New Silver Glass Beads

I recently bought a new silver glass that not only has fun and unique reactive properties, but also produces some of the most vivid and intense deep shades of cobalt, plum, teal and turquoise I have ever seen in glass.

I had so much fun using this glass in most of this week’s beads…

Deep Sea Lichen bead pair
Venice Pier round bead
Western Wind bead pair
Sea Grass bead pair

Organic & Ornate Lampwork Beads

This week I was inspired to include reflective silver and gold elements in both rustic organic and shiny ornate bead designs.

Drops of Jupiter organic bead set
Honeysuckle round bead focal
Honeysuckle round bead pair

Outdoor Fun Lampwork Glass Beads

This week’s beads are inspired from fun in the sun days at the beach or at the fair –

'High Tide' lampwork bead focal
'Carnival' bead pair
'Malibu Pier' round bead

Flowers & River Rocks

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:

River Rocks lampwork bead set
River Rock glass bead focal

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 😀

Sweet Pea round bead