Tried and loved: Gun Metal

As soon as I saw CiM released a glass called Gun Metal I knew I had to have it! I even placed an order in US so I wouldn't have to wait for it to reach the european shops.

When it arrived, I was almost nervous to try it out. But I did. And it's beautiful!

As the glass itself is so pretty, I prefered makin a simple design. A heart with a horisontal hole:

As I worked the glass in a neutral flame, it was really easy to get the metallic surface. But if I turned the oxygen down and worked in a reductive flame, it turned black. As most metallic glasses reduce in a propane flame, I was a bit confused in the beginning. :)

On CiMs' page there is a lot of comments on how to work this glass. Try it - beacuse you're worth it! ;)

SALE

I'm having a sale in my AF store Babs Beads & Design that lasts the year out! That is - two more days. ;)

15% off everything!

Yes, I made this one

This is probably the hardest bead I've ever made. And the most expensive! The lovely blue lines inside the bead is made from a silver glass from Double Helix. Very expensive and very beautiful! The surface decorations are made of goldstone stringer.

Swosch!

It's on ArtFire now.

How do you thread lampwork beads?

In the beginning I found it had to make jewellery out of lampwork beads because the large holes make them wiggle on the hattpin (or whatever you use).

I found som very expensive findings on the market tha I didn't have money of to invest in. But then I got another idea!

Read about it in the Europe Artfire Guild blog!

Silver and black

I listed this necklace today at ArtFire:

Silvered black on leather cord

It's on of several I've made in the same style, though everyone looks different from the others.

I really get a lot of appreciation for this style as it's beautiful in it's simplicity and easy to wear as it goes with almost anything.

A decision is made

I finally made the decision to move my whole shop to ArtFire and make a link from Babs Beads & Design to that shop. It was too hard to keep two shops updated and since the one on ArtFire is much better (with for example the possibility to have several photos of each item) that's the winner.

Babs Beads & Design is of course going to survive and be updated with news and other stuff (ArtFire is no good for that). That's where you can sign up to my newsletter too.

So both sites will live happily ever after!

In addition to this there's a fanclub for Babs Beads & Design on Facebook. If you want to check it out - and maybe join - you can find it here. In a while I will start making special offers to the members of the club.

And if you still haven't had enough of me, follow me on Twitter!

Fairly rescent listings

I have a lot on my mind right, and most of it does not concern my blogs! :) One thing that occupies me is my working life, in wich I'm planning to start my own bussiness. Another thing taking a lot of time has been the guild for european ArtFire artisans. That blog is really becoming something! Check it out: Europe ArtFire guild

And in addition to this (and a ten day vaccation on the westcoast of Sweden) I've been trying to find some time for making beads and listing them on ArtFire. Here are some examples of rescent listings in my shop:

Mother of two goddess with a rose on her hip

Silver flower necklace with sterling silver chain and parts

Coral flower earrings with sterlig silver parts

Dolphin necklace with sterling silver chain and parts

Please visit my shop for further details about my items.

New listings on ArtFire today

Yesterday I finally got back to the torch after two weeks of celebrating easter away from town.

Today I posted some of the results on ArtFire:

Dotted
40 dots in three layers and another 40 in silver glass!

Ribbon bead
Takes a lot of preparation!

Aqua Mother of two goddess
No silicon used! ;)

A blogpost - about my bead!

Yesterday, Eddie posted a wonderful post on Europe ArtFire guilds blog. And she wrote about one of my beads!
http://europe-artisans.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-wish-i-could-make-something-like-that.html

I'm blushing and smiling at the same time. :)

Easter Egg hunt on ArtFire

Tomorrow the easter Egg hunt starts on ArtFire and BAbsb Beads & Design is in (togheter with lots of other shops). :)

Go search for eggs and you can win giftvouchers to spend in the participating studios. There's noentry cost. But you have to sign up. Read more on the Easter Egg hunt blog: http://easter-eggs-artfire.blogspot.com/

Hurray - I'm a SRA!

The other day I finally got the message that I'm now a member of SRA - Self-Representing Artist. That feels good. I make it all feel more real, if you know what I mean. So here I'm going to use the logo for the first time:


#F-63

And remember that whenever you see that logo - on mine or anyone elses webpages - it means that the work you see there is handmade by the artist.

A great idea!

A new blog is in cyberspace!

Two members of ArtFire got a great idea and have now started a new blog that will let you browse the rapid carts of ArtFire by category.

A Rapid cart is a "window" where an ArtFire shop promotes by randomly selected pictures of products in the shop. At this new blog - Shopwindows at ArtFire - you can browse through a lot of such windows by category. Go check it out!

By the way - this is my window (have to see if it works):

BabsBeadsandDesign

Buy Handmade

European ArtFire members blog

The European ArtFire has started a blog where any member can contribute. It's relatively new, but I think you will find a lot of interesting reading there. Check it out at
http://europe-artisans.blogspot.com/

Pink flowers bracelet

I would like to show you this bracelet that I made a few weeks ago. It was bought to be a gift, so I didn't want to publish the picture until I knew that the reciever had got it. :)



It took all my pink colours and som purple ones to make the beads for this one. They sit on a sterling silver chain that weights A LOT!

Facett.STHLM

Next weekend I'm off to a beaders convent again. This time it's Facett.STHLM who arranges the meet. It's going to be so much fun! Among other things I look forward to meeting my lampwork teacher Tove again. It's been almost two years since I took her class. Gee!

New listings on ArtFire

As you know I've opened my ArtFire shop. Here are some of the beads I have posted there:

Joyful twist


Rosamunda fish


Glacier crack


Flowered heart

Glass shelf - finally!

Look! I finnally almost finished my glass shelf!
Now I can get a good view of my Effetre collection.

I now at ArtFire.com

I've working on a rebuild of Babs Beads & Deisgn webshop, but it's taking soo long. In the meantime, I've open a store at ArtFire.com. Please come and visit!

Store not available

Some new stuff

I donät know why I so poor at updating this blog. My other blogs donät get tht much attention either. Perhaps it's beacuse I'm having such a full time lampworking and also tink it's a bore to take pictures. :)

Anyway; I'd like to show you some of my recent stuff:

Glacier crack
Lately I've been practising chaping a lot and finds it really hard. :) This one, though, turned out pretty well. It's a mix of a lot of different blues and with a SIS line ressambling a crack.

Amthyst twist
Here's another example of shaping. Maybe not that obvious as I've decorated the middle of it with raised application.

Crocodile
A friend of mine wanted to have a crocodile so I gave it a try.
I think it turned out pretty nice for a first attempt.

Golden dots
I bought Iris Gold frit a while ago, but haven't had the guts to use it. Until now.
Now I'm working my guts up to make another one to pair this one with!