Freaky Friday Challenge... on a USA Saturday

I just had to do it....didn't I? There are many, many artists I admire & knowing that Ms M had the Jen Geldard "Ornate Series Bead Tutorial", I said c'mon Mallory gimme the brief & we'll make that our next challange....what was I thinking? I should have said "Hey Mallory - what say we take this outside the square & try base jumping instead of making beads?" - personally I think that would have been more successful! For me anyway :o(

So I planned & I selected glass & I had a nice picture of the bead printed out in front of me as a guide. Just on an hour later I had a bead that was almost like what I was looking at ready to pop into the kiln - so in it went. It was rather pretty - & it was a behemoth!! Kids than descendeded upon me - so I put off doing another bead that day. The next morning I got that solitary power consumer out of it's lonely night in the kiln( which I had remembered to turn of first - thank you!).......

There is a reason that this baby is still on the mandrel - the top is covered in crackes that will crumble into 100 pieces when I removed it - just take a look at the bigger version of this image.

Oh well, not to be deterred I embarked on another one the next night....Deb style. Got not even half way through & blew the power overload in the studio...off went the lights, the kiln & the oxycon cut out .....eeeeeeeeeeeek!!! My yells were heard in the lounge & out rushed MailleMan to the rescue!.... wearing a chainmalle cape of course :o)
Whilst I was frantically wafting the bead out of a pathetic propane only flame, he flicked the overload switch back on & back came my oxygen & light. I decided this bead was doomed - made it an organic oranate & finished it off.

I know, I know .....it's a little different. Then I figured what I thought the problem was - blue glass is unlucky! Yes, that's it - blue glass & I just don't get along. So I headed for a colour change - why hadn't I thought of that before.

OK - maybe it wasn't the blue glass after all. Possibly it was just a bad bead day, a little like a bad hair day... but not, if you know what I mean. This time the enamel went psycho & ended up places it had no right in being....& see that wonderful huge black space across the melted in stringer? That's where I managed to blow the largest chunk off the end....well, more like the bottom 1/3 of the bead.

Yep - base jumping is looking like a breeze after this challenge ;o)

These would have all been great 'bugger' beads!
Be sure to check out Rosebud101's "Ornate Series Beads" in her blog post about out "Freaky Friday Challenge"!

For now I'm off to bed - I've been at a wedding since 4pm - got home a little after 10pm & remembered I hadn't photographed the beads or done this.