Having fun with Headpins

Yep I've been making some headpins.

I love making headpins, I wasn't sure how to make them in the beginning as I didn't know the best way to hold the wire while I added the glass. So I chatted to a few fellow lampworker friends and came up with using scrap wire and wrapping them onto a mandrel with it.

This works really well but is a bit time consuming getting them prepared. I saw Linda from Earthshine Beads on fb showing a photo of her demoing at a show at the weekend and she was using a pin vice to hold the wire. I think I might try it out and see how that goes!  So thank you to Linda for that idea, very helpful.

Dark Multicolour glass by Riechenbach

I love this glass one of my favourites at the moment, made by Riechenbach Dark Multi is a reactive glass but it just reacts in the flame with not much or no effort at all really, it just does what it does, just like MAGIC!!

                                    

Right then, I made drop headpins first the browny/red ones at the top, then I made the bluey, greeny, purpley ones next (Yes it really is the same glass) then I made the leaves at the very top of the above photo and they had more greens in them, with some brown and purples too.  In the first photo at the top of this post you can see some ivory beads and these have some d.multi dots and trails on them.

Now I went off to this years Flame-off in Uttoxeter a couple of weeks ago, had a great time because it is a lampworkers convention which happens once a year (not often enough).  It is an event for glass beadmakers hosting demos, supplies, beadmakers selling their own beads and the torch area, so we can get our fix if necessary and beginners can try out torches and have a go at making a bead or two possibly for the first time! I took a turn at helping out on the torches this year and really enjoyed helping some complete beginners make their first bead and a few others who needed some help with how to control the glass and even reshaping a bead for a lovely lady called Beryl.  It was such fun I may do it again next year. Some of the demos were fabulous and I did end up buying a few 'keepers' from some of the many artists there!

I stocked up on many different things but of course I couldn't come away without buying some lovely glass!! Oh boy was there some lovely, gorgeous and definitely delicious glass. 

CIM glass is my favourite glassmakers and they have some lovely new colours, below is one of them but its not quite come out a very good colour likeness. It still looks gorgeous but I will try and get a better photo tomorrow.  Sadly both of these headpins have cracked.  I don't think I got them into the bubbles quick enough as well as I may have pushed them to far into the bubbles and maybe they were touching the side of the bowl.  I always batch anneal my headpins as I always put them on the bottom of the kiln floor, instead of putting them into the kiln while I am making them.   

CIM Poseidon 

Must make some more as I love this new colour, which the name escapes me right now!!!  
Updated above ....

There are some lovely new oranges, pinks, lilac and all with great names for them as well.  Sunset, Frangipan (pink), Alleycat (orangey/yellow), Trade Winds (very dark blue), Gypsy (very dark purple), Rudolph (red), just to name a few!


So lots of making to do and some photos to take as well.


I will see you again very soon.

E x

Updated with names!   8.5.14

Top Tip Tuesday ~~ Design Tips Part 2 -- Interpretation

DESIGN TIPS ~~ PART 2 

 INTERPRETATION

 

In this second part of my Design Tips I will cover Interpretation and how to use your ideas for a design.  

When you get ideas for designs I find it best to keep them together for ease of access to the information you need.  I have found a ‘Diary’ to be valuable for writing down ideas for colour combinations, designs and even how I could execute designs onto a bead or in a piece of jewellery.  It is simply a notebook or sketchbook where all your ideas go when you have that ‘light bulb’ moment! 

They can strike at the most inconvenient time when you’re going to bed, on the loo (hee hee!) and of course when you are out of the house ~ at the office, in the park with the kids, now I was going to say ‘up a mountain’ but that is much more difficult to get onto paper and you could just plain lose that one I’m afraid, especially if you are hanging from a rope!!!!

But, then again, you may remember it when you come down off the mountain or you could, of course, have seen something which you may be able to take a picture of to remind you again later! 

A camera is another invaluable tool for a designer!!  Oh Yes! We don’t just need it for taking pictures of our work, that’s for sure, so remember to carry it with you at all times!  Don’t forget your Diary too!  Choose one that is not difficult to carry around with you, size wise that is, an A5 or even A6 would be very adequate.  I have to say I have a number of different types of Diary of varying sizes, some are notebooks and others are sketchbooks depending on what I need it for.

