the unencased ones down, though! These also look better in lighter colors, and in transparent/translucent colors. Also, I love my two Zoozii’s XXL presses (the Kalera XXL and the Straight-Sided
Here I am trying to blog every day for a month, four days in, and I have nothing to say. Do we call this “blogger’s block,” akin to writer’s block? Or is it just symptomatic of the entire day, when I couldn’t get moving this morning, was blah all through class, came home and fell
I’m not hugely sure about this move, but after monitoring a lot of chatter, I’ve gone ahead and opened up a studio at Artfire.? At the very least, it is an alternative outlet to Etsy for beads that I want to sell as is. I’m planning to keep finished pieces, including earrings and the majority
As a boro glass beadmaker, I’m prone to pushing my “consumables” to the limit and beyond. Mandrels and bead release both take a lot of abuse at my hands. It’s no trouble at all to melt through a 3/32″ stainless steel welding rod as I smooth out the glass I just wound onto it…that is,
DH and I don’t make a big huge deal out of Stuff as possible for Christmas, since we pretty much have everything we want/need anyway, and if we don’t we get it for ourselves if we really want it. My family has gotten so darn big (parents, five kids plus spouses, eleven grandkids) that the
It took some doing, but my shop at 1000 Markets is finally approved and open for business! I got the products and new pictures up and resubmitted it on Thursday, only to get a message back today saying that my pendants needed to be offered ready-to-wear on a cord or chain. Well, the cord/chain wasn’t
I've been struggling with photographing my lampwork, that is, when I could make myself TRY to photograph it with our Kodak point-and-shoot digital camera. No matter what I did, I ended up frustrated. It was almost impossible to get decently focused pictures even using the macro setting; getting enough light was a herculean task; finding
Andrea found a new online site for selling handmade craft items, 1000 Markets. As soon as she mentioned it on Twitter, I popped over and checked it out. I liked what I saw and signed up right away! It’s pretty easy to set things up, and the fees are comparable to other venues once you