It's time!

I need to get off my butt and stop watching TV/DVDs/Torrented programs. I'm deciding to get my studio completed by the end of October. This will allow me to get back to the swing of thing for 2009.

I haven't been in the room it's in for a good month. Let's hope it's dry and as clean as I left it.

I'm still here

Just thought I'd drop a line. I am still alive and kicking. Just working on my house/studio.

For the next few weeks

My glass studio is currently split between Waco, TX (my new home) and my old home in Sunnyvale, CA. This means that nothing will be coming out for the next few weeks. This may be seem a bit disappointing, but to me, this is a huge opportunity.

I will be taking a course from the Italian master, Vittorio Costantini. If you have never seen this master's work, it is quite amazing. He does realistic fish and bug sculptures. His ability with glass is unmatched in the torch. It is a real opportunity for me.

Secondly, this "break" will give me some time to take a small break from the production work. The distributors are currently in a show right now in San Francisco and the New York show is in a few weeks.

All-in-all, I feel very blessed. I start a new job in Texas. I have glass that I believe will sell. And, everything seems to be falling in place right now.

One more project, then the studio gets packed up.

This is a weird feeling. I'm working on a project for a friend and it just hit me, "I'm going to have to pack this place up." I'm moving to Texas. Here comes studio 4. :(

Now it is done!

I finished what I'm calling honey comb cloud (or cloudy honey comb) this morning. The necklace has grown on me.

While this may not be the best picture, it is a great color representation of the color. The necklace is a great honey color. The friend's wanted amber and I think this is a great interpretation of their wants.

Well, that's it for the 2009 line! Onto to designing a pamphlet for the show.

Honey Comb Cloud...... Wow!

As you have read, my distributors wanted something "brown" for the fall. I told them I'd make an amber cloud necklace. Not sure how easy this would be, I started making what I needed.

Yesterday, I made the beads and let them anneal. Pulling them off the mandrels today was really exciting. They are a medium transparent brown color in the cloud pattern.

I believe in a necklace, they will look amazing.

Tutorial: Glass Torches, the who, what and why

Purpose: This tutorial should cover glass torches and the specific gases you can use in them.

Making a glass bead requires a few things: glass, a kiln and a torch. Glass is pretty self explanatory. It's the material the beads are made from. The kiln is a piece of equipment that I consider mandatory. It will cool down the beads so that the internal structures can form correctly, reducing the stress that is inherently in glass. People will debate me that they have created beads with no annealing, with fiber blanket annealing or using vermiculite to anneal the bead. I am a firm believer that if you want to create beads professionally, you need a kiln that can anneal the beads over a period of time. Then comes the most personal piece of equipment available, the torch. Torches are similar to clothing. Once you find your torch, you will swear up and down about the glories of the torch. You will say that your torch is better than other torches because of XYZ. This tutorial should help you along your beadmaking career or hobby.

I'll start where I started. I bought my first torch, the Hot Head, and was extremely happy with it. The Hot Head torch is a single gas torch. It can use propane, MAPP gas or propylene to create it's flame. This torch is cooler than a two-gas torch, but for a beginner, the price is right around $40. If you purchase this torch to begin your bead making career, make sure to get a bulk gas hose/adapter. This will allow you to hook the torch up to a BBQ propane tank or a tank of propylene found at your local gas supplier. The flame is fairly large and cool, so you can create small beads and other pieces of glass. Warning: This torch should be used for fairly basic work. I've heard that if you use propane to power this torch you'll often have beads that reduced. I used propylene from day one, so my torch was a little warmer and burned much cleaner.

Once I got the basic bead work down, I moved up to a two-gas set-up. After about six months, I had two torches, the GTT Lynx (around $435) and the Carlisle MiniCC (around $229). These torches are known to be on the smaller size of the torch world. They are perfect for the basic bead, marble and small sculpture. Another torch around this size is the Nortel Minor Burner (around $169). The Minor Burner is a decent torch and is the budget beginner torch. There are many other torches from manufacturers such as Bethlehem and others. I would suggest you find a place that will allow you to try out the different torches or go to a friends house to test out their torch. When purchasing, some people will tell you to buy up with torches, but I think that can be costly and a bit irresponsible. You are beginning your bead/small sculpture career, so why not start with equipment that is around your level.

