Ivory

A little playing around with some Moretti Ivory glass. I am loving the way that recent batches get the look of crazing that is often seen on old glazes. The effect is exacerbated when combined with any of the silver glasses. It also varies depending on the amount of silver glass used & how long you work it for after decorating, which makes it quite controllable too.

I needed to get in some of practise with some stringer work, as I had been letting it slip lately in favour of playing with the previously unloved silver glass that I have now found a use for.

Sunday - Skydancer

I'm quite partial to the way this bead turned out. The colours of the silver glass" Triton" are softer & slightly more ethereal than usual.
I've been browsing images of butterflies lately & in an abstract way this bead reminded me of butterflies.....

Skydancer

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"

Green Day

Green Green Glass of Home

It’s not easy being green, well at least according to Kermit it wasn’t….. & who am I to argue. I actually like frogs – so I’m not about to contradict this.

Personally I like green – I just don’t wear it, quite frankly I look like c**p in all the shades of green that I like - so I can guess how Kermit must have felt at times. … he didn’t have a choice!
Having been recently asked to make a green bead for a special gift I have been playing with all sort’s of combinations & shades…. a lot of them play nice together – some don’t (but I’m not about to show you those –lol!).

I’m rather pleased with the two pictured above – they’re on an olive green transparent base with lashings of random silver test batch glasses, identifiable only by their numbers (which I have long since forgotten) & with some wonderful Triton shards melted in…. these have gone a very cool iridescent bronze/gold.

Anyway that’s the glass content dealt with ;o)

Of course it was really all part of a cunning plan to draw you down to the Brag Book of Achievements I am proud of Part II - “Cornwall Street The House” Click on the album for the full story (don't worry it's only got a couple of photo's with people in)

Cornwall Street - The House

Have a Heart

Heart of Gold

Today was an annual increase in age event! HaPpY BiRtHdAy Me!

If you’re curious about my age – it’s 29 + tax, postage, handling & insurance…..that’d make it around 47 ;o) Cool huh?

Gotta say this much – it’s a boat load better than being 27, in oh so many ways!
When we are young & hear parents or older friends & so on say “I wish I knew then, what I know now” – we think “yeah sure you do – you just want to feel good about being OLD!”. What we don’t realise is that they do feel good about being older. It’s not so much a case of knowledge, experience, wisdom gained – although all of those have been & do matter, but rather it’s a sense of self. It’s a difficult thing to define – but you know it when you get there….many (like myself) think they are ‘there’ in their late 20’s – little realising that they have yet another decade to go.

I did have a couple of things I would have liked to celebrate my birthday doing, small things really – lining my printers tray ready for my bead display, torching & making up a very special bead into a necklace. However typical weekend life got in the way …. Including the girls squabbling over who was going to use the computer – more than once. That will keep.

So how did I celebrate? I changed my earrings – ROFL!
I kid you not – this is a big thing for me. I have a pair or earrings that quite simply I live in, as they are so comfortable yet effective. They are a second favorite pair – I lost one of my original pair a week or so after we moved into this house. I was gutted (I cried like a baby when I realised!) – so I borrowed my daughter’s plainer version, but they’re just not the same. These earrings were a special gift - & without fail at least once a week someone would comment on them.

Mum arrived fully armed & equipped for dinner – bring the main contenders (in my book anyway) of stuffing for the chicken we were roasting & Chocolate Roulade & Mandarin Mousse for desert. Calling out & wondering where I was – I called down the stairs “I’m celebrating my birthday” – don’t know what she expected when I waltzed down – perhaps a dye job or a makeover – but she laughed when I told her I had changed my earrings!

All in all it’s been a very mellow day (apart from aforementioned daughters) – I’ve spent time chatting online with a dear friend, whom I’ve promised to send some stuffing & desert & an ex workmate called & wished me Happy Birthday & we had a bit of a catch up. A nice meal, a bit of TV (& teasing of a certain cats!)& then revisiting an early birthday present that the lovely Ms M sent me a wee while ago. Here I’m showing the lovely treasure woven bracelet– but there was more, all orange :o)
Every time I look at this bracelet – Divines “Cha Cha Heels” starts playing itself in my head…. I love it! Showing my age??? Well - good!
Someone knows that orange is my favorite colour!

Ms M – check your inbox, stuffing & desert await!
Allan – next time you mumble “so what do you want for your birthday” …the answer is in this blog post ;o) ….or a dog!

Treasure Woven Birthday Bracelet

Rosebud101

Yes We Have No Banana's

Random Behaviour

Strange title for a blog post - I know, but it pretty much sums up my mood right now....strange. It's almost as if I'm in limbo - waiting for something to happen, yet knowing it's not going to. The attention span of a gnat & a distinct lack of focus (which 'could' be attributed to a lack of coffee - if only I didn't know the opposite were true), a feeling of being a bit stir crazy & just generally unsettled. Maybe it's subliminal messages from listening to an eclectic assortment of teenage music when the girls get home from school - lol!

Maybe it's just winter when I usually tend to hibernate - even though that temptation hasn't been evident this year I still know I am slowing down in accomplishing things - but then I blame that on the lack of focus. Maybe it's just the thought of an anual increase in age event - or should that be non event.

Any which way - when I came across this bead which was photographed & named last week ready to be posted to this blog (see what I mean?) - it became apparent that this 'mood' has been lingering for longer than I thought.

What's happened to all the exotic names that normally pop into my head when I look at a bead - ahh that's it, I think they are hibernating for winter.
Anyway - I think this is a rather nice bead, probably deserving of a better name than it has been given. But I'm sure it will get over it - as will I ;o)

Eye of the Dragon

"Eye of the Dragon"

This week that has flown by far too fast!! In fact I feel it should be given a ticket for excessive speed in a built up area ;o)

Going back to work for three days has left me with little time for torching & deal with other things soon ate that time up - quick smart!

A fabulous occurance came from going back to work though - so I can't get too eaten up about my lack of torch time this week.

I finally found the courage, after some gentle nudging from a friend, to post a bead in the daily Show & Tell on LampworkEtc. This is no small task - as often you find the best of the best that the international lampworking community has to offer displayed in the daily 'S&T's".

That posting resulted in my selling the bead directly to a client who came into work - one minute we were discussing the difficulty of pricing ones own work, the next she was wanting to see what I made. I showed her the thread - she spotted my bead while I was still scrolling & stopped me with a "WOW - I love that one" . When I told her that was my bead I was greeted with "I want it - it's beautiful". The rest, as they say is history - I'm just hoping it's history in the making!