Rainbow woes........

 I loved making these and was tickled pink when they came out of the kiln looking like little sweeties yesterday morning. This morning I spotted and incompatibly crack in one of the hearts - literally heart breaking.

They were made over a core of CiM Peace with tiny wraps of bog standard Effetre colours over the top and encased with 006. The cracking is internal, partial and only over the "hot" colours.

So a few hours of pouring over internet and I found a good lot of interesting info on Lampwork Etc which talks about Cadmium based colours being inconsistent under encasement.

These rainbow rounds came out of the kiln looking perfect this morning. I made them before the first crack appeared on the hearts and just a few hours later 3 now show small fractures internally too.

So some things to try - making a core of clear glass under white before layering on the rainbow or making the rainbow directly over a core of clear. Or making a similar design using Bullseye glass which is CoE 90.....update coming soon.

Have a super evening, Jolene x

Mini Mo' Jan '15 - Indigo and Blackcurrant

My first collection of 2015 is called Blackcurrant. I've created this glasswork with CiM Gypsy, CiM Blackcurrant and CiM Dirty Martini.

This first set of hearts uses Blackcurrant canes to make delicate petals over CiM Thistledown.

Followed by a set of Dirty Martini shank buttons decorated with Blackcurrant murrini.

These hearts have some silvered Dirty Martini shards melted over the top and feature Blackcurrant murrni too.

My second collection for Jan 15 is called Indigo. I've used CiM Indigo, CiM Mediterranean, CiM Loch Ness with Marigold and Effetre light turquoise 232.

The shards in this collection are the original recipe "Troubled Sky" shards that I first made way back in 2009.

A Vetro Smoke Rings focal heart decorated with Indigo canes.

And last up, a sweet trio of shank buttons that feature Indigo and turquoise daisy murrini (these need a long soak in some coke to take away the dull grey effects that you can see on the surface of the turquoise glass).


Wishing you a lovely evening Jolene x

Mini Mo Dec 14 - Willow Pattern and Earthenware

My first Mini Mo' collection for December is called Willow Pattern. I have used CiM Cornflower, CiM Zachary and Effetre White.

These beautiful silvered shards are a special one off mix for this collection.

An encased Easter egg focal with a Willow Pattern twistie wrapped core over Vetrofond mid blue.

Both the Willow Pattern and earthenware collections contain pretty black latticino canes, shown here over CiM Glacier and under clear.

My second collection for December is called Earthenware and uses CiM Stoneground and Reichenbach Multicolor dark.

I've created this floral decoration with swipes of Earthenware canes to form the vines and petals.

An Ethenware twistie cored heart wrapped with silvered Stoneground shards.

This is what the some of the Earthenware canes look like under deep encasement.


Have a lovely evening, Jolene x

Mini Mo' Nov 14 - Print Room and Playtime

Print Room, my first collection for November was made with CiM Hades, Vetrofond opaque red an CiM Peace

This striking heart focal heart features some of  the Print Room twistie under encasement and over a core of white.

Another encased Print Room twisted cored heart, this one has twistie wrapped over a core of clear.

And a sweet heart collection, the focal is decorated with a dragonfly with twistie swiped wings.

My Playtime collection was made with CiM Daffodil, CiM Keylime, CiM Grumpy Bear and Effetre Coral.

This bright little button trio is made uses Playtime murrini as decoration.

This large focal heart uses some of the Playtime canes both encased under a layer of clear glass and on top of the bead as raised decoration.

Have a super day, Jolene xx

Strawberry iced chocolate bead tutorial in Beads & Beyond magazine Feb 2015

Hot off the press and fresh on the shelves, the Valentines edition of Beads & Beyond magazine has a tutorial in print for my fab strawberry iced chocolate beads. I couldn't be more thrilled, the page looks beautiful.

Jolene xx

My lampwork tutorials and EUVAT from Jan 1st

Tomorrow (Jan 1st 2015) sees the beginning of a massive change in EU law that sees VAT on ebooks and digital services charged at the rate of the country of the buyer..... an administrative and technical challenge that I am simply not able to meet as a one woman business.

