So, apparently the teapots are habit forming! After posting the ones yesterday, I kept getting new ideas of how to make more and couldn't resist sitting down at the torch for a few hours to produce what you'll see below.

I woke up very early this morning and was excited to see what would come out of the kiln. I cleaned the beads and wired them up, photographed and already I have the pictures ready posting!

This one, I call "Elegant Pewter". It has a wonderful metallic sheen and the form makes me think of a silver tea service. I love the way the handle ends at the bottom.

For some reason, this one reminds me of leaves swirling in a pond as they dash by in the fall. I just adore this color combination and call this pot "Reflections".

This one has a very earthy finish. The glass used always winds up with the wonderful powdery blue/turquoise patches on the brownish red. It reminds me of a glaze that is used by a potter friend of mine.

I call this one "Tortoise Shell" because that is the effect that this particular frit on the topaz glass always creates.

And finally, "Wedgewood". This blue, when adorned with white or ivory stringer always reminds me of Wedgewood pottery.

Today, I will attempt to put the available teapots up on my website - in the Focals section.

Taking tea in a small way!

More teapots! They took a little while to get finished, since we had other things (for instance a full day yesterday at Hershey Medical Center with our brother) going on, but I think they were worth the wait.

I placed a quarter next to each one when I photographed them so you can get an idea of the size. They are all hollow, so even though they are somewhat large for beads, will have much less weight to them than they would seem to have.

First, a periwinkle blue teapot with vining stylized lapiz and rose colored flowers dancing around it.

A celadon pot with green and pink frits added to look like a rosey pattern.

Milk glass with the same frit as above.

This base color is called opal yellow and I think the roses and forget-me-nots on the vine swooping around it give it a fairytale quality.

Finally, a second amethyst colored teapot with roses and forget-me-nots growing around the sides.

These will eventually go up on my website, but in the meantime, if anything tickles your fancy, please email me at mschwa@ptd.net. At this writing, they are $35 each and will look beautiful on your favorite silver chain.

Requests

Well, it began up at the Rosemary House at their 40th Anniversary Celebration.

I was a guest artist in the garden. Nancy Reppert, who owns the Sweet Remembrances Tearoom saw my aromatherapy vessels and asked if I could make a teapot along the same lines. These are the first attempts and I'm pleasantly surprised at how well they worked out.

Both are about 1" from the bottom to the top of the finial.

I tried a couple of times to make teapots with solid bottoms, like the vessels, but they just didn't seem to be working out.

The purple one was my first successful attempt and it's simply a hollow with the handle and spout attached. I played with stringer to add some vines and some stylized blue cabbage roses.

Then, I picked up the Pajama Blue and made another hollow, added a few daisies and again, a handle and spout. I love the "squatty", fairytale look of this one! It looks to me as if it came from Snow White's cottage.

Because they are hollow beads, it made them easier to wire together with a bead cap for the top and a single bead added for the finial.

You can click on any of the pictures for a closer look.

As the day went on, another Reppert Sister, Cary, requested a pendant similar to something I already had made, but with different colors....

This one is the result.

She wanted the organic background with the creased flowers in purple. I think I'll give this a couple more tries and send her some pics for approval.

Last week at our Farmers' Market, I had my jewelry along and a woman stopped by and asked if I had any "patriotic themed" beads. Since it was Memorial Day, maybe I should have, but I didn't.
Actually, I have a lot of trouble finding a good red for this type of thing, and I was trying to figure out how to do some kind of a flag design....

I made a few earring sets in the proper colors, as you can see - but the flag theme evaded me.

As I was standing in the shower the other morning, it suddenly occurred to me - I can use red enamel(!) ... and the flag beads were born. I still have to wire them up into earrings and a couple of pendants, but I'll have a number of patriotic themed pieces for her to choose from this week.

Finally, soap beads... I've been struggling with the old way I was making them, and had actually decided to just stop doing them.

Then I saw a post on one of the glass forums I frequent. A new press was out with words on it. I contacted the press place and asked if I could get a custom press made for soap beads and ... voila!

I can make them in any color that I have glass, but I think I'll try to pare it down to just 4 or five basics.... But, I can always make special requests for people who want to match them to their own soaps....