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?

Water

A couple of months back I sat down to test two glass colours, or more specifically compare them. There appeared to be very little difference between in rod form so I wondered how they would differ, if at all after being in the flame.

CiM's Mermaid was a breath of fresh air to me when it was released. Looking at the sample online I just knew that it was going to be a perfect match to the only shade of 'blue' (it is really teal but slightly more on the blue side) I like to wear these days. I can never find any clothing with that particular shade in it, aside from a favorite top I purchased a few years ago, so a nice necklace & bracelet will be the perfect accessories to pull in an idea I have centring around that colour.

Somewhere along the way I got carried away in my testing, pulling out rods of glass that I thought would be a shade lighter than the previous one until I got to the palest in what I had available & then I started on the blues.I stopped before I went through my complete palette of blue glasses realising that every colour I had used was a colour that I had seen water appear. From deep freshwater springs & tropical lagoons to huge bodies of ocean & inland lakes. Put together like this it really makes one realise what an amazing element water is.

Sea & Sky

Some Things Bring a Smile

A few months back I had the privilidge of giving a couple of 'Introduction' type lessons to a student, Mandy.

I must confess that it was really a matter of her watching me for a few minutes after a bit of a pep talk, then me leaving her to discover glass for herself while staying close if she needed help.
Mandy has set herself up with a Hot Head torch & some tools....& of course the obligatory glass.

I showed some of her beads here a while back, & last week I got some more of Mandy's beads to batch anneal.

Boy was I impressed, this lady is a natural!

I'm going to miss seeing these when she gets her own kiln. It's heart warming to watch her progress, & of course wonderful to have someone to talk 'glass' with.

Mandy's Beads

Before Beads

there was sewing. Because of sewing there was patchwork & quilting. One of the patchwork patterns I purchased & never completed, featured a fertility deity that had, for many years, fascinated me - Kokopelli.
Goodness only knows why a fertility deity fascinated me, as it is not a department I have ever had any problems in & one would think that I would run as fast as I could in the opposite direction if ever I saw one!!


Anyway, with my love of all things tribal & ethnic, it should come as little surprise that I always dreamed of one day being able to put Kokopelli on a bead. Last night I made my first attempt....

Keys

For ages I have wanted to try putting some glass on keys. The only thing that stopped me was the feeling that I would be better put spending my time practising the basics.

For goodness sake, I was still struggling with getting nicely shaped, well centred beads on the bigger mandrels - what chance did I have of achieving anything remotely simialr on a key with protrusions getting in the way.

Having sourced some keys a few weeks back I finally made a start & it was much easier than I thought.

A Little Bit of Beady Colour

I've been trying to get brighter with my bead colours. While my precious stash of Stripy Coral was willing to come to the party - it's supporting act, 'Magic', was busy acting less magical & more like a spoiled diva refusing to perform.

Orange Loses it's Magic

Still I do like every other aspect of this bead ;o)

You Know You're REALLY a Lampworker

when you sit down to do your needlework & realise that you have put your Didy's with their magnifying lenses on instead of your hobby glasses.




Actually it was even worse than it sounds - not only had I walked out to the studio to pick up aforementioned Didy's, rather than pick up the hobby glasses that were sitting with my needlework - but I didn't realise my mistake until the Mailleman started laughing uncontrollably at me.

And I'd wondered why the light was strange ;o)

The perfect start to a Saturday

Latte & Eye Candy, by way of the latest Issue of the ISGB's Glass Bead magazine. Somehow the arrival of these always makes me feel somewhat less removed from the huge hub of lampworking that is the USA....& not quite so isolated way, way down here.

I saved this issue to enjoy at read & absorb properly, at leisure over the weekend. I was not disappointed!

A wonderful tutorial by Cheryl Brown from canada shows exactly how to use the "Big Hole Cross Link Mandrels" from Arrow Springs March Hot Yellow Flyer.


Now I could make these a lot more interesting & usable design wise with an extra hole for stringing.

