November 27th, 2011
It’s that frantic time of year for me where I seem to be permanently loading and unloading the car getting ready for each craft fair. I’m usually well prepared and take something to make in between the busy periods – this time Christmas decorations!
These decorations are quite therapeutic to make and look lovely on a tree. I’ve got angels, baubles, holly sprigs and trees – this year the baubles are a new addition to the collection. I’ve decided to try and come up with a new design each year, so if you have any bright ideas and would like to suggest something that involves wire and beads, please do!
Christmas Tree Decoration - Holly Leaves
Christmas Tree Decoration - Bauble
Christmas Tree Decorations - Tree
Christmas Tree Decoration - Angel
October 23rd, 2011
I’ve had lots of fun making lampwork spacer beads and had plenty of feedback, so I’ve decided to add three new types of beads to the website. I’ve used Double Helix Gaia and Kalypso, which give some lovely effects and colours and Effetre Silver Black, which has a gorgeous matte ‘pearlescent’ type finish in shades of gold, silver and a hint of pink.
Spacer Beads - Kalypso
Spacer Beads - Silver Black
Spacer Beads - Gaia
I love the red-amber shade of glass in the Kalypso beads – I think these are my favourite ones!
These beads are approximately 4×7mm and make a lovely addition to any jewellery designs you have in mind. You can see my new spacer bead section here.
October 1st, 2011
Recently I’ve been asked whether I can make spacer beads, so I though it would be a good idea to include a section on the website specifically for lampwork glass spacers. I’ve concentrated on silvered Double Helix beads as these are beautiful and very shiny when incorporated into jewellery designs. They also look particularly good when teamed with sterling silver.
Triton Spacer Beads
Helios Spacer Beads
Psyche Spacer Beads
I’ve three types of spacer beads available at the moment, but I plan to expand this over a period of time to include more types of glass. However, get in touch if you’d like a particular colour making as I can make bespoke spacers to order too!
See my new spacer bead section here.
August 21st, 2011
I’ve recently returned from a lovely holiday at Ventnor in the Isle of Wight. It’s been such a relaxing time – sun, sea, reading and rest with the family. Just what I needed. During our stay, which was much shorter than I’d have liked, we visited the Ventnor Botanical Gardens and had a couple of lovely afternoons there, wandering around and enjoying the sight of beautiful plants, including flowers and insects.
Ventnor Botanical Gardens
I was amazed at the number of agapathus there – stunning swathes of them. These certainly caught my eye, along with the repeating patterns of various cacti when viewed from above. It struck me that agapanthus have a subtle range of colours. I hadn’t realised that there were so many variations, not just blue or white! I think that I may have to experiment a bit more with my blue and periwinkle coloured glass to see what colour combinations I can make in my lampwork beads.
Agapanthus up close
Not only did I absorb the beautiful colours, but there were lizards living there too, lots of them basking on the gravel and rocks. I was fascinated and spent a good half hour watching them. Apparently they like to sneak into the hot house for a warm up on cold days and I can’t blame them! One sat still enough for me to take a picture before scuttling into the shady rocks.
Common Lizard
If you’re anywhere near Ventnor and want some colour inspiration, do go there as it’s free to visit and there are plenty of areas to explore with different themed garden areas and a play area with swings, a slide and climbing frame for the kids. And of course there’s also the Isle of Wight Studio Glass just up the road from here, which is well worth a visit too.
July 30th, 2011
I bought this interesting Effetre glass called Calico and, to be honest, was quite uninspired when it arrived. However, I thought I’d have a go at making some beads to see what effects I could tease out of it.
I made a dark ivory base and wrapped calico glass around to the correct size for making a round bead. I did find that this glass wanted to de-vitrify, but by turning the propane up a bit and using a cooler temperature, I kept it at bay. I then wrapped some silvered ivory around the centre. It could have been the pink tinted glasses I was wearing, but they definitely looked quite pink and amber when they went into the kiln, but on inspection of them in the morning, I found them to be more honey coloured with a hint of pink instead.
