Icarus Beads - Dreams about Glass & Color

Sneak Peak: Cascade jewelry line

2012-01-29T10:03:00.000-08:00

Since a few weeks, I've been working on the new "Cascade" jewelry line, and just finished the first two prototypes. I'm absolutely thrilled how the pieces turned out and am excited to share a sneak peek of the line.

Bold multi-chain necklace

(click to enlarge)

Disks & chain bib necklace

At this point the collection consists of 7 different necklace styles. It's a fresh, contemporary line and as expected, main features are my handmade lampwork beads, paired with a variety of chain styles.

I am keeping the beads minimalistic and the color story clean with a selection of all time favorites (like grey, clear and pink) and a range of new, vivid Spring 2012 colors thrown in for good measure.

Here are some sketches for the other designs (Yes, I know - I'm not the best sketcher LOL).
I can't wait to start working on these, and would love to hear what you guys think!

Instead of Flowers: Spacer-mania :)

2012-01-22T13:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was one of those rare days that required me to run both of my kilns at the same time.

To say it with Tom and Lorenzo (my favorite fashion blog): Darlings, here's your Daily Pretty:

Instead of flowers, today there's a bouquet of spacers.

I am working on finishing a large order this weekend ... and this is the result of my "spacer session" yesterday night. Love how all the pastels look together!

Starting with Monday I can work again on brand new beads. Can't wait to try some of the new glass that arrived this week :)

Have a great start into your week,

Lots of snow - and lots of spheres

2012-01-20T13:42:00.001-08:00

Due to the winter storms and power outages, I wasn't able to torch in the last two days.

Very frustrating, especially as I have a large order that I would love to finish.

Here's your bead picture of the day. In lieu of any new listed beads, I am showing you these etched spheres, which are part of my new jewelry project:

Hope you are all safe, warm & dry and that the worst of the winter storm and flooding is over.

Talk soon,

Start of a new necklace series

2012-01-18T12:36:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited about a new line of jewelry that I started working on. Of course main feature are my glass beads, but the different necklace styles also highlight a variety of textures and metal chain patterns. Working title of the new series is "Cascade".

Here's a first teaser picture, because I just have to share my excitement about this new project. And to be honest, besides some sketches and lots of ideas (and one prototype), that's all I have to show at the moment LOL:

The peach colored beads in the middle are right now in the etching solution, to achieve a a frosted, matte finish.

I can't wait for the snow to melt, so that I can drive to Seattle and get all the necessary findings before assembling the first pieces. In the meantime, as long as we're snowed in, I will continue to make some more beads in different colors for this series.

Oh, and just in case you haven't had any snow this year, here's how it's looking in front of our house this morning:

Talk soon,

Just one of those days ...

2012-01-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

... where nothing turns out as expected.

On my first set of beads, I envisioned those two moonstone colors - a milky green and a milky clear, mingling in some thousand year old glacier. Well, the CIM Cirrus glass turned opaque white on me. I made test beads, and in those beads it stayed a lovely milky moonstone transparent. So when I opened the kiln this morning, I was disappointed to see this:

Glacier Sparkle Mix

And the second set, I was hoping for a cleaner, stronger hot pink (mixed with peaches and apricots). Instead of that the colors look a bit livery to me. I know, it's because I mixed the Gold Pink with peach and apricot, which gives it a warmer tint ... but it was just not what I expected :(

Tutti Frutti Sparkle Nuggets

Oh, and there was a third sets of beads that I don't like. But so far I haven't even bothered with cleaning them. Meh :(

Hopefully better luck tonight. Sounds weird, to talk about luck, but sometimes it all just depends on some butterfly in China spreading it's wings. Or some common sense when mixing colors LOL.

Something old and something new

2012-01-10T15:46:00.000-08:00

Just a quick "eye candy" post today, I want to show something new and something old.

First one is a set that I made yesterday night, using an old favorite color, a rare odd lot of Double Helix silver glass, called TE-317. There are a couple of different versions floating around, and I have them all LOL.

Check out "Marrakesh". Just love how the silver glass does it's thing, and creates this soft veil effect and subtle color shifts (click on pictures to enlarge, link to Ebay auction at end of post):

And a new obsession (for me): gold aventurin frit. I know, it's nothing new on the planet at all. But while I had that jar in my frit drawer already for a long time, for some reason I never pulled it out and played with it. But now I'm in love and I'm kind of obsessed with mixing different colors with the aventurin to find the best colors to highlight the bronze-golden sparkle.Here are two recent examples:

Copper Sparkle Nuggets

And Rio Sparkle Nuggets

Gotta dash and get some work in the house done *sigh*. Oh, and if you're interested in these beads, they're currently listed on Ebay.

Talk soon,

Haven't lost my marbles ;)

2012-01-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

I always loved the look of marble. Something so soothing in following the lines with your eyes. And also in a "crafty sense", I tried my hands in the past on different marbling techniques, for example paper marbling and faux painting of the walls to achieve a marble look.

With my beads, I don't often use a marble effect, because I think it doesn't translate that well into the kind of glass colors that I prefer. However, yesterday night I had my own private "marble happy hour" at the torch. I was tired, could not concentrate well, and the bead muse was nowhere to be found. So inspiration was lacking, and instead of shutting down the torch and stopping for the night, I pulled out the marbling equipment (read: tungsten rake) and mixed up a couple of frit colors.

Here's a picture of my marbled glass beads ... 3 sets of crunchies and two sets of rounds.

Let's hope, the bead muse is coming my way tonight - or else there will be even more marbled glass to list tomorrow LOL.

Have a great start into your week,

Goals: January 2012

2012-01-08T16:24:00.000-08:00

I don’t know about you, but I try to use the transition in a New Year to reflect on my last business year and also to set some big goals for the new year.

Obviously it's not enough to just set some goals LOL. So right now I'm trying to put a plan in place that helps me to make it happen and hopefully achieve all my goals.

If you're like me, you just know what I'm talking about: It's easy to get overwhelmed with all the different areas that could use improvement and with manifold ideas for the creative part as well as on the business side of things. And there's only a limited availability of time to work on those new ideas, and a fixed budget to allocate to the different areas that I want to work on this year.

To counteract this, I'm trying to focus in 2012 every month on one area that I want to improve. I hope, this will make it easier for me, to focus and prioritize the tasks that are necessary to grow my business and realize the ideas that are buzzing around in my head.

For January 2012 my focus is: Go Green!

There are a couple of areas where any business can reduce its waste, carbon footprint, and overall environmental impact. For my specific business of lampworking and jewelry design, I feel the biggest opportunity for introducing green business practices is in the office area.

Here's my action plan for January 2012:

Replace my fancy business cards with (equally nice) business cards made from 100% recycled paper
Replace printer and copier paper with recycled paper
Completely eliminate bubble wrap and wrap beads in 100% recycled tissue paper (what's the point of bubble wrapping in any way, as I place the bubble wrapped beads into a protective card board jewelry box?).
Replace my white swirl jewelry boxes with kraft jewelry boxes, if possible 100% recycled
Shipping Tape. My current shipping envelopes are already made from recycled paper, but I still need to find a solution for the tape. At the moment I use Heavy Duty shipping tape to stick the labels to the envelope. I do need something that protects the printer ink on the labels from disintegrating in case the envelope get's damp.

I'm wondering: Is there something available, such as recycled tape?

Or alternatively biodegradable tape?

If you have any ideas how I can replace the tape with something either recycled or biodegradable, please let me know! Also if you can recommend a certain supplier for environmentally friendly shipping materials, please do share here on the blog.

Yesterday I ordered already my recycled paper business cards (thanks www.moo.com for offering an environmentally friendly alternative, that still looks fabulous!) and can't wait for them to arrive.

I also started to research the different options for the other action points that I want to implement this month. There are quite a big range of options, but obviously I also need to look at the costs of implementing those. I hope I can find some great solutions!

How about you? Did you also start the New Year with big plans and even greater ambitions? If you want to share, please comment and let's discuss!

Talk soon,

Fun at the torch: End of Day Bead

2011-12-31T14:23:00.000-08:00

Every day at the end of my torching session I'm doing one "End of Day Bead". It's mostly some fun things, or a technique that I never tried before, a new shape or just some experiments with whatever glass is laying around on my table.

Yesterday night's end of day bead (in this case I should actually call it "End of Year bead", right?) is inspired by Sarah Hornik's fun bead shapes (check out her webpage!).

As so often, it started out as something completely different, but I'm used to that LOL. I'm always amazed (and sometimes scared) of how much the glass dictates what I'm doing. You think you're in control of the glass? Hahaha, think again ;)

And with that I would like to wish you all a fantastic New Year 2012!
See you on the other side with new inspirations, new shapes, new colors and hopefully with many more glassy experiments :)

Testing: Mama G's Bead Release

2011-12-30T17:08:00.000-08:00

Irene of FlamekissedGlass.com was so kind to provide me with a sample of her new "Mama G's Bead Release", so that I can test it.I'm always on the lookout for new products, and especially if they can make my bead making life easier!

I tested the new bead release in the last two days and I LOVE it.
I fell immediately in love after opening the jar of release ... oh, the smoothness and the consistency!

The bead release is very smooth, has the consistency of a French style yoghurt LOL. I just had to add some water to get it a bit more liquid. There are no clumps in the jar, no clumps in the release, and no clumps on the mandrel, once you dipped it. Sweeeeet!

On the picture (top) it looks as if there's a clump, but that was just me using my fingers to test the consistency, and I made a little "blobb" with my finger.

I used the air drying method, the mandrels were drying approx. 3 hours before I used them. All mandrels are 1/16".

I made approx. 30 small to medium sized beads in different shapes (hand shaped into barrels and spacers, pressed lentils and pressed crystals) and had no breakage or problems whatsoever.
Additionally I made 6 large focal beads (4 large spree lentils, 2 kalera crunches). 5 beads were perfect without problems.

The last bead I abused to the max to see how long the release can go until it develops problems. I did my very best to abuse it. I pushed dichro inside of the bead around, squeezed and pushed the glass around, used the press 8 times. Only then the bead release started to give up, but not fully. It didn't break completely - just on one side of the bead it crumbled away and there was some flaking visible inside of the transparent bead core.

Here is a shot were you can see the little bit that flaked inside of the bead and on one side outside of the bead:

There was an issue with one more bead, (bead release flaked off mandrel on one side), but that was user error: I didn't align the mandrel properly while pressing.

After annealing, I could remove the beads easily from the mandrel (yay, that's what I'm looking for) and the release cleans out fast & without problems. I use a Dremel, because I have issues with my wrist. The Dremel had no problems cleaning out the release. Woohoo - this is my biggest issue with my usual "go-to" bead release. It is very strong and hardly breaks at all, but as a drawback it's very difficult to clean out. I am happy that Mama G's release cleans out much easier!
Even the bead that had the breakage inside, cleaned out very easy. There was no bead release left inside.

Here's a close up picture of a cleaned bead:

Today I did more testing, and had no breakage on my first batch of mandrels (air dried around 2 hours). I made 6 large focal beads, with dichro and shards, lots of manipulating of the glass. No flaking, no breakage.
The second batch of mandrels tonight I used with flame dried release. I did realize some micro cracks in the bead release while making the beads. However, the minor cracks were no issue because I made only spacer beads, and there was no breakage in the bead release.
I am not very careful while flame drying (fast & furious), so that might be the issue here. I will do some more testing in the next days to see if and how fragile the bead release gets when flame drying a bit slower.

Deal of the Day - Fuchsia Sparkle Braclet

2011-10-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

Treat yourself to some nice jewelry - or buy already now an early Christmas gift for a friend (or yourself!).

Order the Deal of the Day within the next 24 hours, and you get this gorgeous bracelet for 41% off!

Hot Pink!

Do I need to say more?

Loaded with my handmade lampwork beads and all accent beads and chains as well as the magnetic closure are Sterling Silver.

