Bead Trends

Hello fellow bloggers,


It has been a while since I have blogged here. I have been busy with my outside temporary job that takes me away twice a year. It is over for this year and now I can concentrate on the holiday shopping experience. While I was away from blogging here,  I was published in the October issue of Bead trends magazine published by Northridge Publishing. I have two projects in the magazine, porcelain pumpkin earrings and a new designs using chandelier crystals that I call Rainbow makers.

I have been accepted into ACRE Orlando which will be Jan. 22-24, 2011 and Wholesalecrafts.com. After just one week on Wholesalecrafts.com I received a wholesale order from the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum in Neenah, WI. I am very excited about all this. I am currently getting ready for a local show that I have done the first weekend in November since 2007. I am also preparing and developing new designs for my finished wholesale jewelry line.

Just a quick note that if you would like to keep up with TGL Designs on a more frequent basis then please become a fan of mine on facebook. I post more often there.

Floral Rhapsody Collection

Hi
It has been awhile since my last post. I have been working very hard. I managed to create some new beads for the Bead and Button magazine's BeadDreams 2010 contest. Here is just a taste of the Floral Rhapsody collection. They are made from colored porcelain. I start my coloring the white porcelain clay with mason stains. I then use the colored clay to hand make each petal of the flowers. After they are bisque fired to cone 04, I glaze the faces of the pansies, orchids and center of the flowers and finish with a clear glaze. The flowers and leaves are ready for the final firing.
They will be available in my etsy store and my website early summer. You can email me if you would like to pre-order the floral pendants, leaves or links. The floral pendants will retail for $30.00.

Lions and Tigers and Beads, Oh My!

Remember when Dorothy, the cowardly lion and the scarecrow are walking through the forest in the classic movie Wizard of Oz and they are saying "Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!", well I have been working through a forest of beads and pendants.. glazing all the way. I have 151 beads and pendants in the kiln right now. I am getting ready for a pottery festival.

As you can see, I have several new designs and shapes. I can't wait to see the new animal print donuts that you see in the lower right corner of the picture. I have blogged about this new design already but today the new colors are being fired. They will come in blue, turquoise, red, orange, yellow, green and purple. I also have some new glazes and combinations of glazes that are being tested. I can't wait until tomorrow when I get to open the kiln after it has cooled. It is like opening presents on a special holiday.

It is time to turn up the temperature on my old manual Duncan kiln. I got this kiln at an auction a few years ago along with all the kiln furniture and a glass grinder, tools and old glazes. It was truly a blessing to find this at such a great deal. It was a risk buying this at the auction because I had no idea if it worked or not. It does Yea!!