My Christmas tree is up!

I always feel better when the tree is up and decorated. My tree is fairly small so I load it up with handmade ornaments hand painted by me. I would love to have hand blown glass ornaments but until then, these will suffice. My studio is still lonely but I did manage to paint the inside of my house and take some photos of beads I made several months ago. The holidays speed by so maybe after Christmas, I can start making beads again. Have a great day!

This year is almost gone...

April? What happened to this year? I do have some new beads that I made several months ago but I am just now uploading them. My computer was sick and I had to uninstall all my software and reinstall it. Not an easy task for someone who knows next to nothing about computers. I was thrilled when it actually worked. No more surfing unknown sites for me!
The glass makers know how to entice beadmakers by coming up with new wonderful glass. Chalcedony is one of these. These beads were all made with one single rod of glass that produces multiple colors. The glass will "strike" to different stages depending on how many cycles of heating and cooling it goes through. Some of these are encased in clear which produces another element to the mix. I have more beads that I will post soon after I edit the photos. Have a great day!

New Venture

I have been gone for so long that it is hard getting back online again. After loosing my Mother, my creative energy took a hiatus. My life is still not my own due to family issues but I have managed to squeeze in a little ME time. I have been bitten by the fiber bug once again and I think I needed to go in another direction for a while. The glass will wait and I will get back to that soon I hope.
For now, I have been dyeing and felting which I had never done before. I stumbled upon a Felting Forum while searching for something and that opened up a new experience. I had actually purchased needle felting supplies a long time ago but what really interests me is wet felting. Getting my hands in those raw fibers and turning them into something using only water, soap and agitation is very rewarding. I have posted photos on my Flickr site and here are a few of my fist items. The following is a general explanation for Nuno or Laminated Felting: The silk chiffon and the fibers are hand dyed. The wool fibers are "laminated" to the silk using warm soapy water and by rubbing enough to migrate the wool through the silk. The whole piece is then rolled using bubble wrap until it starts to firm up. It is then dipped alternately in hot and cold water and thrown (yes thrown) down to cause the wool to shrink. This has been quite a learning experience since I am teaching myself. I still have a lot to learn but I am having fun in the process. There are other methods that I am using also which I will explain in another post.