Free shipping inside the US (international flat rate US$ 3.75)
Get the deal: http://www.judithbillig.com/Fuchsia-Sparkle-Bracelet_p_401.html\

Deal of the Day - Glazed Mist

2011-10-12T18:25:00.000-07:00

Check out today's "Deal of the Day":
Get 40% off this big set of 24 handmade lampwork beads if you order within the next 24 hours.

Glazed Mist

$39 instead of $65
Free shipping inside the US (international flat rate US$ 3.75)
Get the deal: http://www.judithbillig.com/Glazed-Mist-24_p_368.html

SOLD! Thank you :)

Poll: Focal-Palooza

2011-10-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was "Focal" day in my studio. I don't know how it happened, but I was in the mood to make focal beads. Lots of them. That only happens once in a Blue Moon. I get in a Zen-like state while torching, and love to do sets with many similar or identical beads. It calms me and I can forget the world around me. I guess it's to counterbalance the unpredictable madness of my daily life as a mom of two little girls.

Here's yesterday's "crop" of focals (click on pic for bigger view).
One is missing ... I guess I was checking too long for chill marks, and it had thermal cracks.

I can't make up my mind which ones to etch. Right now I think I'll etch the 4th bead in first row (opal yellow/purple), second bead in middle row (copper green/purple/opal yellow) and third bead in last row (green/purple).

Help me out! I would like to do a poll, but I just can't figure out how to do that. Argh ... would you believe it, I am computer literate and was working as an IT database developer in my previous life? Ah well, let's just forget the poll and please add your comment to Facebook or here. Thanks :)

ETA: I think I will also try to etch one of the Fire Opal style beads, just to see how they turn out. Maybe the green one (3rd in top row).

Names and Shops on Etsy ... big changes ahead

2011-10-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

Uh, I'm really excited about this news just coming from Etsy.

Starting October 18th, there will be a distinction between people (with "real" names) and shops.
Plus: Finally we are able to change our shop name. I know there are quite a few people out there that regretted their initial name choice, either because they changed completely the kind of items they offer, or because they expanded into different areas, or simply because they don't like their shop name any more.

Well, now finally sellers are able to change their Etsy shop names - woohoo! Etsy still keeps some control over the whole name changing business. You'll have to apply for the name change, obviously it has to be unique, and it takes a week or so to go through.

What I love is that the old name is not gone completely, but there is going to be a redirection to your new shop(name).
So far it sounds good. Just hope it's all working as expected.

Read all details about the changes in Etsy here:
http://www.etsy.com/blog/news/2011/names-and-shops-on-etsy/

Examples on how to use "ready made" color schemes

2011-09-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

If you are anything like me, than you can relate most probably to this: there are just days where I'm overwhelmed with choice - or just lost for inspiration. I am sitting in front of my two large glass shelves, and even though I have around 200 lbs. of glass laying in front of me: I sometimes just can't decide which colors to use together. So many choices ...
What I found really helpful is to look at interior design books, fashion magazines, or online resources for designer-recommended color schemes. I can either translate the suggested colors very literal into matching glass colors - or I use it as a starting point that might lead me eventually in another direction.

Check out my inspiration for yesterday's beads!

I found this color scheme on http://www.design-seeds.com, and the picture reminded me of one of my favorite spots in the world: Marlborough Sound in New Zealand.

I'm not sure where the picture was taken (looking closely, it doesn't look anything like the Marlborough Sounds LOL), but that doesn't really matter. The inspiration is all that counts.

Just thinking of the name Marlborough, I get transported back to our vacations in the area, and numerous visits to the gorgeous vineyards in the Marlborough region. I close my eyes and can see myself sitting in the sun at Highfield Estate, tasting a couple of fabulous red wines, paired with great food.

Umm oh, back to lampworking, right? Check out the end result, of course I named these beads "Marlborough":

I used the color scheme pretty much as suggested, slightly adapted to glass that I have in stock: teal and translucent glacier green combined with 3 different gray hues. As reminiscence to the red grapes of the Marlborough wine region, I've added some fabulous Z99 Purple Rose frit. The addition of the vibrant purple changed the whole look and feel of the color palette, don't you think?

And here the second example of yesterday. The colors in this scheme just spoke to me: they're warm and vibrant, the ideal hues for the start of Autumn. And the color scheme contains some of my current favorites: olive and gray.

I didn't really translate the colors one-on-one, but took this picture as a starting point and pulled some similar colors, without trying to match them really.

I don't usually use browns and as a substitute with a similar color temperature, I selected a terracotta color. And instead of the light linen green, I chose ASK Caramel Apple, a color very close to the fashionable "Bamboo" from Pantone's Fall/Winter color palette.

The finished set of beads, "Olive Grove":

The beads did turn out a bit different than the original color scheme, but have the same feel and temperature: natural hues, warm and vibrant.

How about you? I would love to hear what sources and ideas you use to kickstart your inspiration if you have "one of those days" where you just can't decide what to do.
What makes your imagination fly?

Oh, and if you like the beads, they're currently listed on Ebay. Here are the links to Marlborough and Olive Grove.

Eye Candy: Weird Blobs and Nuggets

2011-08-31T16:19:00.000-07:00

I'm always excited to try modern, unusual shapes for my lampwork beads. Sometimes that means I'm making abstract icicles for several weeks, or rectangular "bars" or nuggets that resemble faceted gemstones.

Currently I'm obsessed with a colorful series that I call "Beach Treasures". In a nutshell these are weird blobs of dripping glass disks and nuggets that are free shaped and softly rounded. I etch them for a matte, soft surface so that they resemble sea glass, as you can find it sometimes on the beach.

Here are some examples of this new series.

Tutti Frutti

Tropical Sea

Phoenix

Berry

Harvest

I love the almost limitless options with this new design: These shapes look fabulous with nearly all colors, but especially with transparent jewel tones. Can't wait for my next torch session to make some more weird blobs! Which colors will it be tonight?

A very late update

2011-08-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit MIA here on my blog and I feel pretty bad about it. *ducks*

Can't quite comprehend it, but September is just around the corner! Can you believe it's already that late in the year? The Summer came and went, and unfortunately, we here in the Pacific North-West had a "blink and you miss it" summer.

I took advantage of the summer break to finally had my tendonitis wrist surgery and I'm happy to report that all went smoothly and I'm back at the torch! Just 2-3 hours per days are allowed right now and now bead cleaning (hehehehe). But overall that's great news and I'm so thrilled about the outcome and can't wait to release all that stored-up creative energy :).

Fall/Winter 2011 Fashion Trend Colors

One of the first things that I started working on after surgery, is a series of beads that features Pantone's Fall/Winter 2011 color palette. If you haven't seen this season's fashion colors, check them out here.

I'm not always enamoured with Pantone's color forecast, but gotta say that I really enjoy the palette that they introduced for Fall/Winter 2011. My absolute favorite colors are Phlox (a crisp, deep purple), Deep Teal (a strong, blue-toned green) and Quarry (a medium gray).

So check out my new beads this and next week - many of them will feature the Pantone colors!

I better keep going, because there are 3 sets of beads waiting ... time to make some pictures and list them :)

Wishing you all a great start into September,

Introducing the "Deal of the Day"

2011-08-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

I'm super excited to introduce a new feature, exclusively for customers of my webpage:

The "Deal of the Day" features every day (Monday through Friday) a great online-only deal on my handmade lampwork beads. Every 24 hours a different set of beads is heavily discounted. To make this special even more enticing, I'm throwing in free WORLDWIDE shipping.

So here we go ... my first Deal of the Day is "live" right now and will be so for the next 24 hours.

Julianne
A gorgeous set of 11 lampwork beads made with the amazing Double Helix Clio glass and shaped into ribbed rounds.

To order these beads at the discounted price of $35 instead of $55 (= 36% off), click here.

Have a wonderful Monday,

A quick Hello from San Juan Island

2011-07-01T22:01:00.001-07:00

We're enjoying our short trip to the San Juan Islands with the whole family (DH, our girls and the Belgian in-laws) very much.

So today there's only a quick update - we're on vacation after all and I try to minimize my online time (it's hard though because our fabulous vacation home has free wifi). But I just had to share these pics of some of the wildlife that we encountered in the last 2 days.

A juvenile fox with no fear of us whatsoever:

And this seal was playing hide and seek with visitors in the Friday Harbor marina.
Again there was no shyness or fear whatsoever.
The girls had so much fun observing him:

And here is a frequent visitor on the lawn of our vacation home:

There are lots of deers around. The rental house sits on more than 4 acres of lamd in a wooded area ... Lots of deers, foxes and many resident eagles.

We haven't seen the Orcas yet. Judging by the whale watching boats passing in front of our deck, they seem to be currently more north in the Vancouver Island area, approx. 1 hour boat ride away from us. But we still have 3 days left - Plenty of time to keep us hopeful for some Orca sightings.

I'll be back soon with another update. Wishing you all a fabulous 4th of July weekend :)

Lampwork Rings - sneak preview!

2011-06-23T10:49:00.001-07:00

Lately I started wearing big cocktail rings. It's not only that I like them - oh no! I have to admit that rings are my new obsession. Big rings, bold rings, romantic rings, ultra modern rings. Love them all :)

My passion for making lampwork beads and my newly discovered love for cocktail rings naturally made me wonder how I can combine those two things. There were in the past already some options available to add your lampwork beads to a ring, but none of the systems really worked with the designs that I have in mind.

But now there is a new system of ring bases available, and this look really appeals to me. Just what I was after!
It took me a little while to find all the right supplies and get started on this, but here is for the readers of my blog (and my Facebook/The Hive friends) the first sneak preview to my newest project: lampworked rings.

And the best of it? The lampworked ring tops are interchangeable.
Get one, get two or even more tops to mix & match with your daily mood or wardrobe!
The lampworked tops simply screw off ... and back on. Easy, right?
That was exactly what I was looking for, and I have so many designs in my head that I want to do with these ring bases that I can't wait for the weekend to come around which will give me a bit more torch time.

Let me know - are you someone that changes their jewelry with their wardrobe, like me?
Or do you have your preferred jewelry pieces and you wear them day-in, day-out?

What I really would like to get a feeling for: do you think there's a market for interchangeable rings or is it a better idea (= more affordable for the buyer) if I make the cabochons and glue them on ring bases?

Yes, I'm still alive!

2011-06-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

Oh my, I am hopelessly behind in my planned blog posts. I just realized that I didn't even write anything about the ISGB's regional beadmaker retreat yet. And that was nearly 3 weeks ago *shock*.

But these last two week has been shock-block full of stuff, that just didn't leave lots of time for blogging. Preparing for the arrival of the in-laws, Charlotte's graduation from Preschool, Kindergarten language test, the kid's school plays and preschool summer party, and all sorts of other things are happening.

For now just a bit of eye candy, and I promise a more detailed report about the beadmaker retreat, my demo and all the things we learned, on the weekend or early next week.

Fuchsia Sparkle, a new bracelet in my "Sparkle" series:

And a close-up of all the sterling silver components:

Happy Thursday everybody!

Short Attention Span ... results

2011-06-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

So I've been having a bit of a short attention span this week. At the torch. Which means I am getting bored fairly soon with an idea and want to start something new right away.

Here you can see a collage of the results of two torching sessions (Monday and Tuesday) with a lack of attention span:

LOL ... as you can see, I'm all over the place. Shards, frits, silver color, crystals, crunches (because they go fast!), spheres, encased, sprinkled, etched, raked, COE 96 and COE 104 (of course not on the same beads), spring colors, summer hues and fall colors.

I was all over the place!
Big advantage for the buyers: smaller sets = budget friendly prices :)
And with such a variety, there's something in this picture for everybody.

If you like them, head over to my webpage or if you prefer Etsy and check out my new sets.

And here's a larger picture to see more of the different beads that I made:
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Have a beautiful evening,

Charity auction for Beads of Courage - please help this great cause!

