Etsy

17/12/2011

Mini Mo' December 2011 - Big Top and Bejeweled

I wanted to play about a little with bold opaque primary colours for my first December collection, a circus themed glasswork pack called Big Top. I chose Effetre Dark Red 436, Light Lapis 240, CiM Pumpkin and combined the three in one gather to make “Circus Circus” patchwork shards.

This zany focal is very different from anything that I've ever made before with big bold flower petals swiped on with flat Big Top flat cane and a wrap of ribbon twistie along the base and a googly eyed ladybird!

The colours are so bright, bold and fun that I couldn't resist letting the colours do all the talking with this collection of funky beads, wacky shapes and rounds, showing the cane and twistie as surface decoration and under encasement too.

This *every so slightly* more grown up set shows all the different Big Top canes under clear encasement over a base of pastel baby blue with a few Big Top murrini on the surface of a couple of the beads.

My second colourway this month is based around the idea of gem toned glass, transparent secondary colours, including Effetre Light Topaz 012, Transparent Dark Purple 044, CiM Great Bluedini and Vetrofond Transparent Light Brown 084. I have completed this collection by making reactive "Tribal" shards using Ask Tribal Turquoise.

I stumbled across a thread on Lampwork Ect by Jacqueline Parkes advertising her new shard making tutorial and couldn't resist getting it to try. Tribal shards are my own glass recipe but have been created in the way that Jacqueline describes in her wonderful tutorial. I tested itsy-bitsy bits of the Tribal shards out on several base glasses.  There isn't much rhyme or reason to my choice of base colours here - just labelled shorts that I had close at hand at the time.

Here is a chintzy floral focal with an encased core of gem toned ribbon twistie and asymmetric sculptural floral decoration on the surface using flat cane.

Bejeweled canes over a base of CiM Mojito, encased with Effetre 006. These beads show how Bejeweled Murrini looks as surface decoration.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

20/11/2011

Floral lampwork bead gallery

As I'm very much on a floral kick at the moment, I thought I'd pop up a quick and dirty gallery page showing a few of my latest floral beads.





Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

15/11/2011

The anatomy of a Lampwork Mojo Box and a little about Mini Mo's too

When my daughter was born in September 2008 there was, as you can imagine, very little time for making beads. I kept my glass melting addiction fed by making twistie cane and occasionally blowing some shards. By the end of that year I had graduated on to making my very first simple starburst murrini too and it occurred to me that these elements should all belong together in pretty little colour coordinated collections to dip into from time to time for lampworking inspiration.

In Jan 2009 I put together my first collections, Southern Belle, Wisteria Gem, Summer and Red All Over. I don't bring out Lampwork Mojo Boxes often, as I tend to work on a collection over a long period, adding to each when I discover new and beautiful elements. I usually make just two boxes in any colourway which makes each collection very special.

The Mini Mo' Colour Club was a wonderful idea given to me by the talented Kaz Baildon of Cheeky Cherub Designs. She suggested offering Mini Lampwork Mojo collection of glasswork on  a monthly subscription basis and so Mini Mo's were born. I absolutely adored making these collections from the start, working hard each month to make beautiful glasswork even better than the collection before. When I started blogging at the end of 2009 I began to post about them here too.

I fell with my son at the beginning of 2010 and had a difficult pregnancy second time around which led me to make the tough decision to take some time out from lampwork. With two preschoolers on my hands it has taken me much longer to get back in the saddle than I had anticipated. After just over a full year out from making lampwork beads, Mojo Boxes and Mini Mo's I got back to the torch full time in April this year and must confess that I'm loving being a self employed glass artist. In addition to the 12 regular places in the Mini Mo' Club I offer short term subscriptions to the Mini Mo' Colour Club in my Etsy glassy supplies shop, Frit N Chips and also lampwork beads at Kitzbitz Art Beads.

If you would like to see some of my Mini Mo' blog posts please click here.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

03/11/2011

Mini Mo' November 2011 - Point Break and Secret Garden

My glasswork collections for November are named after films but inspired by thoughts of the ocean and of country gardens. Firstly an apology, this post is going to be much longer and picture heavy than previous Mini Mo' posts for a couple of reasons, one is that I've managed to get more time at the torch than usual through October and the other is that I've used many of the elements in Novembers Mini Mo's separately rather than in combination.

The glass I have used in Piont Break is CiM French Blue, CiM Hades, Effetre Cobalt Lapis, Reichenbach Multicolor and a medley of blues in the ribbon cane.

