Messy testing - Jupiter Storm, Ocher and Sunset ltd run

There are 10 new Creation is Messy ltd run glass colours in the pipeline that will on sale sometime soon. You can check out a the CiM preview page for a sneaky-peek.

By far the most intriguing to me was Jupiter Storm. In rod form it looks like a pale grey beige but this finished goddess bead has highlights in palest caramel orange that have nothing to do with fuming from the silver leaf burnished over the top. This colour variation adds a lot of depth and interest to my little goddess bead. Jupiter Storm reacts strongly with fine silver leaf, the dark caramel patches on the torso have been created by burnishing on small pieces of silver leaf and then vapourising it  in the flame.

Ocher ltd run is a fabulous colour, something like Effetre Mustard 460 but much greener. It has a very cool 70's retro feel about it. Although there is a big reaction between Ocher and fine silver, the reaction is not so much a colour change as an earthy organic ashen effect on the surface of the glass - which is much cooler than that description makes it sound (see the effect here on right side of this bead).

Sunset ltd run is a lovely rich and bright coral orange that puts me in mind of ripe Persimmon. It reacts with silver leaf very strongly to give a dark caramel brown organic stain on the glass in the places where the silver has been vapourised away in the flame.

I wanted to test this trio of colours first as they jumped out at me as belonging together.  I immediately wanted to team them up with a lovely bright turquoise and decided to go with Smurfy. I reckon they look great together (see image below) and look very "Desert Sunset". It seems to me that there is much less of the dark reaction line between the Smurfy and the Sunset and Ocher than I would have expected to see from a similar colour selection from the Effetre palette.

Have a lovely day, Jolene xx

New beads on eBay and Etsy

Messy testing - Muskmelon and Mint Chip

This week I have been looking at a couple of the newer pale greens to be added the Green CiM ltd run palette. These came out in autumn last year. First up is Muskmelon, a beautifully subtle shade of pale pistachio green that looks wonderful both glossy and etched.

Muskmelon reacts very strongly with silver. This goddess bead has been partially burnished with fine silver leaf which has then been vapourised in the torch flame. Where the silver was touching the glass there is now a deep toffee coloured patch encrusted with tiny little bead-lets of silver.

The next colour I have to show is Mint Chip. It is much greener than Muskmelon, a pale pastel minty shade of green. I love how Mint Chip looks etched, soft and rich at the same time. It is a great contrast for for the purple and deep green enamel that I've teamed it up with here.

This glossy Mint Chip goddess has been partially wrapped with silver which has then flashed through a very hot torch flame. The reaction is much less pronounced that you can see with Muskmelon but has given a very pretty contrasting reaction with the silver none the less.


Have a lovely week Jolene xx

New work on eBay

Some of my beads on eBay right now

Morning, I've put together a little showcase of some of my beads that are on eBay right now. There are lots of sweet and simple earring pairs and some lovely tiny goddess beads too.

Click here to go take a closer look

Have a lovely weekend, Jolene x

Messy testing - Trade winds, Neon Blue and Tuscan Teal

The first in the trio of CiM ltd run colours that I am looking at today is Tuscan Teal.I adore this colour, it is rich luscious and gem like. The focal to the left has a tube shaped core of Tuscan Teal which has been encased with Effetre 006 clear before I pressed it in to a coin shape. The bubble dots are made with Neon Blue over Effetre white.

This little set has been made using small dots of Tuscan Teal and Trade Winds over Effetre white to  form the core of these encased rounds and show what these two colours look like in dilute form. They compliment each other beautifully they both look lush!

Next up is a pressed coin shaped focal made with Trade Winds. This bead has a core of 006 which has been spiral encased with a thick layer of Trade Winds and a further encasing layer of 006. This lovely blue makes me think of Sapphires.

I have used a small footprint of Trade Winds to form the core of these little beads. The encasing layer is very thick but the core colour is a deep and gorgeous intense blue none the less.

The last bead I have to show toady is made with Neon Blue ltd run over a core of 006. I have encased it with 006 also.  This beautiful blue is much lighter and brighter than Trade Winds. It is a really happy colour.

