Tortoise and Hare Beads

The race is on!  (Get a cup of tea, this could take a while.)
Lampwork glass hare and tortoise beads.

Peanut Beads and Tiny Fishies

Straight from the peanut factory!  I spent a few days trying different tones of light brown glass and a variety of techniques for getting the texture effect, and this is the rendition that i was most happy with.  In the shop now.

Also a huge bunch of new dog bone and paw print earrings line the shelves over in the "pet boutique".  Colors to match any complexion. :-)

I have also added several cat bling collar charms to the GemBonz shop.  Brightly colored little fishies and gem-like hearts.

Happy customer, Pablo, let his lady send me this photo of himself wearing his GemBonz collar charm.  He's just about the cutest thing i've seen for awhile~

Nature's Doughnuts and Organic Nuggets Glass Beads

New lampwork beads, in natural shapes and colors.
A set of matte-finished nuggets and rounds, with stone-like veins of silvered glass.
And two little sets of doughnut beads -- the loveliest little ring-beads -- in jade greens, fossil browns, golden wheat, terra cottas, tiger eye, and coral reds.

Someone needs to make some beautifully organic jewelry with these.  Available right now, in my etsy shop.

Critter Beads

I promised to show you some of the little animals i was making the other day. Here is a cute little chicken family. The hen and chicks are listed in the etsy shop now.

Also a racoon, a skunk, and a guinea pig. I think the guinea pig will be put in the shop-- i'm quite pleased with him. He looks like our old "Pud". The other two, I tried to put to much detail into a tiny piece and they just look sloppy, so they aren't sellers.

Crow Beads and Sizzling Sunbursts

All of these beads are in the shop this evening, and also some really cool metallic glass bones.

Bits of Glass Menagerie

More sculptural beads coming out of the workshop.

I could have been a hand model, but i like the feel of digging in the dirt, filing metal, and detailing my own vehicle. Don't look too closely at the fingernails, plox. :-)

i'm going to etch the ape and the frog. The bee was made for my little daycare charge, but you can't give a glass ornament to a 15 month old. It is the bee in one of his favorite books--he's fascinated with the buzz (which i guess comes from the reader, not the book). I'll show it to him tomorrow and see if he recognizes it when it's off the page. It's so interesting studying a developing mind! The fish and the snowman will probably show up in the etsy shop.

In Two Colorful Treasuries

Some creative treasuries that folks have recently made, using items of very pleasing colors. And there are my beads! Thank you, thank you.

"Keep Trying" Tuesday

I'm trying to make bird beads today. I'm still in the trial and error stage. I think i want to make my birds a little more accurate to the real critter than these. One of the best things about trying to capture the nature of an object, whether you are drawing, painting or sculpting it, is that it really makes you LOOK at the object with new eyes. I thought i knew what birds looked like, but apparently they don't have round heads... I need to look at some real birds, and then try the mini glass sculpting again.

Business Machine Monday

As a follow up to my last "Business Machine Monday", I returned to ebay to test the waters last week, but found that my beads got very few looks, zero watchers and zero bids. Proving that it isn't the right venue for me and my little old business. But then again, beads aren't exactly flying off the shelf in the etsy shop these past two weeks either.

As one who has a lot of beads, folks almost always assume that i make jewelry. Maybe I should. But i don't. I really only enjoy making the beads.

But here's my business dilemma:

Let's pretend that the people supplying beads, buying beads, and those buying finished jewelry, are all in three differently sized swimming pools. In the kiddie pool with dancing elephants on the side you have me and the other handmade bead artisans. We supply the jewelry makers who fill the kidney-shaped in-ground pool with the lovely Grecian tile border. There are lots more folks in that pool, but since there aren't that many of us in the kiddie pool, i figure i may have a half a chance of getting noticed and selling my wares. Over there, in the official Olympics-sized pool, are the masses upon masses of buyers of finished jewelry. I decide that by staying in the little pool, i have a better chance of being picked than if i moved up to the kidney pool and made jewelry, and then hoped to be noticed by someone in the Olympic pool.

But, if i made finished jewelry ALSO, i might get a few jewelry buyers kind of stumble into my shopIF what i offer is very specific. For instance, i would be one of a gazillion people selling it if i sold bead earrings. But if i sold sock monkey bead earrings, that would put me pretty much in a bird bath, to continue my pool analogy. If anyone was looking specifically for sock monkey earrings, i'd be their man!

It's just a minor detail that the number of people looking for sock monkey bead earrings happen to be splashing about in a thimble.

Fireworks Beads Give Away

And here are the Give Away beads: a set of 8 flashy fireworks colors, over silver foil, on black glass. These beads are about 8mm hole-to-hole, and 13mm across.

How do you win them? Just sign up to become a Follower of my blog. The drawing will be on July 4th and the winner will be notified. If i haven't had a response from that person within 24 hours of sending my notice, i will draw another name, etc.

Good luck!

Official Contest Announcement!

...and if you click on the pic you can read the small print... lol