Welcome to the latest stop on the Painting with Fire blog book tour! I'm thrilled to be able to share a little bit of my creative world--especially how I've added fire into my crafty repertoire. :)
I've always been a fan of enameled beads but they were sort of a mystery to me since they were metal and glass all kinda put together in what seemed to be some magical way. Then, I had a chance to take one of Barbara's workshops and I was hooked! Just a few relatively simple tools and I could make my own fantastically colored beads! I'll never forget the first time I got a bubbly sort of finish on a big copper round and went running over to Barbara to show it off like a second-grader with a frog! We laughed and laughed at how easily excited I was! I immediately knew I would be taking the torch kit home. It just made so much sense the way Barbara put everything together in a kind of "pack and play" setup. See, I live in an apartment so I don't have a big cellar or garage or front porch or other space that I can devote to a large torch setup. This seemed like the perfect solution: clamp the torch on the counter, lay out a fireproof surface, set out the bead pulling station, and go to town! Here's a little "before and after" of my kitchen counter/workshop:
Although there's a bunch of other stuff around on the counter, like little copper scraps and some random wire and tools, the actual workspace is nice and compact. I think just about every enameling project in Barbara's book could be made in this little workspace.
I wasn't sure about what to put my enamels into when I got started...the containers need to be big enough to dip the beads into, but also resistant to heat. Lo' and behold, I realized that my fatty catties would be able to help out and I found some cat food cans! They are perfect!
I experimented with quite a few colors--mixed some opaques and transparents. Some were awesome and some just looked like dried blood. haaaaaaaaaa Some of them were crackly because I didn't heat them right and some ended up with chunks of vermiculite in them, but all were great practice. I even tried out some frit--that's the little green glass chunks in the photo above.
After fishing all of my sweet little treasures out of the bread pan, I had these beauties...and a few uglies, but we won't focus on them. :)
After putting the kitchen back to its normal state and packing up the torch-head, tools, and barenaked copper beads so they'd be back in the closet and out of the way, I set out to make some special pieces to share in this post.
Here's the first one...I consider it a celebration of handmade since there are seven different artists represented in here:
- Me...you can see the purple and green bead on the right--that's one from the batch above that I made using a mix of purples to coat the bead and then some transparent green frit. I also made the paper bead with my own painted paper, the lavender solid bead on the left, and the purple disk pendant.
- Barbara Lewis - the enameled filigree beads are some of her original enameled work.
- Nikki Thornburg - supercool pod headpins and the purple square connector are lampwork pieces from an artist I newly discovered at a local bead show.
- Alice St. Germain - the fun purple and green lampwork rings as well as the green flower-shaped disks that are paired with the pod headpins.
- Julianna Cannon - the blue lampwork bead with the green dots that matches the paper bead so perfectly is a Juls bead!
- Kristie Roeder - there's a little green stoneware pendant with a purple center that's catching the light just right on the left.
- Bronwen Heilman - the green ring in the middle is a bit of her recycled glass.
I really wanted to keep that one when it was finished, so I decided to make another one...this one I'm willing to part with, so it's a GIVEAWAY!
This is a nice long necklace that features two of my special paper beads, two big solid beads that I created with layers of blue and raspberry along with some of my very first brass bead caps, two enameled filligree beads that I made with various purple shades and then a few accents of lampwork rings from Leah Deeb and Swarovski crystals from my stash!
Plus, as another sweet deal, Barbara is including these awesome pendants enameled with decals as one of the prizes...yes, another giveaway!
Winners will be chosen for these at 10:00 tonight, the 15th of October so you'll know if you're the lucky one tomorrow!
There are bunches of other lovely things to see on this tour, so here's a list to follow along:
Plus, there's even more going on to celebrate:
There are prizes throughout the book tour plus a grand prize at the end! The more you spread the excitement, the more chances you have to win some of the goodies our bloggers are giving away!
1. Leave a comment on this post and become a follower = 1 chance.
2. Tweet, facebook or blog about the giveaway and leave a comment at this post:
the original Virtual Book Tour post = 1 additional chance.
3. While you're at
Barbara's Blog, if you become a follower or say that you're already a follower in your comment = 1 additional chance.
So, you can earn up to three chances per giveaway. A winner will be selected by 10 p.m. eastern time and be announced the following day. You can check back at Barbara's blog for the name of the winner or at any other of the participating blogs.
To thank you for following along, we will have a BONUS PRIZE at the end of the book tour! All of the entries will be included in the drawing for a kit containing all the elements of "Floral Cascade," one of the projects in the book! You'll receive everything you need to make the necklace, including the chain, jump rings, clasp, enamel beads, and head pins!
But that's not all!
For a chance to win the Grand Prize - a Torch-Firing Kit (or $110 shopping experience at www.paintingwithfireartwear.com) - please leave a review at Amazon.com by November 24. Remember, leave an honest review... the book must stand on its own.
Thanks for playing along!
P.S. Unfortunately, we have to restrict the giveaways to U.S. residents. Winners should contact Barbara with their name and address through her author website:
