AD - Innovative Bead Expo, tomorrow & Sunday, Doylestown, PA

Maren at google wrote:
On Jun 22, 8:41 pm, Carla wrote:

In the meantime, I've been fusing my a** off I was recently looking
into getting a "real" kiln, but decided that's way more trouble than I
want to be bothered with. In about a month, though, I hope to buy the
larger size MicroKiln. If you wanna see, new stuff is up on my flickr
site -http://www.flickr.com/ccdesigns

Those are nice. I like the "surprise focal". And in my book the 14mm
dichro
squares are way similar enough for earrings.

Thanks, Maren. I've been wearing them almost every day

I was complaining about
one
pair of mine having come out all crooked, and somebody at work who
strings pretty amazing necklaces said "they're on the two sides of
your
head, nobody's ever going to notice that they're uneven"

It's true; and since you can't see them when you're wearing them, you'll
forget they're uneven. Looking at the pics on your blog, I gotta say
your round beads are pretty consistently sized.

Carla, question: How big are your lampwork beads? I love those
cylindrical
ones, but I'm afraid to make any decent sized ones without a kiln.

I think the largest is about 20 mm. Yeah, without a kiln for annealing,
I worry enough about breakage that I still won't use the lampwork beads
in anything I make for sale. I met a glass artist a couple of years
ago, though, who only uses the fiberglass (?) blanket, and would
demonstrate how sturdy the beads were by dropping them from above his
head to the cement floor of his studio. I never saw any breakage.

And as Carla was talking about the next piece of equipment: more
mandrels,
more glass, and a kiln. The kiln may be a few months away.

Patti: the open flame isn't half as bad as you may think - once you
get past
the "whooosh" when you light the torch.

That *still* makes me nervous, even moreso with the Hot Head torch and
spark lighter

Cheers,
Carla

On Jun 25, 9:13 pm, Carla wrote:
Maren at google wrote:
On Jun 22, 8:41 pm, Carla wrote:
And in my book the 14mm dichro
squares are way similar enough for earrings.

Thanks, Maren. I've been wearing them almost every day

Good for you!


Looking at the pics on your blog, I gotta say
your round beads are pretty consistently sized.

Well, with lampwork there's 3 dimensions and some of the ones
that have the same diameter don't have the same thickness :-)
But I did make some earrings with 2 of them tonight - half hiding
the lampwork in wire cages (my first pair of wire cages).

How big are your lampwork beads? I love those
cylindrical
ones, but I'm afraid to make any decent sized ones without a kiln.

I think the largest is about 20 mm. Yeah, without a kiln for annealing,
I worry enough about breakage that I still won't use the lampwork beads
in anything I make for sale. I met a glass artist a couple of years
ago, though, who only uses the fiberglass (?) blanket, and would
demonstrate how sturdy the beads were by dropping them from above his
head to the cement floor of his studio. I never saw any breakage.

I have the fiber blanket that came with the Hothead kit and I've been
rather
careful letting them cool off in the backflame first, and those few
all came out
OK.

And as Carla was talking about the next piece of equipment: more
mandrels,
more glass, and a kiln. The kiln may be a few months away.

And I did buy the mandrels and some more glass today :-)
And one of those carbon paddles so I can make cylindrical and flat
beads.

the "whooosh" when you light the torch.

That *still* makes me nervous, even moreso with the Hot Head torch and
spark lighter

What makes me nervous is when it doesn't light right away ...

Hoping to make more beads soon.

Aloha,
Maren
HiloBeads: Beads - Beading Supplies - Hand-made Jewelry
http://www.hilobeads.com/
Blog at: http://hilobeads.blogspot.com/

Carla,
There are lots of lampworkers in the Chicago area. If you were to
ask at www.isgb.org I'm sure one of them would be happy to anneal your
beads for you. Or, ask at a stained glass store. They often rent kiln
time as well.

