The Siren Song of Mermaids

It has been a while since the blog was active, but that doesn't mean I have not been actively engaged in creating new work. I still make owls and play with the designs. I also enjoy following my muse to other fantastical places and this past year I have been inspired by the ocean.
For this post I want to show you the mermaids I designed.  I started with a tabular flat design  and I plan on improving on that shape and advancing the idea. For the moment I have played with the mermaid character on the tab. Using dichro or silver glasses for the tail.  Now I have to mention here that I am a bit of a zombie fiend and I couldn't help myself... I had to make a zombie mermaid. I feel certain there will be others in the future.
The other major design for the mermaids are based on a round shape. I made about five of those, playing around with glass combinations.

First tab mermaid, with a dichro tail and elaborate background. I decided the finicky background did not do any favours for the mermaid and changed tack. 

Second tab mermaid. I sketched a mermaid character in pencil first. She was chubby and cute. I really do like her from her dramatic stylized hair, googly eyes, round tummy and little hands.

Ruuuuun Zombie!!!!!!!  She's kooky and rotting with hanks of hair and bloody eyeballs.

My first round mermaid. I like some aspects of it, like how the background is shell-like, or whirlpool.

Second round mermaid. I tried to make the mermaid stand out more from the background and used dichro for the tail.
Below are variations of above,  playing with glass combos.

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!

New owl design(s) and don't forget the Bead Expo!

If you are in Melbourne and like beads especially to buy or want to see my work firsthand, please come to:
the Bead Society of Victoria's Bead Expo
11th - 13th November 2011
Kingston CIty Hall, 979 Nepean Hwy, Moorabbin, VIC.
1 day pass: $10 for an adult up to a 3 day pass $25. Also concessions available.
My table is on the upper level of the hall, look for red and white.

Time to see some evolution in the owl species.  Here's some eye candy:

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!

Rings of glass

A couple of weeks ago I attended some workshops with renowned lampwork artist and teacher, Corina Tettinger. Six days of filling up my brains to overflowing with valuable insights and new techniques was the best thing I have done this year. Thanks to a fantastic teacher, Corina, we were taught not only what was expected, but also plenty of awesome extras such as rings!

I was dying to make some of these beautiful glittery objects for the fingers using some of the wonderful Double Helix silver glasses. such as Clio, Kalypso and Triton.

So far I have made 5. One is for my niece, the light blue mirror one. The last one i made was the most ornate, with the goldstone edge, twist and shiny dots. The design possibilities are exciting so i'm looking forward to doing some crazy fun things with rings.

Necklace with lampwork and enamel be

I made this necklace yesterday using both lampwork and enamel beads. The enamel beads are such a pleasure to work with. They instantly add detail and keep things light.