Change is in the air

Seasonal change that is! Nights & mornings get cooler & I somehow feel cheated that summer hasn't been long enough. This week seems to have skipped Autumn & tried to get right into winter. The skies have been overcast & it has rained quite heavily some nights. I don't mind rain but I miss the bright blue skies. I loathe how this affects me, my subconscious seems to do a subtle shift & I am not as even tempered & positive as I'd like to be. It's almost as if my body wants to go into hibernation.

Fortunately there is a huge upside to this! I have a very vivid imagination & can easily conjure up images of tropical islands & warmer locations - & I frequently do. It's at this time of year that my daydreams go into full swing.... Bali & Indonesia or the Seychelles, Morocco, Egypt & Malta - or pretty much anywhere around the Mediterranean Sea.
I shall happily put the responsibility for encouraging these dreams on the head of my maternal grandfather....or 'Papa' as we called him! Born in Malta, our childhoods were filled with his tales of growing up there. Quite simply it was magical!

So with thoughts of warmer climes in my head I set to torch trying to capture, in my own naive way, the essence of some of the countries I dream of visiting.
My mind first went to Malta & the thoughts of sun warmed, age weathered limestone building, surrounded by the sea.



It didn't turn out quite as I expected - but it has a nice feel none the less.

Next my thoughts turned to the luxuriously appointed interior of a Moroccan Tent.



Once again I didn't quite capture the feel I was going for! It did remind me of something though....

My old bedroom (here stripped of all the fun accessories - because the house was going on the market). That room was my sanctuary, I put almost everything I loved into creating it ....I never failed to appreciate the sense of calm that I felt every time I entered that room.

Maybe I should call the Beads above 'essentially Deb' ;o)

Genuinely Generous #1 -Seraphim FlameWorks

truly a team of angels to the lampworking community!
Where else can you find such inspiring & exotic glassy eye candy - but on Seraphim FlameWorks Blog.

Surreal

Right back when I first started perusing the daily Show & Tell's in the Gallery on Lampwork Etc their beads would jump out at me. I can't explain exactly what it was about Seraphims beads that called to me, not easily & certainly not in a single sentence.

The wonderful slender, sleekly sophisticated elegant shapes, the depth they appear to have to them ...a subtle flow that gives the impression of movement, even though I knew they were a solid object. Elegant & Tribal aren't normally words I would use in conjunction with each other, yet the beads that Seraphim show us are all of this & more. The beads that come out of this talented studio seem to have soul - or as is listed in their Etsy Store under the materials used - 'love'. You can certainly tell there is a special ingredient in them.
The best I can do is to say that they have a certain 'je ne sais quoi'!

Lovers Point

In the spirit of truly generous & sharing though, Seraphim FlameWorks shines through. Not only does their blog showcase their outstanding beads to perfection - but they also give all of the technical information required should you wish to try something similar.

Aydin

A brief description of the bead is accompanied by the details of what glass was used for the base, which glasses were used in the twisties or shards & any dots they may have. Added to this are notes of any further facts that are important with regard to reduction & such.

Seraphim were also the first to put images of all the Double Helix test batches & odd lots in one location. Such a handy reference.

If you haven't discovered them already - take a visit to their blog & I can guarantee that even the twistie impaired among you will be frantically writing down combinations to try!

A Garden Eastward

Thank you Seraphim FlameWorks, for your gracious gift of inspiration & information & for sharing it so freely!

Africa

Mobai

Firestorm

Creative Every Day

Some of you may have noticed the "Creative Every Day" logo to the right of my Blog.



I should have shared & explained far earlier!! The wonderful Leah, a talented artist & a generous, encouraging person has a fabulous website & blog "Creative Every Day" . Here she shares what she has been doing & what has inspired her. She talks about the creative process & encourages others to take part in her "Creative Every Day" & "Art Every Month" challenges. Please click on the links & take a look around.


This is a fabulous concept & Leah's emphasis on 'low pressure' (you don't have to post every day, or even every week - it's open & it's up to you) makes it easy to take part. One of the most significant things is what Leah sees as creativity & the fact that it doesn't have to be art related. She means it in the broadest sense, including anything art related but also activities such as gardening, cooking, playing with your kids, decorating & so on.