I purchased two torches. The reason behind that is I wanted a torch with a small diameter flame and a bushy flame. For the small diamter flame, I was debating between the GTT Lynx or a Bethlehem torch. The decision was made because a friend of mine offered me her old Lynx (for a discounted price). This torch is excellent if you are looking for a tight flame which makes really nice soft-glass beads. The second torch was the Mini CC. It is known to have a wider, bushier flame and is the perfect torch for small scuplture. Both of these torches burn oxygen and propane.

The two-gas set-up can use either an oxygen/propane or an oxygen/natural gas to power the torch. Before buying a torch, verify the gases the torch is meant to burn. I've been asked if you can use other gases (MAPP gas, acetylene, etc) to power the two-gas set-up. The answer is a simple, "NO!" It's good to stay with the gases the manufacturer suggests and the torches are manufactured so they can best mix propane/natural gas and oxygen. (There are other reasons, but I'd rather hush up right now.)

My set-up is currently in the side of my garage and that impacts what I can burn in my torches. Most states have safety guidelines in place to restrict the use of bottled oxygen or propane within an enclosed area. For oxygen, there are additional option other than a bottle. You can purchase an oxygen concentrator or generator. Which one should you get? That's a bit of a preference. Bottled oxygen is wonderful, but will run out and you must either purchase the oxygen tank or rent one. The oxygen concentrators or generators offer unlimited oxygen and cost more than the bottled alternative. If you are just beginning, it would probably be a smart idea to start out with the bottle, then move up to either a concentrator or generator. These machines are retired medical oxygen sources. They may not be good enough to provide oxygen to people, but they work fine as a source for torches.

Which is better, an oxygen concentrator or generator? When I started looking for information on this, the definition was fairly ambiguous and used as a sign of bead status. Now, the term is used interchangably and it means the same type of device. When looking for these devices, you need to look at how much LPM it generates. LPM (Liters per Minute) is the measurement of the volume of air generated by the device. Theversions currently available can generate volumes between 5 - 2o LPM. I currently use a pair of 5 LPM generators. They were low cost and supply my torches more than enough oxygen.

Should I run propane or natural gas? This is a personal preference and the decision is made due to the availability of the gases. Most bead makers use propane because they can easily grab a tank from their local hardware store or gas station. These tanks are refillable or can be traded in. The options of torches that run on propane are numerous. Individuals who use natural gas often are in areas that have an ample gas source (e.g Italy). Verify that your torch can run on the low pressure that natural gas is distributed at. In the United States, this is often between 2-3 lps. This is an extremely low gas source.

As you can tell, purchasing a torch for working glass is more complicated than originally thought. I hope that this blog tutorial has helped dispell some of the information.

One more necklace

The friends who are distributing my necklaces really liked the line. They said there was one issue, "There's no specific fall colors." We agreed that I would make one more necklace, an amber one. That's cool. I started to prep last weekend then got sick so nothing happened. On Monday, I will create the amber cloud. Monday night/Tuesday morning, the line will be complete.

On another note, other friends finally worked out the way to securely connect wood to glass. They put in an order for a bunch of glass. I look forward to the day when I can release more information.

Tomorrow will also be another interesting day. I plan to create a blog tutorial on bead making.

The 2009 line appears to be done!

Today, I will take my demo pieces to my distributors to see what they think. Even though I've brought the necklaces to them throughout the building process, it's time to really see what they think.

The 2009 line is currently constructed as follows: (As always, these names can change.)

-> Sour Apple Green Cloud
-> Midnight Blue Cloud
-> Cloudy Blue Cloud
-> Tumultuous Seas Cloud
-> Green Dotted Cylinder
-> Red Dotted Cylinder
-> Violet Cylinder
-> Blue Cylinder
-> Violet with Trailings Cylinder

This collection is pulled together in color and shows different "views" in glass.

What I think is neat about this collection:

1) Everything looks really nice.
2) I finally have a signature stamp that looks nice.
3) All necklaces are between 17"-19" in length.

The necklaces that are on the outside of the collection are the Cloudy Sky Cloud and Dotted Red Cylinder necklace. The other necklaces in the collection are all color related. If I could put my vote on a few of the necklaces that will sell well are the Midnight Blue Cloud and the Dotted Red Cylinder necklace.

I'm proud of this collection. In the end, I'll be able to sleep well.

