Friday 29 August 2008

These beads need a name

Lampwork Beads By Laura SparlingI'm back from my mini-holiday in Cambridge which was great. It was very odd to have nothing to do! I know I said that I was going to blog while I was away and I tried but while I was in the middle of drafting a post there was a power cut in Chris's flat. He was at work and I had no idea how to get the power back. This happens occasionally and normally Chris goes out to some wooden hut place out the back of the flats and twiddles some switches and the magic of electricity is restored. But I don't possess any magical-electricity-restoring-switch-twiddling knowledge and therefore my blogging plans went out of the window.

We went to see Star Wars : The Clone Wars on Monday. Oh dear. So bad. So very, very bad. I mean, I watched all three prequels with an open mind. I put up with the terrible scripts and dialogue, Ewan McGregor looking like Noel Edmonds, Anakin's constant whining, Boss Nass and the CG Yoda. I didn't even hate Jar Jar Binks half as much as most SW fans do. Because I love Star Wars. I've loved it since I was six years old. I spent every breaktime running around the school playground with Trevor, Tim, Paul and Mark (who were Luke, Han, Chewie and a Stormtrooper/Vader respectively) with my hair in side buns, firing my imaginary blaster (with terrible sound effects - try as we might, us girls will never be able to make proper gun noises like boys can) generally really wishing I could be Princess Leia. But The Clone Wars - aarggh! George Lucas, what have you done?! More bad dialogue, more annoying characters, more totally pointless stuff but most of all - most of all - Ziro The Hutt. Chris and I laughed out loud when he appeared on the screen, and not in a good way. We knew of Ziro and his make-up wearing ways but nothing could have prepared us for the sheer ridiculousness of him. Seriously, George Lucas needs to be stopped. Enough is enough! I said to myself that I wasn't going to mention The Clone Wars on my blog but I feel I have to because it's narked me so much. Actually, this morning I found the cinema ticket stubs from the movie in the back pocket of my jeans. They'd been through the wash. Those Star Wars ticket stubs - in pieces, tattered, scrumpled up and broken - summed up my feelings regarding Lucas's latest offering. *Sob!*

Anyway, enough of my Star Wars anguish. You want bead talk, right?!

On Saturday morning I posted the 'Psychedelic Peacock' beads to their new owner, Jennifer Borek, in Texas. Less than a week later they've reached their destination and have already been turned into wearable loveliness! Jenn has done a wonderful job with them and she's also written a lovely blog entry about my beads.

I didn't get many beads made today. Those five up there at the top of this post are the result of today's glass melting action. I reckon it's about time for a bead giveaway so if you can think of a name for these then please post your suggestions in my comments section. The person who picks the name I like the most will get a lucky dip bag of my lampwork beads. You've got until 8.00pm on Sunday night and then I'll announce the chosen name on my blog. Get naming!

17 comments:

  1. Hi Laura,
    I think they should be called Chelonian because they remind me of a tortoise shell (although I have not seen any that have purple on them).
    Hope you are well


    Lynne S

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  2. Dragon Scales, Serpentine, Reptilius, Axinos (Greek for sea urchin)....follow my drift?
    (They are so pretty by the way!)

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  3. Gorgeous beads, Laura!
    How about Patchwork Pupils for a name, as the dots look like eyes to me!

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  4. How bout "60's Sensations"?

    Kellie C.

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  5. Actually Laura, the more I look at them that top one reminds me of ET. Really cute!

    Lynne S

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  6. Laura - Bananarama!
    Sue
    Love your beads!

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  7. Hi Laura
    They are stunning!
    How about Sherbet rainbow?
    Take care
    Melx

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  8. Marzipan fancies!

    Gorgeous beads Laura.

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  9. They are beautiful Laura. How about 'Psychedelic' Sunset?

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  10. The first thing that came to mind was Dolly Mixtures.

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  11. Hi Laura

    Your Star Wars critique is fantastic! Should send it to your local paper . . .

    These amazing beads remind me of:

    Supernovas

    where a star can increase in brilliance millions of times and burst with unbelievable multicoloured incandescence and luminosity, exploding into space - supernova near maximum light can radiate as much energy as an entire galaxy!

    But knowing your love of things spacey maybe you've used this name already??

    xxbeth

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  12. Rhubarb 'n' Custard - lets all sing nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!!! yes/no..?? is it just me getting old??

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  13. I was going to say ET cos of the top left little guy- but I'll suggest Lumos because they seem to have so much light coming from them. Stunning as ever!

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  14. Hi Laura,
    I think these beads are great. They really remind me of the Evil Eye amulets worn for protection and good luck. In Turkey they are called Nazar. How about Sunny Nazars?

    Glad you had a good break.

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  15. Hi Laura,

    How about pheonix?

    Catherine B

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  16. Hi Laura
    They are beautiful. I really like to colour combos you keep coming up with and style of these beads.

    How about "Galactic Sunrise" as they certainly are out of this world. :o)

    OR "Honey Surprise", "Caramel Dreams"

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  17. Great names everyone! Thanks so much for taking part.

    Two email suggestions :

    Jean suggests 'Sahara Sunrise'
    Toika suggests 'Lavender Creme Brulee'

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Your comments are much appreciated. Fire away!