Iiiimmmmmm Baaaaaccckkkk

Yep, after a shamefully long period of time I am back and want to try and blog my glassy journey once again.  Its not a good excuse, but I honestly could not remember my password to google - I really am a lazy bugger!

Since my last blog entry, I have been absolutely insanely busy with my glass.  I often struggle to keep up with demand, but to be honest this is often a combination of factors the most common ones being:

1. Genuinely busy with glass work and family stuff
Yep, sometimes I have a hugely long list of things all those lovely people want from me.  I am a devil for saying yes to nearly everything, I really do need to start saying no or putting some sort of caveat on taking the order (eg. it might be 6 months and you will have to remind me again).  I have three girls and a husband and it can get really insane running around for the kids stuff, I often scam off for my glass, but I really do have to participate in my families lives sometimes!

2. Being distracted by other ideas
Very very often I will be working on something and come up with some mad idea that quite frankly, MUST be made or attempted immediately - not next week, not tomorrow, not after I have made the things I should be doing ..... RIGHT NOW!!!!!

3. Lack of inspiration/self discipline
Oh dear, very very often I get asked for a particular glassy item and even though I might really love making that particular thing, suddenly I don't really want to make it any more.  Its not a performance anxiety thing and I haven't really worked out why my brain is being such a massive pain in the butt, but I nearly always need to make the thing that someone asked for immediately or I end up slipping it to the end of the list repeatedly.... usually once I actually make it I enjoy the process and wonder why I was being a pain in my own butt!

The self discipline issue has been a big one.  Particularly whilst I have been off work (admin office work that is) and have ALL DAY to saunter out to my torch and fiddle fart around checking the TV channels and maybe occasionally even do some housework before I finally light my torch.  Many times I have turned the kiln on and then not even lit the torch.... shameful (bad for carbon footprint too).

Now that we have moved house back down to Canberra (a house we actually own) we are shortly building me a brand spanking new studio.  Unfortunately I have to return to the admin work full time to pay for it... but I am hopeful that a reduction in available time will result in me being much more disciplined and encourage me to utilise my time more effectively when I can.  I THINK it is likely that I will be getting more hours at the torchface than I did before and hopefully in a more organised fashion .......  Wish me luck kind people!!! 

I will leave you with a pic of one of my borosilicate glass dongle necklaces.  Glass chain with a short rod holding a small marble at the each end.  This one has a mix of colours and shape murrini, some are commercial and lots are my own home made jobs too.  I am very proud to say that this one won its section and was put into the "standard of excellence" display.  I got a second prize in the bead section too and all together a wonderful prize total from Affordable Inspiration of $250... I had fun ordering a huge glass fest!

2013 Sydney Easter Show dongle necklace

 

All Chained up

Well, following on with my theme of work progression I thought I would blog about my boro chain making and its still evolving state :-)

I started making some boro glass chain work after seeing a gorgeous necklace made by a lampworking friend that was a little bit...... organic in shape.  After some serious thought I came to the conclusion that I could make chain and fairly neatly if my idea worked.... off to the torch I went!  Here is the very first boro chain I made.  I made alternating Amber and clear links, partly so I could see where I was on the job and partly because I wanted something a little different than just clear at the time!

First boro chain work - 2009

At first to get my links really neat and round I used a piece of thick walled stainless steel tubing my husband Leo got for me at a garage sale which I clamped onto my workbench.  I could then heat the rod roughly to the length I required to wrap around the tubing then finished off each link using punty's (holding the work with a rod of glass for the unitiated).  If the shape was not quite right a large diameter graphite reamer did wonders.  Then came the tricky bit.... the joining links!   I found out fairly quickly that it was easy to accidentally fuse one link to the other.... accidentally face the flame past the link you were working on and cracking another one.....etc...etc.   I quickly worked out that working up under the flame was the way to go and using a small torch like a minor made the job fairly easy to be honest.

I made the chain...... I liked the chain..... but........ the chain was boring!  Yeah, I know I could have used different colour links, but that was not challenging enough..... enter... the dongle!

Momka sunflower cane murrini dongle necklace

Yep, following a good hot shower that nicely stimulated the grey matter, I decided to insert a section of rod through each link with a small marble at each end....... oh, clearly it worked, but OMG was it a nightmare to heat.  I found at this point that fighting the weight of the glass as the necklace built was very difficult and badly complicated how well sealed the punty should be.  To overcome that I made up a little wooden stand that I could sit the majority of the work onto underneath the torch... yeah it got scorched, but I reckon it saved the work from having a cracker of a time (if you get the pun) LOL   I also found a few problems with keeping the work warm given the large volume of glass on the first marble end when putting on the second one..... yep... many a crack occurred for sure!

