Easiest Sale Ever

I didn't even get to list these pretties!
As good fortune would have it a lovely lady purchased a set on Etsy & asked if I had anything similar. I did.... & these were they.


Just thought they needed an airing here....

"Batik Thunder"

"Detail"

Underwater World

Spring is in the air, almost! You can smell it. Can you feel it?

How Far Can I Stretch the Chalcedony....

At this point up to 80mm! Not quite the look of a sunrise though ;o)

Another week - another Sunrise

I'm usually not up in time to see the sun rise, although I wish I were every day. I'm a night owl, not a morning person. But change is afoot it seems, I think I have witnessed more sunrises this month than I have in the last 5 years!

A Request

Sometimes you forget who you biggest fans really are, those that see past the imperfections & just love your work because they think you are a clever 'Mum'.

Kids are so unconditional & see through such great eye's. Their idea of perfection isn't anything to do with symmetrical shapes, or perfect ends - their idea of perfection is because something was made for them with love, by someone they love.


Part of Gabriela's birthday request was for "one of your key beads please Mum".

A Week Since I Posted

Just been laying low & taking some 'me' time. August is somewhat frantic with two girls having Birthdays (what was I thinking!!) & probably NOT the best time to give up smoking.

However there was no best time to start smoking in the first place ;o)
Giving up is lot harder than I anticipated this time time around. In my opinion quitting smoking is like dieting....when you are not on a diet, life just goes on & you dont really think about food. You eat when you feel hungry or at meal times.

Things change drastically when you go on a diet - all you think about is food. You read packets, work out what you are allowed, how much you are allowed, calories, kilojoules, fats whatever & of course you have to plan what you are going to have for every meal. It has always seemed to me that your life revolves around food so very much more when you are dieting than when you are not. Probably has a lot to do with why I haven't consciously dieted in many years.

Giving up smoking is the same. All I think about is NOT having a cigarette. I must say - it sucks.
I really think there should be some system that wipes the brain clean of any smoking associated memories & thoughts.
Either that or I should be stuck on a Tropical Island, with no phone, no shops, no kids, no responsibilities & just an endless supply of fresh fruit, glass & my torch. Yep, that would suit me just fine.

Whine over!

Instead of a sunrise (our days have gone to overcast & rainy custard this week) - I did manage to get a shot of a great sunset.

Actually I could live just watching sunrises & sunsets...on a tropical island with my fresh fruit & glass of course.

The Problem With Bright Sunlight

Actually there isn't one - apart from when it comes to photography, particularly when it comes to photographing beads.
Specifically when it comes to photographing beads made with Gaffers Chalcedony.

I prefer not to tamper with or brighten my photo's. Something I learned some time back when a buyer complained that my colours were 'over saturated' was that you just aren't going to satisfy some people, no matter how colour correct your image is on your monitor.
I also learned that you can't even try explain to someone that it is their monitor that is displaying incorrectly, even when they mention the yellow in the bead which isn't apparent either in the bead itself or any of the photo's you have of it... not even if you refer them to the fact that the bead was listed as 'Ivory'.

Chalcedony is a whole new ball game both under studio lights & in the sunlight. If one of the colours in the glass looks right, then another will look wrong. When the blues show up well in a photo - the pinks don't & the opposite is also true.

In the sun from above - pretty good for the solid areas of pink/purple, but the blues aren't showing their true tones.

In the sun from in front & slightly above - the decent size area's of blue show correctly, the pink is a bit bright & the colours on the smaller beads just look washed out.

Out of direct sun (& the flash goes off). Blues appear correct, pinks look more purple, but at least the spacers don't look so insipid.

What is a girl to do?

My Box of Gaffer Crayons

This was an exercise in patience for me. No playing with reactions or gravity swirling & shaping of glass. I started 4 days ago & finally filled in the last 'gap' in the palette that I was able to fill today.

Quite simply I wanted a reference that showed exactly what colours the different Gaffer Opal's show when used in a bead.

Because Gaffer is a furnace glass, initially designed & formulated to be used by glass blowers, the colour charts show thinly blown shards of the super saturated colours.
This makes even the Opals appear as if they have some translucency, which they do when blown, but not in the more solid masses of glass which become a bead.

There was only one way to fix it..... I unearthed all the short ends I had left from an assortment pack of the gaffer opals & got to work on some small chunky disk beads.

This isn't even the full palette of Gaffer Opals. There are 15 colours missing.
But what a wonderful 'Box of Crayons' this is......so far ;o)

My Beads Have Become Camera Shy

Nothing I could post in the way of beads here could possibly come anywhere near the beauty of Manuela's bead.

I have to say that it has elicited gasps of amazement from all that have seen it in person so far & a few of of those that have seen it are males! That has to give you some idea of it's stunning beauty in reality.

