Plunderers

The other day, I watched a huge flock of cedar waxwings swoop into my yard and decimate all the berries off of one large hedge within about 5-10 minutes. It was a feeding frenzy/orgy all at once. I'm for sharing, but it also is the home of one of my favorite cardinal families and I'm hoping they will still stick around.

The cedar waxwings were nice enough to drop a feather or two in my yard, which I quickly scooped up, ziploc bagged, and popped into my freezer.  I learned from Sara Sally to freeze for awhile (was it 2 weeks?), then defrost for awhile and then refreeze to be sure all the little living creatures were gone.  Instead of using these in my art, I have promised my cat Zeus, that they are earmarked, (or waxwinged) for him.  He has a penchant for feathers.

I am watching some cute tiny yellow finches feed right now and hoping that a pair of matching feathers get dropped for me. I'd love to make some earrings with them.

What do you make using nature's renewable resources?

Clover and Hallie- Balancing Act

Meet Clover and Hallie. I know, it's an odd angle for a photo, but these girls have been doing this balancing act for a while and wanted a new perspective. Clover has been working out with her ear weights and now has great muscle tone to balance Hallie. If you read the story about them in my Etsy shop, you'll understand, that there's a lot more to the story.

But let's chat from a glass artist point of view now. Although it would be classified as whimsical sculpture, to me, this is a mini study in heat control. These two beads were made at once on the same mandrel with the hole going through both of them. I used a minor burner with a 10 lpm concentrator. When I teach classes, so much of what I teach is how to control your glass and have it do what you want. (ha ha, wishful thinking sometimes) but when it comes to sculpture. Know the temperature of each part of what you're doing is important. It's kind of like its own balancing act.

See you tomorrow. Gotta go balance my life, while I'm at it.

Bird in Hand...

You probably already know how much I like making birds in glass, so when I see inspiration, I want to remember what it was. Having just arrived from the airport (note the brain dead expression), my husband I went to a Thai restaurant for dinner. (yum- spicy basil noodles!) Anyhow, while waiting to be seated, I spotted a small statue and not having paper, I quickly sketched it out on my hand. Which goes to show you, a bird in hand is worth two that this middle aged brain can't remember. My rendition in glass will be completed next week. Don't you love the huge beak and the angle of it? It's going to be fun!

See you tomorrow.

Sketching on Glass

I recently tried "sketching" on glass to see what the results would be like. And the answer is...I need a little practice!

I wanted to try the equivalent of a line drawing on a simple background. So I picked up a piece of stringer and after laying down the first line, realized, I should have chose a more opaque piece. so I went over the same line again and made the "sketch" too wide.

Ah, life's lessons. And after looking at this bead some more, I think I would want the "drawing" to be smaller for a better proportion. So I will try it again sometime. But meanwhile, I'm hoping you'll post links to some of your "sketch" beads and show me what you can do too!

Mabel Grace- A Sign of Our Time

I'm not sure why Turkey Buzzards amuse me, but they do. I made this female the other day, when thinking about my view of the economy affecting so many people- including artists. It's a tough one out there.

Her name is Mabel Grace and she's wearing beads made from Italian glass. Who knew that a funny looking bird would have such great taste.

Mabel Grace is currently hanging out in my Etsy shop. She has requested that I make a few roadkill beads, as she's a bit hungry, but I'm resisting. I am watching out for the cute little animals like bunnies and mice.

Come back tomorrow for some more fun. See you then.

Come Vote For My Glass Entry, Skylar the Bird

Our Lampwork Etc. Street Team is hosting our January Challenge. It's for beads that make you think positively or make you happy.

There's quite a wonderful array, and plenty to choose from. I'm hoping that you will mosey over there and vote for the bead of your choice. Of course I always love your votes, but I'd be just as thrilled if you found another favorite or even voted for someone with fewer votes to even things up a bit.

This is Skylar the technicolor bird- my entry, who is currently living in my Etsy shop. Skylar is based on a heart shape before her extra feathers are added. I think I made her body from Check Glass, and the feathers from Moretti and her cheeks of course from my favorite cheek color, CIM's Gelly Pink. Love that pink. And if you look carefully at the wings, I used various shades of transparents and then blended them together, which I do for fins too. I think Skylar is even prettier in person.

Don't forget to vote and hope your Sunday is wonderful.

Esme & Naomi BFFs and Inseparable

Meet Esme and Naomi. Esme is the pig and Naomi is her BFF and also the Bluebird of Happiness. Not a bad thing for a friendship.

