[Ashtonjewels]

Xiola, your bead is fabulous! Hmmm, I wonder what they did differently with the Raku frit in order for it to be more intense? Now that you mention it, the Raku that I'm using is much less intense these days. . . Especially in the 104 line.

Reenie, The bead in the center of my website banner is called "Roman Bath House". It's my signiture bead. I've had lots of requests to do a tutorial for this one, but the bead requires the use of Terra. If Double Helix ever starts making it again, or if another VERY similar glass hits the market, I will do a tutorial for it. There are many silvered glasses on the market right now with brown undertones but all of them are too transparent. Raku doesn't work either either. While it's a nice opaque glass, it spreads WAY too much and yields a finished look that is just too messy.

The "French Music Box" bead was one of my newbie beads. It is the initial idea that lead to the encased floral panel technique. The reason that I wrote about it in the Inspiration portion of the tutorial is because I wanted to show how one little seemingly insignificant idea can not only evolve something larger and better, but it can even spin it off into different directions. I also wanted to explain the thought process that I used in order take the idea to the torch. I had no clue that anyone would would want to learn to make it.

The tutorial only teaches how to make the bead that is on the cover, "Enchanted Hydrangea". I included a gallery with a timeline that shows the evolution of the design. I had hoped the gallery would provide a bit of inspiration, while illustrating the possibilities of the core concept. Each of those beads were created using the encased floral panel technique.

Initially, I had been asked to do tutorials on various floral focals that are in my galleries. Instead of releasing a tutorial that shows people how to make a 2-3 hour focal, I'd rather do the tutorials in a series, with each tutorial focusing on the skills that would be essential for the proper execution of one of the larger focal beads. This is one of the reasons that I started with the "Black Petal Motif". While I don't often use intense black in my floral focals, I do use the raked petals a lot. Learning to create them in intense black requires extreme focus and patience. Once it's learned and practiced, the elements on the larger focals will be easier to apply.

Oh Jenni!! How wonderful! Your beads turned out beautifully!!!