Happy New Year and Keep Lampworking!

After a long sulking pause I'm back in the saddle! Lots of things have happened since my last blog, some of them excellent, some of them not so good, but the mood today, on the last day of 2010, is to go into the new year with a cheerful smile.

I always make the "Berry! Christmas" beads for Christmas. Today, however, I've decided to show one of my other "winter festive" beads. It was made on a pink dichroic base, which you can just about see on the close-up photo. There are some large melted-in transparent green dots encased into crystal clear. The rest is just the surface decoration. The branches were made with my favourite encased stringer, with Dark Silver Plum instead of black - it gives these lovely charcoal-silvery lines which catch the sun. There are blobs of transparent grass green, paddled, then pulled in the shape of a holly leaf and finally cut with the razor tool to give this "veiny" effect. When you look close, of course, especially in the sun, this cutting has given the leaves an almost marbled feel - brilliant! And, to finish off, a couple of red dots for berries: light red opaque as a base, covered with a dot of striking red - or even orange if you want a brighter colour.

To finish off, I part-etched the bead: the clear background has this soft glow perfectly offset by the frosty shine of the holly branches, leaves and berries.

May I wish you all a peaceful and prosperous New 2011 Year, with lots of happy and exciting things! Happy New Year! xx