Fused dichroic glass decal pendants: Hope and Faith inspirational jewelry

A few months ago, I introduced glass decals to a couple of my senior classes. I cut up large strips of solid-colored dichroic glass and brought in a variety of decals for them to choose: hearts, butterflies, dragons, palm trees, dogs and cats, beach scenes, suns and moons, and inspirational sayings. Many of my students are animal-lovers like me, so I figured we'd go through the dog and cat decals pretty quickly.

To my surprise, only one person included a cat and only one used a dog. And almost the rest used either hearts, beach scenes, smiling suns... and inspirational sayings. In fact, I had several people who made pendants that included a sun and something like "Hope" or "Live, Love, Laugh" underneath it.

It was an interesting "social experiment" and made me think about why the seniors were so drawn to these images. I suppose that when you can no longer travel as easily, a beach scene is a reminder of a vacation. And I suppose when your health is failing -- as is the case, unfortunately, with many of my students -- it's comforting to admire a smiling sun or remind yourself to simply have hope. Or maybe I'm going too deep with this and my students just thought the decals looked cool.

After my lessons, I had some leftover decals, so I took a cue from my seniors and made my own Hope, Faith and Sun pendants:

That pink and gold dichroic glass is beautiful, but when I purchased it, I hadn't realized that it's textured. That made applying the decals a bit challenging because they work best when they're fired onto a smooth surface. To compensate, I did a very slow firing, using 15-minute increments. It was tedious, but it worked because you can clearly see the decals.

I sold a few of these pieces at my next show and noted how many people were drawn to the sayings or the sun. I guess having an inspirational reminder is something that everyone can use. It's nice to have a little pick-me-up, especially when it's included in a beautiful piece of glass. So thank you to my students for giving ME an idea!

Check out the rest of my handmade glass and wire wrapped jewelry at Naomi's Designs.

Copper wire wrapped glass cabochon bracelet with crystals

First things first: Naomi's Designs is now on Tumblr. Now, I cannot figure out how Tumblr is all that different from Instagram, but I figure it can't hurt to expand my social media platform on sites where I can display photos and links to my jewelry and website. So Tumblr, it is! If you're on there, feel free to follow me.

Meantime, I'm continuing to teach, fill orders and create! I recently landed jobs at three more senior centers, which I'm excited about. I don't want to name them until I actually start work there, which will be toward the end of April. But this is going to be a very busy spring with me teaching pretty much full-time.

When I do have some spare time and am not firing students' pieces, I'm working on my own art and jewelry. Ridgewood Market is in a few weeks and I've been coming up with new inventory. Since the same people tend to frequent that venue, I really need to mix things up and have new items in stock.

Lately, I've been having fun making glass pieces with my glass frit and molds. I'm getting much better at it and have broken fewer molds along the way. Hurray! I was getting a bit tired of making only pendants, though, so I turned the round cabochon shape into a bracelet:

I really love that speckled red, black, pink and white glass. I did not create that; the color, called Strawberry Fields, came that way. All I did was pour it into the mold and fire it. With many frit pieces, I set up the design, but this particular kind needed no color embellishments.

Once the cabochon fired and set, I treated it like a stone, adding the copper wire wrap and crystals. I then created a copper wire spiral design that frames the red glass. Oddly, it was the chain that posed the biggest challenge for me. I've made adjustable chains for thousands of bracelets, but I hadn't taken into account how slippery the glass would be. So I needed to get the proportions just right so you can hook it under your wrist without the glass slipping. I usually make the hook end shorter and link end longer, but I reversed that -- and the clasp was much easier to support and close. I should probably try this design again with a bangle band.

As of now, I think I have some really great inventory for Ridgewood. I've done very well at the last three fairs I've been in and I want to make a lot of sales at this one, too. I'm also adding all of these new pieces to my website. I have 120 items up on this date and keep adding more, so check in often. I can add up to 1500!

I just received a teardrop-shaped mold, which is going to be fun to play with. Keep an eye out for some teardrop jewelry.

