Halloween inspiration

I was looking through a forum thread about Halloween and thought how fun the whole theme is. Thinking about creepy, scary beads, offered all kinds of potential and inspiration. The character I thought to portray was the word 'ghoul' and this combined with my sense or awful puns, 'Ghoul with a Pearl Earring' was born. I hadn't referenced the painting before I started but I was still very pleased with the result. After making her I got excited and thought of more awful puns...
Below is the 'Moaner Lisa'A hand shot to give an idea of sizes. Here we have 'The Scream', 'Whistler's Mummy' and 'Ghoul with a Pearl Earring' (mark 3 after I looked at the painting! the second one I did was interrupted when I ran out of gas and it cracked). I etched whistler's and scream but left the frame glossy. The reason I etched was because I had mistaken a reduction rod for black and when I reduced the frame, all this metallic luster popped up where it was NOT wanted. Etching removes luster. I really love the feel of etched glass and also the patterns and lines seem to pop more. However I'm not completely satisfied with whistler and scream and will redo them. I also have lined up, Henry the Ape and The Birth of Heinous, stay tuned....

The Frog Prince

Last week I was obsessed with blue and green, one of the beads reminded me of a frog, so I considered making a bunch of them, all the same, and just call them froggy beads.
Then I started putting various combinations of beads together and it suddenly stood out that there was a kind of figure (see pic one). I saw an ornately dressed frog prince with his hands on his hips, wearing pantaloons.
So I sketched the image I had in mind and thought about how he could be made and which glasses to use.
The most satisfaction came when I put his legs onto his pantaloons because I wasn't at all sure if the technique I used was going to work.
It gave me a good laugh when I put him all together, I hope you guys get a smile from him too. I don't think I'll kiss him... I like him just the way he is.

Three owls and a robot on ebay

My beads have been stockpiling on my desk and it's time to let go of a few of them, always reluctantly! For the first time I'm auctioning a robot bead with a brass cog named Edgar.Another first is this flattened bead with a landscape picture of a fluffy baby owl out for a walk. His eyes are the only raised part.
Dulce below, is a decorative owl with a folksy feel to her. (She hoots with a European accent.)
Finally Byrd is a slightly different design again, with rings of silvered ivory around his eyes.

Divertimento in blue and green

I have it in my head to make a piece of jewellery with funky unique beads including some large silver findings. Using the colour theme of green and blue this is what I have made so far. While I think they are pretty cool all together it's not really what I envisioned, so I am going to try some different shapes, more extreme, and also some larger-holed discs. Making them this afternoon hopefully!
The beauty of a project is the new things you learn along the way. Like how dense and rich Reichenbach Iris Blue is and how it spreads and forms some lovely gradations. Below is an extreme enlargement so you can see what I'm referring to. It was laid on CIM celadon, can't wait to play with this effect some more!