Goodbye Sweet Beadies!

More homeless beads placed this week! So happy to have a few sales. I didn't work it too hard as I've been teaching A LOT! Six out of the last 7 days. Today is my first day in 8 that I didn't have somewhere to be very early in the day and I'm enjoying a cuddle with the pupster, a second cup of joe and just a relaxed morning! Hoping to torch today and should have some fresh glass pics in a day or so! 

 I should mention a second Facebook market has opened called Lampwork Bead Market. If you have a lot of inventory as this beadmaker does, it's nice to have two places to list as they both limit you to one auction every 24 hours (unlimited Buy It Nows but who gets those???).

These glass beads are sold... but I have plenty more available! 

Beads Old and New

Just a quickie before I hit the torch...

I've been mentioning my cleaning phase on my blogs and the other day, while cleaning out a microwave I've been using for storage, I found a display from a local traveling art show that included an old style of snake skin beads. I haven't made this type of bead in ages (costly time consuming beads...) but they are still some of my faves!

I love the way the silver and ivory react and look so lovely under a layer of clear... and the bubbles fascinate me!

I also have a few new Pandora sets on the glass bead site:

Teal Seas is listed already and I plan to list the plain ivory shells later this weekend:

I do hope you will pop over and check them out!

I'm planning a torch session this morning (on one of our hottest days evah!) and then plan to cool off with a swim and a movie (free a/c!).

What are you folks up to this last weekend of August???

Sea Dreams

I wanted to show you a pretty necklace made by one of my customers. Cheryl F. makes jewelry just for fun for herself, friends and family...Hmmm... Isn't that how all jewelry addictions start??? Anyway... her work is beadutiful!!!

This is my Sea Dreams Set. I wanted to show you the colors against white so you could see the gorgeous purples:

And this is Cheryl's stunning necklace:

I hope you have a lovely weekend. I'm going to do my best to get myself back on track!

Taking the Time...

When you get beads in the mail, do you take the time to write the artist and tell her they arrived? OR, if you purchased on a store site like ebay, etsy, or Artfire, do you take the time to leave feedback?

Believe it or not, we artists are the worrying kind. We worry about everything! Will you like the beads? Are they as big as you thought? Are they too big? We see imperfections in our own work that most of our customers never see... and we fret...Is she really going to like them? Are the colors what you expected? Are they bright enough? And yes, we worry if they arrive and if they arrive safely.

I always love to hear back that my beads made their journey safely and intact. And most of my customers email me or leave feedback in one of the public shops which also lets me know they arrived and are safe in their new home.

But once in a while, you get a really sweet note from a customer. I was so lucky to get one this past week from a repeat customer. She had bought one of my favorite beads from my hollow seashell series. Here it is:

And to give you an idea of size:

Yes, it's huge. And believe it or not, I took a lot of guff when I started making these a former lampwork criticized me for their size, the amount of time I spent making them (over an hour in the torch!) and my choice for the inner glass which is the very thing that makes them so realistic to me. And they've taken a LONG time to find a home and I wondered if this person was right...

And then I got this email about that seashell:

Wow. Wow. WOW!!!!

Holly, this is the best work you've ever done, and that's really saying something.

Can you tell, I'm still beaming????

Still Dreaming of Summer

Things are still a bit frantic here... Mom left but I'm exhausted. My studio floor is clean enough to eat off of! And, I'm taping a webside for a craft show (more on that later) today and I haven't slept in days (too much back pain + Mom's early flight).

I moved a favorite seashell over to Etsy. She has a twin if you like her which I hope to get listed later in the week. But feel free to email me.

Fantasy Seashell Focal by HollysFollyGlass on Etsy


Have a great Monday and I'll see you tomorrow on http://hollysfollybeads.blogspot.com.

Sharing the Shells

I finally got around to listing one of my favorite seashells from this latest extra large series I've been doing...

Funny thing about this particular bead... It was my effort to make a small version of the shells I've been making! As an artist friend of mine says, "Scale is everything to an artist." We all have a size we are comfortable working in, and small is not mine!

But back to the bead...in an effort to make it small, I deliberately worked on a 1/16th mandrel. In the end, I thought all this glass was going to bend the mandrel! It was quite a feat to keep this puppy hot and happy and, because the bead is off center (deliberately so), spinning in the flame! In the end, it is my favorite of the series!


The bead starts as a hollow and then another layer of glass is added. The bead is allowed to droop and then, at the right moment, stabbed to create an opening and reveal all that lovely iridescent glass on the inside.

I'm loving this direction but will have to quit for a bit. Special orders await to be filled and I have to tackle this month's Art Bead Scene Project.

Please do check the Fire Diva's Blog for my Bead pick of the day!

Head Under Water

As I explained on the Folly site... I've been torching and torching ... and torching. But cleaning, staging, photographing beads and sizing the pics...not so much! I love making beads. I love selling beads.... it's just all that junk in the middle that is so time consuming and annoying! LOL! It's that part of life as a bead-maker that makes me feel like my head is under water.

Anyway, it's a holiday and I should do what I want, right??? More torching for sure!

But here's a teaser to come. Each of these babies took me over an HOUR EACH to make...They are huge and the colors are fantastic. Stay tuned! And from the looks of things, my head has been under water in more ways than one! LOL!
In the meantime, I actually made a new bead and put it straight up on Etsy:

Sunny Day at the beach