Enameling Beads with Barbara Lewis

This weekend I took another Painting With Fire class with Barbara Lewis.  I'd taken the class previously, but as with most classes, I usually  have to take it twice to really GET it and let it sink in.  


One of the things I love about taking classes is getting to meet fellow jewelry makers and bloggers.  It's so much fun to put a face to the words, you know?  Sometimes my world is so small over here on the Eastern Shore, sitting at my work bench and computer, so it's wonderful to get out.


Anyway -- this time, I really feel like I GOT it.  I hit the bead in the right part of the flame, covered it well in enamel, and actually ended up with usable beads at the end of the day.

I'm pretty darned pleased with these!  They aren't perfect, but they'll absolutely serve my purpose of making a necklace for myself.  I was also sufficiently inspired enough to buy a bunch of enamels and start dreaming up some ideas.

I also learned some new techniques in this class, such as making tricolor beads....

And how to make bi-color beads.

Hard to tell the colors on the bi-color beads, because believe it or not, those were harder for me than the tricolor, but you get the idea.

And then I went to town on covering regular color with transparent colors to get some really pretty vintage-esque colors.

All in all, a very productive class, and a day well spent!

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for Lori Anderson Designs and also writes the blog Pretty Things.  She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene.