This bead is a reminder of a favorite trip of mine...three weeks on a dive boat off the outer islands of Papua New Guinea.  The reefs of the Coral Sea are stunning, as are the underwater denizens.  The colorful fish murrini are by Jackie Gundelfinger and swim on a base of reduced and encased Double Helix glass.  This was a fun bead to make, as it was made for this challenge with no stress involved, unlike packing for that trip...the bane of all travel for me.

~Lee Woodburn~

Travel is exploration, transformation, and expansion. It is opening your heart and soul to new experiences. The essence of the Mermaid captures my feelings of that fresh magic that is available if you open your eyes and look. The sense of wonder in the world. Travel reminds us to be present wherever we are, to appreciate the surroundings and be one with the world.

~ Marcia Brown~

The heart shape is one of my favorites; when I create my glass hearts, something in me relaxes and “goes with the flow”. These three hearts are inspired by my travels and dives in the Caribbean area. The colors of the Caribbean Ocean enchanted me with its sea beds of exceptional beauty. The Moretti Effetre glass that I use to create them allows me to reproduce vibrant and realistic colorful effects. From left to right: Honduras-Roatan, Belize-Blue Hole, Mexico-Cozumel.

~Francesca Bortolaso~

Traveling exposes us to beauty we may not see otherwise. While visiting Thailand I noticed the lovely blue and white pottery in the lobby of the health spa Alexx Cheng likes to introduce people to when they are in Chiang Mai. Pottery has always been one of my favorite souvenirs to bring home. I have pieces from Thailand, Japan and Korea. The blue and white captivates me.

~Cindy Gillick~

When I travel, I usually drive. That way I don’t have to be picky with what I bring! When I must travel by plane, it’s always a struggle not to over-pack my poor suitcase. A little glass suitcase is what came to mind immediately for this challenge! This little suitcase is made in Dark Periwinkle blue, with Metallic Black edges and Dark Brown handles. The extender handle is made with a piece of Kanthal wire.

~Laura Simone~

Here I used a purple rose frit over a base color and dichro, all encased in clear all around and twirled with a dichro stringer for a bit of sparkle in the center. The frit struck into different shades of purple.

~Mirela Popovici~

A small oval box created with numerous shades of blue and celadon frit from Bulls Eye glass. Waves of motion.

~Carol Savage~

I like how the subtleness of this color shifting frit contrasts with the sparkle of the silver dichro.

~Ann Conlin~

Here is a photo of a stingray that I made using frit. I have made a lot of these over the years, but have given most of them away. The underside has “protective coloration” - a lighter color characteristic of rays. Sometimes I apply the frit before I stretch into the final shape, which is a really cool effect. I make them with a tail of either leather or chain, never glass, depending on how I want to make it into a pendant.

~Susan Oltman~

I love using frit in my beads!!!

I have been making beads for about 30 years. I was a long time member of the Mid Atlantic & Fire Birds chapters of the ISGB.

The beads I make with frit remind me of vintage glass beads. Frit also provides an organic quality to my work.

This design I am submitting is called my pendulum pendants.

~Katy Stidly~

I strive to make colorful beads that represent the joy I experience when making them.

~VM Thompson~

After many years of making jewelry with purchased beads, I finally had the opportunity to learn flameworking three years ago. A primary theme of my bead making is color. I enjoy using glass in every shade imaginable. Many of my pieces are sculpted animals and flowers while others feature abstract swirls and dots on dots. Above all I hope to bring joy to people with my beads.

~Nicole Powers~

My frit bead happens to be several beads… The beads in this piece are Effetre Lapis Cobalt Pastel base with Reichenbach Raku frit and deep black lines, raked with a glass pick. (Plus a few Lori Riley murrini chips!) I love the look of Raku frit and use it often on lapis for a "starry night" look. Frit adds a little bit of controlled chaos into a bead that I always find fascinating!

~Laura Simone~

Bullseye frit, handmade glass mosaic, silver brooch frame.

~Kathryn Wardill~

Glass is my medium for expression, and frit is my paint. Using layers of frit and powder in varying sizes, I create imagery inspired by personal experiences and the natural world. Through the kiln-firing process, these particles interact, flow, and transform, producing visual effects that are both intentional and unexpected. The vibrant colors and unique qualities of frit allow me to capture moments of joy, serenity, and connection while exploring the expressive possibilities of glass.

