Loving Lampwork Beads

Calypso Lampwork Bead Focal

I thought you might like to look at a gallery of my work with the handmade lampwork beads.  I started in 2004, but I'm not sure I dare put up any of those photos!  They are useful, though, for seeing the progress I have made.

These beads here in my gallery were made in the 2007 through present time frame.  They are just a few of my favorites, in a variety of shapes and sizes.  Some are sets and some are focals.

I work mostly in soft glass -- COE 96 through 104 for the most part.  I have worked with borosilicate glass at times, though, and it's quite fascinating!

I use opaques, transparents, fine silver, 24 kt gold, dichroic glasses and goodies like frit, shards and goldstone.

So without further ado, here are some of my favorite lampwork beads and sets that I've made.  My studio name is TasminAnn Studio, and of course, my name is Gail Nettles.  (And when I'm on ebay, my ID there is tasminann.)  I also have a store, where I have all kinds of  lampwork beads for sale.

You can click on the photos to see a larger image.  Enjoy!

Sedona Series Lampwork Beads	This is a set from my "Sendona" series.  I named it Sedona after the gorgeous red rock canyons of Sedona, Arizona.It's kind of hard to see in this photo, but there is plenty of texture to these beads, due to the addition of fine silver.
Sea Treasures Handmade Lampwork Beads	I really like this set (I think I might just have to remake it one of these days). I used a transparent aqua and an opaque turquoise glass, roughly half and half. I then put some SIS (silvered ivory stringer) around the "waist" of the bead and gently raked. This set really glowed in sunlight.
Dark Waters Lampwork Bead Set	I absolutely love working with the 104 COE silver glasses!  They provide an amazing array of colors that previously was only found in boro glass.The silver colors have wondrous reactions, anywhere from a matte look to a highly metallic shine. Of course my favorite look is the irridescent "oil slick" look. There's a little of that oilslick on this one; I'll show you a better example of that look next.
Metallica Pillow Lampwork Bead Set	This set shows the metallic "oil slick" look that you can get with these wonderful silver glasses.  In this particular set, I got everything from gold to pink, blues and greens, and even sone silver and magenta!These pillow beads are neat, because they are so very comfortable to wear; they make gread beads for bracelets, as well as necklaces and even earrings!
Total Eclipse of the Heart Lampwork Bead Set	I called this set "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and I make once (and only once) a year.  No particular reason, except that working with red is hard to get just right.(At least when it comes to the color I want to see.)I have a base of black, plenty of silver foil and red, red and more red! So if you like this look, keep an eye out in my store somewhere around the end of January to early February.