My obsession – going strong… 😀 You’d think after a year and a half of being consumed with making encased murrini beads I’d be tired of them by now. But no – there are so many endless design possibilities that I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this style bead. Occasionally I do venture out and do different things, but I always seem to come back to these. What’s a girl to do? 😉
Everyone knows how much I love murrini – I love making them, and I love using them a lot in my lampwork bead designs. I even wrote a tutorial on how to make beautiful murrini!
Something I have been working on perfecting for the past year has been encasing murrini beneath a layer of crystal clear glass so that it resembles an underwater ocean scene. It started with my pier beads and has evolved into my new coral reef series beads which are more complex with many different elements in the design.
Hard to believe but Halloween is right around the corner! To kick off the holiday season I made some cute Halloween themed big hole beads featuring encased murrini in fun shapes.
I also made some anytime-themed beads. Some with colorful encased murrini, some with raised dots and one with my encased stringer flowers:
One of my most beloved styles of glasswork is ‘organic’. Simply put, organic design refers to a more free-form approach to bead making, allowing the materials themselves to dictate placement without getting too fussy over a perfect end result. At least that’s my definition of organic bead making.
In a nutshell, it just means allowing the glass to do its own thing. I’d say the biggest challenge with organic design is to know when enough is enough. Although, I am the first to admit sometimes I go overboard when the reactions I’m getting are just so spectacular that I think more is more. 😉
Either way, organic lampwork bead design is something I find myself gravitating back to time and again.
I have been having a lot of fun creating these medium sized (and more modestly priced) lampwork focals for sale on Etsy.
They are not quite as labor intensive as my larger sized focals that I list on eBay. So I am able to have time to experiment with different color combinations and glass interactions – as well as incorporate some of my favorite design elements from the past.
CCGlassArt 