AD: Total Phrit Phocal Phrenzy

COOL!!!!!!! You need to make focals more often.

KarenK

HOLY KLUNK...do this more often, huh? Your other stuff is great, but these are so lucious looking.

Thanks Barbara! I think these are ME beads. Weird thing is, I always feel like frit beads are sort of cheating as, technique-wise, they aren't as complex as some other types of beads. But I so love making them that I think I'm just going to get over that weirdness and go with making things I love.

susan in canada

I know, frit beads do feel like cheating, don't they? But although they don't require any years-learned steady-hand technique, they still require good design sense, shaping skills, and an understanding of the glass, and they can be as complex as you want to make them.

Frit beads are sort of like chocolate to me... comfort food. I return to them again and again, to play and learn and explore.

-Kalera

susan in canada

I love Carolyn's frits... out of the hundreds available she always seems to have the yummiest flavors, which no one else seems to have. Lovely rich earthy colors.

-Kalera

Yanno, I don't feel like it's cheating at all. There's still an art to managing frit, in several ways. Like if you want to keep a not-quite-melted-in texture but have them encased. (I listed a purple set like that last night, and had 3 rejects for a set of 5 beads...geez!) Or, with some of the frits, especially the raku, managing the heat to get all the colorplay. I adore raking frit into swirls but you have to be careful not to dig too deep, or you just get streaks of base color (raking with stringer helps bunches). I'd rather doodle with stringer, THAT's cheating to me.

KarenK (who doesn't mind the easy way out now & then)

"Stringer doodling" is so relaxing. when I really need to makes beads as therapy, that's what I always find myself doing :-)

susan in canada