Hearts and Owls

I'm still working on inventory for the bead show next week ( Bead Expo Fri 11th-13th nov. Kingston Town Hall Moorrabbin).
I spent a lot of time on a heart design. It features a flower blossoming from a heart, like how love sometimes returns when you may not have thought it possible. There are 'flames' around the edges, symbolizing the challenges/trials that impact on our hearts. OK enough blithering and philosophizing! Here are pics of 4. I have only made about 9.

Now for some owls... I have been in a feverish frenzy making these. Some are in that category where I don't know whether I will actually part with them.

He reminds me of the universe, funnily enough his body was made from a glass called Black Nebula

Had to try out Clio glass, was a challenge alright!

Look! Legs! they make me laugh, like little owl pantaloons.

A tail! He also has legs (shock horror)

Mother and baby

Adorable plump baby owls! see the little gap for dangling charms?

The Usual Suspects!

Branching out in Bead Design

A couple of weeks ago I went to the beautiful state of Tasmania to attend a workshop with the german lampwork artist Anastasia. I have been a fan of Anastasia's work since I discovered lampwork back in 2006. Some of the lessons we were taught involved the use of enamels and fine stringer, such as with her tree beads. The following are some of my beads made in the class, the first has the addition of a tiny owl (awwwwww).





This floral one featues some honeycomb murrini for the stamens of the flowers, pretty cool stuff, though it takes a long time to make the murrini so we were given some of the demonstration version that Anastasia made.


Since I have returned I have been creating more trees using Helios glass, which reduces to a golden lustre, on a plain base, but adding fine frit to emulate leaves or dots for the occasional fruit blob. It is a very relaxing process but I have some ideas that will require pushing the boundaries a bit. Here is the forest so far:

Ring a Ring a Rosy

I have been making quite a variety of beads, but enjoying the ring thing a lot! Here's a couple of fingerfuls.



I particularly like the eye and flower design, decorative and interesting. The middle finger ring is made from Double Helix 'Helios' a beautiful lustering gold colour.

Below are a few more for good measure. I think if you are going to wear a glass ring, it had better be a showcase for the glass and therefore cannot be tiny and boring. It should catch the eye, well, that's what I think, and all the three year olds that have played with them would agree with me!

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.

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..

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?