~Helen Kovacs~

Delightedly fascinated with dichroic frit, I have been exploring the wonderful world of dichroic extract, with layers of encasement and murrini. Created with Italian COE 104 glass, these beads measure 5/8" diameter with a 1/16” hole size.

~Esther Clark~

These are two of the ways that I enjoy using frit: The bead on the bottom shows it used as a background that is encased in clear, all set for a floral with a CZ. The bead on the top is a mix of a Val Cox Frit recipe where I mixed in goldstone, set it on a base of clear, and then encased it in clear.

~Nina Dusedau~

Here is my bead pendant, “Dreaming of Autumn”. Pumpkins are often seen in the glass world and I remain enchanted by them, despite their common appearance. I think for many of us who become lovers of glass, both as collectors and makers, this humble gourd is the gateway into a world of beauty and possibility. Autumn is a season for gathering and reflecting, both properties of glass. For many of us, Halloween is a time remembered with fondness and excitement.

~Arleen Miller~

Hi I have been a bead maker for over 25 years. I love making everything glass. I was asked to make a bespoke jewelry set for someone’s nephew’s wedding. So I had a picture of the person’s dress and I set about making my own matching frit.  I have included the “fritting process”.

~Cheryl Brown~

These beads were made with stringer pulled from this frit. I like the streaky interesting effect it made and will try some other color combinations. Thanks as always for the inspirations.

~Jackie Marr~

“The Orchard” -- This bead has many layers of frit, gold leaf and more frit.  The tree cane was made using multiple layers of frit and the leaves are a lot more frit.  Only the murrini flower has none.

~Lee Woodburn~

This is my submission for the frit challenge. A selection of blown hollows, some with surface decorations made with frit dragged and manipulated with a tungsten pick. These challenges are fun, thank you and bright blessings.

~Linda Wilson~

Margo Knight taught a class on making a paint brush out of white glass dipped in frit and pulled. I used my frit paintbrushes to recreate a Mulranny Ireland landscape.

~Judy Hannan~

I enjoy making this style of beads. They are often hollow. I start by making a round bead with a Bullseye opalescent green. I first add medium to large frit. I then add lines, murrini, and dots.

~Inge von Roos~

My beads are not too challenging. But I had some made and thought I would submit. I use up broken rods this way. Heat up and roll in your favorite frit!

~Paula De Rienzo~

Geo Bead: This bead was inspired by incorporating metals in beads, and combining with frit. Silver leaf was melted into the base rod before adding frit and fine silver wire. The result is a geological specimen.

~Leigh Ann Ubanavage~

I love the look of Double Helix Elektra over ivory and sandstone and to my surprise, I had a bag of DH Elektra Frit!  These are two hollow beads with DH Elektra Frit over Effetre Sandstone, along with two spacers of Effetre light aqua, with reduced DH Elektra Frit on the surface.

~Susan Otto-Bain~

The challenge was simple: take this color and make a bead.

The assigned color, Cloud Dancer, is a warm off-white that is difficult to sustain in glass. Heat, layering, and cooling continually shift its tone toward chalk, ivory, or grey. This bead reflects repeated attempts to interpret both the literal name and the visual quality of the color. With repetition, the tones became lighter — but ultimately, the dancer became tired. My sculptural work is inspired by Marcy Lamberson, Jeri Warhaftig, and Joy Munshower.

~Alicia Felton~

I started playing with glass in 2008 to fill my time as I followed my husband’s job to The Netherlands and later the Middle East. I’ve taken classes here and there. These days I’m mostly enjoying experimenting with what the glass will do. This bead is multi layers, clouds, dancing in the sky over the mountains. I interspersed layers of color with transparent glass to create a 3D  impressionist effect.

~Char Coyle~

This is a heron bead made with a Double Helix opal white. I like the slight translucency it gives.

~Erin Morris~

Snow seemed like the perfect way to use cloud white!

