Terra, New and Old

I recently bought some Fast Striking Hand Pulled (FSHP) Terra from Double Helix, a quarter-pound of the "4.20.12" batch. I love it, it's a lot like the old Terra. I guess I got some of the last of it, because Double Helix is not going to make any more of the Hand Pulled version. They're switching production to Fast Striking Machine Pulled because they say the results are no different and it saves them time. I'm glad I got a little bit of the Hand Pulled - another glass to covet and stash away now I guess!

When I first worked it, I don't think I was getting it hot enough and my beads were turning out pale brown. On the next try I super-heated the glass to white drippy hot and got a very dark brown strike. The ideal would be somewhere in the middle, but I was really pleased at how easy it was to strike and control with the heat.

Here's a photo of my first good set of beads with the FSHP Terra. My studio photography seems to dull and darken my Terra beads and I can't get any Photoshop tricks to correct the colors. In real life, these beads have more vibrant color, and the clear dots bring a lot of light and sparkle to the set. Here goes anyway:

Beads with Fast Striking Hand Pulled Terra

I also have a stash of old "OG Terra" from 2008. I love this stuff too. One of my favorite things to do with it is make Autumn leaves. I love the slight blue metallic sheen on these:

OG Terra Autumn leaves

Both of these sets are available in my Etsy shop. Just click the photos or captions to see the listings.

Latest Bead Sets

These two sets are new in my Etsy shop:The top set is made with a base of Nyx and flattened wraps of Triton glass. I love the colors of Nyx and the industrial look of these beads. The second set is made with (I think!) Terra2 glass and the Double Helix odd lot KA-356. I swirled the colors together, struck and then encased.

Next on the chopping block - perhaps for tomorrow - is a set of mixed metallic beads and a set of Pandora glass spacers, inspired by Gardanne! I'm still working on the Pandora set. Some of my beads from yesterday did not strike. My set is not turning out anything like the pretty earth-tone colors in Gardanne's set, I'm getting more purples and blues, in the beads that are striking anyway.

Visit my Fresh Green Glass Treasury on Etsy to see some lovely beads in various shades of green made by some very talented lampwork artists!

Silver Glass Destash on Etsy

I have a couple of 'destash' orphan bead listings on Etsy, made with Double Helix silver glasses like Terra and Ekho and encased with Aether clear. Click on the photos to see the listings.

Silver Cored Beads on Etsy

Here are two of my latest silver cored beads. This first one is made with CiM's Mojito, my favorite pale emerald green glass color. The surface is decorated with raised designs of gold metallic Aurae. The Aurae fumes the Mojito to a golden color and puts a blue mother-of-pearl sheen on the surface:If you view the bead from the side, you can see the Mojito green color and blue sheen:
This next bead is made with Terra2 and Ivory, encased in Aether clear. I tried to keep the bead cool as I worked it to preserve the dark purple and red colors:
I'm doing some Spring cleaning of my bead stash and I'll be listing groups of orphan beads for sale in my Etsy shop.

Terra2 Swirl Beads

I love the new Terra2 glass. This set is made with Terra2 and Double Helix odd lot SL-173. The SL is like Triton, it encases with a blue/green color, and it gave the green color to these beads. The pinks and purples are really nice in Terra2, if I can work it cool enough to keep the color from washing out. The encasing glass is Aether, and I left some area on the side of the beads unencased so it got a metallic shine. This set is in my Etsy shop tonite:

Terra in My Etsy Shop

I have a few rods of original Terra glass for sale in my Etsy shop!
Click on the photo to see the listing :-)

Fun With Terra2

I'm obsessed with Terra2! I've made many, many practice beads with it in the past week and managed to get a few colorful things.
Here's a set made with Terra2, Kronos frit, and Aether clear:

This is a sterling silver capped and cored bead made with Terra2, Ivory and Aether:
And here's a second one I made very similar to the first:
When I work this glass too much, the color washes out. That has been my biggest challenge. Otherwise I think the glass is similar to the original Terra, but slightly more translucent maybe, is easier to strike, with better colors.

Double Helix TE-362

Frantz Art Glass recently had an odd-lot of Double Helix for sale called TE-362. I bought a little and it has become my favorite striking glass.

It was advertised as an opaque Ekho, which is similar to how I'd describe original Terra glass. The difference between this glass and Terra is that it strikes faster, easier and better, and it gets a metallic shine when cooled and re-introduced to a neutral flame.

Here are some sets I've made recently with TE-362:
With Kronos frit, encased with AetherSpacers with metallic shineWith some Terra, encased with AetherI've heard a rumor that DH will be making this into a regular color!

Terra and Ekho Beads Destash

I have some new "destash" listings in my Etsy shop tonight, Double Helix Terra and Ekho beads encased with Aether clear:

Terra Mini Bicones

Here is a set I had fun making - Terra mini bicones:These are in my Etsy shop right now.
When Terra turns out nice for me, it makes me happy that I still have a little stash of it. On other days I get so frustrated with it that I'm ready to sell it all in the Garage Sale! These beads worked well because the Terra had time to strike through the colors while I was heating it and marvering the shape. I like the way they turned out.
*****
Isn't it wonderful to be alive on Earth right now? I think so :-)

Back from My Blogcation

I've taken a long vacation from blogging this past month, longer than I intended really, and now I have a backlog of new work to show you! During April I was busy with a few special orders. I had fun working on one order that used a lot of Terra and Ivory, two of my favorite glasses.

