beginning again

I wanted to create something pretty from my stash, something that I could finish in a day. I wanted to get the year off to a good start so I made this yesterday:

front

back

I think the different organic materials and colours work well together. I got the lampwork beads at the Kingston Glass Studio a few years ago. The bone, wood and resin beads are from an old necklace and the buttons from the stash I appropriated from my mom. I've been collecting leather and suede scraps because you never know when you might want them.

The cuff proves that:

1. I can finish projects.
2. A stash is important for my creativity.
3. Pretty things make me smile.

Proven anything for yourself lately?

Summer flowers

a bit of travel, a bit of gardening, lots of hunting Japanese beetles who are eating my poor bean plants. also this, just in time for the last bit of summer.

for my wrist

Even though I'm trailering my bike at least part way (and I'm a little nervous about that) I'm looking forward to riding my bike to Port Dover for Friday the 13th. I'll let you know how it goes when I get back!

Inspired

my latest beads

The demo by Hearts of Glass at The Glass Shoppe Studio was soooo good! Heather and Andrea were so generous in sharing their experience working with glass. My only regret is I forgot my camera.


Watching Heather make a fish bead was like seeing it come to life. At first it was just a pretty glass blob as she added colour and frit to make the body, but soon we saw shapes and personality as she built the eyes, mouth and fins. And the off-mandrel calla lily was gorgeous! You can see pictures of another of their fish and calla lilies here.

The whole time Heather was torching, she was talking, explaining what she was doing and why, providing pointers for working with glass. Where Heather left off, Andrea jumped in so there was a continuous flow of information along with the glass. I learned so much about glass and how to manipulate it.

I can't say enough how much I loved the beads but what impressed me most was Heather's control of the glass. Definitely something a beginner like me should aspire to emulate. 'Course now I have so many ideas, where to start?!

Going dotty

...for beads that is!

At my last studio session, I focused on laying a good footprint  - that's getting the initial layer of glass on the mandrel (steel rod) when making a bead - and applying dots to the footprint.

It is so nice to take advantage of the excellent work space at Glass Shoppe Studio: soft instrumental music in the background, comfortable and safe set-up, and an expert lampworker at hand.

Grace gently pointed out that I need to be more patient when laying the footprint so that I don't pull the glass. Also, I need to have more attitude when placing dots. The dots should stick out like a half-circle bump, not a ball touching the bead. Otherwise, the dots can easily get knocked off the bead...which is what happened to the bead on the left of the picture.

I am really looking forward to the demo on Saturday July 24th at the studio. Heather Stewart of Hearts of Glass will be demonstrating a fish bead and off-mandrel calla lily pendant while her partner Andrea Steinwand will discuss jewellery finishing techniques.

Just for fun

I'm really looking forward to practising lampworking. I've started buying glass and tools as well as studio time. My first session should be tomorrow night. In the meantime, I've had some fun stringing some of the beads I made during class time.

Some of the techniques I'll be focusing on include laying stingers and placing dots. It's amazing what you can achieve playing around with these skills - providing you actually start to manage them!

All fired up

I'm all excited about beading again. After years of waiting, I finally have the opportunity: I'm taking an introduction to lampworking at a new glass studio here in Ottawa: The Glass Shoppe Studio.

Grace is a wonderful teacher. She is so enthusiastic and encouraging as she shares her skill and love of lampworking with the class. Over the course of three nights, I'm learning the basic techniques that will allow me to create any number of different, beautiful (providing I practice!) beads.

My first beads introduced working with transparent and opaque glass, applying dots and laying a stripe. We also pulled stringers and made a twisty: a stringer made of two colours of glass twisted together.

Working the glass in the flame is so exciting.  You have to focus so intensely on the glass, watching how it is reacting to the flame, in order to be able to control it. Lampworking reminds me of riding my motorcycle in that it demands your full attention - a great escape from the rest of your life.

Dangles for my ears

Still working on my bead stash, I decided to try bead embroidery. I haven't been very happy with past efforts so I tried a different technique: stringing the seed beads, laying them in place, and then securing them. It makes for a more orderly design.

front

back

I embroidered the beads on cotton and then backed it on suede. This way, the earrings will have enough weight to hang nicely. Just need to finish the second one...

Worth the ride

This morning was a gorgeous day to be out on my bike so I had to pick a destination. So why not check out the bead store in Kemptville? Sounded like a plan to me so I gassed up and away I went. Nice winding roads took me there: Prince of Wales to route 44; and the distance was reasonable for a short jaunt: about an hour and a half there and back not counting time spent at the store.

Rideau Art and Beads store is in a beautiful old brick building with lots of natural light. They specialize in Art Clay and have a great space for classes. Very tempting but let me get the lampwork under my belt first! I came away with some fun howlite stars, turquoise rounds and sterling ear hooks. All in all, a very enjoyable day.

Beading from the stash

I'm all fired up about a lampwork beading class I'll be taking so I had to get out my beads and play. Flipping through some old BeadWork magazines I found this for inspiration:

I found some hematite, bone and wood beads from old pieces in my stash and reworked them with some of my seed beads. Here's what I came up with:

I used square stitch at the ends and made the individual strands uneven lengths to add movement to the cuff.

So much fun to be beading again!