Serena Smith, glass artist of Oregon, caught my eye on Etsy with her gently rounded feminine figure beads, all earth mothers and goddesses, and floral beads that are tiny fantastical garden gems — but I think it was really the sinuous perwinkle-blue-tailed mermaid who made me an instant fan.

Serena’s been making beads since 1991, and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1996 with a degree in glass. A member of the Oregon Glass Guild, International Society of Glass Beadmakers, Glass Art Society and Portland Bead Society, she is a self-supporting artist and craftsperson, “occasional teacher” of the fine craft of glass lampworking.

You can find images of Serena’s beads in several books and magazines, including the gorgeous1000 Glass Beads published by Lark Books — and you can find the artist herself at Serena J.A. Smith Designs. She sells her beads on Etsy at serena29.etsy.com.

The Spiegelau design team has drawn on 500 years of glass-making experience to launch its new collection of thin-as-a-whisper beer glasses.

Throughout the world, there is a fast growing range of different beers just waiting to be discovered. In order to get most out of the characteristics of beer (appearance, aroma, taste, finish) it is essential to choose the right glass.

Three styles of glasses suit the most popular brews — an elegant gift for the malt beverage connoisseur.

[H/T Luxist via Everything and Nothing ]

According to the blurb at Uncommon Goods, this delightful objet d’art is a glass cactus.

To be more precise, it’s a hand-blown glass pull for your ceiling fan in the shape of a flowering cactus.

Now, granted, my knowledge of fan pulls is only slightly more limited than my firsthand experience with desert plants — and my knowledge of explosives is shaped in large part by old reruns of Hogan’s Heroes — but, really now, ‘fess up.

Am I the only one who thinks this looks more like a hand grenade with a little pink blossom on its side?

Flower power, as it were…

I do very much like the pretty red apple fan pull made by the same Oregon glass artists. Maybe it’s a cultural thing…

Elizabeth, over at the Chic Design Cafe, got me into browsing the Christmas ornaments at West Elm — Not your Grandma’s Christmas ornaments, she says, and right on!

Venetian glass lizards for the Christmas tree, anyone?

Nothing says “Happy Holidays” like an elegant reptile…

What could be more appropriate for a piece of art work created from found objects or recycled materials, than the figure of an caretaking angel?

Some of these angels will help to feed a hungry family in a developing country.

Some will help to care for helpless animals.

Some will bring a smile, or inspire an afternoon of laughter and family crafts.

And all of these angels make good and beautiful use of materials that would otherwise be wasted.

 
 
With each lovely blue Recycled Glass Angel purchased, The Animal Rescue Site will fund 14 bowls of food for animals living in shelters. Each angel is unique, created by a recycled glass cooperative and fair-trade imported from Guatemala.

Arncraft projects from Creative Kids at Home give ideas and instructions to challenge you to create new items from recycled materials, like this CD angel, created from an unwanted compact disc.

Disabled artisans at theBombolulu Workshop near Mombasa, Kenya, are employed, housed, and educated for their work in making jewelry, like this cheerful angel pin, from recycled materials.

“Each year we dedicate a week in December to Christmas crafts and baking, says Cheri, the TNfarmgirl. “This is a time for the boys to express themselves in a variety of ways, create handcrafted presents for family and friends and learn new cooking skills.”

Through the year, the family will collects items with crafty recycling potential, then pull them out for a big family craft bash. One year, they made lightbulb angels like this little cutie. You can leave her without the self-standing feet and hook her halo onto the Christmas tree, if you prefer a hanging ornament.

Recycled metal and wood pieces, together with found objects, take a turn as the hippest of folk art in these mixed-media angels. On the left, Angel Red Lace is by Tricia Courtney of Lemon Oak Studio. On the right is Tattoo, one of Elzabeth Frank’s Tin Can Angels series in carved wood, recycled tin, acrylic, and wax.

In my travels, I’ve seen some remarkable garden-art angels made from rusty angle-iron pieces that you’d never think could look so lovely… and a mosiac stepping stone with an angel motif, made from broken bits of patterned china… and years ago, the nursery school did something with toilet paper rolls and the coloured comic pages from the newspaper…

What recycled angels have you seen and admired — or made yourself?
Tell us about it in the comments, and do feel free to leave a link if you want to share a picture!

The bee on the left is one of my own honeybees. She lives in a nice white box in my yard and flies about visiting the flowers.

Notice that the gentle honeybee, unlike wasps and hornets, won’t sting unless she absolutely has to, to help defend the hive or the honey or the queen mother bee… If a bee stings you, she will die.

But she’ll always put the well-being of the colony ahead of her own interests and safety — it’s her instinct.

Even more gentle and sweet is the bee on the right. She lives (on a black satin cord) in my jewelry box.

This is one of a pair of lampwork-glass bee beads that came as a sweet surprise from their creator, Josephine Brooks (Lampwork Art). So cute!

I had visions of using them to make a pair of glass bee earrings…
But last night I gave away the other bead.

I gave it to one of my best girlfriends, also a beekeeper, who has had a very tough year — she needed a happy little bee-beady surprise. Yes, it was hard, hard, hard to give up one-half of my two-bee treasure. No question about it — I had to struggle with a bit of natural greed before I could say “This one is for you.”

Funny how things work out:
My friend’s delight, in the end, made my own pleasure in Jo’s gift all that much greater… and I’m willing to bet there’s a Life Lesson here.

Jenifer Eadington takes her inspiration from nature, to transform stained glass into suncatcher beauties with simple strong curves and pure colours pulled from the sky, water, all elements of the landscape.

What sets these apart for me is the strength of the leading lines, finished in black patina. Not your delicate girly suncatchers, these, but a statement of confident joy.

Jenifer is among the glass artists featured in the Etsy Glass Artist’s current Buy-One-Get-One ½-off art glass sale (beads and jewelery included). Hurry, hurry — the sale’s on just until March 18th!

[Hat tip to bloominglily for word on the EtsyGlass BOGO.]

As mesmerizing as the play of sunbeams on ice, this graceful mermaid is one of my favourite pieces in the portfolio of glass artist Randy Mardrus:

“I’m a perfectionist and glass carving is a medium that is very unforgiving and will always challenge me… Depth and motion are my primary goals while creating the mood in my visual dramas…”

Handmade from start to finish, his work is more than the inspired design and meticulous carving of clear glass to create a one-of-a-kind artwork — more than simple relief carving and well beyond traditional stained-glass illuminated art. The secret of colour here lies in the specially designed lighting (hidden in the frame) that brings each piece to vibrant life. See more beauty at randymardrus.com.