Esme doesn't mind when Naomi sits on her head. I mean she just a feather weight and is always singing.

Sometimes Naomi even lets her choose the song. They range from the vintage Fraggle Rock theme song to even a little "I Feel Good" by James Brown. Who knew that pigs like to dance and get funky? I'm afraid I do get the giggles when they burst into "It's Raining Men". But music is personal taste after all.

If you have any song requests, please add them in the comment section. Who knows, they might just burst into song when you least expect it.

Esme and Naomi can be found in my Etsy shop, Studio Marcy. As always, there are more views, if you want to see other angles. If you choose to adopt them, I request one thing. Please reinforce that the bacon in my shop is probably just a soy product.

Come back to visit tomorrow. I'll have a great review of a wonderful blog that I know you'll love, if you haven't discovered it yet. If you're like me, you like to be entertained as well as informed. This one has both and more.

And if you've got a little extra time- feel free to "friend" me on Facebook under Marcy Lamberson. Be sure to write "blog" in the message, so I know that you're a friend. Or if you're on Twitter, follow me. I'm StudioMarcy there.

An Early Turkey Dinner

I baked my turkey dinner early.  Because my local glass group, Southern Flames had a Thanksgiving glass challenge.

You can see more views of it in my shop, like the stuffing that is overflowing from the cavity.  And of course it has some garnish- lettuce and cranberries to make it look more festive.

I built "the bird" first, and then decided to add the platter.  That was "interesting".  Not sure that I'd do it that way again, but it was fun.  I had the bird made on the mandrel, and then took an ivory rod and made a very large maria, and heated it up as well as the turkey connection and gently mashed them together.  (don't confuse that with the potatoes)

I then burned off the rest of the ivory rod and flattened the bottom, so the platter would sit flat.

And then garnished the plate to add a little color and interest.  Voila!  Now I don't need to cook one.

Keely the Peacock & Her Reason For Being

Meet Keely the Peacock. Now before I get emails reminding me that female peacocks are generally called peahens and they don't have the same plumage, please read further first.

Keely is a fashion forward pea-chick and she is wearing feather extensions. She feels it's unfair that in her world, the guys get all the attention and she wants to bring it back to where it belongs...the girls, of course.

I made Keely for a couple of reasons.
1. I had an assignment for my creativity class to make something that would work like a talisman or remind me of something special. Keely was made to remind me to toot my own horn a bit when I'm around people. I tend to downplay what I do when I'm in public and she reminds
me to speak up a bit more.

2. I had some new silver glass to try and I wondered how it would look used as stripes on her and then I added the peacock "eyes" over the top. Because of the colors that I got from the silver glass, I muted the rest of the colors, so she isn't quite as "jewel toned" as most peacock interpretations go.

3. I wanted to try making something I've never made before. I'm not sure what part of my personality makes me like this, but I love trying new shapes and designs all the time. (the Gemini in me?) Repetition is much harder for me. It's the googling for references, thinking about the shapes, and then choosing the colors. Sometimes it works out better than other times.
By the way, the white spots are just photography reflections.

Keely and all her feather extensions are available in my Etsy shop. If you need a reminder to speak up about your art work, then perhaps she's right for you.

See you tomorrow,
Marcy

My, What Big Eyes You Have

Meet Norah and her personal bluebird of happiness, Kenley.

Norah has some pretty big eyes. Not exactly "piercing", but they do stand out on her face.

I wanted to show you another use for commercial murrini. Sometimes we buy murrini and then wonder what we're going to do with it. I like finding non-traditional ways of using it. Eye balls suit my personal style of lampworking.

Instead of sinking the murrini all the way in so it is even with her face, I left it partially raised, to give her a wider eyed look.

The amethyst shading around the edges rocks. I didn't have to add eyebrows, which would have been too much for her face. This keeps it simple so the eyes really stand out.

Kenley was added for fun. For years I have made a series of beads of women with birds sitting on their hats or hair and called them "Bird Brains". I guess they're semi-autobiographical.

Norah and Kenley are currently residing in my etsy shop,
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15569723

Tool Time Drawing For One of My Beads

And the winner is...... (drum roll please).... Melanie! Melanie, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before, so thank you for visiting and commenting on my blog. I really appreciate it and thanks to all the other people who commented. I will contact you for your address, so I can send you a bead.

What a fun combination of answers for my video blog's question about my new brass tool. From beadmaker prod, to belly button pusher, to a hat maker and petal pusher. Each one had their own merit.

