Glass Bead Spacers Space Out Sunday 6.29.14

Welcome Glass Bead Fans. Today is the day we celebrate the glass bead spacer. Today, our artisans will be posting pics that feature lampwork spacers today!

Today's featured artist is Michelle Bryant a.k.a. 'The Spacer Queen.' Her studio is The Spacer Bead Shop. Before we get on with the interview, let's take a look at some of Michelle's spacer beads:

What do you make? What or you known for?

I make primarily spacer beads. I've been making them for over 10 years. I'm known for spacers of consistent sizes and nicely dimpled holes.

Do you ever space out at the torch? What do you think about / listen to / watch?
 
I space out a lot at the torch! The reason I like to make spacer beads is because each little bead is a complete work in itself, and they don't take long to make! So there's plenty of time to think and sing to my favorite songs. I listen to Dave Ramsey podcasts or my music collection that was mostly compiled in the 1980s-90s and hasn't been touched since. My favorite artists are Warren Zevon and The Indigo Girls.

What was the Worst burn / cut you ever got??? How did it happen, where was it? Special treatment???
 
I've been pretty lucky regarding burns. The worst burn I've ever got was when I laid my forearm in front of my hot torch (which had just been turned off) as I reached past it for a rod. It made a perfect impression of the end of a Betta torch, holes and everything. No special treatment; it eventually healed and faded. I figure that I used up a lot of my artistic 'bad karma' when I was in college and cut my finger off in art metals class.

What was the hardest skill for you to learn how did you over come? Any tips to share?

Speed and precision. To make a living making spacer beads, you have to be good at both. I use a Mandrel Spinner from Bearfoot Arts to help with speed. The rest is practice practice practice. I've made (and sold) over a million beads over the years.

What is YOUR favorite jewelry to wear?  Favorite thing you've made.

I actually don't wear a lot of jewelry, despite having sold my creations at the local Farmer's Market and art shows for years and making thousands of earrings for a local jewelry wholesaler. I think I've OD'ed on it. I did make the attached spiral bead earrings recently for an earring exchange. I was pleased with the way they turned out

You can find Michelle's work here:  Etsy || Facebook|| Twitter ||  Pinterest

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Glass Bead Spacers - Space Out Sunday 3.23.14

We're so pleased to say Space Out Sunday is back on track for a few months at least! We're starting off with a bang with one of those artists that everyone admires - Kandice Seeber.

As we celebrate the humble and not so humble spacer bead, all artisans will be posting pics that feature lampwork spacers today!

But let's get to know Kandice a little better. First some of her spacer beads:

What do you make? What or you known for?
I think I'm most known for my use of color, and also because I work very small.  My beads are tiny and detailed, and I do a lot of florals and other feminine decoration. I mostly make small sets of round beads, but sometimes branch out to cubes, tabs and such. I'm also known for my pumpkin beads.

Do you ever space out at the torch? What do you think about / listen to / watch?
I'm pretty attentive at the torch - but I love to listen to music while I make beads.  I listen to Pandora, which plays a lot of alternative, electronica, or rock that I love.  A lot of the time, I will have the TV on in the background instead, with reruns of my favorite shows - Star Trek and other space-y things.

What was the Worst burn / cut you ever got??? How did it happen, where was it? Special treatment???
Luckily, I haven't had anything serious like that in the time I have been making beads - about 12 years.  I get the occasional small burn or cut, but nothing that is debilitating. Knock on wood!

What was the hardest skill for you to learn how did you overcome? Any tips to share?
I had the toughest time learning how to encase florals. It took me years before my florals weren't smeary, and before my encased beads weren't full of bubbles! I use good, expensive clear because I like the way it looks, and it doesn't scum or bubble. I use a small dental tool to push the glass around so I don't get bubbles. 

