New Designs

We have been experimenting with the eletroform process and have come up with several new beads and finished pendents. It is exciting to add a new procedure to our creative bag of tricks. We have only begun to examine the many creative opportunities that this new element holds. Some of the eletroform pieces are fashioned using tumbled glass and some of the pieces use lampworked beads as the base. We want our fans to be the first to get a glimpse of our new designs.

Eletroform or Fun With Science.

I have been experimenting with the eletroform process and applying this element to my lampwork glass beads. I have found that I am able to add captivating gilding to my beads. I will try to give a brief explanation of how this process works.

The rectifier supplies both positive and negative charges. The positive charge goes to the anodes or copper plates, and the negative to the cathode or the bead that has been painted with electroconductive paint. The electroforming solution is an acid that causes the copper to sluff off of the plates. When the positive lead from the rectifier is attached to the wire containing the anodes the particles have a positive charge. The bead or chatode is hooked up to the negative lead and will attract the positively charged particles. The result is a compelling build up of copper on the glass bead.

You may not be fascinated by the science like I am but you have to admire the resulting art bead.

These beads are available through my Etsy store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/RiverStudio

These pieces always remind me of frog eggs floating in the weeds of a pond.

I just love these beads! They are beautiful in any color and remind us of an Impressionist painting, so we refer to them as Monet beads.

Thanks, Lynda!

Kim

I think that we should be working in our garden. There will be maple trees growing in it soon!

Autumn and ARF auction friend greeting each other!

We have been chosen to be a part of an Etsy Treasury List! These are more of our upcycled map earrings. We also use paper from sheet music, phone books, thesauruses, hand painted tissue, even Indiana Boating Rules! You just never know!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=128910

YES!!!!!!!

Stop by Circa Arts in South Bend, IN. 2 Studios has all new inventory in preparation for the Art Walk on May 1.

UniQ has all new 2 Studios art jewelry as of Tuesday, April 13. Stop in, take a look and tell everyone at the store "hello" for us!

Bring on Spring!

This jewelry we have designed especially for Carnegie Center for the Arts. They are available at CCA along with many other beautiful pieces by other artists.Spring is definitely on our minds with this fun piece. I am crazy about the head pins that Lynda is creating for me with a glass ball on the end. I have a feeling that these will be a staple in our work! I have also included my resined tissue paper between nickel disks. It is so gratifying to produce 99% of our components.
I know that everyone is getting tired of coats, boots, bad roads, and all that jazz, but isn't it beautiful?As fas as our lampworking video, hmmmmmmm, aaaaaaaaaaa, eeeeeeee. Well, there is just a little more to figure out! Stay tuned!

New pieces have been posted on our web site.

web.me.com/studiogkkg

Today we will be shooting the lampwork lesson video.

Wish us luck!!!!!!!

Kim

We are still alive! Lynda spent a week on an island in Georgia and came back, thank goodness, to this chilly mess.

August Moon Artistree is a new art gallery near Maple Lake in Paw Paw, MI. We have been accepted into this beautiful space and are very excited to see where the Paw Paw area may lead us! You may fan August Moon Artistree on Facebook to keep up with all of the details and promotions.

Two Studios will be working on a video that follows a new student of Lynda's. Our goal is to see her progress through the lampworking stages to creating her own jewelry. Honestly, she has been making her own pieces as long as her mom has been into art jewelry, but now she is old enough to play with the flame. Guess who it might be. (wink, wink)

For those of you that are Three Rivers Wildcat fans, purple & white fans, purple fans or paw print fans, we are listing our "Show Your Colors" line on our ETSY shop.

We have Lynda's beautiful lampwork beads along with my resined tissue paper and hand hammered metals to celebrate our school colors. Keeping true to art jewelry, each piece will be unique. Remember that we take custom orders!

Go Cats!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kim

These pieces have been accepted into Carnegie Center for the Arts Juried Show! ( Aaron, Nugget, Tom and Mark just came to the shop and it is SNOWING. What a wonderful day!)

The show information can be found on the Carnegie web-site, http://www.trcarnegie.com/?p=467

This annual show is important for West Michigan artists and the Three Rivers community. It is always an amazing venue of creativity and personalities. It is well worth your time.

Lynda is working on another new technique for her beads. Bet you just can't wait to see what she has came up with now! I need to get busy on refilling our galleries with Valentine inspired jewels. I have heard that Valentine's Day is the second highest holiday for purchases. Hope it goes better than Christmas!

Time to get Shelby from school. Enjoy.............

Kim

With the holidays behind us I am looking ahead to an exciting new year of creating more spectacular beads. With the little time allowed me during the madness I have developed a new style bead. I have always loved the relationship between glass and metals. The copper dish is set into the molten glass and the end caps are hand hammered.

Kim and I are getting our entries ready for the 2010 Regional Juried Arts Competition at the Carnegie Center for the Arts in Three Rivers, Michigan. Check back to learn about all of our entries.

Shelby has continued with her lampwork lessons and doing very well.