Idea's Anyone?

I was blessed in on February 22nd, no doubt about it. However I have a problem that I need help in solving.

All of my 104 COE Glass survived in tact - my Gaffer Glass not so much. The reason that my 104 glass defiantly survived is because of the fact that, when I set up my storage shelves in the garage, I ran a wooden wedge underneath the bottom front of the shelves so that they leant back towards the wall. Thank goodness that I did.

The reason I did this was really just to counter balance the weight of the glass where it overhangs the front edges of the shelves being aware from past experience with any laden shelves that it can cause them to easily tip forward. I pretty much have every large piece of furniture wedged in this place, primarily because I have always found that carpet edges don't provide an even surface for furniture that is against walls to sit on & because we rent we aren't allowed to put holes in the walls....& therein lies my problem. The easy answer would be to use brackets & screws to secure shelve & cabinets making them as earthquake proof as possible.

Now that I'm as ready as I'll ever be to tackle the job of assessing the damage to the rest of my supplies in my studio area & set things up again I'm also trying to figure out how to secure the taller shelving.

Unfortunately one my taller shelves that housed my supplies of pretty much everything else glass related didn't survive the same treatment of wedging & fell over breaking & damaging a whole raft of things. I've lost frit, enamels, chemicals & bead release,  the majority of which can't be replaced locally, & even though I imagine insurance will cover most of it I'm a little reluctant to restock my shelves unless I can make things a lot more secure.

I've drawn a blank - the "no holes in the walls"policy is creating a mind blank that I can't get past as quite simply I know what I'd do if this were my house.

Does anyone have any idea's?

All Over the Show

But I don't mind too much. One day I will find my style.

In the mean time my efforts appear to be happily finding new places to go.

Hearts for Haiti

Three new hearts to go up on Etsy tonight tomorrow night.

There is so much to be done in Haiti, rebuilding of both shelter & lives is only just beginning.

Heart #17

Heart#18

Heart#19

Have a Heart for Haiti - Two More

Hearts #7 & #8 will be listed on Etsy by Saturday night.

Heart #7

Heart #8

Have a Heart for Haiti - "The Plan"

Monday I spent checking out all of the charity organizations that will be active in Haiti. Not as easy as you may think. I wanted a Christian based charity, one that was global, one that had an established presence in Haiti &, of course, one that you could specifically tag donations to go to Haiti.

I chose World Vision as it was important to me to have an agency that already has a team in Haiti ready to act now. That is what the people there need, immediate help & support.
World Vision has had a presence in the region for 30 years & already have 800 staff there, 18.1 metric tonnes of supplies due, hopefully landed by now and more of their global emergency relief team are on the way.

My plan is to list at least one heart per day. Ultimately I would like to make (& hopefully sell) two hearts per day until at least the end of the first week in February.
100% (after the Etsy/Paypal fees) of the profit will go to World Vision. I'll make the donation to World Vision once a week. Postage will be the cost of the shipping with no charge for packaging etc.
I've tried to calculate the price of the beads so that World Vision will end up getting a minimum of US$15.00, after the fees, per bead sold.

I will show a running total of the beads sold, amount raised & donated so far in my Etsy Shop Announcement, my Website & here on my Blog.

Without further ado - Bead #2

Paua Paradise

Paua Paradise

Firestorm

Firestorm

Sublime Illusion

Sublime Illusion

Gaffer's Chalcedony Glasses

I'm grateful. I find it impossible not to get colour from Chalcedony & I know that I am fortunate in that. It doesn't matter whether I use a high oxy flame, neutral flame or a reduction flame, the colour just seems to want to come.

When I compare these to my early results, which I might add I was pretty darned pleased with at the time, I can see that perseverance has paid off. I guess that it takes a glass like this to encourage one to really learn their torch & the way different glasses behave in different flame atmospheres.

A twistie bead made in G-1095 Blue Chalcedony

G-109 Chalcedony - Beautiful Autumn Colours.

The G-1095 Blue Chalcedony etched.

Suprise.....

I promise that I won't swamp you with this glass (well, I shall try very hard not to anyway).
A couple more images of the Blue Chalcedony test beads. The best of them are on their way up to Gaffer Glass on Monday & I shall start working on what else I can do with this wondrous stuff.

