OMG OMG OMG!!!! I MADE FLORAL BEADS! .... THUD!
Leah is an awesome teacher (but I knew that already). The class is fun, everyone else is/are fun too. I've been in classes that are so godawful serious but this is very light. And I made florals!!!! (Oh, I said that already didn't I?) We did a bicolor opalino bead with a silver foil wrap, more decoration, then flowers and vines. My hands finally get it.
Then we did (these are all after a demonstration from Leah) a transparent color base bead decorated with palladium then rolled in mixed frit, then decorated with a raked loop stringer (which I'd never done WITH stringer to rake), then MORE FLOWERS! (I'm on a roll now.) I have a whole new appreciation for heat control and sorta kinda miss my Minor. Tomorrow will be interesting since of course I want to do all this at home with my bigger torch. Any sonic booms heard in neighboring states will probably be me whining til I get it right. :0
Next Leah demonstrated two beads. The first was black with a spiral wrap of dichro (suspiciously similar to how my flutters start LOL...it was cool to say "oh I can already do that"), but THEN she decorated it with a complex latticino we'd already made and these amazing little ferns (more raked stringer, but WOW!). Finally she demonstrated a furrowed bead. I've tried them in the past and made a mess. Finally it clicked. And I discovered for the 59th time how much I love my little brass Stump Shaper.
It's only 6 here. I can't wait til class! For MORE, and to see my beads from yesterday. Woohooo!
More later, with pix.