New Orleans 'Inside-Out'

You thought maybe I was kidding bout the Who Dat?' chips? The fleur de lis is my latest, New Orleans inspired, bead.

OK, any of you who have been paying attention know that I nearly never talk about my personal life here. But when life and beads cross paths, anything's fair game! I grew up in New Orleans a long time ago. I actually lived there for over 20 years, and in many ways still think of it as home. I have no family there, and have lost touch with friends, so I see N.O. like a regular tourist these days- staying in hotels, eating out, etc. Here are a few of my 'inside-out' tips for any of you who may feel inclined to visit.

The first, and most important issue to discuss is food and water. First is the water issue. I brought my own, and would advise that or buying it there as the best policy. Why? Well, New Orleans gets its drinking water from the muddy Mississippi River. 'Nuf said!
Before I go any further, just let me say- I hate spending money to eat out. Yes, the food in New Orleans is wonderful. But you don't have to spend an arm and a leg to enjoy it. You can hang out in the quarter, go to the big name restaurants, and spend your inheritance there. Or you can eat beignets and cafe au lait at the Cafe du Monde for breakfast, eat lunch in the CBD across Canal Street from the Quarter, and eat dinner at one of the restaurants in the River Bend area- a short streetcar ride away. And the food is great all over!

And yes, they're streetcars, not trolleys. The drivers are like local tour guides, and seem delighted with this. Many of them announce things along the route, and they're happy to answer questions. And to the ridiculous question 'do you have to have exact change?' Have you ever been on public transportation that gives you change??? Actually the streetcar drivers are so used to the tourists that they've got a couple of plans in case you forget your change. You can just go ahead and pay $5 and get a pass that's good for the rest of the day. Or, there's something I call community payment. If you get on with a five, and only want to pay one way, the next three people to enter will give their money to you rather than the driver!

While you're in the Riverbend area, be sure to visit some of the local shops on Dublin Street (like Nuance Glass, which now has a few of my things), and on Maple Street- like the Maple Street Book Store. Do you really want your souvenir of New Orleans to be made in China? There are many shops in the French Quarter, the River Bend, Magazine St. and all over town that sell wonderful local art and crafts. And there are monthly art and craft fairs in different areas of town most weekends. Get the newspaper to see the when and where of these.

If you're driving, be sure to stop at the tourist info place at the border and pick up some hotel coupons. Though many of the hotels will charge you more than the coupons say, they will still get you a bit of a discount. The place where I stayed had a coupon which included free parking- that alone is worth about $30 a day! If you can leave your car at home, do. You won't need it, or even want to drive it around the city. The streets are a mess, the traffic's bad, and you need to watch out for those pesky streetcars if you are foolish enough to try and drive on St. Charles. Driving down Royal or Bourbon streets during the times they are open is just plain foolish. The pedestrians are in the street whether it's closed off or not. Speaking of pedestrians, if you're trying to cross Canal or any of the downtown streets on foot, be careful! I'm not going to tell you how to do it, but there is an art to it, as there is to so much in the Big Easy.

OK, I'm about done, I guess. My bag of Zapp's 'Who Dat?' chips is , sadly, empty. And I can't think of any other advice right now!

Glass Squid

Just a quick blog to show the fun piece I made for my daughter's birthday. She has this thing about squids- don't ask! I've been wanting to make one of these for years, and I finally got brave enough to try. So here it is- Ta-Da!

A Quick Pile of Leaves

I have an order for a pile of leaves, and thought I might as well take some pics to show how I do this. A nice, simple shape for the newbies in the bunch! I ended up making a youtube leaf making video- check it out!

Here’s a photo tutorial to make these quick little leaves- they only take about 5 minutes!
1) Make a small base bead- shape ends nicely.
2) Decide which part you want to attach the leaf on, and melt a blob of glass onto that point. Make it kind of globular, not just a flat bit of glass.
3) Add layers of colors around that- I usually do that twice- here I’ve added two lines of clear on each side, then two lines of another green.

4) Dip in one or two colors of frit for some random coloration, or just add some squiggles of this and that.
5) Heat the leaf part of the bead to a nice glow- not completely sloppy, but pretty hot.
6) Get out your leaf press, and press into a rough shape. Try and center the leaf press on the glass before pressing.