2011-05-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

Love lampwork beads?
Love to support a good cause?
Then this is the opportunity for you to kill two birds with one stone!!!

The Fire Divas believe strongly in giving back whenever they can, and here is a collection of gorgeous handmade lampwork beads that the talented artists of The Fire Divas team have contributed to in honor of the Beads Of Courage program. All of the proceeds from this eBay auction HERE will go directly to Beads Of Courage and make it possible for the brave boys and girls battling cancer throughout the United States to enjoy the amazing outreach and cancer support that this wonderful program provides. Not only will you be helping to put a smile on their faces, but you will receive 19 handmade Collector beads that you will cherish for a lifetime!!!

The beads shown were donated by 13 different Fire Diva artisans, who also created a similar set that will be sent directly to Beads of Courage for the children to choose from and enjoy. This is your unique opportunity to pitch in and lend a helping hand to this amazing organization too!

Clockwise from top—Tribal heads: Barb (riversedgeglass); Yellow round: Sonja (SilverRiverGlassWorks); Magic Mice: Lori (ashlyndesign); Multicolor round: Judith (icarusbeads); Blue organic: Rosemarie (spawnofflame); Shuttle: Lara (Lutrick); Blue nugget: Patrice (Shepherdcreations); Yellow car: Karen (giapet); Blue/brown organic: Susan (susanlambert); Critters: Sharon (rightturnartwerks); Blue cubes: Kathleen (uglyducklingbeads); Cupcake: Holly (HollysFollyGlass); Green inchworms: Abigail (abbielyn)

The beads you will be getting include:
* Lovely free-form organics * A pair of Disney inspired "Magical Mouse" ears * A sporty roadster car
* A Space Shuttle with a monkey (a similar bead from the same artist went up on the last Shuttle!) * Fun and festive graphic designs * A sweet chocolate cupcake (calorie free, of course)
* Happy "critter" face beads
* And the cutest pair of tiny green inchworms!
In addition to this special auction event, we would like to offer another opportunity to our customers and fans: for everyone who places a bid (whether you win or not), or donates directly during the auction week to Beads of Courage via their website, please leave a comment here after this post and let us know. You will be entered to win some great prizes from more of the Fire Diva members, chosen by a random drawing. How cool is that?! (more photos coming soon!)

Please help us spread the word about our first Annual Beads of Courage Auction and don't forget that the bidding will end on Wednesday, June 1st at 6 pm PST. Thank you so much for your support! *Ü*

Streamlining - Progress Report

2011-05-16T23:44:00.000-07:00

If you've seen my blog post of this afternoon, then you know that I made a list of things that I want to stop doing in order to streamline my life & business.

Here's my progress report for today:

Removed all "made to order" beads from my webpage (except spacers)
Deactivated my Artfire shop
Deactivated my Twitter account

Great - I'm working my way through the "easy to do" items of my list. Good night for now :) More of the same tomorrow - I'll not get rid of my blog though LOL!

What do you need to say "No" to?

2011-05-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I browsed "Crafting an MBA", one of my favorite blogs that promotes business thinking for designers and makers. In this thought provoking article Megan Aumann talks about "selling your soul" and making a "stop doing" list. Her main points are:

What do you need to say NO to in order to focus on the work that you really need to be doing?

What is holding you back from doing the real work that gets you hot (and/or makes you money)?

For me, her article is not only about stopping things that you hate doing. But also about streamlining your life, purging unnecessary things, removing junk that doesn't move your xxx (business, skills, soul, inner wellbeing, body of work etc.) forward.

I found these ideas really hit a point with me, as there are several things in my life (not only as a beadmaker and business owner, but also in my personal life) that I should "stop doing" and say "no" to.

As a result, I wrote a "stop doing" list for myself. And decided to right away start with the points that are fast & easy to implement, yet have a fairly high priority. First thing on my list: Stop making made-to-order beads.

Maybe you're a bead maker or jewelry maker yourself, and you know exactly why this is important to me. But maybe you're one of my customers and you're disappointed to read this and wonder why I would do this.

First and foremost, I feel that making made-to-order beads sucks the creativity out of my work. It takes away my love for torching, because I use the torch to express my creativity, follow my mood, to forget about bad things happening and just dive into colors and designs to let my imagination take me where it wants to go.

If I can't do this, if I can't be creative and work with whatever comes to my mind, and I'm unhappy. Every custom order miraculously scares away the Muse and I start procrastinating. Which makes me feel really bad about my business skills & time management.

That's why I removed today all of the products from my website that are made to order (except for spacers). And would you believe it, deep inside of me I feel already the positive effect!

Of course I'm still open for requests to redo some of my designs. But instead of accepting a paid custom order, I would rather love to add the requested designs to my idea journal - which means it might take a couple of days or even a week until I start making them. And there will be no obligation for my customer to take the beads, which will reduce the pressure for me to make them look exactly like the original designs.

How about you?
Do you have things that hold you back or take the joy out of your business/life that should be on a "stop doing" list?

At the end of this post a bit of eye candy, a new set called "Glazed Mist":

The exhibit that didn't happen

2011-05-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

Remember when I blogged about the jewelry that I made for an juried exhibition in a Houston museum? Well, unfortunately there were not enough submissions for the exhibit, and it was cancelled.

I can't tell you how disappointed I was! For once we have a great opportunity to display our lampwork beads and lampwork jewelry to a wider audience, in a great venue, and not only locally - and there were just not enough people participating.

Ah well, I took advantage of the dismal weather today (Rain! No surprise here). Made pictures and listed two of the jewelry pieces that I made specifically for the Houston exhibition. They're now available on my webpage and in my Etsy shop.

I also finally made one of the new "Romance" bracelet style that I was planning already for a longer time. What do you think about it? As usual, I might be a bit too late with jumping onto the Vintage band wagon :)

Hope you all have a great start into the new week! And maybe we'll even have a bit of sun here and there.

A different kind of Aqua

2011-05-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I went with my friend and fellow beadmaker Lori Bergmann to Olympic Color Rods in Seattle. I was originally only on the search for a certain blue tone, similar to CIM Sapphire. But we all know how it goes when you're passionate about glass and color and someone lets you lose in a shop full of gorgeous glass!

I came home with a big box of fabulous new colors ... and some of them are truly remarkable.

Just have a look at these beads, made with the gorgeous RL-4015-C Aqua (left self colored, right self colored and etched).

Aqua you say? Yes! Definitely a different shade of Aqua than what I'm used to with Vetrofond, Effetre or CIM. If you just had shown me the rod, I would rather classify it as light tea green, or very pale grayish-emerald green, or a light version of CIM Appletini. But I don't want to complain, this is definitely a fabulous glass, and thanks goodness very different from the "usual" Aqua colors. Here is a picture of some other Aquas for comparison:

From top to bottom:
Vetrofond Sapphire Blue Streaky (geez, I didn't even know I had that color!)
Vetrofond Dark Aqua
Effetre Dark Aqua
Effetre Light Aquamarine
Reichenbach Aqua

And here is a new bead set, "Rain Forest", which uses the Reichenbach Aqua as a base color:

Oh, and I forgot to mention, the new color is COE 104! The only glass that I picked up in 104, and I'm so happy that I gave it a try.

Sale, Bead Star, Beadmaker's Retreat

2011-05-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my trip to Europe, and thrilled to be able to lampwork again. As great as it is to visit family & friends, I have to say I truly miss my work when I'm away from the torch.

I'm covering a couple of things in today's post, so let's get onto it right away.

Spring Sale - 25% off

First of all, another great sale for you. Call it spring-cleaning or delayed March madness – but I'm having a site wide sale, and you’re all invited.

Get 25% off all of my lampwork beads, spacers, and finished jewelry.
On my webpage www.judithbillig.com as well as in my Etsy shop!

Simply use promo code "SPRINGSALE" during checkout to take benefit of this special offer. Sale starts today and ends Sunday, April 8th.

Dont' forget: there's always free shipping on my webpage within the U.S. and a low international flat rate of US$ 3.75 :)

Bead Star 2011 Competition

I'm thrilled that my "Meadow Sparkle" bracelet design has been accepted to be an entry in the Bead Star 2011 competition.

If you're a member of "Beading Daily", check out all the fabulous entries in the different categories and vote for your favorites (you need to register & log in to be able to vote).

And if you like my Meadow Sparkle bracelet and want to vote for it, follow this link. Thank you :)

Beadmaker's Retreat

Mid May I'll be spending a weekend away with other fellow lampworkers on a beadmaker's retreat, organized by the International Society of Glass Beadmakers (Fire-and-Rain). I'm really looking forward to a weekend full of demos, learning new skills, networking and fun

And I'll also be doing a demo at the retreat on the use of shards in beadmaking. Really excited (and a bit scared) about this. I hope my nerves will not get the better of me!

And a bit of eye candy to finish this post off. Here's a big set of 28 beads that I pulled this morning out of the kiln, "Aztec Sunset":

Happy beading,
Judith

Deadlines ... what I've been up to

2011-03-31T15:36:00.000-07:00

Time flies, and I just realized that I haven't shown some eye candy in quite a while. In fact it's been already a few days since I posted anything in my blog, and you might be wondering what I've been up to in the last week.

Besides of our big Fire Diva Customer Appreciation Sale (which is running great and kept me busy with shipping orders and making made-to-order beads), I had two deadlines to submit entries of finished jewelry with my lampwork beads.

One is for the exhibition "The Illusion of the Flame: Creating Wearable Art from the Science of Glass" in Houston's Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC).

I'm really excited about this one, because it enables the members of the Northwest chapters of the ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers) to exhibit their beads and jewelry in Houston TX this summer.

I submitted 3 different pieces made with my lampwork beads: 2 bracelets and 1 necklace. Fingers crossed - we'll learn the results of the judging end of April.

The exhibition runs from June 18 to September 17, 2011.

A second deadline that kept me busy is for the annual Bead Star Magazine contest. Here I've submitted one entry in the "glass" subcategory.

I have material for another bracelet, but I feel not brave enough to submit my design - I assume that I wouldn't have a chance in the "metal" subcategory in any way, given all the uber talented people that participate every year.

Not that I'm very confident in the glass category either LOL, but it's more in my comfort zone.

At this point I'm not quite sure if I will submit the "metal" piece at all ... but I still have some time to ponder over this or even rework my design.

I guess you figured this one out already: The photos here in this post are some teasers of my submitted pieces. Hope you like them!

Don't forget - there's only a couple of days to snag up some great deals in our Customer Appreciation Sale! 20% off your entire purchase on my webpage and in my Etsy shop plus I'm including a special bead gift with every order!
Sale ends this weekend. Use coupon code "DivaThanks"

Aztec bead series - Revisited

2011-03-26T18:46:00.000-07:00

I've been always fascinated by ancient civilizations and antique artifacts like coins, jewelry, and other decorative items from long lost cultures. So it was just a matter of time when my fascination with everything ancient would inspire my lampworking in one form or the other.

Last year I made the first sets in my "Aztec" series, featuring genuine gold leaf and spirals imprinted on a shape that was a bit irregular to resemble antique coins.

In the last couple of days I've been revisiting this topic, but with a stronger emphasis on color and introducing enamel powders into the design.

As so many, I can't wait for spring and summer to arrive and that is visible in my recent color choices, for example vivid orange, cheery apricot, vibrant purple and sunny coral.

On the right is my newest set, "Aztec Lilac". It features 3 different shades of purple enamels: Purple Rose, Dusty Rose and Lilac, on a base of clear.

As always, you can find my beads either on my webpage (free US shipping) or in my Etsy shop.

Looking for a great deal? Check out our week long "Fire Divas Customer Appreciation Sale". All my beads on Etsy and on my webpage are 20% off!

Fire Divas Customer Appreciation Week!

2011-03-25T09:27:00.000-07:00

It's Customer Appreciation Week!

