The Power and the Glory

I am talking about women.  The female form, life giving, nurturing, strong, powerful women.  I have been making Goddess beads for quite a time now and they are evolving to reflect how I see the women around me and the women in my life.

I recently met a lady when I was at an Artisan market in Whitstable who sent me links to a programme being aired by the BBC, which was all about Goddesses – take a look if you get the chance.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01g8dd2.  It is about the evidence that has been found to support the theory that women were part of the birth of organised religion.  You know when you get goosebumps when something ‘clicks’, like a doo, doo, doo, doo….doo, doo, doo, doo (sing Twighlight Zone tune) moment – well I got that when watching the first of the series (Goddess programme, not the Twighlight Zone).  They stated almost word for word what I had been thinking when starting my ‘Creation’ series of ladies!  Spooky!

I had been developing a theme around these powerful beings being ‘birthed’ from the elements.  I know you have seen her before, but she was one of the first… forged by fire, born of the flame.

I know the thoeretical primordial soup isn’t strictly an element but when I think of the creation of the world, I see volcano’s spewing lava, fire, chaos, and beautiful swirling  primorial gloop – the second creature is emerging from the gloop and setting like cooling lava into the most gorgeous curvy fecund shape…

Then the water ladies – how I love making these – striving to introduce anatomical correctness and creases and crevices of the flesh, with glistening water droplets…

More water – variations…mermaid-like, deep sea…and oh yes, that last one is for the sky -red sky at night, shepherds delight!

Going on from the ‘Creation’ beauties, my mind had wandered to the concept of emergence – a natural leap really, a bit softer and subtle – and more closeley representing the women around me – emergence from childhood into womanhood, emergence from pain and strife into brighter, happier times, emergence from ignorance to understanding and the emergence from artistc restraint to freedom!

And my favourites - representing the birth of and transition  to feminine power.

I am still on the Goddess journey and am celebrating the power and the Glory of women everywhere -I hope you have enjoyed looking at my creations and will follow my journey!  In case you were wondering, my ladies are between 50 and 60mm tall

On a completely different note, I was honoured and touched to have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Paula, a lovely talented lampwork artist http://paulasglassroots.wordpress.com/.   You will be pleased to know that I am in the process of writing my acceptance speech, Oscar style….not really, only joking!  I will be posting about this shortly, nominating the next bloggers to recieve the Versatile Blogger Award, so please watch this space!

Thanks for visiting and make sure you live the life you want – we only get one go!

Flame Off…Flame On!

I am finally coming down from all of the manic, over excitement of the last few days – almost!  I am now busting to get back on my torch after the inspiring event that is Flame off.  For many British flameworkers, it is the event of the year.  Most flameworkers work pretty much in isolation, so it is a fantastic opportunity to network, learn new stuff, pass information along, see what other people get up to, buy tools and glass (omg, the glass, the glass! )…and party!

So after a gruelling three hour drive on the M25, through the Dartford tunnell, where I crawled along at 10 miles an hour for at least 10 miles, then onto the M1, where roadworks meant that almost my whole journey was at 50 mph :-/ I made it to the Travelodge and the festivities began with a meal in Towcwster (pronounced Toaster, allegedly!).

Easing into the festive mood with nice food and a few bottles of wine, but not so much that the first day of the main event would be spoiled by hangovers

Flame Off was held at the racecourse.  Brilliant venue, with aesthetically pleasing  architecture!  The queues to get in were just around the corner

I wasn’t quite the first through the door but I know what Charlie felt like when entering the chocolate factory!  Below is a very, very small selection of the glass that was on offer – glass addicts heaven!

There was frit and shards, enamels, dichroic sparly glass, rollers, masher, presses, crunches, pokey things, beadable accessories…and lots of hand-crafted beads.  To call some of these creations beads is just not right!

Sabine, selling her wares!  Which brings me to the marquee.  This is where the torches were. All 47 of them. There were  Hotheads (I have one of these) , Crickets, Bobcats, Minors, Mega minors (I have one of those), and the borosilicate (tough glass, like your pyrex dishes) torches – Nortel Mid range and a couple of others I wasn’t familiar with!

I did my time as a marshal, which is very rewarding, especially when someone who has never torched before makes a lovely little bead!

The table with the big mothers and bad boys was where I was at for my ‘torch time’, playing with the boro glass – Bob made a spider!

