I have had these cone shaped mandrels for quite a while now. I was very excited when I got them. But my first, and later, second attempt were less than desirable, so I put them aside… There are a handful of bead artists that I admire, and one of them is Vickie Miller of Hipkitty Beads . Vickie makes the most wonderful beads, one style being cone shaped beads. I recently checked in on her blog, and I was yet, once again inspired to make a cone shaped bead. Here is my latest attempt, a Christmas tree – now, if only I could get the darn bead off the mandrel!, I would make myself a cute Christmas pendant:

It’s time again for a new art show at the Redlands Art Association. The show theme is “Holiday”. Here are some of the pieces I will be submitting:

I finally got a chance to get on the torch yesterday. Here are some Christmassy beads; I call the gold ones Christmas Stars –  they are made with 24k gold leaf and gold dichroic glass encased in light amber glass. Aren’t they pretty?