~Karyn Sweezy~

I found it hard at first to feel inspired by “Cloud Dancer White” for creating a bead. I tried to think around the lack of color and focus on the way that opaque glass can cast shadows when layered. My bead has a core of white, a thick double layer of clear, and spiraling thick stringer patterns of white on the surface, that cast shadows through the clear layer and onto the opaque core.

~Laura Simone~

I love the interplay of light, color, and form that emerges from glass. I strive to explore the balance between control and spontaneity, allowing the glass to express its inherent qualities while shaping it into beads. 

~Sarah Stern~

This is an 11mm white round bead with a swirl of clear wrapped around it.  A simple, classy, dainty bead with strength, texture and style!

~Wendy Lerch~

This bead was made using Bullseye glass. The cloud dancer base color is Bullseye French Vanilla. I wrapped thick bands of clear stringer around the cloud dancer bead and melted it in. I then pressed it and added more clear before adding the flower.

~Inge von Roos~

This bead represents the theme of Pantone Cloud Dancer with its inner shimmer, opalescence and pearly shine.

~Deb Cox~

From the time I could walk and talk, I wanted to create beautiful handmade things. While on a family vacation in 2006, I thought it would be fun to take a beginner's lamp work class and from my first completed bead, I was hooked. Although mainly self taught, it has been the guidance and instruction of the online lamp work community that inspire me to experiment and refine my skills.

~Darlene Collette~

This is my rainbow cloud dancer bead over a pillow of a frosty cloud, all the colors decompose to form a rainbow and gather together in this bead.

~Mierla Popovici~

This trio of white seashells was made for the ISGB's Creativity Challenge featuring Pantone's Cloud Dancer color. I used a few different techniques to add visual and tactile interest and complexity.  Two of the shells featured fluted edges for movement and have a transparent clear and white cane to give us a variation from a flat white surface.  They've all been acid etched for that lovely velvety feel and look of the matte glass.

~Marcy Lamberson~

Pantone’s color of the year is a tough one, but anyone who has tried to paint a room “white” knows the spectrum of colors it entails.  My blown hollow beads here are made with CIM Cirrus, enhanced by blue and pink flowers like a morning sunrise.

~Carol Personte~

Here’s my entry for this month’s Pantone color of the year bead challenge. This polar bear is the color of a cloud and is dancing. I gave him a joyful expression with use of my greedy grabbers! He only has one hole, made on the end of a mandrel and will make his home in a plant.

~Sue Oltman~

Clouds, birds and butterflies... thoughts of a summer's day. A little collection of a blown hollow bird and beads, and mandrel made beads with cloud bases and trailed with transparent pastels and a few inclusions of copper sheet butterfly and dragonfly, and an occasional bit of murrini. Happy days…

~Linda Wilson~

I took this challenge quite literally. Not only using the color Cloud Dancer, but the cloud shapes as well. The glass is Effetre Clear with White Thomson Enamel. I then etched the beads to soften the look. Fun challenge! 

~Jennifer Geldard~

This seahorse was inspired by a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I incorporated a twisty to produce the texture of a seahorse in COE104 glasses.

~Emily Atwater~

I found Cirrus and Dirty Laundry to be a nice way to put a light behind Lori Riley dichro on clear. They made the dichro glow. It was hard for me not to add bold colors but I’m happy with these results. One never knows  what will be learned in a challenge but that’s why challenges are fun.

~Jackie Marr~

I took a spontaneous 3-hour class in Murano during the Venice glass week with Maestro Aldo Boscolo "Goblets in softgass.” This is what I made when I was back home at the torch.

~Petra Pepper~

Class with Frank Scott called "Welcome to the Flower Garden".  Frank taught a variety of floral-style beads, including his lapped Botanical Geode bead.  We learned multiple techniques including creating and applying flat leaf cane and floral cane, and Japanese flower beads which involve applying and blooming floral murrini.  The geode bead was coldworked on a flat lap to open the "window" into the bead.

~Wendy Conant~

I make mostly Beads of Courage donation beads. One of my favorites is face beads, inspired by a Bead Camp class with Sharon Peters (I don't recall it having a name). She is a wonderful instructor, and made the class lots of fun too!

