'Claret'

I have no clear glass and it's been that way since before Christmas. There seems to be some sort of shortage of Vetrofond clear.

This lack of clear glass is bad but it's also good. It's bad because every time I sit at the torch I realise how much I rely on plain clear glass for encasing and suchlike but it's good because it's making me use other transparent colours instead.

If I hadn't played about with various transparents yesterday I wouldn't have come up with these 'Claret' beads. They're decorated with fine lavender stringerwork and the beads have been etched to a velvety matt finish.

Huge thanks to everyone for your Big Prize Draw entries and for all the fab comments you've left. Also, greetings to all new followers and to lurkers that have de-lurked! If you're a lurker that's fine, I don't mind - I lurk on some blogs too, but please don't be afraid to post comments and say hello. I've been looking through the draw entries and I've discovered lots of new blogs - there really are some great people in Blogland!