Category: AuraSunArts

September ending

Summer has continued through September in Seattle with hardly any rain, which we badly need.  The warm weather allows me to continue beading.  The shorter days mean that if it gets dark while I am at the torch, an assortment of insects such as those giant crane flies might get in and buzz around me.  If they are drawn to the flame they are toast.

red white and blue

 

Here are a couple new rows of handmade beads:  The ever popular red and black, colors that are just made for each other.  Of course they have tiny hints of gold.  Click on the photo for a closer view.

The dark blue beads were made on 9-11, the 11th anniversary of the attacks on our country.  They have a black core, layered with translucent red which is nearly invisible against the black.  Above that float specks of blue and periwinkle, with hints of white or white specks of sand and clear encasing.  They are a subtle red, white and blue but the colors themselves can represent mourning, fire, police, firemen, lost souls.  With hints of green and purple the sorrow is the color of a bruise.

 

A mourning cloak butterfly stopped by, a rich deep brown with yellow accents.

mourning cloak

 

Mr Mo stopped to check out another project in the works.

what's that Mo?

 

Summer crop of beads

summer beads 2012

This summer I have been mixing some custom colors by blending and stirring several colors together.  Browns can be especially tricky so by making several custom shades and blending them I have come up with some beads that resemble wood grain.

Another challenge was trying to match the color and shape of some green beads that were missing on a necklace a friend hoped I could repair.  I did not get an exact match but the unusual shape was fun to experiment with.

Here is a photo of some of the recent beads.  The round ones have touches of a bright greenish yellow called Uranium Green.

Click on the photo for a closer view.

 

Another glorious sign of summer are the crop of sunflowers.

summer sunflower

 

Playing with fire

Bead making season is underway at last.  The optimum temperature range for  lamp working glass is between 65 and 80 degrees F, below that range and the glass is too chilled to melt properly, and above that range the artist tends to melt.

Spring and warmer weather arrived long ago but playing in the garden won out, the lawn needed mowing and the vegetable garden had to be planted.  Now with summer here I can finally make time for playing with fire.

Below are a few photos of bead making in progress:  you wrap an initial core of glass onto the steel rod and marver that into a cylinder, then add additional colors on top.  Here I am using a technique to capture a small bubble of air by making a dent in the glass with a sharp steel tool, and then covering the dent with clear glass.

Seattle has a new glass museum, the Chihuly Glasshouse and garden will be an inspiring place to visit.

adding molten glass to the bead

poking dents into the glass

cooling the bead away from the flame

 

Lacrosse anyone?

I was experimenting with Sculpey as a modeling material.  It is a clay like material that you can work with your fingers and dental tools, and then bake in your home oven to firm it up.  The Pillsbury Dough Boy is a famous character made of Sculpey.

lacrosse player

I wanted to create a lacrosse player, so I found that nice modern action shot on Google images, and then used the historic images from Wikipedia, paintings by George Caitlin.

Click on this image to see the larger view with the reference image on the left.  Can you identify the model?  She is number 7 on the Northwestern Wildcats women’s lacrosse team.

 

Postscript:  The reference image for the lacrosse player is a wonderful action photo by Todd Andrew Love of player Hannah Nielsen, number 7 on the Wildcats.

 

 

Snowy sunrise

Winter is just around the corner now, and Mount Rainier is wearing the winter robes of white, looking especially chilly in the dawn light.

Mt Rainier sunrise

 

Bead making season wound to an end with the warm weather and a series of warm to hot pink beads.  I have some special rods of pink glass that is called “Striking Pink.”  Before you heat the glass it looks clear, but once it has been heated, or “struck” then it changes color dramatically.

These were hot pink with touches of amber or uranium green, making them a bit warmer.

bubblegum pinks

Beads make wonderful gifts, as do handpainted silk scarves.  Check out my friend Lisa Chitwood’s artwork at India Denali Designs on Facebook.

Pet beads

Mandy Hula blue merle beads

I have been working on a series of pet beads.  Some were inspired by the unfortunate passing of some dearly beloved pets.  I made one series with blacks, grays and hints of brown and blue to honor a blue merle Australian Shepherd, she of the dancing hairy skirts known as Mandy Hula.

