Valentine Season Already!

I am starting off the season with little animals, cupids and non traditional ways to say you care to people you love.  This little fellow will be listed today in my Studio Marcy Etsy shop.

Look for more fun ways to say you care, that will last through the ages and make your loved ones smile.

Remember, some bunny loves you.

Happy Easter

Buttons the Bunny joins me in wishing you a Happy Easter.  Buttons can be found here.  His ears look particularly delectable.  :)

Time For Christmas Yet?

I guess I'm one of "those" who could skip Thanksgiving and go directly to Christmas. Yes, I'm thankful for so many things, and I do love turkey and apple pie, but I still love Christmas. I like giving gifts, and I love red and white and green together and best of all, I love the smiles that the holiday elicits.

So I know it's just November 1st and some of you will strongly disagree with me and discuss the commercialism of the holiday, etc. Point taken, agreed with and I understand completely.

I just wanted to say that I'm excited.

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.

My Impatiens With Bunnies

I love bunnies. No doubt about it. But I have to say, my resident rabbit has been snacking on my flowers- impatiens to be exact, a little too often.

Sure, I understand that the flowers are lovely in their bright coral, pink and purple colors. And I also know that they're nestled in a nice patch of shade near the bunny hangout. But I just didn't know that they were that tasty.

All summer, they've been disappearing. I get a little sad, because I sure love the bursts of color- almost like exclamation points in my yard. I'm afraid the exclamation is turning into an apostrophe.

So here's my lampwork glass bunny bead named Juniper. Hopefully she will somehow telepath my wishes to the resident living breathing one and my poor impatiens will live through the end of the summer. And if you need help with bunnies in your yard, maybe she can help you too!

See you tomorrow

Trick or Treat ~ Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!
Here is my band of trick or treaters that are in the FlameTree Glass Halloween Bead Contest. There are so many wonderful entries, that I have no idea whether I'll even place. But I'm still glad to have entered.

The three children are miniature bobblehead beads. It's cute when you wiggle the stand and the heads move. I tried to include plenty of details to make each one interesting. The child in the bunny costume is wearing a mask, and bunny slippers. She also has a bunny tail. To make her trick or treat bag, I bent a small piece of copper wire around a glass rod to give it the handle shape. After laying down the "palms" of her hands, I placed the wire and then added the rest of her hands to hold it in place. By swiping the orange glass, I could make the base of the trick or treat bag. If you're going to try something like this, be careful about not holding the copper wire in the flame too long, or it will melt.

The little devil boy is wearing sneakers and carrying his teddy bear and trick or treat bag. I gave him some fake facial hair, because I was remembering the year I made my son an Elvis costume. I used doll hair on peach felt to make an inset for his rhinestone sparkley shirt, so he would have a hairy chest, which was pretty funny on a first grade little boy.

The ballerina big sister is standing on one foot. She was made on a 1/16th mandrel, so her leg could be slim enough for the size she is. Her other leg is bent at the knee and the ballet slipper is resting on her calf.

I placed them tightly together on the green stand for a few reasons. Most importantly, that's how kids always appear at my door. Packed together and in groups. And I also wanted the beads to stay pretty firmly in place. Because they are on an open table to be displayed at FlameTree and not in a case, I thought it might keep them a little safer, so they don't move around as much. Each bead can be removed for packing and shipping and then easily set up again.

The rest of this vignette is made from beads too. The dog, the stand and the little pumpkin (which is behind them, so the back side has a little more interest), are beads as well.

But this is only one half of FlameTree's contest. They have even a bigger one for sculptural glass. Check out their website for the down load-able pdf in that area too.
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And don't forget my 20% Off SECRET SALE going on in my Etsy shop, just for my online friends. Come on over and read the details in my Shop Announcements .
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