just plain beads - Book

A new book from by Deanna Griffin Dove, partnering with Marjorie Langston. This is a slender volume that is big on good stuff.

Covered are lots of things, very basic, but very frustrating for the novice bead maker with maybe 10 - 20 hours of practice - who is starting to notice that their beads aren't quite as nicely shaped as they would like, bead holes aren't perfect, and how do you actually get the bead to be round, instead of donut shaped?

Gratifyingly, most of what I say in my remedial classes is right here, and with great photos to boot. If you are getting frustrated and want to go further, getting some control over your shapes and getting them to be the shape that you wanted (instead of what the glass wanted!) - then this book is definitely worth checking out. I would also suggest checking their website too: Beadmaking Books.com.

Vetro 970 - Streaky Sapphire

Another odd lot - and this one is truly hard to photograph accurately.

The rods themselves have an odd feel - they are frosted and have a light matte texture - and appear to be a deep aqua. But when worked and annealed - they come up a beautiful sparkling deep sapphire colour - with tiny wisps deep in the glass. This is really a stunning shade of blue - the pictures do not begin to do it justice.

Over all, I would say, you do not want any of this glass - this is truly horrible glass and a nasty colour (besides, who needs blue glass anyway). If you have already been unfortunate enough to buy this glass, I suggest that you box it up and ship it to me, and I will put it out of your misery for you. ;-)