Taffy, you are so deep. May I suggest that your sight and instincts are right on (I actually was going to write 'spot on' and I hate when peeps say that....its like 'great') but your emotional being is polarized. Despite all the rage we are still just a rat in a cage. Get over your bad self....this is all an illusion. Someone, somewhere is creating a universe just for you, and each of us are acting our part for your enlightenment. Each of us are exhibiting our best performance...just for you. And that same something is creating my tiny world. And we all do it with perfect love.
Ok, nuff of that horseshit. Lets talk about real stuff, like
lampwork glass beads. This is one of the first in a series of lampworked glass tassel tops. Years ago I bought two of the most fabulous books,
The Art of Tassel Making and
The Tassels Book, I was amazed by the art of these ladies and became obsessed with making tassels out of anything and everything. Tassels and beads are made from the same emotional need of humans to identify themselves and others through ornamention. Now we're talkin my language! This is a horrible picture of a good looking tassel top, its beautiful blue/green border is a new color from
Olympic Color , called multicolor, my new favorite glass color. It can turn from this bluish to purplish with pinky tones...whats not to like and it works up like Raku. This is a twisty with intense black stringer stripes. The base is ASK Silver Rattan and I don't remember what I used for the ribs, but it is much nicer in person than the crumby picture. The next step is to make fringe of silk or rayon and perhaps an outer round of seed bead fringe....will post the finished product asap.
So that is it for now Taffy, have a good day and make something.
And then while cruising the web for gokw, I found this.....the most amazing thing ever.....who knew you could buy a stamp with the picture of the deity? 
I have been playin around with silver rich glass...this 'pod' is Psyche from Double Helix and SIS. I have had a hard time keeping the iridsecence of the Psyche once encased with clear, but found that if angled the bead in the flame so that the fire did not hit the psyche straight on, it could be shaped and melted and keep its gorgeous iridescence. Very excited about the new glass, Ekho, also from Double Helix, got a little bit this week and played with it some but experiments only so far. Because it is advertised as being able to keep its iridesence under encasement, I gave it the worst treatment I could think of, and it did keep its color under encasement though it did look like I had managed to burn some of it off. Will try my technique of not hitting the bead straight on with the flame, but hold it at an angle.
