Beads: Iconic Floral set

Demonstration: The "etching" process

I finally posted some photos on flicker to show you how I do my etched focals and bead sets.
You can see the photos and my notes here: Demonstration of the "etching" process

It shows how I went from this:

to this:

You can see more of my etched beads on flickr.

Back among the living for 300!

After an extremely busy two weeks at work getting ready for a big event (186 hours at the office over a period of 14 days, including both weekend days), I am finally able to get back to my beloved clay! And today this little fellow...

...helped me reach a milestone of 300 etsy sales! I had been hoping to get there by my one year anniversary but I missed it by two weeks (my first sale was on July 27, 2009.) But no matter...last year at this time I was just hoping I'd hit 100 in a year!
I love knowing that my little beads are all over the place and nothing is more rewarding to me than someone shelling out their hard-earned money to buy something I made!

A big thank you to every customer!!

Beads: Want to see my etchings?

Front

 

Back

Beads: Moulin Rouge Tales and Peacock Focal

 

Peacock focal front

 

 

Peacock focal back

Projects: Clare + Sue = New Necklace

I finally organized myself and made my necklace with the beads I bought from Clare Scott. I had two from SueBeads that coordinated nicely so they got tossed in the mix. I kept it very simple...I had tried to add more but it just wasn't working. I wanted to keep the focus on the glass so I took out all the extra. Now it's just glass and chain, and I like it.

Chanteuse: She's a girl but no one could tell...

I had to make a body so she'd look more like a female! She's going to go live with my friend Anne.

More Faces: Hat Man and Night and Day

Beads: New Faces

I made some new faces last night and there will be more. Too tired right now to put them on etsy -- doing so would require me to think and that's dangerous when I'm sleepy.

A Girl and Her Dog

Pineapple King

The Worriers (no wonder...they have a stick through their heads!)

 

...and some more gradient etched beads. 

www.artybecca.com: Expired

If you go to www.artybecca.com you will find it no longer works. My first post on this blog last September was the growing realization that it was easier to do a blog and have a flickr, etsy, and facebook site than manage my own website. My hosting agreement was set to expire yesterday so I let it. (I still own the URL.)
I heard a story once that in the early days of radio, everyone got in on the act. Department stores and other businesses had their own radio stations to advertise their sales and promote their products. Later, it became easier to let a radio company manage the technical aspects of the work and just buy time on their stations. Why bother with all the hard parts when you just want to advertise your clothing or gasoline?
We're already at that point with the internet. Why do I want to bother with a web design program, organizing folders of images and html files, and then uploading to multiple folders on the web host's site when I can just log in and start typing or uploading my photos? So much easier and at less expensive than the hosting cost!
---------------
My blog even lets me have a few pages that are not chronology based so I moved my favorite web content there. If you're interested, those pages are:

Drawings

Pastels

Halloween costumes

A fun trip not far from home

My cats

Paint projects

Beads: Skinner Sets

In the etsy shop now. More coming later tonight.

Beads: Snake experiment

Faces: Silver Mask

I had another night of one face that worked, one that didn't. Here's the one that did.

 

I'll save all the bad ones and someday post a photo of the "Land of Misfit Beads."

Faces: Zombie can only nibble your brain

He's too small to eat your whole brain!

And here's his friend Donna.

Beads: New Shape

Cubicles!

Beads: Win Some, Lose Some

Tonight I made two new faces in silver. The first, which I've dubbed "The Most Interesting Mandrill in the World" worked out well. (my apologies to Dos Equis.)

The second one, based on an adorable photo of a baby Orangutan, went horribly wrong. I will try it again. But, look what I ended up with. It's the zombie love child of Frank Costanza and Homer Simpson!

Beads: More Faces

More new face beads on etsy this morning...

Beads: New Faces

I'm liking my new little guys!

New Beads: Taupe, Bronze, Copper, Gold

I got to play with the clay all day Saturday (with a short break for weeding in the garden of horror), then it was in the car to Mom's house for Mother's Day. We sat and talked while I sanded a big pile of new items -- all just posted in my etsy shop.

Beads: Doroshow workshop inspired new beads!

Look at these funny little guys!