My first set of spacers made with it came out of the kiln before work this morning & I am well pleased with them. In a spacer size bead the difference between the first of Gaffers 'Chalcedony' glasses, G-109 & this G-1095 is there, but more subtle than on a bigger bead.

I'll try to get decent photo's of them when I produce something else 'show worthy'.
Lets face it - I'd far rather be playing with the glass itself, than trying to take decent photos of the stuff ;o)

What I can tell you is that using both Chalcedony's together produces some wonderful results!

A New Day , A New Glass - Blue Chalcedony

For over 3 weeks now I have been sitting on my hands & trying to conceal my excitement about testing Gaffers new G-1095 - to be known as "Blue Chalcedony".

It all started with the arrival of a few different labelled rods for me to test to see what colours would bloom from them in the flame.
Gaffer, with their usual high standards are ever mindful of being able to produce a glass that they can replicate exactly from batch to batch. The five test batches were narrowed down to one that immediately outshone the rest, then tested against their master glass for compatibility before production of a full batch commenced.....


Meet G-1095 - Blue Chalcedony



Just to show what it looks like stacked up against it's 'big brother', & the forerunner in Gaffers "Chalcedony" glasses



In the middle row are some encased G-1095 beads and beads made using both G-109 as a base & G-1095 as decoration in various forms. Believe me they play very nicely together!!


You are going to love this wonderful glass - I already do!

I'll talk a bit about working it a little later :o)

Chalcedony Unplugged

Unaulteradted & unedited. No wonder I love this stuff!

It's Chalcedony Jim, but not as we know it

I played - & I wasn't kidding when I responded to Mallory's comment in the post below.
I had tried to recreate the effect of pleated green & the wisps of misty gold using Chalcedony.

I'd figured that with the help of Gaffer's Lime Green Aventurine - I could almost get the effect I was looking for. I know only too well how that aventurine spreads...& spreads.....& spreads.
The first attempt I restrained it aby laying the clear on top of the Lime Green Aventurine stringers to early, preventing it spreading enough to get the effect I was looking for.




Of course I managed to strike the end of the bead to a brilliant purple - right when I was trying not to!




The second attempt however I used a chalcedony base, applied the Lime Aventurine (in very thin stringers form), encased the whole lot in clear & then just gravity shaped it along the mandrel. I managed to get closer to the effect I was looking for.

Just Playing

or, to be honest, finally getting the backlog photographed & listed.

You can tell by the names that while my head is in the stars - my body is pretending it's in the Greek Islands....

Pavonis

Elasa

Alimia

Gaffer Chalcedony #2 frit.

More beads made with Gaffer Chalcedony #2 frit.

Part of this wee group is already winging it's way to Mona & the Gaffer Girls at Gaffer Glass USA.

G-109 size 2 frit beads.

After a long search

I finally (& inadvertently) find a backdrop that makes the chalcedony beads just pop!

Great colour & wonderful light absorption resulting in crystal clear eadges on the bead with no pesky reflection.

Of course the downside is that it sheds, is tempramental, knocks things over & moves right when you have everything set up & about to depress that shutter button.

I guess the search is still on ....

Do You Wig Wag?

My first attempt at a wig-wag (some call them switchback canes), the alternative to a twistie....& might I add a tad more difficult to achieve.




From where I'm looking - they can only get better ;o)
This is going to take some practise!!

Some Days

even when it is rainy & freezing cold, & you are feeling very sorry for yourself because you are just so not a cold appreciating type of person - something happens to warm up every cell in your body.

Last Thursday was one of those days for me.

A couple of weeks earlier, my friend Rose had come up for the day to stock up on supplies for her wonderful jewellery designs. Lucky me, because she started her stock up with my beads. In the course of her looking at some of the Chalcedony beads 'up close & personal' I had shown her a few of the earlier ones, where I was more interested in getting some colour of of my new favourite glass than paying too much attention to great shaping, perfect ends & such.
Technically they were 'seconds', but each had something to recommend them....perhaps I was emotionally attached, but those I was keeping.

Having mentioned this to Rose, she suggested I give them to her & she would make me something. Oh yeah - that really appealed!

Rose asked what I would sort of design I would like. Being really helpful I said "a necklace", even though I knew she wanted a bit more to go on than that.