If you follow this blog already for a while, you know that I'm part of the Fire Divas, a small group of passionate lampworkers and glass artists. And I'm thrilled to announce that we're having a Customer Appreciation Sale!

We would like to thank all our customers and fans for your support, encouragement and your passion for jewelry made with lampwork beads.

Here are the sale details for my shops:

20% off my ETSY shop with coupon code: DIVATHANKS
20% off my webpage with coupon code: DIVATHANKS
FREE US shipping on my webpage (international flat rate $3.75)
Sale begins this Friday, 03/25 and runs through Saturday, 04/02.

Additionally I am including a free special bead gift with every purchase!

Please find below the list of other participating Fire Divas with specific coupon codes and sale details for their own shops.

Ashlyn Design ~ 15% off my ArtFire shop and a free gift! Use Coupon: DIVATHANKS
Holly's Folly Glass ~ 15% off her ArtFire shop and 20% off her website.
SusanLambert ~ Specially marked spacer bead sets for $10 including shipping in her Etsy shop.
Lutrick ~ 20% off Lara's Etsy and ArtFire shops. Coupon Code: DIVATHANKS
Ema K Designs ~ 20% off her Etsy and ArtFire shops.
Spawn of Flame ~ 15% off Rosemarie's Etsy and ArtFire shops. Coupon Code DIVATHANKSSPRING11
Fire and Sand ~ 20% off Karen's Etsy and ArtFire shops. Coupon Code: DIVATHANKS
Sun Door Beads ~ 20% off Michelle's Etsy and ArtFire shops. Coupon Code: DIVATHANKS
Ugly Duckling Beads ~ 20% off Kathleen's Etsy shop. Coupon Code: DIVATHANKS
Rivers Edge Glass ~ 15% off Barb's Etsy and ArtFire shops. Coupon Code: DIVATHANKS
Babs Beads and Design ~ 15% off Susanne's ArtFire shop.

Shepherd Creations ~ 20% off Patrice's ArtFire shop.
Uvanomos ~ 15% off Lluvia's Etsy shop. Coupon Code: DIVATHANKS
Amy Hall ~ Free shipping in her Etsy shop. Coupon Code: DIVATHANKS
Silver River Glass ~ 10% off Sonja's Artfire shop. Coupon Code: DIVATHANKYOU

Vote for your favorite beads and win!

2011-03-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's this time of the month again ... the Fire Diva monthly bead challenge!
And we're very excited to announce that now everybody that votes for their favorite lampwork bead(s) and writes a comment, gets into the drawing for a fabulous prize.

This month the challenge was "Monochromatic Mix" and I've gotta say, there are some beautiful beads up for the vote.

Head on over to the Fire Divas blog and cast your vote! Don't forget to enter a comment in the Fire Divas blog (not here, please only in the Fire Divas blog), so that we can put your name in the hat for our prize drawing :)

Good luck!

Introducing new "Sparkle Opal" and "Marble" beads

2011-03-09T14:54:00.001-08:00

Sparkle, Color, Shimmer!
What's not to love about this new series of lampwork beads?

I'm really excited to introduce the new "Sparkle Opal" beads, featuring a lovely, opalescent silver glass shimmer and sparkly dichro glitter.
With their modern sleek barrel shape and available in several trendy colors, they are an ideal starting point for your new fresh Spring and Summer designs.

Currently available in "Spring", "Passion" and "Fresh" colors (more colors available in the next few days).

Also new this week is the "Marble" series in many colors. For this new budget-friendly bead series I used a mix of complementing transparent and opaque color to create marble-like effects. These beads are currently available in a crunched kalera shape (ideal for bracelets and watch bands) and in round spheres. Great to mix & match!
If you have specific color requests, please let me know :)

I'm planning to add more colors to both of these new bead designs in the next few days. So check in again, if your favorite color isn't listed yet.

Available on my webpage and in my Etsy shop.

Tool Time: No mess glue for crafting

2011-03-07T18:14:00.000-08:00

If you're like me, and always on the search for the perfect super glue for your crafting projects, look no further! I found it, and it's on the back of these stickers:

I bet you're pretty jealous of my trendy interior decor too, aren't you? ;) :)

But fun and annoying stickers aside, here is my tip for no-mess, no-fuss glue that's just easy to use and doesn't stick on your hands (or your hardwood floors): Glue Dots!

Glue Dots are double-sided, acid-free adhesives for permanently bonding small items like buttons, charms, intricate die cuts, jewels, tiny bows and sequins. They're perfectly little dots of glue, aligned on a strip of paper. So easy to use ... no drying time, no mess of liquid or hot glues.

I find these are ideal for decorating the boxes that I use to ship my beads to buyers (yes, you'll receive beautifully decorated jewelry boxes with your purchase!), for crafting projects with the kids, scrapbooking and even to pin inspirational pictures or reminders on my whiteboard.

You can find Glue Dots in different sizes at your local craft supply shop (I buy mine at Michaels) or office supply stores.

PS. And if you know a way to remove those fancy horse & strawberry stickers from our hardwood floor without destroying the finish, please let me know :)

One World One Heart 2011: Winner

2011-02-17T23:21:00.001-08:00

First of all, I would love to say thanks so much to each and every one of you for taking the time to leave a comment here on my blog!

The OWOH event was so much fun and I enjoyed reading all he comments and visiting so many inspiring, funny and interesting blogs.
And I would also send a big thank you to Lisa for hosting such an fabulous event!

Now for the really exciting part: finding the winner of my "Magic Rainbow" necklace.

I used a random number generator to calculate one number out of the 299 entries on my OWOH blog. *drumroll* And the winner is .... *drumroll*:

Emily R. from Colorado won with comment number 162!!
Congratulations, Emily - I will contact you tomorrow to get your shipping address!

Vote for your favorite - Fire Divas Jewelry Challenge

2011-02-11T21:58:00.001-08:00

Wooohooo ... voting is open for the quarterly jewelry challenge. But believe me, it's going to be extra difficult, because the Fire Divas received some phenomenal entries. The theme was That Special Bead

Out first entry is this beautiful necklace featuring a bead by Ashlyn Design and some stunning wire work:

Entry #1

Designer Info: Scott Bjorge. Gallery
Designer's Description: As we enter the heart of winter it is nice to think of our beautiful Spring gardens to escape the cold and snow. This lovely focal bead by Ashlyn Design inspires that feeling with it's blend of an array of lovely colors. Designed with a sterling silver 's' hook accented with two more beads from Ashlyn Design brought around to the front to become part of the design.

Our second entry is also an "eye catching" necklace featuring an eye bead by Holly's Folly and natural and metallic beads.

Entry #2

Designer Info: Michelle Plumb Gallery Contact: maplumb1 {at} wowway (dot) com
Designer's Description: Eye of Horus necklace, with focal by Holly Dare of Holly’s Folly and eye murrini from Janel Dudley Beads. I’m fascinated by ancient Egyptian history, so this bead called me immediately. The necklace was made with Holly’s Eye of Horus focal, graduated lapis lazuli rondelles, turquoise rounds and gold-plated rounds. Fit for a Pharaoh!

Entry #3 is rich with silver and glass baubles from Janel Dudley Beads

Entry #3

Designer Info: Mary Elam / Stella's Blossoms
Designer's Description: Boro Blues is inspired by the beautiful blue fire within each of these lovely beads by Janel Dudley. The brilliant shades of blue and aqua truly radiate goodness from within. Each Boro bead is accented with Bali Sterling silver beadcaps. I've included my favorite Bail sterling silver focal bead in a unique oval shape to compliment the design. Swarovski crystals add extra sparkle. A thai silver toggle closure is included.

Our fourth entry is a double spiral of Swarovski crystals with a hollow heart by Holly's Folly.

Entry #4

Designer Info: Gretchen Coats Etsy Blog Gallery
Designer's Description: This 24" necklace is made up of close to 600 3mm swarovski crystals in a double spiral. The Focal bead is made by Holly of Holly's Folly Glass, and the crystals and seed beads match the blue and pink of the focal bead perfectly! Heart is actually hollow, and upon closer inspection you can see

the smaller beads run through the center of it!

Our fifth and final entry mixes pearls, crystals, pressed glass and seed beads with a floral focal from Holly's Folly .

Entry #5

Designer Info: Helen Aresik / Helen's Atelje
Designer's Description: Romance in pink. This design is based and inspired on the beautiful and wonderful, handmade lampwork bead made by Holly's Folly. When I look at the Focal bead I think of a beautiful garden with pink flowers. I’ve chosen beads and other findings to match the pink and green tones in the focal bead. I made some beaded beads myself with pink beads with a green bead inside, inspired of the deep green color inside the focal bead. I also used chain and findings in sterling silver, some swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls and other glass beads and leaves. The necklace is 80 cm long excl. the pendant, which is 10,5 cm. The focal bead is almost 4 cm long. The bracelet is 21 cm long and the earrings are 3 cm long without the earhook.

Voting: Please vote once on the right side of the Fire Divas blog. Voting poll will be up for one week. Winners will be announced shortly after the polls are closed on the Fire Divas Glass Bead Blog.

Etsy - Valentine Sale

2011-02-11T15:00:00.000-08:00

With all my different sales venues (starting on my own webpage, then Ebay, Etsy & Artfire), I did only now realize that I haven't had a big sale on Etsy for a long time.

It's Valentine.
We love lampwork beads.
We love Etsy.
And we love a good Sale.

So here we go ... let's show Etsy some love!

Big Valentine Sale in my Etsy shop:
All lampwork bead sets and focal beads are reduced by 20%!

The fine print:
Sale starts right now and ends on Tuesday (2/15) at midnight.
Prices in Etsy reflect already the 20% off - there is no additional discount during checkout.
Excludes spacers and finished jewelry.

Happy shopping & let's share the love :)

Useful Links: Craftopolis

2011-02-11T14:24:00.000-08:00

If you are selling your art & craft items through Etsy, you know most probably how time consuming it can be to do bulk updates to your Etsy listing.

Ever been frustrated because you wanted to decrease or increase all of your Etsy prices by a certain percentage?
Or struggled through updating the quantity of several of your articles?
Or fought through all the Etsy screens because you wanted to adjust multiple titel to add "Sale" or "Valentine Special"?

If you want an easy way to change prices, title or quantities on Etsy, then this useful link can help you: http://www.craftopolis.com

Just go to the "Edit Express" tab, enter your Etsy name and import your Etsy articles. Now you can quickly change all or certain article prices - either by dollar amount or percentage. Once finished, click "Save Changes". That's it!

Or how about changing titles? Just select in the drop-down-menu "titel" and you can easily alter several titles or if you want too, all of them.

You can even change descriptions or quantities ... easy peasy, and there are no downloads of "hacks" or additional software required.

Wishing you all a great start into your weekend :)

One World One Heart 2011

2011-01-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

Yay - the One World One Heart event is on!
For the first year I am participating in this blogger event, and I'm super excited to welcome bloggers from all over the world on my blog.

If you never heard of One World One Heart: it is a worldwide event for bloggers. It gives all those who blog a chance to meet and mingle and form connections with those they may not have otherwise met from all over the world.

So, if you visit my blog for the first time: Welcome!!!!

My name is Judith Billig and I am a glass bead maker. Each bead is individually crafted using a centuries-old technique called lampworking (also called flameworking) in whch molten glass is wrapped around a stainless steel rod to create the glass bead.

I make glass beads, but I also design jewelry using mainly semi-precious stones, sterling silver, Swarovski crystals and of course my own lampwork beads.

My blog is first and foremost about my passion: glass, color and lampworking. But you'll find also a lot of tips and tricks, useful links and the occasional chit-chat about my family, friends and life here in the Pacific North-West.

I bet you're wondering already about my One World One Heart door price? :)
One of my visitors here will receive this fabulous big hole bead. The bead is hand cored with genuine sterling silver core and finished off with brass bead caps that have a fine hammered texture. It will come strung on a braided black necklace ready to wear.

