Bit behind with my 52 Things Challenge -- Week 10 & 11

Yes I have gotten a bit behind with my challenge write up, I have been making things but just not had chance to do the writing up of it.  I can only write my blog on my laptop as I can't get pictures to load from my Samsung Tablet onto Blogger for some unknown reason. And as I am always on my tablet my blog gets a bit left behind because my laptop battery is completely fried and I need a new one, so my laptop is a bit of a chore at the moment.


So here we are then Week 10 first

I was actually off ill with a bit of a bug this particular week from work, but I did manage to put a pair of earrings together just before I was ill. I used some of my spiky pod like headpins in a deep dark blue CIM glass called Trade Winds, well originally I thought it was CIM Marine but when I checked the other day, I had it wrong, they are called Marine Spiky Pod Earrings, it doesn't matter as they are for me.

 

My own large earring hooks

I used black patinated brass metal bead caps and beads along with black patinated wire which I used for the hooks but I think it could be copper wire, these came from Fallen Angel on Etsy. I have others which I intend to use very soon as well.

I couldn't sell these headpins as I had dropped them after a photo shoot, so I just had to keep them for myself, not that you can see the tiny scratch on them.  Plus I need a pair of earrings in these colours for a top I don't have any jewellery for anyway!!  I do enjoy making jewellery for myself but I just never seem to get round to it much anymore!!



Right onto Week 11 then


I am getting to my torch at least once or twice a week now, as I really am determined to get more beads made along with new designs in headpins, cabs, well anything I can come up with.

I am still practising with my flowers and thought I would have a little go at putting one onto a cab, not sure if its quite good enough just yet, its a work in progress....

I will give it another go but maybe different petals next time, maybe a pansy!!!

I am enjoying my time playing!!


Oh and here is the rose bud you can see in the background

Its sort of between a full rose and bud really, maybe we'll call it semi-opened!!  Ha ha!!

Ta Ta

E x

O Christmas Tree

My new Christmas Tree, very tall but narrow just right for the only place in the house for it.

Its growing on me, we gave it a silver and blue theme (needs more blue I reckon!)

I love to have a real one but hubbie said no this year because I normally get one with a root ball so if it survives Christmas we plant it in the garden, he wasnt up to potting it up because his back just wasn't up to it. So went shopping day before Christmas Eve and got it half price!  Good result!!!

Oh and see the glass bauble right near the top underneath the angel I made that this year at the Flame-off. 

It is glass blowing my very first attempt. 

I was quite pleased with myself.

Hope you had a great Christmas!  

I did!

Merry Christmas to Everyone

and

A Very Happy & Prosperous 

New Year

2015

xx Elaine xx

New pod shape and new glass

Yes I have new glass!


I went a little mad with my purchases, picked them up at flame-off and now finally getting round to trying them out. So more headpins, really loving making them!  

Practising different shapes and ideas, pods being one of them.

I've had a few breakages with them so there are quite a few I cant show you as the have cracked really badly.  Below are a few of my trials....



My new pod like shaped headpins in dark multi, these are also on brass wires

These 2 are a lovely dark teal transparent glass on copper wire

These  below are made using dark fossil glass another favourite glass that does its own thing!  I think I will make some in pod form too.  Yummy ....  but don't eat them!!

The fossil and the teal ones are now listed in my etsy  bead store.  The multi headpins are nearly ready for listing, I need some different photos of those too then they can go up.

So I will be busy listing over the coming days and get ready for my giveaway ........


watch this space ..................

E x

Birthdays

There has been a few birthdays in my world over the last month or so, all needing something special.  My friend Rosemary's birthday was at the end of March,  I wasn't sure what to get her, then I thought why not make her some beads as she is a novice jewellery maker, she loves gemstones and watches the Jewellery Maker TV channel constantly and buying various gemstones that catch her eye!

