New Jewellery

I haven't really been inspired lately to make jewellery, but I sat down at my desk and ended up with two pairs of earrings and a necklace using one of my own lampwork beads. Other than that I've been doing very little.

Last week I went to the Stitches and Craft Show at Rosehill Racecourse which was fun. Spent more money than I intended to as usual lol

I picked up some PMC (precious metal clay) to play with. I've never used it before, so I'm a tad nervous. I have added it to a lampwork vessel I made. I had broken a section of the rim off so decided to pmc around the rim, add a handle and cage the body in filigree. Will post pics of the results later.

Full Steam Ahead!

Well the last few days have been very busy for me. I have made some more glass vessels as well as bead sets. It seems as soon as I put them on my website, most of them end up sold! I keep running out of the sets.

I'm going to have to work on scheduling my time better. Make sure I'm more productive with my torching. Before now I've only been torching a couple of hours in the afternoon. But with my lampwork sales increasing I'm going to have to increase my productivity too.

I had one woman last night purchase on of my sets, and order another two. Then when I checked my emails this morning she had even added to those sets! So guess what I was doing today? Yep! Torching! lol I have most of the first set in the kiln at the moment, and wont be able to look at them til tomorrow morning.

I haven't created any jewellery at all lately. I do have an order for a pendant on a chain, with a lampwork bead but was having alot of trouble with the bead. The guy that ordered it wanted the letter 'B' on it, and I swear that has to be one of the hardest letters to write in glass! I finally got one after about 10 beads, so it's sitting on my desk waiting to be turned into the pendant.

I decided to go into the Designer Quest again on beadingforum.com.au. Basically, you have a choice between two packs of beads and findings, then make something with them while trying not to add anything if possible. The supplier of the beads and findings then picks a winner, who receives a prize. This Quests pack has ceramic beads in it, and as I hadn't used them before I thought I'd give it a go. So should be interesting. I'll be sure to post a picture after the Quest is completed.

Well... thats it for now!

Cheers!
Anne :)

Vessels

WOOHOO!! I'm happy to say that I have four whole frit vessels. Yes they survived!! I'm loving how they look. I'm very tempted to make one in each of the different frit blends that I have, and that's over 40 blends!

There's also so many different things I want to try as well with them. My only concern is if I make all these vessels, will they sell? They're not as simple to 'string' as beads are so wont appeal as much to beginner jewellery makers.

I will definitely be using some myself though, especially the ones that I just can't bare to part with lol

I'm really pleased with how I'm progressing with the shape of them, from a teardrop shape to more of an upturned genie bottle shape.

Would love to hear what you all think of these, so please feel free to leave a comment.

Cheers!
Anne :)

Noooooo!!!!

I made this hollow vessel bead yesterday and fell instantly in love with it.

Unfortunately, I broke it!! :( I was shaking the water out of it after cleaning it, and it slipped out of my hand and went crashing into the sink. The tip broke off it because I hadn't yet annealed it.

After I calmed down I thought I could probably fix it by carefully reheating and melting the broken part of the tip. But stupid me, didn't warm it enough in the flame and it cracked in half from thermal shock. So now it is completely unsavable, if that's such a word.

Oh well, such is life. I decided to have a go at making another one with the same colours, it's cooling now, so will have to post photo's later. It has less colour on it so it's not as intense, though I think it's larger in size.

I also made one in blues & greens which is cooling also.

Next time I'm cleaning them I'll have to make sure I'm more careful and have a better grip on them!

Teaching Practice Run

Well, Wednesday was a success! My guineapig, Emma, learnt how to create lampwork beads, some shaping, how to make stringer and dot placement, as well as a couple of other things. Because it was one on one teaching, we did get sidetracked at times lol

My first group class will be on the 15th September, so fingers crossed everything goes well. I'm stuck between excited and nervous lol

While I was at Chockadoo, I picked up a new lampwork press. A press is used to form shaped beads, eg lentils, pillows, etc. The one I picked up is a crunch, it basically presses the glass on just two sides and gives you a domed tab shape. You can also use it to shape beads into oval tubes.

I spent yesterday afternoon on the torch and came away with two sets of lentils, 5 beads each. Both use frit blends (crushed glass) from Glass Diversions. She has some stunning colour blends. I really need to experiment more with them. I'll pop a picture on here when they come out of the kiln.

I haven't made any jewellery lately, I seem to be in a creative slump with it at the moment. I have sketched a few designs that I want to try out, but need to learn silver soldering before I can work on them. I hate the feeling of wanting to create something, but not being able to settle and get something going.

I am working on a new business card design. Patty from Butterfly Bijoux, who I have designed for before, is starting a consulting business and has asked me to design her new business cards. Her new business is called Cachet Consulting. Cachet is a french word meaning "a mark or quality, as of distinction, individuality, or authenticity'.

New News

Well I have certainly been slack with updating the blog lately!

Hmmm, let me think, what's happened since my last post....

I have played around with my kiln a bit, seeing what it can do. I am now making cabochons out of some of my beads. I've either cracked the beads in half or melted them down whole. I really love the results I'm getting with them. The cabochons can then either be beaded around, wire wrapped or even bezel set. Of course, when I go to take photos of them, I get maybe four pictures taken before my camera battery dies lol It's always the way isn't it!

I also made my first successful hollow lampwork vessel. I made it off the end of the mandrel so that only the lip was attached. This gives it a nice smooth hollow inside. I had a hole burst in it while making it, so I patched it up with some extra glass, and popped a cracked heart over it. It's made in a gorgeous transparent dark sapphire glass which I just got. I'm loving the colour.

Hmmm, what else has happened.... I've been asked by one of the glass suppliers here in Australia if I'd be interested in teaching beginner lampwork classes. I sat in on one of her classes last Saturday to see what she teaches and how, etc. It was great fun! So I will start teaching sometime in the coming months. I'm a little nervous at the moment, as I'm sure I'll get my words all mangled up when trying to explain something lol On the 9th of August, I'll do a practice run on a new employee of Cathy's, just to get everything down pat, and make sure I remember everything. I think I'll be fine with teaching the actual bead making, it'll be the other stuff, explaining things that I'll think I'll have trouble.

It was my birthday yesterday too, 31st July. Happy birthday to me! I got a rotary tool from my brother, which means I can clean my beads and cabs alot quicker, as well as using it for other stuff too. It seems I've also received the flu for my birthday too! Been feeling miserable all day today, hopefully it won't get too bad. I can't see myself torching much while I have the flu, don't want to take the risk of passing out over the flame or something equally dreadful. Oh well, I think it'll be an early night for me tonight.

Take care everyone!

Cheers,
Anne :)