Ammonite Madness

Ammonites were sea creatures that floated in our world's oceans about 75 million years ago, give or take 25 million years. They were mostly around during the Jurassic period, along with good ol' T-Rex.

Today ammonite fossils can be found in many countries. Some have set them aside as a protected resource (for example, Israel) while others allow them to be harvested and sold (for example, Madagascar).

I love putting ammonites into my work for a very showy accent. I buy them halved and polished to show off their chambers. You can use ammonites, too, if you remember some simple guidelines:


Tips for glass artists

Be sure to buy from a respectable seller, or you might be buying something that was illegally harvested. You don't want to encourage crime.

If you're planning on edging your fossil with copper foil, use raw or polished ammonites. All the opalescent ammonites I purchased cracked when I applied solder.

• When planning your design, remember that you'll want to put the ammonite in from the back, flat side down, so it will be flush with the front of your work.

Beads, beads, beads...

I'd like to thank my newest client for making my day bright and sunny -

THANK YOU, TERESA!!

Teresa visited me on Stringythingy, my Etsy store, and purchased a lot of my lampwork beads. Her selection included some of my favorites. Her choice includes sets and focals, with a good amount of raku and some recycled wine bottle beads.

Selling my creations is very exciting, and selling them in this economic climate is exhilarating. It also helps me pay my rent, in a very practical and basic way. So, Teresa, thank you again. I hope you make a lot of beautiful things with my beads!

Sunny Days in Israel

While we do need the rain - desperately - we're having glorious sunny days here in Israel and I'm enjoying them. To help you all enjoy your sun (and I hope you have a least some sun every day) I'm posting a new suncatcher or two in my Etsy store - and a photo here in my blog.

This particular suncatcher has a piece of raw rose quartz in the center. For those of you who follow crystals, I've heard that rose quartz promotes love and harmony in the home.

Wishing us all pleasant, sunny days and rainy nights - we do need that rain - I"m heading out to the garden.....

I promised, and here it is!

Yesterday I wrote all about my new box - I photographed it this morning and am posting a photo of it. Read yesterday's blog for the description!

Day 2 - Still in Love with Glass

I still love glass - but is that a surprise? Naaaaaaw......

This is just a brief update regarding current projects - I've been invited by a local, boutique winery to create lampwork necklaces from their used wine bottles. They'll show - and sell - the necklaces in their Visitor Center. I've decided to prepare 4 necklaces and a stained glass display box. I'm in the middle of this project so no photos of it yet, but I'm adding a photo of some beads I made from another wine bottle. I started making beads from bottles with ecology in mind - there is so much glass around, I believe it would be criminal not to recycle it. And what better way than to turn it in to durable, wearable, beautiful art?!

Have you noticed? It seems like most wine bottles come in different colors. The beads in the photo that I'm adding to the blog are from a very dark bottle and decorated with a bit of paladium leaf. From now on, when you buy wine, don't just look at the price or the wine, take a look at the color of the bottle, too!

Are you interested in lampworking with old bottles? Let me know and I'll post some tips and tricks. Harvesting the glass is a big part of the effort, so you need to be prepared to invest some time.