Etsy Glass Artist of the Week - Deanna Chase of CDLampwork

This week we are featuring Deanna Chase of CDLampwork. I just love her floral beads and am amazed at how she gets that little crystal in the bead. They are just beautiful! Go check out her Etsy shop to see what I mean. Gorgeous beads! :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to ALL

The members of the Etsy Glass Artists street team would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday. We would also like to thank our loyal customers and blog followers for your support and patronage of our shops this past year, we could not do it without you!
If you are looking for last minute gift ideas please check our gift guide here.

Etsy Glass Artist of the Week - Wild Sage Lampwork

This week we are featuring Pam Dansie of Wild Sage Lampwork as our artist of the week. She has a ton of colorful and fun items in her shop. They would make terrific gifts for family and friends. Check out her shop to find some goodies to give this Christmas!

Etsy Glass Artists - Festive Giveaway!

The Etsy Glass Artists have an ongoing monthly draw for a variety of items made by our members. This month's prize is donated by WildSageLampwork

A beautiful pair of festive earrings.


HERE'S HOW TO ENTER:
Leave your name and email address or some way to contact you (should you be the winner) in the comments section of this post. A drawing will be held and the winner will be announced on December 1st.
Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter on the left to be notified of any upcoming sales and events. Also, use the egateam tag in the Etsy search box to locate all of our listings for sale.

Etsy Glass Artist of the Week - Susan Sheehan

Susan Sheehan is our Etsy Glass Artist of the week. Please visit her shop to see all of the wonderful creations that she has. She has some awesome Pandora items. Stock up for Christmas!
Here are some of my favorite items from her shop- just click on the pictures to go to the listing.

Glass Artist Creates Custom Ornaments, Rings And More!

One of our team members, Leah Pelligrini, was recently featured on her local TV news station demonstrating her glass work. Please watch the video below.

http://www.kptv.com/video/21319798/index.html

Etsy Glass Artists Christmas in July Sale

The Etsy Glass Artists (EGA) is having a "Christmas in July” sale from July 8th through July 15th. See each shop's Announcement and the list below for their particular offerings! Please use the code "CIJ" in your notes to buyer upon checking out so you can get the sale price. This is a great time to start Christmas shopping (you know it’s going to be the season before you know it!) or a little treat for yourself.

Etsy Glass Artists "Christmas in July" Sale
July 8th through July 15th

Participating Members:

MyCabinCreations
http://www.MyCabinCreations.etsy.com - 20% off Everything

Jewelry by Natsuko
http://www.jewelrybynatsuko.etsy.com - 20% off everything

RWillisglassartist
http://www.rwillisglassartist.etsy.com - 20% off glass items only

tekaandzoe
http://www.tekaandzoe.etsy.com - 20% off

Paulasstressart
http://www.Paulasstressart.etsy.com - 20% off everything

Susan Sheehan
http://www.susansheehan.etsy.com - 20% off all glass

Glass Circus
http://www.glasscircus.etsy.com - 20% off everything

Fire n Sand Glass
http://www.giapet.etsy.com 20% off all glass items

Color Shoppe Studio
http://www.colorshoppestudio.etsy.com - 10% off all Stained Glass Jewelry

Glasscat
http://www.glasscat.etsy.com - 20% off fused and dichroic jewelry; 15% off any stained glass items.

41design
http://www.41design.etsy.com - 20% off

Bead Crochet Brilliance by Sylvia Kubilus-Elam

I want to share with you a creation by fellow Etsian Sylvia Kubilus-Elam of beadacious1221. She bought one of my "Crocodile Rock" beads and created this stunning beaded necklace. She has an awesome collection of creations in her shop as well.

I will be creating new "Crocodile Rock" beads in the future so if you want a necklace like this you can buy my beads and commission Sylvia to create one for you. I know that she has more of my beads as well so she will probably be listing more soon. Keep checking back.

Here is a link to her blog with more pictures of the necklace...

beadacious1221.blogspot.com

Etsy Glass Artists Spring Bling Sale

The Etsy Glass Artists (EGA) is having a "Spring Bling" Sale from April 18th through the 24th. See each shop's Announcement and the list below for their particular offerings! Please use the code "BLING" in your notes to buyer upon checking out so you can get the sale price. This is a great time to purchase that perfect gift for Mother's Day or a little treasure for yourself.

