Clear Skies I really love how one of my favorite jewelry designers, Natsuko, photographs her enamel and metal jewelry-organic and rustic yet soft, colorful and full of depth. I've always photographed against a white background thinking that the colors of my beads would pop a little more than if the ...

Have you ever heard someone say they "must have caught a bug"? Or "there are a lot of bugs going around"?I thought I'd show you what one of them looks like. This is Clarice the Flu bug. It wasn't hard for me to figure it out. She has wings and she flies. She even has on her coordinating travel hat w...

Yesterday, I took a microwave fusing class from Sylvanye "Sam" Roh, who is quite an artist in her own right. I had bought one of these micro kilns on a whim and totally messed up when I tried it. Even to slightly mar the inside of the kiln by melting glass against it. Doh! So when I saw the ad for S...

Yesterday I received a convo, (that's Etsy talk for conversation or private email), from a customer who had seen this bracelet in Bead Dreams Magazine January 2009 issue and wanted to make her own version of it. Could I make her a mermaid and a seahorse that are .5" tall? That's just under 13mm. I m...

With the excitement swirling around of America's first African American President, I felt the need to attempt a bead to commemorate the occasion. Unfortunately, I didn't do him justice, but for a first try, I'm pretty happy. I learned a lot from the experience. Finding the right colors for it... I w...

Hi all! Happy New Year! It is going to be a terrific year I just know it. I have lots of plans and goals that I will be working on this year and business expansion (hopefully) if I can get it all done. Had a great Christmas with my family here and in Illinois. I don't get to go home often enough and...

I'm in Tool Lust. I saw this Carlo Dona tool called a "Spoons Crimp" and I fell in love. I know that somehow I need it, but not sure exactly for what. The spoon itself is 1 1/16" which is too large for ears , but might make a dandy base for bowls and other roundish items. (where was it when I was ma...

Here we go... the last glassy post for 2008! Today I have a photo of my entry for the Winter Challenge. It's a three bead Winter scene, with a bobble head snow woman and a child with a carrot for her nose and a dog with a tennis ball.  They are on a white glass stand which is a bead also. Today, I...

This is my very first bead that I ever made. I thought it was going to be a turquoise donut. I burned it pretty badly which makes sense, because that's the way I cook too.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••• One of my beadmaking friends wrote to me and...

I'm starting one of my business New Year's Resolutions early.  I'm trying to improve my photo backgrounds on photos that I post for my Studio Marcy Etsy shop. I've gone through the phase of the colored backgrounds, and the gray backgrounds and now I'm on the "white" backgrounds.  My artistic conce...