Blogs that got me thinking

Diana from Suburban Girl Studios recently posted on Art Jewelry Elements about show prep, and I could relate because that is what I am up to as well. In fact I will be participating in 10 shows this year, so I will be in show prep mode all year. Diana talked about how much to make, and like her, I just keep making things until I run out of time. 

This is my third year attending bead shows so I have had enough time to see some purchasing patterns. Snow was still on the ground last month but my customers were buying beach themed items like the ones below. So I have shifted gears to summer colors and and summer themes, and the photo below shows what I have been working on this week.

Jenny Davies-Reazor's posted on Art Jewelry Elements as well about her creative process, it is a series of posts that I found very interesting. It is hard to believe the amount of steps that go into making a ceramic component. 

 I thought that I would share a little about how I started making enameled components.

 As some of you already know, I enamel all my components in the same torch that I use to melt my glass.

I can't remember how, but I stumbled on Barbara Lewis's site about four years ago. I know she was writing a book about enameling but it was not available yet. Torch firing enamel has been around forever, but this was different she was using a stationary torch and something called "a bead pulling station." This peaked my interest because I already had the torch.

So I purchased this "bead pulling station" which Barbara created, I could not make my enamel pieces successfully without this tool.  

I soon received a convo from Barbara that she wanted to trade for some beads. Of course this was the best trade ever, because I have enjoyed making enamel components ever since.