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.

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?

Glass owl bead giveaway no. 4! 3 chances to win! Draw 5th Dec 2009

Here is the fourth owl giveaway for a no strings attached, handmade, very cute, jawjee original, OOAK glass owl. There are three owls so your chances of winning one are greatly increased :-).

Rules are the same as before... I will post like this with images showing the front, back, and hand size reference so you can see the owls up for giving away. All you need to do is comment to the blog post! it is that easy. I will then draw out 3 commentator's names on Saturday 5th December, post up the winners and we'll communicate so that you can receive your new little friend.

It's has been a fun exercise doing the giveaways and I think I will continue to do them intermittently everytime the owls have a population explosion. I regularly have others up for auction on ebay.

This week's owls are:

1. Shansi, she's very pretty decked out in psyche frit, which has lovely iridescence and possessing a pair of spectacular green-blue eyes.
2. Morello, a deep burgundy coloured owl, using the magical glass, Ekho, there are also deep purply pink hues, difficult to capture with the camera. Her back is sprinkled with psyche frit for iridescence. She has multi-hued auroras in her eyes.
3. Porter has lots of character, made with a silverbased glass with some white speckles on his front and a pair of terra caramel wings on his back. Raku details and lovely deep hued auroras in his eyes.
   

If you click on the picture it will open up a larger version of the image.
Good luck folks, remember to drop a comment!

Glass owl bead giveaway no. 3!!! he's a cutie, Draw 28th Nov 2009

Here is the third owl giveaway for a no strings attached, handmade, very cute, jawjee original, OOAK glass owl.

Rules are the same as before... I will post like this with images showing the front, back, and hand size reference so you can see which owl is up for giving away. All you need to do is comment to the blog post! it is that easy. I will then draw out a user's name on Saturday 28th November, post up the winner and we'll communicate so that you can receive your new little friend.

You'll be surprised at the amount of people out there who collect owls, sometimes it's not apparent that somebody is a collector and you have to watch out for the subtle clues. As an experiment you could hold up a picture of a cute owl to the people that you come in contact with and look out for pupil dilation and hoots of delight... with practice you can spot these responses (;-/). I have others up for auction on ebay.

This week's owl is Antipodes, the first I have made with a glass called Green Dalai by TAG. This glass strikes to streaky greeny-blues. I then added some Reichenbach Dark Multicolour for details such as his beak, toes, spots on front and wings on back. Multicolour strikes to various colours - I love the navy blue, but was also pleasantly surprised to see the purply-reddy-blues in the wings. If you would like the chance to hold him... you know what to do!

For the last draw next week I am planning something special, like maybe 3 draws for a first second and third winner so don't forget to check it out next week as well!

GLASS OWL BEAD GIVEAWAY no. 2 who who! Draw 21st November

OK it's time for the second owl giveaway for a no strings attached, handmade, very cute, jawjee original, OOAK glass owl.

Rules are the same as before... I will post like this with images showing the front, back, and hand size reference so you can see which owl is up for giving away. All you need to do is comment! it is that easy. I will then draw out a user's name on Saturday 21st November, post up the winner and we'll communicate so that you can receive your new little friend.

A lot of people out there like owls, you're bound to know someone who would like one. They are often used as symbols of wisdom, so maybe they would make a cute little graduation gift. I have others up for auction on ebay.

This week's owl is Constantinople, he has the owl constellation on his tummy and inside it too! There are some gold bubbles that can be seen through his window-like front. I made C out of Triton, a reduction glass from Double Helix, and it has turned shades of blue as well as breaking into iridescent streaky cream striations (let's call them space clouds) . His ears are Mystic Grey, a translucent grey glass and his eyes are wonderful multi-hued nebulae.

Comment away!

Glass Owl Bead Giveaway!! HOOT HOOOOOOT!!!

Who would like a no strings attached, handmade, very cute, jawjee original, OOAK glass owl?

I have been on holidays and have made a surfeit of owls, they're staring at me from all directions and want some 'one on one' attention from a loving owner. Will you adopt one? Here's how....

I will be holding a weekly draw, on Saturdays starting next week 14th Nov 2009, for four weeks. That's four separate free owl giveaways. I will post like this with images showing the front, back, and hand size reference so you can see which owl is up for giving away. All you need to do is comment! it is that easy. I will then draw out a user's name on Saturday, post up the winner and we'll communicate so that you can receive your new little friend.

These little fellows have been selling like hotcakes on ebay for the past two years, here's your chance to nab a freebie! You probably know someone who collects owls (check with your librarian friends). Imagine how this would make a delightful christmas present! Because it is a bead you can turn him into a pendant or part of a necklace or bracelet or a dangle for your car rear vision mirror.

Moving on to the owl of the moment, here is Hobo. He's got itchy feet and wants to get out there! He was made from Super DaVinci with dots of Terranova glass on his front and back (wings). Ears, Beak and toes are raku and his eyes are a combination of glasses which mixed to form blue-green auroras. Measurements: 16mm x 17mm x 11mm. Get commenting!

The Owl Parliament is in session

I have been on holiday leave from work for 3 weeks and have one week remaining.

What have I done in that time?

Squillions of owls have been made, the parliament pictured are just the latest that have not been listed yet (or cleaned). I have made chicken balls (flying henriettas) and played with brass in glass. I have made a few moon owls and scarabs and a littlebo-peep bead. Outside of beadmaking, I've bought loads of glass (therefore spent too much). Basically I have lived the dream :-)

There's still so much to do and not enough time to do it! Where is my neverending supply of funds to maintain the lifestyle to which I have become accustomed?