Patti

I've heard about places I can have it done. It's just a time/energy
drain when you don't have a car

Cheers,
Carla

Patti wrote:
Carla,
There are lots of lampworkers in the Chicago area. If you were to
ask at www.isgb.org I'm sure one of them would be happy to anneal your
beads for you. Or, ask at a stained glass store. They often rent kiln
time as well.

Patti

I'm doing some simple gemstone things for a friend of my husband. She has a
beauty shop and flower shop. I'd rather have her buy or even just wear my
better lampwork jewelry. I'll have to work up to that.

I'm thinking of making some "footless sandals" to wear at my daughter's
wedding. I'll be wearing a long dress of Moroccan cotton, so my feet won't
show much. And I know it'll be way to hot for shoes.

Tina


"Patti" wrote in message
...
I went to the show on Saturday afternoon. I just bought a few things
- two small lampwork beads from Joan Miller to use as the skirt for
the Hippo charm finding I bought at Bead & Button, some brightly
colored enameled brass chain from Yvonne at MyElements to use to hang
my frit earrings, some of those ribbon chains for the fused pendants I
made at B & B. I find with this hot weather we are having, I am
breaking out from sterling, and these seem less irritating, plus they
pick up the colors of the dichro slide. I also bought some clasps and
two pair of double star earrings from Silver in Style. Oops, I forgot
I bought some nickel free pewter toggles to use in teaching and some
pewter leaves to use for hanging drop earrings.

It was good to talk to Nolly and Yvonne. I was only there a short
time, but this quick fix will tide me over until Bead Fest in August!

I'm planning a work day tomorrow - I have to get some designs ready
for a demo-show this Fall, and I have some new beads to play with. I
also have decided to re-string a lampwork bracelet I had made for
sale. It has these beautiful beads from Kalera and I need to make it
longer so I can keep it instead.

So, what is everyone else working on?

Patti

I loved seeing you're fused glass.

We currently have a fuel surcharge on our electric bill adding about 60% to
it. I figure that's compact fluorescent equivalent to a real kiln. After
my daughter's wedding in Sept, I will get one of those microwave kilns too.

Tina


"Carla" wrote in message
...
Hey Maren,

Can't wait to see what you're doing with the torch. I still can't even
get consistently sized beads. I'll never be making earrings, at this
point

Patti, so sorry I couldn't make it up to Milwaukee. Hopefully (again),
next year!

In the meantime, I've been fusing my a** off I was recently looking
into getting a "real" kiln, but decided that's way more trouble than I
want to be bothered with. In about a month, though, I hope to buy the
larger size MicroKiln. If you wanna see, new stuff is up on my flickr
site - http://www.flickr.com/ccdesigns

Cheers,
Carla

Maren at google wrote:
On Jun 22, 12:46 pm, Patti wrote:
I'm planning a work day tomorrow - I have to get some designs ready
for a demo-show this Fall, and I have some new beads to play with. I
also have decided to re-string a lampwork bracelet I had made for
sale. It has these beautiful beads from Kalera and I need to make it
longer so I can keep it instead.

So, what is everyone else working on?

Patti

ggg my first home made glass beads.

I finally found some time to get a hothead kit, some extra mandrels
(am I ever glad I did. You try drying mandrels outside in somewhere
near 100% relative humidity. I started with 14 mandrels and ended
up with 5 where the bead release didn't crack), set myself up in the
carport (out of the almost no wind) and practiced bead making.

Little mostly crooked greenish beads that I haven't taken out of
the fiber blanket yet, better safe than sorry.

For the time being I'm just using the small 1lb propane bottles, we
have a few sitting around that are starting to rust and ought to be
used - and I ought to get new ones because hurricane season is
upon us if we get bad weather the power is likely to go out and
I want a few more to use with the Coleman lantern.

Obviously, no pictures yet as I haven't even looked at the beads
yet.

For the time being I'm just practicing making little round beads.
And I might update the blog later, when I have pictures.

