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Creative Synchronicity

January 5, 2009 - by User Imagebolimasa

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the RSS feed or have it sent to you by email!. Don't miss a thing!

linda morrison glass beadsI was bit by the holiday spirit… actually, my employer put me in the spirit by giving us not the usual one, but three days off for the Christmas holiday this year. To share the joy I decided that a holiday bead give away was in order, so on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day I invited my friends on the Lampwork Etc. forum to post to a thread from which I would pick a random person to receive a bead.

The Boxing Day give a way bead was one of my “ornamentive” beads; which are sort of formal and ornament shaped. I enjoy making these beads and think they’d make cool pendants if used by someone with right sort of vision. Because they are unusually shaped, I think my ornamentive beads are always looking for the “right” home and am pleased when I find some one who likes them.

I got a lovely note from Lauren (beadaven on LE) who received my ornate bead. The title of the email was “Synchronicity and your bead!” and she continued on to write:

“Here’s where it gets really cool. I make art dolls, and I just finished (or so I thought!) one. It seemed he needed something more, but I couldn’t decide what so I left him alone. As it turns out your bead was exactly the finishing touch he needed to be complete!”

The next day she posted a picture of her art doll.

art doll with glass bead

Now how cool is this?! I have to agree that my bead does go nicely with her doll, which was already amazing! What a neat and unusual use for a bead! I am also amazed that through a random drawing, my bead found its way to the perfect home.

linda morrison glass bead in sculpture

It is always exciting to see what becomes of my bead babies after they go off to a new home! Thanks Lauren!

Linda beads and blogs from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah!

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3.2

Inspiration~ From Greeting Card to Focal Bead

December 29, 2008 - by User ImageStudio Marcy - Marcy Lamberson

penguin greeting card

Have you ever received a greeting card that just made you smile? The whimsical winter nature of this one as well as it being 3-D, just makes me happy. And after thinking for just a minute, I decided to try to make the penguins into lampwork glass focal beads.

I knew it would take some work. There are three distinct shapes stacked on top of each other and I couldn’t let them lose their individuality. Should I start with a really long barrel, so I know that they will be really strongly connected, or do it another way? I decided to work this bead the same way I usually work most of my sculptural beads. From the bottom to the top and save the small or fragile details until the very end.

So the first little guy was formed and his white tummy section was added. Then directly on the top of his head, I built the second one and then the third. Each time I was at a “head to penguin buns” connection, I would be sure to give it an extra shot of heat to be sure it was melted well together, but not too much, or it would lose it’s penguinly round shape.

glass penguin beads

I added the wings, tails, then the feet and then the faces. The top penguin’s ear muffs were the last details, as the head band part is just floating out there, and only anchored on each end. Kind of like an arm on a vessel.

The entire bead is quite delicate in person. It’s not even 2″ long and rather slim in proportion. Half of the fun of making it was that it was a heat control challenge and something totally new from what I’ve done before. Have you saved a card for this very same reason? Well, I’d love to hear from you and what you created from your inspiration.

Marcy Lamberson, (Studio Marcy), is a lampwork glass artisan and teacher in Atlanta, GA, whose daughter is currently working in Antarctica, so she’s currently fascinated with penguins and other southern most wildlife.

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3.2

A touch of Christmas

December 26, 2008 - by User ImageLaura Sparling
Don’t get me wrong, I like this time of year but when it comes to Christmassy beads I like them to be a bit subtle. I enjoy using festive colours within my designs. I mean, you can’t go wrong with red, white and green - it‘s a classic Yuletide colour combination.

I also like to use non-traditional Christmas colour schemes that feel seasonal such as amber, plum and dark green. I think that these colours look lovely together - so warm and rich.

It’s also fun to add a bit of sparkle to beads at this time of year. In these tiger-esque beads I added a little bit of goldstone which means they glitter as they catch the light.

And I also like to make beads that could be worn to Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties such as these glitzy ones. Jet black beads with fine silver ‘stars’ teamed with silvery spacer beads decorated with mica powder.

So if you’re stuck for festive bead ideas why not revisit some of your past designs and give them a little bit of a Christmas makeover?

Laura Sparling is a full-time beadmaker in Oxfordshire, UK. She sells her beads through her website www.beadsbylaura.co.uk. Laura also regularly writes about her work on her blog.

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3.2

Christmas Creating

December 21, 2008 - by User Imagekabsconcepts

Okay, I realize that you are visiting Watch Me Create because you enjoy reading about the creative process of all us bead makers and jewelry designers. You want to see how we come up with our fantastic beads and zanny wearable art creations. Unfortuantely… you aren’t gonna get any “behind the beads” insights in my post today. The holidays are upon us and my Christmas Creating has bead making on the back burner.

So, I thought it might be fun to share my “To Make” list for the holidays. More often then not, I find myself curling up with cocoa and something to knit, or I find myself crawling around on the floor, cutting out something to sew. I love getting to create handmade things for the people I love. Each member of my family (and some of my special friends too) get something that I have pour lots of love (and time) into.

Now, without further ado…

The To Make List -
Knitting -
Mom needs a cute hat
Mittens for Dad
like Grandma used to make
Leg warmers for my Sister (yes, they’re coming back)

Sewing -
Fat Quarter Quilt for my friend
Pajama Pants for ALL my boys
Wide Leg Lounge Pants for my Sister too
A TuTu for my spoiled little Princess

Baking -
Gotta those pretzel/Rolo/almond things for teachers again
Oh, that recipe I photo copied at the dr’s office for raspberry pinwheels.

And don’t even get me started on the ornaments we are making! So, whatch YOU making for the holidays this year?

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3.1

Series Develoment

December 16, 2008 - by User Imagebolimasa

How many good ideas do you have?
How many good idea should you have?

This is something I’ve been pondering for a while.

I always think of artists as creative people, and in my mind that means that new and interesting ideas are constantly flowing from their minds to their medium. During this last year I had the opportunity to attend numerous art festivals and shows. One thing I noticed is, that for the most part, artists don’t display a huge diversity of work. Most seemed to have what I would consider to be a couple of “good ideas” and bulk of their work was a variation on those themes.

I tend to like to experiment and make lots of different things, sometimes I wonder if I should take a hint from these “real”artists and learn pick one or two bead styles to really develop and expand upon to create a recognizable series. This thought begs the question - how to decide which bead styles to concentrate on? Sales are certainly a good way to validate what styles are desirable, but if (like me) you only make and sell a couple of that style how do you determine that it has broad enough appeal to turn in into a lengthy series?

I make a lot of what I call mini-series. I find a shape or technique or color I like and make a hand full of them. I keep a box of favorite examples from most of my mini-series as references, the intention of which is to someday pick a few to turn into a series. But how to pick? Do I pick my favorites, my daughters favorites, my friends favorites? Take a poll? What makes one style worthy of becoming a series? Maybe this is were real artists have real talent, deciding which of their good ideas is THE idea!

I might make series development one my goals for the upcoming year…. if only I can decide which style to work on.

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3.2