Freaky Friday Challenge... on a USA Saturday

Yes - I know it is not Friday - but that's what Mallory & I agreed upon....& I bailed *sorry Mallory*

(I promise - next week I'll be ready by Thursday).

Now Mallory, aka Rosebud101, (or as I think of her "the Divine Ms M"!) suggested we have a personal challenge each week & we take turns in choosing. I suspect that Mallory had an ulterior motive.....
Let me put it this way - if I were a basketball team the Divine Ms M would be my #1 cheerleader & coach all rolled into one. She knows when my lampwork mojo is flagging, & when I'm stuck in a murky quagmire of not knowing where to start - friend, confidant & motivator all rolled into one ...& boy does that lady know how to get you going back on track again without you realising what she's doing until after it's done!! Sneaksy, tricksy lady - in the nicest possible way of course!!

Ok - back to the Challenge.

This challenge came about as the Divine Ms M is a tutorial ho (sorry sweety. there's no other way to put that) - we chat of what she's tried & what the results are like.
I, on the other hand, am one of these people that look at something in a bead (& many other area's of art & craft) & my mind instantly breaks it down & tries to figure how it was done & in what order. Sometimes that works, often it doesn't - usually,in the case of beads, not until I've wasted an awful lot of glass.

The worst part is that once I have mastered something - I very rarely try it again. I think it's the working through & figuring it that is the challenge to me, rather than mastering a technique to where it is as perfectly executed to the original. (I need to work on that!!)

So for the first few of our challenges - I asked Mallory, while we were talking, to briefly outline in her words how some of the tutorial beads were made & we'd see how close I could get to it.... & hey I think it's going to make her try a few more of those tutorials she has bought.

I got to chose the first one & I chose the Jennifer Geldard window beads - Here are my results

Bead #1: I pretty much followed (or tried to) the notes I'd jotted down while Mallory gave me the outline of what to do. Not the greatest shape ! I etched the outer colour & maksed the frame & window so it stayed shiny.

Bead#2: I remembered to press this time, but had issues with my 'frame' popping off because I didn't keep it hot enough - so the patch up is noticable. I gave it some shape detail & added a few raised dots.

Bead #3: With this bead I used a opalino glass as the base - talk about stiff! It didn't want to be pressed, so sort of took one a vessel shape all by itself ...I went with that & accented it! Handles would have been a good idea ;o)

Bead #4: Who needs a frame! Well to be honest my striped strener intended for the frame was way too wide - so I found an alterative use for it.

OK The Divine Ms M - your turn to choose!! Be prepared to do a good amount of hand holding & walking through ;o)

ETA: Ahhhhh.... the challenge has been 'issued' on Ms M's blog - see my post below for more information ;o)