organic beads

olivia · #1 2007-12-21, 11:50am

what does organic bead mean????
thanks
Olivia

still learning --i hope

hummingbird3172 · #2 2007-12-21, 12:12pm

That's what I think of as organic too

, as if found in nature.

Kimberly makes some of the most amazing organics that I have ever seen!

Take a look at these, Olivia: http://www.naosglass.com/ . These are Amber's --she does "organic" very well!

Karen Hardy · #3 2007-12-21, 12:35pm

When I make a round bead and it comes out looking like a badly
formed buttermilk biscuit....then it's organic.

When I "experiment" with bright festive colors, and the bead ends up
looking like something that I forgot in the back of the fridge
last December....then it's organic.

When that nice smooth surface comes out all pitted and grainy...then it's organic.

Kevan · #4 2007-12-21, 12:49pm

To me, organic means a bead that is made by using the nature of the glass when in a liquid state to move and react according to it's nature as opposed to sculpting it or creating a uniform design.

This would be organic -

This would not be -

And I guess I'm the opposite from Kimberly, I find organics more relaxing than encased florals. Which is why I don't make encased florals, I guess. lol

olivia · #5 2007-12-21, 12:57pm

wow thanks guys i am leaning soooooo much from all or you i know nothing about this and terminology is really getting me but i will keep learning -i better i have already spent a looooooooot of money
thanks
Olivia
all the beads are so pretty

Heather/Ericaceae · #6 2007-12-21, 2:11pm

Organics are fun - especially when you're learning because there's no "right" and "wrong"! It's a great way to experiment with how colours react together. Here are some colour theory tips to get you going...

Copper Family: Turquoise, all greens (especially copper green, mosaic green and petroleum green), sky blue, EDP (254 orchid purple), and rubino all have copper, silver, and/or gold in them. They play well with each other no matter how much you heat them (well, the EDP might not always play well but that's because the E stands for EVIL). They also take silver leaf without going black.

Sulfur Family: Ivory, red, yellow, orange, and most browns contain sulfur to make their warm colours. You can mix these colours together as hot as you like and you won't get swampy muck. Silver leaf will darken them quite a lot.

Now, when you mix colours from the Copper and Sulfur families together you get crisp black outlines if you just melt them together. (Ivory and Turquoise look very cool this way!) But if you get them *really* hot for a long time, you get swampy brown muck.

Non-Aligned Family: Violets, cobalt, black, periwinkle, white, gray, and opal yellow are "non-aligned" families and they can mix with any colour without the outline effect.

So if you want to play around with hot swirling a bead it's best to stick with one family and non-aligned colours - OR, add the colour from the opposing family as a final step, so it doesn't have time to react too much.

Intense black is fun to play with in organics - add random stripes over a soft base, like ivory, pea green or periwinkle, and then super-heat it until it starts to spread into delicate veins. Silver leaf or foil is also always very fun - but only use that if you have a very good exhaust fan. Try making silvered ivory stringer and adding that to beads - it looks very rocky! Enamels are fun too, but again, you need great ventilation so any particles that get suspended in the air are sucked away immediately and not breathed in.

Have fun!

bead crazy · #7 2007-12-21, 2:38pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heather/Ericaceae

Organics are fun - especially when you're learning because there's no "right" and "wrong"! It's a great way to experiment with how colours react together. Here are some colour theory tips to get you going...

Copper Family: Turquoise, all greens (especially copper green, mosaic green and petroleum green), sky blue, EDP (254 orchid purple), and rubino all have copper, silver, and/or gold in them. They play well with each other no matter how much you heat them (well, the EDP might not always play well but that's because the E stands for EVIL). They also take silver leaf without going black.

Sulfur Family: Ivory, red, yellow, orange, and most browns contain sulfur to make their warm colours. You can mix these colours together as hot as you like and you won't get swampy muck. Silver leaf will darken them quite a lot.

Now, when you mix colours from the Copper and Sulfur families together you get crisp black outlines if you just melt them together. (Ivory and Turquoise look very cool this way!) But if you get them *really* hot for a long time, you get swampy brown muck.

Non-Aligned Family: Violets, cobalt, black, periwinkle, white, gray, and opal yellow are "non-aligned" families and they can mix with any colour without the outline effect.

So if you want to play around with hot swirling a bead it's best to stick with one family and non-aligned colours - OR, add the colour from the opposing family as a final step, so it doesn't have time to react too much.

Intense black is fun to play with in organics - add random stripes over a soft base, like ivory, pea green or periwinkle, and then super-heat it until it starts to spread into delicate veins. Silver leaf or foil is also always very fun - but only use that if you have a very good exhaust fan. Try making silvered ivory stringer and adding that to beads - it looks very rocky! Enamels are fun too, but again, you need great ventilation so any particles that get suspended in the air are sucked away immediately and not breathed in.

Have fun!

WOW this is a great explaination of the colors, This will help me alot I have not learned about the colors yet so I just experiment this will help so much so I don't get such crappy beads.
Thanks so much Now I have to print this off to have at the torch.

gubnavnania · #8 2007-12-21, 3:19pm

Thank you for starting this thread

ellyloo · #9 2007-12-21, 3:39pm

I mixed opal yellow together with ivory (thinking buttermilk streaks...) and got a great 'organic'.

hummingbird3172 · #10 2007-12-21, 4:08pm

Pretty bead, Elly-loo!

Heather, that may be the best explanation that I've ever seen!