Aloha,
Maren
Maren Purves
HiloBeads: Beads - Beading Supplies - Hand-made Jewelry
http://www.hilobeads.com/
Blog at: http://hilobeads.blogspot.com/

Come to think of it, I often use a torch in fall and winter. In the summer
we don't have a fire, and in the winter it never goes out. But in Fall and
Spring, we use a little propane torch to light the fire in the wood stove so
we don't have to "build" a fire. I figure we saved $3,000 on heating oil
last year, and that might double this year.

Still, I don't have be precise with that torch usage.

Tina


"Maren at google" wrote in message
...
On Jun 22, 8:41 pm, Carla wrote:

In the meantime, I've been fusing my a** off I was recently looking
into getting a "real" kiln, but decided that's way more trouble than I
want to be bothered with. In about a month, though, I hope to buy the
larger size MicroKiln. If you wanna see, new stuff is up on my flickr
site -http://www.flickr.com/ccdesigns

Those are nice. I like the "surprise focal". And in my book the 14mm
dichro
squares are way similar enough for earrings. I was complaining about
one
pair of mine having come out all crooked, and somebody at work who
strings pretty amazing necklaces said "they're on the two sides of
your
head, nobody's ever going to notice that they're uneven"

Taking that advice I actually have (rather accidentally) 2 glass beads
that I consider "close enough for earrings" (2 of the greenish
(Chartreuse?)
cloudy ones). As I got up rather early I finally updated the blog,
even with pictures.

Carla, question: How big are your lampwork beads? I love those
cylindrical
ones, but I'm afraid to make any decent sized ones without a kiln.

And as Carla was talking about the next piece of equipment: more
mandrels,
more glass, and a kiln. The kiln may be a few months away.

Patti: the open flame isn't half as bad as you may think - once you
get past
the "whooosh" when you light the torch.

It's too bad that there isn't really enough daylight time here before
work, even
in the middle of summer. I feel like making some more beads, but the
sun is
still so low that the clouds are orange from underneath.

Aloha,
Maren
HiloBeads: Beads - Beading Supplies - Hand-made Jewelry
http://www.hilobeads.com/
Blog at: http://hilobeads.blogspot.com/

I loved my silver smithing class, and learned a ton of stuff. Including
that even if you work hard, overcoming poor dexterity won't necessarily
happen. I'm best off keeping with things that are safe to drop. Dropping
the necklace I'm working on is a pain in the ass, but won't injure me.

Tina


"turtlelover" wrote in message
...
Patti wrote:
Maren,
I found out that I couldn't handle open flame when I took
silversmithing. Not a good experience. The first time I went to the
Gathering, I went down to the room where Open Torch was being held, I
couldn't even go into the room. Now that is paranoid. This year I was
able to go to Open Torch (just to watch) at B & B. But, I still don't
want to try it. Of course, at least with lampworking the torch is
secured to a table, where in silversmithing, you have to hold it, but
still.....
Give me my sheet glass, a glass cutter and my great kiln with a
digital controller and I'm fine and happy.

Patti


Patti, thanks for something to ponder.

I'd love to learn silversmithing (for use as polymer clay bezels if
nothing else),
but I haven't been able to work a propane torch properly to solder a
simple
outside spigot! (For that matter, neither could DH; we're not very
handy.)

As for lampworking, if I ever get up the nerve (and the $), that would be
better
for me than glassblowing. I have problems with eye pressure, as well as
occasional
ocular migraines.

Should I ever come into enough moolah, I'd love to do fused glass, as
well.


All the best,
Turtlelover

On Jun 27, 9:06 pm, "Christina Peterson" wrote:
I loved my silver smithing class, and learned a ton of stuff. Including
that even if you work hard, overcoming poor dexterity won't necessarily
happen. I'm best off keeping with things that are safe to drop. Dropping
the necklace I'm working on is a pain in the ass, but won't injure me.

or it, most likely ...
(even it it's a pain)

Maren
HiloBeads: Beads - Beading Supplies - Hand-made Jewelry
http://www.hilobeads.com/
Blog at: http://hilobeads.blogspot.com/