~Eileen Robbins~

I took the ISGB reverse vitreous enameling class with Bronwen Heilmen. We used liquid enamel to paint on glass tiles and the creative quite large beads using the fired tiles. Great class!

~Carolyn Ferrell~

My name is Mirela Popovici and my favorite class was the Clio Masterclass by Hillary Lawson. Not only did I fight my fear of the precious double helix glass Clio, but learned how to use this technique with other double helix glass as well and combine them. A happy accident was cutting into a reduced circle and plunging it to create sunken flowers, while keeping the reaction.

~Mirela Popovici~

Dori Dadgar is a young flame working artist located in central Arkansas. Her glass focuses on fun, whimsy, and all things color. Glass fish, one of her favorite things to create, were inspired by the works of her teacher Laurie Ament in the class "Exploration of Glass Bead Making".

~Dorae Dadgar~

This is a large disk bead I made. Astrid Riedel is the amazing teacher/artist. Her class is called "Advanced Glass Bead Blowing Silver Glass and Cells". It is a large blown disk bead using her cell technique, and I combined it with her hot pink Clio technique where I get a beautiful hot pink and mirror shine Double Helix reducing glass is known for. The class was in May of this year in Murano.

~Suzy Hannabuss~

I was very fortunate to go to The Studio at The Corning Museum of Glass in August to take "Immersive Murrine" with Lucie Kovarova-Weir.  In this class, we made several smaller murrine, but our big class project was to create a human face.  I like this photo from my workbench because along with sliced face murrine canes, it shows the mouth component that was used in the construction of the face.

~Ann Conlin~

I took Ikuyo Yamanaka’s online class on blown hollow beads this year, and it inspired me to think about bead making in a different way.  I began to think more about the movement of the glass and ways to combine different types/colors of glass for more organic effects.  I have much to learn, but here is my attempt.

~Carol Personte~

I recently started back on my journey in lampworking and I’ve fallen in love with Murrine after this class. I am constantly in awe of what can be created with glass. I tried to do a bit of each technique within this flower, triangle shaped stamen, pulled cane for the first round of petals and layered on stripes of cobalt for the outer ones.

~Natalia Masopust~

This is a Kim Fields style mushroom in 104 Effetre glass. I haven't had the time to take many lampworking classes lately - mainly I've been teaching, traveling, and assisting! I did get to try my hand at a sculptural mushroom during my time as a TA for Kim Fields recent class at Corning (Kim will NOT tolerate idle hands!) She is a fantastic and meticulous teacher, and her sculptural glass is amazing!

~Laura Simone~

My entry is a borosilicate marble containing tidepool murrini created in my 2025 class with Kevin O'Grady. The focus of the class was creating borosilicate canes composed of color layers surrounding a clear core, which simulates the colors and structure of undersea reef animals. Individual canes were then stretched out and, in some cases, assembled into complex groupings of four to forty canes. We then included slices of the various canes into marbles and jewelry.

~Steve Bay~

Last month I took a class from Frank Miguletz at Beadmaker’s Bench studio in Berlin, Germany. Frank was an excellent teacher and the owner of the studio, Maike, was great too. I’ve been practicing his “Lexi beads”. They are made in layers and cut in with a knife. I’m getting better, but I still need more practice.

~Inge Von Roos~

Bronwen Heilman’s "Reverse Vitreous Enamel Painting" class was a great opportunity to combine my love of painting with my love of flameworking.  This bead started as a slide of 104 coe clear glass.  The design was carefully reverse painted, layer by layer, with enamels on the surface.  Each layer was fused in the kiln before adding the next colour.  The finished slide was then carefully melted in the flame onto a lampwork bead base.

~Susan Otto-Bain~

The MVLBA chapter had Laura Simone come and teach her awesome class in Painted Beads. These beads are from all the members of the class, "Hand Painted Imagery with Glassline Paints on Lampwork Beads" with Laura Simone. Beads by (Top & left group) Jackie Andrews, Multicolored Lines = Laura's experiment with Thompson Enamel  Glass Painting Powders, Janet Thurman, Lisa Inglert, Rachel Goetz, Pat Westby, Carolyn Harman and Marti Meratla.

~Miami Valley Lampworkers Bead Artists 

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