Yes, I'm Alive! An update and photo gallery

So, I haven't written in this blog since September -- the longest I've stayed silent on this thing since I created the page. Oops. Well, for all three of my consistent readers, yes, I am alive and well, and still making jewelry.

I've been MIA for a good reason, mainly in that I've been working my butt off in both my jewelry and music careers. I've been teaching at seven different locations and have a couple of regular music gigs -- and even got a mosaic accepted into a gallery! It's been rewarding and tiring at the same time.

I really love teaching fused glass and enjoy interacting with seniors, but having to deal with "personalities" on the job again has taken some getting used to. Most of my experiences == especially with my students -- have been great, but I've have some not-so-good encounters with the administrative folks. I didn't expect this to be an issue while working as a private contractor, but I suppose this type of situation will come up at any job. It was naive of me to think I could avoid it just because I'm a freelancer.

There are definite pros and cons to being on my own. A big pro is that I get to experience many different types of jobs. While some people prefer being at the same place every day, I love to switch up my environments. The Atria group has been particularly good to me and has had me teach at a few different locations. Also, I make more per hourly class than I would per hour at a salaried job.

On the other hand, these gigs are flimsy and can end at any time, especially if a senior home lacks the budget for freelancers. The good news, though. is that there are always more gigs waiting for me. I'm constantly having to hustle and make calls, but you can find jobs in strange places... like cemeteries or historical societies (this one is still pending, so hopefully, more details to come).

Meantime, I'm still making jewelry -- and art! I've been expanding my repertoire to include glass mosaics:

I call these pieces "Shout In A Dream," "Skyline At Night" and "Anywhere You Go." I'm especially proud of the Skyline piece, which took forever to make. That's an 18 X 20 inch canvas, so it's enormous -- and it's made of 230 fused glass parts (about 1000 altogether, if you count how many little pieces I cut and fused).

My mosaic "Winter Frost" was accepted into the Rockaway Artist Association's exhibit, "Of Women," which is on display through April 8, in honor of Women's History Month. I'll be at the gallery for the opening this weekend and will take a photo of it hanging.

Now that I'm growing beyond jewelry, I'd really like to make some glass sculptures. But first, I need a larger kiln. I adore my microwave kilns, but they only fit small pieces. I'm saving up to buy a medium-sized table top kiln and will work my way up from there.

In order to get into the sculpture mode, though, I've been playing with different glass fusing techniques. Lately, I've been working with molds and glass frit, which is chopped glass. The granules can be fine, medium or coarse -- very much like in enamel. But you place the bits into a mold and can cast different shapes. I made these pendants using my heart mold:

There are hundreds of molds out there, but again, most of them only fit into larger kilns. I've been having fun making these and it's great practice for when I eventually mold bigger pieces.

As you can see, I've had a lot going on. Before I end this, one last bit of news: I FINALLY have a professional website. Check out Naomi's Designs for photo galleries and my online store! The site even links to this blog. Etsy has been great and I'm sticking with it, but I like having my own shop, where I don't have to worry about constantly relisting items. That 20 cents per listing doesn't sound like much, but it adds up when you have over 300 items in your Etsy store -- especially since listings expire after four months. In my personal shop, I can list up to 1500 items and simply leave them.

So, that's what's been going on in my life. Take a look at Naomi's Designs, keep reading this blog and look forward to updates on my jewelry and art career. Thanks for stopping by. It's been way too long!

Selling handmade jewelry: Tales from the Long Island Vegan Fest

I don't know if the eclipse had any influence, but this was a really good jewelry week for me! It began on a low note with jury duty (Yuck), but then quickly picked up and just kept going. I've once again been accepted to the local art fair, I have a couple more people interested in me teaching classes at their venues, and I sold a piece to a new (for my business) country: Finland. The week was then capped off with my friend Christopher's amazing Vegan Fest.

