Comfort Beads

It's hot. That's not all that surprising given the fact that it's July, and in Washington that's essentially one of two or three months where we get hot weather here. I hate it though - who can make beads in this kind of heat? Man, I feel for people in places like Florida. Except maybe they like the heat, I dunno. Certainly the people who are going to the ISGB Gathering this year will have to deal with it! Not me. :)

Why am I talking about the weather? Well, weather can really effect my creative motivations. When it's hot like this, I barely want to think or move, let alone fire up the torch and create something pretty.

Soooo, I tend to fall back on colors and glass which are comfortable and familiar to me. Glass that I can practically manipulate and work on with my eyes closed. (Not really, Mom!! Metaphorically, of course.) And in the case of yesterday....that means pink and black! (I mean, really - did you expect any other color?)

The nice thing about these beads is that I added a little bit of spice in the form of metallic accents using a reduction color called Iris Blue. Iris Blue is a Reichenbach color that reduces a lovely metallic oil-slick sheen that goes well with the pink and black in these beads. It looks bright blue in the rod, but once you turn down the oxygen and bathe the bead in a little propane flame, you get that lovely silver.

The pinks are of course the usual suspects (see my auction for the list), so I had a fun time at the torch without having to plunge too many mistakes in the old water jar. Ahhhh pink. I love it!

I also got lucky and turned out some matching pairs for those people who have been asking for them for earring making. Matching pairs are sometimes hard - I can never get the sizes as exact as I want them to be. But this time, I got three pairs out of the deal, so those are in with the set. (not in addition to - there are 27 beads total, including the spacers).

These are on ebay tonight!