Lookie What the Kiln Fairy Did!....Lampwork Focals, River Vespers...Double Helix.

I normally don't show ya folks focals unless they are experiments or in sets or in jewelry...but these are lovely. So I decided to share. The group picture is so-so...I'm still having huge amounts of issues with taking pics of silvered glass. The below has most of Double Helix reduction (silvered) glasses within the beads. I even got some bronze out of a couple. I used a lot of Nyx, Gaia, Kronos, Kronos2, Trition, a bit Luna, and some very old Oly Rain. Even most of the bases are silvered glass of one type or another.
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I also handpulled and cut my own murrini in the silvered glasses to get the starbursts. I don't mind making simple murrini but the more complex ones...well, I really need to get the hotter torch out. Again...not enough room in the studio. Plus I really don't enjoy making the real complex canes, so I'm really also not very good at it either.
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All of them have a metallic sheen to them that the camera lens just doesn't pick up. So I doubt that I will be using any of these focal in jewelry pieces that I need jury slides or digitals of.


Some of you know that I also do a lot of beadweaving. The reason I don't do a lot of it anymore is because I'm normally at the torch...but I do enjoy it. I'm getting ready for show season and wanted some focals that strong enough pieces to stand alone as pendants on either chain maille or beadwoven necklaces. That's what I've been working on currently. (BTW, the below bead has a bit of bronze that I was talking about. )

These two (above and below) are the only ones that I got decent pictures of. On my screen, these are what the beads pretty much look like in the hand...but smaller and shinier. :-)

This is a mini series called, "River Vespers". I wanted the hues to be the darker water colors. More realistic of what you see while viewing a decent sized river. Not the candy colors that I see portrayed (beads) most of the time. The hues also needed to have multi-metallic favor to them too...like when it's still light but the sun is beginning to set, like at vesper. I also wanted these colors because the iris and matte metallic seedbeads work up so well in ropes. I may use a few of these with pearls too...pearls and silvered glass complement each other VERY well. (man-o-man, I've got pearls and this gives me a reason to use them)
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I'm going to work on making a couple more today and then it's time to move on to another project I've got.
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Ok...got lots to do today!!! BTW, it's still cold as hell here...and I've got ICE. I mean I've got lots of ice. I still haven't figured out how to get out my front door. Geez, I thought about going out the back...but the deck is scarier than the front porch.
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Have a happy, creative day!
~Moon