Gaffer 109 - Chalcedony

There is nothing like having a new glass to play with - to chase away the "uh oh almost winter, yuk I loathe that season" blues.

Having bought a kilo of the lovely stuff I am more than happy just to play & see what it does. Usually, in the case of any striking glass, for me it is comparitively little compared to what others can get it to do. Not so with this glass!



When I first saw it I suspected that it would do work very well as shards. Unfortunately I am not much good at blowing shards.
Upon playing with it the first time I noticed that it struck extremely well where my covering was thinner. Wanting to prove my theory, I attempted making some shards with it - two words spring to mind "abysmal failure"!

None the less I layered on my "far too thin to be safe" bit's of shard. Actually I had to roll the bead in them to pick the stuff up - it was that thin that it broke if touched.

Fortunately for those of us that cant blow shards, "Knatty Dreadz" one of the members at Seraphim FlameWorks had already got it into his head to make & sell some Gaffer 109-Chalcedony shards & some pretty darn fine Murrini as well.

If you are like me & don't have any shard blowing technique to speak of, or perhaps haven't been able to get hold of any of this glass through GafferUSA or your local supplier yet, be sure to visit "KnattyDreadz Etsy Store"

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

A Fantastic Finish ... Finally

Something I tempted you with a 'teaser' of last week is finally finished. I kept the focal bead for the finished piece from view, because I wanted to share the impact of the piece as a whole.

The focal bead is, in my mind, an absolute stunner made by Hector from Seraphim FlameWorks. I believe it was the first time he had ever sacrificed one of the elegant tubes shapes that we associate with Seraphim FlameWorks to that particular form of torture, oopsy...I mean "crunch press" & boy am I pleased that he did!

"Desiree" has been sitting in my collection, & at times pocket, for just over a year....quietly just waiting for the right moment to make it's début as a wearable piece of art. I just knew this bead had every intention of telling me how it wanted to be presented ;o)
Being a wonderful crunched bead that felt so good in hand - it got a stay of execution from being incorporated into such, simply because I liked picking it up & handling it so much.

What a fabulous palette of colours this bead contains. Having a spectacular bead to design around lets ones mind run wild with visions of the possibilities. It' an absolute joy to indulge in the ultimate pleasure of letting something dictate the colours one needs to use with such a wonderful piece.....& also a really good excuse to raid carefully hoarded stashes of semi precious gems stones & silver.

I already had the carnelian, moonstone, red aventurine & some blue-green glass beads of unknown origin, but hideously expensive, that I thought just might work. But I still needed something to pull them all together, something that would compliment, but not compete with the focal bead.

A pre Christmas outing with my friend Rose resulted in us discovering a wonderful strand of Fire Agates. I didn't have the bead with me, & in fact hadn't even picked it up & fondled it in some time, but I knew instantly that they were exactly what was needed. A quick & merciless raid of my stash of silver & voilà!

Mine

This rather important looking piece doesn't have a name as yet - but as you can see from the above photo this baby is all mine! Excuse the boring black t-shirt, I know it deserves a far nicer setting. In fact when the Mailleman's son visited earlier this evening the suggestion was made that his Dad needed to take me out somewhere that required dressing up in an outfit to showcase this piece!! Nice lad!

For your own piece of Seraphim FlameWorks magic check out their Etsy Store & their eBay listings, you wont be disappointed!

Pretties I have been meaning to show

A wee bit of history:

A while ago I made the fatal 'buyer mistake' of not really letting my mind do the maths when my eye's were busy popping over the choices in AYU's special 'Bali Buy' for LE members. Being keen to fill up my somewhat empty Biagi bracelet I opted for a few choices that would help fill it quickly. My bracelet, in all reality, was a bit too big - even when I tried filling it will all the glass 'rejects' I had.

Others involved in the buy helped me save on shipping by getting my order in with theirs, so when I got emails jokingly saying "your bracelet wont be to big once these are on it" & making other references to the sizes of my choices, it didn't really concern me too much. How bad could it be?

I knew what I had chosen - & well, 15mm isn't really that big...is it?

Oh yes it is!!! What was I thinking? Usually I am pretty good at spatial perception & such, but I'd had an image in my minds eye of all my 10mm diameter spacers & went from there quietly confidant that, in general, beads for the European style bracelets tend to be a bit larger than your normal spacer.

