Hot Glass: 7th Session

Another productive day making beads! My bears are coming along nicely and I like the "Norse-style Trade Beads" that I got done as well...

I found the Opal-plum frit to be rather dark for my tastes, but I'm not ready to give up on it quite yet.

I've been "lurking" in the "Canadian Play it Forward Box" thread on the Lampwork Etc. chat forum since 5:30am when my cat woke me up wanting to be fed! That's a game that a group of us are playing where the first person to message the person who HAS the box gets it next. The box contains a variety of glass and supplies etc. You take what you want out of it and replace it's value with stuff that you have, then you send it on to the next person. The gal who has it right now is only 40 minutes away from me, so I'm acting like I'm hanging out, trying to get front-row concert tickets!

Here's crossing my fingers!

Hot Glass: 6th Session

Yesterday was a VERY good session...

I took the advice that I was given about turning down the flame on my HH torch and being aware of where I am working in the flame and it really helped!

I think that I might just be getting a little faster. I created all of these in about 6 hours.

Back to the torch tomorrow...

Note to self: Don't drink caffeine before trying to work with hot glass! That Ice Capp tastes good, but it's just. not. worth. it!

Hot Glass: 4th and 5th Sessions

More Flameworking to catch up on...
I'm managing to do some glass bead making about once a week. (possibly two sessions this week!) My technique is getting a little better, but I think that I will work at obtaining the bulk tank of Mapp Gas after all... An investment at the quoted $187.00
I'm not liking how the propane scums up the transparent glass when I'm trying to encase my beads. It's not too bad with the bright colours that I favour and I kind of like the "antique" effect that it gives to the beads for the norse-style beads that I'm creating.

I'm hoping to have some beads to trade while I'm at Pennsic ( a HUGE medieval camping Event that I'm attending this summer), and if I manage to get a Norse -style dress sewn for myself in time, I will wear my beads with it too!
I think that with all the bead-making I'm doing I won't have to worry about being so totally obsessed with making them while I'm away at Pennsic as I have in the past.
I'm hoping to get a bit of pewter casting done as well to have tokens to trade/give to other people that I meet while I'm there.

FacePaintings at 'Melee

Well, I've gotten behind in posting about my Creative efforts!

Here's one from a couple weekends ago.
My husband, Chris (the attractive fellow with the "woad wolf" at the bottom right) attended a medieval reinactment camping event for the SCA (society for creative anachronism) on the weekend of June 13/14/15, 2008, called "Murder Melee in the Meadow XXV"

Friday was pretty low key and we enjoyed the musical talents of Noni Crete and Eugene Rea in The Raven Tavern that night.

There was some rain on Friday night, but we didn't care since we were snug in musical heaven and looked forward to sleeping in a nice dry bunk rather than a tent.

Saturday dawned clear and sunny and I enjoyed the day nestled in the foyer of the cabin we were staying in (near the merchants) -- facepainting and playing my penny whistle. My husband (known in the SCA as "Olfus") played his mandolin and we worked on our songlist for a Saturday night performance in the Tavern ~ since sadly, Noni and Eugene were not able to return.

The performance went very well and we wandered off afterwards to enjoy some more singing and some burnt marshmallows with friends around their campfires, before heading back to our bunks for the night.

Hot Glass: 3rd Session

I got back to flameworking glass again yesterday.

After reading a thread in the LampworkEtc. Forum about using regular propane for a HotHead torch, I decided to give it a try since I'm still developing my skills and it's less than half the cost of buying Mapp gas in bulk. I found that they were right about the glass not getting mucked up as long as you don't work too low in the flame. I think I did okay with the exception of the first couple of beads.

I wanted to get back to work exploring the glass and how it responds to the flame. I played around with some of the frits that I have and a few samples that I just bought.

I love the iris orange/raku reduction frit, but the iris green-amber reduction frit is divine! Particularly on ivory glass which is fast becoming one of my favourites to work with. I really like how you get these unpredictable reactions with other colours that contain copper etc. in them.

I haven't gotten any silver wire yet that's pure enough to work properly on a bead. I'm looking forward to playing with that.

I love how the two long beads (11) turned out with the bright candy colours. I used some twisties and stringers to make the swirls and dots. The blue aventurine frit over sky blue (6) came out pretty nice. I was playing with layers using the frit and transparent clear glass. As a result of these experiments, I plan to buy some fine aventurine frits in several colours. I can't resist the sparkle! The striking cherry red (12) was unexpected. It was part of the "gambler's pack" that AiG is all sold out of. I was so disappointed when I found out, and wished I had bought TWO lbs. instead of just the one. Oh well.

Once I get enough beads accumulated, I'll send them off to be batch annealed.