Freaky Friday - Take #5

Freaky Friday, everything went my way ;o) <--- That was a slight twist on Aqua's lyrics!! Also it's pretty much how I feel right now.
This week Mallory & my "Freaky Friday" Challenge was Totems & I have got to say that I had THE most fun with this.
I got rather carried away though, inspired by the piece of driftwood I had found & a recently made bead featuring DSP, enamel & silver foil that didn't turn out quite as expected, but had some wonderful effects none the less, I ploughed ahead having decided to work around those two initial components.

As I tried to work in some extra bit's of colour in with the DSP/Enamel/Foil combo I realised that base wanted to swallow the colour, so I decided to make a somewhat plainer base bead & use the desired colors on that.

While making the bead I accidentally got sidetracked & ended up with a bead that looked rather different to what I had in mind. However, I was really happy with that bead & wanted to use that also.

From there the idea's took flight - with only one slight problem, I couldn't decide whether I wanted my totem be representative of the freedom of flight or the weightless grace of swimming.... I have a passion for both air & water. Both represent freedom to me.

My initial attempt at an owl left me somewhat disappointed, so I went on to try making a 'fluke'(I am determined not to say 'whales tail' & leave myself wide open...), inspired by one of Jodi Henry's beads that I saw way back when I first started lampworking.
I kind of overdecorated it & got the base too wide. No matter though, I just put it aside & kept on going.

My second attempt at a bird was trying a Jen Geldard style of bird (ironically the day before she released her tutorial), it resulted in a rather big baby that cracked. Thus, two totems were born!

This whole week has been a great one at the torch - I actually wanted to torch every day & it was with great happiness that I felt the idea's & inspiration flow. As Hannibal from "The A Team" used to say "I love it when a plan comes together"!

I rounded it off with a walk on the beach last night - 'cos guess who needed a second piece of driftwood.

"Neither Fish nor Fowl nor Fine Red Herring"
aka Totem #2 or is that #1?

Slightly Closer Shot.

"One Flew Over the Crackedhead's Nest"
aka Totem #1 or is that #2

Closer Shot

Keep an eye Mallory's Blog to see what she has done with this challenge & to find out what the next Freaky Friday adventure will be.

Meanwhile any one who still wants to sneak in a totem has time - I'd love to see other's ideas & hear of their adventures. This has been an enlightening exercises for me.

Oh & Thank You Ang - you are always a constant source of inspiration for encouraging one to think outside the square - whether it be with your glass sculptures or words!!

Freaky Friday Challenge... on a USA Sunday

Late again! These days sometimes I feel as if I'd be late for my own funeral.

Oh wait..... I will be!

This week Mallory had chosen "Sculptural Flowers" as the subject for the Freaky Friday Challenge. Check out her wonderful efforts here "Freaky Friday Challenge - on a New Zealand Saturday"

I have to admit that I didn't try very hard this week - it was busy & I just didn't get the chance to torch. However I did get the chance to do one of the things that has been on my wish list since long long after I started lampworking & that was to watch someone else torch!
So believe me peeps - I am not complaining!!! That in itself was a dream come true. I have always suspected that I may just have a couple of 'aha' moments when I finally got to watch someone else - & I did!

Jo & I tried to sneak in a quick torch session on Friday afternoon - but after one bead (Jo made a turtle for my daughter) my propane ran out!! Now if I had had a chance to turn on the torch the day before - I would have known this earlier & could have refilled my gas bottle. As it was it had to wait until after dinner to get refilled. So it was late Friday night here before I got to torch....and all I wanted to do was try some of the things that Jo had shown me!
I did manage to squeeze in a couple of (not very successful) semi sculpted flowers first though..

First on the list was my 'attempt' at my favorite poppy, the Oriental "Perry's White" (yum!) - well the real thing is yum anyway. What was I thinking trying to make a flower that in reality has translucent white blowzy petals - it just didn't work. Much like a flower out of water - my petals dropped!

