New Murrini, new beads

Lots of new murrini is available at http://www.loriandkim.com and be sure to check out the *Fun Stuff* category and the brand new *Singles Bar* for all kinds of great new items...

Fire Divas Jewelry Challenge

The Fire Divas are hosting an Introductory Jewelry Challenge! This challenge will be for jewelry designers who use artisan lampwork in their pieces. The winner of the Challenge will receive a beautiful group of Fire Divas' work. This is a wonderful chance for jewelry designers to show off their talents and get exposure!
Please click on the link below to get all the details & to enter: We love to see how designers use our creations, though for this 1st challenge, ANY artisan lampwwork beads will do as long as they're handmade.
http://firedivas.blogspot.com/2009/11/calling-all-desingers-introductory.html

A few things...

Ok, first things first. I have to tell you that I am THRILLED that Miss Doxie is blogging again:

http://www.missdoxie.com/
She's back, she's happy, she's got a new beau and a new kitteh and a crew of dachshunds that I have grown to adore. If you haven't read her back catalog of blog entries DO. IT. NOW. Bring a snack and go to the bathroom first because you are going to be there a while, laughing your butt off.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I can get down to the bead related things. Hmmmm. I got nuthin. I made spacer beads to go with the sterling charms Kim and I made. Oh! And I made what I thought was the fugliest bead eveh but when I took it out of the kiln, eh, not so bad. I think I saved it in the 9th inning by plastering murrini all over it. Hey, that could be a new marketing angle...save your fugly beads by plastering murrini all over its hideosity! I wonder if I could figure out a way to encorporate a fun mascot into that... like a penguin!

What I've Been Up To...

I've been busy lately! Kim and I made some really, really cool bead caps and silver charms last weekend. This is the set of charms...

I've been making beads with the murrini...as usual...

Filling some winter orders...

And preparing for Turkey Day! YAY!

I have some big hole beads in the kiln in preparation for lining them with silver tubing.

Lots of fun stuff going on... www.loriandkim.com

Murrini into beads

I thought it might be fun to see the murrini and the beads in the same post so you could see what happens to these lovely little glass bits. I love using them. I've been really having a great time and it's hard to put down the murrini and make other kinds of beads!

New beads...

www.loribeads.etsy.com

Color Play

http://watchmecreate.com/?p=5228

My blog entry for today is over at Watch Me Create. It's about color!

Soap!

I have to share a great find with you. I bought some soap from Dana at http://www.abracadabrasoapco.blogspot.com/ and it is completely wonderful. Rich, creamy lather and deliciously scented, this soap has been a BIG hit around here. Even the packaging made me feel like I was getting a gift from myself. I can't wait to order again.

New beads available at www.loribeads.etsy.com

I have been enjoying the cooler weather around here. The days are warm but not hot and the nights are wonderfully chilly. I love autumn!

Beads and Murrini

Murrini available in http://www.loriandkim.etsy.com/ and the bead is in my http://www.loribeads.etsy.com/ store.

I really enjoy using the murrini. I am sure people are starting to wonder where all the dogs and kidlets are at this point so let me show you one of the special orders I am working on this week...

More murrini

www.loriandkim.etsy.com
New murrini! Sample beads are in the kiln now... YAY!

Another awesome weekend with Miss Kim

I went to Kim's last weekend and we made more murrini! I am so excited about the new ones. Here's the first: Dewdrop at www.loriandkim.etsy.com

And I have some new beads up on www.loribeads.etsy.com too!

More new murrini!

New murrini at www.loriandkim.etsy.com!

New Murrini - Heirloom and Dragonfly

http://www.loriandkim.etsy.com

Watch Me Create blog entry

http://watchmecreate.com/?p=4919
Check out my entry on WMC about Gaffer Chalcedony glass.

Murrini Spotlight on: Blaze of Autumn

I had a lot of fun playing with this blend of murrini. It looks great on transparents. Next I will try it on opaques. This is a great blend for the upcoming fall season!
www.loriandkim.etsy.com

And the beads are here: www.loribeads.etsy.com

Just for fun: Squirrelizer

http://www.lutralutra.co.uk/squirrelizer/ where you can squirrelize your own photo...

Fellow Fire Diva...Marcy!

Marcy did another Einstein bead and I have to say that I just ADORE them. I think they are both whimsical and wonderful. This one makes me smile even wider than most, though...

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29634854

Look at that cute little puppy he's holding! OMG, Marcy...you are truly awesome.

Four Seasons of Murrini

http://www.loriandkim.etsy.com

Where the magic happens...

I thought you might like to see where Kim and I were making murrini for the past three days straight...

Sometimes we torch in her studio but the past two times we have torched in Loriland. :) I have finally set up two torches, side by side. One GTT Lynx, which I bought a million years ago and never really used, and my tried and true Nortel Minor. We had a great time torching, especially the last day and I am super excited about the new murrini blends. Sadly, I cannot show it to you because we were so tired by the end of the day that Kim just packed it all up to cut at home.

Kim brought her oxy concentrator and the little doohickie that connects it to the hose got lost in the journey so we had to improvise with some plastic tubing, duct tape and some zip ties. It was very MacGyver. In the end, we got it working! YAY!

In other news.... we had a bit of drama this weekend:
Mark heard a dog rustling around in our front yard late at night Saturday night. He went out and saw a lovely golden lab who was very eager to be taken in. Mark put him in the back yard and went to get some water and food and when he went back out to the back yard, our cat followed him out and...mayhem ensued. The cat was freaking out and then the dog started chasing the cat and then the cat climbed the orange tree which is full of horrible spiky thorny things (which I did not know about orange trees until we moved in here). Desiree pulled the cat out of the tree while Mark is freaking out and the dog is barking and freaking out and Puppy is in the house going ballistic and the cat messed Desiree up pretty bad - got her eyelid, bit her hands up - it was bad - sooooo, we took her to urgent care the next day. They put her on antibiotics, gave her hand braces for both thumbs, no stitches for the eye but it looks like she's been beaten up.

And then we checked the cat. He had a big tear in the skin, from a spike, I imagine. No blood, strangely enough, but you could see the muscle underneath the skin and that is wayyyyy more anatomy than I like to be confronted with, thank you very much. So...we ushered the cat off to the vet and he had surgery to get that taken care of.

Yeah, that was just pandemonium. Everyone is on the mend now, thank goodness.

Murrini Spotlight on: Out of Africa

I've been playing with the Out of Africa murrini that Kim and I made. Who knew it would be one of my favorites? Definitely not my usual bright and happy mix of murrini that I reach for first. I've fallen in love with the designs and patterns that this murrini makes on beads. AND it gave me the perfect excuse to drag out my old jar of Cashmere frit from Val. I don't get much chance to use it but it is just my favorite shade of taupe.
I used the murrini to make a series of small focal beads - all with a distinct African desert/plains feel to them. Take a look at one of them here:


This owl bead has murrini eyes from the Out of Africa murrini blend. Isn't he a cutie?

And, finally, here's a photo of the murrini blend Out of Africa.

Beads available at www.loribeads.etsy.com and murrini at www.loriandkim.etsy.com
Thanks for taking a look!