Design Idea of the Week - Orange Crush (or Crushed by Orange?)

Mouthwatering citrus - some say orange is one of the most difficult to colours to work with, but it's also one of the most vibrant, bringing to mind juicy tropical fruit, fragrant citrus groves, and bright fake tans (okay, so the last one isn't so uplifting, sorry) So here's a bracelet idea using the work of the talented fhfteam.

The standard starting point - a cool focal bead. Only this time, it's a focal button by helengbeads worked in incredibly vibrant yellows and oranges. After all, there's no reason you can't use a button as a focal: I'd weave some cotton cord up through one button hole and down through the other so that the button lies flat.

Another option though would be to use copper jumprings through the button holes in order to connect it to the main part of the bracelet, and to complement the warm colours of the glass. 

And for juicy little spacers, here's a set of gorgeous tangerine beads by dangerousbead
 - and doesn't that streaky orange glass just scream lollipops and boiled sweets? With a 1.6mm hole, they'd can be threaded onto some 1mm cotton cord along with the focal. 

To lighten up the orange a little, strategically place this pair of shineon2's light but warm yellow bead pair in amongst the other spacer beads. 

Pick of the month for June

Red Kimono Lampwork glass and hand dyed silk necklace from princesspeggy01's shop

FABRICIA - Focal lampwork bead from MadCatGlass' shop

Shimmering pool from josephinewadman's shop

BUMPLES from beadsbystephanie's shop

Visage Lampwork pendant with moon face from flyingbead's shop

Sumptuously beautiful creations from FHFteam's recent listings.
Enjoy, Jolene x

Design Idea of the Week - Tasty Treat

A classic summer tradition is ice-cream, whether it's eaten plain in a cone or as an elaborate sundae so this week's design idea draws inspiration from the yummy colours of these cool tasty treats.

How about a scoop of rich vanilla bean ice cream (soy of course) drizzled with thick ribbons of caramel sauce to start with? Indulge without the calories with BeadsByStephanie's focal lentil. Wire the focal with some copper wire, then hang the provided acccent beads from the bottom from large to small to make a trail of 'ice cream' drips for a real statement pendant!

Midgetgembead's delicious creamy beads continue the theme, so link a few of these hot caramel drenched delights with some more copper wire:

 
And of course, no ice-cream is complete without a sprinkling of nuts and hundreds & thousands, so link a few of these crunchy looking, cream beads from helbels in between your other beads:

And for a bit of pizazz, the cherry on top: sals25 has come up with some cute sweetie style beads, and the red ones would make a lovely pair of cherry inspired earrings, whilst the yellow and orange beads can be used as spacers in the necklace to represent Smarties or M&Ms, and pick up the colours in the beads above:

Enjoy this tasty treat, and thanks for looking!

Hazel

Design Idea of the Week - Into the Deep

Summer means a trip to the seaside for many people (which is followed by 2 hours hiding from the rain under brightly coloured shop awnings if you're British), so this week's idea is a bracelet and necklace set with a nautical theme.

Taking this absolutely adorable sailor girl focal from Sals25 as a starting point, we get a colour scheme of deep blue and white, classic nautical colours:

Use wrapped loops to hang her from the main necklace chain of wired-up beads, and add one of Pandanimal's frosted glass beads at the bottom of a dangle, to resemble beautifully tumbled sea glass:

To match the deep blue transparent and crisp white glass in the sailor girl's outfit, these beads by RedsBeads echo the colours, whilst the trails of organic silver and ivory around the beads are reminiscent of rocky shoals, and pebbled beaches where the little sailor girl wanders. Wire wrap a few of these beads with silver wire; using the tail of wrapped loops to make small spirals of wire, and gently pressing these flat against the beads will mimic curling waves:

Now for the bracelet, a simple strung creation would be fabulous for featuring JustDesireJewellery's iridescent shell bead. This shimmering focal holds the colours of the sea inside, and seems to catch the light in subtle waves:

And to make up the rest of the bracelet, try threading these oyster shell shaped white buttons by LushLampwork onto your stringing material:

And intersperse them with FiBead's luscious deep blue spacer beads. Meanwhile, the rest of the frosted and silver dotted beads would look lovely used to lengthen the necklace:

Thanks for reading!

Hazel

Design Idea of the Week - Dining In

Here's a departure from the usual Design Idea of the Week; an idea for the home instead. The FHFTeam members are a diverse bunch, and don't only make pieces to adorn people. So here are a few ideas designed to add some fizz and fun to your dining table.

I think a lot of people would agree that no matter how good the company, a fabulous dinner party usually requires a little touch of alcohol (or at least a classy fizzy drink in a proper bottle!) so why not keep the drinks fresh with this stunning glass bottle stopper by Steampunkglass. With delicate three-dimensional glass flowers embedded within crystal clear glass, it may even become an object of conversation (well, it's got to be more interesting that politics):

Need a centrepiece? In keeping with the theme of clear simplicity, how about this beautiful frosty bowl by DawnTurnerDesigns? It can be left as it is, or double up on functionality and rest special serving utensils and napkins on it at the beginning of the meal (just don't try to serve your soups in it, okay?)

Speaking of decoration, a few of FlyingCheeseToastie's clear glass leverets dotted strategically around the table, peering out from behind bowls and bottles, would add a lovely touch, and help to reflect the light:

Steampunkglass has another good idea for the dinner table; for those Asian-themed meals, a set of chopstick rests shaped like twisted leaves and made from clear boro glass infused with wisps of darker colours (and if you've already exhausted talking about the bottle stopper and politics, I'm sure these will perk up the conversation!)

And finally, one you've finished the meal and the wine/drink bottles are empty, Flyingbead has created a gorgeous dragon sculpture specially designed to turn old bottles into fantastical oil lamps, complete with fire-breathing...and placing a few around the room would produce a wonderfully cosy atmosphere for the next dinner party!

Thanks for reading!

Hazel

FHFTeam Glossary

Announcing the FHFTeam Glossary - a new resource to help you navigate all the terms associated with glass art and jewellery design on Etsy.

The main glossary page has all the links to the various sections, as well as a space for you to leave any comments about terms you'd like to see up there, or any questions you have - we'll do our best to answer them! You can also find your way through the pages by clicking on the page links that appear underneath the main FHFTeam banner on all blog posts.

This bushbaby by Fluidglassartbeads has already read the FHFTeam glossary...clearly he's got a lot of information to mull over now.

Pick of the week - Beauty Within

Secrets Silver and Lampwork Locket from jowalker68's shop

Floral Mysteries - Cored Big Hole Lampwork Bead from dilunah's shop

Chunky focal silver core bead from HelenPetersBeads' shop

Fire Opals from josephinewadman's shop

Handmade Silver Glass Lampwork Bead Set from Fluidglassartbeads' shop

Beads to loose yourself in from FHFteam 2011
Enjoy, Jolene x