Knitted Produce

Hello there! I hope you had a great Christmas?

I've not been making any beads (as I'm having some Christmassy time off!) so I thought I'd do a look-at-my-knitted-produce post. These were all given as Christmas presents to various people, hence why I couldn't blog them before now.

The scarf at the top of the post was a pressie for Chris's Mum and was knitted in fine two ply yarn in a wonderful pink-red-purple kind of colour. The pattern is 'Butternut' by Anne Hanson which is available here.

The 'Lizard' socks above were knitted for my uncle's wife, who is also confusingly called Chris. I designed these ones myself.

Then next there is a pink and glittery scarf that I knitted for my friend Helen who loves all things pink. The pattern I used for this was 'Scrunchable Scarf' by Susan McConne and it can be found here.

And lastly a scarf that I made for my friend Cheryl. It's knitted in Japanese Noro yarn which ranges from purple, through green and blue to grey and black. The pattern I used for this one was 'One Skein - A Stole!' by Katja Jordan and it's available on Ravelry as a free download.

Not a massive amount of Christmassy knitting but a whole load of work nonetheless.

Oh and many many thanks for all your lovely congratulatory emails and comments re The Engagement. It's just about starting to sink in now .....

Exciting!

I've got some news.

The newsworthy event took place on Sunday but my mind's been all of a whirl ever since and I knew I'd have to blog it and this might sound a little bit silly but I didn't quite know how to say it.

It hasn't really sunk in yet.

I'm just going to come out with it and tell you .....

I'M GETTING MARRIED!

Chris proposed to me on Sunday morning and I said yes!

Nope. Writing it down still doesn't make it feel any more real. It feels like some kind of lovely magical dream.

So that's made my Christmas ..... and then some.

This will probably be my last post before Christmas as I'm off up to Manchester to spend it with my fiancé (yes, fiancé) and his family so I wish you all a very Happy Christmas. Eat much turkey (or nut-roast if you're a Veggie), lots of chocolate and many Twiglets. Have a good'un!

Winner

Well, the Lego Engineer didn't get round to making the Mark 2 Lego Tombola so I had to do the old-fashioned, non-technical names mixed up in a bowl thing and the winner of the December Prize Draw is Celeste. Well done to you, Celeste! Please email me and we'll sort out some glass melting fun for the New Year.

Big huge thanks to all who entered the draw. I really had no idea that so many of you would think that spending time with me and my glass was a good prize!

There will be another draw in January so do check back, bookmark my blog or add yourself as a follower to stay updated .....

'Roly Mo' Socks

Last night I finished knitting a pair of socks made from a really groovy striped yarn. The purple and green stripes remind me of Roly Mo, the similarly-striped storytelling mole from The Fimbles. Please click here if you're wondering what I'm on about .....

I bought the yarn from Sunnyside Ellen on Etsy and it's really nice stuff to knit with. The colours are very vibrant, more so than in the photo. I had to take my sock pictures in the warm comfort of the lounge today as the stone floor in the conservatory was way too chilly to be grovelling around on. Brrrrr! Please click here to visit Ellen's Etsy shop and click here to visit her blog.

I think that's about all from me at the moment. I settled down to make beads yesterday only to find that the glass I wanted to use was totally unusable but I'm not going to rant about it. Instead I shall take a deep breath and move on. Seeing as the next few days are going to be stupidly busy for me I don't think that there will be any more beads this side of Christmas. Oh, and don't forget that you've only got a couple more days to enter the prize draw. I'm drawing the winner on Sunday night and to be honest, I don't think it's going to be from the Lego Tombola. I have so many entries that the slips of paper won't tumble about as they should. I'm going to ask Dad Lego Engineer to see if he can build a bigger, mark two version so we shall wait and see .....

A Bit Of Glimmer

I've been playing about with fine silver and I've made some more 'Storm Cloud' beads (always popular) and some similar to them but with a dark treacle-coloured base. Yum!

These will be for sale on my website tonight at 8.30pm (UK time).

Mince Pies

I got up early this morning (because it's that time of year when you just need to make the days as long as you can) to bake some mince pies.

A few weeks back I made some mincemeat and jarred it all up ready for the mince pie making so all I had to do this morning was whip up a bit of pastry and voila - yumma, 100% homemade mince pies! I've just had one warm from the oven with a cup of tea and I have to say they are a little bit nice.

