Studio Saturday with Designer Lorelei Eurto

Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.


This weeks winner is ABeadLady.   Congratulations!

You have won a fine silver shell button from the studio of  Shannon LeVart of MissFickleMedia!
Send Shannon an e-mail with your address and she will get it right out to you!
 

Welcome to the studio of Lorelei Eurto!

Actually, I'm not in my own studio this week, I have travelled all the way to Atlanta, GA and spent some time in the studio of my good friend Kelley Wenzel. Kelley is a lampwork artist, and melts lots of glass into cool beads. You can find her on Etsy at Kelleysbeads.  Lately her eggs are getting lots of attention, but what I love most about Kelley is, she's always willing and eager to try something new, and takes special requests!

Kelley gave me a full lesson on how to create a glass bead. Showed me each of the steps, heating the glass slowly, heating the mud on the mandrel, working both things at once. It was NOT easy. You have to be all ambidextrous! Pulling the glass as it melts, on layering it on to the mandrel is a trick all in and of itself.

"Ok, Lor, your turn!"

So I sit down, and place the ultra cool safety glasses on. I chose a cool green, and was going to do yellow dots. So I make the green base bead, and get ready for the yellow. As I'm heating the yellow glass, the green bead EXPLODES. Glass rods get replaced on the table, torch goes off, glasses get ditched, hands go up! I'M DONE!

Okay, I see you shaking your heads, and mumbling Lorelei Lorelei Lorelei- under your breath. I know. I'm kind of a wuss. But really, I worry about the heat of the torch, and now I gotta worry about losing an eye to a shard of glass? No thanks! 
For all of you who want to remind me that I am wearing safety goggles for that reason, yuh, I KNOW.  I don't want a shard of glass embedded in my cheek, either!
 

From then on, I enjoyed watching Kelley create the beads, giving her suggestions on color combinations. Which I think is the best part of the process. The possibilities are endless and I have countless ideas!
So, I'll never be a lampworker, but one thing I did learn during hanging out in Kelleys studio, is a new appreciation for glass artists out there. I had no idea what you all go through to make your beautiful beads- and I'm really surprised you all still have all your eyeballs.

Here are some of the beads Kelley created during our session. She gave these to me, and I can't wait to turn them into something pretty.

My questions this week is:
 Have you had the chance to watch artist work at their craft? Did you try it out yourself? What was your experience like? Did you give up easily like me? Or did you get a glass shard in your eye?

Leave 1 comment to be entered to win. A random winner will be picked next Saturday. The winner will receive this fun set of lampwork glass all from KelleysBeads!

Sponsor Spotlight: Lyn Foley

Lyn is a glass beadmaker who primarily sells her gallery quality jewelry.  Last year she started branching out selling her beads online, which are exquisite!  I could see her beads matched up with layers of gunmetal chain, onyx or labradorite or crystals in black dorado and fiery magma.

I could see each one of these in pieces to match this month's challenge theme.  Our challenge this month is such a fun one, I can't wait to see what you guys make!

 Lyn's color palette spans from earthy and dark to bright and playful.  Visit Lyn's website to purchase beads and to view her blog.

Friday Finds with Lorelei: Lampwork Favorites

I am going through a Lampwork glass phase right now! There are so many fabulous lampworkers on Etsy, I can't help but showcase a few of my favorites.  I have bought from most of these sellers but not all of them. Hopefully you'all don't get to them before I am able to buy my favorites!! You know how that it!! Anyway, happy shopping! Click the pic or the link to take you to the treasury!

Fit to Print Book Review: Totally Twisted

The subtitle of Kerry Bogert's new book is "Innovative Wirewire & Art Glass Jewelry." And that is exactly what you'll find in this colorful and fun book. 

I love that Kerry wrote in a conversational tone, you feel like you've stopped by her studio for the afternoon where she shares all her best tips and tricks for working with wire.

The book includes great step by step photos and clear instructions on the techniques.  The projects vary from using sterling silver wire to Kerry's signature mix of sterling and brightly colored artistic wire.  You'll learn how to make findings, your own chain, wire beads and how to use wire as a design element.