Etsy Glass Artists "Spring Bling" Sale

April 18th through April 24th

Participating Members:

http://glasscat.etsy.com/ - Dichroic and Fused Glass BOGO 1/2 off, All stained glass 10% off

http://groovyglassgirl.etsy.com/ - Free Shipping
http://susansheehan.etsy.com/ - Glass 10 to 25% off as marked in sale section of store
http://chickadeebeads.etsy.com/ - BOGO 1/2 Off
http://jewelrybynatsuko.etsy.com/ - BOGO 1/2 off
http://mycabincreations.etsy.com/ - 20% off everything
http://rwillisglassartist.etsy.com/ - 20% off all glass items
http://paulasstressart.etsy.com/ - 20% off entire purchase
http://colorshoppestudio.etsy.com/ - 20% off all stained glass jewelry
http://giapet.etsy.com/ - BOGO 1/2 Off
http://glasscircus.etsy.com/ - 20% off on all my glass

*BOGO = Buy One Get One 1/2 off

Come check out our new EGA website http://www.etsyglass.com/.

Use the word egateam in the search box on the Etsy front page to find a listing of all of our members creations.

Thanks so much for your past business and support of our shops!

Spring and Easter Challenge Prizes

Etsy Glass Artists team members decided to creatively challenge one another to come up with their interpretation of Spring and or Easter. The last month has seen several beautiful and creative entries and now we are down to the last week for comments. Let us know how you feel about our art by leaving a comment. Everyone who leaves a comment will be entered into a random drawing to win some handmade glass goodness from several of our shops. We will have several winners too! (one entry per person per post. In other words you can enter once every time we post a new product!!!) Be sure to check back on the blog on April 10th as we will announce the winner that day. Entries will be accepted until midnight April 9th.
Here is a list of the entries. Be sure and leave your comments for a chance to win some glass goodies.

Spring Challenge Entries - enter to win at each link

• Fused Glass Wall Vase - RWillisGlassArtist
• Easter Egg Vessel Pendants - Chickadeebeads
• Tokyo Spring - JewelryByNatsuko
• Bird Suncatcher - Groovyglassgirl
• Sweet Spring Beary - MyCabinCreations
• Easter Owl - StudioMarcy
• Tiger Lily - TheVenerableBead

Here are the prize donations that you will have a chance to win.

"Sakura Poppy Earrings"
www.jewelrybynatsuko.etsy.com

A Beautiful Pendant
www.chickadeebeads.etsy.com

Lovely Earrings
www.MyCabinCreations.etsy.com

This pod shaped pendant was made in the flame of my torch using borosilicate glass. It was annealed in my kiln for everlasting love and enjoyment. It measures 30mm in length and is a lovely purple pink orange and yellow. It comes strung on an 18 inch gunmetal chain with lobster clasp. It's a color packed wee drop of a pendant. :)
www.Venbead.etsy.com

Fused Glass Barrettes
www.paulasstressart.etsy.com

April Featured Member: Karen Klomparens of Fire-n-Sand Glass Art

Our April Featured member is Karen Klomparens of Fire-n-Sand Glass Art. We know her as giapet. We asked Karen to tell us about herself.

Karen, please give us a little background on yourself:

"Bet you could make this cool stuff!" That's what my husband said when he saw a beautiful Tiffany style lamp at my sister's house. At the time I was into fabric painting, airbrushing or some other creative endeavor as usual. My basement workroom soon became a glass studio with the equipment for doing stained glass. A couple years later I was introduced to glass fusing through an online glass group which met up for the Glass Expo in Las Vegas in 1994. What an adventure, meeting up with online friends for the first time and fusing pieces in a small kiln inside a motor-home out in the desert! From there it was a natural progression into working "hot" on a torch making lampworked beads. The husband now says he created a monster, lol.

What do you like best about what you do?

Using new ideas with the technical limits of the glass is what holds my interest the most. "What if I tried this, wonder what would happen if...?" The discovery of new color reactions and designs, the possibilities are endless and the surprises are often some of my best pieces. Being able to create glass art at home and actually have customers who admire it is the icing on the cake.

Is there a pattern in the way you select materials? In the way you use color, texture or light?

I work in what I like to call organized chaos, so usually what is spread all over my bench is where I start from unless I have special orders to do. Organics and textures are my personal favorites using silver foil combined with different frits (small chunks of glass) to get those fantastic reactions. I like earthy colors myself but try to work with brights and pastels too. Really I just want to try making it all! Doesn't matter, bead sets, focal beads, vessels, off mandrel work, sculptural pieces, fused pieces.

What inspires you? How are your inspirations expressed in your work?

I'm lucky to have so many glass friends here in Michigan and where we share ideas and techniques. They keep me inspired to try new things that I might not have on my own. Currently we are exploring incorporating metalwork with bead making. Being part of the EGA team has also been a wonderful experience too. We're surrounded by woods and wildlife here where the colors of nature and the peacefulness are always inspiring. I'm getting ready to start on a batch of 3-D hummingbird feeders for spring.

