The Morning After The Long Day Before!

Yesterday was one of those lovely, unexpected days that don't happen often enough, although it certainly didn't go to plan!

But a long day at the torch has its downside - a big old mess, two kilns to empty and lots of beads to clean and photograph!

Here's a closer look at that mess, I must clean up before the next student arrives. 


If you look very carefully, you can just about see the torch to the left of the photo.  I'm not good at putting tools away, I just keep piling them up on top of each other! 

It must have been around midnight when I actually turned the little kiln on so it was still hot hot hot when I got up this morning!


That cup reminds me - I usually drink decaff tea, maybe it was the Nescafe that kept me working till 2am!  And awake for another hour after that, my head was buzzing.

I can't show you the beads on the left of this kiln just yet - I was meant to be working on some new Seaside beads for an upcoming gallery exhibition, but an unexpected delivery threw me right off track and I spent a very happy few hours totally absorbed in trying out some new glass for Tuffnell Glass. Sorry, I think I need to keep these beads under wraps till I show The Boss!

 So here's some of the work I can show you.  I love to see them like this - off the mandrels, waiting for me to clean the bead release from the holes.  Its my first chance to get a good look at each new creation and the water washes the dust away and shows up the colours beautifully.

And here they are, all cleaned up and smiling for the camera.  I've been building up to these for a while - I've always been drawn to bright colours and love the cartoony boldness of black outlines.  I confess these are heavily influenced by the work of Tera Belinsky-Yoder but I hope there's enough of my spin on them to be original.  


Now, shall I clean up that mess, or just go and make some more ... ?