Magenta Butterfly

Here is a card I'm pretty proud of the color doesn't really show up well but you get the idea. I couldn't resist putting little crystals all over it.





Here is a close up of the butterfly so you can see his magnificence. :P I love butterflies and have just a few.....er well dozen stamps of them. This one is a Magenta stamp I really like just about all of their lines.

Torch Tools and Glass Bead Information

I had someone ask about making glass beads today and I just thought I'd share a couple of photos of the torches that Derek and I used for class and some resources I've found to be helpful. My father has an oxygen propane tank torch at home that I've been using but I found this set up to work quite well and it would be more affordable to start out with. When the gas can runs out it has to be replaced but I think it lasted at least 6 hours for the class. It is kind of funny when you are using these because the gas can gets so cold. Which felt quite good when I picked up a piece of murrini cane that I had just barely touched to a bead I thought it wouldn't be hot from that one second of contact. Doh.





So for a starting book I would recommend Kimberley Adams The Complete Book of Glass Beadmaking it has lots of good information about starting up and such. Since working with glass can be harmful if not done with safety gear it goes over some of this as well. A great web forum for glass beadmaking and several other forms of jewelry I would recommend Lampwork Etc it's a really friendly group and they have answered my newbie questions very readily. The last resource recommendation I have is by Corina Tettinger and it's called Passing the Flame it is a bit spendy but the color pictures are well worth it and the information is excellent she explains lots of little things that totally make sense but I would not have thought of since I'm so new to the hobby.

Sutured Thanks

This is a card I made last year for a gal that works with the students for junior surgery and some during the sophomore year as well. She has gone back to Alaska now which is too bad because she was super nice and was really efficient. The strangeness you see on the T is sutured I thought it was appropriate given whom it was for.

Ok here is the end result of those random photos

I'm still not quite getting the photo thing right I'm going to have to read up.

1. Essentially you take the tack n peel and trace your block onto the yellow portion.
2. Then you cut it out with scissors and take off the yellow portion and stick it to the block. Be careful because once it's stuck it's there until you decide to rip it off.
3. You now should make sure to label the clear cover with a sharpie since you don't want to throw this away because you use it to cover the tacky portion when you are not using it. So it doesn't stick to random objects say like your cat. ;)
4. Remove plastic cover place stamp on and ink away.
5. Stamp just like you normally would.
6. Enjoy result of a crisp clear image that you can see where you are placing it instantly.
7. Repeat.

Seriously it's that simple no fussing with glue or cutting out cling adhesive. I found that so far the ink comes off quite easily with normal stamp cleaner or water. Then just place the plastic cover back on and it's all ready to go again. It's a pretty sweet way to use unmounteds. Especially for those of us that are lazy like me. I used to just take hermafix tabs and attach the stamp that way because I was too lazy to use cling mount, halos, or tack it over and over glue.

More photos of tack n peel

First shots of how to use tack n peel

More beads

Here are some more beads. Isn't the turtle one awesome. :)