The Prize ! And the rest of the info...

Here it is. This will be the prize !

Win the contest and this bead will be yours. Stoffobeads will even send it to you for free.

The bead is a very nice example of a modern interpretation of Warring States style bead. Its made on 1/8 inch mandrel and is about a half by one and half inches in size.

The rules, keep going until you win. I will accept "entries" for lack of a better term, via comments on this blog, or emailed to me at info@stoffobeads.com Enter to win as many times as you like. I will take the first winner, and will go by the time of email or comments posted if more than one person wins, first one with the right answer wins.

The problem or puzzle.......

"Eternal, portals, planets, and orbs I once had two, I sill have one, tell me where I put the other ?"

It is soo on !

There will be a contest. Hooray !

I will post the bead prize, and the rules in the next day or over the next several days !

Im waiting to hear back from the legal department at Stoffobeads to clarify and indemnify all the legal mumbo jumbo as it relates to liability releases that may be required for all the entrants to ensure there is nothing that will come back to haunt us as we send you all off to the ends of the earth looking for clues !

Get the dictionary, encyclopedias, and web browsers tuned up and be ready !

A contest ?

Im contemplating the idea of a sort of bead-hunt contest. The committee of amateur cryptologist at Stoffobeads would devise some sort of puzzle to be unraveled by you the readers and at the end would be the prize of one of my large warring states beads or something like that ? A sort of Nick Bantock Egyptian jukebox style project.

If interested in the concept of such an event, leave a comment, send me an email or otherwise let Stoffobeads know, no purchase required, no down payment, no credit, no problem !

Maybe a a custom bead at the winners request, maybe a days worth of bead production, maybe a lapidary donut bead... let me know.

Some cool bead places to go

Here are some of the bead places I like on the net. Either cause I have been there, like to visit there, they have good beads to look at or just neat stuff.....

BeadxChange I participated in the SGB #1 -15 bead exchange. Lots of fun and some neat beads. Not as wild and large as some of the subsequent ones.

Here at The best bead artist, I had "Bead of he Week" beginning March 7, 2005.

Love to look at the show and tells on Wetcanvas under the glass showcase, tons of great bead stuff and lots of wonderful folks making beads. Not limited to beads, a great place to look at all kinds of art. A duplicate from my links column but well worth it.

Believe it or not but a guy I went to high school with and was friends, named Atticus with is now also making beads and glass items, mostly from boro.

Another glass site, Glassartist org where I have a small gallery but there are tons of other folks on here doing amazing stuff.

If you haven't hit one of these links above and seen some really cool glass, you really don't know what you are missing.
Just to tide over those of you who didn't link out or simply are here for the photos, hope it was peppered with enough shots.....

Beadless.....book suggestions

OK,

So I havent melted any glass in a few days and Im getting cranky.... Second best to melting glass is reading good books with lots of photos of folks who are melting or have melted glass.

Fortunately, I happened to get a note from the local library that my book request was in. My request was The Complete Book of Glass Beadmaking by Kimberly Adams. Published by the wonderful folks at Lark Books . These are the folks who published the Cindy Jenkins book that I cut my teeth on and studied for hours with amazement trying to figure out how they did this or that. They also put out 500 Glass Beads and 500 or 1000 Rings that are neat books also and very worthy of adding to any collection.

Also on the list of recent books about glass.

The Encyclopedia of Modern Marbles, Spheres, & Orbs, by Mark P. Block. Published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd. Id also consider adding Contemporary Marbles and related Art Glass also by the same publisher. Some really cool photos in the encyclopedia and lots of them. Its an expensive book but I like the photos.

Lots of glass eye candy in all these.....

Forming an arts community

The small town where Stoffobeads has its corporate headquarters, and beadmines are located, Ajo, AZ (postal code 85321) is an old mining town, formerly a large copper mining area. The copper mine, an open pit now with large tailings piles is a constant presence looming over the town.

Town has many amenities here that you wouldn't find in a town this size otherwise. We have a newspaper, actually two now. The copper news and The Corridor Times which doesnt have its website up yet. Not too many towns with a summer population of 4000 and winter of about double that who can boast two weekly newspapers these days.

There are about 4 Mexican restaurants, a deli/internet cafe, a Pizza hut, Dairy Queen, Asian restaurant, liquor store, 2 grocery markets, Radio Shak, and various other assorted local businesses. We have a golf course, a public pool that's fantastically clean and wonderful if it were only open more, a great public library, bank, Florist, health clinic, many different churches, and Im sure Im missing some critical stuff...

The county services are fantastic as this is a remote part of Pima County, same county that Tucson serves as a tax base for. So in many ways we reap the benefits of a huge tax base but are still small town. Many outdoor recreational activities and opportunities exist here as the gateway town to Mexico in specific Rocky Point. Gateway to the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge , Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument , and plenty of BLM land.

