I’ve just uploaded a little video from my workshop, shot in timelapse as the morning sun shines through the window across the glass on my work bench, and while I make some beads. The photography’s by www.newfocusphoto.com.
I recently bought some Creation is Messy (CiM) maraschino glass and it’s a lovely bright red. It encases white beautifully and gives it a transparent red-orange colour, as in the swirly lampwork beads below. Some colours of glass can boil easily, but I’ve found this particular colour to be fairly stable and easy to use. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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.
I had a fun time in the workshop yesterday playing with an Effetre glass called ‘Dark Matter’. On it’s own it looks really dark and not particularly interesting. However I was determined that it must be able to do something else! It can. I made a round bead with just the dark matter glass and [...]
I had a great day in the workshop yesterday, not only was it relatively warm (note that 2C feels warm at the moment) but I made 4 sets of lampwork beads. Sometimes I’m full of ideas and think up new combinations of glass to try and I’m particularly pleased with the following sets. This was [...]