I have been doing more of the same, Chalcedony still creeps in at least once per torch session until before I know it I have a strand of beads in the lovely stuff that has to be sorted & listed.

There are large chunky disks, round beads, donut accent beads of an average size & the itty bitty beads that get called all sorts of things when they are being cleaned.

Here are some before sorting. You can see from these images a great example of the colour ranges it is capable of.

Truly Blessed

Every once in a while something will take your breath away. A wonderful sunrise, or sunset, an unexpected vista as you turn that corner in the road, a fabulous piece of art that just speaks to you.

Yesterday I had one of those moments.

It started about ten days earlier when I commented on Manuela Wutschke's blog. I've long been a fan of Manuela's wonderful work, she is a supremely talented glass artist, but had only recently started following her blog quietly & commenting occasionally. On this particular occasion Manuela was celebrating her & giving away one of her beads....oh my!!

I couldn't believe my eye's when Manuela left a comment on my blog that I had won one of her beads.

My bead arrived in yesterdays mail. I knew from the photo on Manuela's blog that it was going to be special, but nothing (not even Manuela's fabulous photography) prepared me for the reality of what I opened.
As I slowly unwrapped the outer packaging & saw the elegant & sophisticated box & 'Business card' (a mini work of art in itself) I just knew that what I was about to see was something extremely special. I was right - that first view of it literally took my breath away.

Sitting against it's black velvet background was a work of art. To call it a 'bead' doesn't seem to give it the credit it deserves, it appeared as a rare & precious gem - yet far more beautiful than any diamond or sapphire that I have seen.
The detail & depth in it, provided by the layers & layers of glass just drew me in & I realised I was holding my breath.

I eventually picked it up & looked at the other side (two works of art on one canvas). As I let it nestle in my hand, it imparted a distinct feeling of someone who is passionate about what they do with glass. There is no other way to describe it.

Needless to say that I still really can't believe that I am the owner of this bead (although the jewelry designs started popping into my head right away) - I just keep looking at it in awe.

I tried taking some photo's outside, in order to catch the way it glitters when the sun catches it but I haven't done it anywhere near the justice it deserves, the sun has made the colours look washed out. The best photo is on Manuela's blog - here.

A pale representation of the the sight that greeted me when I opened the box.

Not small! But the detail is amazingly fine & perfectly executed.

A slightly better representation of the colours.

Manuela is not only a supremely talented artist, she is also an absolute sweetheart.
Thanks a million Manuela :o)

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.

Beads

In an effort to get a slightly different, somehow more subdued reaction out of the Gaffer Chalcedony, I tried it over a G-189 "French Vanilla" base, rolled in some G-104 "Light Tobacco" frit first. Although I didn't quite get the effect I was expecting - I actually like the way they have turned out.

Birthday

Miss 14 turned 15 today. I'm just blown away by wondering where the last 15 years have gone.
It seems that it was only days ago that the wee girl arrived ahead of time & in such a hurry. I suspect that was a precursor to letting me know just how fast the years were going to fly by.

Of course 15 is far too 'cool' to actually want to do anything much - so it was just a quiet family day. Well, it was quiet for us, because Michaela slept in for half of the day!

August Already!

My Spring countdown is going to officially begin! Only 30 more days - Yippeeeeee!
I have a lot of faith that a nice mild Spring is going to arrive on time. The last week has been bright, sunny & relatively mild so there is no reason not to have a believe it will be so.





To celebrate I have a surprise in store - I just need to get past a certain young girls 15th Birthday tomorrow.

Something to Wake Up to

What a spectacular show Mother Nature put on for the last morning of July, almost as if she was saying "not far to go now". To follow it up she also provided us with a warm mild day, one of those days that you just smile your way through because it's so good to be alive.

Something from the Maille of the House

Allan aka The Mailleman has been busy working on a wee project for himself. Can you guess what it is going to be?

I'm impressed, these rings are quite small, only 4mm (5/32") diameter in fact, and there are many of them...many many!
Did I mention they are small & that I don't know how he can see what he's doing because every time I peek over his shoulder all I see is blurry small things.

It's really quite wonderful to think where the art of linking rings, in order to form wearable items that were often protective, originated.
For that matter it is interesting to stop & think what purposes it is still being used for in providing protective items for divers, chefs & butchers. I wonder what other form of practical wear has endured, unchanged to a large extent, for this long.

While we are chattering on about old things... I rather like this.
A good insight into the English language, most of which I grew up with.

On Quoting Shakespeare

If you cannot understand my argument, and declare "It's Greek to me'', you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare;
if you act more in sorrow than in anger; if your wish is farther to the thought; if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare;
if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise -why, be that as it may, the more fool you , for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare;
if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare;
even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut tut! For goodness' sake! What the dickens! But me no buts! - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.