How much time is spent creating your pieces?

Kiln fused pieces take hours and sometimes days to complete. While the pieces are in the kiln I'm free to work on the torch. I tend to lose track of time in the studio, sometimes its 5 am before I realize it. I like to have long blocks of time to work unless I have a custom order to do, then an hour or two is fine. Often the idea for something is in my head for weeks before I get to trying it.

What are your techniques and style and how do these relate to the medium?

I don't think I have a certain style or maybe just haven't found it yet. I think of myself as a "Jill of all trades and master of none". I like to make up my own frit blends different than the ones you can find commercially. I tend to try a technique until I'm satisfied I can do it and then move on to something else. I really don't want to find myself in a position where I'm known for a certain design and then have to create the same thing over and over again. I like the freedom of working on whatever my heart desires at the moment.

What do you find most challenging about your work in the glass arts?

Being able to take a bead design that almost everyone does and make it my own is a real challenge! Let's face it, there is only so much you can do on a 3/4" glass canvas. Showing and selling my work is another area where I could do better too. If it wasn't for the Internet I'd have buckets of beads around our house. I'm just not a very good salesman type person in person. I also like to build equipment for my studio. I've built 2 kilns, adapted another into a bead annealer, put in my own ventilation system and rewired all my studio lights.

How did you find Etsy? What do you like most about it?

I had read about Etsy online months before signing up. My work seemed to get lost is the masses (or is that mass produced stuff) that was selling on ebay. The idea of a handmade site was perfect fit for my work. The best thing about Etsy is my pieces stay up for 4 months instead of just a week. I could never keep a constant presence up week to week where I can on Etsy. Etsy has provided a venue where I can feed my need to create, making it possible to buy the tools and glass I need continue doing what I love. I'll never be a famous bead maker and that's okay. I just love to cut or melt glass and am grateful some people like my work enough to purchase it.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Doing pretty much what I'm doing right now only in a bigger and better glass studio, spending endless hours playing with fire! And maybe, just maybe having the time, space, and funds to build a small furnace hot shop. After all a girl's gotta have her toys too!

More of Karen Klomparens work can be seen both in her shop, and on her flickr page.

Spring Challenge ~ Easter Egg Vessel Pendants

Polka Dot Egg Vessel Pendants

Every Spring I get the itch to make cute little pastel beads, bunnies, and flowers. So here was my chance to make a few cute little lampwork glass Easter egg vessel pendants!

Leave a comment here for a chance to win an item from an EGA member!
Thanks for stopping by the EGA blog to take a peek!

"Fishy Swa" Winner!

I have chosen the winner of our monthly drawing for the "Fishy Swa" pendant - it is Coralie Cederna Johnson. I have notified her and hope to hear from her soon.
Thank you for all the wonderful comments and I hope that you will check back for our next monthly drawing entry in the next day or so.

Easter Owl by Marcy Lamberson of StudioMarcy -Please Comment

Easter is in the air at StudioMarcy and my whimsical owl lampwork glass focal bead is ready for it. Dressed in bunny ears and bunny slippers, this sleepy-eyed owl is hoping to find an Easter basket full of chocolate eggs.

I recently saw a little toddler wearing bunny slippers and that really made me smile. I thought it would look so amusing combined with bunny ears, (my daughter had some as a little girl), and placed on some of my quirky animals, birds and creatures. So now I have a variety of "critters" wearing them in my shop. I just finished a penguin as a customer's special order today.

For more fun beads, stop by my Etsy shop, StudioMarcy. I list three new beads every day.

Don't forget to comment on my bead, to enter into our Etsy Glass Artists Giveaway. And just so you know, I get a big smile every time I read a nice one. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Sale Item of the Day! March 3rd

Tristan - Big Hole Slider Bead Set - 20 percent off Today ONLY

Regular price $22.00
Sale price today only is $17.60

This is a slider bead set that will fit a euro bead bracelet. They have an approx 5mm hole and measure 5mm x 15mm and 6mm x 16mm. They have a pretty metallic swirl on the 2 green beads and the other three are a stunning metallic blue.
Bracelet is for photograph and comparison only. It is not included in the sale.
Beads could also be strung onto a leather cord, ribbon or even a chain.
Beads are individually hand created by me. They have been properly kiln annealed for lasting durability and are each properly cleaned and inspected.

Thank you for looking!

"Fishy Swa" - This Month's Free Giveaway!