I wasn't sure what to do so I made some beads and they didn't go to well as I was trying to create a leaf as a focal bead but I need a bit more practice I think and it ended up I didn't have any beads finished for her actual day!  So lots of apologies were given to her and I promised to make her something very soon.

Oh dear it was difficult to get something sorted so I decided to ask her if she wanted any colours in particular. Ah well 'blues' really she said, as she has a new dress to wear to a wedding she is attending in early June.  She sent me pics of the dress and off to the workshop I went.

 

 

It is from Phase 8 and its called Edith Blossom Dress its very pretty, I tried to match the blue colours, so I picked some blue glasses in various shades and also included a new CIM colour Antique Lace which is a cream colour and some splashes of black too.

 

Edith Blues Set

I was quite pleased with the match.  I popped round to see Rosemary yesterday and we did a little match up with the actual dress and the transparent blue (Effetre Lagoona) was a bit dark but the other blue was really spot on, along with the cream too!  she liked the beads but they weren't quite right.

Now I have seen the dress up close there was a few other colours in it that seemed interesting so I am going to try and recreate those by doing a little colour mixing to see what I can come up with.  I will let you know when I have had a play and see what happens!



The next birthday was my Mum's, her birthday was last weekend she was 78 and I didn't have a clue what to give her.  She doesn't really want for much, I often make her something but wanted to do something different this year, so I decided that it would nice to take her up to London and go to the Theatre to see a show. I told her what I was thinking as I wanted to take her to see something she would like to see, so I gave her a little list.

I fancied seeing 'We Will Rock You' and few others but when I told her what one interested me she agreed that she wanted to see it too.  If you don't know what that is well its based around Queen songs but the story is set in the future when there are no musical instruments and everything is online including music.

 

 

I found some tickets for us both to go on Saturday (10th), its on at the Dominion Theatre in Tottenham Court Road.

We went up on the train and had a great time, it was really fantastic. It was like going to a concert really the singers were really good. She loved it and so did I.

 

 

 

Yes it really did have a motorbike on stage!

 

 

We had a bit of dinner up there too. She was pretty worn out when we finally got back home but she said it was well worth it.




I have been making lots of different headpins again, I love making them so much scope for using them with the glass finials on the end of the wire.  I use mostly raw wire like copper, brass, bronze and I will also try some sterling silver too. I won't use plated metal as it will be difficult to clean it as I think the plating metal will probably come off during the cleaning process.

Hoping to get some of the headpins listed very soon in my etsy shop, here is a bit of a preview for you

 

Marbled Ice Headpins

 

Multi Leaves and Drops Headpins

(previously seen but now annealed)

Also a nice pair of round beads in the new colour from CIM called Poseidon

Great for a pair of earrings, loving these may need to keep them for myself!!  80))


Till next time

E x

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

Torch has been lit!!

Yes siree, I finally lit my torch for the first time this year. 

I cant believe its taken me this long to do it.  

Well I did have a reason .......... Flame-Off.

This is the annual UK lampworkers event, its a convention with torches, beadmaking supplies, lampworkers village and most importantly demos by famous lampworkers from around the world.

I usually go every year, its fab, Shopping and demos all in one place. Heaven!!
Well its is to other lampworkers anyway.

So I needed the practice, get me going again........  about time I hear you cry!!!  
Maybe eh???


So this was Tuesday --- Today I am here!  At last 80))


I will try and get some pictures to show you!! And of my purchases too!!


HAVING A LOVELY TIME!!


Right off to bed now more shopping to do in the morning.   80))

E x

New Glassy Goodies

OOOO look at me 2 posts inside a week!!!

But I was itching to show you my new goodies, I've been looking to have a go at them for weeks now and finally got going! 

Here they are

Yes they are glass headpins for all you jewellery makers out there!!

The main problem was how to successfully make them without burning me!  So the first go was with the red berries/rosehips and the red heart, I thought I would try tapeing them to a bead mandrel with some duck tape.  It did work but was very messy and sticky.