Emma at Tuffnells Glass had organised a disco for the evening!  Great fun was had by all and a lot of ‘dance like your Dad’ dancing went on!   Claire grinned for the whole event and Jules had brought some jewels for us to drool over:)

Also present were some International glass and bead geniuses, such as Pati Walton from the US, who made a fab ‘aquarium’ cabochon, Claudia Trimbur Pagel from France, who demostrated a Sandpiper lentil, Jan Rigden-Clay from Tasmania, who showed us how to make a borosilicate marble.

And Anouk Jasperse gave an impromptu demo on the torches too!

I took up my duties as Deputy Chair of the Glass Beadmakers UK (GBUK) whilst at Flame-Off too http://www.gbuk.org/pages/about/  Below is a lovely snap of one of our newest members and her husband

I met a great many lovely people and I must apologise for the lack of pictures but as you can probably tell, I was a wee bit over excited and got caught up in the atmosphere to the point that I forgot to snap away!  So, I must finish there as I have a head full of ideas and my torch is calling…not to mention my new masher and pwetty glass

Big hug to everyone – can you tell I’m in a good mood?!

Holiday? What Holiday!

Hello one and all   As per usual, all is manic in my studio.  Commissions to finish, an event in the popular seaside town of Whitstable, the Canterbury Artisan market at the end of the month and next week…..FLAME OFF!!

Flame off is an annual event organised by Tuffnells Glass, where all sorts of glassy addicted people get together to play.  There are lots of torches and tools to play with, glass, tool and bead swaps (I am getting some Fire Lotus, copper mesh and a masher!), charity auctions, demonstrations by experts, sellers of rare and exotic glass and related paraphenalia (oops, I dribbled on my keyboard ) and a party!  I received a two day event pass for Christmas (thank you Amber ) and I am dead excited to be going!  The holiday period is a non-event for me, in my attempt to make up time prior to my impending trip…but am I bothered?  Nah!

I made myself a celebratory lady to wear at Flame Off!

And then I got to thinking about creation and rising again, which led me to a whole train of glassy thought (as if you would expect anything else ) – the following two Goddesses reulted from my musings.  The first is rising up from the primordial soup (ooh!  get me, talking all arty!) – I used the most murky glass I could find, wrapped it in silver leaf, which I have mostly melted in, etched her and then used a gourgeous striking glass (not in that order), not etched, to give the most striking contrast.  To date, she is my favourite.  The second I imagine shooting up out of the water and as you can see, she is still dripping!   I used another earthy glass, but much paler this time, with one of my favourite watery glass colours.  Again, I have etched her body but left the ‘water’ glossy, for a good contrast.

I have at least one more idea taking shape, which I will be working on later today!  I am all fired up!  Yes, I know, groan…… 

In addition to the beautiful ladies, I have been playing with the underwater theme… again.  Sherry Bellamy makes the most amazing ‘shipwreck’ beads (dribbling again) – I have used a technique that she uses in the creation of the following three beads.  I have also used a technique from Mary Lockwood (another glassy genius) to create my swimming Jellyfish!

Those ocean floor beads take an age to do – lots of breath-holding – but I love them!  They will be a lot easier once I have my new masher!

I have been making plenty of new stock, both beads and jewellery…

That last piece, with the Keishi pearls, I am particularly pleased with – it’s part of my Bridal range – I am working on a matching bracelet!  And I almost forgot about this final piece – I made her in three pieces, to be worked into a  seed beaded extravaganza – I put her together on a wire wrap just to have a look see, so I know the proportions aren’t especially correct at this point   Not so sure about her head – I may leave that off…which leads my train of thought to Medusa – I can just see myself making a head with snakes and a fist holding onto it, just like in the film!!   No?  Maybe not then

Todays tip: If you make a bead with Dark Matter, wrap it in silver leaf, gently flame the silver and then reduce, you will get this gorgeous gold shiny effect!

So, to those of you who are putting your feet up over the holiday period, enjoy!  And I will be back after Flame-Off, probably in a frenzy of excitement, with lots of pictures!   See ya, and remember, life’s not a rehearsal!

Pat In The Spotlight!

I thought you all might fancy a bit of a change, so today I would like to show you some work by Pat or Patricia Woodford, designer and tutor of beading.  Quex Park is in the sunny seaside town of Birchington.  Among other things, which I forget, there is an historic house with a quaint museum a kids indoor play area, a park area, a garden centre and a craft village.  Link here:  http://www.quexpark.co.uk/

Pat has been beading for 12 years and teaching for 7 of those!  She can be found in her workshop in Birchington, Kent, most days.  I wonder how many local people know about the craft village at Quex Park?!

