Blogtober day 5 - Mini Mo' Oct 14 Carnival and Circus Circus

The first collection I have put together for the Mini Mo' club in October is a pure shot in the arm of bright colour! Reds, yellow and a smashing great dollop of juicy orange.

These beads turned out beautifully, encased carnival twistie hearts.

Next to show is a lush bright set using CiM Tiger Lily with Carnival love heart murrini.

And the last set I have to show for this  collection are a series of little donut beads made with encased Carnival twistie canes.

My second collection for October are Circus colours, bright blues and greens with a splash of red and orange.

This first heart trio has been decorated with Circus Circus murrini with a paisley twist over Vetrofond Pea Green.

Next to show are the silvered Glacier shards over Effetre mid aqua.

My last set for this post are encased hearts using some of the Circus Circus twistie cane over CiM Glacier.

 If you would like to join the Mini Mo' club them pop along to my etsy supplies shop for the full details and prices.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/FritNChips

Have a lovely day, Jolene xx

Blogtoberfest day 4 - Made to Order Hearts

After just squeaking in, just in the nick time on day 3 with a cheeky colour study post, today is going to be another quick post and run too as I am busy preparing for the Uxbridge bead show tomorrow.

I am trying something new for Etsy, and starting to create listings for made to order hearts in my most popular designs and in my very favourite colours.

 My first offering (above) is a collection in Reichenbach Ocean which is so lush and sparkly. Next up, delicious light transparent apple green........yum!

Stunning Bubblebath Opal lilac....

......and last but by no means least, in this stunning bright orange with both back and silvered ivory options.

You can check them out on Etsy :-D

Have a super weekend, Jolene xx

Blogtoberfest day 3 - Colourful Friday

Mini Mo'Sept 14 Iris Blue and Cornflower

My first Mini Mo' collection for September is called iris Blue. I've used Vetro Periwinkle, Reichenbach Iris blue and CiM Azure with classic Silvered Ivory shards

The first set I have to show today are mix and match tab beads that use some of the iris blue twisties over a base of Effetre lime green.

This heart trio has Iris Blue murrini detail with a paisley twist over baby blue.

Last to show for this collection, a trio of Fremen hearts with classic silvered Ivory shards.

My second collection is called Cornflower and uses Effetre Periwinkle, CiM Ink Blot and Effetre Trans Purple with Light Silver Plum shards.

Another bright set of Crazy 8's, this time using lilac twistie from the cornflower collection over Effetre Apricot.

A sweet little heart trio in dark lavender with Cornflower murrini.

The last set that I have to show today is this glorious set of azure hearts with shimmering Light Silver Plum shards - a low oxy rich flame brings out the lustre.

Have a great week, Jolene xx

Blogtoberfest day 1 - My new studio and International bead challenge day

So it is that time of year again, Blogtoberfest! I love this once a year project, it really helps me focus on my much loved but oft  neglected blog and gets me catching up on sharing glassy news and tutorials.
If you would like to take up the challenge to blog daily through October check out this linky...
shellsinthebush.blogspot.com.au/p/blog-page.html

So my big big news is that I moved out of my (dark, damp and spider filled) garage studio at the start of August and into a fabulous studio space in the Manor Farm heritage site at the top of Ruislip High St. My new beautiful, airy, light filled space is just a dream come true!

It has finally given me the space I need to be able to offer lampwork bead making tuition and host special events like the one we held on the 20th of September for International Bead Challenge day. Marlene Minhas, Heather Kelly and I spent the day showing some super special kiddos from the Beads of Courage program and their families how lampwork beads are made. We also made String of Strength bracelets with the kids which are a fabulous way for kids to be able to support other kids on the BoC program. The way String of Strength bracelets work is that each child and their siblings can each make two identical bracelets, one to keep and one to gift to another child on the program along with a short message of support. It's a very lovely thing.

Here are the beads we made on the day which have already been sent on to Be Child Cancer Aware along with the String of Strength bracelets. Hopefully they will bring strength and encouragement to some very brave kids :-D

That's it from me today, back to tomorrow with a Mini Mo' catch up post for September.
Jolene xx

Mini Mo' August '14 - Ocean View and Coral Reef

My first Mini Mo' collection for August is called Ocean View. I created the glasswork elements Effetre Turquoise, Effetre Ivory and Reichenbach
Dense Black.

I have included a twistie cane which has been pulled down for the original murrini gather which would be great for adding little coloured dots and creating interesting detail embedded in twists.

This first set is made with Reichenbach Multicolour Dark, over of me favourite glass colours of all time. I have decorated the largest 3 hearts with Ocean View murrini and given the murrini on the focal heart a little twist.

This heart trio uses Ocean View ribbon cane as a wrap around the bead.

My second collection for August is called Coral Reef. I've used Effetre Coral, Effetre Ivory and Reichenbach Dense Black.

I have included a twistie cane which has been pulled down for the original murrini gather which would be great for adding little coloured dots and making interesting detail embedded in twists.

My first beads to show are made with Effetre light turquoise and Effetre coral to match the coral reef murrini.

My second set were made with a base of Vetrofond Odd Banana Cream wrapped with Coral Reef twistie cane and encased with 006 (Effetre clear).