If you're planning to make mince pies, give the homemade mince meat thing a go. It's dead simple, makes the kitchen smell unbelievably festive and tastes so much nicer than the shop-bought stuff.

I used Delia Smith's recipe which can be found here and I stored mine in those lovely old-fashioned preserving jars with the metal clippy fasteners. I gave a jar to my sister Sally and I think she got more excited about the jar than she did about its contents!

If you click on the picture at the top of the post it'll open a desktop-wallpaper-sized image. If you like, right click the image and select 'Set As Background' and you can have Christmassy mince pies decorating your monitor screen!

December Prize Draw

I've got a bit of a different prize for you this month. As it's the end of the year and I'm feeling (a little bit) festive I thought I'd make the prize a good'un and offer one of you the chance to come and melt glass with me in the New Year.

So if you've always fancied having a go at making beads, or if you already do and you would like to come and learn some new glassy things with me then leave a comment on this post or zap me an email and I will put everyone's names in the Lego Tombola for a chance to win.

The beadmaking session will be a five hour one (normally £130.00) and the resulting winner and I will organise a suitable date for next year.

I will draw the winner on Sunday 20th December.

Now, the draw is open to anyone anywhere BUT if you're not in the UK then I must stress that I am not going to pay for anyone's hotels, flights, ferries or other means of travel so please only enter the prize draw if you're up for travelling to me in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

Thank you and good luck!

I am working, honest!

I may well be quiet on the bead and blog front but rest assured I'm busy working. I've caught up with all my Cupcake orders which means I am now free to make my 'normal' beads. The batch of cakes in the (very grainy) photograph above have all been made into pendants and dangles and are now winging their way to their new homes.

I should have some new beads for sale on Monday or maybe Tuesday next week .....

The Red Shoes

I first saw this pair of shoes while I was out shopping with Nicky a few weekends ago and I wasn't able to get their loveliness out of my head. I'm very wary of pretty lady shoes (I live in Cons) as I'm a size seven and am not the daintiest of people. I've never been able to wear a pair of high heels for longer than an hour without moaning about my feet aching or without developing painful ball-of-the-foot blisters. So when I saw these glorious red patent shoes in Schuh I immediately dismissed the idea that they would ever be mine.

Whenever I've bought lady shoes in the past I've always needed to buy them in a size eight (and once in a nine) as my feet are quite wide so for a comfy-as-possible fit I go for the next size up. The thing is, not many places stock size eights and above. It's normally a case of 'We can order them in for you' but to be honest you want to try the shoes on before you pay for them and you want to try them on there. In the shop. Plea to shoe shops - please carry size eights and above. Most of you have them in storage somewhere but please don't be feetist against the larger footed ladies!

Anyway, after spending too much of my life thinking about The Red Shoes, last week I Googled about and discovered that they are available in red, black and navy blue but they only go up to size sevens in the red. I nearly ordered them online but I wanted to make sure that a seven would fit. So at the weekend I dragged Chris into Schuh in Cambridge and showed him The Red Shoes. Sensibly he said that the black would be more practical and would go with more things. I reluctantly agreed, knowing that they didn't have an eight in the red anyway so I asked the sales assistant if I could try on a seven and an eight in the black.

About five minutes later she reappeared carrying a pair of the red ones and said to me 'We haven't got any sevens or eights in stock in the black but you could try these red sevens and if you like we can order the black ones in for you?' so that is what I did. I was wearing striped socks (very attractive while trying on lady shoes) and even with those on The Red Shoes fit me. I looked in the mirror and instantly fell in love with them. Chris gave me the thumbs up and the sales assistant nodded with a big grin on her face! It was like in the movies when the lady tries on the absolutely right wedding dress and everyone just knows it's perfect. Yes, it was like that but with shoes.

And that was it. The Red Shoes were mine. And they're a size seven. And they don't have a high spindly heel but a slightly chunkier one instead so I shouldn't get blisters. I wore them on the walk home from town to Chris's (that's quite a walk) and only had minor, normal new shoe rubbage. They do up with satin ribbons which makes me think of tap shoes. I always wanted to do tap dancing as a kid but Mum said no as I think she knew that I only wanted to do it because of the shoes. But the best thing of all is, and you can't see this in the early morning light of the pictures, they have a very fine, subtle copper-coloured glitter in them which gives them a beautiful shimmer. Amazing!

'Blue Shimmer'

These sparkly pretties have a new home now but I thought I'd post the photo anyway.