When Christopher and his husband, Scott, proposed I sell my jewelry at the event, I was skeptical. I wasn't sure that jewelry fit in with holistic doctors, nutritionists and vegan caterers. However, Scott reasoned that they wanted to include a shopping experience at the fair and that my pieces would appeal to an "earthy" vegan crowd. I agreed because I'd planned to attend, anyway, and figured I could make some animal pendants for charity. Chris decided that money would go toward Broome Animal Sanctuary, up in Middleburgh, NY. I designed 18 of these pendants and at least felt that I had a purpose for being there.

Turns out that the guys' instincts were spot-on. I raised $300 for the sanctuary -- and completely trounced my previous sales record from an event. "Earthy" vegans really did like my work!

I usually have a little down-time at fairs, where I can walk around, eat and do some shopping, but at this fair, I barely had time to use the ladies' room. It was great, though. I met some interesting, kind people and enjoyed introducing them to fused glass, as well as the sanctuary. Since this was mainly a Long Island crowd, not too many of the attendees had heard of BAS, which is in central NY, but I explained what the farm is like and how passionate Christopher feels toward this place. Some had visited local sanctuaries, but were now eager to see this one. There was even a case where one of Scott's co-workers did not purchase an animal pendant, but insisted on giving me a generous donation for the sanctuary. I offered to give her a bonus piece of jewelry, but she refused. THAT's what most of the attendees were like: open, warm and giving.

I'd expected my animal pendants to be the main draw and surprisingly, they weren't. People liked them and purchased several, but also bought my regular work. As I'd expected, I got many questions about the materials I use and how I actually create the pieces. Several were intrigued to hear about my microwave kiln. Perhaps we'll hear about some more glass artists in the near future!

I did get to take a very brief lunch break and picked up a combo plate from the vendor across the way. They served homemade black bean burgers with spicy barbecue sauce, potato salad made with cashews, mustard and vinegar -- and the most chewy and delicious brownies I've ever eaten. I never did ask what was in them, but they were rich and fudgy. I'm still dreaming about them.

One company called Pride Enjoy sold vegan rainbow cookies. Rainbow cookies!!! Those are my favorites, but I refrained from buying any because I didn't want to go overboard in sampling treats. The guys bought two containers, so maybe they'll save me one ... if they don't eat them all first.

Jon came for about an hour, but I was so busy working, I didn't even get to talk to him. He had a jack fruit and pineapple curry and was still raving about it hours later. He even said that if all vegan food is like that, he could deal with being vegetarian.

There weren't just food vendors, though. Several organizations gave out literature containing information on veganism and vegan foods; one booth had vegan cookbooks; a couple of tables represented local sanctuaries and farms; a mother and daughter team sold cruelty-free makeup and one company sold hydroponic garden supplies. There were also eight lectures, a masseuse on hand and outdoor yoga classes.

I can't begin to express how proud I am of Christopher. He's a great guy and a close friend, so I'm biased, but he really did a fantastic job in putting this event together. He sought out quality vendors. He promoted the fair like crazy on social media so he'd get ample traffic. And he put together a fair that encompassed an entire vegan experience for attendees, incorporating food, fun and wellness. I've been to dozens of events at this point, and this was one of the most well thought-out and organized. He managed to get over 600 attendees! Just look at the happy crowd. There I am (to the right in blue), selling my heart out:

I'm trying to figure out what I did *right* at this event, so I can do it again at the next fair. I think that some of the reasons I did well here were because A) I had a table right by the entrance, so people saw me as soon as they came in. B) I didn't have much competition since my booth was different than anything else there. C) I've gotten better at schmoozing and selling. That last one is important because it's a skill I'm still working on. I did channel my friend Lani a few times during the fair and managed to close the sale. She'd be proud.

The festival was so successful that Christopher has decided to turn this into a bi-annual affair. I'll definitely be back for the next one. After all, I still need to taste those rainbow cookies!

Check out my jewelry at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Adventures in making handmade fused dichroic glass jewelry: the great glue debacle of 2017!

I always try to take safety precautions when making jewelry... but sometimes, well, shit happens. Take my recent mishap, which I call the "Great Glue Debacle Of 2017."

