Beads on Sale

I am hosting a sale on my one of a kind lampwork beads in my Etsy shop. Sale begins now.
ONLY BEADS ARE ON SALE at this time. See the category Beads On Sale.

Use coupon code BEADSALE at checkout to receive 20% off your order! This is a great sale on unique lampwork beads, don't miss out. It is time to move some beads out of my inventory and on to a new home.

My personal life has been a bit crazy the past couple of years and participating in fairs has not been possible for me. Craft fairs have been the heart of my income over the past six years. At this point in time I need to raise some money in order to pay my bills. I have been learning some new skills and will be offering new beads toward the end of the month so now is a really great time for me to destash the beads I have in inventory.

I am offering an extra special offer to my blog readers. If you are reading this post through to the end you can receive 25% off your total purchase. Simply enter coupon code blogpost at checkout and your discount will be applied.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy the SALE!

Featured Artist April 2012

I am the featured artist of the month for the Lampwork Glass Beads Team on Etsy, I am completely honored to share this news with you. I would love for you to take a moment and stop by and read the interview.


I thank Janelle and Jason of Nomad Crafts Etc. They have some beautiful sculptural pieces in their shop. You won't be disappointed when you stop by and check out their Etsy store.

Favorite Things Tuesday July 19

Tuesdays are a great day to show off a few of my favorite things. Since we are in the middle of summer let's celebrate today with a summer theme.

I LOVE to drink iced tea all summer long. Even though I'm from the Northeast I visit the south often and have learned that the proper name for iced tea is Sweet Tea. I used to put sugar in my tea and would promptly gain 5 lbs by the end of the summer season. After all sugar water is what hummingbirds survive on, the only problem is I don't burn as many calories as a hummingbird. This summer, instead of using white, processed sugar I am using Agave Nectar. Let me tell you....it is GOOD stuff. I don't notice any difference in flavor, it is even a tad bit sweeter and yummier. So far I have eluded any weight gain. This is a very good thing because I LOVE my sweet tea!!! I think I will be giving agave nectar a try in my baking as well. It is so much better for you than processed sugar. I buy my agave at Costco but I have seen it at my local grocery store too.

I am so into turquoise this summer. Any and all accessories turquoise is right up my alley. I found these perfect summer accessories in dachuksb7196's shop on Etsy. Her crocheted item pieces are simply beautiful. She has some fun, sexy items for the one in your family that loves to be barefoot.

In keeping with the turquoise summer theme I created this bracelet in a style similar to Chan Luu, but ofcourse added my own lampwork beads to it. A wrappable bracelet which creates stackable layers. I will definitely be making more of these. If you have any color suggestions please let me know, I will be happy to put something together for you. I plan to list my leather bracelets on Etsy but it is likely I won't have time to do so until the middle of next week.If you are interested in more info on this bracelet please contact me on my Facebook Page, Ema K Designs. 

As always, thanks for stopping by and visiting with me. I look forward to your comments.

Customer Appreciation SALE

A sale is happening in my Etsy and Artfire shops, now through April 2.
20% OFF ALL lampwork beads.

You will find a coupon code in my Etsy shop. The prices in my Artfire shop are already marked down.

Choose your favorite from my Kalypso Pearl series.....

or perhaps your favorite will be one of my Tree Silhouettes...

This is a Fire Diva Team Sale. Swing by the Fire Divas Blog to find out about all the great sales that happening.

Seduced by Kalypso

She is a silent seductress. She quietly reveals herself; a friend recommends her beauty, she slyly poses for photos and before you know it I find I am tempted. Next thing you know she has worked her way into my studio and I find Kalypso is sitting on my work bench.

OK...so I jest, but some glass is hugely expensive, running in the area of $100 per pound (a pound is roughly 10 or 12 rods which are approx. 12 inches in length) and Kalypso is one of them. Her colors are brilliant and beautiful! I was thoroughly tempted and purchased some and now I have fallen in love with the beauty of this glass. Kalypso rods are created by adding silver to the glass. I don't know the process but as you can imagine, adding silver to anything these days can be quite expensive.

Silver within the glass rods is fascinating to work with. The colors achieved can vary. It all depends on the levels of oxygen vs. propane in the flame, this means that you can produce different effects. So far I have been able to create a soft orangey look, a beautiful deep pink and even a shiney silver look, all with the same Kalypso glass.

This bead has a base color of Kalypso which I worked into a deep rose color and even began to attain a shiney silver surface.

Here is a Kalypso base worked gently to maintain its' peachy/pink colors.

but I find I love her most when used as an accent to the bead, as with my Kalypso Pearl focal beads.

and the Kalypso Tree focal bead...

