Mother's Day Ideas, Janet Crosby Interview,
and Our Tutorials For Proms and Weddings
May 2006 News
Mother's Day Ideas
Mother's Day is May 14, and if you haven't already made plans to honor a special woman in your life, here are a few ideas for personally designed beaded gifts!
Mother's Bracelets: Using porcelain, pewter, sterling or gold-colored letter beads, create a special bracelet that tells Mom how much you love her, or one that memorializes children or grandchildren's names. Have a lot of descendants? Easy solutions are bracelets created with Swarovski crystals using birthstone colors or the engraved hematite or cat's eye beads from Generation Gems. Generation Gems can fit up to four names on one bead, so even grandmothers with dozens of grandchildren can have a beautiful, custom piece of jewelry created for them.
If Mom is an avid reader or gardener, why not make her a pretty beaded bookmark or plant sitter? Using wire, beads and your imagination, these multi-use spikes can feature Mom's favorite gemstones, charms to commemorate her favorite past time, or elegant sparkling crystals.
If you are completely stumped or if Mom is a beader, a gift certificate to a local beading shop or favorite online shop is perfect. (Are my children listening?)
Janet Crosby, Artist and Owner of FireFly Lamps
Janet Crosby's whimsical and incredibly detailed lampwork beads caught Beading Help Web's eye while surfing the 'Net for unique beads. I had the opportunity to chat with Janet about her work - she's fun and fascinating to talk to! Janet's beads are available through her web site.
I read that you began beading in 1987 and moved to creating lampwork beads in 2003. Tell me about that journey and how you got started in beading.
I still treasure a seed bead necklace that my babysitter made for me when I was a child. Also during this time period, I remember trying to make pendants out of mud (instead of mud pies, I guess), so I know that my love of beads and jewelry goes way back.
Back in 1987, my first jewelry making experience involved a local hardware store, a cheap pair of wire cutters, some wire, and some seed beads. I experimented with loops, twisting, and creating ear wires using these materials, and then graduated on to better hand tools and using sterling silver wire, Czech glass and crystal beads.
I learned via experience, magazines, and books. I moved on to various bead weaving stitches - peyote, brick, square, and took up bead loom work. I enjoyed creating different weaving patterns using a mix of seed beads, crystals and Czech glass and using them as light catchers below lampshades.
As beading became more popular, I wanted to have "uniqueness" in my work; I wanted beads or components that were not available just anywhere, so I took my first lampworking class.
The rest is history! Glass was "it" for me, more than any other artistic medium I have worked in. I am glad that I have the jewelry background to be able to wire pendants and make the occasional bracelet, but for the most part, all I do now is glass.
So many of your lampwork beads feature animals, from incredibly life-like to adorable cartoon faces. What inspires you to create animal portraits?
I love animals and have several of them around for continual inspiration! I live in a beautiful rural setting; rolling wheat and barley fields, forests and mountains, and I spend a lot of time with my pets outdoors. I have cats, dogs, fish, and of course, chickens.
Coming from a jewelry background, I never set out to make animal or sculptural beads. They didn't seem "serious" enough to me, and I wanted small round beads for my jewelry and other projects.
But when I started lampworking, it was frustrating to try to create the "perfect" round bead. After yet another failed attempt at trying to make a round bead (it is harder than it looks!), I started squishing them to make fish beads. This saved on wasted glass and I began to learn how to add glass, make fins, eyes, etc. and to really "feel" the glass. In time, I did learn how to make a round bead, but by then all I wanted to do was squish them into fish or other animals!
I absolutely love your realistic but imaginative rooster and hen beads - why did you start making them and how have they evolved?
I made my first chicken bead as a memorial to one of my hens that went to that big chicken coop in the sky. It was a bead just for me, and that was that. I still have it.
Then in February of 2004, Corina Tettinger posted a Beadmaker Challenge to do something "new" with hearts. I wasn't going to enter, because... how many new things could you do with hearts? But, as I watched my hens on the roost at night, they kind of looked like a heart shape - head and tail. So I started exploring that idea. It was a great beadmaker challenge!
The rooster beads came next, and now I have gone back to the hen beads and added "bubble tails" of clear glass to catch the light. I kept thinking that I would tire of making chicken beads, but I don't! They are a nice 'canvas' for me to explore color, design, frit application, and different techniques.
Janet, congratulations on your eBay auctions, which seem to be flourishing! eBay is a difficult market to be successful in...what advice would you have for beadmakers who are trying to start selling their work?
I sell primarily on eBay. It is an amazing venue to sell, meet people from around the world, and to learn how to market yourself and your product.
I think the single most important thing for selling on eBay or any online venue is to have excellent photographs of your work! Make sure that the color is as accurate as possible, take several views of your bead(s), and include measurements.
I always have the primary photo of just the bead(s). Then I have a photo with a ruler, any other necessary views, and a final photo with the bead in my hand. There is a debate about "hand shots", but for me this serves a dual purpose: 1) sense of scale and, 2) if my hand looks green or purple on your monitor, then it is a good indicator that the colors are off on my monitor or yours, and the bead color in the photo isn't accurate, either.
Finally, along the lines of being accurate - use spell check!
I'd love to have you make a bead that looks like my dog, Rex. Do you accept custom orders, and how would I go about having a bead created?
I do custom orders as time permits. I always take bead requests for future auctions - I keep a running list of requests and do cross those off as I make the beads (no timeframe).
You state on your web site that you spent about a month getting ready to begin lampworking. Tell me about that time - what needed to be done to get up and running, your feelings of anticipation to use your studio.
I took an introductory class in lampworking. I was very excited and purchased a torch right away. Then I got on the Internet and started reading. While safety was mentioned in the class, I found out a lot more information on the web -- eye safety, ventilation issues, and so on. I actually became a little paralyzed with the information. There are real dangers to lampworking other than the obvious burns and cuts!
My husband is an engineer, and with the help of Vince and others at the ISGB safety forum, he built me a safe studio that I was comfortable working in.
What was the first piece of art you made in your own studio?
Probably an ugly wonky bead, LOL! I just opened a new studio in town called Firefly Art Center, and the ceremonial first bead was a firefly bead!
Outside of creating with glass, what other hobbies or interests do you have?
I find that most things center around glass now, but... here are a few other interests:
I took up downhill skiing last year at age 40(!)
I do web design and maintenance (for my sites and client sites)
I have no musical skills whatsoever, but I LOVE music (many genres)
Get Ready for Graduation, Prom and Weddings!
June is traditionally a month for graduations, proms and weddings.if you need gift ideas, we have them here!
For grads, a great gift is a charm bracelet with remembrances of favorite high school or college events (think charms that symbolize a sorority, discipline, sport, special trips) with an '06 charm. Personalized bookmarks, like those suggested for Mother's Day, are also a great idea for grads who are going on to higher education.
Brides and bridesmaids need special jewelry for the big day.think pearls accented with sterling wire, crystals (clear or complementary colors) that are dainty and feminine. When I create bridal jewelry, I'm careful to design the style and color scheme in something that can last beyond the wedding day, so that the bride or her attendants have a piece of jewelry that can be worn and treasured for years.
Projects on BeadingHelpWeb that you might like to try for inspiration: Bohemian Necklace, Crystal and Chain Y Necklace, Randomly Floating Necklace, Wrapped Bead Y Chain Necklace. Matching earrings in a simple dangle style are also a big hit! Most anything that will work for weddings will work for proms as well.just modify the color scheme to complement the dress and tux!