Poopy Poppy!

Next something a bit easier - although I must admit that I had no idea what flower it was going to be ...until just now when I went to name the photo ;o)

Nasty Nasturtium

I knew there was a good reason I don't do flowers - I love them in the natural, but am happy to leave perfection to God & Mother Nature.

Now it was my turn to choose & announce this weeks challenge.....

This week the Freaky Friday Challenge is "Mixed Media Totems"

A wee while ago I came across Esty Member Julie Christie's fabulous Totems - a series of beads stacked vertically on a base of either antlers or driftwood etc. I fell in love with them!

When I was at the beach with Jo I found a nice piece of driftwood & upon seeing it the first thing Jo said was "that'd make a great base for a glass sculpture"....the next challenge was born!
So the guidelines for this challenge are:
1/ Something from nature as a base - driftwood, a gnarly piece of natural wood, an interesting rock etc
2/ At least 5 Glass beads to work in with the theme of the base
3/ Keep proportions & visual balance in mind

Boy - I'm making this tough on myself!

My Piece of Driftwood

Anyone else keen to join us on this one?

Freaky Friday Challenge... on a USA Saturday

I just had to do it....didn't I? There are many, many artists I admire & knowing that Ms M had the Jen Geldard "Ornate Series Bead Tutorial", I said c'mon Mallory gimme the brief & we'll make that our next challange....what was I thinking? I should have said "Hey Mallory - what say we take this outside the square & try base jumping instead of making beads?" - personally I think that would have been more successful! For me anyway :o(

So I planned & I selected glass & I had a nice picture of the bead printed out in front of me as a guide. Just on an hour later I had a bead that was almost like what I was looking at ready to pop into the kiln - so in it went. It was rather pretty - & it was a behemoth!! Kids than descendeded upon me - so I put off doing another bead that day. The next morning I got that solitary power consumer out of it's lonely night in the kiln( which I had remembered to turn of first - thank you!).......

There is a reason that this baby is still on the mandrel - the top is covered in crackes that will crumble into 100 pieces when I removed it - just take a look at the bigger version of this image.

Oh well, not to be deterred I embarked on another one the next night....Deb style. Got not even half way through & blew the power overload in the studio...off went the lights, the kiln & the oxycon cut out .....eeeeeeeeeeeek!!! My yells were heard in the lounge & out rushed MailleMan to the rescue!.... wearing a chainmalle cape of course :o)
Whilst I was frantically wafting the bead out of a pathetic propane only flame, he flicked the overload switch back on & back came my oxygen & light. I decided this bead was doomed - made it an organic oranate & finished it off.

I know, I know .....it's a little different. Then I figured what I thought the problem was - blue glass is unlucky! Yes, that's it - blue glass & I just don't get along. So I headed for a colour change - why hadn't I thought of that before.

OK - maybe it wasn't the blue glass after all. Possibly it was just a bad bead day, a little like a bad hair day... but not, if you know what I mean. This time the enamel went psycho & ended up places it had no right in being....& see that wonderful huge black space across the melted in stringer? That's where I managed to blow the largest chunk off the end....well, more like the bottom 1/3 of the bead.

Yep - base jumping is looking like a breeze after this challenge ;o)

These would have all been great 'bugger' beads!
Be sure to check out Rosebud101's "Ornate Series Beads" in her blog post about out "Freaky Friday Challenge"!

For now I'm off to bed - I've been at a wedding since 4pm - got home a little after 10pm & remembered I hadn't photographed the beads or done this.

Freaky Friday - Things aint going my way!

"Freaky friday, things ain’t going my way
Everything is gone, my life is a country song
Oh-oh"
Remember Aqua? In case you don't check out the song on the music player to the right

Well I swore that I would never do this, but done it I have! It's all Mallory's fault too, Freaky Friday Challenge this week is base around the word "Bugger" & I just couldn't resist giving 'bugger' the introduction it ...ummm, deserves??

