Color Samples & Stress Test Results!

Here is a picture of the fused color samples from last night's fusing. I am really pleased with the results of the colors I combined. I do wish the orange on purple showed a little bit better.

Anyone a fan of pansies? I am and at least 13 years ago I came across a gorgeous color combination called "The Joker" A rich deep blue violet purple with a bright orange face. Therefore lies the origins of the purple and orange color combination. I knew the color combination on the bigger pieces would be great so I fused them in this batch.

And last but not least is the three small pieces I put in for a stress test. Two of the colors struck (changed color). They were the red and the blue/grey combination. You'll notice the color change. As you can tell the pink and green are still pretty. The blue/grey glass isn't compatible so it failed the stress test. BUT the pink and green didn't fail and are compatible! Out of all the colors that was the one color I wanted to use the most!

P.S. Different glasses expand and contract at different rates. In fusing they have to expand and contract at the same rate or they are unstable and will break. Some will literally pull themselves apart.

WIP Sneak Peek!

These are actually trial samples. I'm *hoping* the color combos will turn out well! I decided to do some small earring sized samples before fusing the pendants. If I don't like the combo I can still use the glass for something else. I also have one set that I know will look great and am running some glass samples for a stress test. Cross your fingers for me! I so hope those pieces are compatible. If they are, WOW I'm going to have a blast making cabochons out those glass scraps! Mmm, a lovely rose pink & spring green, a gorgeous blue & soft gray, and a really pretty red.

Big Birthday Bash Sale Going Out With A Bang

I don't have much to blog about tonight other than I decided to end my sale with a bang. Everything has been reduced 40% and there is still free shipping on all orders (international included) of $20 or more!

Oh! I was featured on lajewelrydesigns blog yesterday! Her blog makes my pieces look so elegant. Thank you Lea!

Updating Earring Prices

I spent most of today reviewing my dichroic glass earring prices. I've updated almost all of my earring prices, not including the fancier wrapped pieces.

In this process I've discovered two things. One the amount of glass used in the cabochons doesn't have a very significant impact on the overall cost of the piece. What has the biggest impact is the gold filled earwires VS the sterling silver earwires. My favorite gold filled ones (like in the picture) are nearly five times the price of the same style in sterling silver. Ouch! Also the gold filled wire I've used for wrapping is twice as much as the sterling silver wire.

As you browse my Artfire studio you will notice that the earrings done in gold have increased in price. Sterling silver earrings have gone up, down or stayed the same.

Green Patterned Dichroic Glass Bracelet

With the addition of listing this Green Patterned Dichroic Glass Bracelet I have all my upcycled link bracelets done!

I finally found a watermark program. (As if one couldn't tell?) I think the watermark adds a bit of class and professionalism to my pictures.

Spent the afternoon working for my Aunty. Topash (her older dog) has had a nice soothing bath with the special moisturizing shampoo the vet recommended, followed with the special leave in lotion. He was a very good boy for me. The shampoo had to sit for ten minutes. 'Pash serenaded me for most of it. LOL! The rest of the time was spent pulling weeds in the garden for her. I am going to be hurting for the next three days now. But it is a good hurt. I so need the exercise. I hate exercise just for the sake of exercise. So I need to get it while doing something useful like weeding, vacuuming etc;!

Rainbow Patterns Dichroic Glass Bracelet

Just listed this lovely Rainbow Patterns Dichroic Glass Bracelet in my Artfire studio.

The majority of the day was spent helping one of my best friends move out her dinky little apartment to a bigger, nicer one! Now she will have somewhere for her boys to sleep when they visit and her dogs can come visit on the weekends too.

Student Project & Late Night Brainstorms

One of the things I do besides fusing glass and making jewelry is teaching stained glass. Usually I teach the copper foil method or the "Tiffany" style of stained glass. I teach a very small "hands-on" class designed to allow the student to see if they really like doing stained glass before they invest a lot of money into tools and supplies.

This is my current student's work in progress. He is a beginner and this is his second class. The background is a white iridescent wispy glass and the star is out of Fremont scraps. The amber moon is going to be changed to blue. Although it looked good with the pink and green glass...it just looks "off". I think it is because there is no amber in the iridescent coating of the white glass. The medium blue waterglass chosen should really tie the whole piece together nicely. It is really neat to teach someone who isn't afraid of color!

I tried to go to sleep at a decent hour last night-instead my mind decided to have a major brainstorming session that kept me up until almost three. I've been wanting to come up with some different jewelry collections/lines. I love using different techniques to get different looks in my dichroic jewelry. Which has helped me to realize that I already have "informal" collections. What I need to do is to define these these styles and name them. Then I can design new pieces to compliment these collections. I was actually able to define one of these last night. I believe I shall name it "Modern" or "Modern Bold". These are the pieces that are bright, bold, colorful and have a lot of the dichroic coating facing the top of the glass, uncapped just like this bracelet!