When the Bali beads made it here - I think I just collapsed into a heap of laughter. A single glance at the smallest of them told me they were going to positively dwarf every other bead I had on my bracelet. So they just sat in their plastic bags looking pretty.
Until recently.



Fortunately, for me, the fabulously talented team of glass artisans at Seraphim FlameWorks have been producing some stunning large hole beads in a style that I am particularly attracted to. Actually I don't think I have ever seen a bead of theirs that I didn't think was beautiful - some I am just more enamoured of than others. I know full well that their beads are even better in hand than their excellent photo's portray & it never ceases to amaze me that each bead has such a fabulous depth to it, that often they seem to portray a wonderful feeling of movement, almost as if the glass is still flowing.

In particular one of the first sets of "Three Large Hole beads" that Seraphim FlameWorks listed in their Etsy Store caught my eye, or rather just seemed to call me above all others. I am indeed blessed to now be the 'keeper' & wearer of these beads.

The second I saw them I knew exactly what else would now work on my bracelet. Finally some beads that would not be overshadowed by those honking great Bali beads. This combination has drawn a lot of positive attention so far. It certainly got more than one look from the sales assistant at the Pandora counter the other day - I have to admit to feeling somewhat sorry for her, what with the very limited & very stock standard choices in Pandora's range of glass beads.

Now all I have to do is dress up the rest of my bracelet, those centre 3 big hole beads certainly deserve to be accompanied by something a bit better than my 'big hole' rejects & riff raff!!

If you are in the market for some big hole beads - be sure to check out Seraphim Flameworks' Etsy Store when they reopen on January 5th! I know I will be - I have Christmas 'loot' to spend ;o)

Still not my beads

but I needed a challenge - maybe if I show my muse that I can get along without her...she will return.
She's going to have no darn choice next week anyway.



Two of these beautiful beads (the photo does not do them the justice they are so deserving of) have been in my 'collection' for some time. The stunning bead on the left, "Mirage" by Hec of Seraphim Flameworks sat in my small display cabinet for a wee while before it was joined by the equally impressive "Dusk till Dawn" by Karin aka Bead Fairy. There were beads displayed in between the two....for quite some time.

Eventually "Deb the obtuse" got both of the beads out for some reason ...(most likely just to fondle & drool over) & had a kind of 'hmmmmm' moment when she realised how very well the colours in both went with each other. Two beads with totally different shapes & sizes - a different feel & style, yet both had an ethereal quality that I love, a feeling of depth & movement & the seed of an idea started forming in the recesses of my brain without any real awareness that it was.
There had to be some way to marry them together in a piece.

Confession time; I'm odd...no really I am odd! I don't like even numbers! To me, even numbers are formal - a grouping of two doesn't look right. Think of it - two candle sticks placed on a mantle - one either end = FORMAL. Three candle sticks place dwith two at one one & one at the other = CASUAL. Yes, odd indeed - & don't even get me started on gardening or clothing styles.

A month or so ago the triplets, in the form of 3 lovely lentils, arrived as part of the "My Favorite Bead" exchange I had participated in on Lampworketc. Made by Sue Fitzwater (Soupy on LE), the second I saw them my mind went to the other two beauties & even before I rushed out to my studio to grab the leading man & leading lady I knew the cute supporting actors were going to work.

The final details are still fermenting in my brain - I know the overall look I want - now all that is left to do is go on a world wide search for the right colour natural semi precious gems & recruit the rest of the cast!

I'm thinking rich caramels, denim blues & just a touch of dark blue....nothing faceted or indeed sparkly in any way.
Anything come to mind ladies?

Seraphim FlameWorks: Double Helix Oddlots & Test Batches

Here you will find a direct link to Seraphim's absolutely indispensible visual guide for all silver glass afficionado's.
In particular it deals with Double Helix Test Batches & Odd Lots.

Seraphim FlameWorks: Double Helix Oddlots & Test Batches

Do have a look around the rest of this extremly talented studio's blog. There is inspiration & glassy eye candy in abundance, as well as 'recipes' given for all the glass used in the twisties & any given bead.