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The deeper I go in my beadmaking and other glass arts, the more I notice myself noticing patterns and other designs out in the world. And the majority of the time, I find myself looking at something and thinking, “I could make a bead that looks like that”.
It’s almost always something I haven’t taken a great notice of before, like the pattern of someone’s hubcaps, or the multiple lines in a bookcase full of books. For example, I realized a few weeks ago that there were a bunch of particularly interesting designs in children’s textiles and clothing. Looking a little closer at my son’s things, I found these:

They are making pacifiers with really interesting patterns these days! I just had to see if I could come up with some beads based on the patterns here. In particular, I liked the dots and concentric circles, and they looked so much like ancient eye beads that I love. Sooooo…..I sat down at the torch the other day and made these:

I call them”Mod Baby”. They haven’t become anything yet besides a great set of beads, but I have several ideas involving coiled fine silver wire and a choker-style necklace.
I think this is probably the first time I have made an entire set of beads based on a particular pattern or style that wasn’t another set of beads I had seen somewhere. I think my favorite thing about the whole process of making these beads is that there actually is a storyline to it….I saw the pacifiers, noticed the patterns….realized they would make interesting beads….and then figured out how to reproduce the pattern.
Since I made these beads, I’ve spent a lot more time looking at things everywhere in order to find my next jumping off point for torchwork. I consider myself mostly a maker of sculpted beads– I don’t make bead sets often — but now I find myself drawn to the challenge of making bead sets based on patterns in other objects. Earlier today, I looked up into the trees in my yard and thought about how to incorporate the pattern made by the underside of branches and leaves.
How do you challenge yourself when you work?






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I love making quirky people in glass. They could be fairies, mermaids, vikings or even pirates. Kind of the good, the bad and the ugly. But each one needs to have plenty of details to keep them interesting. One of the ways to make them stand out is their hair.
