Freshly baked glass

It's feels like the kiln has been going non stop for days and these are the latest fused glass brooches to come out of it. I'm fully embracing the vintage style that is popular at the moment. The brooches only started out as testers for the cake stands I've made, however as they've been so popular I've made lots more and this time I've done some earring and pendant sets too.

Right now the kiln is on again with cake stands slumping into their molds. I'll take some pictures and show you these tomorrow before I take them to Handmade High St in colchester.

Cast Glass sculptures

This is a project I started weeks ago only to, frustratingly, run out of plaster in order to finish it...don't you hate it when that kind of thing happens? You are on a roll and then BAM! you run out of the essential material you need.

So my plan for this years Maldon Arts Trail is to create a body of seaside themed work in a range of glass techniques. I have already made a copper foiled piece of 2 sailing boats and another copper foiled piece that includes seashell printed sections. To go with these I am making miniature glass sculptures using glass casting techniques and this is what I started and was then forced to stop.

Last week my order of plaster arrived and since then I've been waiting for a rain free day where I could get out into the garden and make my moulds. I prefer to do them in the garden as I can make as much mess as I like and not have to spend ages clearing it all away....especially with all this rain we are getting which has its advantages for washing mess away.

With the models laid out in the tubs I quickly mixed the plaster, and seriously depleted my stock of it in 1 foul swoop. I carefully poured the plaster into the tubs and then spent a while knocking and shaking them to remove as many air bubbles as possible. Then comes waiting for it to set which takes about 30mins before you can take it out of the tub. The fiddly bit it removing the model but this is what you are left with....a mould all ready to dry out, have glass put into it and then go into the kiln. I'll leave that til next week though so that the moulds are properly dried out.

The reveal...

So here it is....the image that is hidden in the glass picture in the previous post.

I'm not sure what I'll do with it from here but that doesn't matter at this stage, it's all about the experimentation :)

Results....

Ok here's a little tease for you all.....

This is fresh out of the kiln this eve but it's a picture in disguise. I'll give you a little clue.... It's a well known person.

Answers on a postcard please.... Or just comment below

All will be revealed tomorrow :)

Will or won't miss, which is which?

At times like this there are many mixed feelings going around in my head about school.
Some things I know I'll miss...my tutor grp, yr10 who were just growing as independent artists and other things that overpower those and I know I am glad to leave behind.

I'll leave you to work out which is which in my photo collage.

Endings and new beginnings

Times are a-changing here at glass HQ and that means sorting, organising, packing, unpacking, decluttering and generally finding space for things I hadn't anticipated having here.

So this wk I ventured into school with a friend and boxed up the majority of my things ( still another car load to go tho I reckon) and as I unloaded it into the kitchen created a small ...ok large amount of chaos. Boxes boxes n more n more stuff.

I asked the question on Facebook of where to put it all and have to say my sis came u with a grt plan.... Put it in the spare bedroom and if it's not been used in a couple of yrs then bin it. I like her thinking :)

So I sat in the kitchen decanting useful folders, filling up the recycling with non useful bits n pieces, putting all my books into the study and then hid the left over boxes in the loft cupboard in the spare bedroom....

Bye-bye school *happy waving goodbye*

Experimentation

Every artist, crafter or designer needs to experiment with ideas and techniques in order to get better and to develop their work. It's something I teach students every day at school and even try to encourage them to take chances / make mistakes. If they don't give things a go how will they ever know how to explore ideas and experiment? ....and ultimately how to get better.

Since January I've been 'playing' with new ideas and trying out new products....here are some of the results of my efforts so far. I've still got lots and lots of other things to try out :)

beads to bracelets

You might have seen posts on here or facebook about the new beads I've been making, well over the bank holiday I've been turning them into bracelets....that was until I ran out of toggle clasp findings :( 2 are completely finished but the others will have to wait a while until I can get to the shops for more sterling silver.

I've been refreshing my skills and getting used to the heat within this flame as its different to the torch I'd previously been hiring. Now its time to try something more tricky and to get reading more of my Corrina Tettinger book- aka the lampworkers bible!

