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17 Days Till Christmas !

Again it seems the days are flying by

I got up this morning and sauntered around and then hit the torch

decided more lentils

Did hay for the horses - water and then brought some more glass down from the studio for later

I had to wait till the morning beads annealed but I hope to torch tonight as well

spent the afternoon making paper snowflakes and paper chains with the grand kids

we had such a great time

No torching last night - too tired

Someone asked me about my big lentil and how I made it - I like to use the brass presses that are available
my favorite is the Catwalk press and right now there is free shipping in the USA and she will split the intl shpping for those not in the U.S.

I have all the lentil sizes from the small right up to the humongous 2.5"

I really like this graduated one

the 1" is my little cat body

the next size up is a 1.5
NOTE: they also come in a deeper lentil shape as well

and an optional flat base so you can make the back flat

very cool
the 2" is HUGE

but the 2.5" OMG

Its called

the Ellen Black Lentil maker - as she makes amazing huge lentils ( this much glass gathering takes time to make)
now that I've seen it again - I need to pull it out and give it a try (I've only used it once and seeing the sample above really makes me want to try it again ) this gives you a huge canvas to work on

I have a load (as you saw last week when I migrated back to my basement ) this is one rack - there is another right beside it full as well

Catwalk has tutorials on how to to process the bead with the press

here is the web site

http://cattwalk.com/

Lots of great tools and presses

19 Days to Christmas

Only 19 days left - it seems to be going so fast !

I torched again last night making smaller complimentary beads for my bigger purple beads and possible a focal for the necklace - not sure - but again if I keep torching almost every night I'll replenish my bead stash for spring

Actually having some fun each night - rather do this than watch TV on a winter eve

still on the mandrels till I get home - I have a rule - I cant torch till I take the beads off the mandrels from my previous session and clean them - filling up a big yogurt container - almost 1/2 filled with beads

I am trying to always do a min of 10 mandrels of beads whether there is one or multiples

smaller purple beads to go with the large ones for a necklace

some bubble beads for earrings and some red just cause I like red and christmas is coming

These are quite large lentils about 1-3/4" in size

Got home and cleaned them up \

the big lentil and the matching little spacer beads

I'm at half filled - not that it means anything but I feel like I'm actually making some beads

20 Days to Christmas -

Got to torch last night - if I keep this up I'll have lots of beads by spring

my favorite z99 special purple with some black stringer \these are rather large beads I want to make a necklace out of

I made 10 and want to make another 10 hopefully tonight

21 Days till christmas

Only 21 more days - lots to do and I'm trying to torch - missed last night but expect to work for a couple of hours tonight - need to get the Give-A-Way ready for the mail tomorrow

If I get a chance will post some pics of lampwork being done

22 Days Till Christmas - Results of the November Give-A-Way

Only 22 days left - and I actually torched last night - was amazing - forced myself downstairs and sat and torched - the only thing I hate is having to go outside to turn the propane on and off in the cold - but its not so bad.
I actually had beads out of the kiln this morning - I'll post a pic later

But onto the important news - I did the draw last night but never got back onto the computer to post

The winner is : Tammie Everly - I'll be in touch with you shortly for your snail mail information

I thank you all for submitting and for your wonderful comments - and I will be doing the next draw in January