Halloween inspiration

I was looking through a forum thread about Halloween and thought how fun the whole theme is. Thinking about creepy, scary beads, offered all kinds of potential and inspiration. The character I thought to portray was the word 'ghoul' and this combined with my sense or awful puns, 'Ghoul with a Pearl Earring' was born. I hadn't referenced the painting before I started but I was still very pleased with the result. After making her I got excited and thought of more awful puns...
Below is the 'Moaner Lisa'A hand shot to give an idea of sizes. Here we have 'The Scream', 'Whistler's Mummy' and 'Ghoul with a Pearl Earring' (mark 3 after I looked at the painting! the second one I did was interrupted when I ran out of gas and it cracked). I etched whistler's and scream but left the frame glossy. The reason I etched was because I had mistaken a reduction rod for black and when I reduced the frame, all this metallic luster popped up where it was NOT wanted. Etching removes luster. I really love the feel of etched glass and also the patterns and lines seem to pop more. However I'm not completely satisfied with whistler and scream and will redo them. I also have lined up, Henry the Ape and The Birth of Heinous, stay tuned....

The Frog Prince

Last week I was obsessed with blue and green, one of the beads reminded me of a frog, so I considered making a bunch of them, all the same, and just call them froggy beads.
Then I started putting various combinations of beads together and it suddenly stood out that there was a kind of figure (see pic one). I saw an ornately dressed frog prince with his hands on his hips, wearing pantaloons.
So I sketched the image I had in mind and thought about how he could be made and which glasses to use.
The most satisfaction came when I put his legs onto his pantaloons because I wasn't at all sure if the technique I used was going to work.
It gave me a good laugh when I put him all together, I hope you guys get a smile from him too. I don't think I'll kiss him... I like him just the way he is.

Three owls and a robot on ebay

My beads have been stockpiling on my desk and it's time to let go of a few of them, always reluctantly! For the first time I'm auctioning a robot bead with a brass cog named Edgar.Another first is this flattened bead with a landscape picture of a fluffy baby owl out for a walk. His eyes are the only raised part.
Dulce below, is a decorative owl with a folksy feel to her. (She hoots with a European accent.)
Finally Byrd is a slightly different design again, with rings of silvered ivory around his eyes.

Divertimento in blue and green

I have it in my head to make a piece of jewellery with funky unique beads including some large silver findings. Using the colour theme of green and blue this is what I have made so far. While I think they are pretty cool all together it's not really what I envisioned, so I am going to try some different shapes, more extreme, and also some larger-holed discs. Making them this afternoon hopefully!
The beauty of a project is the new things you learn along the way. Like how dense and rich Reichenbach Iris Blue is and how it spreads and forms some lovely gradations. Below is an extreme enlargement so you can see what I'm referring to. It was laid on CIM celadon, can't wait to play with this effect some more!

Owls by the Light of the Silvery Moon

In early March a friend who loves animals, emailed me some cute pictures of owls she had come across. One of them was this funny looking fellow who to me seemed so dignified but ridiculous. I called him Mr Fancy Pants and was inspired to make a bead - the bead also made me laugh. I kept at it, using different glasses and stylizations. Some were scary others offered whole little stories. It seemed appropriate to gift the first one to my friend as a pendant.
Below is the development of some of the owls. The first on the left is the pendant I gifted to my friend. The first two were 'raised' on the surface of the bead (note the monster owl with scary legs). The next couple were made a week later and were smoother. The third one I etched, except for the eyes, and he has a lovely feel. Definately one of my favorites. The fourth reminds me of Monte Burns emerging from the forest in a drug-induced stupor. The last four were done two days ago, some have raised eyeballs some are in line with the surface.
The first one of this next group was from March and indicates the direction I decided to head in. The following six in the group I made yesterday - I had gained momentum and gotten excited by some of the background effects and choices. I decided I liked the eyeballs raised. The fourth one is is probably my favorite of the bunch, I really like the colours and contrast. The image after it shows the back of these beads, basically a mystical tree-type figure. Notice the second one has a scary face peeking out of the branches, like a skull. oooOOOooo eeek!

That's all in this series so far. I still have work to do on it, there's a few things I want to adjust and play around with.

What came out of the kiln?

Three owls that's what! On the left is Maree Dubois and on the left is Lady Willow. Maree has a little french flavour and Willow has a little chinese crockery flavour. I finally committed to selling something on ebay again and these two are the first.

When I go to the torch to create something, there's always a dash of mystery involved. The heat turns the colours of the glass to incandescent orange or red or clear, so it takes some visualizing to predict what's going on as you apply various colours. Then you have to wait for them to cool down in the kiln, and that usually means going to bed and looking at them the next day.

I have always loved the kiln unveiling experience, but I have to say that the more time and labour involved in each bead, the greater the elation and excitement when they are successful (and the greater the disappointment when they fail).

Little Harriet below is nothing like what I thought was going on in terms of her colouring, and while she has some merit, well, I'm afraid she was determined to win one of those 'worst dressed' awards. Like Bjork with a dead swan slung around her neck.

Four Fanciful Fowl

Some more decorative owls, 4 in the hand is worth 8 in the bush? :-D
I took a photo in the hand so that you can get an idea of size. They are about 1/3 bigger than the size of my regular owls. Averaging around 27mm in height.
Below is Lady Pemberley. A 'dignified' mature owl. Made with some transparent dark teal, EDP (purple) and cobalt blue.
Now for some French flavor, we have Babette Dubois. It turns out that Dubois is a French name that means 'of the wood'. She's pert and pretty in pink and black
Next below is Lucy Lambada. I had to laugh when she came out of the kiln, the precocious chick has ripped up somebody's flower bed and shoved it on her head. But Lucy is vivacious and unashamed of her vitality.
Last we have the beautiful Lissette Dubois, sister to Babette. Created with a mixture of pinks a touch of red and detail of handpulled goldstone stringer along her wing.