When making wire wrapped jewelry, I never solder the pieces together: they're all attached with handmade findings and jumprings. However, I can't put metal in my microwave kiln so I simply glue my findings onto my glass pieces. I simply use Krazy Glue -- nothing expensive; nothing special -- and it does the trick. A little bit goes a long way and keeps my necklace and earring hooks, etc. intact.

Gluing my backings is usually the easiest part of the process; I squirt on some glue, attach the backing, let it sit. No sweat, right? Theoretically. Unfortunately, everything went pear-shaped this weekend and I ended up with a big mess.

I'd purchased a brand new tube of glue and gently squeezed it, intending on squirting out just a small dab. This tube was defective, though, because a giant wad of glue spilled out. It got all over the pendant, all over the table ... and all over me. I quickly went to clean it, but my stick hand attracted another pendant and a ring that were drying... and now glue was on these pieces. Ugh!

I keep a bottle of nail polish remover on hand for these situations, so I polished off as much of the jewelry as I could. Then when they dried, I gently peeled off the rest of the glue. But this stuff would not come off my fingers. I dipped them in the acetone, rinsed them in warm water and soap... nothing. So much had gotten onto me, it just stubbornly sat there.

People often ask if it hurts to get such strong glue stuck to your skin and no, it doesn't. It's just annoying. It gets in the way when you're trying to do something that requires precise finger coordination... like, in my case, play the flute. It doesn't hurt or burn, though. I do tell my students to rinse it off immediately so there's less chance of it sticking. I just spilled so much onto myself that some stayed.

The glue is finally peeling off today and my fingers are getting back to normal. I try not to get too upset over these things; really, all I can do is roll my eyes and laugh at myself. I mean, hey, Julia Child made a whole career for herself by showing off her cooking mishaps!

I've always been a perfectionist, but have gotten more relaxed about making mistakes in recent years. Being a jewelry designer has definitely gotten me to loosen up because you just can't expect perfection on the first run. It's all about trial and error, and practicing -- and part of the fun of it is in learning new techniques. I enjoy playing "Mad Scientist," even it means spilling glue on myself every so often.

I like to tell my students that there isn't a wrong way to do something; that it's just one more step to doing things the right way. I'm trying to take my own advice.

Check out the rest of my handmade fused dichroic glass, wire wrapped and enamel jewelry at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Silver wire wrapped bracelet with spirals, crystals and handmade dichroic glass beads in purple and blue

One of the most challenging things that's come up in making glass pieces is learning to control the exact colors of the dichroic glass. "Dichroic" means two (or more)-colored, so each firing in the kiln yields a surprise for me. The Candy Apple red glass I purchased turns orange, while the light blue glass looks more magenta.

Then there's the tie-dyed glass I have where any portion of the sheet can turn any color. It's always an adventure!

When I'm experimenting and just creating pieces as I go along, I don't worry too much about the final glass shades. The dichros are so pretty, it doesn't really matter -- and I enjoy being surprised. However, a customer recently asked me to make her a glass jewelry set with very specific colors in the pendant, earrings and bracelet. She actually drew a graphic for me showing where she wanted each color to be in the design.

This meant I had to get my butt in gear and actually figure out how to get exact hues in the glass. My answer? Test strips.

We use test strips in enameling, where we'll fire a color on top of plain copper, copper with a white base, copper with a clear base, etc. The thing with fine glass powder, though, is that it's usually at least somewhat close to the shade it'll yield. You can be pretty certain that purple powder will turn into purple enamel. It might not be the exact shade you want, but it'll at least be in the correct family. You won't end up with pink or yellow glass... unless you're applying the powder to silver or gold foil, which is a whole other story...

Anyway, I decided to fire small pieces of glass so I could determine each shade. In the end, I created dozens of these tiny cabochons. I didn't want to waste them, especially since they took time to make. My solution is to turn these into links for bracelets and necklaces.

The first bracelet I created was this purple and blue piece:

The links are pretty small, so I added a silver spiral and a couple of matching crystals. I love my blues and purples... my friend and music partner, Judy, would say it's because I'm an Aquarian, LOL.