What is YOUR favorite jewelry to wear?
Strangely, I don't wear a lot of jewelry.  On special occasions, I will string a few beads on a leather cord and wear them on my neck, but most of the time, I don't wear jewelry.  I have fibromyalgia, which means that I am exceptionally sensitive to anything that touches me, so I don't even wear my wedding ring.  :)
I do have a spectacular necklace that my husband gave me for our anniversary - it's a chunky silver chain, with a pendant that was made by my friend Kim, and has one of her amazing seahorse beads attached to a silver heart.  I adore it.

You can find Kandice and her work here:
Main Website | Tutorial Website | Blog | Facebook Fan Page | Twitter | Pinterest

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Glass Bead Spacers Space Out Sunday 10.27.13

Welcome to our Glass Spacer Bead extravagaza! Before we get started, just a quick reminder that 10/29 is Think Pink and our Halloween Bead wrap up will be 10/31. But today, all artisans will be posting pics that feature lampwork spacers today!

But before we get to our show, we're going to hang out with artist Aimee Milan of Polychrome Beads. Since this post is all about lampwork spacers, let's take a look at some of Aimee's:

What do you make? What or you known for?  I make so many different things– not being able to stick to one style may be my downfall!  I do focals and sets, buttons, and a bit of metalwork (Viking knit and silver cored beads/beadcaps).  I may be known mostly for the lotus beads I started making nearly ten years ago.  A variation on petal beads, they are probably my most popular pieces.

Do you ever space out at the torch? What do you think about / listen to / watch?  Here’s my embarrassing little secret:  I love to watch cheesy, low-budget Sci-Fi movies.  I can’t get my husband to watch them with me any more (he says he can feel his brain cells dying…), so I watch them while I torch.  Most of the time they don’t require a lot of concentration to follow the story, so I can keep my eyes on the flame and sort of half watch the T.V.  Sometimes something actually good comes on and I find myself sitting and watching and twirling a bead in the flame without working on it!  I rarely actually “space out” – but I’ve been doing gravity-swirl beads lately and I find them very soothing.  Watching the hot glass roll and flow around the mandrel is like a slow dance.  That is as close as I get to spacing out.

What was the Worst burn / cut you ever got??? How did it happen, where was it? Special treatment???  I haven’t gotten a really bad burn from glass, but I’ve managed to cut myself several times.  The worst was the time I slashed the side of my index finger.  Glass cuts take a long time to stop bleeding, and this was right across the joint.  I couldn’t use my hand properly for DAYS!

What was the hardest skill for you to learn how did you overcome? Any tips to share?   Hollow beads.  I’m still not very good at them.  But I think my biggest problem was that I kept trying to make the walls very thin.  Thicker walls are actually easier to do, as they don’t blow out suddenly.

What is YOUR favorite jewelry to wear?   I love a choker-length necklace with a set of beads – accented with some simple spacers!


What is your favorite thing you’ve made.  I am really proud of the stacked beads I’m doing right now.  Sort of gigantic big hole beads – very dramatic.

You can find Aimee's beads on her website PolychromeBeads. Her work is also available on Etsy, Zibbet and  CraftStar.

Aimee, thanks so much for hanging out with us on Space Out Sunday!

Onto our show:

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Glass Bead Spacers 9.22.13

It's time for another edition of Space Out Sunday where we ogle the oft overlooked, but always needed glass spacer bead and get to know another glass artisan. All artisans will be posting pics that feature lampwork spacers today!

But before we get to our show, we're going to hang out with artist Debbie Altman of All My Beads. Since we're talking about the work-horse of jewelry design, check out the photo of this pile of glass bead spacers Debbie sent - aren't they just yummy???

What do kind of glass beads do you make?  I cover the spectrum when it comes to making beads. When I first started in 2005, I was big into sculpting. These days, I just play. I simply do what I feel like doing. It could be sculpting one day and making a simple round bead set the next. It’s all good! Lately, I've been making lots of beads for Beads of Courage.