There'll be no new beads from me now until next week. Dad's back from his six week trip around Australia so I've got to get back into the swing of the Cambridge Commute as of tomorrow. Train knitting here I come ......

And talking of knitting I'm click-clacking away on my needles every spare minute I get. I have lots of stealth Christmas pressies completed and on the go that I can't show you pictures of because many of the recipients of said items read my blog. So be prepared for a post-Christmas knitting blogfest!

'Purple Prettiness'

These lovelies will be for sale on my website at 8.30pm (UK time) tomorrow night.

Christmas Cupcake Deadline

I thought I'd write a little post to remind you about my Cupcake deadline. If you would like to order Cupcake beads, pendants or dangles and you're going to need them in time for Christmas then please place your order by 10.00am (UK time) on December 5th because I can't guarantee that anything ordered after that date will be made and delivered in time for the holidays.

Thank you!

For Robyn

When Robyn saw my heart necklace a couple of months back, she asked me to make one for her. I don't normally do commissions but when my five year old niece looked at me with her beautiful big brown eyes and asked 'Can I have a see-through blue heart with purple spots please, Auntie Laura?' how could I possibly have said no?!

Earring Pairs

The beads for sale tonight will all be sets of earring pairs. Obviously you don't have to use them for earrings but I've taken every effort to ensure that they're the same size in case you do!

Tonight's pairs include the Storm Cloud ones above and the chocolate and lavender spotty ones pictured below.

These pairs and more will be for sale in the usual place at 8.30pm (UK time) tonight.

And I'd just like to say a huge 'thank you' to everyone who has purchased a copy of my Roly Poly Bead tutorial. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's Roly Poly beads!

Year-round Laurabeads

Chris and I may not have filmed any beadmaking movies this weekend just gone but instead we designed a Beads By Laura 2010 calendar. Erm, I say 'we' but in actual fact Chris did all the Photoshop designy stuff and I just sat there occasionally saying things like 'Too bright!', 'No. I don't like those beads!' and 'Can you crop that one there?' Mind you, I did decide what pictures to use for each month. I tried to theme them. For example, January has frosty blue Luminobeads, there's my Poppies for November and some pretty Starburst beads for December.

I ordered one copy of the calendar to see what it looks like. It arrived this morning and I am SO pleased with it! I used to work in the printing industry (so I kind of know what's good and what's naff) and this calendar really is top-notch as far as small-print-run type printing goes. It's printed on nice thick 200gsm satin paper and is wirobound for easy hanging.

The photograph at the top of this post is of the actual artwork Chris did and shows the beads that are pictured inside the calendar and the other two are of the real thing.

The calendar is A4 size so it's not too big but big enough to give a kitchen, studio or wherever a nice splash of colour. And the really good thing about it is there are no country-specific holidays and dates (like Bank Holidays) marked on it so the calendar will work wherever in the world you may be.

I'm going to order some of these for relatives and I thought I'd ask you if you'd like one too? They're a tad more expensive than your usual Clinton Cards Cliff Richard ones but that's because I'm not printing nine bazillion of them. The price will be £15.00 per calendar including postage to the UK and it'll be an extra £2.00 for overseas postage. Please email me if you'd like to buy a calendar.

A big massive thank you to my wonderful fella for spending aaaages making my first beady calendar. Love you, Mister G!

Gifts From Joy

I taught my last lampworking lesson of the year today and it was very fitting that my last student was also the first of the year. Joy Funnell came back (obviously I can't be that bad!) for more glass melting fun and she brought me some lovely gifts - a fab book about knitting and crocheting with wire and beads, some Art Clay Silver and a totally gorgeous fine silver button made by Joy herself.

Isn't it great? I need to create something that will show off its true shiny beauty.

Joy is an Art Clay Silver Jedi Master and if you've never had a look at her work I urge you to do so for it is utterly fabulous. Her enamel work is pretty dang spectacular too. Joy also teaches so if you fancy trying your hand at some Art Clay Silver why not book yourself a lesson with her?

I have no idea what I'm going to make with my Art Clay Silver. I've only ever had one go with it before (longtime readers may remember my Darth Vader earrings) but Joy told me how to make some simple beads so I may have a go at that. I'll make sure that I keep you posted and let you know how it goes .....

