Birmingham meets Sharon Peters!!!

[KathyB]

Hey there everyone!
I had the distink honor of taking a class from the world famous Sharon Peters. What a blast! She really has a delightful humor (nawwh really?) and we learned new and exciting sculptural techniques. I've never made such big beads in my life!!! If you get a chance to play with Sharon... I mean in a class... take advantage of it! She's a hoot!!!
Thanks to our most gracious host... Rita of Fresh Frozen Glass who's new studio was to die for! Great fun.. great people... great class.. great studio... (I could go on and on!)



Really housebroken



He's really not supposed to go wiht the tiolet... but if the butt fits...





JumpingMouseDesigns.com

[GinnyHampton]

Hey there!!!! I took her class in Texas a couple of months ago and loved, loved, loved it!!!!

Your beads turned out EXCELLENT, mine were kinda stinky, but I learned a whole lot.
Your ivory heads are great - did you do the tea treatment???

[KathyB]

yup- I tea treated them. Came out just like Sharon said. OMG! I just thought of something...... I should have the dog reading the newspaper!! LMAO!

[Lady Rando]

What's the tea treatment?

[wiccakid]

Oooooooo!!!!!!!
Those are so great.

I'm taking a 3-day class with Sharon in October. I can't WAIT.!!!!

[Kimberly Watanabe]

I took a class where Sharon was the student sitting next to me, does that count??

I guess one of these days I'll have to take her class... but I think I would have a bunch of stinky beads too Ginny! It is so hard to work big. I'm sure I would learn a lot....

[GinnyHampton]

Originally posted by Lady Rando
What's the tea treatment?

I don't have the specifics with me (I'm at work . . . ."working" ) but basically you make your ivory beads, make sure there's lots of texture, let them sit in really dark tea and then put them in the oven and let the tea that's sitting in the crevaces stain the ivory. Makes the beads look really neat and aged.

I have the info written down at home with temperatures and duration of baking, etc . . . I'll post better info later unless someone else has it on them.

[KathyB]

Ok- here goes.
1.Buy some cheap tea black tea, not green :-)
2.Heat 1/4 cup of water in the micro to boiling
3.Add 8 tea bags
4.Cool in the fridge for 5 minutes
5.Swish and soak beads for a bit.
6.Take them out of the tea and gently place them
in a pyrex baking dish in the oven at 250 for 30 minutes
7.When cooled, wipe gently at the excess but not the areas where you want the stain

This tea treatment is not permanant- but will be after several months, according to Sharon.

I added more water and more tea bags. The solution will stay good for a while in the fridge.

I loved the results!
I hope I'm not being a poop here and telling everyone a secret or something. Sharon, if I am let me know and I'll accept a severe spanking.

[Queen of Tides]

Hi,
I also have to say Sharon is a fabulous teacher! The thing about watching her work with large quantities of molten glass and then doing it yourself, is you lose you fear of it, but keep your respect, of course. You are willing to attempt things you could only dream of before. Watching Sharon play with those quantities of glass just makes me realize all the potential for larger and more complex designs that sometimes can't be translated very well into a smaller bead. At least not by me, yet.