I've used some of the ribbon cane from Piont Break to make these raised etched floral beads (you can read a bit more about them here).

This set shows Point Break shards over CiM Commando and Effetre Transparent Dark Teal. These shards are infused with fine silver leaf and have some beautiful organic patterns as a result.

This is what Point Break murrini look like when they have been applied, poked whilst still partially raised, capped with clear to trap a small bubble and then encased.

I was very lucky recently and received a bundle of the newest CiM Ltd run colours to play about with - one of the glasses was called Submarine and so I just couldn't resist the temptation to have a crack at making a yellow submarine murrini with it. Although these submurrini are the result of my just mucking around for fun, they sort of whispered in my ear as I was packaging my Point Blank glasswork and they jumped in the murrini pots too as little fun extras.
These are Multi and Hades twistie over CiM Electric Avenue. The colours in these beads are so pretty but much much subtler than my original twistie test bead over Effetre Ivory (note to self get out test bead and take pic). I am planning to pop these back in the kiln at the start of my next garaging session and see if I can kiln strike out some stronger colour definition from the Multi.


My second colorway, Secret Garden, uses CiM Sherwood, Reichenbach Multicolor, Effetre Dark Silver Plum and a medley of pinks and purples in the ribbon cane.

Dark Silver Plum shards over CiM Blush and Mojito. These shards react strongly to flame chemistry in both a propane or oxygen rich flame. I favour the oxy rich flame to get this pretty silvering effect as turning the propane low to get a smaller flame means that the shards shimmer up as they are being applied.

This set is made with DSP shards and Secret Garden Murrini. I have melted the shards and murrini flat and shaped each one with graphite to bring out colour in the the Multi. I then distorted the murrini by spot heating and twisting the glass about with a DSP stringer.The base glass here is CiM Eggplant which is a deep opal purple. There ia an interesting effect on these beads as the silver sheen appears only as a halo outline on the shards.

A set of CiM Mojito raised florals using a single 6" strip of Secret Garden ribbon cane. The central focal shows the cane used under encasement too.

The core of this vessel shaped bead has been wrapped with CiM Sherwood and Milticolor twistie which has been melted flat and then encased with Effetre 006 to magnify.

This bead used the same twistie cane as rasied vine detail, the effect is subtle and shimmery, much more noticeable in real life than I have been able to capture in this picture.

Lastly a little collection of beads that shows a variety of effects using the ribbon cane, twistie and murrini, both on the surface and under clear encasement.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

01/11/2011

Lampwork bead giveaway

These pretty little blue beads have little yellow submarines in them! They are looking for a new home, pop by Craft Pimp Forum and pop your name down if you would like them to be yours. I'll draw the winners name out of the hat on Saturday 6th of November.

Ta, Jo x

30/10/2011

Mini Mo' October 2011 - She's a Rainbow and Back to Black

The glasswork collections I have put together this month are each a twist on my perfect glass rainbow. As you can imagine form the names of these two collections, I spent a good deal of time singing in my studio in September! The glass I have used this month is

Effetre Crimson 432
CiM Creamsicle
Effetre Special Dark Lemon 408
CiM Sherwood
Effetre Periwinkle 220
Effetre Cobalt Blue 246
Effetre Purple 272

I've also used CiM Hades for the super dense black detailing on the ribbon twisties and two tone encased twisties in Back to Black. All of the twisities in both sets of Glasswork this month have been encased with Effetre 006 to keep the detail crisp and stop the webbing effect that is a characteristic quality of Hades.

She's a Rainbow features Persimmon shards, I've mixed this colour by hand and it makes me think of Effetre Tequila Sunrise.

On the left is a close up detail of She's a Rainbow murrini, melted flat on the surface of a large pressed tornado style focal bead.

I am very excited about the rainbow cane in the Mini Mo' collections this month, it's a new style of handmade glasswork for me. This bead shows the flat cane swiped on to form raised petals.

Back to Black features silvered Hades shards which are an absolute favourite of mine. My Back to Black murrini contains multiple layers of rainbow colors and Hades to create a darker and more complex looking murrini. Back to Black Murrini are also encased in 006 as the final layer to keep the black stripes looking crisp when melted flat.
The beads on the right show how the twistie cane looks when etched, both under and over encasement. Because they are encased twistie canes, not only do they not web but they have the same frosted appearance as the 006 base bead after etching, rather than taking on a powdery tone.

I've used the red cane to create a lip on this orange vessel bead, just the right finishing touch!