My last Coral Reef bead is this chunky heart focal made with Coral reef shards and twistie cane (and used the twistie created with the murrini  over Vetro Odd Banana Cream. I've etched the whole bead to give it a soft matt finish.

Jolene xx

Mini Mo' July '14 - Gypsy and Beach Hut

I've named my first collection for July Gypsy, after the beautiful purple glass that I've created many of the canes with. This Mini Mo' is made with CiM Gypsy, Effetre Orange Special, Effetre Dark Emerald and Effetre Light Turquoise. 

This first set of beads is made with bases of either CiM Gypsy or Effetre Orange special under 006 clear. I've used some of the Gypsy and orange canes inside the focal heart.

My next set teams Gypsy up with Effetre light turquoise and makes use of the Gypsy and turquoise canes.

This sweet and simple heart trio is made with Vetrofond Odd Banana Cream with one of the orange daisy murrini chips added to each side.

My second collection for July is called Beach Hut. I've used CiM Holladiase and CiM Cornflower with a touch of R3eichenbach Dense Black.

This focal shows how some of the canes look under encasement and also has Beach Hut murrini and shards on the surface too.

The last beads I have to show today are made with CiM Holladiase and CiM Cornflower and so perfectly match the murrini, very summery!

Have a lovely day, Jolene xx

Messy Testing - Poppy and Cinnamon Jelly ltd run colours

Good morning, today I want to show you the last two Messy Color ltd run colours that will be available a little later in the year. They are both gorgeous reds. First up is Poppy ltd run, a stunning bright ladybird red opaque.

Both of the heart sets here and the barrel beads below are made with Poppy teamed up with Reichenbach dense black.

Poppy ltd run is really well behaved in the flame and it gives a solid, bright and streak-free finish with no sign of how and were individual wraps of glass were added to the mandrel.

The last new colour I have to show is Cinnamon Jelly ltd run which is a rich dark berry red. This set of hearts has a base of Cinnamon Jelly decorated with Black and Effetre Apricot. I've not tried making fruits and berry beads before but I suspect this shade would be perfect for creating summer strawberries and redcurrants.

Have a super day, Jolene x

Messy Testing - Whisper ltd run and Primrose ltd run.

CiM Whisper ltd run is a sweet pale opal lilac that gave some lovely subtle webbed surface effects when I used it with my brass heart press. It is a little paler than Thistledown and more opaque than Bubblebath.

For comparison, the hearts in this first picture are (from top to bottom) Thistledown, Whisper and lastly Bubblebath.

These flower bud beads are made with a base of Ink Blot ltd run and tiny swipes of Whisper ltd run to create the petals. There is no trace of the webbing/striations that you can clearly see in the hearts above so I suspect that the webbing effect has been brought out by the repeated heating and cooling cycles that the glass goes through when I worked it with the brass press.

Next I want to show you Primrose ltd run, it is a delicate and pretty shade of pale opaque pink. I have used Reichenbach Dense Black and  Effetre Apricot to decorate these Primrose hearts.

These layered flower buds have a base of Primrose followed by a layer of long Reichenbach Gold Violet petals followed by a layer of short petals made with Whisper.

Primrose is a very natural looking shade - it puts me in mind of the neutral pinky colour that you often see on the inside of seashells.

Jolene x

Messy Testing - Cobblestone ltd run

Today I am looking at Cobblestone ltd run, one of the next release of colours coming out soon from CiM.

Cobblestone is a warm looking opaque dark grey. In this first set I have teamed it up with Effetre dark steel grey (088).

These beads are a side by side comparison of Zombie ltd run (black detail) and Cobblestone (black and white decoration). The Zombie hearts are much paler. I really enjoyed working with Cobblestone, it has a really industrial and urban kind of feel to it that gives some striking results.

Have a lovely day, Jolene x

Messy testing - Trapeze ltd run

This post is all about Trapeze ltd run, a new Messy Color ltd run glass coming out soon.

I tested Trapeze (black detail) up against CiM Jellyfish (black and white dots). This first picture was taken under daylight bulbs indoors. As you can see Trapeze appears to be a touch darker than Jellyfish. Outside in bright sunlight the difference in colour is much less apparent.

I have used a base of Trapeze under these flower bud beads, the petals are Reichenbach Pearl Violet and the combination of the two is gorgeous!

Last up I wanted to show your what Trapeze looks like when etched, really beautiful.

have a super day, Jolene x

Messy Testing - Ice Floe

This evening I am looking at CiM Ice Floe ltd run which will be coming out soon. This first string of hearts compares Ice Floe (black detail) with Effetre pale aqua (white detail) and Vetrofond pale aqua (blue detail).

Ice Floe is paler than both the Vetrofond and Effetre pale aqua blues and has a slight grey tone.

I also etched sample beads of all 3 of these pale blue glass colours to compare them side by side. Ice Floe (black detail) etches beautifully enhancing its grey blue tone.

This pretty set uses Ice Floe as the encasing layer over Dirty Martini, Glacier and Effetre light violet opaque. The pale blue encasing layer give the base colours a much "cooler" look.

Last up I have used Ice Floe as the encasing layer over some bright Effetre transparent colours and then etched them. The effect is is fab, particularly over the lime and teal bases - these look like sweeties to me!

Have a super day, Jolene xx