EDP can actually make a bead have an even more of an organic flair BECAUSE it devitrifies...sometimes it is fun to just let it do what it wants.

ekkc · #11 2007-12-21, 4:22pm

Wow! Heather, thanks so much for all that information about colors. It is going to really help me out!

Toni Lutman · #12 2007-12-21, 4:38pm

OK, I have a question for you all. I've always considered my beads to be "organic". Many of them are obviously organic (at least to me), but there are some that I'm not sure if others would agree. Many use reactive glasses, but not all. Many are fairly brightly colored. It won't bother me at all if anyone disagrees, I'm just really curious. If you don't consider them to be "organic", what would you call them?

I haven't actually posted any in ages, so here are just a few examples.

Sorry to hijack the thread a bit, but I've wondered about this many times.

Firebrand Beads · #13 2007-12-21, 4:54pm

I think in the old days, "organic" might have referred more to colors than style. I remember when we called the borosilicate beads "organic" looking because of the caramel and other earthy colors that came from fuming; plus the reactiveness of that glass that was not exactly "controlled". The soft-glass candy-colored beads always stood in stark contrast, partly because of the palette, and partly because so many of the early beadmakers did dots and flowers and other fairly balanced, or repeated, patterns. But that was then, this is now: boro now comes in bright candy colors, and we have all kinds of new reactive "organic" looking soft-glass. I think your beads look very organic, Toni, (and pretty BTW) because of the perception of randomness -- even if you planned every one of your lines or dots. ~Jenny

mnoelker · #14 2007-12-21, 5:24pm

Toni-Organic and stunning.

prairieson · #15 2007-12-21, 5:59pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by olivia

what does organic bead mean????
thanks
Olivia

still learning --i hope

Tink and I used to teach an organic techniques class, which I affectionately subtitled "Symmetry is Highly Overrated". As in the statement, "It's not wonky, it's... organic."

Heheheh.

Karen Hardy · #16 2007-12-21, 10:28pm

Heather - EXCELLENT info on glass!
I'm printing that out for ref.
I always get them mixed up in my head (which colors get along with others).

olivia · #17 2007-12-21, 10:56pm

thank you thank you
i am just learning and all of this really helps
Olivia

Kevan · #18 2007-12-21, 11:01pm

Toni, I have the same question about my beads like this. I think of them more of a "fusion" bead, not a true organic or a..I'm not sure what non organic beads are called....designed bead? I love your beads no matter what people call them!

Lisa · #19 2007-12-21, 11:24pm

Okay, beyond totally gorgeous beads and all, Toni, totally organic, with kick ass high heels.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toni Lutman

Kevan, organic/fusion with SPIKE high heels.

olivia · #20 2007-12-22, 11:55am

thanks again
Olivia

josielv · #21 2007-12-22, 12:31pm

ok i insist that you send those all to me for immediate up close and personal inspection for true organicness!!!!! Hee heeeeeeeeee
Kevan Toni and Ellyloo, your beadies rock ladies!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am lucky enough to own one of Toni's beads and they are fabulous!!!!!!!!!

Kevan · #22 2007-12-22, 12:37pm

I would kill for one of Toni's beads.

Seriously. Where do you live, Josie.

josielv · #23 2007-12-22, 1:18pm

Bwaaahhaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaa Way out in the Alaskan bush, come and get me!!!!!!!!!!! Make sure and bring some beads with ya though!!!!!!!

beadysam · #24 2007-12-22, 3:58pm

For me organic beads are bead that look like they have evolved naturally, like something from nature, stone/rock, earth, landscapes, seas etc
Toni and Kevan I'd think tend to describe your beads as 'created in an organic style, inspired by nature'

Toni Lutman · #25 2007-12-22, 5:12pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firebrand Beads

...perception of randomness.

~Jenny

I think this is my favorite description ever of what I try to do! Really, very few of my beads are truly random mixtures of glass. The trick for me is finding the right balance of design and negative space.

And thanks everyone else for the comments. I often see people asking about organics, and I think my idea of what they are has changed over time. For me, it used to be about color. Now it's much more.

Toni Lutman · #26 2007-12-22, 5:13pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevan

I would kill for one of Toni's beads.

Seriously. Where do you live, Josie.

Wait a minute Kevan! Please leave her alone. I need all the support I can get!

Is your address in the RAOGK list current? I'll see if I have something around here I can send you.

Kevan · #27 2007-12-22, 5:21pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toni Lutman

Wait a minute Kevan! Please leave her alone. I need all the support I can get!

Is your address in the RAOGK list current? I'll see if I have something around here I can send you.

Yes! OMG!! Oh, oh....peeing in my pants here. Wanna trade?

Toni Lutman · #28 2007-12-22, 7:34pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevan

Yes! OMG!! Oh, oh....peeing in my pants here. Wanna trade?

heh. Better wait to see it before any peeing is done.

And yes! I'd love to trade! My address is in the RAOGK too. Just be warned, I don't plan on going out into the world again till after Christmas, so it won't get mailed for a few days. There's crazies out there! Ack!

Sorry Olivia, no more hijacking.

Kevan · #29 2007-12-23, 3:26am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toni Lutman

heh. Better wait to see it before any peeing is done.

And yes! I'd love to trade! My address is in the RAOGK too. Just be warned, I don't plan on going out into the world again till after Christmas, so it won't get mailed for a few days. There's crazies out there! Ack!

Sorry Olivia, no more hijacking.

Well, me neither. lol

This is too cool. I'm as happy as a little girl.

kokeshikitten · #30 2007-12-23, 7:07am

Your beads are incredible.