Chalcedony Alabastron

I wanted to call these Amphorae (I hope that is the plural of amphora!). But amphorae have handles & these don't, so technically these would be "Alabastron" or "Alabastra".
I made these back at the beginning of the month, after being inspired to actually try something "vessel like" (instead of just thinking about it) by the fabulous pieces shown by Donna Mehnert aka "Blackberrybeads" on the LE Forum.

Of course it was also a darn good excuse to practise my stringer control, exercise what I have learned about heat control by balancing the glass on the end of a mandrel &, it goes without saying that I though something ancient in style would lend itself well to further explorations with Chalcedony.

I suppose I should mention that I can't blow worth a tuppence, so hollows were out of the question & after ruining a perfectly good bead with my attempts to put handles on it way back , I have never been brave enough to try handles again. So this appealed.

These were the first few nights attempts. Right now I am working on changing the shapes & consistent design placement....so I don't have to rake the slightly misplaced stringer ;o)

The one on the top left was the first one - could you guess?



Given that I was focussed on keeping the shape & balancing the whole thing on the end of the mandrel & grabbed a stringer that was too thick for the size of the first vessel shape, I decided this was a good subject to test out how G-109 "Chalcedony" etches - so in for a bout of tumble etching it went.

Before Tumble Etching

After Tumble Etching

I like the way that Chalcedony etches. Tumble etching doesn't seem to get into the tight nooks & crannies so leaves small areas of shine, which offers a nice contrast more in keeping with how a vessel would wear & age.



I do want to thank a couple of people here. They displayed more confidence in my abilities, than I had myself! Their belief in me was what encouraged me to try.

AngelinaBeadalina the sweetheart who told me "You realise you could do that yourself" way back in April after I had drooled over her orange "Not so perfect, but perfectly irresistible" (which, by the way, is still perfect in my eye's Ang!).
More recently Hec of Seraphim Flameworks simply stated "You can do that" (factually enough for me to actually believe that I could) when I told him that is the sort of thing I would love to be able do.
Thank you, you two!