 Debbie Altman of All My Beads

Do I ever space out at the torch? Never. Too dangerous. I get lost sometimes though and go off track of what I was trying to do in the first place. Lol! Does that make sense ? I don’t listen to the stereo or tv because my vent system is so loud.

Glass Bead Spacers from All My Beads

What was the Worst burn / cut you ever got??? How did it happen, where was it? The worst burn was a couple years ago. Second degree burn on my first finger, left hand. So bad it scared me enough to go to the doc. Used Silvadene crème and it really did the job to heal. This is from thinking it’s ok to reach into the flame and move a piece of glass ! Eye rolling smile Dumb but I bet a lot of folks have done it !

What was the hardest skill for you to learn? How did you over come? The most difficult skill for me has always been encasing flowers and in general, encasing. I work on it often with some success occasionally. Lol! I found for me, trying too hard and working too fast just wasn’t the way. My biggest tip to ANYONE learning this is to GO SLOW !

Encased Faux Boro Bead Set

What is YOUR favorite jewelry to wear? My favorite jewelry is bracelets. Any kind of bracelet. I am a bracelet fanatic. Lol ! I have so many beaded bracelets I have lost count but I also have plenty of metal pieces as well. They are also my most favorite thing to make in jewelry.

 Glass Bead Bracelet

What is your favorite thing you've made? My most favorite thing I’ve made in glass – a little Halloween doll bead. I learned how to make these doll beads from a tutorial that Anne Ricketts put in one of Corina’s books. I made LOTS of these little dolls and the Halloween one is my all time favorite bead. She is a pendant that hangs from one of my Kumihimo braids.

Debbie, thanks for letting us space out and get to know you better! Friends, you can find Debbie's glass beads on Etsy. She has a wonderful blog and a Fan Page too!

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Glass Bead Spacers Space Out Sunday 7.28.13

Sundays is a perfect day to "space out" and just relax and of course we want you to relax with us on your favorite glass bead blog!

We are always researching and trying to bring you, our dear readers, more of what you want and...it turns out many of you are looking for glass spacer beads! So that seemed like the perfect theme to structure Space Our Sunday around! So all artisans will be posting sets that feature spacers!

We thought it would be the perfect time to get to know some of the artists as well and our first guinea pig featured artisan is Cindy Haberman of Cindy Lynne Glass Designs. Since we're celebrating spacer beads, let's take a look at some of Cindy's:

 

A Study in Black and White - Glass Bead Spacers by Cindy Lynne Glass

What do you make? What or you known for? Focals mostly -  I have a short attention span. I'm not sure I'm really known for them but those who know my work know I make Glass Balloon animals (dogs):

 Balloon Animal Pendant

Do you ever space out at the torch? What do you think about / listen to / watch? I try to be focused on what I'm doing (dangerous work happening here) let's not forget my short attention span though. I listen to music and sing while I work.

Cindy of Cindy Lynne Glass Designs 

What was the Worst burn / cut you ever got??? How did it happen, where was it? My first and worst burn was when I was still new to lampworking ( I learned a valuable lesson!) Never turn your mandrel parallel to the flame to check for roundness, thus sticking the tip of your middle finger in the flame.

What was the hardest skill for you to learn? How did you over come? Any tips to share?  Well as any lampworker will tell you, they are constantly learning. Not burning off dichroic took a few times to learn, but I think I have actually kind of mastered it pretty well. Place the glass dichroic side away from the flame between the flame and the bead and slowly melt it onto your bead.

Dichroic Focal. More of Cindy's Dichroic Focals

What is YOUR favorite jewelry to wear? Being the wife of a jewelry store owner, I of course like to wear gold and diamonds! But, I do enjoy wearing a single focal bead on a silver or gold chain.

Link to Cindy Lynne's Focals

Thanks for spacing out with us today Cindy! Cindy's shop is on Etsy - Cindy Lynne Glass

And now...for some fabulous glass bead spacers! Take it away glass bead artists!

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