We had such a terrific turn out for the One World One Heart Drawing that I thought it would be fun to continue with that. The members of the Etsy Glass team will be doing a monthly drawing of our creative glass items.

I am going to start this month with "Fishy Swa" a lampwork glass pendant handmade by me. Here is the link to my store should you want one of your own. She is so excited to see how many people leave their comments on this post, and even more excited to see who she will be awarded to on March 17th.

So leave your name and email address or some way to contact you should you be the winner in the comments section of this post.

Be sure and sign up for our newsletter here to be notified of any upcoming sales and events. Also use the egateam tag in the Etsy search box to locate all of our listings for sale.

One World One Heart Winners

Here are the winners for the OWOH drawings.

Bella Modiste
Morna
Joanie
Mari
Jaimie
Nichola

You will be notified by email to get your info. See the original post for details on what you won.

Thanks to everyone who entered our drawing and who visited our blog. We have great plans for future giveaways and sales so continue to check in often.

Our next drawing for an item from the team starts Tuesday 2-17-09. Come leave a comment on the post for a chance to win.

Also please sign up for our newsletter to be notified when we have our sales. Check out our webpage as well for beautiful glass creations from our members. I guarantee you will find something that you love.
You can find us on Etsy by putting egateam in the search box. All of our wonderful items will come up for you to look through.

Once again ~ Thank you!

Ice Cream In Cold Weather- Here's a Tutorial on How To Make Your Own by Studio Marcy

A terrific tutorial from Marcy Lamberson of Studio Marcy. Go check out the rest of her blog here.

To me, it's never the wrong time of the year for ice cream, no matter how cold outside it is.
I thought I'd tell you how to make your own ice cream cone, so when the warm weather hits, you can have plenty on hand.
1. Using dark ivory, make a small cone. I use my torch mounted marver to roll it out.
2. Using the ice cream color of your choice, start adding glass to the top of the cone shape and once you have the top section full enough, gently melt it so it becomes rounded and smooth.
Hint: be sure to rotate your mandrel so the glass can flow into place, I often have my mandrel upside down, so the glass flows next to the mandrel and rounds out on the very top.
3. Now you're ready to add your "drips". At the bottom edge of the "ice cream scoop", I make "V" shapes with more glass. I also take the end of my rod and drag it farther down, if I need to.
Melt slightly so it's smooth.
4. With a razor or the sharp edge of your Stump Shaper, carve a circle around the original scoop, so it shows well. That also pushes glass in each direction and enhances your drips.
5. With your razor, gently heat one area at a time on the cone and make your diagonal slashes. I do one direction first and then the other direction afterwards.
6. Using a red of your choice, you can add the cherry on top.
7. Voila! A calorie free ice cream cone ready for you.
If you want to purchase a ready made ice cream cone, click here. And don't forget, I'd be happy to make one in your favorite flavors...just ask me.

Wanna make some glass frit?

Rhonda Willis from www.rwillisglassartist.etsy.com shares with us a great way to make frit:

A friend of mine works at a local glass store, and she is always coming up with wonderful ideas. Well, her dad (an engineer) came up with this idea for a home-made frit maker. After seeing it, I made a quick dash to the Home Depot (Lowe's or Ace should have them too) so that I could make one for myself.

Materials from hardware store:

One 1-1/2" x 8" heavy lead pipe
One 1-1/2" cap
One 3/4" x 10" heavy lead pipe
Two 3/4" caps

From a glass supply company:
Glass Frit Sifter set (I love this set!!)

The coffee grinder just doesn't do it for me, and like many glass artists, I've been hammering the glass in plastic bags to make my frit. Now I just put my glass in the 1-1/2" pipe and use the capped 3/4" pipe to crush the glass. Then I poor the contents into the glass sifter set which separates the sizes of the frit. I then poor the frit into my 2-oz. storage containers (a gold-mine find at a local thrift store).

The caps aren't flat, so I have to store the frit maker on its side. I'm sure you could flatten the cap. But, I'm not particular. I'm just thrilled to have this! The weight of the capped 3/4" lead pipe makes it quick and easy for me to make my own frit. And, to make the "crusher 3/4" pipe" even heavier I threw in some heavy fishing weights (a garage sale find). Rocks, lead balls, or anything else you can find to add some weight to it will work just as well. Smile

Happy crushing!

Beads and Lampwork Creations

Made by melting glass in a superhot torch, glass lampwork beads, jewelry and sculptures are unique and beautiful. Whether it is a lampwork pendant or a glass vessel necklace, from beads to bracelets, you can't go wrong with the gift of lampwork.