Mini Mo' October 2011 - She's a Rainbow and Back to Black

The glasswork collections I have put together this month are each a twist on my perfect glass rainbow. As you can imagine form the names of these two collections, I spent a good deal of time singing in my studio in September! The glass I have used this month is

Effetre Crimson 432

CiM Creamsicle

Effetre Special Dark Lemon 408

CiM Sherwood

Effetre Periwinkle 220

Effetre Cobalt Blue 246

Effetre Purple 272

I've also used CiM Hades for the super dense black detailing on the ribbon twisties and two tone encased twisties in Back to Black. All of the twisities in both sets of Glasswork this month have been encased with Effetre 006 to keep the detail crisp and stop the webbing effect that is a characteristic quality of Hades.

She's a Rainbow features Persimmon shards, I've mixed this colour by hand and it makes me think of Effetre Tequila Sunrise.

On the left is a close up detail of She's a Rainbow murrini, melted flat on the surface of a large pressed tornado style focal bead.

I am very excited about the rainbow cane in the Mini Mo' collections this month, it's a new style of handmade glasswork for me. This bead shows the flat cane swiped on to form raised petals.

Back to Black features silvered Hades shards which are an absolute favourite of mine. My Back to Black murrini contains multiple layers of rainbow colors and Hades to create a darker and more complex looking murrini. Back to Black Murrini are also encased in 006 as the final layer to keep the black stripes looking crisp when melted flat.

The beads on the right show how the twistie cane looks when etched, both under and over encasement. Because they are encased twistie canes, not only do they not web but they have the same frosted appearance as the 006 base bead after etching, rather than taking on a powdery tone.

I've used the red cane to create a lip on this orange vessel bead, just the right finishing touch!

This is what the rainbow cane looks like when melted in flat. I made this cabochon off  mandrel by making a maria, laying on the cane  and melting it in flat. I then spot heated and twisted the soft area with a stringer in a couple of places to add interest and encased with clear.


Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Zephyr, 006 and making florals...

Just recently I've been on a floral kick, I've always wanted to make beads that are like bottled gardens with layers and layers of prettiness to explore inside them. As you can imagine, with two preschool age children and my partner who works shifts, that my studio time is very limited. I could never quite justify to myself investing an hour or more on every bead which (at least in the early stages of the sharp learning curve) would very likely turn out to be for the fugly jar (or my daughters pocketses).

I found myself waxing lyrical to a bead making chum t'other day about my bead making daydreams and she told me just to do it! I suddenly realised that I have spent the first 4 years of my lampworking journey teaching myself how to make the beautiful preparatory elements I need for making the wistful cottage garden beads of my imagination and it was good time to get brave and start to put it all together. That evening I spent a fair bit of time playing about at the torch, making a series of beads that increased in complexity.

These are my favourites of the night

The orange blossom vessel bead is my favourite I've made to date and I accidentally stayed up torching til 2am without even realising the time!

Anyway, to the main point of this blog post, Zephyr and Effetre 006, Double Helix Glassworks just recently manufactured and release a super douper clear glass. It was said to be scum free, optically brilliant and completely compatible with all of the DH silverglass range. At nearly 6 times the price (in the UK) of standard Effetre 006 I did my best to resist temptation until the very first discussion thread started about Zephyr on Frit Happens Forum where Julie Fountain of Lush Lampwork shared her discovery that Zephyr doesn't etch.

It just sent my brain fizzing and popping with possibilities of selective acid etching and I just had to try it out with some floral bead sets I had been planning to make.

Unetched 006 floral cane beds over CiM Khaki and fine silver leaf

Etched beads, floral canes encased with Effetre 006 over Zephyr encased Effetre Dark Turquoise.

Etched beads, Zephyr encased canes over a base of beautiful CiM Commando.











I am so thrilled with the results, matt beads with glossy detail and glossy beads with soft powder toned petals, I am so glad I bit the bullet and bought some Zephyr in now. It's FAB.

Treasury round up in October

A selection of some of the beautiful treasuries that I have been lucky enough to be featured in this month

Many thanks to
Georgie of flamingbeadies
Helen of helengbeads
Roma of jurooma and the lovely
Aimee of aimeesrockworks


Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Mini Mo Sept 2011 - Tealy Dan and Pierrot

The first colourway I wanted to make for September was a lush deep selection of teal and deep aquas. When the name Tealy Dan popped into my head as I was pulling twistie, I must admit, it did make me smile. The glass I have used in this collection are  CiM Great Bludini, CiM Mermaid and Effetre Opalino Grass Green. I absolutely love using Great Bludini in twistie making and for murrini, it's such a saturated colour. Many other aqua transparents look weak and insipid when diluted and pulled out into thin cane.

The beads to the left show elements of Tealy Dan under encasement. The base glass I've used is Great Bludini and Unique Celeadon 511402-2.

Here is a necklace that I have made by laying stripes of Tealy Dan twistie over a core of 511402-2 and then melting, shaping and encasing the entire bead. The beautiful silk ribbon is by Diane Turton of SowZere and the pretty hammered ring is by Diane Cook of Dilunah Designs.

I love making monochrome glasswork but wanted to shake it up a bit for my second colourway by putting the emphasis on white rather than having white as light accent on a heavy black background. Peace and Hades are my absolute twistie making faves when I am planning to make encased twistie cane. I recently tried making twistie for another project using Effetre white and is was just too runny for me!

I had an image in my head of the classic Pierrot mime make up and found just the red shade I had been looking for in CiM Unique Lipstick 511140-1.

My Three year old has a fixation about crabs, shells and the seaside at the moment and I have been making a few themed beads for her so it wasn't too much of a surprise when I started to play with Pierrot glasswork that Crabby Dan turned up again!

The Peace based shards in this pack have little touches of Hades and  Unique Lipstick in them. The Hades webs and the Unique Lipstick "blooms" like ink on blotting paper when the shards are melted in flat.

On the left is a mix n match collection of beads using all the elements of Pierrot in some form or another over CiM Tuxedo, twistie under encasement to enlarge the detail and shards and murrini on the surface.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Beads of Courage UK - Every bead tells a story of strength, honor and hope.

BoC Beads 3, originally uploaded by kitzbitz art glass by Jolene.

I want to take a moment to give a shout out to the beads of Courage program in the UK. I sent my first parcel in last week and plan to organise regular collections for donations on Craft Pimp Forum. It's a superb charity and deserves all of the support and donations possible so please dig deep and raid your bead stash to see if you have any handmade beads to offer.

What is the Beads of Courage Program?

The Program is a resilience-based intervention designed to support and strengthen children and families coping with serious illness. Through the program children tell their story using colorful beads as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate milestones they have achieved along their unique treatment path.

How it works

Upon enrollment each child is given the Beads of Courage bead color guide with a detachable membership card. Their Beads of Courage journey begins when each child is first given a length of string and beads that spell out their first name. Then, colorful beads, each representing a different treatment milestone are given to the child by their professional health care provider to add to their Beads of Courage collection throughout their treatment.

Act of Courage Beads. These are the artist-made glass beads that are given to acknowledge the milestones in their treatment journey. This year, we expect that we will need approximately 100,000 of these handmade beads donated so that children can continue to receive one-of-a-kind beads for significant treatment milestones.

You can find out more about the program and how you can help here on the Bead of Courage Website http://www.beadsofcourage.org

The UK coordinator is Sarah Drummond, please print and fill in the form here http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/beadartists.htm and send your bead donations in to her at


Beads of Courage, Inc.
c/o Sarah Drummond
2, Park Close
Wickford, Essex SS12 9EH.

Thank you, Jo x