The Ajo Chamber of Commerce has a webpage with some really great photos of the town plaza. Built in the Spanish colonial mission style (I think) the town plaza is one of the best features of the town. It serves as a focal point for the library, deli, pharmacy, and post office. Its very picturesque and alot of community events are held here.

Santa comes in on his sleigh, greets the local kids and gives out treats to everyone who shows up in this amazing Norman Rockwellian event and the whole town does show up for that. Folklorico dance lessons are held here, some folks enjoy the sprinklers when they turn on to water the grass and its over 100 degrees out.

Oh yeah, not to paint too idyllic a picture, it does get hot here, I didn't mention that earlier. Our high temp recorded here is 119 in the shade and thats not lie. Far to hot to make beads !

Well, one of the focal points of the town is a historic cluster of buildings that were/are The Curley School and its parent organization, ISDA .

Where am I going in this rambling epic.....

One of the last places we lived, Cumberland MD, also an area where the local economy had been based upon a now defunct industry. At the time we were there, it was economically depressed but forming an arts community. We left just as the transformation was taking shape and they are well developed as an arts area now.

So we at Stoffobeads are hopeful and active to some extent in promoting Ajo, our current Bead-epicenter as a newly forming arts community. Though my involvement in this promotion is not organized or formally aligned with any organization, I pledge that I will force the Umpa-Loompas to take a break from the beadmine and send info to anyone who wants it, electronic or otherwise about this area.

The film festival starts soon, featuring 3 movies that I believe were all shot locally. There are interesting lectures at the library. The arts council brings in wonderful cultural events like Tucson Symphony Orchestra who is also coming soon.

Want to move to a really neat South Western small town with about 350 days of sunshine, fantastic weather in the winters and warm summers, let me know and I will tell you more than you want to hear about Ajo. Its on the verge of becoming the next Sedona, or Patagonia and you heard it here first.

Fabric Boxes

Well, todays, here are two fabric boxes that were/are embellished with beads I made. These boxes are made by sandwiching layers of fabric, batting and more fabric together, its heavily stiched up and sewn all about. The pattern, is pretty basic, and making a box like this is really less work than you might think, or so Im told....

Two boxes, both made by the same maker, Suzanne Theriault, and both have my beads on them (on the lids and on the front of one, small beads). Small amount of beads and at least three of the beads on the lids are made on copper tube to help color match the boxes. Its not really about the beads here its more bead as subtle interest element to the box. Beads could be used as feet, latches, or other functional elements in addition to decoration as they are here.

Since we are in the fiber arena today, I should mention that I can, and have made buttons out of glass. Some of these buttons have found their way to family sweaters and such. Some were sold in MI several years ago. I have not made a button other than a demo one in some time.

There are at least two basic ways to make a button. One is to make a small bead and make a lollipop type disk and join the two. One is to make a large bead, and just before it drops of the mandrel "catch" it on a marver and you have formed the button (I believe this method is what Tom Holland calls the "bozo-drop button"). Making buttons is fun and different diversion from making beads. At one point, I probably could have focused on buttons, I was asked to do that by one retail outlet but decided not to. There is, like many things, a specific collectors market in buttons that may have been profitable to some degree but I wasnt at a point where that was what I wanted to do.

Next I will show off some of my bead totems. Im working on an altered book that will incorporate beads and an art box that will showcase some marbles. However those are some more distant projects.

Necklaces

Here are some photos of necklaces made by Stoffobeads customers, using Stoffobeads. Its obvious in some that the craftsmanship of the beaders is far beyond anything I have created as far as the bead goes....

If you see your work here and are not given credit for it, I apologize, I have not kept as good a record of who made what as I should/could have. Email me, leave a comment here and we will ensure you get credit where credit is due. Its not due to any disrespect or with any intent not to credit the artists, the Stoffobeads front room office is simply a mess when it comes to stuff like this.

Well, a week long 'bead camp' with my sister left me with a few new beads that I will be selling. I also made two glass bracelets which she has taken with her and they were crude attempts at the fine work you can see/buy from folks who make a living making bracelets. Bottom line, I can do it but not well, like soo many things.

These photos include a custom set of beads made of a little girl who was about 3.5 years old, and she is showing it off below. In addition, special custom order for beads made directly on copper and brass tube.

Today I will spend cleaning up the studio, and getting things ready to go back into solo production. My experiment with a kiln crucible was a failure. I may add a post on that later a failure post might be cleansing. The goal was to dip vessels and marbles into a crucible of clear. Well it didn't work out. If you have any experience in this area, let me know, I could use some advice....

