Buzzword bead comp and the winners are

It's that time - time to announce the winners of my Buzzword Beads Competition.  I have put every phrase along with the name of the person who put the suggestion forward on it's own slip of paper and have decided to pick out 4 random entries to have their words made up as Buzzword beads.
So here goes.......

• winner no 1 -  "Dare to dream" from Tina
• winner no 2 - " Don't follow the crowd, lead it" from Lucy (Miss Pixie)
• winner no 3 - Favourite swear words from KJ (don't blame me guv, my OH picked the winners from the hat (casserole dish)) innit.
• winner no 4 -  Bead-a-holic form Linda (Spexy)

Congratulations everyone, please get in touch with me at Jolene at craftpimp dot co dot uk and let me know where to send your beads when they are made.

In addition to these 4 I have also hand picked some extra winners too, I am also going to be making a few specific beads from ideas that have been shared here on my blog because something about each of them is utterly appealing to me in some way. I wish I could have made them all because there were so many great suggestions.

First I'm going to make Vic a set that says "You are never to old to storm a bouncy castle" because that phrase just makes me smile and then smile more. Next, one I've already made (because the temptation to do so was just toooooo irresistible) is a focal for Sam that says "It's only impossible if you think about it" (up there in red and black /\). Third up is a set for Tish that says diabetic insulin dependent in red on white because it'll look great and be useful too and last of my handpicked winners will be Nuttybeader from FHF with "what goes round comes round", such a cool phrase to pop on a bead!

My What's the buzz.... customise your own buzzword bead set option is now live in Etsy. Thank you very much to everyone who cane by and left a comment, my blog has never been so busy before!

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

CiM, Zim and silver....part II

The second in my series of blog posts for testing out CiM (Creation is Messy) glass and Zimmermann frit in combination with fine silver.

The beads on the left are Z861 iris yellow over a base of CiM Adobe ltd run and unique Chai 711793-3 (no frit, just silver foil then encased).  I have only wrapped one half of each Adobe bead with silver foil but rolled the whole bead in frit. The silver foil has reacted wonderfully with the Adobe where it touches the galss and has fumed the rest of the bead to a lovely toffee shade. I couldn't get The Z861 to do anything faux borroish in the slightest but do love how it looks on this bead.

 

This second combination of glass looks wonderful together. I have used a based of unique Butter Pecan 511703-5, silver foil then Z077 dark moss green frit. The focal is only half wrapped in silver to show the subtle fuming effects  on the base glass. I think that the moss green frit looks two tone and gemlike over this wonderful neutral base. The green spacers I have added to this set are Z077 over Sherwood which is a versatile and slightly striated medium green that I use an awful lot for vines and leaves and seaweed.

Next up is Unique Chai (as seen encased in my first set) with Z711 Silver Amethyst. This pull of unique Chai reminds me very much of Desert Pink, a creamy pale pink which is very reactive with silver (but it is about 1/2 the price of Desert Pink in the UK right now). This set of beads turned out so much darker than I thought it would, the Z711 has melted and spread out wonderfully but the colour is so dense that there is only the slightest hint of deep amethyst at all to these beads. I am definitely putting Z711 on my shortlist of frits to try out with some diluting techniques such as making fritty twistie.

There are two kinds of base glass in this set, Unique Adamantium 511874-1 and Smurfy which is a fabulous turquoise. The larger rounds are 874-1 with silver foil and Z092 turquoise frit. As you may remember from my first CiM/Zim post, I am a little bit of a smitten kitten with Adamantium glass and how it reacts with silver and this unique pull of this glass is no exception. Zimmermann Z092 opaque turquoise frit is a very similar but more saturated shade and tone to Smurfy and I have teamed them up together to make subtle fritty spacers.

My last set to show today is another with CiM Smurfy, this time in combination with Z862 extra light beige. I find Smurfy to be slightly less reactive with Effetre CoE 104 ivory than other soda lime turquoise glass so thought it would be a good choice to try out with this pale furnace glass frit. I made three beads wrapped with silver foil and three without. The larger beads with silver show a much darker and pronounced reaction line with the Smurfy but the melted frit is has remained dense and pale in colour as it has spread  and doesn't appear to have been silver fumed. The smaller beads are made with Smurfy and Z862 without any silver and the reaction line is a pale grey.



Jolene x
Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

CiM, Zim and silver......

This is the first in a series of CiM/Zim posts that I am planning to write, the project will likely span two or three months and will focus on just one single technique that I've been meaning to play about with for ever so long. It is a pretty effect caused by layering silver foil (burnished in well) and a sprinkling of gem like frit over the top of an opaque glass base. I've chosen a number of CiM glass colours to try out with some Zimmermann frit that I bought shortly before production ceased in 2009.

My first combo (above) is CiM Ghee with Z680 extra dark aqua blue. These are definitely jewel like, the silver has caused the Ghee base to darken from a rather pale yellow-beige rod to a rather yummy tan toffee caramel covered in teeny silver droplets. Yum! The Z680 is a shimmering deep teal colour that has spread beautifully and gathered clusters of silver together to give textured lines where the frit has melted and met.

The second combination I tried out was CiM Adamantium with Z095 yellow olive and OMG I think I am in love! I adore how the silver has reacted with the Adamantium to form an organic earthy looking crust. Wouldn't you know it but I had only 1 rod here to play with but this colour is definitely on my shopping list now! I have seen this sort of strong reaction before when I have made silvered shards with CiM Desert Pink but the effect here is even stronger. The look of these beads conjures images of ancient arid landscapes pooled with swamps and marshes. The Shimmering deep green areas are the Z093 frit, which has struck from a pale opaque pastel to this glorious pesto-ish green encircled with silver lines.

My last combination today is CiM Olive with Z8155 opaque white frit. I chose Olive as my base glass as I wanted something that was not going to react at all strongly with the fine silver foil and still show contrast with the frit should that react. The burnished foil has broken up in the flame to leave little shimmering silver droplets all over the surface of these beads which looks very pretty. I had expected a much stronger reaction between the fine silver and opaque white Zim frit but was pleasantly surprised that the white stayed intense and dense without turning yukky yellow. There is some dark line definition at the edges of the melted frit where the silver concentration is greater due to the spreading action of the frit but on the whole I am really pleased with the results.

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Artists Spotlight - Jill Egan

Jill is, quite literally, the most versatile and talented artist I know.  She creates beautiful jewellery from a broad range of materials including aluminium, silver, porcelain and her own lampwork beads and fused pendants. You will also find in Jill's Etsy store a large range of elegant homewares, innovative keepsakes and beautiful works of art. The most breathtaking of Jill's work in my opinion are her paintings.


 Jill is a fine artist, an overglaze painter who uses Porcelain as her canvas. Jill's stunning hand painted fern bowl above was recently featured on the U.S Etsy front page, a well deserved compliment indeed.

Jill is a superb blogger, check out Out of the fire - Kiln Fired Art Blog. Her blog contains autobiographic tales, collections of images of past work and posts documenting current works which give you a lovely insight into Jill's design processes. There are also two wonderful sections of tutorials on Fusing and Overglaze Painting including one for this stunning tiger!



I'll leave you now with this image of one of Jill's hammered sterling silver sheep charms. How cute is he! This post only really just scratches the surface of the visual delights on offer when you go for a mosey around Jill's world. Pop to Kiln Fired Art to find out more.....

Jolene x