What do you have to do to be in the draw for this bead? Just say hello! Simply leave a comment on this blog post, and if you want, I would love it if you can tell me a bit about you! And please leave an email address for me so that I know how I can contact you.

At the end of the event (Feb.17) I will draw the winner of the prize and announce it here on the blog. Of course I'll also email you, so that I can get your shipping address!

I hope you enjoy looking around in my blog, and remember to leave a comment HERE on my Icarus Beads blog!

Sale: Out with the old - in with the new

2011-01-29T10:28:00.001-08:00

It’s time to make space for new beads in my online shop!

Now through February 1st, take advantage of the "Out with the Old" sale and enjoy 20% off on all lampwork beads sets and focals (excludes spacers and finished jewelry)!

This offer applies also to already reduced beads in the "Specials" section. That means you can save even more!

As always, you’ll receive free shipping inside the U.S., and a low flat rate of US$ 3.75 for international shipping.

This offer ends midnight Tuesday, February 1st (discount will appear during checkout).

Happy beading,
Judith
http://www.judithbillig.com

Blue Ice

2011-01-27T16:04:00.000-08:00

As you might know, I'm a member of the Fire Divas, a fabulous group of networking lampworkers. We're having a new Bead Challenge within the Fire Divas team for February. It's called "Ice, ice baby".

If you've been following this blog (or my Facebook fan page) already for a few months, then you know that this challenge "speaks to me". In recent months I drew lots of inspiration from ice, glaciers, icicles and winter.

For this challenge I re-interpreted my "icicles" series from early winter. This time I took the icicle shape really literal - instead of abstracting it into a modern, sleek shape, I shaped the beads to look like real-live icicles.

Here's the result of my challenge beads: "Blue Ice"

Here is a closeup of the icicle beads:

I made also a couple of other bead sets inspired by this challenge, but will not submit them (because I can only submit 1 entry). These ones are listed on my webpage for sale.

Fairy Ice Cubes

Aqua Ice Cubes

Would love to hear your feedback. Do you think I selected the right beads for the challenge? Or should I have gone with the Fairy Ice Cubes instead (my favorite)?

If you want to learn more about the Fire Divas and their glassy beauties, check out our Facebook page or the Fire Divas blog!

Best Christmas Gift ever: Inspiration!!!

2011-01-14T19:41:00.001-08:00

I think the best Christmas gift that I received is Kim Neely's Color Archive e-book. It's showcasing 10 years of her exceptional beads. I admire especially Kim's eye for color and she is of course the master of Raku, one of my all-time-favorite glass colors (and one of the most temperamental colors around).

After having to work one a few custom orders, I finally had some time to play around on the torch. So the last couple of days I drew inspiration from Kim's use of color and her color combinations.

Raku Blush

Many of Kim's beads use the fabulous Zimmermann Z-99 Purple Rose - a wonderful color that unfortunately is no longer produced. Thank goodness I could accumulate a small stash of powder, frit and rods (but I'm always on the lookout to find some more LOL ... so if you know a source, please send me an email!).

Jolie Jolie

I am posting pictures of some of the sets that I made in the last few days. I can't even tell you, how much I fell in love again with using glass powder and frit. I have lots of ideas that float around in my head, and can't wait for my next "playful" torching session!

Purple Honey Glaze

If you got inspired now too, and want to check out Kim's Color Archive, here is a link to her website, where you can also order the eBook.

Treasure Tuesday: Love is in the air

2011-01-11T11:41:00.001-08:00

In today's Treasure Tuesday we can really feel the love. :)
Valentine is just around the corner, and we Fire Divas wear our hearts on the sleeve and show our love with these Valentine lampwork beads. Enjoy!

Boro Heart by Fire 'n Sand

Be my Valentine - Turtle bead by Maybeads

Pink Heart - bead set by Lara Lutrick

Pearly Pink Hearts - Set by Lori Bergmann

Heart Design - Focal bead by Emakaye

Heart Fish - Valentines bead by Hollys Folly

Hearts of Gold - by Judith Johnston

Hope you enjoyed this week's Treasure Tuesday :)

Pixie Dust - revisited. And CIM Cirrus

2010-12-27T15:46:00.000-08:00

In Spring of this year I had a real infatuation with pixie dust. I made so many beads in my "Frosted" and "Silk" series that I got kind of tired of it. I still offered shimmer spacers made to order, but didn't want to make any larger sets anymore.

Well, the glass Muse is sometimes unpredictable. Two days ago, out of the blue, she decided to give me back my passion for pixie dust. And here are some of the beads that I created in the last two days in my new "Satin" series!

I worked with pearl pixie dust, and my own mix of metallic blue-purple. To add a twist to some of the beads, I also applied fine silver wire, that melts to tiny little silver droplets. Others I textured with the fabulous cgbeads bead rollers.

And while I'm in the process of revisiting, I"m selling these beads on Ebay. I didn't list there for quite a while, but I think I might give it another try. Click here to see my listings.

Oh, and just for a change (you can't do only pixie dust, right?), I used for the first time CIM Cirrus. It's a glass which turns a bit milky the longer you work it and resembles moonstones. In these beads (called Moonstone Opals) I encased multicolored dichroic glass with Cirrus:

Happy Holidays

2010-12-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

As 2010 draws to a close, I would like to wish you and your loved ones the very best for this holiday season, whatever your tradition. Here's to good food, good friends, and peace and inspiration all around you.

To celebrate the season and as a little thank you at the end of a great year, I'm thrilled to announce a special Christmas sale on my webpage.

Enjoy 25% off on all lampwork sets, focals and finished jewelry (excludes spacers). Sale starts now and ends Sunday at midnight. Discount will be applied automatically during checkout.

Happy beading & Happy Holidays!
Judith

Pink Opal Focal Bead - second attempt :)

2010-12-20T20:24:00.000-08:00

If you're not only reading this blog, but are also one of my Facebook fans, then this bead will look strangely familar:

I made a very similar focal bead last week, but that bead had a tiny little imperfection. I think I touched it in the kiln with another hot bead, and there was a nearly invisible scratch in the encasing.

So I took the opportunity to give away that first bead to one lucky Facebook fan. Here you can see our dog Pasta drawing the name of the winner:

Congratulations again to Linda, who won the original focal bead. She wants to create a pendant and dangle 4mm Swarovski crystals from it and put it on a copper or silver chain. We're all excited to see Linda's creation!

Never one to keep rest until I'm happy, I sat down yesterday and did a retake on exactly the same bead. The result you can see above, and this time I took especially care not to have another kiln accident.

Because I love this design so much (adapted from the Fire Opal tutorial by Amber - Naos), I made also a set of matching lentils.

Both items are currently listed for auction at Ebay. Click here.

Treasure Tuesday: Purple & Green

2010-12-14T18:48:00.000-08:00

Tuesday again! That means Treasure Tuesday and I was inspired by today's Bead of the Day to select some gorgeous Purple & Green beads. These are all made by the talented artists in the Fire Divas group (click on the name to link to the artist's Etsy shop!)

Glass Flower Bead Set, Grape Vine

Beaded Silver Wire Wrapped Ring

Glass Cottage Roses

Iris Hollow Focal Bead

Hope you enjoyed this little selection. See you next Tuesday for more treasures! :)

Tool Time: Affordable Allround Tools

2010-12-12T18:53:00.000-08:00

Today I would love to show you some really versatile and affordable tools that I use on a daily basis.

These tools are coming as a 3-piece-set and are originally sold as "Cheese Knifes". But for me they're lampwork marvers, pokers, razors, shapers, spatulas, knifes and picks. The knifes are sturdy, made with stainless steel blades and are extremely affordable: under $10 for the 3-piece-set at Amazon or in the kitchen section at Costplus World Market).

They're also extremely versatile. I not only use them as a marver substitute to shape the glass - I create cuts like with a razor (for example in Michael Barley style Baleen beads), poke holes and plunge dots with the very sharp tip, push the glass around, drag lines, cut creases on the outside of crunched focals, remove sticky labels on glass rods etc. etc.

The applications are endless - and at that price, they make great stocking stuffers for your lampworking friends (or yourself).

Fantastic Friday - Wintery Etsy Treasuries

2010-12-10T16:13:00.000-08:00

Some beautiful eye candy with winter inspirations today (click for link!).

Three great new Etsy treasuries!!!
A big thank you to the curators (cassandrasaurus, Lori Bergmann and thespectrum) for creating such gorgeous collections!

First results of yesterday's challenge

2010-12-06T15:54:00.000-08:00

Just a fast post & run. Here are the result pictures of yesterday night's Facebook fan challenge!

Latin Love, a theme suggested by Bernice:

This is a very unusual style and color combination for me. But I actually enjoyed this theme so much that I made another set of ribbed spheres today in the same colors :). Who knew I would fall in love with primary colors? That's why I love these challenges - you're pushed outside of your comfort zone and discover some new ideas that you haven't contemplated yet.

Rainy Days/Stormy Nights, a theme suggested by Cynthia:

Here I took the theme and applied it to one of my current styles (powdery neutrals with silvered shards and etching). I used a pearl gray to represent the rainy days, decorated with transparent violet for the stormy nights and wrapped the bead into silvered shard in a mix of ivory, blue and gray (representing clouds). Great challenge! :)

Thanks so much to everybody participating. That was so much fun. And I'll further work down the list of suggestions and post the results in the upcoming days.

PS. These are available on my webpage or just click on the pictures :)

Time again for a little challenge

2010-12-05T21:29:00.001-08:00

I'm always splitting my torch time into custom orders from my order book and new beads. I learned, that's the best way that I can work. If I only make custom orders, my creativity doesn't have an outlet and I feel a bit (sometimes quite a bit) frustrated at the end of the torching session. But of course I can't only make new sets, even though that's what I really love to do. So this is a compromise that seems to work well for me.

Today I felt up for a challenge, and asked on my Facebook fan page for themes to work with. I got some really interesting suggestions:

Peace
Latin Lover
Rainy Days/Stormy Nights
Waves
Essence of Seattle
Animal Prints

For some reason (maybe because I'm still suffering from a cold and dream about being somewhere where it's hot and tropical) I got especially curious about the "Latin Lover".

This theme inspired me to make a set of large spheres in a very untypical style and color combination (well, for me at least).

I had a bit more time left after the "Latin Lover" set and selected the "Rainy Days/Stormy Nights" theme to make a set of lentils.

New color combination of Pearl Grey and Violet, but a style that followers of this blog might know already from my "Glacier" series.

Thanks all for your suggestions - I got really challenged to try something new and had a blast :). I'll post result pictures tomorrow afternoon and work on more of the themes on this list during this week.

Sedona - how did I miss it?

2010-12-04T14:52:00.000-08:00

I bought half a pound of Sedona glass AGES ago. Stashed it into my glass storage, as you do. And completely forgot it. For months. Here and there I read about Sedona on Lampwork Etc. and that people have trouble with the devitrification, that they love it or hate it.

Yesterday night, for no reasons, I pulled it out of the storage and made these two sets with it. And OMG (!) - I love it. Why don't I see more beads with this glass? It's just absolutely gorgeous. Great color range, all from the same rod of glass. You can get everything from a velvety, intense purple (like EDP) to lavender, violet, rust, peach, cinnamon, pink. Yummy!

Yes, there is some devitrification happening if you don't pay close attention. In the flame it behaves very similar to EDP - maybe the whole glass was an accident that happened when they're planning to produce a batch of EDP, especially if you see how the purple is nearly identical to the EDP purple.

I etched this set to see how that looks ... and as I expected, it's gorgeous! Awww, can you guess that I'm in love with this glass?

Icicles - Revisiting the Stalactites

2010-12-02T13:55:00.001-08:00

Remember by stalactite and dew drops beads from earlier this year? Well I revisited the stalactite and put a new spin on it. I am still very much inspired by winter and I had icicles in mind, but didn't want to be too literal. So this is a more abstract version of icicles.

