52 little things - week 9

It is week 9 in the Craft Pimp forum's 52 little things year long project and here is my week 9 make. A special Beep Beep Robot bead in pretty Marshmallow glass for Beads of Courage - BCCA. You can check out what other lovely hand crafted "things" we have been making here on the show and tell thread.
 

Jolene xx

Bare Cupboard Cake....

I'd planned to make fairy cakes with my daughter Ruby the other day but when I went to the fridge there were no eggs! To try to save my little from disappointment I googled and found a wartime vegan cake recipe. It's like no other cake mix I've ever tried to make before and the mixture, not being of the cupcake or fairy cake persuasion, ended up in a small roasting pan for baking.

Bare Cupboard Cake

To my shock and delight it not only turned out well it was also completely delicious! Something very much like a light version of Bread Pudding and we'll definitely be making this one again sometime.

 

Jolene xx

Button Love

I've just started making lampwork buttons and it is fair to say that I am completely smitten with the process.... here is a little gallery of my very first ones.


These have all been created by winding a cabochon out of glass around a hand formed copper wire loop to form the shank and then decorated and encased with clear glass.



Jolene x

lampwork supplies Beads and Buttons and Bracelet Beads and Jewellery

52 little things - week 8

Over on CP we are having a year long challenge to make one small handmade thing each week. I am making a special lampwork bead each week for Beads of Courage here in the UK. It is an absolutely brilliant arts in medicine project which is fully funded in the UK by a small family run charity called Be Child Cancer Aware, If you would like to find out more then this clicky link goes to the BCCA Facebook page.

To check out the Craft Pimp Forum YLC Week 8 thread and see what other peeps are making click here.

Have a great week, Jolene xx

Mini Mo' February 13 - Rainbows and Ladybugs

Both of my glasswork collections this month are inspired by a longing for spring. I have made delicate petal canes in vibrant colours for my Rainbow colourway. This collection uses Lauscha Yellow Transparent SNT 142, CiM Maraschino, Effetre Grasshopper Green. I've also teamed up some totally sweet rainbow murrini with pretty limited edition Blue patchwork shards.

I made this earthy spring focal with CiM Canyon de Chelly laced with fine silver leaf and I've swiped on petals and leaves with Grasshopper vine cane and Cheery Yellow petal cane. The flower puffs are made with dots of petal cane.

This classy focal uses Cherry Red petal cane over a hand shaped pressed bi-cone made with CiM Gooseberry glass.

This last set is the largest single string of beads that I have ever made. The core of many of these beads is CiM Slytherin, five have been decorated with petal canes and encased with 006 clear.

My second collection for Feb includes delicate canes made with Effetre Rubino Ora, Effetre Blue Purple and CiM Sherwood. I've used Reichenbach Bright Red to make the adorable profile ladybug murrini and also made a limited edition batch striated green patchwork shards.

First up I want to show you a huge chunky necklace focal with a Ladybug murrini inside under deep encasing layer of clear glass. The ladybug is surrounded by CiM Marachino petals over a core of Effetre Grass Green.

Next up is a pretty floral focal made with a thick core of CiM Slytherin. I've decorated that with Sherwood vine cane with a later of pretty flowers encased in clear and a touch of 13 carat gold leaf for good measure.

My final set of beads for this Mini Mo' gallery is called Lily Blue. I have used Blue Purple petal cane to swipe on these lovely sculptural flowers and finished with Sherwood leaves.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies Kitzbitz Art Beads and Buzzword Bracelet Beads

52 little things - week 7

It's week seven in CP's YLC (Craft Pimp Forums Year Long Challenge). I'm making a special bead each week for Beads of Courage. Here is our week 7 show and tell. Watch this space.....there will deffo be some more Beep Beep beads over the next few weeks :-D

Jolene xx

52 little things - week 6

It's week six in CP's fab challenge for 2013, a year long project to make 52 little things. For my part I've decided to create a special bead each week for Beads of Courage. This is our YLC (year long challenge) week 6 show and tell and here is my special bead for the week, all bumpy and blue.

Jolene xx

CiM, Zim and Silver part V.....

This is the fifth instalment in my CiM/Zim series of posts and this trio of lovely beads sets show some gorgeous effects.The beads on the left are made with two pretty CiM Glass colours that were both released as a limited run last summer. The golden transparent is called Peachy Keen and the lush opal peach is called Peaches & Cream. I've made some little nugget shaped beads, two plain, two with fine silver leaf, two with a touch of Zimmermann Z096 Gibsey Brown because I so love peachy and chocolaty colours together. 

The seventh bead is one made with lightly reduced Helios made by Double Helix Glassworks which I though would finish this set off beautifully. There is no strong reaction with the silver from either glass, partially melting in has just left a pretty little coating on the surface of the beads.

This next set shows some stunning reactions. CiM Auburn with fine silver leaf and Zimmermann Z821 Olive Brown. I've a short free tutorial here to show you how these were made.

I had quite a tricky time photographing these which I think is quite a common thing with deep red glass. This picture was taken outside on an overcast morning. The reactions between the glass and the silver in these beads is glorious, grey blue, navy blue and even little areas of  a bright royal blue in places that I have completely failed to capture in my photography.

Last up is CiM Thunder Egg with Z671 Mirror Blue. I made this set using the same frit scrolls technique as above but this time without the fine silver leaf. There is something so unpredictable about the colour changing properties of this pretty blue grey opal glass. At first I thought it might be down to flame chemistry but I was careful to keep the flame neutral in the making of these beads. I suspect that the deeper grey beads are ones that have been worked longer in the flame. I will need to do some more testing to be absolutely sure but I really like it.

Jolene x

Making scroll patterns with frit

This technique works best with a larger grind frit, here I am using Zimmermann Olive Brown K1 Z891 (CoE 96) size frit which is a similar size to K2 sized Gaffer or Reichenbach frit.

Step 1
Make your base bead, this bead has been made with CiM Auburn.

Step 2
Burnish your bead randomly with small pieces of silver leaf or foil.

Step 3
Spot heat your bead and pick up single pieces of frit with long nose tweezers and place them on your bead. Space your frit evenly around the centre of your bead.

Step 4
Melt your frit down flat.

Step 5
Take a thick clear stringer, 3mm or so, spot heat between your frit dots and then use your stringer to twist the surface of your bead and distort your frit. Blow on your stringer and then wiggle it to remove it from your bead. A small piece of clear glass will be left behind. Work your way around you bead heating and twisting making sure you always twist in the same direction each time.

Step 6
Melt your beads smooth and pop it in your kiln to anneal.

Jolene x

You can find large grind Zimmermann Frit at Frit N Chips lampwork supplies