Doodle a day Challenge week 1

I'm starting a new chapter, this week I have moved my studio back home to a fab new space at the bottom of the garden. I have not been on a torch in what feels like forever what with all the packing and unpacking and am missing it so much. I get to light the torch for the first time in a week tonight, can't wait!

As part of my new routine I have decided to get out of my comfort zone and start a doodle a day challenge.
This is week 1....

Jolene x

www.kitzbitz.etsy.com

Messy Testing - Meadow and Byzantium ltd run

I have just two more colours to show and tell from the spring 2016 collection of new colours from Creation is Messy. On the left are beads made on a base of CiM Meadow ltd run. Meadow is a rich striated mid green. I have teamed it up here with CiM Aegean dots and tumbled encase Aegean donuts.

The last new colour is called Byzantium ltd Run. It is super lovely, a deep rich purple semi transparent milky opal moonstone. The bright orange stripe is made with CiM Butternut ltd run.

Jolene x

Tiny Jemima, knitted charity bear tutorial for a complete beginner

I have been learning to knit since the start of this year. My Local WI group launched a community project called Trauma Teddies. The aim is to provide to provide the Metropolitan Police in Hillingdon the means to pacify a child in a traumatic situation through donations of handmade toys and teddies. The project struck a chord with me and I decided to learn to knit so that I could get involved and donate some teddies myself.

I started out my kitting journey by following this simple charity bear pattern by Patricia Smith. I found that the weight of the first leg on my needle really off putting when knitting the second and also found the first full row of garter stitch that joins the legs together was really tricky.

My children requested bears with clothes on so I looked about on the web and found these adorable bear and clothes tutorials by Baldy Sheep on Etsy. It is now many hours of knitting fun later and I have learnt a whole lot of useful info about pretty combinations of pearl and knit stitch from the Baldy Sheep tutorials. I also found that kitting a teddy in two parts and stuffing from the head was much easier for a total beginner like me. While knitting teddy bear T shirts it dawned on me that if I could use the same technique to knit a bear from the head down to the toes it would eliminate all of the bits I found tricky with the first charity bear tutorial.

I decided to give knitting a bear from the head downwards a go. I based my pattern proportions loosely on a scaled down version of the Patrica Smith bear. The aim was to find a super simple way to be able to knit, sew and stuff a small bear from start to finish in just a couple of hours. Jemima is very sweet, she comes out at just 4 inches high when knitted on 4mm needles with DK wool.

Jemima Pattern
Head
Cast on 12 sts
Knit 12 rows
Knit 2 together, knit 8 st, knit 2 together (10 sts)
Knit 2 together, knit  6 st, knit 2 together (8 sts)

Arms 
Cast on 10 sts at the start of the next two rows (28 sts)
Knit 6 rows
Cast of 8 sts at the start of the next 2 rows (12 sts)

Body
Knit 12 rows

Legs
Knit 6 sts, turn your work
Knit 11 more rows of 6sts
Cast off
Rejoin your wool and knit 12 rows of the remaining 6 sts
Cast off

Repeat pattern again in a bright contrasting colour for the back of the Teddy

Eyes, nose and mouth
You can either do this first before stitching the front and back together or after your bear has been stitched and stuffed. Use Bullion stitch to make a bulky oval nose. Embroider on two small eyes and a mouth and secure all of the ends securely and neatly (I find it easier to embroider the face before sewing together so I can hide knots and weave wool ends in on the wrong side of the knitting).

Sewing and stuffing 
Weave all loose ends in the wrong side of the knitting. Place right sides of the bear together and starting at one side of the head, oversew around the edges of the whole bear leaving a couple of cm gap at the top head. Carefully turn your bear right side out and stuff with soft toy stuffing (available in all good craft shops). Carefully sew the small opening in the head closed.

Ears
Separate a small diagonal area on the top corner on each side of the head using running stitch. Sew over the running stitch line two or three times, secure running stitch with a couple of small stitches hidden in the seam. Hide the tail end of the wool inside your stuffed bear. Gently pull the ears to a more rounded shape.

Useful links.....

How to cast on : Long Tail Method by Knittinghelp.com
How to knit the Garter Stritch by PurlPlanet
How to knit: Casting off for beginners by tinselmint 
Knitting Help: Weaving in ends in Garter stitch by VeryPink Knits
Bullion knots by Mary Corbet
Finishing : Oversewing by Stylecraft Yarns
Face Embroidery on Knitted Toys by SusanBAnderson

Please do not sell bears made from this tutorial unless the are for charitable purposes.