2010 Tuition

I know that 2010 is next year but it's really not that far away. Lots of you have been making enquiries about tuition and I've been uncertain about it as Chris and I are getting a place next year so I couldn't allocate dates because ..... well, I couldn't. But we had a big grown-up chat today about the moving thing (not easy for two people who are not very grown-up) and we even wrote stuff down and worked out numbers and things and now I can say for certain that I will be teaching in my conservatory 'studio' in Abingdon, near Oxford from January through to the end of April.

I travel to see Chris every other weekend so I will fit my teaching around that.

You can book either a three hour lampworking session for £90.00 or a five hour one for £130.00. The prices include all materials etc. I'm happy to teach total beginners or intermediate lampworkers looking to learn more advanced techniques.

Please email me if you'd like to book a lampworking session. I will need a 50% deposit (non-refundable) at the time of booking with the remainder payable on the day of your lesson.

Definite teaching days will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and I will be able to fit in some Fridays and Saturdays so do email me with any dates that you have in mind and we'll go from there.

Sorry if this sounds a bit vague. That's because it is. But basically, to sum up, I will definitely be teaching January through April but I have no concrete dates set aside for this. Just let me know if you'd like to come melt glass with me and we'll sort something out!

A little bit of luxury

When I saw that Stash Fine Yarns had some pure cashmere yarn in their sale I knew I had to have some. And when they had some mauve left ..... well, it was meant to be.

But what to do with just 75 grams of purply-pink cashmere? That's not a lot of yarn so I pootled around on Ravelry and found a sweet little pattern for a neck warmer. I set to work and completed the project in just one evening. It is sooo soft. Pure luxury!

It's going to be great for cold wet days. No soggy scarf ends. No under-the-coat scarf bulk. Just snuggly, gorgeous cashmere. I've ordered some more yarn so I can make myself a matching pair of gloves.

'Rusty' Lentils

I visited my Grandparents yesterday and in their garden is a tree which has the most amazing autumnal orange leaves and red berries. I knew immediately that I wanted to capture those colours in glass bead form, so voila - here are my 'Rusty' lentils.

Silk Scarf V2.0

Do you remember that gorgeous silk yarn I bought back in August? Well, I did start a scarf with it but to be honest I didn't like the way it was knitting up so I frogged it and have started anew. This time I think the pattern really shows off the beauty of the yarn. It's knitted on small needles so it's going to take a while but so far so good .....

Frosty Prettiness

I've treated myself to a new jar of etching solution and to celebrate this fact I've gone a little bit Luminobead crazy! These will be for sale on the Freshly Baked Beads page of my site at 8.30pm (UK time) tomorrow evening.

Prize Draw Winner

I've just done the whole Lego tombola thing. It took ages as this draw was the biggest I've done (with regard to the number of entrants) and writing all the names was a long job. I don't have a photo as my camera batteries are flat but the winner is ..... Summer! Well done you! Please email me with your address and I'll get your Lonelies in the post.

Thank you to all who took part. Make sure you check back next month for the final bead giveaway of 2009. I promise it'll be a good'un ......

I'm not superstitious but .....

..... Friday the thirteenth turned out to be a really naff day all in all. Last night even my computer joined in on the whole let's-annoy-Laura-today thing. So, my apologies to anyone who was refreshing the Freshly Baked Beads page last night but to no avail. I was trying my best to get things to work but they just wouldn't. I think I've fixed my computer troubles and now the beads pictured above can be found in the usual place.

'Filigree'

I definitely had to pull waaay more stringer than I thought I would need for these. All those swirly scrolls seemed to eat the stuff!

These pretty beads have a pale ivory-coloured core which I've cased in clear and the scrolls are a soft periwinkle blue. Such delicate colours.

They will be for sale on my website tonight at 8.30pm (UK time).

Random Poetry Moment

I came up with this rhyming couplet while I was teaching on Tuesday and now I can't get the thing out of my head .....

"Always pull more stringer than you think you'll need,
For there's nothing worse than running out mid-bead."

Snug. Cosy. Warm.

This morning I finished knitting the hooded cardigan that I've been working on. I'm so pleased with it. It fits like a dream and is very soft and snuggly. The pattern I used is called 'Basic Chic Hoodie' and was written by Bonne Marie Burns of Chic Knits. Bonne Marie has a whole load of beautiful patterns so if you're a fellow knitter then do head over to her site and have a look around.