Using all that black and red got me thinking....so here's what I tried and I am so pleased with them. I didn't expect them to survive but now I know it works I'll give it another go.

Springtime

Spring has sprung and in typical British fashion it's raining on a bank holiday weekend....here we are in the middle of a draught as it's not rained for so long and just as everyone has time off the weather is rubbish.
Right I'll stop being quite so British and not mention the weather again!

The garden is full of cheerful flowers which are half hiding my metal duck sculpture, the nursery is selling young strawberry plants (I'm hoping they fruit either side of my current plants....you can't have too many fresh strawberries in summer can you )and in place of a monstrous bamboo I've bought a budlia to plant.

Each yr I try to find unusual Easter eggs to give to my family and this yr spotted the eggs with other sweeties in the chocolate yum yum. On Thurs I took them over to my sister only for her to laugh, run into the kitchen and give me the same egg in return :) great minds eh
Happy Easter everyone :)

Lampworking

Back in feb I went to the Essex bead fair and bought myself new beadmaking equipment. It hadn't taken me long to get fed up with Mapp gas and after running out of bottle 2 I realised it was going to be more economical to buy the proper tubing and regulator so I could use a full size bottle. Who knew that this would be so tricky though? I took myself to b&q and bought a mini bottle thinking it would make my life easier as it was small enough to carry, yep I'm a little weakling ;) however I'd not banked on the fact the fittings didn't go with my regulator!!! It took several hrs to realise it though and a few fb messages, tweets and phonecalls! Then good old dad came to the rescue telling me I had a bottle of propane in the shed!!! Typical huh.

This eve I finally got round to a lengthy play on the new equipment and refreshed a few basic skills of dotting before giving a new implosion bead a go. I saw it demonstrated a few wks back at a lampwork day at Glass From the Past in Billericay. The 1st go was too small to see the full effect and the 2nd didn't attach properly to the mandrel :( you can see it in the picture as a large disk with dots.

Oh well now for try number 3 as my mandrels are now ready to go again :)

National press

As many of you know I sell my fused glass locally in a few shops. The 1st of those was Glass From The Past at barleylands in Billericay. After a chance meeting years ago in Hylands House car park Caroline(the studio owner) and I have become friends. I've been to several different glass workshops at the studio, did eve classes and am now an apprentice each Friday. Well getting back to why I mention this and that because the gallery has this wk been featured in the national magazine Your Home. My little claim to fame can be that some of my glass can be see in 1 of the photos :)

On the opposite side of the page is Make Do and Mend which is based in Chelmsford, and another place where I display and sell my glass. Hannah is featured with her knitting and crochet workshops.

Big smiles all round for crafting in Essex :D

Spring at xmas

We may still be in the middle of the festive season but I've been stepping into spring over the past 2 days.

These designs are destined for 'a Passion for Fashion' in Maldon and 'Glass from the Past' in Billericay. What shall I make tomorrow?

Christmas creativity

It's so nice to have time away from school to really think about new designs. I had so many ideas the other night I couldn't get to sleep for thinking about them all.... Maybe sketching in bed isn't such a gd idea after all! :)

Until I've tested my new ideas I'm going to continue with a few I'd been testing in the run up to Xmas that flew off my stall. Stock is so low that I need new things quite quickly ....and to replace the Xmas themed pieces I have in shops!
So here I am a few days after Xmas and the kiln is on firing testers and new pieces too.

The Versatile Blogger Award

 

Tonight I was reading one of my favourite blogs by Love from Lynne http://lovefromlynne.blogspot.com/2011/07/versatile-blogger-award.html?showComment=1310678285881#c964585329463313258 and saw that she has nominated me for 'The Versatile Blogger' Award. It was such a nice surprise and has made my evening.

I try to blog when I have something extra specially interesting to say and am hoping to get time to do it more from mid Aug....I am going down to 4 days at work to spend more time crafting. I can't wait :o) I love reading blogs by other likeminded crafty people and hope that other people enjoy my ramblings too.

So now I need to tell you 7 interesting things about me and then nominate 7 of my favourite blogs to pass the award onto.