Happy Knitting, Jolene x

Messy Testing - Cleopatra ltd run

Cleopatra ltd run is a densely saturated rich purple. I have used it to make candy striped core petal beads. Every shade of transparent purple that you see in these beads has been created with Cleopatra.

I have used it as a solid colour core under clear in the tumble etched spacers. In the rounds I have used it to create the initial core with white dots on top or or over a white core as tiny dots that have been further diluted with Effetre clear and stretched out to make pale candy stripes. The petals have been formed by adding tiny dots of Cleopatra over dots of either Effetre white or CiM Lapis. On the surface of these beads I have used Cleopatra stringer to create some darker purple dotty details by adding a second layer of Cleopatra to build up the colour intensity. All in all Cleopatra is a very pretty and versatile colour.

Jolene x

Messy Testing - Toto, Pistachio Ice Cream and Slate ltd run

Today I have 3 more pretty additions to the CiM palette to show. First is Toto ltd run which starts out as kind of brownish beige but strikes to a variety of brown and earthy grey shades the longer you work it in the flame. Here you can see a good range of the colours that come from Toto. The tumble etched spacers are made with a core of Toto encased with Effetre clear. I have decorated the rounds with Pistachio Ice Cream ltd run dots under Maple with Mahogany ltd run stringer and Butternut ltd run dots.

These rounds are made with Pistachio Ice Cream ltd run which is a very pale pastel green. You could go as far as calling it a green tinted white. I have used the same combination of colours to decorate the Pistachio Ice Cream rounds, large Toto dots under Maple with Pistachio Ice Cream stringer and Butternut ltd run and Mahogany ltd run dots. The spacers are encased tumble etched Maple.

This last set are made with Slate ltd run, a pale and pretty transparent grey toned blue. Both the rounds and spacers are made with a core of Slate under Effetre Clear. The spacers have been tumble etched and the rounds decorated with large Effetre white dots under Aegean ltd run and my all time favourite green glass, Elphaba.


Jolene x

Messy Testing - Ecru and Allspice ltd runs

There are some lovely neutral and earthy toned opal glass colours on the horizon too within this next release of ltd run colours from CiM. I have teamed them up with classic Silvered Ivory stringer wraps.

First up I have a trio of hearts to show that are made with Ecru ltd run, a gorgeous cream opal glass with a pearly looking lustre to it. This glass is just glorious.

Allspice ltd run is a deep golden brown that makes me think of caramelised sugar.

Jolene x

Messy Testing - Jet Stream ltd run

Jet Stream ltd run, coming out from Creation is Messy (CiM) soon, is a pretty sapphire blue. It behaves beautifully in the flame without scumming or boiling when worked hot.

These beads on the left have a core of Jet Stream encased with Efftre clear and decorated with Butternut ltd run, Elphaba and Efftre light Grass Green.

Jet Stream also looks lovely layered up inside petal beads. It is pale and delicate when used in small quantities over Effetre white and diluted further with layers of clear encasement. The dark opaque blue details in these beads is Effetre 421 Lapis Blue. The spacers are made with a thin core of Jet Stream encased with Effetre 006 and given a tumble etched finish.

Jolene 

Messy Testing - African Violet ltd run

African Violet ltd run is a rich dark transparent purple. It is part of the spring 2016 collection of new colours from Creation is Messy. It is so dark that I have used it here sparingly as a thin core under a thick encasing layer of Effetre 006 clear to show the hue better. The round beads have been decorated with dots and stringers made with Lapis (opaque purple), Grumpy Bear (pale blue) and African Violet. The donut shaped spacers are also made with African Violet under 006. They have been tumble etched to give them a matt/frosted finish.

Jolene x

Messy Testing - Ceylon ltd run

Ceylon ltd run is a very pretty dark smokey quartz colour. I have used it here as the core colour under these encased beads. The rounds have been decorated with thin stringers of Adamantium, Effetre baby pink and Rubino Ora. I just love warm grey and pink together. I have tumble etched the encased Ceylon donut spacers and they look like frosted sea glass, though it is very rare to find sea glass naturally in shades of grey.

Smokey Ceylon look wonderful with Adamantium which is a warm grey. These hearts are half Ceylon  and half Adamantium separated with a twisted band of silvered ivory stringer.

Jolene x

Messy testing - Experimental, Musk and Pistachio Ice Cream Ltd Runs

There are some new CiM ltd run colours on the horizon including a new formula for Clear called Experimental ltd run. I have made two similar sets of beads. The first uses Experimental for the encasing layer and the second uses Effetre 006 Clear.