This is what the rainbow cane looks like when melted in flat. I made this cabochon off  mandrel by making a maria, laying on the cane  and melting it in flat. I then spot heated and twisted the soft area with a stringer in a couple of places to add interest and encased with clear.


Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

29/10/2011

Zephyr, 006 and making florals...

Just recently I've been on a floral kick, I've always wanted to make beads that are like bottled gardens with layers and layers of prettiness to explore inside them. As you can imagine, with two preschool age children and my partner who works shifts, that my studio time is very limited. I could never quite justify to myself investing an hour or more on every bead which (at least in the early stages of the sharp learning curve) would very likely turn out to be for the fugly jar (or my daughters pocketses).

I found myself waxing lyrical to a bead making chum t'other day about my bead making daydreams and she told me just to do it! I suddenly realised that I have spent the first 4 years of my lampworking journey teaching myself how to make the beautiful preparatory elements I need for making the wistful cottage garden beads of my imagination and it was good time to get brave and start to put it all together. That evening I spent a fair bit of time playing about at the torch, making a series of beads that increased in complexity.

These are my favourites of the night





The orange blossom vessel bead is my favourite I've made to date and I accidentally stayed up torching til 2am without even realising the time!

Anyway, to the main point of this blog post, Zephyr and Effetre 006, Double Helix Glassworks just recently manufactured and release a super douper clear glass. It was said to be scum free, optically brilliant and completely compatible with all of the DH silverglass range. At nearly 6 times the price (in the UK) of standard Effetre 006 I did my best to resist temptation until the very first discussion thread started about Zephyr on Frit Happens Forum where Julie Fountain of Lush Lampwork shared her discovery that Zephyr doesn't etch.

It just sent my brain fizzing and popping with possibilities of selective acid etching and I just had to try it out with some floral bead sets I had been planning to make.

Unetched 006 floral cane beds over CiM Khaki and fine silver leaf

Etched beads, floral canes encased with Effetre 006 over Zephyr encased Effetre Dark Turquoise.

Etched beads, Zephyr encased canes over a base of beautiful CiM Commando.











I am so thrilled with the results, matt beads with glossy detail and glossy beads with soft powder toned petals, I am so glad I bit the bullet and bought some Zephyr in now. It's FAB.

Treasury round up in October

A selection of some of the beautiful treasuries that I have been lucky enough to be featured in this month











Many thanks to
Georgie of flamingbeadies
Helen of helengbeads
Roma of jurooma and the lovely
Aimee of aimeesrockworks


Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

17/10/2011

Mini Mo Sept 2011 - Tealy Dan and Pierrot

The first colourway I wanted to make for September was a lush deep selection of teal and deep aquas. When the name Tealy Dan popped into my head as I was pulling twistie, I must admit, it did make me smile. The glass I have used in this collection are  CiM Great Bludini, CiM Mermaid and Effetre Opalino Grass Green. I absolutely love using Great Bludini in twistie making and for murrini, it's such a saturated colour. Many other aqua transparents look weak and insipid when diluted and pulled out into thin cane.

The beads to the left show elements of Tealy Dan under encasement. The base glass I've used is Great Bludini and Unique Celeadon 511402-2.

Here is a necklace that I have made by laying stripes of Tealy Dan twistie over a core of 511402-2 and then melting, shaping and encasing the entire bead. The beautiful silk ribbon is by Diane Turton of SowZere and the pretty hammered ring is by Diane Cook of Dilunah Designs.

I love making monochrome glasswork but wanted to shake it up a bit for my second colourway by putting the emphasis on white rather than having white as light accent on a heavy black background. Peace and Hades are my absolute twistie making faves when I am planning to make encased twistie cane. I recently tried making twistie for another project using Effetre white and is was just too runny for me!

I had an image in my head of the classic Pierrot mime make up and found just the red shade I had been looking for in CiM Unique Lipstick 511140-1.


My Three year old has a fixation about crabs, shells and the seaside at the moment and I have been making a few themed beads for her so it wasn't too much of a surprise when I started to play with Pierrot glasswork that Crabby Dan turned up again!

The Peace based shards in this pack have little touches of Hades and  Unique Lipstick in them. The Hades webs and the Unique Lipstick "blooms" like ink on blotting paper when the shards are melted in flat.

On the left is a mix n match collection of beads using all the elements of Pierrot in some form or another over CiM Tuxedo, twistie under encasement to enlarge the detail and shards and murrini on the surface.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads