Operation tidy that studio!

Yup I really am that disorganised and messy! It usually doesn't matter too much as most the time it is just me in the studio/workshop. I usually have a big clear up every three months or so, when having everything I have used over the past several weeks is still sitting there on my workbench which means that I can't find what it is that I'm looking for, lost beneath a pile of glass rod shorts, stringer and tools.

With the Beadathon on the horizon I thought rather than the usual spring clean that is was a good opportunity charge of the situation, move things about in the studio a bit to open up some space and finally replace the original cooker hood style ventilation here with the brilliant Progrow ventilation I've had here for a while to both torch workstations instead of having it just on my main desk for the Mini CC.

Here is a quick snap of some of the glassy goodies all ready for the weekend, rods, shorts, shards, twisties and tools galore!

These last two images are of the desks, to the left is the Carlisle Mini CC and to the right is the Nortel Minor torch, both are fabulous workhorses. I thought I'd show these because it will likely be quite a while before they are as clear as this again!

Last night I did a quick final test broadcast via Ustream  - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kitzbitz as we are planning to broadcast the whole weekends event live from here if at all possible and it was looking good, Fingers crossed it will work alright on the night. We are getting the bead making marathon underway between 7pm and 7.30pm on Friday night (12th October) and I am feeling pretty excited about the challenge! Bring it on :-D

Jolene xx

Mini Mo' August 2012 - Forget-Me-Not and Pink Lady

My first colourway for August is a collection of cool greens and and blues that I have called Forget Me Not. I've used CiM Celadon, CiM Appletini, CiM Soylent, CiM Dirty Martini with Vetrofond Emerald Green and Effetre Light Periwinkle with Tranquility shards.

First up I am going to show you a paddle of the Tranquility shards (also on the Kryptonite bead shown above), they are my own recipe but following a process that I learnt from the recent Magic Mosaic Shards tutorial by Jacqueline Parkes of Gems in Bloom.

The little round choc here shows a single green leaf murrini with a spiral flower iced on next to and slightly over the top of it.

On the right is one of my large terrarium focal beads which I make with several layers of encasement and various elements of twistie, murrini and cane between every layer. On the top layer I have placed three Forget Me Not murrini on their sides and fully encased them without melting them in at all. The

Pink Lady is my second collection for August. I have used Reichenbach Soft Violet, Reichenbach Gold Ruby, Reichenbach Opal Pink, Vetrofond Emerald Green, CiM Dirty Martini and CiM Celadon with Cloudbusting Shards.

The first bead I am showing is a Big Hole Bead with rose and leaf murrini over CiM Larkspur. I've added both pints and chips of murrini to the selection in Pink Lady.

 My second picture today is a complete bracelet bead collection called Love Lilac using the shards and twistie elements of Pink lady over some delicious purple glass. ( All CiM, Thistledown, Damson and Larkspur)

Last up is a fabulously moody set of beads called Cloudbusting and are named after the beautiful shards that decorate their surface.

Jolene x

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Colour Study - Violet Poppies

The second in my colour study series, looking at creating working colour palettes for CoE 104 Soda Lime Glass from images I have taken on the daily school run or around and about doing everyday things with my children - this one is a picture of some Violet Poppies from our garden

I'm using an app called Chip It which is a free program that samples any image and picks out a colour palette using over 1500 Sherwin-Williams paint colours.The final challenge for me is to select a representative colour palette in glass...

From left to right the glass I have selected is

1. CiM Sherwood
2. Effetre Striped Pink 253
3. CiM Mulberry
4. CiM Canary
5. Reichenbach Mystic Grey

This colour palette has worked out really well and has a super kind of feel good factor about it. I love the canary yellow in amongst all of these other harmonious colours and think it simply POPS!

A special thank you to Sue of FlamingEck who has massively inspired this colour study series of blog posts with her Pantone colour matching glass antics.

Jolene x
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Tree of Life giveaway on the HAF blog

 I orginally made this bead as my entry for the HAF spring trashy contest earlier in the year and loved how it turned out.

It is up on the Handmade Artists' Forum Blog as a prize giveaway right now so if you would like the chance to win my Tree of Life bead please pop along and
check it out.

The closing date is tomorrow 10/9/2012 at 8 pm EST.


best of luck
Jolene x

About the bead

I found the cutest box of watch parts a couple of years ago on Ebay which originally came from the Westfield Watch Company in New York. This bead is called Tree of Life and every cluster of golden bubbles captured forever under the glass is caused by a tiny embedded upcycled brass object that has come out of the from that lovely Westfield Watch Company box.

Fruity Murrini Gallery......

I've put to together a little gallery post of all of the fruit murrini I've made so far. The fascination I have with tiny food is not a new one. I've always liked to look at dolls house miniatures and have a couple of polymer clay books on the subject (though I have yet to try making any in FIMO or similar) and as a child I loved the fruit images that your see running through traditionally made boiled sweets.

So in no particular order, first up are my Sliced Strawberries (above) made with CiM Maraschino and Effetre Angel Pink 641 and CiM Split Pea leaves.