Apple Blossoms Dichroic Glass Bracelet

Just listed this lovely Apple Blossoms Dichroic Glass Bracelet in my studio.

Yes my frit arrived and I am very happy with the colors!

Have class in bit so I have to make this short and sweet!

Blue Patterned Dichroic Glass Bracelet

Here is the next bracelet! I've capped a bright shade of blue with three different patterned dichroic glasses.

Dad ordered my frit today and new channeling bits! I have several new color combinations I look forward to trying!

In case you are wondering what frit is, it is crushed glass. It is available for fusing in a wide variety of colors and five different sizes.

Polka Dots Dichroic Glass Bracelet

Just listed this fun bracelet, Polka Dots Dichroic Glass Bracelet in my Artfire studio.


I listed the Blue, White & Copper Dichroic Glass Bracelet this morning.

Also my dichroic glass arrived this morning! I do believe this is the quickest my order has ever arrived.

I have to run. It is almost six thirty already and I have a stained glass class to teach at seven!

Blue, White & Copper Dichroic Glass Bracelet

Bracelets are finally coming back into my studio! I will be listing this beauty in my Artfire studio tomorrow. I have a total of six cleaned, photographed and ready to list. So I have pretties to blog about for the week!

This dichroic fused glass bracelet is made of five glass links. Each link takes three pieces of glass and two jump rings all carefully tack glued and stacked together. After the links have been fused I have to clean the firescale off the exposed metal of the jump rings before I can connect the links together. Then I add a toggle clasp. I am willing to change the clasp if one prefers a different style. Me-I'm hooked on toggles for bracelets. In my opinion they are the easiest to do and undo!

Amazing Homecoming

I had the most amazing and wonderful privilege happen to me this morning. It all started with the rumble of motorcycles. When I first heard them I thought a local club was out for a ride since the weather was so nice. And then it got louder and louder and louder......At this point it made the train engines sound mild. So I ran downstairs and peeked out the bathroom window to see motorcycles going by. After a bit with the sound unabated I took the chance and went into the front room of the glass shop to watch. There was this unending stream of motorcycles going by with flags! This was the front of the procession for our local National Guardsmen who were on their way to the stadium for homecoming ceremonies. It went on for quite a while before the buses came into view! By this point we were standing on the front porch of the glass shop. We waved bus after bus of soldiers returning home. And we could see them waving back. After the buses passed there were more motorcycles followed by about a dozen more vehicles.

I feel so honored to have been able to witness our soldiers returning home and such a wonderful welcome. I heard that there was over 200 motorcycles participating. I get emotional just remembering.

Spring Festival

It seems like I didn't get much done today although that is not the case. I finished pruning all the rest of the roses. Visited with my cousin....and went and checked out a new show to think about for next year. I think it has the potential to be a good show. Assuming it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Although with who is running it is may well be expensive.

Good news! I received my application for "Bend's Old Fashioned Fourth of July" show today. It is already filled out and ready to be mailed, But Dad's going to run it straight to the office Monday morning for me. I feel I have a very good chance of getting in as it is a first come first serve basis.

I did get started on cleaning bracelets so I can take pictures and get them listed.

Purple Floral Dichroic Fused Glass Pendant

Listed this pretty Purple Floral Dichroic Glass Pendant this morning. With this piece I am all caught up on listing for the moment! This is one of the rare pieces I actually had to get pictures of in natural light so it shows red-purple instead of blue-purple. Yesterday the sun came out long enough for me to get the pictures taken.

I also managed to get the interior of the front display counter cleaned yesterday. That means taking everything out, dusting and cleaning the glass. Then I have to dust everything before it goes back in. Also cleaned the top of the fusing glass rack. It is finally starting to look better in the main room! Now if I can just convince dad to clean off the top of the display cabinet!

Today all this cleaning caught up with me. I was so stiff and sore this morning it took quite a while before I could get started on my next chore-pruning and feeding the roses. But I did get the ones in front of the shop done!

I apologize for not blogging yesterday. I got caught up in a computer game that I bought over a year ago. When I got home I realized I couldn't play it on my laptop. And dad's computer couldn't handle it. Now that he's had his computer "cleaned" and upgraded I was able to load it and start playing!

A Bit Of Spring Cleaning

Today's "big project" was to clean off the tops of these cabinets and to pack up the stepping stone molds. Then to unpack and put out all our fused and slumped glass pretties. I think it all looks very nice now!

Decisions, Decisions!

Believe it or not this is the stage that takes me the longest and I find it the hardest! Deciding how to cut up the glass to make the most of it's beauty and to not waste any more than necessary!

The first picture is of the whole piece. It is about eleven inches long by about two inches. The others are close-ups.Actually I feel I have made a great start. What do you think?