I tried different dongle ends as the fancy hit me... bumpy ones, helix twist ones, murrini ones:



Bumpy dongle necklace

helix dongle necklace

Its sad to say, but I went through a real "dongle" phase.... everything got dongles on it, fun and fiddly, but time to move on again.  Thats when I decided I would try making some actual chainmaille in glass.... this is a fairly simple pattern, but it turned out quite well I thought



boro glass chainmaille

At this point I decided to go back and revisit the chain links itself...... coloured chain links made out of helix twist rod came out rather nice, but was a bit busy when put all together.... so I made some work using an alternating clear link!

Blue helix twist alternating Chain links

Then I had a play with the shape of each individual link.... here is my triangle necklace.  It sits rather awkwardly off the neck, but surprisingly looks really great when worn.  Bright and different, but definitely for the person who has some real sense of self and is a little bit out there I reckon!

Triangle chain necklace



I came up with another way to decoration the chain what would satisfy my need for fine stringer work (something I actually enjoy quite a bit) and still use the boro chain.  I made a couple of these necklaces, a gumblossom floral one and this ocean themed surface decoration chain linked necklace.  They were a ton of fun to make, but incredibly fiddly and I don't even want to think about the investment in time they took me, but they came out really beautiful in the end.  I am thinking I might make myself one of these, but flowers and butterfly murrini or something similar.

A glimpse of reef

I can't really say where I am heading with this chain work, but I know I am definitely not there yet.  One of the nicest ones I made was just clear chain, with clear dongles.... it looked like drops of water around your neck.  I am thinking I might make a clear fine chained small dongled clear one next..... that might look quite nice I think!

Seaspray necklace - clear chain, clear dongles

Crazytime..... but loads of fun

New style of octopus honey dipper top

Oh dear, I have neglected my blog for a few days...er. maybe a week, but I have a good excuse.... I do....er.... maybe I don't, but I have been crazy busy!  I have got stock in two galleries now....yay and my local retailers for honey dippers, beads, glass clasps and pendants are all needing more stock.......the murrini are still being done  ..... OMG

Thanks to the suggestion by a very nice customer I have been playing about a little with some honey dipper tops.... these octopus ones are particularly cute and I admit that because they are not bee or flower related I never even considered something like this.... I am having lots of fun with them.

I have got myself to the point of not knowing where to start and as usual had a dream in the night (or evening after some spicy KFC) and had to try it out, so I though I would run you all through how my dongle necklaces come about.

First off is the concept, sometimes this is the colour of the chain, the size of the links, diameter of rods or murrini, twists or just plain dongles themsleves.  Today I decided I wanted something classy, something that will go with my supposedly "slimming" outfits in black.... something delicate but busy.... hmmm, its a tall order.  Essentially I have decided to make a very small diameter fine chain out of plain black (I used some very large diameter chinese black I have had sitting in my glass stash for AGES).  I pulled stringers off the black cane, made the enclosed links, joined them together with less than neat on this occasion joining links and popped some dongles on the end to see how they will look.  One trick I have recently picked up on is to make a bracelet length piece of chain and "dongle-ise" that to see how it is going to look.  None of you would be believe how many bits of chain with ugly dongles I have sitting in a hidden bag of rejects....LOL

Dongle chain evolution

Above is a fairly good pic of the evolution process.... once I finish putting the dongles on this short length I shall extend it out each side until I have a necklace of the optimum length..... thats the plan at any rate!!!!

This is it thus far...... I think it has some potential, although being such fine small chain means LOADS of more work that the big chunky stuff.  Still, I think it will fit the bill for delicate, goes with black dresses on the rare occasion I have to go to something formal and still just a little bit busy!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Galleries, glass and all things good!

Orange triangle links necklace with helix twists and murrini in boro

I am in a VERY good mood today.... no strike that..... EXCELLENT mood!  I am still insanely busy and still trying to catch up on everything (still more honey dippers, murrini, pendants, beads, paperweight etc.) but I am starting to feel like I am actually making some headway.

Last weekend I went down to Canberra and saw Jess at the Canberra Glassworks who is in charge of the retail gallery space there.  I have now signed my contract with them and dropped off some work which she seemed quite happy with ......YAY  I can now say that I have work in a gallery and a fabulous glass-centric one at that!   I took one of my honey dippers down to show as well and they are very keen to get some more..... sheesh, now I really need to knuckle down and get some more made.   I suppose now is the wait to see if anyone actually wants to buy anything....I sure hope so!

I am currently working on some pieces for Barracuda Gallery in Fremantle.  It is my first formal participation in an invitation only group exhibition and I was extremely excited to see my name on the flyer.... will have to keep a copy for the brag book!

I have made a necklace that I am hoping the gallery likes and are about to make a sailing themed paperweight using my stumpsucker.  I have decided that I am going to seconde Leo into helping me with the preheating, Grace (my 14yo) would do it, but I would probably want flog her if she managed to bugger it for me.... I know thats totally not fair, but I think I am best of protecting her from any chance of wrath.... even my own!

On a legendary note.... a really good mate put me onto some glass that was being "given away to a good home".  Apparently there was a box of boro that was not being used, was gathering dust and was about to be thrown out because it was in the way....... needless to say i was up for the rescue mission and dragged Leo and my Mum along with her station wagon expecting one or maybe two cases of glass........ OMG there was a massive pile of glass and they wanted it GONE!  The pic below is not ALL of it either, but we have temporarily popped it into my dads lean to shed out of the elements for a couple weeks and then I will have to find the space here in Sydney, I reckon Leo's man shed might have to undergo some shuffling..... ha ha ha!

Rescued boro glass, tubing and stringers

I am already missing my increased stash and a whole lot of new ideas for converting it into something interesting is running through my head at night.... needless to say I am not sleeping particularly well, but I am making sure I have my nocturnal notebook and pencil ready to go which helps somewhat.  There is a heap of small diameter tubing right down to pipette sized stuff and all together about 15 cases of the stuff..... keep in mind that here in Australia a case like this costs around $350 - $500  each, its a lot of moneys worth but more importantly a lot of fun waiting to be had!

On a happy finishing note, the recipient of my glass mojination kit loved it and has already melted glass and had some fun with it...... YAY, that sort of thing makes it all worth while.

The Sun.... the SUN.... quick!!!!

Yup, that was my catch-cry this morning when I woke up and realised that there was actually some sun showings its face this morning.  After a week of overcast rainy weather I was VERY keen to get out and photograph some beads.  It has to be said that the boro beads in particular take much nicer photos in the sun than otherwise and so dressed very sharply in Ugg boots, pyjama pants, ratty old coat and no bra with hair sticking out in all directions I armed myself with the camera, the beads and a white bust.  I am fairly sure some of the neighbours will not recover from the scene for years to come and I definitely got a few interesting looks, not all directed at the fact that I had a jewellery bust on top of Leo's car roof and was taking photos I am sure.

First off I have been making some owls out of boro lately.  This was borne from the eyeball crafting and somewhat inspired by seeing the last Harry Potter last week.  I also have to give a nod to a very talented lady called Beth Knapp Tyner who makes the most lovely owl and bird beads out of soft glass (see her etsy store here www.BethKnappTyner.etsy.com ) for inspiration.  Beths Owls are incredibly realistic and not is not at all what I am going for, but her form and colour are just wonderful.

Anyway, whilst the sun was out I took a quick pic of this dongle necklace.  It is plain with no murrini which went against the grain somewhat but it is an order, so it had to be done.  I think it came out looking a bit like drops of rain or bubbles of water and quite like it now its done.  Unfortunately making the dongles clear did not really save me much time at all which was a bit annoying.  I still have two half finished and one more to make which definitely keeps me out of trouble!

ps. I am sorry if I appear rude and don't reply, but I have not been able to post a reply on blogger for ages..... I have tried and tried and its just keeps making me log back in...... I shall try to sort it out, but in the meantime please know that I appreciate the comments greatly, thank you!

Eye eye! I will be keeping an eye on you!

Hahaha, yep and the bad puns can roll on...and on... and on!

 I have working slowly on my next dongle necklace and .....ta dahhhhh, its got eyeballs on it!  I know, I know, its the next level of crazy (not to mention a gazillion hours of torch time), but I think it will have a real impact when it is finished.  I am finding the odd momka cane I am using for the iris really interesting in that one will come out bright blue, then one will come out with green flecks, then one will come out with a green ring around the outside etc.  It seems really random and I am trying to see if striking the glass helps bring about this change or not.... so far I have not been successful in controlling the colour change effects, but I am happy with some random-ness in my life on occasion (it will irritate me just a little tiny bit until I work it out though).

I thought I would just have a quick posting tonight, I will have some more interesting stuff to chat about tomorrow I think!

Glass clasp solution.... and the toggles have it!

I am in a good mood today, I finally completely and utterfly finished my fancy dongle necklace and even made a clasp for it.

I have spent many hours trying to work out a clasp solution for the glass necklaces and last night, thought well .... bugger it, I will try making my own glass toggle clasp.  The added bonus of making a glass clasp is that 1. it will match the necklace and 2. I can genuinely say that the necklace is completely and utterly glass in its ENTIRETY!

I had given making glass toggle clasps a bit of a rip in the past and needless to say had only limited success.  They did work, but looked unwieldy and ugly and I suppose I didn't have the experience I do now and they weren't particularly neat and round so I was loathe to put one of those ugly monstrosities onto my painstakingly made dongle necklaces....... but I have now changed my mind!