Modern shape, and pure simplicity in design. I didn't want to mess around with it and keep the emphasis on the sleek shape. So no decoration, no color, just clear frosted glass.

Now I can't decide whether I should list it on my webpage, Etsy, or Ebay. I haven't listed on Ebay anything for several weeks because it is frustrating if you feel like you're giving away your beads for next to nothing. But then I think the set would appeal most probably more to Ebay buyers. What do you think?

Tool Time: Cracking Bead Release?

2010-12-01T12:14:00.000-08:00

Today's Tool Time will be pretty short - in fact, it's only a really fast tip that I want to share. I'm sick and I feel cold & miserable and I'm happy to be alive, so don't complain *grin*.

Do you wonder why your bead release is suddenly breaking more frequently? Maybe it started just a couple of weeks ago, once the cold temperatures arrived?

My tip:
Dip & dry your mandrels in the house, not in your cold studio!
If you dry your bead release in the cold studio, the steel of the mandrels is cold and contracts, even if it is just a tiny fraction of a mm. Once you put the mandrel into the flame, the steel gets warm and extends, which can lead to the bead release breaking!

However, if you dip & dry your mandrels in the warmth of your house, the steel doesn't get as cold and doesn't contract as much while the release dries.

See you back next week with a "regular version" of Tool Time - if I ever get rid of this cold :).

Big Black Friday sale starts already on Wednesday!

2010-11-23T17:29:00.001-08:00

It seems that retailers start earlier and earlier with the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. There are even some retailers that do a Black Friday Month! I guess everything is possible and with the economy as it is right now, people are keen to jump on these specials.

That's why I'm also off to an early start with my Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale. Starting tomorrow you can make amazing deals on my webpage and in my Etsy shop. This is a great opportunity to stock up on early Christmas gifts for your loved ones and even yourself!

On my webpage I offer again an storewide "Buy More - Save More" deal with incredible savings:

Take 20% off when you spend $50 - $99
Take 25% off when you spend $100 - $199
Take 30% off when you spend $200 or more

The discount is applied automatically during checkout. As always, you'll receive free shipping inside the U.S., and a low flat rate of US$ 3.75 for international shipping.

Now, my Etsy sale is a bit different because they don't offer this specific functionality. But I'm using instead the new "coupon" feature that Etsy enabled this week. You will receive 20% off on all items in my Etsy shop. Please use coupon code "BLACKFRIDAY" to receive automatically the 20% off discount!

If your order is larger than $200, I'll refund an additional 10% afterwards through a Paypal refund. I'll also refund through Paypal in case you forget to enter the coupon code.

Both sales start Wednesday and the offer ends midnight Monday, November 29th.

Happy bargain hunting!

Useful Links: Etsy Hacks

2010-11-20T16:35:00.001-08:00

If you have an Etsy store and list frequently your articles, you know that the Etsy user interface can be a real pain in the ... (you know what). It's cumbersome and complicated and with every listing you have to go through all the screens and enter all fields again. So frustrating!

But ... if you use Mozilla Firefox as your web browser, the little tools on the Greasemonkey website can help you to run your business more efficiently! You can for example download a tool that enables you to copy existing listings (either from the article description or from your "My Etsy" screen), so that you can use them as templates for new articles. Yay! That is the one Greasemonkey script that I use the most and it makes such a difference in my seller experience with Etsy.

To use the Greasemonkey tools, you first need to install Greasemonkey itself. Open this link in your Firefox browser and push the green "Add to Firefox" button.
Wait for the little window to open and click "Install Now"
Once another window opens, restart Firefox to complete the changes.

Now you are ready to install the individual scripts that help with your recurring tasks in your Etsy shop. Go to this page to find a list of all the Etsy scripts available. Click on the headers if you want to get more information about the script and see screen prints about how the script affects your Etsy shop.

Select the script you're interested in and press the button.
Once a little window opens, click "Install".

If you don't want to install all of the tools right away, here are my suggestions for instant time savings:

"copy listing" Quickly create a new listing based on an existing one. (all fields are copied except for the pictures)
"edit this item" Adds "edit item" and "delete item" links to the View Listing page when viewing an item in your shop.
"relist item" Adds a "relist item" link next to each transaction on the Sold Orders page.
"fast tagger" Add all your listing's tags at once
"bulk image uploader" Upload up to five images at once when editing a listing
"section counter" Looks for uncategorised listings in your "Sections" page.

After installing your Greasemonkey tools, restart Etsy and enjoy the additional tools!

Inspiration strikes unexpected

2010-11-19T20:19:00.001-08:00

Maybe you know through my FB updates that I'm currently preparing lots of items for the annual Christmas Market at our girl's preschool. Normally I sell my lampwork beads just like that and rarely make jewelry anymore, but for this event I committed to prepare a table with finished items.

Mostly these will be in the lower price range: key chains, cellphone lariats, simple bracelets and big hole beads. Maybe also the occasional necklace and vintage key pendant. I had in my mind pretty much laid out, which designs and styles I want to offer.

But then I was catching up with blogs of fellow jewelry makers, lampworkers and crafters over on The Hive. It was this post by Christine & Co. and her beautiful work that got my creative juices flowing into an unexpected direction.

Charm Pendants! I've always been a sucker for charms and most of my bracelet designs are asymmetrical charm bracelets. I'm completely surprised that I never thought about making charm pendants!

So these are the four pendants that I made for the Christmas market with some of my orphan beads (click on pics for larger view). They're pretty large and look best worn on a fairly long chain or lariat style.

I want to offer the buyers a mix & match option. They can either buy only the pendant, or mix it up and purchase the matching chains, silk ribbons or leather cords.

The black/red pendant is already strung on a chain for illustrative purposes. As with all of these pendants, the focal bead is pretty substantial - in this case a one inch spree lentil.

I'm not totally happy with this last pendant. I think it does look a bit too busy with too many different colors. What do you think - shall I get rid of the charm on the left with two lampwork beads, one lavender shimmer, one etched purple/silver ?

Any feedback is appreciated!

It's officially Purple & Blue day :)

2010-11-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

I just uploaded heaps of new sets onto my webpage and also some focals. And realized that I had the blue & purple bug yesterday evening when torching. It didn't even occur to me when I was making the beads, or when I was cleaning the beads. Only when I've uploaded them on Facebook I realized that there was one purple or blue set next to the other.

I think tonight I will challenge myself: NO blue, NO purple.
LOL ... wonder what I can come up with without my two favorite colors!!!

Here we go ... do not look if you DON'T like these colors :)

Tool Time ... back next Monday

2010-11-16T19:17:00.001-08:00

I got a few emails asking about my missing "Tool Time" blog yesterday.
Sorry about that. But I was just not in the mood for blogging.

Kerstin, an old friend of mine died a couple of days ago. She had breast cancer and yesterday was her funeral. She was only 43 and has 2 children. She fought for 3 years, brave like a lioness.

And even though we were no longer in contact and haven't met for years, it made me terribly sad. So yes, that was the reason. I just didn't feel like blogging yesterday.

Check out next Monday's Tool Time, where I'll talk about about etching.

Treasure Tuesday: Animals

2010-11-16T17:25:00.000-08:00

Today (and from now on every Tuesday) I would love to feature some gorgeous beads made by the talented artists in the Fire Divas* group. This week's selection is all about "animal" beads.

Let's start with these fabulous Tiger Stripes Beads by Lori Bergmann. Reminds me of my honeymoon in Africa.
What do you say? Tigers? In Africa?

LOL! Obviously we didn't see any Tigers there. But the whole Safari theme that Lori has going on right now in her Etsy shop definitely brings back great memories!

And while we're talking about cats: I love cats! Wild cats, tame cats, big cats, small cats. Love them all! I think I would have many more of them (we have only one, our fabulous big and cuddly Tiger), if it wasn't for our old dog Pasta.

Here is Scroll Ivy Kitty, a super cute cat bead by Eileen (Dorset Hill Beads).

Ivy is not only elegant and beautiful.
She's also cuteness pure!

Cute?
Did someone say cute?
Oh yes ... and one is for sure: there's much more cuteness on the way!

This charming Periwinkle Sheep bead is made by the master of cute critters and whimsical animal beads herself, Lauren of Maybeads.

We're moving now swiftly from cute to colorful!

Check out this Blue and green fish by Laurie of Glassbead. Laurie loves to create fish beads, and you can find many different colors of them in her Etsy shop!

This one on the left was made with dark blue glass, silver foil, clear, blue and green. So vibrant colors!

The last beads in today's Treasure Tuesday collection are made by Lara Lutrick.

These Autumn Birds are just fabulous!
I love them especially because they're cute yet modern at the same time.

These particular birds are big hole beads in a great range of fall colors. They fit European charm bracelets, and would make a wonderful gift.

Don't forget to check out my next "Treasure Tuesday" with more gorgeous lampwork beads by our Fire Divas*!

*Want to know more about the Fire Divas?
We are a group of glass bead artisans promoting the use of artisan made lampwork beads. We believe that, by promoting one another's work, we all benefit.
Click here to see our Facebook Fan Page
And click here to visit our blog and to check out our latest work, Bead of the Day and gossip!

Tool Time: Etching lampwork beads

2010-11-15T11:13:00.000-08:00

I really like the "beach glass" look that can be achieved by etching lampwork beads. It gives them a matte shimmer and is a lovely contrast to the usual shiny bead look. It also seems to enhance some of the colors and I just love the "inner glow" that etching can produce on some of the lighter transparent colors.

To get started with etching lampwork beads, you require etching solution. You get them either as cream or as liquid and you can buy them with your usual glass suppliers. The brand that I use is called "Etch-All dib 'n etch" and it's a liquid.

Etching liquid is aggressive (kind of obvious, as it is a chemical that is removing a small layer of your glass bead) and safety is important when handling the solution. I suggest you use disposable rubber gloves and make sure that you have good ventilation. Either use it outside or with an opened window. And please don't handle the liquid with your bare hands (I always use a plastic spoon to move beads into the liquid and take them out) - it is not a very pleasant experience. Ask me how I know ;) And one more thing: please make sure that the etching solution and etching container is always outside of reach of children.

I normally place the annealed beads into a little plastic container and carefully pour a sufficient amount of etching liquid over the beads (metal or glass containers are not such a good idea, unless you want to etch your container too LOL). You want to make sure that it's enough liquid to cover your beads completely.

The etching process usually doesn't take more than 10 to 15 minutes (please double check on your etching solution container, in case you're using a different brand).

However, some glass colors take longer, mainly the silver glass colors (for example StrikingColor or TAG Fire Lotus). While I'm etching the beads, every couple of minutes I'm moving them around with a plastic spoon - just to make sure that the etching solution is really getting everywhere.

Once the etching process is finished, I use a plastic spoon to scoop the beads out of the solution and I'm giving them first a fast clean under running water before dropping them in a baking soda solution for a bath (etching liquid is acidic and can be neutralized with baking soda).

After neutralizing the beads in soda for a while, I give the beads another thorough clean with an old brush under running water, and they're ready to string! If you see some whitish deposit or dust on the beads after drying them, it just means that they were not cleaned enough - the deposits are sometimes a bit stubborn and another clean with a brush should solve that.

Don't forget to pour back the used liquid into the etching solution container - you can reuse it many many times (even though it gets dirty over time, but that doesn't affect it's performance). Make sure to clean the plastic container & spoon thoroughly too!

You can achieve beautiful effects if you just etch parts of your beads. There are several ways to do this, and I will tell you all about this (well, as much as I know LOL) in a few weeks.

Falling for Neutrals

2010-11-14T09:54:00.000-08:00

I'm all about color ... my usual glass choices are all pretty strong and vibrant: the fabulous rainbow-colored Raku and Strikingcolor range, Fire Lotus, intense blues of Triton, turquoise Gaia or girly pinks of Clio and Kalypso.