Bernard Levin

Carnival Twist

I'm not entirely sure whether I ruined a perfectly good bead or quietly started heading in a new direction.
I've always enjoyed the twists & raised dots on others beads, but I feel that I dont get it quite right when I attempt it.

And I thought my dots were evenly melted in s-i-g-h.
Guess who had the wrong Didy's on - the ones without her magnifying lenses.
Can you say 'stoopid'?

'Student' Update

She did good! Actually she did EXCELLENT.
Mandy's first lot of 'self paced' beads! Just a couple of pointers from me this time & off she went - determined to practice getting a round bead with dimpled ends & quite content to just use one colour.....for a while at least.

She not only managed dimpled ends & round beads very nicely, but also encased two beads pretty near perfectly.
The two deep purple beads, on the right and just about the three Nile Green beads are actually Medium Purple Transparent over Periwinkle.

I'm askeered!

I'm All Ready

willing & able for day two spent with a student. I'm even well organized....




...for goodness sake, even my marvers are labelled!




A fly by post, as she will be here in 10 minutes. I'll update later :o)

On A Roll

& loving what I'm discovering about this "non bling" silver glass.

Desert Dawn

Desert Denim

Twilight Desert

Lacking A Lap To Sit In

Hercules decides that the next best thing is the freshly laundered & folded work pants that normally cover the lap he sits in!

Jump In !

Jump In - "Things may come to those who wait . . . but only the things left by those who hustle." - Abraham Lincoln

Lose Those Expectations!

You could be amazed at what comes of it.

Desert Sunset

Think about it, as lampwork bead artists we often get sucked into the latest new release of glass. We see the pre releases of the paddles used to show us the colours & effects that can be achieved & our minds run amok with ideas & the potential of the colours that call us personally.

Perhaps while visiting the forums we stumble across images from certain artists that can make the glass sing an aria like that of a Prima Donna.

This is particularly true of the silver glasses for a lot of us. We are teased lured & tempted by their mystical, ethereal qualities & before you know it we have spent far more than we intended on the latest test batch or oddlot.

Some of them work for us & produce fantastic results instantly, & others don't. Some of them produce results that are dependant on what heat your torch setup is capable of generating, or a certain flame atmosphere & others are largely dependent on patience & skill.
Some are just very expensive (US$100.00 per pound) mistakes...or so you think at the time.

I made one of those 'mistakes' early last year. I was pretty much burned out by trying to work the silver glasses with no real appreciation of different flame atmospheres, & a lack of confidence in my ability to get anywhere near the results that others did anyway. When a new batch of oddlots came up I snapped up a few that were different to the blue-green lustre effects & raku with attitude glasses that had previously been predominant.
I played with them a few times, kind of got a colour similar to the paddle out of one test batch, but couldn't repeat the result, so I then put them aside in disgust.


You see it was all about expectation. I'd seen sample paddles that appealed & expected that I would get those results, of course conveniently forgetting that a paddle is created in a vastly different way to a bead & that, in some instances, a paddle will produce results that beads wont.

Petrified Desert

I recently looked at theses glasses in a new way, through new eyes.
Knowing what I was capable of achieving with the glasses I had purchased, & putting all expectations of getting them to look as they do in the paddles, I wondered how they would lend themselves to something more simple & earthy than the shimmer & shine normally associated with the silver glasses. I imagined them without the shine & looking more like natural stones & semi precious gems - perhaps even partially etched. With that in mind I went to the torch & played.

My "Desert" series of accent beads was born.

A Heatwave in Christchurch

Good grief a 16 degree Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) day in the middle of winter here is almost a positive heatwave.

Actually it was rather lovely (& has been so most of this week). It's nice to feel the sun on ones skin & not be rugged up in high neck clothes for a change.
OK - so it wasn't exactly t shirt weather, but it was just what I needed to put a bit of a spring in my step.

I guess that is one of the things I do like about this city, we can have a frost in the morning - but the day will be clear & bright with no heavy oppressive cloud.

The sun was enough to remind me to take the camera for a walk with me last week, I must remember to do so more often & perhaps photograph more than just the park ;o)

Had an 'Oopsy'

slipped with the packing knife...new blade. Ouch!

Of course I'm not going to admit that at the time I had glanced away & was getting lippy with the mailleman.
I'm also not going to whine about why is it that on the rare occasion that I injure myself there never any bandages or band aides in the house.


And I am certainly NOT going to mention that it's my mandrel rolling finger & I cant torch...because then I would have no excuse at all for not catching up on updating my website & Etsy.

Nuff said ;o)

Silent Offering

The Last Day of the School Holidays

I have to say that these school holidays have been an absolute dream. Mostly peaceful, apart from a few sibling altercations, & no entertainment asked for or required.
The teenager has been off doing her own thing & the pre teen aka Ms Gabriela has discovered a series of books.

