Corn Nuts

For me inspiration can come from some very unlikely sources. I've made beads inspired by wallpaper, shower curtains, a birth control commercial, even a freshly dropped cow patty. Yeah, pretty sad, I know. I live in the flat plains of the Texas panhandle. If you take inspirations from your surroundings around here, it's slim pickings.

Soooo not too long ago my daughter was chomping away on some ranch flavored corn nuts. Quite irritating listening to but a dimly lit light bulb went on over my head. Corn nuts? A corn that's nuts? I thought of two directions I could go with this. The first one, not so family oriented. So I got my mind out of the gutter and went with the second option.

I actually made two of these little fellers, however I didn't see the warning signs. :( I'm sad to say the other corn nut committed suicide. He jumped from my desk into the path of my chair rollers. Very traumatic. I didn't know him for long but he will be missed.

Happy New Year

A new year is upon us and as usual I'm late to the party. The blogging party, that is. We are well into the second month of the new year and I've already broken at least 3 of my resolutions. The bright side is I have 11 more months to get on track.

One of my new year resolutions was to spend more time on my blog. This I'm having the most trouble with. I can never think of anything to say! Quite frankly, I'm at a loss now. My intention was to start posting more frequently and with more content to my posts. Sharing techniques and tips being the ultimate goal. But I've been so un-inspired at the torch lately that I seriously don't think I have any thing worth sharing.

When I'm at a loss on what to make, I usually find myself going back to my comfort zone. Floral! I'm obsessed with flowers. I think this is due to the fact that I cannot grow them in real life. I have tried planting several types of flowers that are suppose to be indigenous to my area and have absolutely no success. Every year I spend money on seeds, plants and bulbs and not once have they produced a single bloom. You would think after 6 years I'd give up. But each year, after the long winter, I renew my hope and try again. In the mean time, I'll make my glass garden bloom.

I've been working on hydrangea beads. They are still not exactly what I envision in my head but I have no doubt I'll eventually get there. The beads I've posted in this post is an example of my hydrangeas. Of course, the colors are not what you would find in a hydrangea flower but the over-all effect of the blooms is what I was going for. What I eventually hope to accomplish is the placement of the blooms. I want them to be closer together, blocking out the base of the bead, yet still uniform.

Another floral bead I've been working on is my "garden" beads. This incorporates several different types of flowers. The standard 3 petalled bloom, a "rose" type bloom, "button" blooms, and the leaves are used as fillers. As you can see, I'm really liking the new greens by CIM. Dirty Martini and Pea Soup (I think that's the name of the glass) find their way into most of my sets.

One tip I can impart is the tool that I find essential to making the creases in the petals. The x-Acto knife. In my opinion this is the perfect tool and a must for any lamp worker. The blade is thin enough to give a good clean deep crease and it holds up well in a hot environment. More importantly, it's cheap!

Well there you have it. My first post to the new year. Only 38 days late!