This Month has Flown By

I can't believe it is the 25 of January already.I have been finishing up orders for etched copper pieces and lampwork beads and trying to find some time to create some designs of my own.I have a bunch of etched copper components ready to sand and seal. I have a few ready to photograph and would love to find the time to get them posted for sale. But today I need to make beads to fill a couple custom orders. Here are some pics of what I will make today.

This is one of my most popular set of disk beads. It is called Blue Hydrangea. I love the color combinations. i tried to capture all the hues of purple, pink and blue the blooms go through with a little green thrown in for the leaves.

This is also Blue Hydrangea with an organic twist. I added silver foil on an ivory base for wonderful reactions on the surface of the beads.

And this last set was a wonderful surprise when I first made them and has been very popular. I call it Wildflower Garden as it has all the wonderful bright pinks and purples with some browns and greens with fabulous organic reactions.

Well, I suppose I better get to it. It is bright and sunny here. I hope you have good weather today and enjoy your day. 

To Etch or Not to Etch

That is the question lots of lampworkers ask themselves after making some sets of beads.  At first i didn't think these beads needed etching. And I wanted to leave them shiny and let the light pass through them to mimic  how bright and clear the light  is in the fall.  Here they are unetched.

Perhaps I was wrong and they would look better etched. The bad thing is that once you etch your beads you can't take it back.  So, I did it and I think it's better.  I tumble etched them which gives a smooth silky etch compared to chemical etching. I love it! The only draw back is that tumble etching doesn't work on beads with texture as it doesn't get in the grooves. Also, do not etch silver glass as you lose all of your beautiful silver glass color.