Something new for me lately is the combination of metal components with my lampwork beads.
I have been exploring making my own bead caps, experimenting with different metals and different techniques, and finally developed a way to stamp and finish them that works well with my bead designs.
So far I’ve been working mainly in brass and copper as I love the rich coloring of these metals, and the way they look when antiqued.
I recently stumbled upon a neat trick that transforms simple colored glass frit into a washed watercolor effect on a reactive glass base! The technique produces translucent pools of color that take on a unique, one of a kind look with every bead. 😀
Here’s a bead I made using an old tried-and-true technique which always produces great results and a unique look – combining dark ivory glass with fine silver foil. It turns ordinary glass into what looks like natural stone.
It has been a while since I gave my bead liner tool a whirl, so I thought it was time to make some fun big hole beads with sterling silver cores. Besides, I needed a few new beads for my own Pandora bracelet as well 😉
Here is the first batch, available now on Etsy…
I know I’ll be getting a lot of use out of my Pandora-style bracelet this summer and thought others might be thinking the same thing. So I made a bunch of large hole glass beads over the weekend which universally fit all types of European charm bracelets like Trollbeads, Biagi, Chamilia, and Pandora.
CCGlassArt 