I love that the author shows 'tools' from common objects found in the studio like shaping a bracelet around a glass or links around tube of beads.  The idea that working with wire is easy and accessible is a common theme in the book.  I also enjoyed seeing the alternative views of the projects in different colors to show the versatility of the design and to spark the readers own variations.

Now let's talk art beads! Kerry is a glass beadmaker and every project in this book features a juicy collection of lampwork beads.  The projects could easily be adapted to showcase art beads of any medium.  I gave one of the projects a test run last weekend and worked up Kerry's Scrolliriffic bracelet using some of my disk beads, aquamarine stones and recycled glass, shown below.

I have wanted to make a chain using those s-links forever but just couldn't work them up successfully on my own.  After reading Kerry's directions I was whipping them out like a pro. 

You can find out more about Kerry on her blog and website, where sells her lampworked beads at http://www.kabconcepts.com/. 

Order a copy of Kerry's book today, I highly recommend it!
Totally Twisted: Innovative Wirework & Art Glass Jewelry

Reviewed by Art Bead Scene founder and editor, Heather Powers.

Findings Worth Finding - Double Dips

Check out these awesome new findings that Cindy Gimbrone has created: double dips of molten glass on copper wire. I love them!  Cindy has a few different colors to choose from, the ivory ones are my favorites.

 Here are a pair of earrings she made with them. I could also see these made into a bar for a toggle clasp!

Tips on buying Lampworked Glass Art Beads

I really enjoy using art beads in my jewelry designs. If you are familiar with my work, you’ll know that I use a wide range of different mediums: ceramics, polymer clay, pewter, silver, and lots of lamp work glass. Also, I tend to spread the love when it comes to buying lampworked glass. I buy glass beads from many different artisans. I don’t believe that all lampworked glass beads are the same. It’s not the saying, when you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. No, not true.

So what are we supposed to look for when buying glass beads? I wanted to share some quick tips on how I pick out beads.

Initially, color is the driving force, for my bead buying addiction. If it’s a pretty color, and unique, I’ve gotta have it. Not all lampworkers use the same types or colors of glass.
Next, I pay attention to the size of the beads. Keep a handy bead size chart near your computer when purchasing beads online. Heather recently mentioned a good one that you can get from Rings N Things.

photo credit- Lori Anderson

Sometimes it’s hard to see the really important details of the beads from the photos that you are seeing online. It’s nice, but sometimes not always common, to see several pictures of the same beads, at different angles. Pay close attention to the holes. You want to buy beads that have smooth edges around the hole of the bead. Any jagged edges can eventually cut through your beading wire or cording over time.

Check the bead holes to see if the powdery bead release has been adequately cleaned out. If you are buying beads in person and not online, bead release should not sift out of the bead when it’s tapped. When shopping online, you should be able to see the bead release if there are pictures of the bead holes.

Stay away from beads with lots of air bubbles, as they can lead to future cracking in the glass bead. Check to make sure the beads holes are nice and centered. Beads that are annealed correctly will help in the overall strength of the beads. The annealing process happens in a kiln. The bead comes out of the flame and into the kiln to regulate the cooling temperature of the bead. The temperature needs to cool slowly so that stress points and cracking does not occur later. Although it’s impossible to know by a photograph if proper annealing has taken place, you can also read through the descriptions or ask the artist if the beads have been kiln annealed. Don’t be afraid to ask the artist lots of questions about their beads.

I also make sure to read through the seller’s feedback before buying. You can see feedback on Ebay or Etsy sellers easily, and it’s a good way to see how happy buyers have been in the past. Great places to find quality lampworkers is in beading magazines, on Etsy, or beading books.
You can read more about the process of making glass beads all over the web, but I found these tips to be helpful in understanding the process.

Written by Lorelei Eurto

Shop: http://www.lorelei1141.etsy.com/

Blog: http://lorelei1141.blogspot.com/