I wasn’t sure whether I liked this glass as first in it’s shiny state, so I decided to stone tumble them to see what happened. I was pleasantly surprised after I’d cleaned the lampwork beads as the subtle pinks and honey tones were softened and the silvered ivory gave some contrast with their dark colours. I think I quite like this calico glass now!
What do you think?
Organic Ochre Lampwork Beads Made with Calico Effetre Glass
May 27th, 2011
I had to collect a parcel from the main Post Office today and, to my surprise, it was my bead presses I’d ordered! How could I forget that I’d ordered them? Anyhow, I’ve had a great play with them and love both shapes, which seem to be quite easy to use.
This is the first heart bead I’ve made with the press and the shape is really lovely. I’ve used Clio Double Helix glass and clear Effetre to encase it. I then applied a purple murrini to one side, just to give it a bit more interest.
Lampwork Heart with Clio
I’ve also got a pillow press, which I think gives the lampwork beads an unusual, but interesting shape that could be incorporated into a necklace or bracelet design. I can’t wait to make something myself with this shaped bead!
Lampwork Pillow Beads in Red
April 3rd, 2011
I’ve been experimenting by making my own murrine so that I can apply these to my beads. Making murrine is really interesting as the colour combinations can make such a different when applied to the bead. These are a couple of sets that I’ve made recently that show how they’ve been used. I really like the ‘poppy’ murrine as the colours are so pretty!
These ones are on a black base with silvered ivory and my ‘poppy’ murrine.
Lampwork Poppies on a black base
These beads are on an ivory base with thin stringers of green and black wrapped around with silvered ivory. The ‘poppy’ murrine have then been melted in slowing and the bead reshaped.
Lampwork Poppies on an ivory base
March 31st, 2011
I’ve been busy recently making jewellery for my various retail outlets, not least The Laurels in Staindrop and Gainford. If you’ve never been to the Laurels before, they make delicious cakes and a lovely cup of coffee to go with it. They also make tasty lunches at a reasonable price.
I’ve set up a pretty display cabinet with a range of my jewellery, so it’s certainly worth a pop in to browse the items for sale and to sample some of their delicious food. Whilst I was there, I ordered a tuna jacket potato (my favourite) – it was huge! Never the less, I somehow managed to finish it.
The Gainford coffee house will have some of my stock available in the next couple of weeks hung up on a frame. That’s going to be fun to set up, especially for all the bracelets I’ve planned to stock there!
February 15th, 2011
My double helix glass arrived yesterday and I couldn’t wait to open the package. Once inside, the Helios glass was an unassuming pale amber colour and could easily be mistaken for a rod of Effetre amber glass if it got mixed up – I labelled mine just to be on the safe side.
The best thing was playing with this glass (I’ve used a rod already!). The following beads were made by making a small spacer bead using the Helios glass. I waited until it had cooled as far as I could, then flashed it in a reducing flame until I had a lovely golden shine. I then wrapped the bead in clear 006 Effetre glass, which gave subtle blue and amber hues within. I finished the bead by adding the Helios bumps. This is where the fun really started as I kept flashing the bead in and out of the flame until there was a lovely reflective gold with a hint of rose pink depending on how the light caught in the bead. Here they are!
Helios Lampwork Bumpy Beads
I do think that it has very similar properties to Double Helix Aurea, but the shine is so lovely!
Sample Helios Lampwork Beads
The two beads at the back were flashed in a reducing flame until I got the colour I wanted, which is a gold lustre with a hint of pink. The bead on the left was heavily reduced and encased in clear. The small lampwork bead was only flashed once in a reducing flame and is still translucent, unlike the large round beads. I quite like the heavily reduced bead as there seems to be some lovely subtle yellow-orange colours in it.
Have fun!
February 4th, 2011
Double Helix are releasing a new silvered glass called ‘Helios’ on 14th February and I can’t wait to see what it can do! Tuffnell Glass are stocking it in the UK, so I think I’ll be placing an order shortly.
Double Helix Helios Glass
