When I found that bead-making only involved a torch and small kiln, I thought "I can do that!" After learning the basics, I started trying to put my own twists on the work. I admired electroformed beads, and identified with that process as another that I'd done in the lab. The first glass creations that seemed truly my own were the bird vessels, based on the miniature blown vessels I learned from Tink Martin. There was that attraction to glass blowing, but brought down to a personal scale. I started adding wings and heads and working on the bird shape, but kept the glass simple and usually sans any decoration. When I brought the electroforming in to add some surface design to the birds, I fell in love with the elegance of the pieces.
This Blue Copperhead Wren vessel was my personal favorite. The shape was balanced, the tail stopper was perfectly seamless to the line, and the frill of picot edging on the electroforming just perfectly accented the simple lines of the wings. Even now the photo gives me a little tingle. Good thing since the piece sold.
I love some of the new electroformed and painted enamel beads almost as much. It wouldn't surprise me to have one of those supplant the bird vessel as the absolute favorite, but