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November 2024 Recap: Beads, Beads, Beads

We had our first rain of the season this week… After such a long and hot summer, we really needed it. It won’t be long before the dry, brown hills all around us begin to turn green again!

In the meantime, I will be enjoying more time at the torch experimenting with some brand-new glass colors I recently received… and, of course, making more beads! 😀

Here are some photos of recent beads I’ve made. I’ve also included links to a couple of my most recent YouTube videos as well…

Thanks so much for subscribing to my blog and for your interest in my glass work!

Christina 🙂

P.S. For the latest updates, BTS videos, photos & announcements follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ccglassart_ or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ccglassart

October 2024 Recap: Beads, Murrini & Latticino

Thanks to my amazing husband, who installed a mini air conditioning system in my studio this year, I was able to torch all the way through the hot summer months. Including this month, which brought us record breaking temps that hovered around 100 degrees most days in October! 😛

Lately I’ve been focusing on my favorites… Encased murrini beads! I’ve also spent some time creating new murrini designs and latticino. I’ve even added a new DEMO video to my YouTube channel. 😀

You can catch up with everything I’ve created this month through the photos below:

Thanks so much for subscribing to my blog and for your interest in my glass work!

Christina 🙂

NEW XL Marble-Style FOCAL Beads

After my disappointing experience attempting to make paperweights, (which I will get the hang of eventually!)…. I am back to making what I know and love –> encased murrini BEADS!

This time, instead of small bracelet sized beads – these are nice BIG FOCAL-size beads with LOTS of embedded elements including handmade murrini & latticino. PLUS, sparkly extras like color-shifting dichroic glass, shimmering goldstone and real GLITTER!

Focal sized handmade encased murrini glass beads.

The goal with my encased murrini beads is to create TONS of visual interest so there is something new to look at from every angle. I want my beads to be a kaleidoscope of color & design that look just as good indoors as they do in full sun!

You can view additional photos and learn more about these beads on Etsy.

Thanks for looking!

Christina 🙂

lampwork glass paperweight

Broken Glass & Lampwork Challenges…

The learning curve never stops – even after being a lampworker for over 17 years!

For a long time, I have been wanting to take my encased murrini bead designs and turn them into paperweights.

But when I tried to do this….it was like learning to ride a bike all over again!

The MOST challenging part has been learning how to transition the large gather off the punty (glass rod used to hold the gather while creating the design) and transferring the paperweight safely into the kiln to anneal.

The main reason the paperweight you see in this video is broken is because of thermal cracks. This happens when the glass cools off too quickly.

It’s a delicate balance between the final shaping of the glass and soaking it with enough heat to handle the transfer from flame to kiln – but not so much heat that will distort the glass during this transfer.

I’ve ordered a few more tools which will hopefully help me manage this part of the process more successfully… I will keep you posted! Wish me luck! 😀

NEW Beads – 7/15/2020

Hello! I hope this message find you healthy and safe! Here are this week’s beads which will be listed shortly as 24 hour auctions in the Lampwork Bead Market Facebook Group (click to visit). Thanks for looking! 🙂

Handmade lampwork encased murrini bead Handmade lampwork encased murrini bead Handmade lampwork encased murrini bead Handmade lampwork encased murrini bead Handmade lampwork encased murrini bead