When I want to make some jewellery for myself or maybe even a commission, for instance, I would start by working out what colours I need for the particular outfit I need to compliment.  I need to determine what style I want for it ie. long, short, pendant, chain linked, simply strung, etc.  I then need to decide on the right amount of beads I will need to produce it, along with the colour combinations, patterns including what type of metals especially if I want chain included in the design and what would best suit the colours I have chosen as well as the shapes and sizes of the beads, what they are made from and then how they will be laid out!

Oh Yay, we are DESIGNING!!!

I know I make my own beads which means I can produce what I need for my item of jewellery, I realise not everyone can do this but it is then a matter of finding what beads you want to produce your piece of jewellery and purchase them from either a supplier or even a lampworker (like myself) whose style of beads you love and maybe even commission a set in your required colours.

Here is a commission I made for a friend, she wanted something simple and ended up picking out the focal bead I had previously made and so after making a few more beads in the same glass and some metal spacer beads, VOILA!

 

Star Bracelet

In my ‘Camouflage Mayhem’ range of beads, I made a set in an orange and brown colourway which were called ‘Tortoiseshell Flies’ maybe a bit of an odd name for a set of beads, I hear you say!! Well maybe your not saying that but I will explain a little of why I gave this range such an unusual title!

My Camouflage Mayhem range came about when I was trying out a new glass from CIM (Creation is Messy) ~ what a great name for a glass range/company, eh!!  and it is one of my favourite types of glass to use.  It was a green glass named ‘Commando’, dark green resembling an army camouflage colour.  Well this colour has some qualities that can come with some greens in the many glass ranges, it can be reactive with certain colour combinations, ~~ ivory being a great example.  So I did, I used ivory with the Commando and ‘Hey Presto’ I ended up with a dark webbed ring around the dots I placed with the ivory, onto the green. I then stacked more irregular dots and some of them reminded me of the actual uniforms that the military wear ~~ hence my new range was born!!!

GI Jane

My first set of beads In the Camouflage Mayhem range

I started to jot down other ideas in my Diary notebook, of colours that I could use to replicate different camouflage colours. Then a ‘light bulb’ moment struck me, Animals!  I could use their colours to inspire me in this range, as they use Camouflage to disguise themselves in the wild, birds, insects even marine life were all possible inspiration and open to interpretation in many different ways.

Now, have you worked out where the ‘Tortoiseshell’ comes from for my Tortoiseshell Flies set.

I think you may have guessed it!  ~ Ha ha!! 

BUTTERFLIES!! 

The Giant Tortoiseshell Butterfly to be precise. On visiting the local Whipsnade Zoo, where I had taken along my camera (don’t leave home without it!!)  they have a butterfly and insect garden and as I wandered around I captured some pictures of butterflies feeding on the flowers!  Unfortunately I have not got those photos anymore as my disc is corrupted sadly!  I have found a few on the net for you though!!

 

Gt. Tortoiseshell Butterfly

 

 

Tortoiseshell Flies Set

 

 

Peacock Butterfly

Look at those gorgeous colours, very similar to the Gt. Tortoiseshell

On my return I got out a book from my extensive “library” called The British Country Companion which has many species of butterflies, inspects, birds, etc. it has given me many ideas for colours for my Camouflage Mayhem range, what better way to interpret an idea than using wildlife or even nature to help guide you to endless possible design ideas.

 

 

Leopard

Little Robin Red Breast

 

Here are some other colours I have used for the range and I will name them and leave the rest up to you to decide where they have come from!!

 

Funky Uniform

 

Blue Tweet Tweet

 

 

 

 

Pink Leopard 

 

 

 

 

 

Daffodils and Periwinkles

 

My Glass Diary is filling slowly with other ideas I have come up with along the way.

 

Dotty Socks & Ducky

 

 

Socky Dots Beads

 

Ducky Dots

 

 

I now want to show you a few things to get you started, to help you with your own ideas! And run with it!

Monet's Garden

 

 

Nature, Marine & Animal pictures

Sweets and Desserts

I hope this has helped a little with your interpretation of things around us in nature, animals and even some more unusual things too!

 

E x

 

Next Time I will cover:

Design Sources ~ what and where to find ideas and how to interpret them.