But I'm suffering badly from 'kid' brain this week.
Yes, in other words it's the school holidays here (AGAIN!) & like the Egyptians in ancient times - I'm inundated. Not the by the annual flooding of the Nile to help grow my crops, sadly, but by tweenage & teenage kids... suffice to say I'm in de nile ;o).

Anyway, now that I have my computer sorta' sorted, here is part one. The beads come tomorrow & I'm ashamed to say they are nowhere near the caliber of Mallory's Freaky Friday Challenge - "Bugger Beads".

Now I don't know quite how long I shall leave this up here - I really don't want the whole word to know how dreadful I sound, with my hideous Kiwi accent.
I don't normally wear a cap! But hey, do you think I was going to do my hair just because you guys were going to see me - nah! In truth I'm trying to grow it & I'm about this far I----I from getting it all lopped off again! It looks like a bad mullet!!

And, Mallory you have no idea what a challenge this was - it is the first time ever I have deliberately let myself be videoed - let alone posted it for all to see. Oh & perhaps you can tell I had problems restraining myself to 'bugger' at times ;o)

Freaky Friday Challenge... on a USA Saturday

Yes - I know it is not Friday - but that's what Mallory & I agreed upon....& I bailed *sorry Mallory*

(I promise - next week I'll be ready by Thursday).

Now Mallory, aka Rosebud101, (or as I think of her "the Divine Ms M"!) suggested we have a personal challenge each week & we take turns in choosing. I suspect that Mallory had an ulterior motive.....
Let me put it this way - if I were a basketball team the Divine Ms M would be my #1 cheerleader & coach all rolled into one. She knows when my lampwork mojo is flagging, & when I'm stuck in a murky quagmire of not knowing where to start - friend, confidant & motivator all rolled into one ...& boy does that lady know how to get you going back on track again without you realising what she's doing until after it's done!! Sneaksy, tricksy lady - in the nicest possible way of course!!

Ok - back to the Challenge.

This challenge came about as the Divine Ms M is a tutorial ho (sorry sweety. there's no other way to put that) - we chat of what she's tried & what the results are like.
I, on the other hand, am one of these people that look at something in a bead (& many other area's of art & craft) & my mind instantly breaks it down & tries to figure how it was done & in what order. Sometimes that works, often it doesn't - usually,in the case of beads, not until I've wasted an awful lot of glass.

The worst part is that once I have mastered something - I very rarely try it again. I think it's the working through & figuring it that is the challenge to me, rather than mastering a technique to where it is as perfectly executed to the original. (I need to work on that!!)

So for the first few of our challenges - I asked Mallory, while we were talking, to briefly outline in her words how some of the tutorial beads were made & we'd see how close I could get to it.... & hey I think it's going to make her try a few more of those tutorials she has bought.

I got to chose the first one & I chose the Jennifer Geldard window beads - Here are my results

Bead #1: I pretty much followed (or tried to) the notes I'd jotted down while Mallory gave me the outline of what to do. Not the greatest shape ! I etched the outer colour & maksed the frame & window so it stayed shiny.

Bead#2: I remembered to press this time, but had issues with my 'frame' popping off because I didn't keep it hot enough - so the patch up is noticable. I gave it some shape detail & added a few raised dots.

Bead #3: With this bead I used a opalino glass as the base - talk about stiff! It didn't want to be pressed, so sort of took one a vessel shape all by itself ...I went with that & accented it! Handles would have been a good idea ;o)

Bead #4: Who needs a frame! Well to be honest my striped strener intended for the frame was way too wide - so I found an alterative use for it.

OK The Divine Ms M - your turn to choose!! Be prepared to do a good amount of hand holding & walking through ;o)

ETA: Ahhhhh.... the challenge has been 'issued' on Ms M's blog - see my post below for more information ;o)