So then I decided to try a different idea and thought why dont I just wire them onto a mandrel and that worked a treat, it was good as I could spin them just like making a bead and didnt burn my fingers which was great!!

The bluedrops I also added some frit and then pulled them into a lovely pointy drop shape which I think are so pretty.  So I will definitely be making more.  These aren't annealled yet as I decided to batch anneal them, then I hope what will happen is the copper wires will darken as they will get annealled as well.  I will need to hammer them to harden them but they will look antiqued, these then could be used as earrings by using the wire as the earring hook all in one piece.

I will show you how that goes once I have annealled them so you can see what I mean!!




I have lots on this week as its my daughter Billie's School Prom on friday and still haven't made her tiara yet along with some bobby pins for her hair.  And I am writing the next tutorial for Bead magazine as well ~~~ what am I doing now ~~ well writing this of course!!!!!


So better fly and get cracking with the tiara ~~~  like now!!!!!


Right bye for now

E x

Pendants for birthdays

Thought I would show you some new pendants I've been working on for presents and myself.

 

Desiree

Made using one of my own beads from my Dynasty Collection and gunmetal colour coated wire. Wire weaving using various weaves with my own distinct design style, this one is for me.  I love this bead so thought ~ Yep that one is mine!!  Still need to work out what to hang it on, cant decide that one yet!

 

JosieJ Pendant Necklace

 

This was made for my friend Josie who just had a special birthday, lots of weaving using pink and black coated wire with another of my own beads in the centre.  She does love PINK!! I have added 2 types of black plated chains with an additional chain which is a shorter length so she has a choice as to which length she would like to wear it ~ long or short!

 

Few close ups for you

She did get it a day late by the time I'd finished it, well I seem to have lots of friends and family celebrating big birthdays all at once.  Josie was 40 then my husband's cousin was 50 the a friend was 60 and another 70 during last week!  Phew still got christmas to sort out yet!!!


So here is Denise's present for her 50th!

 

Sterling Silver Initial Pendant

 

I am thinking I may make up a few of these initial pendants and pop them into my etsy jewellery store, in various different metals!! This one has blue swarovski crystals to add a little sparkle and then hung on a sterling silver snake chain.

There we are then, thats it for now!

Toodleoo!


E x

I've been away a looooong time!!

Yes I have!  Where have I been?  I'm sorry to say I've been ill.

I am getting better all the time but still not quite right.

My unusual condition is called Erythema Nodosum which has painful lumps over my legs, hands and a few up my arms. Swelling of my legs/ankles and wrists includings my knees recently. It also came with a fever which has gone now but my lumps keep coming up and going away but still it lingers on. Doc is now sending me for blood tests and I've just had a Chest X-Ray so maybe we can get to the bottom of why it isnt going. I do have an idea that maybe I've had something else with it that hasnt come to light but.....  who knows!!!!!!!


Right thats enough of the boring, self pity!!!! 

Down to business, well actually there hasnt been any!!  I have done a little bit recently as I have just completed a project for Bead Magazine for one of my wire rings but that wont be out until September, so cant show you anything of that yet.

I am working on the next project for Bead Magazine which is for there special winter issue, I am not going to give that one away just yet.  You will have to be patient!!

Now because I havent been on here for so long I cant remember what pictures I've shown you so here are a couple just so the post isnt too plain!!!

Triton's Treasure Ring

This has my own bead made with Triton DH glass ~ I love this glass

     

Katie's Ring

I made this one for my friends daughter Katie for her birthday

and she is modelling the ring for you

It has a pink tourmaline gemstone bead on copper wire

I know finally have some liver of sulphur gel and so I will be able to patina the copper so it will be darker. I think it will look much more rustic then.

Well thats it for now, hope to be a bit more active and write much more often. Right I'm off to Inspiration Avenue to see what the challenge is for this week!!

See you all again soon.

E x

Giveaway on my Website

Giveaway on my website now.

ChatElaine Glass Art Beads & Jewellery

Go to my Web Blog to find out how to enter.

Good Luck!