I have dozens more of these links, in all different sizes. I'm using some to make a necklace, which I'll post soon. And I "found" my colors! The woman's jewelry set is coming along nicely and should be completed this week. I'll have photos soon, though you can sneak a peak on my Instagram page.

In other news, my first wire wrapping class is tomorrow morning. I'm a little nervous. I've been so looking forward to this and hope it goes well. Wish me luck!

You can check out the rest of my handmade wire wrapped and dichroic glass jewelry at Naomi's Designs, MayaGirl Creations and Glass By Naomi.

Fused glass and wire wrapped party pendants!

The other day I received my favorite kind of package: a new shipment of glass. Woohoo! I love the "scrap" glass from iDichroic because it's inexpensive and you never know what you're going to get in an order. They usually send beautiful materials, though, and it's always fun to open the pack. I like to take a moment and look at the unused glass and imagine the possibilities.

This time, they sent some very colorful dichroics -- bright pinks and oranges, patterned glass, etc. I ended up making several pieces, which I call my "Party Pendants."

The black pendant with the confetti pattern is "Party Favor." The tri-colored one with the boxy pattern is "Off The Grid." The pink is "Strawberry Shortcake" and the striped is "Over The Rainbow." The last two are among my favorite pieces, though Strawberry Shortcake initially didn't turn out well. The glass ripped a bit while it was firing and a black gash appeared in the center. I solved the problem, though, by strategically wrapping it with 18 gauge silver wire. That wrap looks a bit like a belt, right? If this had to happen, I'm glad it did to a solid piece. It would've been harder to camouflage a pendant with multiple designs.

Last night I wore Strawberry Shortcake to a dinner at the Homestead, which is one of the senior residents where I play flute. I paired it with a neon pink shirt. The home's art teacher was impressed and asked me to give her some jewelry-making lessons. Perhaps we can do an exchange where she teaches me some painting techniques. Given my track record with painting, I can use the help!

My next plan is to finish a mosaic pendant: colorful glass on a black base. I actually made a beautiful heart-shaped mosaic... but it broke apart in the kiln. You could say I'm... brokenhearted (groan). I just need to figure out what I did wrong and try again. That's what jewelry-making mainly involves; a lot of trial and error.

It's exactly a week until my vendor sale and I think I'm in good shape! I have a performance at the Atria on Sunday, so my fellow bandmate, Judy, suggested I bring some jewelry to advertise. I need to give a shoutout to her. She and I have only known each other for a year, but she's been a huge advocate of my music and art. It's through her help that this sale is happening. I'm honored to have a friend like her.

You can see the rest of my jewellery collection at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

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Fused glass jewelry: magic dichroic glass pendants!

When working with glass, the final product will often have a different color from when the glass was in its original state. The fired glass's color also depends on what type of base metal/glass is used. When making an enamel piece, blue glass powder won't look the same if it's placed on copper vs. silver or with a white vs. ecru enamel base. The same goes for dichroic glass.

Dichroic glass has even more surprises in store for the glass artist because dichros are multicolored to begin with. The glass has a prismatic effect and the colors shift as the light hits. The glass's hue also changes during the firing process -- sometimes even more than I'd anticipated.

With enamels, you have a pretty good idea how the color will turn out. Blue is almost always blue, though the final shade might be darker or lighter. Sometimes enamels will turn odd colors when fired on silver -- for instance, yellow becomes pink in this case -- but for the most part, you can predict what your piece will look like.

Well, dichroic glass continues to surprise me. You can shift the glass downward at a 45 degree angle to get an idea of how a fired dichro will appear, but this is not foolproof. This afternoon, I made two new pieces using some interesting patterned dichroic glass. On one piece, I used a black base and layered it with clear butterfly-print and pink mirrored glass. The end result? The clear glass came out dark blue, while the pink glass turned into shiny gold. I like it, but so weird!

I used a clear base for the second piece and fired that with some yellow dichro... and that turned out to be turquoise with deeper blue undertones. Not at all like the colors I chose.

This makes it difficult to repeat or design custom pieces since I can never be sure of how my glass will appear in the end. It's certainly an adventure working with it, though. I kind of like the fact that I can still be surprised.