Hope you enjoy this gallery of necklaces. Stofobead seal of approval ;)

Storia Necklace

This necklace was made by Victoria Storia of Storia Designs. I have not been in touch with her in some time but she made this necklace. Its a marvelous and unique design that highlights the beads I made. This piece is in my personal collection and my wife wears it regularly and always gets comments about it.

The beads are a mix of lampworked and lampworked and then lapidary worked or cold worked beads. This necklace also contains vintage glass beads, that Victoria managed to come up with from her bead stash. Victoria used the large disk bead and another bead to make a very unique toggle and I must say, this is an awesome piece.

In addition, this necklace is my one entry in Cindy Jenkins Beads of Glass book. It has given me great pleasure to get into the book since it was Cindy Jenkins first book, Making Glass Beads that gave me such inspiration and instruction. I studied the book and I think I copied or tried to copy everything in the book.

Before I leave, last night I read about an artist, jelwery artist making jewlery with "Detroit Agate" this is chunks or chips of auto paint from the Ford factory spray booth. On the one hand, Im a bit horrified and on the other Im incredibly fascinated by it. The paint is worked so you can see the layers of different color and it does look like agate.

More to come......

More Flys by Ronn Lucas

Here are more flys by Ronn Lucas and I said that Id post some other stuff made by other folks. I will, please be patient. Im in the middle to "bead camp" my sister is here and Im teaching her to make beads and marbles. Im also getting in some torch time myself. Not to mention the fact that these are simply amazing and absolutely wonderful to look at. I really love the pairings of feathers and other materials that Ronn combines.

I know, because he has told me that he literally spends days, weeks looking for exotic and perfectly matched feathers and other ingredients. He is a master !

Yesterday was soft glass only, today we are starting out on Boro then at lunch time will ramp down the kiln and move back to soft glass. Auctions wrap up today also which will take me a bit of time to close those all out.

So, long story short, Im cheating and putting up one more of Ronns amazing flys that didnt make it into the last post and going to go play with glass instead of putting up some work by a new and different Stoffobeads user.

From beads to flys

As the beginning of posts on where my beads have ended up, I want to show the work of Ronn Lucas. He is a fly-creating master (fly-maker or tier may be more correct). These flys that Ronn makes do not end up in the water. They are part of a category called fancy dress flys. As I gather it, they are the ultimate demonstration of the fly tiers art, creating large flys often on custom hooks to show off their skill and showcase exotic design elements and components. Above are some of the beads before getting worked over by Ronn.

Ronn is pretty much out there in the lead as far as I can tell among other folks creating fancy dress flys. He has a whole bunch of flys tied with glass beads, some that I have made and some by other beadmakers. He just informed me that he expects some photos of his work to be showcased in June in Bead Style magazine. I wont be able to show every photo of his flys I have but this sample is surely representative.

Im going to show some of the photos I have of his flys that use my beads. I can tell you that it was a challenge to meet Ronns requirements for size while maintaining some of my design elements. I have never really been asked to make a particular bead only much smaller. Now some of these beads are not really small like you may think should be fishing fly size. Again, custom hooks and fancy dress flys are not for fishing.

I tried in a few cases to make beads that look like insect cocoons or things a fish may like to eat. In part however, I think what makes some of them look soo good is that they don't look anything like what you would expect to find on a fly. Once I kind of got the hang of the size of beads, shape, design elements that Ronn was after, I made him a good batch of beads. He continues to amaze me with the obvious mastery he has of pairing glass beads with feathers, hooks and other components to create these stunning masterpieces.

Here is another fine example of his flys. This one and a few other rely heavily upon my use of silver leaf and/or foils. This is what gives the glass the unusual silvery sheen. I an only imagine what inspires Ronn when he creates these. He told me once how much time he spent making each one of these and its amazing. Lots of these use highly specialized and exotic feathers which he culls for exactly the right colors. Custom hooks which he or his friends make. All these elements add up to some real special stuff.

This next one is one of my favorites. Its custom bent hook really adds a lot to the design. All I can think of is that this is sort of the fly version of a Jesse James or OCC custom bike. Every time I get an email from Ronn with photos of one of his latest creations, Im amazed and flattered to be part of such beautiful work.

EMS-electric mandrel spinner

I made this bead using the only really cool tool invented for lampworking in the last I dont know 20 years.... Its the EMS or electric mandrel spinner. I also have the dual marver, two rolling brass barrels that effortlessly shape the glass.

These amazing gizmos are made by Scott at Bearfoot Art. Hes linked on the right hand side here. At his site you can see photos fo the tools, videos of them in use and even order them.

This tool has been featured in the bead release by ISGB, and I think a few other lampworking publications like the flow. For me its doubled my production. I can make a bead "blank" in far less time, its like making pots by coiling the clay or throwing a pot on the wheel. (If that helps anyone). In addition, there is less stress, strain and fatigue to my hands, wrists and I aviod any repetitive motion injuries or at least limit them to typing.

