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.