To my eye Musk ltd run looks like a light version of Mojito so I decided to use them both side by side in the same set. This first set of beads has been made with thick cores of Musk ltd run (round beads) and thin cores of Mojito (tumble etched donuts). All were encased with Experimental. The rounds and donuts came out of the kiln looking much closer in hue than they do in rod form due to the relative thickness of the cores and thickness of the encasing layer on top. I have also used Mojito as the top layer on most of the stacked dots in this set as I felt that Musk might look too pale to have much impact when used in such a tiny amount over a coloured dot.

The stringer work was done with Pistachio Ice Cream ltd run, which is a really pretty very pale green opaque. It was much stiffer as a fine stringer than that I expected it to be considering it is such a pale opaque shade. I have also used a touch of Elphaba here and there to give the whole colour scheme a little zingy lift.

The beads in my second set have a core of CiM Aegean ltd run encased with Effetre 006 and decorated with Effetre Lapis 421 and Effetre white.

Below are two close up images showing just one bead from each set side by side, 006 on the left and Experimental on the right. Both clear glasses look quite good in terms of minimal micro bubbles and scum. Experimental just has a slight edge over 006 Clear in terms of clarity when you hold the beads up to the light. I found that experimental was softer than 006 Clear which means that it can be used to make a thinner encasement layer than the stiffer 006 Clear can. All in all I quite like Experimental.

Jolene xx

Mandala beads and buttons

I'm so totally thrilled with this mornings kiln harvest. I've been wanting to try to make something like this for yonks but just didn't have enough skill and heat control to stop a large disc from just collapsing in on itself. These beads and buttons all turned out deliciously and I can't wait to get back into the studio to play with this style again.

Have a great day, Jolene xx

www.kitzbitz.com

Messy testing - Dirty Laundry, Ladybug and Red Alert ltd run

Today I'm looking at a new shade of opal white coming out soon from CiM called Dirty Laundry ltd run. I have used Dirty Laundry as the base for the first trio of hearts in the picture on the left. Dirty laundry looks slightly creamy yellow in comparison with Marshmallow (middle set) and is much denser than Cirrus (trio on the right).
The heart below is also made over a base of Dirty Laundry.








The flower petals for all of these white hearts are made with  Emperor ltd run layered over Grumpy Bear stringer. For the Marshmallow set I have used Effetre yellow opalino also. All of the foliage is made with Ogre ltd run. The colour changing effects of Ogre are unpredictable but also adds a lot of interest.

I have also been looking at two new shades of opaque red, Red Alert ltd run and Ladybug ltd run. Red alert is the darker of the two and has beautiful striations. I pulled a fine stringer of Red Alert and used it to create these poppy petals. The colours variation mades them look shaded and gives them a lot of depth and interest. The hearts below were also made with Red Alert, you can see the colour variation much more clearly here.

The petals for the flowers on this second Glacier focal were made with new ladybug ltd run. It is a bright, vibrant and streak free strawberry red. Below are my test beads of Red Alert (top bead) and Ladybug (bottom bead) side by side.

Jolene x

Chunky Cool fall discs tutorial in Beads & Beyond Magazine Sept 15

Hot off the press and fresh on the shelves, the September edition of Beads & Beyond magazine has a tutorial in print showing how to make these Pantone Fall 2015 colours inspired chunky disc beads.

Jolene xx

Messy testing - Eucalyptus, Ogre and Leaf Men ltd run

This evening I am showing three new shades of ltd run green glass coming soon to the CiM Palette. First up is Eucalyptus ltd run, a delicious pale grey green opaque that looks slightly striated in these beads. The egg at the back has been decorated with layered dots of Effetre Opal Yellow and Gold rich Rubino Ora. The front bead has been decorated with Reichenbach Multi Color Dark. Neither bead show signs of fuming or reactions between Eucalyptus and the Rubino or Multi Dark.

This next pair of beads are made on a base of Ogre ltd run. At first glance these beads appear quite similar to the same designs over a Eucalyptus (see image above) but Ogre strikes to a variety of shades from greyish blue to green to brown and is also quite reactive as you can clearly see in the bead decorated with Reichenbach Multi Color Dark ferns. There is a delicate halo surrounding the outline of the fern details.



These are the same Ogre  beads from a different angle showing some of the colour variation possible with this fascinating glass.