1)  I like growing my own fruit and veg in the garden so that I can pop out and pick exactly what I need for my dinner. I get fed up buying pack of things in the supermarkets who don't cater for singles like myself and throwing food away is such a waste!

2)  Although I am now a glass crafter I actually trained in Theatre (Design and Technology) at Bretton Hall University College up in Wakefield, Yorkshire. I loved it but the reality of working in theatre I'm afraid just isn't me so teaching beckoned.

3)  I hate cooking but for some bizarre reason am turning into a jam-maker-a-holic this summer. If its fruity and not being used for something it get turned into jam!! I am finding it quite theraputic and have decided to have a 'making as many presents as possible' type of Christmas....so get your jam flavour preferences in now ;)

4)  I also hate clothes shopping. Going into cramped changing rooms to try on clothes that just happen to be in fashion but don't suit your body type in my idea of shopping hell. I'm afraid to say I end up in a supermarket far too often.

5)  I love animals and have a cat and budgie- yes that does make for an interesting arrangement. The budgie is 10yrs old and his cage is suspended from the ceiling so that Annabelle (my cat) doesn't get him for dinner!!! but in her defence she rarely eyes him up and is more interested in the ones she thinks she can catch in the garden.

6)  I am a member of The Guild of Essex Craftsmen. I applied around 6 yrs ago and was lucky enough to get in straight away. I can proudly say I was the 1st glass fuser in the Guild! I regularly go to their craft fairs and can often be found demonstrating how to work with glass.

7)  I've recently come to realise that without art and craft in my life I don't feel whole somehow. I love learning new crafts and carrying on with what I do at home too. If I start feeling unhappy I need to get crafting and then start to feel more human again :o) I'm trying a needle felting workshop in Aug and am in the middle of an Emily Peacock 'Hug' x stitch cushion.

Right so now for another 7 blogs to pass the award onto....mmm....who to choose?!?

http://cupcakejojo.blogspot.com/

http://www.lovemakethink.com/

http://www.dotsandspotsdesign.blogspot.com/

http://laurahambleton.blogspot.com/

http://beautifulthingsbyclaire.blogspot.com/

http://threadwirecloth.blogspot.com/

http://www.pictureitinstitches.blogspot.com/

Hope you enjoy seeing some new blogs

new designs

This week I had my new business cards and sticky labels delivered. I love the daintiness of the design. Sometimes it can be difficult to fully appreciate whats on the screen shot when you order things like this.

While I was demo'ing at Horndon on the Hill Feast and Fayre 2 weeks ago I made lots of card toppers. Tonight I finally found the time to sit down and make up the card designs. Once there's daylight I'll take some better photos and set up an etsy shop to sell the cards.

What kind of home do you live in? I've got bungalows, houses, town houses and flats in the designs.

Its wedding season so I just had to do some wedding designs too.

I also got a little carried away with the new baby cards. These are backed with felt rather than special papers like the other cards. I wanted a softer feel for new arrivals.

Its also the end of term when we all like to thank our teachers for all the hard work they do all year (ok so I'm a teacher, but in secondary school its very rare to get thank you cards/prezzies. The exception would be my 6th formers who bought us 2 goldfish and everything we needed to look after them too. How lovely is that?!)

We always seem to know someone with a birthday coming up. I don't know about you but I'm partial to a slice of cake at celebrations.

If you would like any of the cards above before I list them on etsy please leave a msg here or email me helen@helenroseglass.co.uk They will be priced at £3.50 and postage will be worked out asap.

Thanks 

orange and apricot loaf

For some strange reason the non-chef that I am decided to make strawberry jam and an apricot/orange loaf today. Yesterday I'd gone strawberry picking with a friend and she'd shown me how to make jam. I'd never realised it was soooo easy so today was determined to make some of my own too and now I have several jars of warm jam sat in the kitchen. With todays miserable weather they make perfect handwarmers ;o)

How yummy do all those bits of strawberry look mmmmm. Went lovely on a croissant earlier.

The strawberries were huge, see how big they are compared to an orange.

