Waste not

I use a lot of clear glass in my bead making, and every so often when I tidy up, I stick the short ends of clear glass into a tub. When I lack inspiration, or when I remember to do it, I'll melt together a few of these short ends, to make up a longer usable rod of glass. Hey, I don't want to waste it. Can you guess how much glass is in that tub? Yes, I did go and weigh it. There was almost 1 kg in there!

Signs of spring

Part of the reason I fell in love with our current house is because of the magnolia tree in the front garden. These pictures show that spring is definitely here, the first daffodils have opened up, and the trees next door are full of blossom.

Stage 5

A little bit more got done.

Stage 4

Making progress.

Stage 3

..........and the next installment. Coming along nicely.

Stage 2

Ok, I have done some work on the embroidery piece over the last couple of days. Here's what happened.

Going back to my roots

Before I got completely obsessed with making my own beads, I was a beadweaver of seed beads, crystals, pearls etc. At a bead fair recently I found some beautiful geode cabs (from Designer Cabochons, see some of their gorgeous range at http://www.designercabochons.co.uk/), and had the urge to fashion them into something bold and beautiful. These geodes have been coated with titanium, to give them that "in your face" bling factor.
At the top of my list of beading icons is Sherry Serafini, and I took inspiration from her work, check out her website at http://www.serafinibeadedjewelry.com/. Bead embroidery tends to be slow, so I thought I would share the work in progress with you. Unbelieveably, it took me a whole afternoon to decide on the shape of the piece, cut it out, choose the placement of the cabochons and pearls, and then glue/sew them into place.
Here is the base of the piece with the cabochons laid out, with a few pearls. It looks a bit like a longhorn skull and horns to me, or maybe an alien with horns.

Ring a ding ding

Having fun with more ring toppers.
Once I start making these, I have to keep going til all the special mandrels have been used up. I guess its a good thing I only have a few of them.

Magic mosaic shards

Fire lotus glass

A bit of everything

                                                       Lace agate glass