The last green that I have been testing this week is called Leaf Men ltd run. It is a rich jungle green that gives beautiful deep green striations across the surface of the beads. Like Ogre, Leaf Men is also shows a delicate looking halo reaction with Multi Dark.

Jolene x

Messy testing - Autumn, Moccasin and Indian Summer ltd run

This evening I am looking at three new brown glass colours coming out soon from CiM. The first is called Autumn ltd run, it is a rich nutty peach opaque. I found it a bit shocky to work with and so pre-warmed the rods in the kiln. Once warmed it melted like a dream. Autumn makes a lovely base for Reichenbach Multicolour dark (Far left) bringing out the purple colours beautifully. The egg in the middle is decorated with Reichenbach Deep black and the third egg has been decorated with stacked dots of Effetre Opal Yellow and Rubino Ora. Autumn does not show any signs of reacting with or being fumed by either the Multi Dark or Gold Rich Rubino glass.

This egg beads were made with Moccasin ltd run. I really like this colour, it is a warm pale milky chocolate brown that also makes a great base for Multi Dark (far right) and shows no signs of fuming with Gold rich Rubino (leftmost bead). The bead in the the middle is decorated with Reichenbach Deep black. Moccasin is very well behaved in the flame, not shocky at all, and it melts like a dream.

This delicious transparent is called Indian Summer. In rod form it looks quite a bit lighter, Maybe it strikes a little in the kiln as I didn't notice any signs of the glass darkening up (striking) in the flame and was surprised just how dark my test beads looked when they came out of the kiln the next day (see pic below). The egg shaped bead here looks like is has an almost ombre effect going on as the colour looks lighter where the glass thickness lessened towards the point. It has been decorated with raked Multi Dark dots.

From left to right, Effetre Light Topaz 012, Effetre Medium Topaz 014 and CiM Indian Summer ltd Run. I picked out these two Effetre shades to test against as Indian Summer in rod form looked to me to likely fit somewhere between the two. As you can see it came out of the kiln much darker and puts me in mind of the colour of cola after all of the ice has melted in my glass.


Jolene x

Messy testing - Limelight, Tutu and Celeste ltd run

This post is all about three pretty pale transparents that are brand new shades out soon from CiM. These colours are so pale that I am actually comparing them side by side with some Bullseye tints (CoE 90).  First up, Limelight ltd run, which I found to be beautiful but a bit fussy and prone to boil. On this string from left to right there is Bullseye Grass Green 1807, Limelight ltd run and Limelight ltd run etched with Dip N Etch.

Tutu ltd run did not like my hot flame much either. I tend work very hot, two oxygen concentrators feeding a Carlisle Mini CC and am not very patient when it comes to colours that need to be worked higher in the flame and my Tutu Hearts turned out look almost like seeded glass. On this pink string from left to right are Tutu etched with Dip N Etch, Tutu ltd run and lastly Bullseye Erbium Pink 1821 which is the palest pink tint Bullseye glass that I had in the stash.

Celeste ltd run was far better behaved for me in terms of coping with the high heat. From left to right you can see Bullseye Juniper Blue 1807, Celeste, Celeste etched with Dip N Etch.
It is such a pretty shade, very similar to but a touch lighter than Frost ltd run. Below is a side by side picture of Ice Floe, Celeste and Frost.

All three of these super pale colours really come into their own when etched, which is something that Bullseye glass just does not do easily or well. They all look delicious etched but Limelight and Tutu need to be worked much cooler than I have done to get the best results. I want to try working with both again with the Nortel Minor on one oxy to see what difference the cooler set-up will make.

Jolene x

Messy Testing - Emperor ltd run

There are some new colours coming out from Creation is Messy in the Fall, I think Emperor ltd run is my favourite of the ones I have had the chance to play with so far.



As a self coloured bead it is a rich plummy purple transparent but when used as tiny dots it has quite a bit in common with Effetre Rubino Oro in the way it spreads and some reactions. In the image top left I have used stringers of Rubino and Emperor over hand pulled Effetre pale Opal Yellow to create raked fern decorations. Both glasses spread beautifully, the Rubino turned orange/yellow over the Opal Yellow and Emperor stayed deliciously pink.
 

These flowers are made with stringers of either Emperor (fist column) or Rubino (second column) placed directly over some common reactive bases. Both glasses spread out a lot, with the colour pooling at the centre of the dots giving a place cream/white outline.

The top row base is hand pulled Effetre Copper Green, middle row is Effetre light Turquoise, bottom row is Effetre New Violet.


Jolene x