(You can find out more about the changes on the EU vat action website http://euvataction.org).

Rather than withdraw my tutorials from sale completely I have been looking around for a 3rd party website that is VAT compliant and have decided to list with Payhip who are ready for the big changes on Jan 1st. My tutorials are only available on my blog for the time being.


 

6 Organic Shard Recipes and Shard Blowing tutorial is now available via Payhip as an instant download, £10 plus Vat for your country

Buy eBook

Tutorial details: 24 pages, 50 colour images, 9.58 MB and is written in English.

There is also a brill bonus tutorial on applying shards and making encased beads with a graphite roller.

Making Lime Murrini available Via Payhip as an automatic download, £12 plus Vat for your country.

Buy eBook

 

Tutorial details: 37 pages, 135 images, 6.2 MB and written in English

This eBook teaches you how to make my signature semi-circular lime murrini slices. There are 66 step by step images for this project accompanied by written instructions. This tutorial is aimed at for intermediate to advanced lampworkers and is not Hot Head friendly, a kiln is also required.

There are also 3 bonus tutorials

Amoeba beads for Beads of Courage
My favourite vine cane recipe
Chocolate Limes with the Kati was here! La Patisserie press
(which shows how to use pictorial murrini as raised decoration).


Jolene x

Messy testing - 50's Kitchen, Caboose and Butternut ltd run

Today I am looking at three beautiful opaque colours coming out soon from CiM. First up is a super pale green is called 50's Kitchen, it is quite similar to mint chip in many ways and looks lovely encased.

This pretty coral red is called Caboose ltd run' Caboose is streak free and every bit as bright and pretty encased.

Butternut ltd run is a beautiful autumnal bright buttery orange. And here is it under an layer of clear looking perhaps even more vibrant.





Jolene xx

Messy Testing - Frozen, Sakura, Nimbus and French Grey ltd run

In this post I am looking at four new colours that will be coming out soon from Creation is Messy. First up is Frozen is a new opal white ltd run  I made two Pisanka (Polish decorated Easter egg) style sets of beads from Frozen (at the front) and Marshmallow (at the back) for comparison. Frozen is more translucent and has a slightly blue tint when compared to Marshmallow.

This set of leaves and flower buds are made with a stunning new transparent pink called Sakura Ltd Run. I have swiped on petals of Sakura over Frozen for a very romantic combination of colours.

I adore the next two colours, a pair of soft looking opal grey melts. This first colour is a lush dark grey called Nimbus ltd run, a name that suits is very well.

The last new colour that I have to share today is called French Grey ltd run. I absolutely adore the way that white stringer (Effetre white) looks feathered at the edges over French Grey.

Jolene xx

Messy testing - Aladdin ltd run and Loch Ness ltd run

CiM have been making some absolutely glorious new colours lately. This deep opal purple is called Aladdin ltd run and it's deliciously plumy and yum!

This next colour, Loch Ness ltd run, is a super saturated green which looks almost black in this little self coloured leaf bead.  Held up to the light though it is clear to see how well Loch Ness will work in canes and as fine stringer to give a bright vibrant olive green.

I tried Loch Ness up against Slytherin and Slytherin Unique-2 as fine stringer and it falls somewhere between the two in density of colour. In the picture below from left to right, these decorated egg shaped beads use Slytherin, Loch Ness and Slytherin Unique-2

Slytherin over Peace

 Loch Ness ltd run over Peace

Slytherin Unique-2 over Peace

I think I am going to enjoy using Loch Ness is my beads a great deal, especially in beads with striped cored under deep encasement.

Jolene x

Flower bud beads and spacer sized leaves.......

I thought a quick gallery style post to show the kinds of beads I'm loving to make at the moment would be fun :-D These don't tend to stay around long enough to make it over to Etsy, if you'd like to see more then please check out my Facebook page. Have a super evening, Jolene xx