Each month there is an optional theme to work to - February's was 'Words'. To begin with I wondered how on earth I was going to work that into my glass beads. January's theme of 'Play!' hadn't been too difficult at all - that's what I seem to do best at the torch!
I realised that I was instantly restricting myself with that thought & that typing here or writing in my journal was in fact still being creative.... so I let the thought of 'words' go for a wee while.

Later I realised that something else I had been encouraged to work on could be put to good use... to gain enough stringer control in this month to actually be able to write legibly on a bead, when I finally had that 'aha' moment. I did it!!

Getting there...

To quote Hannibal's catch phrase ( of "The A Team" .... not Lecter!!!) "I love it when a plan comes together".

Practise Practise Practise

yep - getting there! Actually I never realized just how addictive practising something over & over can become - & just how many unexpected side benefits there are to be gleaned from it.

A Break Away

from practising stringer control & time to play with some of the lovely, but challenging at times, Double Helix glasses....in this case "Triton".

"Evening Flow"

It's Been Head Down

bottom up this last week. I'm on a mission (& almost off the internet.... I did say 'almost', as I have listings & website maintenance to do), making up for time lost away from the torch during the school holidays.

I have a particular skill I want to master & the determination to do so, in part motivated by a recent challenge, is keeping me well occupied at the torch.

I do allow myself one fun 'non-challenge' bead per torch session though:

"Just Gravity"

This one is a further developing of the bead I tried at a torch session on the weekend. (seen in the post below)

Playing with glass

I have just learned that not all frit sizes are created equal when it comes to pulling & using stringer made from them!

What can have a fabulous reaction when a larger size frit is used - can really turn to custard when a smaller size is used. Still I like the contrasts of the reactions

"Kwasi"

Playing With Pink

Time to break out from the neutrals that I so seem to gravitate towards & take myself out of my comfort zone.
To me this means playing with pink - so I played....





Of course I couldn't stick to the original plan so I played some more...& fumed the poor pink to orange ;o)

Boadicea

I received the smaller copper beads in the post on Saturday, needed to finish this bracelet this weekend.
I'm not 100% thrilled with the toggle clasp - but it was all that I could get locally that was of a reasonable quality.

That aside - I love the way this bracelet has turned out, once again using early beads.
I'm hoping that someone else will love it too as I have just put it up on my website.

"Boadicea" Bracelet

I've just realised a huge drawback to shopping in person....I have no idea of the name of the gemstone rounds that I bought to work in with it!! At least with buying online you have a record of these things - sounds like a darn good reason to shop to me!!
Just as well that I'm off on a shopping trip with a friend, that will take me back to the bead store where I purchased them tomorrow, at least I can clear up the mystery.

A Recent Piece

The Colours of Tibet

I just love that Moretti 460 - Yellow Ocher. My latest lot is quite greenish, which I don't mind either, but this early bead was made out of my very first 'assortment bundle' of glass from MorettiandMore & has always been a favorite. Maybe it was my Hot Head that allowed the glass to stay a wonderful shade of yellow - who knows, as I certainly can't really recall what the colour was in rod form almost two years ago.

It never sold so last weekend I pulled the 'mini set apart & made it into a bracelet with some lava rock, carnelian rondelles & lashings of Bali silver from my precious wee hoard.

It had been my intention to use plated findings & accent beads - but upon visiting a local bead store & discovering the price of the cheap stuff was only a few cents short per bead locally, of what I had paid at the time for this silver I just couldn't bring myself to buy it.
Looking at this I am so pleased that I didn't!

Wobbly, wonky & ......

fugly?

This bead is actually quite nice in reality ....still has a wonky end, but it's actually not that bad.
It simply refuses to put it's best foot forward for the camera. Then again it could be my camera - I have a sinking feeling that the lens mechanism is wobbly & about to throw it's final tantrum.
I might try & get a better photo of it outside....