29 March, 2011

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

03 March, 2011

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!