Here are some photos of the beads from that order. The first set is etched but the Terra stayed shiny. (I think if you click on these photos you can see an enlarged view, and then you can really see the detail in the crackled Ivory!)

These are made with Vetrofond River Rock and silver foil:
Some Triton leaves:
and some Triton beads with Ivory scrolls:
I'll be back again soon with more news and photos.
Happy May!

Crystals

I had an order recently for a set of crystal-shaped beads, and it got me on a crystal bead kick. I used Zoozi's Crystal press for these.

This set is Luna 2, encased with Aether:
These have a Nyx base with a little Triton frit, encased with Aether:
These are original Terra, encased with Aether:Somehow the beads look better in person than they do in these photos. They're very sparkly and colorful in the sunlight! I have another set of Pale Emerald Green and Triton crystals I'm cleaning now. I will post a photo when they're done.
:-)

Etched Cubes

Here's a set I've just finished and posted in my Etsy shop:These beads were made with a base of black, then rolled in Terra coarse frit. After striking the Terra just until dark brown, I formed each bead into a cube. This process took a little while and the heating and cooling struck the Terra the rest of the way.

The next day I etched the beads in an acid etch solution. Terra doesn't etch very easily, so only the black glass etched and the Terra stayed shiny!

I've been teaching myself how to make a cube shape for a few months now. It's kind of tricky! I've found that parallel mashers don't help me very much, I just flatten the sides with my hand-held marver. PPP!

Terra and CL-171 Beads

There has been a small buzz about Terra coming back. Jed at Double Helix is trying to work out some glitches in the recipe so he can reproduce the color. I am not holding my breath! It did get me inspired to bring out the Terra again though. This is a simple little set of Terra beads:The base glass is not black, it's a Double Helix odd lot called CL-171. It's a reducing color, but it doesn't work very well in my experience. It takes a heavy reduction flame to get it to reduce, but then usually turns a gray color in the kiln if I can even get the color to stay. However, un-reduced it does make a nice black base for my other silver colors!

Well that's all the bead pix for today folks! I've been busy re-designing my logo and business cards this week. More on that to come!

Purple-icious Pandora

I had to try some disk beads with Pandora, of course! These two came out of my kiln yesterday. I'm loving this stunning purple color!This is the purple glass color I've been searching for... it's like a dark EDP without the E or the D!

I've seen this purple in my other Pandora beads, but somehow it looks more deliciously purple-icious in disk form.

I've tried disks with other 104 striking silver glasses, but usually only get a brown disk. Double Helix glasses like Luna, Terranova, Terra and Khaos stay dark brown unless the color is developed with a lot of heat and/or repeated heating. Thin spiral disk beads don't hold up to that kind of heat. Pandora, however, requires no excessive heat so it is the perfect striking glass for disks.

There are several more annealing in my kiln right now!

Terra Beads

I've been working with so many Double Helix metallic glasses these past few months. Now that fall is approaching, I'm enjoying getting back into some of the non-metallic, more earth tone colors. The Stone Beads in my last post are one example. Not to stray too far from my beloved Double Helix glass though, I've opted for some good old Terra beads. Here are two recent sets (sold on Etsy):The first set is encased Terra fashioned into chunky, faceted crystal shapes. The second set is Terra swirled over Stone Ground, a beautiful caramel brown color from CiM. I love the color of Stone Ground. It's a very soft glass to work with, kind of like Ivory but not quite that soft. It goes into the kiln a pale brown, and comes out that wonderful warm brown... as though it were bread dough or something! I think it looks good enough to eat anyway.

Gotta run... taking my daughter to her piano lesson!

:-)

Terra Beads and a Focal

These beads are up in my Etsy shop right now. The first is a set of Terra beads encased with bumpy clear. The second is a focal bead made on dark Ivory with M-166 Double Helix odd-lot scroll designs. The M-166 fumed the Ivory to a warm golden color, I love it! There's a little bit of Triton mixed in with the Ivory, too.

Metallic Spiral Disks

Here are a few sets of spiral disk beads made with Double Helix glass. Check my Etsy shop, some sets may still be available.

Triton:

M-166 odd-lot, "Midas" disks:

T-104 Terra odd-lot disks. I love the metallic sheen on these:

:-) Happy day everyone!

Terra and Dark Ivory

These beads have a similar webbing effect to the Triton and Dark Ivory beads in my last post. The glass I've used for the scroll designs in this set is original Terra. I think it's the high silver content of these glasses that causes the Ivory to react that way.

This set is etched, but the Terra designs stayed shiny since Terra is not easily affected by etching solution. It makes an interesting contrast in refelection and texture on the beads. This set is in my Etsy shop today.

Happy June everyone!

DH Odd: TN-202

Here's a set of small beads made with a base of Double Helix odd TN-202 and Terra frit. TN-202 has beautiful rainbow colors with a lot of blue and purple. You can see it showing through on the sides of the beads.

This set is in my Etsy shop.