More Maraschino made strawberries here, this time they have been dipped in cream (Effetre White) with pretty little sticky-uppie Split Pea leaves.

These juicy limes were cut from the first fruit cane that I ever pulled. They have Effetre grass green segments, CiM Cardamon pith and and Effetre Petrol Green peel.

Next up, sliced apple murrini made with CiM Cardamom which is just the most perfect shade for the flesh of these chips. I used Effetre Dark Brown Special for the pips and CiM Split Pea for the crisp apple skin as I was wanting a "Granny Smith" kind of look to them.

I used the same trio of glass colours here, Cardamom, Split Pea and Dark Brown Special.These chips show halved apples rather than sliced pieces and I think that these are my absolute favourite murrini chips so far.

Or maybe these are :-D because these Bitten Apples do make me smile. I've used just two colours in these, CiM Elphaba and Effetre Dark Brown Special for the stalks.

Last but definitely not least I have some juicy grapefruit slices to show you. These are the brightest and sunniest chips in my lampy supplies store right now, CiM Lemon Drop segments, CiM Linen Pith and Effetre Light Lemon Yellow for the peel.


Thanks for looking, Jolene x


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GBUK AGM

This past weekend I went to my first Glass Beadmakers UK AGM which this year was in Enderby just outside of Leicester. I have been a member of the GBUK for about 3 years  now, renewing membership as part of my Flame Off visit each April and submitting a picture each year for the Members Journal (which is fabulous and a real privilege to be part of).

I really didn't know what to expect of the day, I was invited to attend as a suppler as well as a member bringing with me a selection of handmade canes, shards and murrini. As you can imagine my bespoke glasswork is created for a very specific crafting audience and the chance to show my wares in a face to face selling environment where 100% of the people there really "get" what it is that I do was an amazing opportunity.

There was also free to enter "Best of British" a themed competition which attracted loads of brilliant entries from the members who attended the AGM. We all got to vote on the day and the winner was Angie Snelling with her stunning gold medal bead with Sarah Downton and her amazing portrait of The Queen taking the runner up prize. You can see all of the Best of British competition entries here.

The AGM itself was very interesting, and for the first time I think I have really begun to understand the GBUK's aims of educational opportunities in the field of glass bead making and the sharing of information through networking and just how much work goes on behind the scenes to that end.

After the meeting there were several opportunities to shop for glassy supplies and to get involved with a free for members PMC class with Leigh Armstrong and also attend a talk with ace photographer Richard Downton which was full of very helpful advice on taking good clear photographs under studio lighting. Richard also gave one to one tuition on how to find and set white balance and exposure on our own cameras. It was such a fun and worthwhile day, learning something new and meeting up with like minded people that I find myself already looking forward to next years AGM.

The GBUK is a lovely society, open to all with an interest in glass beadmaking and other lampwork disciplines including marble making and sculptural work. If you would like to find out more please visit the GBUK website or Facebook page.

Jolene x

Colour Study - Fir Tree

As part of my blog-a-day challenge for October I am planning a series of colour studies from photographs taken on my daily school run - this one is a picture of some kind of fir or evergreen tree.

I'm going to use a free program called Chip It which is a free app that samples any image and picks out a colour palette using over Sherwin-Williams paint colours. The final challenge for me is to try draw out a representative colour palette using CoE 104 Glass.....

From left to right the glass I have chosen is

1. CiM Fremen
2. CiM Rainforest
3. CiM Glacier
4. CiM Chalcedony
5. Reichenbach Dense Blue

This first attempt at selecting a working colour palette from a real image that I have taken myself has been a very interesting process. It feels like I have been playing Chinese Whispers with colour and at every stage my options of colour selection have become fewer. From life to digital capture, then using the Chip It app to massively simplify the image to a selection of just 10 definitive shades from a mere 1500+ options of recorded colour data (of which I have chosen to show just 5). The last simplification is to select my best fit from the glass I have available to me here in my studio which I estimate at best is no more than 200 different shades and hues. What seemed like a mountain of raw materials and possibilities available to me this morning now seems like a drop in a tiny ocean in  terms of real world colour now. Hopefully you see what I see though, a pleasing and harmonious working palette for bead making.

Jolene x

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Caramel Creme giveaway in November

Today I'm launching another giveaway competition, this one is for the set of 5 delicious Caramel Creme beads pictured on the left. I am now also offering a made to order service for these delicious choc beads too.

For your chance to win them all you need to do is leave me a lovely comment here on my blog under this post!

Of course it would be great of you subscribed to follow my blog by email too or shared this post on twitter or facebook but none of that is compulsory to be in the chance to win.



I will draw a name at random to win the prize on the morning of the 1st of November 2012 and I will announce the winners name here on my blog. If you are not commenting via a blogger account please make sure I have a way to contact you by leaving me your FH, CP, LE or HAF Forum name or your twitter name or FB page link please. If I have no means of contacting you should you win I cannot accept your comment as a valid entry,

Good luck, Jolene x

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Octobers winner is....

Firstly I'd like to give a great big thank you to everyone who had joined my blog subscriber list this month, your interest and support means a great deal to me and it is a wonderful position to be in to be able to give away a published prizewinning bead.

Here is a little recap on what the prize bead looks like, my second place winner of the 2012 Jewellery Maker of the Year (lampwork) competition.

Tomorrow I will be launching a new prize competition on my blog for a draw in November the 1st, this time for some of my delish choc beads so please do watch this space for more news on that.

Without further ado I would like to announce that the lucky winner is

Pam from A Bead Thing 

I'll send you an email in due course Pam but for now I'd like to say congratulations, thank you for subscribing to my blog and for your support

Jolene x



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Luscious Caramels made with CiM Ghee

Every now and then I get a terrible crush on a glass colour and right now I am sweet on CiM Ghee.

I've had a little bit of this glass in my stash for a very long time but have rarely done anything with it. In rod form Ghee looks like a pale yellow that falls somewhere just shy of fully opaque. Yellow, pale yellow in particular, has never been up there as one of my go to colours.

My recent fascination with making sweet treats and chocolate beads with my Kati press has had me looking at glass colours in a whole new way. I've been opening draws and musing what glass actually looks good enough to eat! Looking with sweet shop eyes at Ghee made me wonder if it might work well for lemon icing or lemon curd filling for sponge cakes. When I took my first Ghee test bead out of the kiln I was thrilled with how utterly delicious it looked. Without any fuss or special treatment from me it had struck evenly to a rich caramel, looking melt in the mouth delicious and utterly lickable (though I can promise you that I haven't actually licked any!                   

To the right are a trio of Ghee based apple caramel beads iced with milk choc, dark choc and white icing and Ghee looks suitably delicious in combination with all three or them and has me hankering to make glass profiteroles too! Nom nom nom!

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Mini Mo' July 2012 - Crème Brûlée and Strawberry Mivvi

Both of my July glasswork collections are inspired by sweet treats. The first, Crème Brûlée, uses colours that bring to mind smooth caramelised sugar. I've used Effetre Apricot 419, Dark Yellow 412, Orange Transparent Special 422-T and Dark Brown 448 with Choca Mocha shards

To the right and below are two views of a very special bracelet. My very first BHB bead collection. BHB is short hand for big hole bead and these have a 4mm hole which means they will fit many of the popular European Bracelet systems out at this time. I have created this lovely collection using shards twistie and murrini from my Creme Brulee Mini Mo'.

There is twistie, murrini or shard detail over a trio of subtle yet gorgeous glass colours, CiM Dirty Martini and Effetre Uranium Yellow and Uranium Yellow opaque.

My second collection is arguably the most vibrant collection of glasswork to date. It is called Strawberry Mivvi as these colours together bring to mind one of my favourite childhood treats. I've used Vetrofond odd lot Sunshine Special, Vetrofond odd lot Banana Cream and CiM Maraschino with Silvered Banana Cream shards.

To the left and below are two views of my Strawberry Mivvi BHB breacelet which uses all of the  elements of my Strawberry Mivvi Mini Mo' over CiM Sangre, CiM Clockwork and CiM Canary ltd run.

I have made four beads styles, one in each of these three zinging colours, tyre beads wrapped in twistie, tyre beads with twistie dots, round beads with shard decoration and lastly round beads with twisted murrini.

Jolene x

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Mini Mo' June 2012 - Poppy Red and Mint Julep

The morning walk to nursery with my daughter inspired my first June colourway, Poppy Red. I saw beautiful dancing blood red poppies every morning with their delicate paper thin petals. The Poppy Red Mini Mo’ glasswork was made with Lauscha Red, Reichenbach Lipstick and Vetrofond Light Red 428 with classic silvered Hades shards

This first juicy set is made with Tangerine Dark Yellow Special 591412-T, dots of Effetre Apricot and Poppy red spiral murrini - this Mini Mo' contains a mix of starburst and spirals.

Here is s set of sculptural florals made with Poppy red flat cane over CiM Creamsicle.

Lastly I want to show you a fun set of beads showing the Poppy Red ribbon cane under encasement (Effetre 006)

Thinking of summer and summertime drinks and also being partial to mint I couldn't help but get inspired by the theme Mint Julep. Perhaps it is not too much of a surprise that working with vibrant Poppy reds had me then reaching for these teals and fabulously cool greens next as they would be practically directly opposite on a colour wheel.

My Mint Julep Mini mo' includes elements made with CiM Mermaid, Moana, Emerald City, Dirty Martini, Bludini, Lauscha Dark Teal and Effetre Teal transparent with Ocean View shards.

First up a set of sculptural florals using the flat cane and dark twistie cane in the Mint Julep Mini Mo' collection over cool CiM Glacier.

This fantastic set of twistie beads uses the Mint Julep ribbon cane over CiM Blue Moon ltd run and encased with Effetre 006.

Last up for June's Mini Mo' round up post is this wonderfully detailed aquarium tab bead which features Mint Julep Murrini bottom left and little tangs from my Underwater World Mini Mo' from back in January.

Just for fun here is a lovely post about the history of a Mint Julep and the recipe too.





 Jolene x

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