Pat can be found in her workshop teaching classe 5 days a week – she designs her own patterns and teaches a very wide range of beading techniques - there is something for everyone!  She stocks all of the supplies needed to make the wonderful creastions I am about to show you -heh hem, including my lampwork beads

The necklaces below contain beaded balls (!) and beaded knots and funnily enough, they go beautifully with lampwork   There are endless variations to create!

The stunning piece below is embrodered with seed beads and 21 rivolis’ had to be embellished prior to starting the necklace!

More examples of embroidered jewellery are the cuff necklace and bracelets below.

Crocheted ropes are made by threading each bead onto the beading thread in pattern sequence before crocheting!  The geometric shaped beadwork is constructed using many different beading techniques.

 

Then there are the flower power fun statement necklaces…every single accent beaded on!

Below are a few more styles!

I spend one of my evenings over at Pat’s place, beading, chatting and drinking tea!  I can thoroughly recommend it!  I hope you have enjoyed seeing Pat’s work.  I plan to blog about the work her ladies produce soon   If you fancy having a go yoursef, I am sure she will be more than happy to see you at Quex Park!

Until next time, live long and prosper….ooh!  I saw a Dalek today!  I wish I’d had my camera with me…doh!  Signing off for now, nanoo, nanoo

Sunny Artisan Day!

Hello!

Well yesterday (24th March 2012) I set up my first market stall at the Canterbury Artisan Market – this is most definately a different kettle of beads to the craft fairs I have attended in the past!  It all began days previously with laballing my stock (individual beads – gah!) and making what can only be described as contraptions, to display beads - you will have to imagine the scene as I ommitted to take pictures – mainly because I couldn’t move for string, hand made tags and piles and piles and more piles of beads!

So, apart from me leaving my bag at home (doh) and the copper poles that comprised the most important part of the bead display contraptions, the day dawned at silly O’clock in the morning on the 24th.  You couldn’t see more than three feet in front of you for the fog!  Oh good.  I love getting chilled to the bone and damp to boot!

Setting up took the best part of two hours…mainly because both Laura (my lovely friend who helped me set up) and myself are not the tallest people and needed to balance on dodgy wooden boxes (wine crates ) to do anything at all!  Armed with balls of string and scissors, we managed a rough approximation of an ‘arty’ table full of goodies!

Now I realise that to some it may look a bit messy, but there was a method to my madness!  I didn’t want it to look like a pristine stall where people might be afraid to touch, so I deliberately arranged things to be touched – but no licking was allowed (note to self – laminate a sign to that effect)!

So, having ommitted to bring the lovingly sawn copper tubing to fit the holes in the uprights of the bead display contraptions, Laura had to race around the shops at 9am (we had already been there for one and a half hours by then), looking for a suitable alternative – genius lady, she found bamboo poles, which I think look rather good!

Finally the stall was finished!

That’s me holding the corners of my banner, which kept curling up!  Doh!  I did get tired after about 30 seconds and gave up!

Time for the hoards of people to surround my lovely stall……ok, well four anyway!  Sara and Debs were the first to stop by to say hello - thank you

Had plenty of people to talk to, including the other stall holders – luckily I was between two lovely people – one was a lady who has a candle shop in Palace St, Canterbury and the other makes gorgeous solid silver ‘stone-age’ axe heads (among other things) and can be found at www.leaftradingpost.co.uk

Phil, who I used to work with in Swindon,  stopped by with his lovely family and I also saw Nahfiza, who I hadn’t seen for a few years – congratulations lovely lady!

Dee travelled all the way from Bexhill to help out and we had a lovely time chatting, laughing, selling and messing about with the stall arrangments to fill the growing gaps!

And as you can see, the sun put in an appearance and for a couple of hours we all sweltered! I met some fab people who were quite happy for me to spout passionately about glass bead making, in exchange for me hearing their story!

All in all a successful day, so, see you all next month either at the Whitstable Umbrella Community Centre Oxford Street, Whitstable (Sunday 22nd April) and/or at the Canterbury Artisan market on the 28th April, where I am planning a big surprise!

Yay!  Summer is upon us! Have fun!

It’s Sticky! Or Is It…?

Well, it’s going to happen and it’s going to happen to anyone who produces anything half decent.  I am talking about copying - Ooooh!  A can of worms, as someone, I forget who, said in a forum thread at some point!    Look at ’designer’ goods,  a huge industry has grown up around making ‘imitations’ and while considered illegal purely because of copyright laws (patents and the like too), gives hundreds of thousands of people food on the table.  Controvertial it may be but some of the ‘authentic’ items are  ridiculously overpriced.