 

 

 

 

Sambeaux tortoiseshell beads

Another series was made to honor a very pretty tortoiseshell long haired cat named Sambeaux.  I had a nice time snuggling with Sambeaux, scratching under her chin while she purred nonstop.  I will miss both of those dear friends and I know their owner is missing them mightily.

 

 

 

 

Jasper orange tabby beads

A third series were in the colors of an orange and white tabby, our friendly neighbor cat Jasper.  I had not seen him for several weeks and feared the worst, but he showed up with a freshly shaved neck which tells me he must have spent some time at the vet’s.  That series was an extra challenge as the opalino cream colored glass has a lower melting point than the clear and amber encasing.

 

Click on any of the photos to see the entire row of beads in each series.  I think Aura Sun Arts will be specializing in these pet beads for many a furry friend.  Custom requests are always accepted.

Ocean’s calling

beading in progress

Enjoying blue beads again, I am working on a new wrap in aqua colors.  Here are pictured some seed beads in tubes and the tray, the tiny needle used for the peyote stitch fringe, and two handmade beads on a stainless steel rod.

The royal blue wrap was made earlier and I have the basic strand assembled for the aqua blue necklace.  It has three handmade Aura Sun Arts beads in the seafoam blues that remind me of tropical oceans.

seafoam blues with a bit of fringe

Here it is with the ruffled fringe of smaller seed beads added on.  I may add some fringe to the right side of the strand just to see how that looks.

I have not been to the beach in a long time, but I take a look at Hempstead Beach on Long Island New York, by webcam when I want to pretend.

Click on either photo for a closer view.

Annealing glass beads

a kiln full of beads

Here we have a kiln full of handmade beads ready for annealing.  Annealing is a method for heat treating the beads to make them less likely to break.  Annealing is also used in metallurgy to make metals less brittle.

After several hours in the hot kiln, the beads reach 960F and are then allowed to cool slowly.  Now they are ready to release into the wild.

Glass is still glass, so a bead might break if dropped.  It is also wise to avoid thermal shock to glass beads, so if you were wearing a glass bead while sunbathing and then jumped into a cold swimming pool it could have unhappy results.

It’s a wrap!

This week’s necklace is a wrap around style that can be worn in a variety of lengths.  Crisp blues and white seed beads in a free form scalloped edge complement the three larger handmade Aura Sun Arts beads.

blue and white wrap style necklace

The entire strand is 19 inches, but it is shown here as a 16 inch choker.  The lobster claw clasp in the front makes it easy to hook over the main strand where you like.  I will be making some variations on this theme in other colors, and it will be fun to come up with matching earrings.

Click on the image for a closer view.  The ruffle is best appreciated in person; the tiny seed beads woven in a peyote stitch create a flexible fabric.  This style necklace will be in the $175.00 range.

Wax carving 101

Years ago I worked in fine jewelry manufacturing, where I was responsible for creating new designs, mass producing some items, casting the waxes up in gold or silver, making rubber molds of prototypes, and so forth.

Here is a short promotional video from this manufacturer, Le Monde, that shows the process.  Towards the end of the video you will see me treeing up a group of waxes prior to casting and a good demo of how the lost wax casting takes place.

measure off a slice of wax, mark the center

For a step by step demo of the process of carving a wax, I took these photos.  First you cut the appropriately sized slice from a tube of hard carving wax.  Then sketch the design on the wax, keeping your center lines clearly indicated.

draw your design on the wax tube

Cut away the excess with saws, Xacto knives and files, working from the inside out;  make the finger size right before trimming the outside of the ring shank, make the area to set the stones the exact size needed before trimming excess back towards your central focus.

refine the shape with files and xacto knife

Refine the shape with files, sandpaper, and polish the wax with a cotton buff, and it is ready for the casting department.  Click on any of these photos for an enlarged view.

polish the wax with a cotton disk

The secret for creating a beautiful original wax?  Imagine the recipient gasping with delight when they open the gift, and work backwards from that gasp.  You can see some of my original jewelry creations here, along with some larger sculptural work.  (Mouseover the numbers to see them.)