People are people

About a year ago, a friend asked if I could make little people out of glass. He wanted them for a project he was working on. Around six months ago, I made him a simple man, and his reaction was, "Ahhhhhh, that looks a bit off." He then went to say that it looked like a Lego man. I went back home and thought of making some more.

I made another man with longer legs and it was acceptable. That was a good thing because people aren't the easiest to make. Oh yea, one other thing is this friend wants them made of reactive glass.

This morning, I decided to make a few more figures. I made one out of what I thought was copper green, a reactive turquoise color and a dark ivory glass. The first two were built without any issue. The last one was a bit different. When I was building it, it popped off my glass rod and fell to my bench. For those who have seen my bench, it is an absolute mess. When molten glass falls to it, the molten glass picks up whatever was below it. The dark ivory glass picked up some dark red. The glass was twisted and then made. It turned out to be an interesting color combination.

When I pulled them out of the kiln, only two of the people appeared to have made it. The copper green one was actually made of an olive green. The reactive turquoise didn't react the way I thought it would and the dark ivory man's leg began to fleck off. The reason for the flecking is that leg was up against the door in the kiln. The cooler air from the room leaked into the kiln and affected only that leg. I might be able to fix him tomorrow morning.

I also created more red dotted beads. Something that happened to my beads from yesterday was that some of the dot color didn't show up well. I was hoping that the beads I made today would all show up with defined dots. Boy did they. At least I know what I need to do to get the colors to fully show up now.

Ahhhhhh, it's a bit more difficult than originally thought

I've been making a few man-beads every day and they are all low profile. All I can say is it appears to be more difficult to make the low man-beads when compared to a higher profile bi-cone/man-bead.

In addition, I have been playing around with a few of the colors that haven't been used in the past few years. Some of them are re-active colors and aren't doing what I want to do. That's too bad.

This morning, I created a series of the red-dotted beads. When I looked at them in the kiln, I was a bit amazed at how large they were. I quickly reduced the size of the beads. It appears that I'll need to create some more either this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

Project: Man-bead

I created a few "man-beads" on Friday because there was room in my kiln. This was both a challenge and if the beads ended out nice, they would be given to a few of my friends.

The first point of "Project Man-bead" was to select the colors. What colors are manly (in a bead world)? I thought dark blue, dark red, dark green, medium brown and dark brown. I pulled out some dark lapis blue, medium brown and dark brown glass from the pile of glass on my kitchen table.

The second point of "Project Man-bead" was to see which design elements went well with those colors. I thought dots and lines. For the dark lapis blue bead, I selected a green swirly line. For the browns, it was going to be orange-ish dots.

The third point of "Project Man-bead" was to select a shape. This was one of the most difficult parts because there are so many to choose from. When I started making beads, I would have selected a geometric shaped beads. The ones which were square or a rectangular prism. Now, as I mature in beadmaking, I select a bi-cone shape. This may be with or without a defined center line.

Step one, two and three were done. Now comes the most difficult part, creating the bead. I chose the brown one first. It went fairly easy, but one end was bigger than the other. The second brown bead went really easy. The ends where nice and the center ridge was smoothed out. The third bead, the blue one with the green line, was a similar shape to the brown ones and building it was a joy. The other beads went just as easily.

On Saturday, I went up to Arrow Springs in Cameron Park, CA to purchase a larger kiln and some glass. There was also a bead bizarre in front. My friends and I walked around and there was a only one person who made beads that would pass as "man-beads." His were a similar bi-cone shape and extremely low.

Today, I decided to make more beads. I made some beads headed towards a necklace and still had some room in the kiln. The decision was made, I would create some low "man-beads." Man, it was tough. Not sure if I worked hotter, making the glass more pliable, or the if it was something else completely different. I completed three of them. The first was somewhat easy and took me around 30 minutes. The second one broke bead release when I was nearly done. The third was by far the best and only took me around 15 minutes to create.

I'll be interested in seeing how they really show up when I take them out of the kiln. Will they pass as "man-beads" or will they be scrap-tastic, destined for the jar of bead doom. I'm just happy that I can create a bi-cone shape and that the colors for "man-beads" are fairly easy to find.

How many pieces make up a collection?

For me, this answer is easy, it's eight to ten. This means I need to create one to three pieces to complete my 2009 line. It will be distributed to the folks at the gift show in San Francisco in July this year.

