Beyond Beads

It's been a while since I wrote a tutorial for a magazine, so when Beads & Beyond asked if I could make beaded keys, I jumped at the chance.

The two page spread looks lovely and the instructions are very simple for any ability of glass beadmaker to follow.

I made a few extras and have now listed them in my Etsy shop and on my website.  

When the originals come back from the magazine, I will list those too (well, I might keep one for myself!).

They make unique pendants, hanging decorations or even very unusual keyrings!

Ossa - new from Double Helix

Yesterday I received a few rods of the new Double Helix glass from Tuffnell Glass, and I got straight out to the Lusherie to put it through it's paces. Both the rods and the beads are more purple (amethyst rather than Cadbury) than they look in any of my photos.

According to Tuffnell's website, Ossa is the first of DH glass's "new speckled lustres". The rods are very unusual, heavily textured with little bumps that are apparently "thousands of refractive inclusions".  When heating the glass, I found it can be prone to boiling, but this didn't appear to affect the bead.

It reduces quite easily and seems to prefer oxygen down rather than propane up, but that may just be because I work hot with two oxycons. Unfortunately I think I tend to be a bit heavy handed with reduction glasses and get a lot of yellow streakiness rather than subtle mother of pearl! I do like this little encased bead though, it reminds me of the brass wire effect with tiny golden bubbles. 

I thought a tornado bead would be a good style to show Ossa both reduced and not. There's lots of free tutorials around if you want help with this technique.

Simple surface reduction results in very shiny beads!

On the whole, Ossa makes me think of goldstone with the benefit of metallic effects. I think these disc beads really do the glass justice.

A nice photo to finish with ... The top of a wave bead - you can't see the bottom, but it's lovely and shiny.

A good lesson to learn

I had such a great day yesterday - I had a proper cabochon-setting lesson with my great friend and regular "partner in design" mizgeorge, George Harper East. 

I have made a few cabochons recently (cough cough) and now I have a good idea of what to do with them!

I made the ring with the red and purple cab, George made the one with the lime centre so she could teach me the method, step by step.

Then I made this amazing pendant - isn't it just fantastic?!

I've been shopping this morning, buying up all the bits and pieces I need to make more rings and pendants at home.  

Ooh, I hope I can do anything like as good a job on my own!

If you'd like to learn to do pretty much anything in silver (or any other metal!), I can't recommend George's teaching enough.  She's patient, encouraging, has all the best designs and is crazy clever!

Oh, and of course, if you need cabs to set, there's a few to choose from in my Etsy shop ;0)  Or if you'd like to make your own cabs to set in your own ring, you might find my new eBook helpful too!

I love ...

... making seaside beads

A new eBook

I've been rather quiet on the bead, photo and blog front for quite some time but I have been busy in the Lusherie and at my desk.  I've been experimenting, researching, writing and generally obsessing over a new tutorial for bead makers to make these fabulous little (and not so little!) slices of art glass that I've named Bubbles, Urchins and Carousels.  There is actually another type of cabochon in there too, but I didn't come up with fancy name for that one.  Now that it's done I can finally get back to making beads - and have been making up for lost time already!

I sent cabs out to friends that work in different mediums, to see how they would set them, and here are the photos of what they made.

Solder-free settings by George Harper East ... watch out for a tutorial from her on how to make these.

And a more traditional silver ring from George too.

More beautiful silver work by Rita Bennett - a clever clasp and earring pair.  The bracelet beads are Rita's own.

Lynn Davy works with teeny tiny seed beads.  I think she's going to make the green one into the focal piece of a necklace and, as you can see below, the pink one has become the top of a charming little beaded box.

This silver PMC ring was beautifully made by Leigh Armstrong, and so was the polymer clay dragon - with a clever Urchin eye!

Here's another little Carousel set in silver clay, by Lesley Watt of TheaJewellery - I love the texture on the pendant.

All this lovely work makes me want to have a go at setting some cabs too ... watch this space!

If you're a jewellery maker and use cabochons in your work, I have lots for sale in my Etsy shop, or if you'd like a copy of the tutorial that's also in my Etsy shop, and on my website.

A "sew sew" week!

I've been rather distracted this week.  Well, to be fair, I did work all weekend, and I have had a rotten cold, and I do have lots n lots of market stock and no huge commissions outstanding, so I thought I'd earned a bit of time to indulge myself.  

I've been attending a sewing class for the past few weeks and one of the things I particularly wanted to do was make a pattern for a dress that fits me, as opposed to using a commercial pattern.  So with help from the teacher I made a paper pattern from a dress I already own and made it up in calico.  Lots of adjustments were needed, then I made another calico version - and finally I got my hands on some wine coloured needlecord and made my first pinafore dress.  

I learnt how to add darts and how to make and apply bias binding, and I finished it all off with some sweet little lined patch pockets.  Its not perfect but I learnt loads, I have ideas for a couple of little tweaks (more fabric on its way!) and, as you can tell by its general crumpledness, I've worn it for the last two days!

For a little light relief during the final stages of the pinafore, I did use a commercial pattern, New Look 6803, to make this dress, which I then took along to class for advice on correcting the fit around the neckline.  A couple of extra tucks was all it needed and now I love it.  

Just look at the delicious pattern, like little murrini flowers - beady inspiration is everywhere!

Another thing I've been wanting to get to grips with in my class is inserting zips, and after a couple of goes I made the pouch in the first photo to keep all my sewing bits n bobs in.  Its a bit "floppy" so I might try again, but that zip is (almost) perfect!  I used a pdf pattern from u-handbag.com, but I wanted it big enough for my scissors so I got the original pattern photocopied 50% larger.  I found the tutorial a little tricky to use because the photos don't line up with the written steps, so there was much rifling through pages and muttering going on!

Here's a little bit of glassy eye candy to finish with.  A pair of beautiful "by george, it's Lush!" fibula pins.

And some light pulls.  The black and white one is so sweet!

I'm selling at Moseley Arts Market tomorrow, its meant to be an extra special market as it coincides with the Christmas lights switch-on.  I'm very worried about the weather though, we might get rained off or blown away!

Commissions

Here's a couple of commissions I've been working on recently.

Fifteen little sets - it was impossible to get a good single photo of the whole group, but it was very satisfying to see them all together before I sent them off.

And this commission was for a pair of earrings to match a pendant I made probably around 2 years ago.

Busy bead - just for fun!