My hooded cardi is knitted in Cascade 220 from Pavi Yarns in a shade called 'Walnut'. I'm totally in love with the buttons. They're a fab pearly brown. They remind me of nail varnish in the bottle - you know, when it looks all pearly and swirly and pretty and you wish it would end up looking like that on your fingers or toes but it never does. Do you know what I mean? You do? Well, the buttons look like that.

Now I'm off to wind some of my sock yarn into a ball and get click-clacking away on those needles!

Toika Designs

Toika Vuille, a wonderful customer of mine, sent me some photographs of jewellery that she's made with my glass beads. My favourite one was this gorgeous necklace that features one of my Cinnamon Floratabs. I just love the clean lines and the smooth simplicity of the design.

Toika is in the process of expanding her website but do pop over there, take a look and maybe bookmark it so you can check back to see more of her beautiful jewellery designs in the future.

If you've got any photos of jewellery that you've made with my beads then please do email them to me as I always like to see what my beads get up to once the postman has delivered them to their new homes.

Fire Works

I taught a beadmaking class on Saturday at Fire Works Gallery & Studio up in Bristol and it really was an ace day! Five ladies came along for the class and many fab beads were made. The picture above shows the students totally absorbed in their work.

Fire Works is owned and run by Georgina Black and it's a wonderful place - if you're ever in Bristol do drop in and have a look at all the beautiful jewellery and arty bits that she has for sale. If you're lucky you might see some lampworking happening too .....

Bead Movie : Stringer Demonstration

This afternoon Chris filmed me making a stringer bead. I should point out that this movie isn't a tutorial as such. It's more of a demonstration thing so you can see how I apply stringer. Of course, you get a load of my waffle which you may find useful. Maybe. Chris played around with various camera angles but we went with this one as you get an almost Laura's Eye View of the beadmaking action. It's important that you see not just the bead but the positioning of it in the flame and also where my hands are. At the start you also get some Laura-swinging-around-and-fidgeting-on-her-chair action too! Sorry about that. We hope you like the movie. There is no step-by-step version of this one as there really are no steps to stringer application. It'd go something like "Step 1 - Make bead. Step 2 - Apply stringer." See? Doesn't really work. So I may well write some hints and tips for stringer application instead.

Hollow Nuggets

Hollow beads are surprisingly lightweight for their size (I wish I could say the same about me) and they are also incredibly sturdy.

I've shaped these hollows into tactile nuggety shapes. They're made from one of my favourite glasses - a beautiful lavender-rose colour. I've decorated the beads with streamers of metallic fuchsia pink.

I can just see these strung into a chunky statement necklace or maybe each one could be a pendant? Oh, I don't know - I'll leave that jewellery stuff to the professionals!

'Cherry'

These shiny red beauties will be for sale on my site tonight at the slightly earlier than usual time of 7.30pm (UK time).

Calling all jewellery designers!

If you make jewellery with art beads and you've never visited Art Bead Scene then do head on over there to see what it's all about.

If, on the other hand, you do know about the Art Bead Scene blog you'll be aware of the monthly jewellery design challenges that they run.

Each month the Art Bead Scene people choose a theme or an artwork that becomes the basis for all of the monthly challenge entries. This month the inspiration is Richard Dadd's 'The Fairy Fellers' Master-Stroke' which is a highly detailed painting, part of which can be seen at the top of this post. To have a look at the entire image please visit the November Monthly Challenge post on the Art Bead Scene blog and then why not get jewellery-making and join in? I know for a fact that there are many talented jewellery designers amongst my lovely readers and I would love it if one of you were to win! All the information you need to know regarding taking part can be found here.

The prize this month includes a book, findings, charms, beading supplies and some Cupcake beads from little old me. Please click here to see more details of what the lucky winner will receive.

Now, get inspired, get your art beads and findings out and get creating!

November Prize Draw

It's giveaway time again and the prize is this bunch of twelve of my Lonelies beads. These are all one-offs, experiments and leftovers from sets. All of the beads are first quality - no seconds.

The beads include a gorgeous chunky heart focal, a big hollow aquamarine nugget and an assortment of interesting rounds.

If you fancy a chance of winning this little lot all you need to do is leave me a comment or send me an email telling me to enter your name in the draw and on Sunday 15th November I shall draw a winner at random from my Lego tombola.

The draw is open to anyone anywhere in the entire known universe but it's only one entry per person please.

Good luck!

'Apple & Blueberry'

Remember I showed you that gorgeous green CiM 'Mojito' glass last week?

