First Quarter Update

Well, if you put it that way, then I am not late - it is the end of the first quarter of 2012 - right on time!

I suppose this way there is so much more to write about.  It  has been a great start to 2012. 

I began focusing on the round shape - gearing up for doing a demonstration at this year's ISGB Gathering - I thought perhaps a round Ottoman bead would take less time.  Nooooo!  They can take tons of time. 

Of course, it all depends on how much detail one can put into a teeny tiny bead.

I still have not made up my mind exactly what pattern I will do for my demo.  Though I have determined that round does not necessarily mean less time.  I began playing with other shapes as well and got up the courage to do some twists.

I remember early in my beadmaking career, when I so wanted to encase a bead, but chickened out time and time again.  It is a pretty scary thing to spend all that time on a bead and then risk mucking it all up trying to perfectly encapsulate it in clear glass.  I also played with some old themes. 

More recently I have been experimenting with the bicone shape.  There is something so nice about a bicone.  Very appealing.

The first quarter has brought many exciting events.
My work has been accepted into the Bead and Button Bead Dreams competition.  I look forward to visiting my beads there in June.  I may even win a prize!

I was invited to participate in the PISMO Fine Art Glass Bead Invitational.  It is such an honour to be invited!  How I wish I could visit my beads there. 

My work was accepted into an ISGB show called Three by Two Jewelry Show.  The ISGB lampworkers were to make three beads that are all about the same size and shape.  These will be sent to  metal artists who are members of the Seattle Metals Guild (SMG).  Great works of art will be created.  The finished three pieces are then shared, one for each artist and one to be sold with the money benefiting the two organizations. 

These are the very beads I sent in.  We will get to see them this year at Gathering in Seattle.  Can't wait to see what they got turned into. 


There is more exciting news to come, but I better save something for another blog.

Here is some of the very most recent work.  More bicones and I found my stash of dichro - so I have put in a bit of sparkle.