Silver Glass Dots and Reactions

Just a quick post to share a couple of sets highlighting silver glass in my handmade interchangeable beads.

A while back, CiM - Creation is Messy created a lovely pink that is now completely sold out.

I had created these beads and noticed that when it was paired with silver infused glass, the pink seemed to take on a peachy pink cast. I love discovering new reactions when working with silver glass.

The base pink glass is CiM's Sakura Ltd Run and the silver highlight dots are Double Helix Aurae.

The next two photos are of the same bead set taken from different angles. 

The base of the glass is a Double Helix silver infused glass that was not labelled creating a mystery combination

The glass was reduced and struck in the flame and then encased in clear glass.
Highlights of Double Helix Aurae were added to the focal cube to finish it off.

From this angle, blooms of pink, purple, green and purples appear.

From this angle, more of the purple and pink blooms from the amber tones.

Pinks and Purples - Switching with Frit Focals

Hues of pink and purple are always popular in jewelry designs. 

In this post, I have created focal beads from bases of Effetre white opaque glass sprinkled with glass frit from the Valerie Cox collection.

By switching up the coordinating beads the look can be easily switched to create a different look.

First up, the focal bead has a mix of pink and purple hues over the white base. This mix is called Pink Lipstick. The white coordinating beads create a classic clean set.

By switching out the white spacers, the same focal bead is now paired with purple spacer beads created from CiM's Evil Queen, an opaque purple. 

In the final photo, by switching up the focal bead, we have another option for the necklace.

The focal bead here uses Val Cox's Fleeting Beauty frit over the base of white.

The CiM Evil Queen spacers coordinate to pull forward the purple hues in the focal bead.

Coffee Bean, Allspice and Velveteen

Just a quick post to share some earthy browns that are rich and spicy.


First up, this set features a focal bead created on a base of CiM Velveteen Ltd Run, a creamy light brown opal sprinkled with Glass Diversions Coffee Bean frit.


Velveteen on its own, the beads on each side of the focal bead, is a really interesting glass that creates striations of darker brown. This glass is already listed in the CiM archives, so it is very limited in quantities for glass bead makers.


The two outside beads are another new CiM glass called Allspice Ltd Run. It is described as an opal brown or "cinnamon alabaster".

I think these colors really compliment each other in this set.

Here is another look at the set.

The set below makes use again of CiM's Allspice Ltd Run beads around a focal cube bead of Effetre White with Glass Diversions Coffee Bean frit.

Big Hole Beads - Handmade and Interchangeable

Everyone is well aware of the jewelry trend over the last few years of brand name bracelets with interchangeable beads. There are lots of brand names that I don't need to make mention of directly.

Jewelry trends associated with brand names change so often that jumping one for a while is fun to collect but also costly once the trend wains. 

I have always believed in simplicity. In my opinion, glass beads can be beautiful without silver cores or brand name stamps.

For a recent trunk show, I displayed a few bead sets on simple silver plated necklace chain that allow the user to switch up the bead selections to match your mood or wardrobe choice.

Keeping it affordable allows you to have more options focusing on the beads rather than the chain.

Over the next few posts, I'll share some examples:

I love sea greens - aquamarine shades... this first set's focal bead used the same half and half combination as a set of beads that I highlighted on a previous blog post, check it out here.

CiM's Spearmint Ltd Run is the translucent opal glass paired with CiM's new turquoise glass named Quetzel Ltd Run. A stream of handmade silvered ivory was twisted to create the division between the two glass. 
The spacers that are paired with this set are another CiM glass from my stash called Mint Lozenge. I can't locate it on the CiM site, but the match is almost exact to CiM's Spearmint.

This next set doesn't have a focal bead, but is a simple combination of similar colors. This would be a great example of switching up beads of a new option for the necklace.

The beads in this set are CiM Mermaid, an opaque teal and CiM Mint Lozenge.

Until next post...