Beadbijoux

I have been a long time fan of famous glass mastermind Chihuly. I saw his work for the first time in a garden exhibit on an overseas trip to London with my mom. We were in complete awe over just how majestic and fanciful it all was. What really captured my heart was the masterpiece on display at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas . I could have camped out on the floor and stared at the ceiling all day long if they would have let me. I cannot deny the influence it has had on my own glass work - though on a much smaller scale. No room for crucibles and glassblowing equipment in my tiny urban home studio. My latest obsession is making glass disk beads and then wire-wrapping them into earrings. So much fun color and movement packed into such a tiny little package. They remind me of the colorful blown glass disks I love so much. Pretty sure I am going to be making these in every color combination possible. Some of these already listed in my Etsy shop. Others will be there soon. And

The moment we have all been waiting for ... IT. IS. FINISHED. Cue the applause and rejoicing. Special thanks to my amazing husband for all his help and support with my most ambitious project yet. The final weight with all the glass panels was close to 35 pounds so we made sure to use a heavy duty chain and hanger that is screwed directly into the ceiling joists. This thing may be heavy, but it is not going anywhere. I am so pleased with the final result that I smile every time I turn it on. It adds an intense pop of color to my otherwise mostly white and grey house. Alternating smooth and textured panels create visual contrast and balance while the gentle swirl in the design and curvature of the glass provide movement. It makes me happy. Now I find myself casually hunting for other discarded vintage light fixtures that I can transform into works of art ...

I bet you thought I was never going to finish this project. To be perfectly honest, I often wondered that myself. After firing 20 pieces of glass, it was time to prepare them for hanging. My precision engineer of a studio partner (aka my husband) took the calipers to the chandelier frame and determined that a 3/16" hole would be the right size to allow enough wiggle room to not stress the glass. Off to Amazon to purchase a 3/16" diamond drill bit. My handy hubby rigged up a little system to keep the glass cool/wet and hold it in place to make the drilling process much easier. I picked up a little baking pan from the store and we secured a small piece of scrap wood to the bottom to give the drill bit a cushion. He then attached a couple of handy wood-working clamps to the side to help hold the glass firmly in place. Add some cold water to cover completely and start drilling! True confession: I hold my breath during this process. I don't know why. I alway

I need a bigger kiln. Of course I have been saying that for years already ... but this time I meant it . My chandelier design calls for 3.5" x 12" panels. So I went and bought myself an early birthday present. And then my fabulous husband built me a stand. This is true love right here folks: My new baby! ProFusion 16 In addition to a bigger kiln, I needed to stockpile a lot of glass too. Heaven forbid that gorgeous stand my hubby built have any bare shelves. I filled it. And then some. I knew I wanted color, texture, and movement in this chandelier. After a couple of prototype panels I finalized the design. Now it was just a matter of building the individual glass panels. All 20 of them. In order to keep the overall structure lightweight, I went with single layer panels. Glass naturally wants to be 6mm thick, so in order to keep it 3mm I chose to break all the rules: I tack-fused and slumped all in one firing. Cue the shock and horror. rule breaker! fuse and s