But in the last few weeks I've been exploring a muted, subtle color range as you find them in nature: rocks, stones, granite, bamboo, linen and sand colors are dominating my current bead styles.

Here are examples of my inspiration, and the results are beads in a soothing, calm color palette. Very Zen-like!

Serenity and tranquility is what I'm longing for, which could explain my current infatuation with nature and natural colors.

Another topic I'm drawn too right now is winter. Icy, cool pastel colors as you find them in glaciers, icicles and snow crystals are bringing me lots of inspiration and ideas for wintery bead styles.

Going ... going ... gone!

2010-11-13T00:18:00.001-08:00

I'm Cleaning out the cobwebs in my online shop!

Today just a really short post to let you know that I marked down
quite a few lampwork bead sets to make space for new listings.

Great Going-Going-Gone sale with savings of up to 20%!

All items that are on sale are clearly marked or just hop over
to the Going-Going-Gone! section of my webpage.

Happy shopping and wishing you all a fabulous weekend!!!

Tool Time: Gold Leaf

2010-11-07T23:36:00.000-08:00

One way to easily glam up lampwork beads is by adding precious metals, for example fine silver or genuine gold. With prices on a high right now, it does seem daunting to start using these expensive materials. But a little goes a very long way and considering the instant appeal it gives to beads, I think it's well worth the expense.

I want to talk this time about gold leaf and how I'm adding it to the surface decoration of beads.

Gold leaf for lampworking is commonly sold in little booklets with 25 sheets in either 22 Karat or 23 Karat gold. I personally can't really see a difference between 22K and 23K gold and it doesn't seem to look or behave differently.

The current going rate for a 25 sheet booklet of gold is about $40 - $45 and you can get them with your usual lampworking supply vendors. Beware of imitation gold leaf that you can find in craft shops ... they're not real gold if it's not written on it and will just burn to gray ash on your bead.

A word of caution: gold leaf is extremely lightweight and you need to be very careful when handling it. If there is just the slightest wind in the studio, or even if you're breathing too closely to the gold leaf, it will fly around and you have to be fast to catch it again.

I found this to be the best way to prepare the material:

Fold a paper kitchen towel down a couple of times and wet it.
Place it right next to your torch on your working surface.
Open the little booklet and hold it in an angle very close to the wet papertowel
Use a non-serrated tweezer to carefully guide/nudge/push the leaf to slide from the booklet onto the damp papertowel.
I blow very softly on top of the gold leaf, so that it sticks to the wet paper towel. Now there's no danger of it floating away with the lightest breeze.

To actually decorate the bead with the gold leaf is rather straight forward:

Prepare your bead as usual.
Once you're ready to decorate, let the bead cool down a bit (no glow)
Roll the bead either over the gold leaf or push it lightly onto the gold leaf, depending on desired result.
Lightly marver the leaf onto the bead
Flash fast through the flame (make sure that you're not reheating too much, else the gold leaf will burn off which is usually not pretty)
Place finished bead in your kiln

Here I show a different effect. This is a set that I made with Gaia silver glass and textured with a spiral shaped stamp.

After lightly pressing the bead onto the gold leaf I decided not to marver the gold. As a result, the gold leaf was burning off in the groves of the spiral stamp, thus enhancing the spiral effect even more.

Useful Links: Etsy Profit Calculator

2010-11-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

Are you calculating your profit with every Etsy sale? If you're anything like me, than you're using the "quick guesstimate" method. I was planning already for quite a while to create a simple Excel spread sheet - and for exactly the same time it's lingering somewhere at the bottom of my To-Do list. But that's about as far as I got :).

So here's a fast way to take the guesswork out of your Etsy profit calculation. A friend just forwarded me a link to Ryan Olbe's Etsy & Paypal Fee Calculator. This little tool makes it really easy to calculate your profits after Etsy and Paypal fees.

(click on pic to zoom)

Plus you can even do a reverse calculation and enter the amount you want to achieve after fees. Press a button, and voila: the calculator tells you for how much you should list your item.

Great little tool and well worth bookmarking!

And the winner is ... drum roll

2010-11-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for all the great entries in the naming contest for my new bead series. I got so many fabulous name suggestions, it was really difficult to select the winning name. From all the names that were submitted, the winning entry is
*drum roll*

Painted Desert !!!

The name seems to embody the best the look and feel of the beads and the natural colors.
Congratulation to Gail Fryman who's winning this Cherry Blush focal bead from my "Painted Desert" series:

Thanks so much for all the participants, that was lots of fun and I promise to repeat it next time I'm looking for a name for a new bead series!

Lots of new big hole beads!

2010-11-04T20:16:00.001-07:00

My mum (who's always great in finding out mistakes or shortcomings LOL) realized that the big hole bead section of my webpage was a big gaping ... nothing. Completely empty!

Something had to be done fast, and I dedicated yesterday night's torching session to big hole beads.

So today, after enjoying the beautiful sunny autumn day with my kids on the playground, I sat down and uploaded heaps and heaps of new big hole beads onto my webpage.

Go and check them out!

And they're fabulous instant gifts for the holidays! Just add a silver chain, leather cord or silk ribbon ... voila ... a unique, one-of-a-kind, handmade gift!

Thanks for looking! I'm off now to the torch to make some more focals ... how about crunchies (kaleras) instead of my favorite shape, the lentil.

PS: And if you admire the beautiful stamped and textured bead caps, they're made by my friend Ann Chambers (who is also selling these).

Color trends Spring 2011 in glass - part 2

2010-11-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

Here's the second part of my attempt to translate the Pantone Color Trends Spring 2011 into COE 104 glass colors. If you haven't seen part 1, you can find it here.

As a reminder, here's the whole Pantone palette, and today I'm tackling the second row:

Russet Let's start with Russet, a chocolaty brown. I always have problems to find a nice COE 104 brown, I feel most of them are too reddish or too dark. I just had a look in my stash ... not surprisingly I haven't found anything brown at all LOL. Brown is next to yellow another of the colors that I don't use normally.

My first suggestion is 591444 Effetre Light Brown Special, but I suspect it has a too reddish undertone.

The left picture shows 591448 Effetre Dark Brown Special, which is a tad too dark, but could work well in the same color palette.

Another option is Lauscha Cocoa, which is a lovely chocolate brown in real life, but the paddle on their webpage is much darker than what I experienced with this color.

As always, I'm a bit frustrated with the brown glass colors, so let's move on to something much more pleasant ;)

Regatta

Great color - like a sky blue. First thing that comes to my mind is CIM Pulsar. It's a transparent and such a pretty color, even though I tend to work it too hot and burn it.

CIM Smurfy would be a great opaque choice. Love that color, even though I'm a bit disturbed by the name LOL.

I actually think ASK Bahama Blue looks even better. Smurfy might be a bit too turquoise. On the right you can see the ASK Bahama blue paddle. Great color, but I have to admit I haven't tried it yet. It is hard to get, as so many of the ASK colors. But you might get lucky with a vendor selling off their last rods or with another lampworker selling off their stash.

Blue Curacao

Wow, we're having quite a few gem and water colors next year. This goes definitely into the turquoise-teal direction, and there is a huge selection available that would work well for the Pantone color.

First thing coming to my mind is Effetre light turquoise alabaster (right). Such a dreamy color!

Effetre Light Aqua is looking great on the paddly - however, I think in real life this color is much more blue than the example. Iris suggested yesterday to layer transparent colors with a different colored core, and I think the light aqua could work well if combined with a teal core.

The longer I think about it, the more I'm convinced that I would have a much larger selection of COE 90 and COE 96 in this color. I guess some testing is in order :)

Lavender

Oh lavender - how I love you and at the same time hate you. LOL. I find it's always difficult to find just the perfect lavender ... not too blue, not too purple. And if you found one, it's difficult to make pictures of and nearly always looks blue! ;)
Pantone's lavender color looks more periwinkle to me, what do you think? So let's see what we have that could fit.

CIM Heffalump is a very pretty lavender, and when worked right the color is so pretty and fabulous. It tends to wash out, but I found that depends on the batch and how you work it. Lately I had very good success to retain a fabulous lavender hue.

My current favorite lavender color is 591226 Effetre Alexandrite Pastel (left). It has fabulous striations and such a pretty, feminine lavender color.

And then there's a more conservative lavender pick, 591221 Effetre Lavender (right pic). In my opinion a bit too dark and blue/purple-ish though to be a good fit for the Pantone Lavender hue.

Last but not least, a lovely neutral grey: Silver Cloud

Many glass color greys have undertones of either green or brown, and it can be tricky to find a clean, crisp, neutral grey. One of my favorite grays is Lauscha Smoke Gray transparent. But it's not a good match here, because it also has a slightly green hint in it.

I think the good old 591048 Effetre Gray Transparent (left), layered over white, would work well. It does look a bit brownish in the paddle pic, but when worked as a bead, it doesn't have a brown tint to it.

For an opaque version, 591268 Effetre Pearl Gray (right) is a good contender.

And on the left a last pic of a color that I haven't tried yet, 791969 Vetrofond Light Pearl Gray Odd. It might have a bit of a green tint, it's difficult to see just from that photo. But it looks like a very pretty gray on the pic and I definitely want to try it.

That's for a roundup of the Pantone Spring preview! I see that there are quite a few colors that I need to try and want to add to my next glass order. But staying in touch with upcoming trends sounds like a good excuse, doesn't it? ;) :)

Color trends Spring 2011 in glass - part 1

2010-11-02T15:02:00.000-07:00

Color Trends Spring 2011! Did I say 2011? I know , it's not even winter yet, and here I am talking about Spring trends. But designers think ahead - not only fashion designers, also jewelry designers. And we lampworker keep up with the trends too, so that we can provide beads that match the newest color trends. So please, don't shoot the messenger for talking already now about Spring 2011 :)

Here we go, these are Pantone's predictions for the Top 10 colors for Spring 2011 Women's Fashion:

Looks like we're in for a bright and pretty feminine color palette next spring. Let's break them down and I'll try to find some matching COE 104 colors.

Honeysuckle

Yes, let's start with the most difficult one right away. Pinks and hot pinks are very difficult to match. I hope I found a couple of colors that work well .

I think Effetre Dark Pink Alabaster (591380) could be a good option.

Another option is one of the Reichenbach colors. Let's see.

How about Reichenbach Pearl Pink? It's the pink here in these beads, and this glass has a great shampoo effect.

Coral Rose

Just mentioning the color "Coral" to a lampworker can cause a controversy LOL. There are so many Corals out there, it's not even funny anymore! And to find one that matches this Pantone color perfectly, could keep me seriously busy until Spring. So here are just two suggestions.

First picture shows Effetre Coral Sunburst Special (591420-SB). The upper row of beads is self colored, lower row is dusted with gold Mica powder.

Another idea is Effetre Coral Peach Persimmon Special (591420-PP ).

Thinking about it, Effetre Candy Corn Odd (791803) would be a good fit too.
I did use it in the set on the left and loved that color a lot, especially because of the striations.

Peapod

Now, this Pantone color doesn't really look pea green to me. What do you think? Doesn't it look more sea foam than pea green? My first suggestion is CIM Celadon. Definitely in the right color family, and I think it works a bit lighter than the example shows.

Or how about Lauscha Green Apple Green Opaque (which is actually not quite as pale pea green as the example picture on the left displays)?

Maybe not quite right. But I think 591213 Effetre Grasshopper could be a great fit.

Beeswax

Now that's an interesting color. Most probably not a great fashion color for my own skin & hair type - I look definitely sickly if I wear a color like this. But darker types might really enjoy Beeswax as a fashion color, who knows?

I have to search a bit around in my stash and in the color databases for this color, because I don't tend to use yellow in lampworking. It's my least favorite color.

Effetre has a yellow which could work: 1414 Butternut. (pic on the left). It's an opaque yellow with slight orange/coral tint. I found it to be not quite as dark as the paddle shows.

