Little Red Riding Hood

I am very excited about a collaborative project I have embarked on with artist, Claudia Rubinstein . We met at the bead show and have discovered a mutual love of fairy tales and art nouveau.
So far the theme is Little Red Riding Hood, Grimm Brothers.  I have made a bunch of beads around the theme and they are really stepping stones to the final outcome. Still in gestation but also fun and a joy to make! It is great to swap ideas and encouragement in collaboration, it is inspirational and motivational.
Here's the pics:

The first Red is quite graphic and cartoon like. I added a hole in her hood for a dangle She was supposed to be looking over her shoulder in fear but her heavy eyelid makes her quite confident!! Also not in the style I want to eventually aim for (Art Nouveau curves).

First time making leaves and I enjoyed it. Used a metallic green glass and added some dew drops.

Also made some 'berries'

What is a fairytale without a forest? Birchwood trees are eminently suitable for fairytales. Introducing Red and the Wolf.  Red has evolved somewhat! the shape is more reminiscent of Nouveau, Will work on refining the details and adding the wavy hair highlights that all nouveau ladies seem to have! I love the howling wolf head, just him and the tree trunks is a super combination.

Red, Wolf and an owl. I am trying to make a tiny owl or two. I think I can go smaller.

Bead Expo, Owls (ofcourse) and online Interview

It has been a busy two months. I just finished a bead show and will soon be back creating, today hopefully!!! Below are some reports on all the things I have been up to... beady related!

1.  I have taken a workshop with Andrea Guarino and had a fab time. One of the noteable consequences from attending this workshop is meeting two gorgeous gals who have a passion for lampworking and live within a stones throw. We now form a little bead group that is called "The Flaming Matildas" and this is blossoming and expanding to include a bunch of other wonderful lampwork artists in Victoria.
   

   

   Andrea Guarino and Georgie Field

2. I had my first bead expo and met so many fabulous people!! I went there with 50 owls and came home with 3 little lonely owls. 
   One fabulous lady turned out to be the visiting international beading artist Marcia Decoster who loves owls. Marcia mentions her owl purchases and our meeting in her blog... Generous, warm and  incredibly supportive, thankyou Marcia!  Aside from the owl aspect, Marcia makes the most beautiful adornments to wear, using seed beads like magic dust these wonderful creations appear. I loved it when people came up to the stall wearing their works of art. Marcia had whipped up some incredible earrings the night before.
   Two AbFab ladies also made an entrance into my life by purchasing parliaments of owls and beads, while looking dazzling and spreading encouragement. Kirstin doesn't have a website at this time but promised me some photos of the grand idea she has for the beads she purchased. Considering the fabulous jewellery she was wearing I am very excited to see that project blossom. Claudia Rubinstein was also decked out in superb beaded finery and has a penchant for owls and fairytales, bringing them to life through her gorgeous paintings.
   

   

   Georgie Field and her table at the BSV Bead Expo

3. Speaking of fabulous jewellery, the Flaming Matildas' Belinda and Jenni have both purchased owls from me and turned them into gorgeous jewellery. Jenni has a post in her blog with some photos but I would also love to get a photo of both Belinda and Jenni wearing their work. Such different designs and both  brilliant.
4. I was asked for an interview about my lampwork for an online beading magazine called Beading Times. I am the featured artist for the month of November. Check it out to see lots of eyecandy and learn more about me, if you're interested that is!! there are also many other interviews with amazing and talented bead makers.
5. Finally.... some of my work for October

I made a new design, incorporating a bit more fantasy than normal with the curly eye feathers, and also incorporating some things I have learnt about frit in the body. This guy is my favorite, hanging on to him for a while!

Everyone points at this guy because of his big beautiful eyes.

40 ain't so bad

Awesome sister, Mandy, made me these terrific icing owls for the cake and sent them over express along with other beautiful gifts. Thanks Mandy!!!

Time to bead free!

Finally I have some time off work so that I can focus on the beads. Many owls have been made but I might post pictures of them in a couple of days.  Mainly I have been playing and experimenting with new glass, tools and concepts. 

The concept isn't new but it's fresh for me, and that is to make some eclectic sets. Sets of identical beads are not easy for me to produce because it's repetitive (sweat shop/ factory like). I got around that with the idea of different combinations and patterns and textures.

