20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

On July 10, 2009January 22, 2010 By ccglassartIn What's Happening Now1 Comment

Ocean Floor Bead I have wanted to make an ‘aquarium’ style bead for a long time now. But knowing the level of skill and the amount of work that goes into them, I was certainly intimidated and put off trying it. Until now!

This particular bead is most definitely a labor of love. So much work goes into this style bead, even before you begin to actually create the bead itself!

The lengthy process begins with preparing all the individual elements that together portray the whimsical aquarium scene.

In this particular piece, I first made a variegated green twisted cane representing seaweed. I also made a striped cane for kelp. I then created sea urchin and starfish murrini – both a challenge to shape into their given likenesses.

Finally, when it was time to begin the final piece, I made the base bead with pale aqua glass. I sprinkled the base with enamels, both transparent and opaque, in shades of blue, green for the water and pink for the ‘sand’.

I applied all the additional elements and only melted them in slightly so they were left a bit raised on the surface of the bead giving it much depth and texture.

With it’s asymmetrical shape and attention to detail, this bead is one that is hard to stop looking at! It’s available on eBay now – just click here to view…

Until next time,
CC
http://www.ccglassart.com

Two New Bead Series – Luna & English Garden

On June 24, 2009June 24, 2009 By ccglassartIn What's Happening NowLeave a comment

Luna Series Bead

LUNA SERIES BEAD

The technique used in this bead causes fantastic reactions when certain types of glass are layered with fine silver foil.

The top half of this bead shows the results with varying shades of bright blue, soft greens and teals and even light purple.

I also incorporated dark ivory glass which has its own unique reaction with fine silver. It becomes darker and takes on a natural stone-like appearance.

This bead is available now starting at just .99 cents! Click here to visit this eBay auction.

ENGLISH GARDEN SERIES BEAD

I enjoy creating flowers from glass whenever I can. Especially during this time of year when inspiration is plentiful.

I’ve been working more and more with enamels, which is a finely ground glass powder. This product is carefully applied for a wispy, watercolor effect and then heated to a high gloss finish.

Shades of teal blue and green enamel set the stage for the handpulled vine cane that I wrapped around the bead for a stem and background.

Tiny 3 petal dot flowers are slowly melted in flush with the surface, then I added a raised pansy flower on top of the bead in a transparent deep purple glass with a dark blue dot in the center.

The name for this bead series came easily. As the wistful colors and application of glass instantly reminded me of the random beauty you can see in a typical English-style garden setting.

Click here to see this English Garden series bead on eBay now, starting at just .99 cents.

Until next time,
CC
http://www.ccglassart.com

Garden Party Meets Organics

On June 17, 2009 By ccglassartIn What's Happening NowLeave a comment

I recently took an interest in making bead sets after purchasing some colored frit (crushed glass) to use in my usual bead focals.

This collection is called “Garden Party” as it just spoke to me of the colors now bursting in my own garden. Namely, my hydrangeas which are coming up bright pink this year!

This set is available for the next 2 hours on eBay (sorry for the late notice!). Click here to view now…

Another technique that has captured my attention is the Organic-style bead focal.

Organic beads are very different to make from florals and other whimsical beads. Besides the obvious differences in Organic Sun & Sand

color, there is a tone, a certain thought and attitude they have. It’s almost as if these beads tell a story with their earthy, fossil-like details.

With this particular bead below, I wanted to ‘tell the story’ from beginning to end on my own. So everything you see is handmade by me, including the twistie and the murrini. This causes the bead-making process to take quite a bit longer than it might look like it would. But the end result is certainly worth it, if I do say so myself. 😉

This Organic-style bead was just listed on eBay today! Starting price is 99 cents + FREE shipping. Click here to view this item on eBay now!

Until next time,

Maybe it’s just me, but I think a little bling in a bead is a good thing – make that, a GREAT thing!

I had a hard time offering this bead for sale, I wanted to keep it for myself!

This bead is so incredibly beautiful in person (if I do say so myself 😉 with all that shimmering, glittering goldstone suspended in crystal clear glass.

I usually don’t photograph my beads outside but I just had to take this one out in the sun to try and capture its true beauty.

I also love the fact that the colors are fairly neutral, so this bead can be worn with any other color.

Celestial Series Bead in Deep Blues

My Celestial series beads were a ‘happy accident’. I was trying to achieve a layering effect with both transparent and opaque glass. I wanted to be able to see the inner layers of glass from the surface.

With the addition of the silvered ivory and Dichroic glass it was clear that this bead resembled something ‘other-worldly’, hence the name = Celestial.

It may look like a pretty straightforward, easy design to create, but this is actually one of the hardest beads to make simply because the colors and layers are so carefully arranged.

And when you’re working with hot, molten glass you don’t have a lot of time to think about placement. Half the time the colors are completely different when heated so a lot of it is guesswork, hoping it will come out as planned.

Art Deco Series Bead w/ Handpulled Twistie

Speaking of ‘happy accidents’… This bead started off as planned, but then took on a life of it’s own half way through.

There is a lot going on with this bead and including the time it takes to create the twistie you see in the middle, it’s one of the most time consuming designs I have made.

The twistie is handmade, by me, using olive green, deep red and ivory colored glass. It is applied in a specific pattern to a ball of glass then carefully heated and, when molten, handpulled while being twisted at the same time.

This bead also includes a sheet of pure fine silver foil encased just beneath the surface. The silver foil gives the bead this unique warm glow as it reflects light from within.

I wound goldstone stringer around each ‘hemisphere’ and left it slightly raised off the surface so that the bead had some texture and dimension to it.

**All these beads are currently available on eBay – just click here to view them! **

Until next time,