Now that things are beginning to wind down as for designs, it's now time to start looking to murrini. I've had a few ideas over the past few years. We'll see what I'll make.

Last production cloud piece is designed (I think)

So, I currently have 3 cloud pieces done. I was thinking of doing two more, but out of four attempts I'm not sure any of them look good. (The last one is cooling down in the kiln right now.) I'm looking for 8-10 designs to give the folks who are looking to my distributor.

The piece is either going to called "Stormy cloud" or "Springtime cloud." Not sure which one will be it until I take them out of the kiln. When the beads go into the kiln, they look like a greyish cloud. I peeked a tad when they were cooling and they looked Spring-like.

Candy Apple production piece?

I created a series of beads in the cloud series and it turned out to be the same color as a Golden Apple. These beads are now known as "Candy Apple Clouds." Not sure if this is going to be a production piece or not, but the beads looks really nice.

I'm also going to change things up, each bead design is going to have a different name. For example, the cloud series now is:

-> Candy Apple Cloud (Green)
-> Nighttime Cloud (Dark Blue)
-> Tumultuous Seas Cloud (Pale Purple)

I'm thinking of making a lighter blue and lighter green version of these. Five in the cloud series seems enough for upcoming year. These and another five cylinder necklace should be decent. Ten different designs should suffice.

This changes the way stuff is named. The more interesting name seems to give the pieces a feeling of personality.

Two new designs done!

Today I completed two new necklaces. The purple cloud and the light green dotted necklace. Something I am realizing about naming these things is the one-offs (e.g. Midnight Fiesta) are easy to name while the stuff I plan to go into production with just get a fairly plain name. I don't think this a bad thing due to the fact that the production pieces need to have fairly normal names.

I'll put pictures up once I get them done.

Year 2009

I should have everything up and running in the next month or so. That should let me create around 10 designs for 2009. Yep, you read that right. I'll be selling my pieces here and there in 2008 but nothing substantial. 2009 should be the year to kick things off.

A friend offered to add some of my designs to her booth as they go to wholesale shows. Not too bad when she offers that up and I just need to say "yes" or "no". I think I'll be saying, "yes"!

In addition, I found a place for microstamps for my jewelry tags. Off to order that. And, I realized yesterday that I need to look at other metals for my stringing. I hate to say it, but I'm finally looking at gold and seeking more sources for brass. Gold looks really nice and the brass will work where the gold and silver aren't cutting it.

More pictures coming up soon.

Pictures!

I went to a friends house to take images of some of my work. It was a lot of fun. We took some table top shots that weren't too exciting. A few of them have been cut up and put in the headers throughout the site.

The thing that turned out nice was his wife volunteered to be a neck model and those images turned out great. You can see them in the "Images" part of the site.

Cloud necklace - Done. Blue necklace next.

I finished the cloud necklace Monday morning. The beads just sat in a cup of water for a few days and whenever I looked at them, I felt a bit sad. It looks really nice.

I also had a hair up my butt and created a few pairs of earrings and started another necklace. This necklace is something I wanted to create when I started making beads. The design of the beads are known as "Arctic Indecision". They are a two-tone bead. I continued to look at a few bracelets that were created a few years ago and decided that the necklace was calling. I pulled them apart, went to an old bead box and the necklace just came together. It's currently strung on some neoprene cord. It's awaiting some sort of largish center piece that should be made either this afternoon or tomorrow.

I also have been creating the blue cylinders for the "Blue Necklace". This is a sister necklace to the "Purple Necklace". Yes, they need better names.

Clouds....... Into a bead!

I went to a bead show this past weekend with a mission. I needed some smallish silver balls. Friends had warned me that silver prices are high and wow, they are indeed. A few strands of smallish silver balls cost me around $200.00. Unfortunately, to create what I need, these supplies are really needed. Maybe it's time to source my silver from overseas.

On a different note, I made a number of small beads. When finished, they look a bit like cloud beads. I'm curious how they will look in a necklace.

Big Beads, Small Beads

I had heard that as you build bigger and bigger beads, it becomes difficult to make little beads. Some friends once marveled at the small size I could work in. When I started to go through an old bead box, I found tiny beads that were really nice. This is a problem that I thought I might have now.