The tool turned into quite a question mark to me. first I tried to see whether I could get an exterior bead shape from it. I used a light pastel opaque for its pliability, and it wouldn't hold that shape. The bead kept wanting to round up. so it ended up looking more like a modified egg shape. So the shaping aspect didn't work...yet. (You know me, I'm going to give it another try sometime.)

That leaves me with using the to indent this blue glass bead. First I tried a simple indentation and with the shape of the original bead, it reminded me of a sugared Easter egg that has the little flowers, bunnies and chicks in frosting on the inside. I tried a simple one with a sculptural blackbird on the inside and a tree on the outside. I'd like to take this concept a step further at another time and get more intricate. It would be fun to try it like a silhouette and do people faces and decorate the edges of the circle like a picture frame. And of course, I'll need to try an Easter theme at some point too. Lots of possibilities.

My second bead, I call "Singing Tommy", which is pictured above. I decided that tool would be able to make a large and wide open mouth. To make the depth more apparent, I first melted in a black dot and then pressed it in. I used a #420 Effetre coral for the tongue which was to accent the hole. If I had wanted to draw more attention to it, I'd maybe have tried a brighter or lighter pink that would show up even more against the black.

If you've read the comments, they were varied and lots of fun. I might try some of the other ideas in the future, but unless I get really frustrated, I might skip burning it.

Both of these beads are available in my etsy shop, http://www.StudioMarcy.etsy.com .
And please come back for more online coaching, tips, tricks and who knows what else!

Ask StudioMarcy ~ Online Coaching " Penguins" with Fiona and Me

Welcome to today's online coaching. But first a quick note... tomorrow's post will include a video posting. I'm trying to learn this century's technology, so it's a bit of an experiment, as well as some fun. It will include a contest to win a free bead too.

Fiona couldn't have chosen a better type of bead to make, because unknown to her, penguins have really been on my mind recently. My daughter leaves soon to work in Antarctica, where penguins are one of the featured inhabitants. I've been thinking I need to make more and now I have this chance.

Here is Fiona's second lampwork glass sculptural bead. She is now making penguins. This little fellow will be shown in three different poses.

Here is a side view. Let's talk about his basic construction. I can not tell whether this penguin was made on a black base with a white section added for his tummy or whether he was made with a white base and the additional black glass added on. That's a good thing. So here are a few tips for making the base bead.

1. Shape can be long barrel shape or chubby tear drop shape. With the addition of wings, it makes the slimmer top section thicker, so either would work.
2. When adding white to a black base bead, make sure your black is not too warm. If the white is warm and the black is too warm, then sometimes your white starts blending into your black around the edge and you get a bit of purple outline. As you know, white glass is a lot softer than the stiffer deep transparent purple, (if using Effetre brand), which we know as black glass.

So now it's time to add the head. Fiona added a head that looks like our donut shaped bead. It's in proportion in size, but doesn't have quite as much room for a face. My suggestion is to make it a little larger, so your eyes, beak and any other features can stand out a little better. I really like his beak. I think the size and shape are perfect.

The eyes could use a little work. Perhaps melting in the whites first, letting them cool a touch and then adding the black pupil at the end, will keep it from standing out too much. In person usually an eye that is so 3-D looks fine, but photographing something like that is much harder. If you want your penguin to look more like a character, you can make the eyes larger, if you want it more realistic, keep them in proportion to what they should be. Always add your farthest away eye first. Then the closer one will be easier to for you to gauge and place. I put on the whites of the eyes as soon as I make the head. That way I can melt in the white, without disturbing any of the other features. While I'm melting in the whites, I add a little heat and then gently marver the dot flatten a bit- not pushing hard, because that will spread out the white. Heat again gently and repeat, until they are in the shape and location that you want them.

Fiona wrote to me about the Penguin - "my second ever birdy bead... he is about 25mm tall, has popping eyes (when do I put the white on to melt it flat) Im 'quite' happy with his beak and feet but his right wing (as you face him) is odd... I know what I did though.. put too much black on.. I didn't let it get hot enough be before I swiped it so it was too thick."

Well, Fiona knows exactly what to do differently next time, which you will shortly see. You want your gather nice and hot and you want both of them the same size. Here are a couple of tricks.