In the art world, which includes lampwork, the position is a little more grey.  If you want a really good read about why copying in art is inevitable and possibly even neccessary, then take a look at Michael Demengs post on the subject: http://networkedblogs.com/2Vh7e

In other instances it is not ok.  It’s not ok when it is blatant duplication, that is of course forgery.  I believe this to be relatively prolific when it comes to famous works of art and furniture – all about greed and status symbols, demand and supply.  It is not ok, when, as hapened to one of my friends recently, someone managed to get hold of some moulds of sculptures he did and then passed off the casts as his own!

With lampwork and jewellery people ‘discover’ new techniques that can give wonderful effects in glass, after all, for me, melting glass in new combinations is one big experiment!  In a lot of cases, these ‘new’ techniques are jealously guarded until a) the discoverer writes a tutorial b) becomes so successful that they are happy to share or c) some other bright spark discovers the technique all over again and it sort of becomes public domain as it is unclear who discovered it first!   I will be the first to admit to trying every single technique I can.  Not to copy someone elses work, but so I can incorporate its use into my own work to come up with some innovate piece of jewellery.

The necklaces below were made using a technique that I learned but they express my style in that I have used my own beads, colour combinations and other components sourced especially for the projects.

There are many examples like this in the lampwork community – I don’t have a problem with ‘copying’ techniques as that just serves to spur us on to come up with new and interesting designs, pushes creativity along and keeps you learning new things and adding to experience.  What I object to is a) duplicating, as in exact copying or copying my style and I am not just talking about beads.  ‘They’ say it is a huge compliment to have someone mimic your style.  I guess it is.  It can also be a tad irritating!   Anyway, here is what I have been doing since my last post!

I always have to make a few Goddess beads.    One of my friends said of my style of Goddess beads that  “They just feel so special in the hand, so perfect round the neck.  They are a celebration of the female form and grace …Maybe you are melting a bit of magic into the beads as well”  I must admit I quite often find myself holding one!!

I know it sounds soft, but there is something special about making Goddesses….a while back I tried making a male version but I wasn’t happy with the proportions of his torso and he didn’t ‘do it for me’, well I guess he wouldn’t would he   Oh dear – that sounds wrong on so many levels, let’s just stop right there

There was a thread on a discussion board of a forum I belong to about the male version of Goddess beads.  The main focus was what do we call them and should they have ‘bits’.  The general concensus for a name was ‘Adonis’ beads, God beads being entirely inappropriate!   I did do one more, whose proportions pleased me – and for the record, I cannot imagine why there would be an objection to putting ‘bits’ on one!  For me at least, his bits define him as a male bead, rather than a lump with a few more lumps!

Something pink and girly just to balance things up a bit

And then there is my hand-pulled murrini test – I really like it!  And just  in case you were wondering, the webbing effect can be achieved by melting a gather of dark ivory, giving it a couple of smallish stripes of Hades, wrapping it in silver leaf and pulling into a stringer.  When applying to a bead – it works really well on ivory, heat until the glass is flowing, taking care not to let it drip off of the mandrel!!  Shape bead and voila, gorgeous webbing effect!  It looks great etched too!  Don’t let it be said that I never share

And finally a play with some striking glass – this is where after melting, you let the bead cool, then warm it up again.  Each striking glass has it’s own little nuances, so one size doesn’t fit all and you have to play around until you find what works best for you…or you could just ask someone what they do!  Mind you, some people won’t want to tell you!

Ok, enough for today – I am off to check out the wealth of inspiration we have in our little Universe!  Be happy, live long and prosper…nanoo, nanoo!

Time Really Is Relative!

I am sure you have all experienced differential time rates, depending on what you are doing but I am finding that the difference between a year ago and now is quite unnerving!  For instance, in my last job, each hour seemed to take a day and each day, a week.  Time literally crawled along.  I would sometimes go to bed at 9pm just to get rid of some of that time.  In complete contrast, now each week goes by in a blink!  I had an email from an old friend last week, telling me all the news from a company I used to work at and usually I am quite prompt at replies.  I hate tardiness in others as I am very ‘anal’ about my own timekeeping and timely responses, but I went to reply and 6, yes six days had gone past…sorry Phil. By way of apology, I just want to show you what I did in the intervening days when I should have been replying to your mail… A large order for a lovely independant jewellers in West Malling – bracelet, earrings and necklace sets X 3

…and then there was stock for my Etsy shop.  They say that when you find a job that you love, you never have to work again.  Well, that’s me now.  Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t the easy option, I work almost 24/7, with time off to do only essentials – mmm, thinking about it, all work and no play might make Jo a dull girl…oh well, so be it.  I don’t care because I am having so much fun!