Here is a pic of the toggle I made last night for the latest necklace.  I decided to use some of the helix twist cane for the loop rather than just some clear and I think it looks great.  I used a short bit of helix cane with clear blobs at the end for the toggle bit and just measured the whole thing as I made it.  Actually I did stupidly make the toggle stick first and then had to match up the loop...... the second one I made I did the other way around and that was MUCH easier!  I also found that if the loop is more of an oblong shape then the toggle stick is easier to get in lengthways and then sits better at one of the smaller ends.  The other issue I had to sort out was how to get the whole shebang to sit nicely.  I had put a stem on the toggle stick and found that if I bent that stem at nearly right angles it sits beautifully against the neck!

Oh, you might see that I also popped my signature against the loop end too..... had to sneak in somewhere didn't I. 

Below is a pic of where I thought I would try something a bit new.... a bit "dangly-er".  Here is a pic of the start of that next experiment.......... I am obviously having some fun with these, even though they take hours and hours at the torch (the dongle necklace took me more than 12 hours of torch time counting making the chain (which I am getting much faster at) then making the components for the dongles (either murrini or helix twists) and then of course, putting the lot together.  Interestingly it is all worth it when its finished off, definitely some job satisfaction to be had there!

Clasped to the kiln floor!!!!!

Well, its not quite as bad as it sounds, so everybody relax!

I have been on a true marathon of dongle necklace and bracelet making (8hrs torch time yesterday alone) and thought I would try a bit of an experiment.  My glass chain necklaces are a bit of a challenge to work out a perfect clasp (I usually end up making a slightly bodgy toggle clasp out of glass to match the necklace), but the bracelets are extremely difficult indeed.  I personally do not like toggle clasps on a bracelet anyway, but on a glass one..... ppppffft!  The glass chain jewellery does NOT  survive being dropped, my hubby explained in some complicated physics-y way about transfer of energy or somethin'.... well, they almost explode into the original component parts if dropped onto a hard floor... I know, because I did it... twice!  Therein lies the issue with the toggle clasp on a bracelet, let alone a tedious delicate and dare I say it.... bit expensive bracelet for someone! 

After lots of looking about I just happened on some large ornate-ish parrot clasps in a local bead shop.  They are the idea size, but I don't like putting base metal findings on something like this.... still, in the interim I thought I would try out the clasps.  The funny thing is I thought I would be a complete smart-aleck and attach the clasp using a glass ring which would then go through an annealing cycle in the kiln......... hmmmmm!  The great mystery was going to be how would the clasps survive? would they turn black? would they melt?  Well I popped a cheapy clasps on two bracelets and left in the kiln last night (leaving the clasp end right near the door at the bottom front in case that helped at all).  I was overjoyed to see that they did survive, unfortunately the little lever bit did not.... It melted right out and left two little puddles of "metallic stuff" on the bottom of the kiln (luckily just picked off).  Here is the offending articles afterwards!

On another more positive note, I did mostly (I found one link missing a dongle this morning DOH) finish the necklace and then went on to make a rather cute tiger stripe bracelet.  I also came up with the cunning plan to use one of my name murrini to end off the bracelets which was pretty cool.

Oh, I piled up the two bracelets and the necklace which made a fairly cool photo and let me bask in the results of two days of fairly solid torch time....... YEAH!!!!!

Evolution of a glass necklace

I thought I might to steer somewhat clear of the murrini fest over the last few days and have decided (finally) that I would make a couple gallery quality pieces. I have done the boro chain and dongle style before (something I dreamt of then tried and it worked quite well) and the bottom picture is one of my early efforts using some purple handmade murrini in the marbles on the ends of each dongle. This was using some 3mm chain and I kept each dongle quite short. It is really nice to feel and is actually very comfortable to wear but I did move onto larger 5mm diameter links with large dongles which were very flamboyant indeed.

I have decided to try out a slightly new style of this necklace using finer 3mm stringer chain once again, but with much longer dongle-y bits in all different lengths and colour combo's. I also resisted the urge to use murrini in the ends and instead, I am going to use little tiny helix twists (a technique learnt from the lovely Justin at imagine creations) on each end. I have made a start yesterday (well by start I mean about 6hrs of torching to get to this point) and thought I would show off how it is going. I have only done less than half of the dongles so far, but you can see it will be busy, but hopefully interesting as well.

I wanted something that still had the movement (chain and dongles all move around loose) but looked a bit busier than the fine stuff usually did.  After I finish this one off, I am thinking I might make a big chunky one again...... WAY less hours of work to do the big stuff for sure.    I will try to remember to upload a pic of the final result.  The only issue I have now is finding exactly the right clasps for these buggers.  I have made glass ones which don't feel completely safe and did find a fabulous large ornate parrot clasp design that was perfect..... just not precious metal!  I think I might buy a few large parrot clasps in sterling silver at about $20 each, it would be a bit of a waste to spend days upons days making this style to throw some cheap-arse crappy clasp on it..... it seems there is always a challenge some days!

Original dongle chain testing with murrini