Click here to see more colours in the CiM Blue Palette

Jolene xx

Kitzbitz Art Beads

Messy testing - Frangipani

CiM Frangipani is one of the most curious colours that I've seen in  quite a while. It is a sweet lilac opal shade that becomes more opaque as you work it longer in the flame. It also develops random striations in a slightly darker shade of purple too. This glass was originally named Unique Crocus 511660-2. I am quite taken with the cloud like effects that this glass can give you all on it's own and think these simple nugget beads are so pretty.

Jolene xx

Milk bottle bird feeders.......

The January Challenge set by Laney Mead for Craft Pimp peeps is to create bird feeders using "stuff"  from around the house. A quick google search later and I found lots of examples of sweet simple milk bottle feeders which looked an excellent starter project to do with my little ones. I asked the kids to doodle some shapes for the openings on each side of the bottles and helped them cut them out.

They had loads of fun filling them up with wild bird seed mix which went everywhere. I pushed through old chopsticks for the birds to stand on and popped some wool through the handles to hang them up by.

Time will tell how much of the wild bird seed will stay in when the wind blows! I hope these turn out to be popular with the local wildlife (which includes a flock of green parakeets) so that my little ones can enjoy watching the birds come by for a snack.



The kids loved making these and the next plan is to make some kind of  bird cookies or fat balls :-D

Jolene xx

52 little things week 52 and a 2013 round up

On the very last day of 2013 I thought  would be nice to reflect on the past year and some of the lovely things that have happened. It has been a wonderful year for Be Child Cancer Aware and Beads of Courage here in the UK.

It has been a very special year for me too and also a pretty special year for these little beep beep robot beads.  The very first one I ever made was for week 1 in my 52 little things project (to make a special bead each week for a  Beads of Courage child). I thought it would be lovely to finish the year with a little family of Beep Beeps because Childhood Cancer affects every member of a family and turns their world upside down.

I sent a picture of some of my little BoC Robots to Diane Woodall offering a tutorial for them for the Beads of Courage section of The Soda Lime Times magazine and they inspired her to create an ebook called Hot Glass for Cool Kids to raise funds for Beads of Courage in America. It has 20 wonderful tutorials written by artists from all over he world. So far the book has raised almost $14,000. I am so proud to have been part of that super special project.

The first time I began to fully appreciate the significance of the beads that I make and donate is when I happened to see a picture on Facebook with a note from one of the BoC Mums showing her daughter holding one of  the 50 little little robot beads that I made to fund raise in the run up to the summer Beadathon. She explained how that her daughter talks to her little robot bead. I honestly cried, it was so lovely.

This summer 11 amazing, lovely and talented UK bead makers gathered at my house for the second year running and we took turns to make beads solidly for 24 hours on two torches. We streamed the whole 24 hour event live across the internet, raised over £900 and made 165 beads to donate to BCCA.  I loved hosting the Beadathon, such hard work but such great fun and fingers crossed we will get another one organised in 2014. Below is my fave beady snap of 2013, taken by Marlene Minhas. We ran two kilns at the Beadathon, the first was kindly donated for the event by www.Kilncare.co.uk and this shows Sandy Kelly, a huge grin on her face, fetching the some of the first batch of Beadathon beads out of the kiln mid morning on the second day.

Through the latter part of 2012 and the start of 2013 I was working hard learning how to write with glass stringer on beads so that I could make and donate beads with kids names on to Beads of Courage. In April this year I had my first lampwork tutorial published in Beads and Beyond magazine, sharing the writing with glass technique. A huge thank you to Julie Fountain for recommending me to the editor for this project. It was thrilling to see my work in print in a British magazine and it spurred me on to submit more ideas and have two further tutorials published this year.

Another fab project that I have been helping with this year was the Walk of Courage. I put out a call for volunteer bead makers to create pairs of fire colour beads for brave folks to carry whilst walking over hot coals. The ones being shown off here by Ted Drummond were made by Elaine Hunter of Galloway beads (to see all of the beautiful fire walk beads click here). The event was a brilliant success, raising over £7800 and bringing some amazing beads to kids  on the Beads of Courage program.