1. If you have a hard time adding your wings in the right spot, then before you add them, place a small dot of black where you want them to start. It will blend in when you add the wings, but will be a visual reminder where they should be. If you don't like how you placed it at first, then just melt the dot in and start over.
2. Your wing gather of black glass should be approximately the same size for both wings. you can measure your glass, or you can just "note" it pretty carefully. Be aware of what you're doing and it will work much better. In cases where perfection is really important, you can keep a set of calipers on your studio bench and measure the rod as to how much of the rod you're going to use.
3. Once you've laid on the first wing, don't forget that you can make some adjustments. You can heat just the wing and move around the raised glass with your brass Stump Shaper or other brass tool. (One of my sayings..."graphite will smooth it, brass will move it"). Then do the same with the other wing. If a wing is too narrow at the bottom, add some small dots of black and gently heat them in and move them where you need extra glass to make your wing fuller.
4. If the wing is too big, then don't forget that you can remove glass by heating it up a bit and taking a cold rod or stringer of the same color and gently pulling some off. Careful, go slowly on this, as if you take too much, you just have to add it on again.


Here is Fiona's second penguin. Wow! She named it,
"I Believe I Can Fly" with good reason. Look how she added character to the wings, (which are well balanced), the eyes are improved, and she even photographed it so that it looks like it's on ice. Hooray for Fiona and her fabulous penguins.

I suggested to her that it's now time to add more details to them, whether it's clothing like a striped scarf, or other items to make them stand out as "hers". Besided, penguins make not only great winter beads to sell, but also she can market them as Christmas tree ornaments. Holiday marketing will be an entirely different blog post.

So watch for more of Fiona's penguins. She told me she has a Devil Penguin in the works.
And visit my etsy shop, http://www.StudioMarcy.etsy.com. I will be posting my version of a penguin bead a little later today. Mine is wearing ear muffs, a bow tie and a cumberbund. You can't dress up too much if you're a penguin, because black and white go with everything.

See you tomorrow for the video blog and fun contest....

Ask StudioMarcy ~ Online Coaching #1 Bird Today and Penguins Tomorrow

Meet Fiona from

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in the UK. Her bead website is www.sterlingdesigns.co.uk . She's my first online student and for someone who has been working on a Hot Head torch for 9 months and hasn't ever done a sculptural bead. I must say, she sure makes it look easy. I'm so happy to be working with her.

Fiona has made three beads, so today we'll work with her very first sculptural bird (ever!) and tomorrow we'll chat about her next two ~ which are penguins. This is your chance to try a penguin and then compare it to what we discuss tomorrow.

Fiona is left handed and holds the 1/16th mandrel in her left hand and her glass rod in her right. I'm sure that's fine, but it was an interesting point to me. Usually our dominant hand is the one that creates the details with the glass, while our less dominant hand turns the mandrel.

So let's look at this cute little blackbird. In one of Fiona's earlier conversations with me, she mentioned that she was happy with the bigger body and smaller head with the hole running through both. She liked the beak okay, but she said, "the wings defeat me". So here was my first email coaching that I sent back to her:

"Wings are like painting on commas with a thick stringer, depending on the size of your bead. I heat a gather of glass, make the connection at the main point where the wings will connect and then with one swoop, make a slightly curved wing with that hot glass. the rest of the body is relatively cool, so it doesn't come along for the ride. You might look here for an example, http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=10458319

You can see where I pressed down at the widest part and then pulled up into a point. I used a striped cane, so I would have some contrast between the bird body and the wings. The easiest way to do it is having enough glass in your hot gather for a big swish."

As you all can see, Fiona used a two donut shape approach to her bird body. One larger donut shape for the body and then a smaller one on top. I think it's cute and chubby this way. Next time, Fiona might want to consider adding another large dot on the lower back side to give it a little more bird booty shape in the back. I tend to add more glass in the back for back feathers. You need to decide what shape you want the tail to take. If you're doing a small tail, I add on more glass in a small "smile" shape and lay on a couple layers of it. Then I heat up just that glass, and use my pliers to shape it into extended tail feathers. Because it's a mass that is warm, you can pull it out a bit too, to give it more shape.

Make sure you know where your face will be, as this type of bead usually has a front, whether you plan it or not. Sometimes it just looks better when you inspect it.

Now for the face. It looks like Fiona used the same color as the beak and feet for the eyes. I understand that blackbirds have yellow eyes, but perhaps you might consider using a slightly lighter yellow next time for more contrast. I think your beak is great for the first time. Sometimes people make them rather pointed like in real life, but then it's harder for you to wear, as you don't want it too sharp and poking you. You might have it stand out a little more horizontally next time if you prefer that look. If it's hard to do, then try making one large dot and let it cool a bit then reheat the tip and pull it out with your yellow rod and hold it in place until it cools and you can gently break off the tip of the rod. Then flame heat the beak just a touch to get any remaining glass marks off of it.