I am very aware of how easy it is to compromise a designer/artist of any sort by providing a set criteria. Having been on the other side of it I know how it can inhibit a persons creativity when they have to many 'guidelines' to follow.

I eventually said "make it asymmetrical, edgy & longish". But the main reason is that I was happy to provide minimal idea's of my own is that Rose was going to be the designer of this necklace - not I.
For me it was a no brainer, I like Roses work & I always like designs made by other people more than those I make myself. Perhaps my idea's are too fixed & I'm not flexible enough to compromise, who knows. Or perhaps I just prefer the sentiment behind things that have been made by someone else with me in mind.

Any which way, it paid off.... & then some!
When I unwrapped the parcel I almost cried.lol! Beautifully packaged, I unwrapped layer after layer of paper, tissue & padding to see a necklace that was simply perfect. You see it had no choice but to be perfect - aside from my loose guidelines of what I would like I had no expectations. I hadn't formulated any idea's in my mind of what I would do if it were me, or how I would like to see those beads presented.
This was the "asymmetrical, edgy & longish" & so very much more.

I put it on & there it stayed all day....& the next day.... & Saturday when I wore it to work.

Chalcedony Beads & Gunmetal Findings - Designer: Rose Patterson

Thank you Rose!
(& I will get a better photo of this)

Working with G109 - Chalcedony

There is nothing worse than wanting to make a small spacer bead out of a striking glass & managing to lose the colours.
This is 'pretty much' the way I work the Gaffer G109 - Chalcedony in all of my beads, big & small. It's just with smaller spacer beads you have to be more careful about how hot you get it before the whole heap of glass drops off of the mandrel - or loses shape beyond repair.

I watched once, as a larger 'beige' over struck bead regained some wonderful shades of blue while I was gently reheating an end in order to touch up the shaping. "A-Ha!"

You do get more intense results colour wise if you work really hot, you also get a lot more veining & a more mottled effect in the surface glass. However it is not necessary to work it white hot in order to get colour.
Work it cooler, strike it gently & you will get the smoother, creamy looking finish with subtler colouring.

So, in brief, here it is:

• 1. Get the glass on the bead. There is no need to rush it.

• 2. You can see that by the time it is on there the glass at the outside edges has started to strike already.

• 3. At this point I turn my flame down & work in closer to the torch face & just get the glass to a glowing orange.

• 4. I take the bead out of the flame & let it cool until all glow is gone - checking it somewhere out of the direct light in order to detect this. Under the work bench works well. Then, with the flame turned back up to normal I introduce the bead back into it & strike it.

• 5. Back into a smaller flame & repeat the process.

• 6. After the second strike cycle.

• 7.Once you have the transparent brown 'bloom' showing - it will strike mostly to purple & pink tones. Further heat/cool/ strike cycles will take it back to the transparent brown & then back to purples again. This bead was re-struck as it had lost colour on the sides.

• 8.The bead went through two further strike cycles after the photo on the left (4 strike cycles in all) at no stage getting it white hot or molten enough to move.

The outside that appears brown in the photo is actually purple right through the middle.
I would just like to note that all of the photo's apart from cropping, resizing & montaging together are untouched & unedited.

The test bead below on, the other hand, went through many more strike cycles using this method, or rather one side of it did.
Using straight G109 I got the bead basic onto the mandrel & worked on shaping it. It started as a roundish glob of glass. I heated & marvered it until I had a small tube shaped bead about 36mm long & had lost most of it's colour.
The right hand side of this bead went through two strike cycles. The left hand side I continued striking until it had lost colour & then I worked on slowly striking it until I got colour back ;o)

A Little Burnt Out

That what this bead was, before I gave it some nice hot TLC in the flame. I thought that I had lost all colour in the Chalcedony glass, but treated right, back it came.
Amazing, resilient glass this stuff.

"No Mystery" - G109 Chalcedony.

To be honest I think I'm a little burnt out too. I've been burning the candle at both ends this week trying to get a whole heap done, in between the kids & workshops & trying to get my website updated in the wee small hours. Wonder if a long slow bathe in the flame will make my colours pop!

Of course I'd like to say that I'm going to take it nice & slow over the weekend. But with work tomorrow & Mothers Day on Sunday - I know that isn't going to happen ;o)