Color Comparision

As you can see the regularly fused piece is darker. The second piece is reverse fused and is quite a bit lighter.

I like both colors. I hope to fuse another dark piece. I have a necklace in mind!

New Dichroic Fused Glass Slabs Part II

Here's the slabs from the second batch! These are all reverse fused.

The first piece is red/silver/blue with black. The color changed. I'll share the color comparision pictures tomorrow.

The second is the very last of my clear rainbow ripple.

Third was an unknown piece from the scrap collection.

And the last but not least is red/silver/blue fused with dark blue.

I still need to fuse up one more batch of slabs. I want some more white and red for pendants. Then begins the real work of deciding how to best use the glass and getting it all cut out, ground and channeled!

New Dichroic Fused Glass Slabs

Here's a peek at what I'll be playing with next! This is from the batch I fused Thursday night. I tried something a bit different and I am really happy with the results. I'm calling it "Reverse Fusing". I fused the rainbow ripple on clear dichroic completely backwards of how I have been doing it. This also means I'll be wasting less glass by getting rid of the "roll-up" of dichroic glass around the edges.

I'll be sharing more of my fusing adventures tomorrow!

Peach Asters Dichroic Glass Earrings

Here is my latest offering, Peach Asters Dichroic Glass Earrings. All listed in my Artfire studio.

I've been cooking up more glass. I'll be sharing the pictures of the new slabs tomorrow!

Spring, Pink & Green Dichroic Glass Confetti Pendant

I managed to get this Spring Green & Pink Dichroic Glass Confetti Pendant listed before my local internet service went down this morning.

I have glass "cooking" in the kiln. I found a piece of rainbow ripple I didn't know I had! Tomorrow I will be cooking more!

Fiesta Flowers & Spring!

More new pretties! Today I listed these bold and bright Fiesta Flowers Earrings and this stunning Spring Confetti Pendant.

We had lovely weather today. I took advantage of the sunny, warm and dry day to clean up the front yard. Cleaned up the pet mess, raked the front yard and caged a couple of Peonies. The girls have been wreaking havoc in my once pretty front yard. Digging holes, shredding papers and toys and trimming all the shrubs and trees. If the yard and can survive this summer I think everything will be okay. Because by next spring the girls should outgrow their destructive puppy urges. I hope!

Worn Out...

Just a short post tonight. I didn't get hardly any ZZZZ's Saturday night/Sunday morning and I have just been draggin' my you know what today. Needless to say I really didn't do or accomplish anything worth blogging about. Sorry. And now I am off to make a very early night of it.

Green Tree, Mauve Butterflies and Peach Floral

As you can see I managed to get another three items listed today in my Artfire studio. A Green Tree Pendant, some Mauve Butterfly Earrings and a Peach Floral Pendant.

I learned a new technique tonight. I was lucky enough to have a wonderful friend give me help and insight and critiqued the finished piece. Thank you so much Deb! Not only is she a wonderful person, but she sells beautiful, quality gemstone beads in her studio, CrysallisGems. It was a lucky day when I met Deb!

New Pendant & Earrings!

Happy Easter to all who celebrate! We decided to put our dinner off until next Sunday due to dad's dietary restriction for his upcoming routine colonoscopy.

I finished up all the editing work in my studio. (I think!) I also listed this Golden Triangle Pendant and these Elongated Red Drops.

Sales!!!

Happy Easter to all!

Of course my BBB sale is still going on. I'll pick my daily special tomorrow morning after I get back from delivering papers. I have been doing a LOT of editing in my studio. I have five pages done and six more to go. I am finally getting the hang of this SEO business. In the process I have simplified my titles. But I finally am showing up in the Artfire searches in the first few pages instead of page 9, 10 etc; (big smile) Anyway what I wish to do this evening is share some different shops (and the links to them) who are also having sales going on!

Robyn of Jewelled Trellis is having a spring cleaning sale. 25% off store wide through April 15, 2010. I love how she blends a classic romance look with a modern flair!

Teri of The Beaded Branch has her pretties 20% off plus free shipping, sale time is indefinite. Her "Past Present Treasures" are amazing!

Deb of CrysallisGems has all her luscious gemmies on sale for 20% off!

Sneak Preview !

Here is a sneak preview of Saturday's "Daily Special" in my Artfire Studio, my Pink Parfeit Necklace. I have further reduced the price on this necklace and it has free shipping too! This special is only good for Saturday, April 3rd PST.

Big Birthday Bash Sale & New Additions!

Well the Big Birthday Bash Sale is on! Everything in my studio has been reduced 25% for the month of April. I am also running daily specials. I'll be posting those in my Arfire blog which is accessible in my studio. They will also be posted in the promo thread I have started in the Artfire Forums.

Here is a slideshow sharing all of my newest listings, but not all that I have yet to list! Enjoy my newest offerings!

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