Even more fun can be had in matching up the individuals into their 'special' families. They're not set in concrete and it depends on the coming days how many more get produced and swapped.

Without further ado, here are the pics:

Eclectic 1: ~19mm  Some of the ingredients above are Goldstone, Aurae, Silverlake frit, brass bubbles, silver glasses.

Eclectic 2: ~17mm Encased frit, Multicolor, Magic, Taxco, Special purple rose. My theory is that sometimes you need plain beads, to contrast with the pretty ones and make them shine.

Eclectic 3:: A new glass arrived this past week and I fell in love. It is by Effetre and called Metallic Black. It usually has a matte finish and a gorgeous patina of oilslick colors. The two ultra shiny spacers are Aurae (different glass).

Eclectic 4: ~18mm "Hoi Poloi" Last but not least, a splash of color.  I have so much frit (crushed glass of different colors and blends) and thought it high time to do something with it..

Peacock Owls

I received a request recently for an owl with "peacock' colors including purple and also eyelids, so it has been fun playing with that idea. This spotty owl is the first one.

The second owl is quite different to the first. I was really pleased with it and then realised I hadn't put the gold eyelids on it.  Kind of annoyed that I forgot but was still very pleased with the result. Lacroix is his name and is currently listed on ebay for another few days.

The third owl is similar to the second. I remembered the eyelids but wanted to experiment with different eye feathers and beak etc.  He's pretty cool and more harmonious than the second, however I personally prefer the contrast of the second one.  I have only made the three so far but I will make a few more color combinations till I've exhausted the urge!

Somthing that is not an owl, something that is, and something that was supposed to be.

So my sister gave me a not so subtle hint that my blog has a lot of owls. As a consequence here is something that is not an owl but was inspired BY an owl. The inspiration is the owl from the previous post, it IS kind of skull like, something that I noticed as well as a friend (thanks Sonia). Piraticowl badge, a lampwork bead mounted on some hand-tooled leather.

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Speaking of leather, it is my latest inspiration/fascination particularly as a vehicle for mounting lampwork. A satisfying process and IMHO a complimentary result.. It also means that I can make some brooches utilising the beads. (finally! it has been bugging me no end)

I recently undertook a project as a result of reading about an exhibition which the International Society of Glass Beadmakers (ISGB) were mounting. The brief was to create a piece of jewellery that an imaginary or historical person would wear. Ofcourse my thoughts went to Athena, Goddess of Wisdom in Greek mythology, whose creature was an owl. I thought about the kind of jewellery she might wear and came up with the idea for a brooch to hold her toga together ;-) So it developed from there. It utilises a bead I developed earlier, an owl on a shard of glass.

Anyway I submitted images of it to be juried, and found out yesterday that my piece was accepted!! so very excited :-D

Here it is. It's the first of it's kind so I know it could benefit from more skill etc but ya gotta start somewhere. It is titled "Badge for the Order of Athena"

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Lastly I started making an owl that refused to be an owl. It turns out it was a princess. I called her Princess Pettigrew. I think she has potential as a design. I like how her skirt flares out over a balloon underskirt.

Another new owl design

The barn owl has always intrigued me with it's looks and has proven quite the challenge to emulate in a bead. I have attempted numerous times and been dissatisfied. This attempt looks nothing like a barn owl but I really like how he turned out. He has a kind of wedge-shaped front and extra levels of definition than I usually add. On the front you can see in the second photo the levels for the wings, body and head. Also I've give him some shading around his eyes in the form of colour and extra glass over his brow.

Athena's Owl

I recently held a first quality ancient greek coin with the head of Athena on one side and an owl on the other, similar to the image above. The owl's stance is very distinctive and I fell in love with it, but as a glass sculpture/bead it presented some challenges. I decided to approach it as an image on a surface rather than as a stand-alone shape. I also wanted to give it the feel of something old and a piece of a greater whole, like a shard from a vase.
The first attempt is on the left below, and you can see the gloss on the unetched glass. I chose a base glass called Kryptonite by CIM, it is a beautiful light jade green and looks even prettier etched. The owl has been formed from silvered ivory for it's wonderful organic detailed qualities. The bead on the right is etched and the figure of the owl is tighter. I like them both but prefer the direction where the second one is going. The hole in both runs horizontal through the top portion.
What do you think? Suggestions?