I am selling the GORGEOUS Kalypso beads in my Etsy and ArtFire shops.

Burns happen

In January I received a serious burn while I was creating a bead. I became so focused on the bead and getting the enamels right where I wanted to apply the color I temporarily forgot about the flame. This is a VERY BAD thing to do. I don't often get so involved that I forget about the flame. You simply can't afford to do this when you are working with a flame that has a temperature in the area of 1500 - 2000 degrees. But it happened. I was working beneath the flame and inadvertently put my knuckle straight into the flame. The words that came out of mouth weren't very nice because I knew it was going to bad. It didn't it even hurt, not even a little bit, not a good sign!

I will spare you the gruesome photos I took in the early weeks. This is what the burn looks like three weeks later. Really not bad considering what had happened.

One of the good things, no I should say GREAT things that came out of this event is that I learned about a product I had never heard of before. It is called 2nd Skin for burns by Spenco. This stuff saved me. Really! My burn was so bad I needed to have it covered, for the slightest brush against anything brought tears to my eyes. Keeping it covered wasn't easy because everything I tried stuck to the wound and caused more pain. I posted a photo of my burn on my Facebook Page and a wonderful fellow lampworker, Bonnie Stow of PuddyTatGlass came to my rescue. Bonnie suggested this product and I must say it worked wonders! It is a gel like covering which I had to secure onto my hand with a band aid or two. I don't know exactly how it works but it FELT GREAT, I was able to actually function with this on my hand and it seemed to help the healing process along. A little gelly miracle.  

You can look around Google and find a price you like. I bought a couple boxes from Amazon for a fair price.

I will keep these on hand but hopefully won't ever need them again.

Bead Soup Blog Party - What I Received

It is time for me to share the bead goodies I received from my bead soup partner, Elizabeth Freeman.

First of all, take a look at the way my beads arrived. What a fantastic surprise. It was so much fun to open my package and find this.

Now on to the beads. A crafted polymer focal bead for starters. I see a beautiful landscape within this focal bead. I just love it. A few handmade polymer spacer beads along with some beautiful wooden beads.......

Desert Whimsies by Elizabeth

Elizabeth's blog, Turquoise Sky

Lori Anderson is the gracious host of this event. You can check out Lori's Blog and find out more about the Bead Soup Blog Party here.
The reveal day for all the Bead Soup participants is Saturday, February 26th. Stay tuned to see what fantastic creations everyone has designed.

Updated to include 2011 Bead Soup links:
Sneak Peak
What I Rec'd
The Big Reveal 
What I Sent

Cast Your Vote for Your Favorite Bead

The Fire Divas like to play...this month we are hosting a lampwork bead challenge. Let's see what the incredibly talented Divas came up with for our True Love Challenge this month. It could be hard choose they are all so fun and delicious, don't forget to vote on the right side of the Fire Diva's blog!


Entry 1


Entry 2


Entry 3


Entry 4


Entry 5


Thanks for voting! Results will be posted in one week!

Step 1 in my 2011 Overhaul - Event Planning and Organizing

In my effort to better organize myself this year I intend to get a day planner which I will use specifically for my art and my business. In the past I have not been very good at meeting deadlines for events I want to participate in. I have signed up or intended to sign up for various contests or exchanges only to forget when the deadline is. I have printed out paper work to apply for a contest, written notes to myself, set up alarms in my cell phone calender only to end up loosing the paperwork amongst the mass of paper that finds it way into my home daily or realize I haven't given myself enough time to actually complete the work. And thus another opportunity floats right on by.

I am a visual person. I think if I leave a planner on my work bench and check it every couple of days I will be much better motivated. I will have a visual reminder of my intentions and become much better organized and actually meet deadlines and entry dates. Yes I definitely need to get better organized.

I found this planner while searching Google. Unfortunately the seller is no longer active. Maybe I should make my own, but then again that will take away time from the beads and jewelry I am intending to create. Perhaps I should support another Etsy artist and just buy one. Now if I can find one which suites my needs. (the one above does)

I have been searching Etsy and haven't found what I am looking for. My kids are home from school today, I didn't plan on working, I think making my own planner is going to be in my plans for the day. Stay tuned. I will show you a picture when I'm done.

Wordless Wednesday 12/22/10

A final day of featuring members of my Fire Diva Team.

Shepherd Creations

Babs Beads

Silver River Glasswork

Finally, some work of mine.

Wordless Wednesday (on Thursday...when you schedule the post for the wrong date)

Another day of beautiful creations from the Fire Divas.

Hollys Folly Glass

Tease Beads

LA Jewelry

Amy Sims Designs

Ugly Duckling Beads

Isinglass Design

Glass art by Melanie