I say ladybug, you say ladybird!

Today I thought I learned somthing new. I've always called those sweet little bugs, with red shell and black spots, for ladybugs in english. And that's also what I called the BHB i listed yesterday:


But today I looked it up, just to be sure. And was i surprised to find out that they are really called ladybirds!

So I named my new bead Ladybird Meadow:


And now, after som more research, I find out that ladybird is brittish english and ladybug is american english. So now I'm just confused.

In swedish they are called nyckelpiga. But no one outside Sweden would understand that!

(You can find the beads in my Etsy shop.)

Been a while!

Wooh! I see that I did my last posting in late March. Is it really possible that it's been so long? Where did time go?

I guess I've just been working to much and torching to little.

But I've got some news for you! I recently opened a shop over at Etsy. Go visit and share your thoughts with me.

I'll work ArtFire and Etsy both for a while and see how it works out.

I've also listed some stuff recently... :)

A cabochon addicts' confessions

My name is Susanne and I'm a Cab Addict (CA).
(And it has nothing to do with cars.)

Cabochons - strongly addictive!

It all started very slowly when I bought a cabochon mandrel from Tuffnells' some two years ago. (My intention was to make a pair of cufflinks for my husband. Heh!) I tried it out a few times, but didn't get the hang of it and was certainly not bitten by the cab bug.

So the cab mandrel has stood in my mandrel yar for a looong time, looking accusingly at me for spending so much money on something I never use.

The truth is, I've been scared of picking it up. I don't have that much time for torching and not to much money, so the idea of waisting both time and glass on something I obviously (?) wasn't ment for, seemed to be a worse waste than the initial purchase of the mandrel.

But a few weeks ago, something happened. For some reason I got this idea in my head of how the cabochons could be made! Of to the torch to prove my hypothesis. And it proved right!

And now, I just can't stop. It took me two weeks to realize that ONE mandrel is simply not enough. And now I'm just waiting for a decent salary to be able to doule my pair. I'm addicted! I could sit and make only cabs for a hole day, if it wasn't for the shortage of mandrels.

Top view

New listings

I admit - I'm not a very organized ArtFire lister. Once in a while I take a batch of beads and jewellery and photograph them. Then I have a bunch of items to list and I try to list one every day. But when I'm out of new photos, it normally takes a week or two for me to get the camera out again. So that's why I'm an periodic lister. If you ever wondered. :)

This week I've been listing some new jewellery I'd like to show you.

Cosmic Ponds lampwork bead on Sterling Silver Necklace

I rarely makes those large beads with reactive silver glass, but once in a while I just get a crave. I'm really pleased with how this bead turned out. Lovely reactions and a beautiful metallic luster.

Mediterranian, Lampwork and Sterling Silver pendant

The combination of aqua and silvered ivory glass is so good! For this bead I covered the entire bead in silverfoil and added the aqua blue glass before burning the silver off. That's why the blue looks so much like water. The pendant is made with sterlings silver parts and swarowski crystals in matching colours. It has a lobster clasp, so you can easily attache it to almost any necklace you allready have!

Tiny Penguins, Lampwork and Sterling Silver Earrings

I got this idea from a friend of mine who wanted penguin earrings for his wife. I've previously made larger penguins for necklaces, but now I was challenge with using a very small amount of glass and still get the details. And I do feel they turned out really cute. So this is my third pair!

All these items (and many more) are in my ArtFire shop at the usual adress!

Split vision

I really find I suffer from some mental kind of split vision. To many things I want (and sometimes need) to do and far to little time to do them. The good thing with split vision is that you can take in a lot of stuff. The world get big, bright and funny! The bad thing is you find it very hard to choose your focus. And when I can't focus, I tend to do.... nothing.

But yesterday I was determined. I just had to torch! And it was a great afternoon. I wish it could have last forever. But all good things must come to an end, and at least Iäve got a bunch of mandrels to show:

Fresh from the kiln

Now it's just the less fun part of cleaning them all left. :)

The Fire Divas Quarterly Jewelry Challenge is up!

Once again, the Fire Divas invite you to a jewlery challenge! The theme is That Special Bead. It is entirely open to your own interpretation and we hope you have fun with it! For some inspiration, head over to our Flickr page. You can win some fantastic prizes!

See the prizes and the rules for entering at our blog.

Last spring a swedish friend of mine won the challenge. I would love for that to happen again!