Ocean Dreamer's Jewelry

Peaceful Tide Earrings

These two pair of Lampwork beads from Carol Holaday (CarolHoladay.com) are one of the most magnificent color combinations created that I’ve seen outside of Mother Nature herself! I feel like I’m sitting on the beach in Maui watching a gentle afternoon tide with all the shades of blue and green and teal that I’ve ever tried to capture with a camera! These beads are indescribable! They’re combined with simple Hill Tribe Silver spacers and hang from sterling silver earwires.

To create a lampwork bead, bead makers typically hold a rod of colored soda-lime (soft) glass or borosilicate (hard) glass in one hand and a stainless steel mandrel (rod) in the other. The mandrel is pre-coated with a clay that allows the finished bead to slip off of the mandrel when cool. The bead maker then melts the glass over a torch that burns in excess of 1700 degrees Fahrenheit and then wraps the molten glass around the mandrel. Using various techniques, an infinite number of patterns can be added to the glass both internally (flowers, swirls, etc.) and externally (raised bumps and paint-like patterns). When the bead is finished, it is then annealed (cooled slowly), which is done to reduce the internal stresses of the glass and reduce breakage.

Length--fishhook pair have a 3/4 inch drop. Hoop pair have a 1 inch drop. Please let me know which pair you prefer in an email.