Thursday, November 27, 2008

I love all the different shapes that the presses allow - and getting nicely squared edges without the distortion of the design is the 'goal'... but no matter how lovely the bead - it's incredibly hard to photograph them AND give them the honor due for being a beautiful bead. (I will search my archives though and try to find a photograph that utilizes the shadow that was thrown - as it shows how sharp the corners are and straight the lines.) These show much MUCH better in person - unfortunately, for most of my sales are online. Very pretty though!
I found some more images while I was hunting for the one above... so - the show continues...This bead is called "Portals" because the large droplets of clear act to amplify what's underneath... and sometimes the view into the bead has to be sought - and what better to look through, than these viewing portals. Love this look, and I do have four additional that I made - if you're interested in owning one - just email me!
My love affair with R4 glass continues... this pendant shown above has some of the most glorious swirls and also - the most beautifully executed color transformation of this R4 glass. Neat, eh?

AND finally - the last one - "Ventana" meaning windows - it was reminiscent of a window I saw on the island of Murano. It looked as if the glass were just slices from some large glass cane. I left the chill marks on the beads - as they really seemed to add so much to the design.

OK, one more - these are my firs beads ever. Note how many were burned, cracked right in two - lopsided or what. I shake my head now... but I was darn proud of them... uh, about 11 years ago.

4 comments:

Lorelei Eurto said...

Hi Jill!
I'm curious to find out how much the Portal beads are?

L

JillSymons said...

Thank you Lorelei -
They run $30-$45, as I've a few different sizes. I promise that the picture IS coming... just got sidelined a bit today.

Anonymous said...

Hold on... did you actually enclase some of your first beads ever or am I seeing things? I'm looking at the kinda barrel shapped reddish bead with white & black in the back.

JillSymons said...

uh, I guess so. That was also included in this rogue gallery because it shows how sooty and burned the glass got to be. See the release all over the stretched edge of the mandrel hole.... and how the blue opaque beads are burned into a smoky gray? See the turquoise one that was reduced to the rusty color? Oh man, I literally tortured glass.

But, you know what? It was all about a learning experience, and you learn from mistakes.... well, at least I like to think I do. (she shrugs)