Well, this is what I've done with it. The glass is fabulous to work with and the green is just divine. I've decorated the beads with some fine purple stringerwork.

These will be available over on my website at 8.30pm tonight.

Last day for charity auction

This is just a quick note to remind you that Mel Poxon's Collective Charity Auction will finish this evening at 8.30pm UK time. There's a wealth of bead beauties up for auction including a set of my Galaxy beads (Lot 10). Please click here for a look-see.

I'll be back tonight with some beads to show you .....

Spooky Saturday

As you can probably tell by the lack of bloggage I've been a tad busy. My sister Sally and the kids came up on Thursday to stay for a couple of nights. Much fun was had!

Chris also came down for the weekend and on Saturday morning he and Robyn did a touch of Halloween pumpkin carving. Chris had never made a Jack-o'-lantern before (can you believe that?!) and I think he did a superb job. We put the lit pumpkin outside the front door last night and waited for an influx of trick-or-treaters. Yeah, that never happened - we got a grand total of three visits. So now I have a big bowl of fun-size Twix left. I guess I'll have to eat them. Shame .....

Tutorial : Basic Encased Bead

My last tutorial was about casing a bead with a thick, magnifying layer of transparent glass. This one shows you how I encase a donut-shaped bead with a thinner layer of glass. Again, these make wonderful base beads for stringerwork or for other surface decoration. Please click here to see a video of me demonstrating this technique.

I have a Carlisle Mini CC torch and for this tutorial I'm using CiM Glacier, Vetrofond clear and a 1/16 mandrel.

Step 1

Make a small donut-shaped bead. I tend to aim for a base bead that's about 8-9mm in diameter. You should bear in mind that your encasing glass is going to dramatically affect the finished size of your bead so always start off small. Keep your base bead warm by wafting it through the top part of the flame while you heat a gather of clear glass ready for encasing. You need to heat a glob of clear that's approximately three times the size of your base bead.

Step 2

At this point your base bead should be warm but not glowing. Once your gather of casing glass is really molten you need to press it onto the bead, pushing the molten glass so that it spreads out to cover the width of the bead. Do not touch the mandrel with the casing glass.

As you press, turn the mandrel slowly away from you to gather the molten glass from the rod. This part is particularly tricky to describe in words so it may help if you take a look at the video (at about the 2:40 mark) to see exactly what I mean.

Step 3

Melt your casing glass off. I usually do this on the left hand side of the bead. As you can see, I haven't gone too close to the bead hole with the casing glass.

Step 4

Now you'll probably need to add some clear glass to the right hand side of the bead in order to even things up. Build your bead as evenly as you can and it'll save you time later on.

Step 5

Bring your bead out of the flame to cool it down and stabilise it a bit. Then reheat the left hand edge of the bead. You want to aim the flame at the encasing. Once the glass is glowing take a Corina Magic Wand (or similar metal tool) and gently nudge the clear glass toward the bead hole. Again, don't touch the mandrel with the glass. You're just helping the glass on its way using a gentle pushing, nudging action. Now bring the bead out of the flame and let the glow in it subside.

Step 6

Repeat the glass nudging process on the right hand side of the bead and keeping the mandrel turning and horizontal take it out of the flame to cool it slightly.

Step 7

Once the glow has gone, put the bead back into the flame and heat it to an even glow and then round up your bead.

Step 8

Now for a little moment of quality control. Bring the bead out of the flame and check it for any colour bleed. If you need to make the bead bigger you can add a little more casing glass then reheat and round up.

Step 9

The finished bead all ready to be decorated.

Hints & Tips

This technique is fabulous for playing with colour. Create new shades by layering coloured transparents over opaques. For example, try amber over red for a rich warm orange, cobalt over light sky blue for a gorgeous royal blue and of course, the classic Corina combo of amethyst over periwinkle for a delicious deep purple. Roll your base bead in frit before you encase for simple but very pretty beads. The casing adds a beautiful depth and sparkle. Try wrapping a stringer of silvered ivory or maybe some silver wire around the base bead. Again, simple but effective. Creation Is Messy (CiM) opaque glasses make excellent bases for encasing as they tend to be slightly stiffer. I personally love Glacier, Gelly's Sty and Dirty Martini. (And no, I'm not sponsored by CiM or anything - I just LOVE their glass!) 

  All images and text in this tutorial copyright © Laura Sparling 2009