Check out my jewellery at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Fused glass jewelry: striped dichroic glass pendants

One of my favorite things about making my own fused glass jewelry is that I'm actually wearing my stuff! I'll admit it -- I'm TERRIBLE at advertising my work in person because I rarely wear jewelry I've made. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of my pieces and love many of them, but I tend to make things that are more to my customers' tastes. I've always loved dichroic glass, though, and made a point to purchase glass pendants at craft fairs that were made by other artists.

Now that I'm creating my own glass art, I'm able to make as many designs as I'd like. I really loved a simple, but colorful striped pendant that I'd made. It came out better than I'd expected and I liked how it looked with my pink T-shirt. Here I am wearing it last weekend:

Keep in mind that it was about 70 degrees that day and the next day was in the 30s. Yeah, that's how our crazy weather has been in New York. I wore the same pendant to a fundraiser that was held the next day, but I paired it with a long-sleeved blue top. It got a lot of compliments and I decided to keep it for myself and not sell it. Since it was cold, though, I slipped a sweater over my top before heading home.

Well, when I got home and took off my sweater, I could not find the pendant. The cord was still around my neck, but the pendant was gone. I shook out my sweater, my coat, my top... everything I wore that day, but no pendant. I was pretty bummed and am still hoping it turns up somewhere.

I didn't stay upset for too long; I simply got out my glass and made another striped pendant. This one also turned out pretty well. However, when I went to attach the bail to the back of it, I squeezed the Krazy Glue too hard and spilled glue all over my piece. I tried to remove it, but I couldn't get all of it off, even with acetone, and the pendant's face was damaged. Another striped piece down the drain!

I was now on a mission to make -- and keep -- a glass piece. I made several striped pieces, being very careful not to overfire them or break them, or do anything stupid in the process. Here they are!

I think the one on the left is my favorite of this bunch. I haven't yet decided if I'll keep it; I'll wear it and see if I like how it looks with a few outfits. I'm happy with these guys, though.

Sometimes it's embarrassing to share these stories of my jewelry-making mishaps ... but like any other job, there are ups and downs, especially when you're working with glass and fire. I can get very frustrated when I make mistakes, but I do try to learn from them. I am getting better and making glass jewelry, which is my ultimate goal. But expect to hear about more disasters along the way.

Check out the rest of my handmade wire wrapped jewellery at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Fused glass jewelry: Dichroic glass pendant "Fire And Ice"

I've been making fused glass jewelry for about a month -- and while I've had quite a few failures, I've happily had many more successes. There are quite a few pieces that I genuinely like and would wear myself. One of my favorites is my "Fire And Ice" pendant:

Dichroic glass is so much fun to work with because there are hundreds of different patterns available. I usually order a bag of scrap pieces, so I never know what I'll end up with. I enjoy the surprise! I'm also never sure what the jewelry will look like when it's fired in my microwave kiln. Dichroic glass changes color in the light, anyway, but it often turns out to be a completely different hue when fused. I've used blue dichroic glass which came out pink or pink glass that came out yellow. Using this kind of glass is always an adventure.

Because of this, I'm always pleased when a piece turns out better than I'd expected -- like my "Fire And Ice" pendant. I made a simple design by sandwiching blue tie-dyed glass between shiny yellow dichros. The blue ended up being a deeper color than I'd anticipated and the yellows are shinier with hints of oranges and reds. They reminded me of flames, which is my reason for giving the pendant this rather obvious name.

I recently sold this glass pendant to my good friend, Nancy. She's purchased a lot of my handmade jewellery over the years because she enjoys supporting small businesses. She wore several of my pieces on the recent cruise with took together and I got a kick out of seeing her in my jewelry designs. She was ready for something new and chose "Fire And Ice."

I was sorry to let the pendant go, but I know Nancy will wear it well. And I can still borrow it! That's one advantage of selling to a friend.

I've made dozens of fused glass pendants at this point. Hopefully, all will find good homes. You can check them out, as well as the rest of my handmade wire wrapped and enamel jewelry at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.