She got "Twilight" out of the library & read it the week or so prior to the holidays starting.
Discovering that the second book had a waiting list & that she was number 57 on it (& over the course of 4 days she only moved up to position 56) she graciously helped around the house in an effort to earn enough to buy "New Moon" when it was on special at the beginning of the first week of the holidays. How was I to know that she would devour 608 pages, in between doing other things, within a week?

Week One

Her fix for that was to get her Dad to buy her the third in the saga, "Eclipse".

Week Two

Of course the clothing & the position has varied - marginally. But this pretty much sums up what it has been like at our place for the last 14 days.
Peaceful.....quiet....& the cheapest school holidays ever!

Then again she has almost finished the 672 pages of this one...& there is another yet to go!

Chalcedony Unplugged

Unaulteradted & unedited. No wonder I love this stuff!

I Think I'm Falling In Love

with tumble etching!
What fabulous soft satiny results. Just right for some of the more muted colours that I seem drawn too. This set I left tumbling just long enough to knock some of the shine off, without leaving a completely matte finish. I think the effect suits the warm earthy tones of ochre, ivory & brown.

Aramac Ramble Set

Did The Earth Move For you?

There I was last night, quietly minding my own business & making beads out in my Garagio (flash name for my garage based studio), when all of a sudden the earth started moving for me....or rather under me.

It was a somewhat surreal feeling, not that it's the first earthquake I have ever felt by a long shot. The fact that I was the only one in this house that felt it left me somewhat bemused!! Perhaps it was because I sit at a very level work area with my elbows resting on the table & my feet on the floor that made me more aware...who knows!

If you can imagine being completely focussed on a ball of molten glass held in a hot flame you might understand the thought process.

A subconscious awareness of movement & the thought
"hmmm, if I'm feeling this vague, I must need more coffee"....a split second before the realization of
"well heck, I'm actually moving & gently swaying, yet sitting still" which of course was closely followed by
"oh bloody hell - earthquake (how cool)".
Of course the next thought was the responsible adult thought of "I suppose I really should put this bead down & turn everything off", right as I continued to add another dollop or two of glass.

At this point I was wondering why no one inside had yelled out anything, & decided that at any second I was going to hear the crash of something falling down or such so, complete with molten bead in hand, I went across the garage, into the lounge & pretty much blurted out "can you guys feel this?".

Blank looks greet me from both the 11 year old sitting on the couch & the Mailleman standing at the bench in the kitchen.

Them: "Feel what?"

Me: "ummm - the Earthquake"

Mailleman: "no, didn't feel a thing"
11 Year Old: "Oh that will be why the blinds were swinging before"

At that point I may have rolled my eye's, & quietly given up on my family.lol!

I snuck back out to my work area & as I sat down realised that it was still going but in the throes of tailing off!

As I said perhaps it was just because of the way I was sitting....then again I have felt quakes that others haven't when I have been sitting at the computer.
Of course it all happened in a very short time & no beads were harmed in the shaking.

OK, so this is not the most beautiful bead I've ever made - but it survived some time out of the flame before being quickly finished off, & it's probably unique in as much as it was made during a New Zealand earthquake.

Yesterday Morning

saw our lowest temperature so far this winter. I didn't feel it - safely tucked inside a nice warm house (& probably a nice warm bed at the time this image was taken).

However there is always an upside to everything - even bitterly cold winter mornings when it reaches a low of -4 degress celcius.

This image was on the front of this mornings Press. Sometimes (it seems not very often these days) - I love what this city can offer.
I can almost feel a bead coming on.....



Below is part of the description as to what caused this wonderful effect.

As surface temperatures fell to below minus 4 degrees Celsius in many parts of the city, the cold air played tricks even on the air several hundred metres up. In the photograph, a gentle westerly drift draining off the Southern Alps is blowing plumes of smoke and steam from left to right, where they are largely trapped under an inversion layer, above which the air temperature rises.

However, the plume at the right is hot enough and rising quickly enough to break through the inversion.

Ang, Mallory & Sharon

this might just be the next best thing to taking a flight with Air New Zealand!
I think I could be quite good at body painting...how about you ladies? ;o)

Tabs In Chalcedony

I have so much to photograph that it's just not funny!
The thing is I don't feel like photographing anything. Actually I dont feel much like doing anything at all.....except melting more glass.

A bit of playing with a different shape in Chalcedony ;o)

Do You Love a Man in Uniform?

I do ;o)

A recent Air New Zealand commercial has some up in arms. OK - so all the 'uniforms' on the staff are body painted....




Personally I've been happily grinning away every time this commercial comes on & wondering why I wasn't travelling that day!

What Do You Get When You Combine

chocolate & child labour on a Friday night......



Oh yes! A whole delicious bunch of melt in the mouth goodness made from scratch with fresh ingredients.

Ms Gabriela made cupcakes & of course I helped eat them. They were delicious!!
Of course I should have saved one to take to work with me today for my morning tea!