This brilliant picture shows Ethan Drummond preparing to walk across the coals, he was the very first and youngest courageous fire walker.

2013 has been an amazing year full of wonderful projects that I feel so privileged to be part of. The cherry on the cake for me was an invitation to be the featured artists in the January 2014 issue of the Soda Lime Times. What a wonderful way to begin 2014.

It has been the most wonderful year of teamwork and achievements and laughter and I have a feeling that next year will be even more rewarding.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and an amazing 2014, Jolene xx

52 little things week 50 and 51

It is such a sweet and sad feeling that this very special project for me is drawing to the end. My week 50 and 51 beads are now finished and will soon be in the post to Be Child Cancer Aware to be gifted to children on the Beads of Courage program here in the UK.

It has been both a pleasure and a privilege to be able to give something of myself to the Beads of Courage kids and families this year. It is humbling to see and read how these glassy gifts that we give empower and uplift. They mean so much more to the kids who receive them than just a bead. They bring hope and smiles and comfort.

If you would like to find out more about the program please visit

http://www.bechildcanceraware.org/beads-of-courage


or check out the BCCA Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/bechildcanceraware

Have a super day, Jolene xx

Mini Mo' Club Nov '13 Happy Faces and Love is

My first happy little collection of glassy embellishments for November is this bright collection of happy faces murrini with lime and sunny yellow canes and murrini. I've used Effetre Nile Green, CiM Daffodil and Effetre transparent Light Teal.

I thought it would be lovely to do something a little different with the striped canes and so I have made this cheeky little mud crab ocean focal using the daffodil cane.

Two sweet little happy heart beads created with Happy Faces murrini, the left is over Effetre transparent Uranium Yellow and the Right is over Effetre transparent light green. I've etched them both for a lovely matt finish.

Little Ollie was created using the Nile Green/Light Aqua cane go give him lots of lovely detail.

My second glassy collection for November is called Love is. I have used CiM Indigo, CiM Maraschino, Effetre Carrot Red, CiM Peace, Effetre baby Pink 256 and also chosen Red Copper Green shards to finish the collection.

First up a beautiful green focal with lovely flowers created using the canes in this collection over red copper green shards.

Lucky lobster created with super stripy Maraschino canes from the Love Is Mini Mo'

And a trio of sweet hearts with sweet love heart murrini.

It is possible to join the Mini Mo' Club via Etsy for 3, 6, 9 or 12 month long subscriptions. Please check out my shop link for more info.

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies.

Have a lovely week, Jolene x

Mini Mo' Oct 13 Pretty Daisy and Delft Daisy

My first collection for October is called Pretty Daisy. I've used Effetre Lavender 247, Effetre Purple 272, Recichenbach dense white and a medley of pink and purple for the twistie canes.

The fab shards in this selection are a lovely pale lilac colour. I've used the pretty daisy murrini and shards to create a beautiful focal.

This dark amethyst focal features an iris type flower that has been created with swipes of Pretty Daisy twistie cane.

I made this little round focal for the Craft Pimp Forum X factor bead sweep (which I sadly goteveicted from in week 4). Ive encased the daisy murrini under one half of the bead and decorated the other side with dots and stringer.

This sweet collection of blues is called Delft Daisy. I've used CiM Glacier, Reichenbach Dense White, Effetre Light Blue 224, Effetre Periwinkle and a medley of blue and white in the twiste cane.

This pretty focal uses sherbet dib dab shards from September's harvest collection and cane form this months pack to create delicate raised flower decoration.

For my second focal I have used Deft Daisy shards over a base of dark aqua and swiped on pretty flowers with some striped leaky pen cane (available made to order in my lampy supplies shop) that happened to be on my desk at the time.

Last up i have a third aqua focal to share, this one is covered with lovely blue and white daisy murrini from the Delft collection.

It is now possible to join the Mini Mo' Club via Etsy for 3, 6, 9 or 12 month long subscriptions. Please check out my shop link for more info.
Frit N Chips lampwork supplies.

Have a lovely week, Jolene x