And one of the many CIM Pumpkin unique colors should work well too. Here is a paddle for 511223-2. Looks about right, or what do you think?

Silver Peony

Last one for today. A very pretty, powdery pink and there are heaps of colors out there that would work well and some come pretty close to the Pantone color.

First off, on the left there's CIM Chai Unique 511765-3. Isn't this a super pretty color? Maybe not even pale enough to match Silver Peony.

I think CIM Butter Pecan works well too (see pic on the right). Even though I believe, in real life it's a bit more peach than the paddle in this picture.

I also thought about Effetre Silver Pink Premium, but while the paddle looks great on the computer screen, in real life, when worked, I think Silver Pink is too close to a flesh color than a light pink.

But Effetre Light Bubblegum Pink could work well. Let's see, here is an example of etched Bubblegum Pink spacers. Maybe a bit too blue-ish?

That's all for today - I will work through the next 5 colors tomorrow. Let me know, what you think about the Spring 2011 colors. I am looking forward to your feedback and if you have some suggestions for other colors, that I overlooked, please post them here!

Name the bead series - contest!

2010-11-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

Free Bead Giveaway!

I really enjoy naming my Lampwork beads, but this time I’m looking for your suggestions to name this new series. Have fun finding a matching name in this contest – plus if you win, you get a great price! Win this focal lampwork bead:

This series is a new interpretation of a 2009 design and the beads are made in a soft, natural color palette, using colors like Sandstone, Desert Pink, Caramel or Linen. I offer them in several styles, for example with raised details or fine silver decoration.

The naming contest submission starts now and expires Thursday, Nov 4th 2010, at 11:59 pm. There is no limit of how many names you can submit. I'm looking for an overall name for the series, that is flexible enough so that it can be easily adapted to name the specific bead sets and focal beads within this series.

Please send an email to judith@judithbillig.com with your suggestion(s).If there is more than one person with the same winning name suggestion, the person who emails the name first will be the one that wins. The winner will be announced on Friday!

And here are examples of the beads in this new series:


Mystery - Caramel (9)


Mystery - Lagoon (9)


Mystery - Powder Pink (9)


Mystery Focal - Caramel (3)


Mystery Focal - Lagoon (3)


Mystery Focal - Powder Pink (3)

Although it will be a few days before the beads get their rightful name, they will still be available for purchase during the contest. If you want to see more pics or order some of the beads, either click on the pictures of follow this link.

Have fun with the naming contest and good luck for the giveaway!

Tool Time: The essential marver

2010-11-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

New week, new "issue" of Tool Time where I share with you my lampworking tools, glass colors that I can't live without, books that I treasure and techniques that helped me to improve my lampworking skills.

Let's talk marvers. There are so many different marvers out there, that I could write a book about it - and most probably somebody did already LOL. The most commonly used materials are graphite and brass and I use both of them, depending on the glass used and effect desired.

But the one graphite marver that I use since the beginning and that I use each day with every single bead that I make, is the Smircich-Henley Graphite Paddle. I believe I can't work without it and when I forgot my marver earlier this year after attending a Michael Barley class (highly recommended!) at Frantz Art Glass, I was heartbroken. I had it back after 3 days, but those 3 days showed me again how much I love and need this marver.

Here's a picture of the marver, and you can see right away that one corner is different than with your usual graphite marvers:

It is a 2" x 4" graphite paddle and was developed in a corporation between Jim Smircich and Vince Henley. One of the outside corners is clipped off at a 45º angle and has a cup shape with stainless steel insert. Here is a different view of this marver and you can see the cup shape and the stainless steel insert:

I hold the mandrel in my left hand, the paddle in the other hand, and I place the tip of my mandrel into the cup to steady it. This means that I can take some of the weight from my left hand, hence decreasing wrist fatigue, it's easier to control the bead within the flame and keep the marver horizontal, which makes it easier to keep the bead on center.

Especially when I started lampworking, I found this tool helped me so much to improve my bead shape - it makes it easier to make a round bead instead of a wobbly bead! It's also great if you're like me, and your wrist is not strong or your hand is not quite as steady as you would like it. (LOL, to be honest, it would also help if I would drink less caffeine).

So this is my most used "basic" tool that I have always laying next to my torch on the work bench. There are many others, but the Smircich-Henley Graphite Paddle is certainly on top of my "essential tools" list.

You can buy this tool online with many of the glass tool vendors, for example here, here or here.

The Xmas market challenge - part 1

2010-10-31T14:12:00.000-07:00

If you know me, than you also know that I am a notorious procrastinator. If I don't have a deadline, I have a hard time to get it done.

So it's good that I know the deadline for the Christmas market of my little girl's preschool. 3rd of December! That's the day that I need to have enough inventory for finished pieces to fill a small table. Did I say finished pieces? (yikes) Yes - that will be pendants, kid's necklaces, bookmarks, key rings, canape knifes, big hole bead necklaces, earrings and maybe some bracelets. Mainly pieces in a lower price range - things that can be used as Christmas gifts and stocking fillers.

With only a little more than a month to go, I challenged myself this morning: from today on, every day I want to complete two pieces for the market! And to make sure, that it's happening, every Sunday I'll post pictures of my finished work here in my blog ... nothing works better than a bit of pressure! :)

So here are my first two pieces, that I made today:

Check in with me next Sunday to find out what I've been up to and if I managed to stick with my plan :)

OK, gotta go now and finish my sales tax filing. It's due today LOL, but thank goodness I'm nearly up to date with all the bookkeeping and just need to print the reports and file it online. Oh my, I sure wish there was a cure for procrastination! :)

Tool Time: Lampworking How-To book

2010-10-24T23:06:00.000-07:00

Lampworking newbies sometimes send me emails with questions or ask for recommendations. They're enthusiastic and hungry to learn everything about lampworking, the studio setup, tools, glass colors or certain techniques! It always reminds me of the time when I started with lampworking. I wanted to know everything, and as soon as possible LOL.

To cover some of the questions that people ask me, I would like to start a new series called "Tool Time". Every Monday I will share with my readers some of the tools, glass colors, tips, books or techniques that I recommend and just can't live without (or so I think). I hope, you will enjoy the Tool Time posts and I would love to encourage your feedback and comments. Also feel free to ask me right here on the blog!

Triggered was this idea by a question that I was asked yesterday. A lampworker just discovered this as her new hobby, and wanted to know which book I would recommend as the best Lampworking How-To book. It took me about 1.6 seconds to reply: Corina Tettinger's "Passing the Flame".

This wonderful book was the first lampworking book that I bought, even before lighting the torch for the first time. And even today, I still get it out sometimes to get some inspiration, look up a certain detail or just for nostalgic reasons :).

This book is like the bible of lampworking, especially for beginners. It covers not only in detail security questions, the studio set up and tools. It really goes into details that every beginner is keen to learn, but might be a bit intimidated to ask. For example how to light the torch properly, how to regulate the torch to create a reducing or oxidizing flame, how to pull stringers, how to make the first round bead etc.

The biggest part of the book is covering the most common lampworking techniques. They're all explained in easy to follow step-by-step instructions, beautifully photographed with additional "excursions" that go deeper into the technique and even show detailed instruction for some of Corina's signature beads.

This book is really like opening a treasure box. With every page you can learn something new! I myself believe that I passed the "newbie" phase, and therefor I sold most of my starting lampworking books some time ago. However, I don't think I would ever consider selling "Passing the Flame", because it goes way beyond a beginner book.

You can find the book either with some of the glass vendors, for example Frantz Art Glass or on Amazon (and other book stores). If you're lucky, you can even find a used version at a reduced price in the Garage Sale section of Lampwork Etc. (my favorite lampworking forum ... but more about this in a few weeks here on Tool Time).

New series: Sparkly Glacier

2010-10-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

This is a quick "post & run" article about a new series of focal mini sets that incorporate dichro, shards and etching. I'm really excited about the "Sparkly Glacier" line and see lots of possibilities to extend on this idea. It's the best of both worlds: beach glass with it's soft matte texture, but deep inside you can see the sparkle and glow of dichro. Very cool!

Here are the first beads in this new line, that I just started to list this week.

Glow Sparkly Glacier (with copper dichro)

Copper Sparkly Glacier (with silver dichro and fine silver droplets)

Denim Sparkly Glacier (with silver dichro and fine silver droplets)

Let me know what you think about the contrast of dichro and beach glass. Any ideas for additional colors that you would like to see?

This weekend only: Buy More, Save More Sale

2010-10-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

It’s Buy More, Save More time!

Continue to celebrate with me the launch of my online shopping site and stock up on unique Lampwork beads or artisan jewelry.

Now through October 17^th, take advantage of the “Buy More – Save More” sale and enjoy savings of up to 30%.

Take 20% off when you spend $50 - $99
Take 25% off when you spend $100 - $199
Take 30% off when you spend $200 or more

As always, you’ll receive free shipping inside the U.S., and a low flat rate of US$ 3.75 for international shipping.

This offer ends midnight Sunday, October 17^th (discount will appear during checkout).

Happy beading,
Judith
http://www.judithbillig.com

Icarus Beads - Dreams about Glass & Color

Sneak Peak: Cascade jewelry line

Instead of Flowers: Spacer-mania :)

Lots of snow - and lots of spheres

Start of a new necklace series

Just one of those days ...

Something old and something new

Haven't lost my marbles ;)

Goals: January 2012

Fun at the torch: End of Day Bead

Testing: Mama G's Bead Release

Deal of the Day - Fuchsia Sparkle Braclet

Deal of the Day - Glazed Mist

Poll: Focal-Palooza

Names and Shops on Etsy ... big changes ahead

Examples on how to use "ready made" color schemes

Eye Candy: Weird Blobs and Nuggets

A very late update

Introducing the "Deal of the Day"

A quick Hello from San Juan Island

Lampwork Rings - sneak preview!

Yes, I'm still alive!

Short Attention Span ... results

Charity auction for Beads of Courage - please help this great cause!

Streamlining - Progress Report

What do you need to say "No" to?

The exhibit that didn't happen

A different kind of Aqua

Sale, Bead Star, Beadmaker's Retreat

Deadlines ... what I've been up to

Aztec bead series - Revisited

Fire Divas Customer Appreciation Week!

Vote for your favorite beads and win!

Introducing new "Sparkle Opal" and "Marble" beads

Tool Time: No mess glue for crafting

One World One Heart 2011: Winner

Vote for your favorite - Fire Divas Jewelry Challenge

Etsy - Valentine Sale

Useful Links: Craftopolis

One World One Heart 2011

Sale: Out with the old - in with the new

Blue Ice

Best Christmas Gift ever: Inspiration!!!

Treasure Tuesday: Love is in the air

Pixie Dust - revisited. And CIM Cirrus

Happy Holidays

Pink Opal Focal Bead - second attempt :)

Treasure Tuesday: Purple & Green

Tool Time: Affordable Allround Tools

Fantastic Friday - Wintery Etsy Treasuries

First results of yesterday's challenge

Time again for a little challenge

Sedona - how did I miss it?

Icicles - Revisiting the Stalactites

Tool Time: Cracking Bead Release?

Big Black Friday sale starts already on Wednesday!

Useful Links: Etsy Hacks

Inspiration strikes unexpected

It's officially Purple & Blue day :)

Tool Time ... back next Monday

Treasure Tuesday: Animals

Tool Time: Etching lampwork beads

Falling for Neutrals

Going ... going ... gone!

Tool Time: Gold Leaf

Useful Links: Etsy Profit Calculator

And the winner is ... *drum roll*

Lots of new big hole beads!

Color trends Spring 2011 in glass - part 2

Color trends Spring 2011 in glass - part 1

Name the bead series - contest!

Tool Time: The essential marver

The Xmas market challenge - part 1

Tool Time: Lampworking How-To book

New series: Sparkly Glacier

This weekend only: Buy More, Save More Sale

And the winner is ... drum roll