Tuesday, September 23

Sneak Peek at New Beads

Here is a sneak peek at a few new bead sets created on Sept 13th. Been so busy, just getting a chance to post them tonight.
Enjoy, and don't forget to check out the current items on e-bay by clicking here


Monday, September 8

Adventures in Pure Silver

The following are some photos of my first adventure mixing glass and pure silver. The silver is 99% pure silver, otherwise known as fine silver. Sterling silver is actually only 92.5% pure with the remaining % being copper. Fine silver melts beautifully and remaining bright silver with no firescale, which makes it the best choice when mixing with molten glass.

These will eventually go up for sale individually as focal beads, as they are beautiful simply worn on a chain, or used in a more elaborate jewelry design. Here is a sneak peek for you!
Don't forget to check out the current items on e-bay by clicking here




Here are a few new bead sets as well.
These beads are turquoise transparent with Dichroic glass inserts. You ask what is dichroic glass?
Originally created for the aerospace industry, dichroic glass is now available to artists through dichroic coating manufacturers. Glass artists often refer to dichroic glass as "dichro".[3] The main characteristic of dichroic glass is that it has a transmitted colour and a completely different reflected colour, as certain wavelengths of light either pass through or are reflected. This causes an array of colour to be displayed. The colors shift depending on the angle of view.

It makes very unique pretty beads.


I hadn't experimented with my frit lately either, so it was time to make a few sets. My frit comes from Robin Koza of Frit Diversions. Check out her site for all the colour mixes that she offers.
This set uses frit called Peruvian Violet. The background of the glass is Bullseye Very Fine Purple, coordinated with beads of transparent violet and white.

Same frit but with black glass background. Spacer beads are Very Fine Purple and transparent purple.
Same frit again, with Salmon Pink glass as background. Amazing how the same Peruvian Violet frit combination can change based on the backdrop glass colour. In this set, the pink and purple in the frit, coordinate with the spacer beads of the same hues to create a dainty set of beads.
Til next time,
D.

Wednesday, September 3

New Edition of Pendragonfyre Designs

Many of these items are appearing or will appear on my E-bay listings. Check out the link and search for my items under the word "pendragonfyre".

A sweet candy-like set of 11 beads comprised of light shades of yellow, blue and pink glass paired with white opaque Bullseye glass. Dainty beads ranging from 5 to 7mm, these are beautiful for many jewelry design opportunities.
Set below is SOLD

Another romantic combination of pastels, yellow, mauve and pink.
The focal bead is a free form oval with raked colour mixes.
Set below is SOLD


Gold Purple Bullseye Frit was used to create this set. White glass beads were sprinkled, swirled and dotted with frit used as crystals and hand pulled into stringers for surface decoration. The focal bead was encased with clear glass to magnify the effect of the frit.
Gold Purple is named by Bullseye due to the gold dust that is used to create this rich colour.

Gold Purple is now SOLD
This set I have named SeaGreens after the aqua and emerald transparent glass used to create the focal beads.
These beads are a combination of Bullseye Blue, Green, Clear transparents and Rhubarb pastel glass. Bullseye describes the rhubarb glass as "is a rare earth glass that shifts from a pale blue to a pale green to a neutral pink depending on the light
source." The combination of this glass with the transparents is very organic and natural.

Set below is SOLD This amazing set of 15 lampwork beads were created using Ivory, Butterscotch and special production rod, Fudgsicle glass. I had added a silver leaf focal bead encased with amber transparent glass, as well as 10 tigereye semiprecious 5mm stones. So many opportunities to design a beautiful piece of jewelry with this group of beautiful beads.
3 Flavours is now SOLD
This beautiful 13 lampwork bead set, AmazonBlueGreen, was created with a mix of 2 Bullseye Special Production Rods, Robin's Egg and Blue Green Algae. The two glasses compliment each other so naturally to the eye. I was amazed when I compared them to natural amazonite semi-precious stones, the colour could not have been more perfect. As a result, I have included the 4mm cubes of amazonite as a bonus! Set below is SOLD



It seems like I have been in a true purple phase over the past few weeks, and it is all because of Bullseye's Special Production rod, Purplicious. There are so many opportunities to be creative with this glass!
Set below is SOLDThis set I have named after the light aventurine green used to create the focal beads. Black, spring green opaque glass has been used with the sparkly aventurine to create a trendy and wow statement with these 9 beads.
The light Cyan Blue focal bead is created by poking the molten glass with a tungsten pick and then encased with clear glass to create the free form bubbles. The coordinating beads are created with a mixture of blue and clear to complete the set.


Purplicious again paired with light aventurine green. The gentle sparkles and rich colour combination really sets off the beads in this set.

I chose to name this set "Carnivale" after the Wyclef Jean album that seems to constantly play on my Ipod when I am creating at my torch. The colour scheme is simple and the impact is WOW! Set below is SOLD


The same Special Production Rod used in the AmazonBlueGreen set , I paired the glass with white opaque and steel blue transparent glass for another great combination. These would be beautiful with casual denim or paired with a crisp grey suit for fall.

Moretti glass in floral shades create these free form nugget beads. Paired with spacers that pull the highlight colours forward, a very feminine pretty set.


The always popular, transparent turquoise paired with steel blue opaque. The slight shift of colour to the hue of green in the transparent glass, brings out warmth in the steel blue glass in this traditional set of lampwork beads. Set below is SOLD