Id be more than glad to answer any questions anyone may have about this tool or combo of tools. I cant recommend them enough.

A bead-less day

Well, auctions are going well for the studio sale. Im very pleased with the way its going. The first auction closed today with I think 9 bids. I was asked yesterday, invited really to participate in a gallery show. Im excited and best part is that its not until 07 so I have lots of time to make up some really really good stuff. Thats the future, I promised old beads in the title of this post.

Here is some early boro, some amber purple and some thing else, I have no idea what it is.....

I do like the way the green squiggles appear to be floating or swimming in the swirly stuff. Thats the beauty of boro as far as Im concerned is that you get this primal organic stuff that for the life of me I have a hard time reproducing.
I really like the look but its not for everyone I know that.

There will be a few more random old bead photos tossed into this at opportune times. I was thinking that Id do a few posts on stuff folks have made with my beads. From the necklace published in Cindy Jenkins book to fly fishing lures, to who knows what folks have got out there made. I will probably ask a few folks to send me some photos and if any of you out there have made stuff with my beads send me photos and Ill put em in a posting. Maybe depending on the response I will open it up to anything anyone made with any beads.....

The new issue of Bead and Button magazine came out in the mail today. My ad is on page 144.

On page 177 there is an ad for the Magical crimp forming tool. Now this thing is AWESOME. Believe it or not my neighbor in this small town of Ajo, AZ invented and patented this tool. It takes a 2mm crimp bead and forms it into a silver, or gold looking bead, it does away with the old flat crimp and turns it into what looks just like a metal bead. This thing is going to take off ! I have tried the tool and it works great. My neighbor who invented it will be in Tucson at the Bead show bringing out the tool on its debut.

Otherwise my day was fairly beadless today. I spent some time getting the bead studio set up for 2 torch stations. I have some folks coming to learn how to make beads next week so I have to set up a second torch at a second station. I normally have the torch set up but keep them both at my workstatio, so I can switch back and forth between them. So, I got that done and then spent some time on yardwork. Maybe tomorrow I will get in and melt some glass.

C'mon inside the studio

I know that this is supposed to be mostly beads, but this is where they get made. Studio tour starts now. The studio was here in most part when we bought the house. It had been a garage when Phelps Dodge built it as a company house in the 50s. Phelps Dodge ran the local copper mine which still dominates the local landscape. Our house was I believe for the mine accountant or managers of some sort. Then at some point a former owner transformed it to a watercolor studio. So, its complete with running water, a fridge (for cold beverages), a swamp cooler, a nice sliding glass door with shades to let in or keep out the light, and a pegboard. Pegboard is great for hanging beads to complete orders, designing sets, and generally displaying beads. Now all that was here already.

You can see the pegboard with some beads on it, I didnt paint it red and wouldnt have, Im too lazy to repaint it so red it is. I put the beads on bike spokes, so they can be hung easily. There is a screw on end cap and the metal rods are bent over to hook the pegboard easily. A convenient trick that I picked up from someone else. You can see a mix of beads, strands of beads, and a few necklaces. You may also notice how empty some of those spokes look. Im clearing out space to make more beads. Got to make room to fill the board up. I will have to take a few more shots when the board gets really full, to compare to this.....

Inside the studio you can see that its organized chaos. But this is where it happens. I have two torches, a bobcat, and a Lynx both by GTT (Glass torch technology). Both of these torches work off propane and oxygen, I use tanked oxygen.


My annealing kiln is on the right side of the bench. I work on a stool where I can stand or sit to fight off fatigue and get better angles on beads. There is not a huge amout of stuff to point out in the studio.

My new/latest acquisition, a crucible kiln that I will use to melt glass in a crucible. I will then have a small pot of glass to dip marbles or pendants into, make latticino, or do other glass related stuff with... Im not sure what all I will be able to do or not do since I have never had one of these, but Im excited. Its all still in bubble wrap as I have to find a place for this still. No doubt there will be more postings on this and the results from this added piece of equipment.
Hopefully there will be some great new stuff made with it.

Hope that you enjoyed this mini-studio tour and have a better idea of where my beads are formed.

Clearly- Clear beads

Well,

I said that Id put up a few photos of the new clear. Here they are, one a very heavy coating, about a half inch thick.

It acts like a lens and makes it appear that this guy is really fat with color. Perhaps not everyones choice in colors or design but as you can see the clear is clearly without smoke, soot, or any major bubbles.

Number two in the clear is this fellow who was some transparent colors that was covered in clear, then a fine web xs of ivory and then more clear. Kind of a unique design that just happened and I like the way it came out. Bot this and the above bead were made on the EMS (Electric mandrel spinner). More on the EMS in another post.