This week I followed a couple ‘creative rabbit-trails’ working in both organic and traditional floral design when making these lampwork glass beads.

I rediscovered my stash of glass frit which I used all the time when I first started lampworking a couple years ago. I had forgotten about how much variety and the unique color combinations you can achieve with it, especially when paired with fine silver foil. The reactions that happen in the flame are just magical to watch, as they appear right before your eyes – no waiting on the kiln fairies!

Glass frit and fine silver foil are abundant in this organic style bead collection:

After my frit fix, I had a floral design and a new color combination in my head I have been wanting to try. I made these 3D floral murrini but went back and forth trying to decide if I should encase the murrini or leave them dimensional on top.

That decision was made for me, however, as the base bead got a little too big to be fully encased again, so I added the murrini to the surface, partially melting them in, and loved the end result!

Sometimes the best beads come from happy accidents 😀