Today, I was finishing up a batch of red beads and had a spot open in the kiln. I quickly made a smaller stalk of color-n-stuff. When I wrapped a small bead, it became painfully obvious that my 8-ish years experience in the glass world have definitely changed the type of work I do.

When I started beads, I took classes on Nortel Minor burners and owned a Hot Head torch. Fairly cold torches. Today, I create beads on a GTT Lynx and small sculpture on a Carlisle Mini CC. Now, I have no issue working hot. Really hot. It didn't become that obvious until this morning. For the next few days, I'll be making small beads to remind myself of where I began.

What's next

I finished the last two beads on the Midnight Fiesta necklace and re-strung it. It looks really nice.



On another note, I started to create a red bead with some dots. I haven't used this red before, so they all might be trash. We'll see later on tonight.

The necklace! :(

I created the "Midnight Fiesta" necklace. I never measured it before hand. I cut the bead cord and then held it up to the purple necklace. "Hmmmmm," I wondered. "Why was this necklace so much shorter then the other?"

I pulled out a tape measure and hit myself in the head. It was only 15 1/2 inches long. Standard lengths are 16, 18 or 20 inches long. The necklace is shorter than what is known as "choker" length. I put the necklace on someone last night and it fit really well. It looked great on her. She also is a person who has a small neck.

This morning I made a few more beads. They'll be ready this afternoon.
:(

Just finished the beads.

I just completed the set of beads for "Midnight Fiesta" and will string them up tonight. New fuzzy pictures to be posted soon.

As the bead/jewelry business is beginning to develop, it's a lot of fun.

Some other pictures

Here are a few more images of recent bracelets I have made. These are created on satin cord with sterling silver ends anf findings.

A picture (albeit a bit fuzzy)

I'll be getting better pictures of this necklace, but here it is. This is the purple necklace.

The necklace is around 17.5" in length and has sterling silver and copper findings.

I also made a 8.5" bracelet with the same look.

Necklaces

With me making cylinders, I realized that I need to make some necklaces. So, I need to make more cylinder beads. I'm concentrating on 2 styles for my initial designs. One is a simple purple bead. The way I make them draws out some deeper shades of purple. The second I'm calling "midnight fiesta" is a blue bead with three colors of trailing. It's a fairly cool bead that should look great in a necklace. I should finish up making the beads in a day or two.

Beads and little people

For the past few days, I've gone out to the studio and started to make cylinder beads. Man, I forgot how much I hate these things. They're fairly easy to make, but to make them really nice takes a bit of work.

In addition to beads, I've been making little 2 inch people for a friend. He has an idea where he'll use some little people. They're a bunch of fun because I can make them do anything.

Plus, I bought a 19" widescreen television for the studio and it is NICE! I realized that one of the reasons I haven't done much in the studio is that it is BORING 0n the side of my garage. I never knew how nice I had it looking out the window of studio I & II. I'll call the garage, "studio 2.5." It's not really a new studio, just something thrown together.

If you haven't heard, I'll be moving to Texas later this summer. What's interesting about this move is it's going to be cheaper to buy a house than to rent. Studio III should be nice. The job I got down there is considered a full-time 20 hour a week job. That will leave plenty of time to focus on glass.

Yikes, where'd that come from.

Over the past few years, I have purchased glass. Some here, some there, but there was a purpose for all of it.

When I moved, glass would be put in this box and that box. I thought I had most of it in a single box that I could use for daily pulls. I was wrong.

On Thursday, I was going through the garage and cleared enough to open a small window to the floor. I saw some glass. After clearing some more, I realized that I had found more than "some glass." I had found the motherlode of glass. 150 pounds of it in a full rainbow of colors.

This should open the possibilities of what can be done.

In the clean-up

If you haven't heard, I'll be moving to Texas in July. Right now is a time for organization and creation. I am going through everything in my studio and deciding what needs to happen with it.

Here's the great thing. I'm able to organize all of my glass and metalsmithing stuff. For instance, I knew that I was missing some glass rod. Low and behold, it was underneath the truck in the garage!

I wonder what else I'll find.

Oh yea, I totally forgot to mention that I've started to create finished jewelry. The new style of bracelets are coming along well. (Pictures to follow soon...... hopefully)

What's up....

I am working on getting my studio set-up at my house.

Next week, I will start creating work at my place.

The website should also be worked on in the next few weeks.

Until then.....