My 2nd make of the day was an apricot and orange loaf. Unfortunately the tin liners I'd bought were too big for my loaf tin so I ended up using them in a flat tin instead hence the squashed looking loaf. I don't mind though, it'll taste the same.



So here's the recipe for it-

100g dried apricots

an orange

100g self raising flour

100g soft margarine

100g soft light brown sugar

2 eggs

1- pre heat oven to gas 4, 180c or 350f and line your 2lb loaf tin

2- chop dried apricots into a bowl

3- grate the rind of the orange into the bowl

4- Sift the flour into the bowl. Add margarine and sugar.

5- break the eggs into a cup and add them to the bowl.

6- Beat the mix until its light and fluffy.

7- Pour mix into the tin and cook for 40mins

icing ingredients-

100g icing sugar

2 tble spoons of orange juice

8- Mix the icing sugar and orange together until its the consistency of runny glue.

9- pour over the loaf once its cooled.

10- most important.....Eat your yummy cake :o)

Happy cooking



Trialing a craft kit

A crafting friend of mine, Claire from Beautiful Things by Claire Mackaness (look her up on facebook/twitter) has decided to start making craft kits. Before selling them though she asked for volunteers to trial the kits and give her a review so I volunteered to try out her tote bag kit.

I loved coming home on Thursday to find a little pink package on the mat. I know it’s only a small thing but it was the start of feeling like I’d got something special. As soon as I opened it I thought it looked very professional in the packaging and quickly opened the kit.

I have to say that I did find 5 pages of instructions a little daunting and wondered what I’d let myself in for but started to follow them step by step, running up and down the stairs to keep ironing various pieces of fabric, then coming down to sew them together.

It was simple to follow the instructions, so I needn't have been worried, and time flew by.

I also had a little hiccup adding the felt squares that covered the handle joins when it said ‘press the square for 10-15 seconds until the glue melts’. I literally pressed it and nothing happened. As someone who’d never seen sticky backed felt I didn’t realise straight away that it meant to press with an iron, oops! I felt very 'blonde' but I reckon Claire will not amend this before the kits go on sale.

I had another little mishap when my stitching didn't quite go straight- not due to my poor sewing skills obviously, there must've been something going wrong with the machine!!!!  or perhaps I was getting distracted by this going on near my feet.....

Around 75 mins after I started I had a completed, gorgeous tote bag.

So if you were to ask if I’d buy other kits the answer would be yes, as I found it easy and fun to do.  I reckon the kits will be a top seller in no time at all.

Good work Claire :o) Feel free to add a link to your etsy shop in the comments so people can easily buy them.

fusing workshop

A few months ago I was contacted about running a workshop for 5 friends. This quickly grew to 7 friends and then to 9!! At this point I had a minor panic wondering how on earth I was going to fit 9 people into my house to teach them at the same time. I looked up hiring the village hall and thought about hiring extra tables to have a home but however I planned it out it wasn't going to work. I was also worried about being able to teach 9 people well enough so that they had individual help with their work. The only answer was to teach in 'shifts' with a group of 5 and then of 4 which thankfully the group were more than happy with.

The day started with tea, coffee, lots of chatter and a reunion with an old friend from down under. You could tell straight away that they were going to be great fun and were here for an enjoyable day whilst learning something new.

The coaster making went pretty smoothely but by the time they were onto suncatchers the making group were being 'helped' by their friends who couldn't resist giving suggestions on their designs. I guess it should have been predicted once they all had a basic understanding of working with the glass. It was quite nice really although they often joked about being in competition with the opposite group or telling them to stop heckling them- all good jesting :o)

Some chose to chill out in the garden reading some of my glass books and we all popped out to see the impromtu air show over head. I've never seen planes doing loop the loops over my house before today! Southend have their airshow in 2 wks so perhaps we saw their practice.

Friends 'helping' each other out.

The kilnful of glass created today. 9 coasters of varying design and glass cutting.

Gill who made the beach huts very nearly bought a piece like this last week in Burnham and was chuffed to bits to be able to make her own one.

At the end of the day I felt like I'd spent the day with my friends and was feeling about as chilled as they were and then came to shock of a clap of thank yous...now that's not something you get everyday :o)