I have been designing and making lots of new beads as I am going to need lots more stock - I have been offered a place at the Artisan Makers Market in Canterbury!  It is a juried event, so is difficult to get into – no commercially available imports and no ‘tat’ for want of a better word. I am excited and nervous at the same time – a friend of mine says that in her house, when you feel like that, they use the phrase ‘I could pee glitter’!  Well, I certainly could!  (am I allowed to say ‘pee’ on here – I hope so as ‘urinate’ sound so rude!).  So, here are a few bits I have been working on.

 

I had a few sculptural ones to make to replace sold items.

 

And I have found an hour or two to work on my stringer control - these are so much fun and relaxing to make!

And finally, a very pretty set for Pat, my favourite beading expert, who can be found instructing in the art of making jewellery with beads at Quex Craft Village in Birchington  – https://www.facebook.com/Patricias-beading-world  I am looking forward to seeing what she makes with them and I will post her results, along with some more of Pats work – no pressure then Pat

Well then, at various times in my life – and yours I am betting, time has either sped up or slowed down, depending on activities and situations  - time really does fly when you are having fun!

Do Frogs Have Arms?

It’s been a manic few weeks, so, having woken up at silly o’clock this morning I thought I would do something useful!

I have been making a lot of serious beads for customers, galleries and a local jewellery making studio but I always fine time to use new techniques/glass/styles!   Some of you may recognise the spotty/draggy style of Kristina Logan in a few of the beads below- I watched a live stream of her at work at the Corning Glass Museum…awesome!

 

Having got into the sculptural side of making beads (have yet to have time to do more ‘off-mandrel’ stuff), I have been having some more fun with critters, in between making serious beads – a girl has to have some fun!   Having had a few customers that liked the frog beads, spiders and the odd lizard,

I was asked by one of my US ladies if I could make turtles….and I found that I could!  And as it turns out, I can also make tortoises

My ‘girls’ are still the most popular though, with most of them going to live in the United States – I am considering offering a personal delivery service!

Oh, and I found I can make elephants too!

And after all of that, I cannot for the life of me remember why I called this post ’Do Frogs Have Arms’, but while we are here….do they? 

Frit Testing For Dee, Glass & Ceramics

Frit Testing For Dee, Glass & Ceramics.

I Can Smell The Sweet Scent of My Grandmother…

This post originally started out as a showcase for my new line of rings and a few other bits but has surprised me by turning into a bit of a trip down memory lane!  I will leave the original beginning in…

Posting and running today – made some jewellery and yummy beads already and just put the kiln on because….I Have New Frit!!!  It’s playtime, she says, *rubbing her hands together*!

Before then and while the kiln is heating to garaging temperature, I have a few bits to show to prove I have been busy and not lounging around because there is a bit of snow outside!

Rings – been thinking about these for a while now.  Have had them tested and they are perfect for dress rings – I wouldn’t do the gardening in them though!

I have an outlet for them already and I wear mine a lot – I had to have one, or two – I need to test them on an ongoing basis

I have been continuing to work on my Dragon’s Eyes and there is a new addition to the family – she is the green one on the right.   

A few beads 

A Goddess, Aine – Irish Fairy Goddess of brightness, glory , splendour…

And finally, a necklace and earring set that reminds of my Grandmother.  I used to stay with her on occassion – she was a formidable capable woman (I think I take after her ) who clipped dogs, did her own decorating and kept chooks in a big cage in a terraced house garden!  She believed children should be seen and not heard (these days I tend to agree with her!)  She used to feed me almost raw boiled eggs (yeuk! and made me sit there until I had retched myself stupid) and let me stay up until 10pm to help with the crossword.  She had a feather eiderdown with a pink silky cover and a polished dressing table with a pink glass set thing, that you put bits and bobs in and her bedroom had a distinctive perfumed tacum powder smell.  She had a ‘front room’, which was kept in pristine and polished condition – the room was full of what would now be classed as antique furniture (as kids, we thought it was awful clunky old stuff).  It was a mysterious room as we only got the odd glimpse now and again!   She had a bone china tea set with violets on it and drank Earl Grey tea.  She died many years ago.  I loved my Grandmother…

While making beads a bit later, I will use the thinking time to go back in time and remeber all of those little things about my Grandparents that I didn’t realise I thought I had forgotten….if that makes sense!  Life is short and we are a long time dead – live like you mean it!!