7) Use your glass shears to further shape the leaf, and to make some nice deep vein lines.
8) Do the last step again if needed. You can also use your marver or paddle to help shape the leaf into a bit of a cup-like shape instead of having it be flat.
9) Heat the tip of the leaf, touch with a warm (not hot) rod of glass, and pull the tip of the leaf into a point if desired.

10) Pop that baby into the kiln.

The second series of photos shows how to do a leaf without a leaf press. Just follow the above directions, and press with a flat press rather than a leaf-shaped press. I really only use the press for rough shaping- then I like to tweak it a bit, so they all look different.
The leaf press is a wonderful tool for demonstrations- your onlookers get that ‘A-ha’ moment when they see the bead come out of the press. And it’s quite quick, for those with short attention spans!

Fear Not the Rubino Oro

Pink. Pink, Pink, Pink, PINK!!!!!


Bubblegum core ... Silver reaction ..... 1/2 over opal yellow, 1/2 over white

I’ve been privy to some chatter lately about Moretti Rubino Oro glass (#456), AKA gold pink,or gold cranberry pink. It seems that some folks are afraid to use it, or even dislike it! Now that’s a travesty. Rubino Oro is one of the most beautiful colors you can use, not to mention that it has some amazing qualities that I've found I just can’t live without. So I’m here to give you a few pointers on using it- hopefully this will be helpful.

1) Keep cool, man- Rubino, like many other pinks, prefers a cool flame, so you’re going to have to be ready to take your time with this. Otherwise, the color won’t be all that it can be. I work this glass on a hothead, and really have no trouble getting it to be a nice pink, even when the rod starts out looking clear. If it doesn’t seem to be ‘striking’ (changing color), heat and cool it a couple of times. But don’t overheat it to a molten mess.

2) Silvery grey away- Sometimes, on the end of the rod, or on your bead, you will see a bit of shiny, silvery-grey. You most likely don’t want this on your finished bead. What's happening?Your glass is being exposed to a flame that has a bit too little oxygen- it’s 'reducing'. This can actually be used for some effects, but to get rid of it, just add a bit of oxygen to your flame. On a hothead, I find it generally means I have the flame just a bit too high, so I lower it a little. It also seems to help to be just at the tip of the blue flame cone rather than higher in the flame.

3) Just a little bit- Rubino oro is a very saturated color. If you use it all alone to make a bead, it will probably end up being an ugly muddy mess. So, you should try one of these things.

...a) Make a small core bead of Rubino and encase it in clear (or a very light transparent).

...b) Make a white (or light colored) or clear core and encase it in a thin layer of Rubino.

...c) Layer. You can do something like make a base of pastel uranium yellow, cover with a thin layer of rubino, and encase that with a nice pale purple. Layering like this adds subtle color variations. You'll just have to experiment with different combinations and see what you like.

I don’t recommend you use the Rubino on ivory. That’s not a friendly reaction.

...d) Use it as an accent color. It’s such a deep color that a little goes a long way.

4) What’s your reaction? Oh, there has been so much written about this, and there are so many possibilities, that I’m afraid you’re just going to have to try it out! Here are a few suggestions:
...a) Try it over opal yellow for a lovely pinky-brown color
...b) Use a bit of light aqua (232) on top as dots or lines- there will be a dark pool in the middle of the dots, or a dark line through the middle of the line. Try this with some other colors like periwinkle blue (220).
...c) Use it as small dots or lines either over or under silver foil. If using dots under the foil, heat it up slowly until a mesh-like pattern forms.
...d) Use bubble gum pink as the base bead for a nice deep pink.

There are problems you will run across from time to time. It may get a chalky or bubbly surface. I think the bubbly surface comes from simply overworking, and if it happens you're kind of out of luck. As far as the chalky look, that could be a bit of devit. You might be able to bring back the sheen by heating it up a bit more. There's a bead in the kiln right now that I tried this on, and I think it worked. I'll let you know!
Yes, even if you follow these tips, you will have some bad beads from time to time- even some awful beads. But just keep at it, pay attention, and maybe even take a few notes, and I think you’ll be very happy that you tried out this fantastic glass.

Here's a discussion about Rubino reactions:

http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99886

And a great tutorial that shows how to use Rubino with silver:

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=119760

If you need more info, you might consider the 'think pink' a tutorial by Sarah Hornik, available here:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38097676

Now get torching!!!!!