Because we're chatting about more birds tomorrow, Fiona's penguins, we'll just touch on the feet for a minute. You have a couple of options here. I think that these are great for a first try. It's hard figuring out where you want to place them, (on the bottom directly under the eyes is a great way to "spot" where to put them). But perhaps you might have wanted to make them a larger dot, gently flatten them a bit with your marver from the bottom and either use your scissors to cut them a little or tweezers to give them a little more shape like bird feet. These are wonderful for the first try.

For those of you who want to try a bird and keep it even easier. Perhaps you might want to try this method.

Marcy's Simple Bird Tutorial

1. Make a good sized donut shaped bead. This will be the body of the bird.

2. Make a medium sized dot on the top shoulder of the bead (this will be the head)

3. Make another medium sized dot on the top shoulder directly on the opposite side of the bead and that mass of glass will become the tail.

4. While keeping the bead warm, add two simple black dot eyes on the head. If you are using a dark base bead, then you want to do a first tiny layer of white, and gently marver that down, so it's round and gets chilled into shape. After it's set, you can add the dark black mini dots on top of it. Keep the black pupils small.

5. Flip the bead over to the tail and warm up just that dot. Gently squish that glass with your pliers or tweezers first in the middle and then on either side of the first squish. As you squish, lift or drop the tail a bit in the direction that you want. Often I lift it up and pull it out a bit.

6. Still keeping your bird warm, make a medium gather of a coordinating glass rod color and make that comma motion that I mentioned on body of the bird where the wing would go. I always work on my less dominant side first. So when you repeat it on your "easier" side, you can match it up and feel more coordinated while doing it.

7. Add two dots of "feet" color under the body towards the front. Gently flatten them so they just peek out and give the hint that they exist, but aren't a major focal point on it.

8. Now the beak. Take your beak color- often I use a contrasting neutral- brown, ivory or black, and place a dot in the center part of the head. I let it sink in well and then reheat and gently pull it out with a small stringer of the same color. I gently pull the stringer off and reheat just the very point to get it in the right.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Check back tomorrow for Fiona's penguins. You'll be amazed at her progress between the first and the second one. And please, leave some comments for Fiona. I think she deserves huge kudos for volunteering to be the first one coached and for her fabulous first sculptural bead.

And to see both of my easy online tutorials together, I have made a simple bird sitting on a cactus bead. It's here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=34983

Birds And Linguini Are Somewhat Related

Truly, I know that my lampwork glass bird beads have no resemblance to real life. Yet, I am always influenced by the abundant birds in my yard. I love them. One of my neighbors came over to visit one afternoon and she looked out my window and said it reminded her of Cinderella's garden with all the little birds and animals. (Most of you know about my too abundant squirrels) and there are chipmunks and other critters like possums, and racoons at night. I have two types of woodpeckers, some cardinal families, chickadees, bluebirds, mourning doves and lots of other types too.

Here's a shot of an assertive little ruby throated hummingbird who likes to chase away the other hummingbirds that come to my feeder. The feeder is attached directly onto my window, so I get to see them very clearly and at a very close range.

Next to the hummingbird is one of my whimsical birds. This one's name is Linguini and she's related to Stromboli and another Italian bird relative who live in a far away country. (Deb, we're not sure where Stromboli ever landed anyhow, are we?) This particular strain of bird doesn't quite have their directions figured out, but they're working on it.

For you beadmakers who are reading this, Linguini was made with coral #420 on a 1/16th mandrel. You can see stacked dots making up her "faux hawk" Stacked dots in a larger size and cooled and then slighted reheated to be pulled and shaped, are how I made his beak too. I like the unexpected necklace that she's wearing. (It's made out of Italian glass, of course!)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
And on a slightly different note, I'm working out a new format for this blog. I'd like to include a weekly tips and tricks, perhaps a tutorial every so often and more how-to's and info relating to the glass world. I'm not sure that telling you about yesterday's peach cobbler baking, (which was yummy) and my life, is as interesting as learning a little bit more about our glass world. I haven't decided where exactly I'm going to go with it, but maybe bring in a few more glass beadmakers and some of their thoughts and tips might be fun too. If you have ideas of what you'd like to see, please let me know.

Until then... take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Marcy