Double Helix Thallo, Effetre Lilac Pastel, Dark Lilac Pastel, Navy Blue, Canyon and Sand

This week I was lucky enough to have some new glasses arrive from Tuffnell Glass  always a great suprise to find them on the doormat!  So I am writing this blog post to tell you what I have discovered about them.

Todays glasses are from the back in the photo above are Effetre Sand, Canyon, Navy Blue, Lilac Pastel and Dark Lilac pastel.  So the first thing I did was to make some small beads to see how the glass responded to the flame.

The most interesting were the Lilacs, the rods look grey but they transform into these very subtle lilac colours, you can see the two rods at the front - dark in front with the lilac second in the line up.

Then the Navy which I really like, it is a completely new shade of blue, for me, and it is a really useful addition for shading and dotting, next is the Canyon which is a turquoise blue.  Both of these blues behaved well in the flame, like all blues you have to be careful not to work it to hot particularly the Canyon or you will get 'burning' and a grey finish to the bead.

Last in the line up is the Sand which I was very excited about, you don't find so many pretty sand colours about and this one is a lovely deep rich sand colour and is my favourite from the batch.

I then made a small barrel bead and decorated it with dots to see how it behaved with some of the colours.  You can see that the Navy went abit streaky as I think I over heated abit, The pastels held the design but personally I am not so keen on the streaky finish on these two glasses but if you love that organic look these are great.

I then made one of my 3D beads with from the centre, Navy, Sand, and finishing with the two liliacs.  Please excuse the clear it was abit scummy!  You can see that the colours sat well together and the liliacs did not produce their streaky lines when encased but the colours look almost the same.  The tutorial for this 3D design is available in my Etsy Shop

I then sat down and made some of my decorative Raspberry Beads combining some of the new colours in with some old favourites....

The Canyon looks lovely finishing the dots on here....

And you can see the Sand working well in this one....

And this one to along with the Navy and the Canyon.....

Sand on those dots around the outside edge and some of the liliacs and Canyon in there to

Navy providing the darker spots on the outside edges of this one

And you can spot the new colours in these beads, the darker Navy providing a great contrast for the Sand and Canyon  on that bead on the left.

My opinion on them is they are great additions to the palette but as I have mentioned they do streak if you work to hot but I will definitely be buying some more of the Sand and the Canyon.

So excited to see some Double Helix Thallo in my parcel and some fine copper mesh to play with.
The Thallo is a beautiful transparent green in the rod form.  I started out as before with a couple of small beads to see how the glass worked in the flame.

As you can see they worked extremely well in a light reduction flame.  I kept on flashing the bead into the propane rich flame and it created this fabulous slick of colours.

I then tried encasing.... difficult to photograph but it turns this beautiful pearlised light green colour.

Below are a couple of cabs, the photograph on the left is photographed in studio lighting and you can see the translucent quality of this glass.  I have decorated with Effetre white stringer which transformed into this pretty gold colour in the reduction and the spots of white formed gold outlines.  The photograph on the right is photographed in daylight and you can really see what is special about this glass, it is spectacular in the light and changes colours as you move it around.   The photos are of the same cabs!

I then combined the  Thallo with the copper mesh.  I like to make windows so the mesh is a suprise element to the design.   The copper itself goes a disturbing soot colour when you add it to the flame, which is just a flash to warm it but don't panic, encase quickly and you will get this stunning red copper peeping out from your bead.

This one is with DH Kalypso....

So there we are....hope this has been of interest.  Thank you Tuffnell for giving me the opportunity to have a play with glass I might otherwise not get my hands on!!   If you are interested in this Swirl techinique that is also available in my Etsy Shop.   Happy Melting Everyone!

Looking back at 2013....

 Well there we are....2013.  It just flashed by for me and it wasn't until I was looking back over my photographs that I realised how much has happened this year. 

I am going to give you the highlights or we will still be here next year!  The best bit about this year gone was the weather....wall to wall sunshine in North Devon and in our little village of Appledore, which was good as I was seriously thinking of moving somewhere with more sunshine.  The workshop was humming with visitors and sales. Thank you to everyone who visited and to  Daryl Burton for this fabulous shot of my Milly running on the local beach.....it really was a great summer here.

The year started with a course at Mangobeads with Sarah Wadley where I had my first dabble at Silver Clay and went on to do some one on one with Sarah learning how to combine sterling silver with my glass.   Respect to all the silversmiths out there it is an intensive art and work in progress for me!

I also launched my new Feather Bead Tutorial which is still available in my Etsy shop  and a big thank you to everyone who bought this.  I have really enjoyed playing with this design through the year......

The basic technique can be adapted to all sorts of size and design of bead....the options are fairly limitless!

Flame Off 2013, the UK's biggest glass gathering was held at Silverstone this year and I had a fabulous few days catching up with glassy friends, buying toooooo much glass and was lucky enough to have a class with the master of glass : Lucio Bubacco

This month also saw the publication of an article that was written about me in Craft and Design Magazine which was one of the highlights of the year for me, a real honor and came about via a visitor to my studio last year.

My big beads were still as popular as ever and it is a design and bead that I will never get bored with, lots of these found there way into the kiln during 2013 and a huge Thank you to all my customers around the world who keep buying these colourful beads.

 As always my beads seemed to grow before my eyes.....tried some new shapes this year including these  bicones which incorporate my swirl technique So many of my beads incorporate this and as with the feather design it can be used in almost any style of bead.....

 This one below is a combination of the feather technique and the swirl technique.....I love the depth that glass provides for a design...

Here is a small vessel also incoporating that swirl technique......see loads of options!!

I have had a love affair with Goldstone this year and it is creeping into alot of my designs, such a good option to add abit of sparkle....

Talking of sparkles.....lots of new colours from Double Helix this year.....always a joy to experiment with this glass as all the colour and effect is drawn from the flame...not always succesful as with this first bead that had a crack but I loved that pink metallic look...

I got a call mid year from Tuffnell Glass to ask if I would like to join their team of testers for new glass, a chance that I jumped at....what an opportunity to play with all the new glass colours hitting the UK....Thank you Tuffnells!

My experiments with colour continued throughout the year and I kept playing with new shapes, like these Colourblast Beads that sold so well as simple but funky necklaces

I also splashed out on some different glass  to broaden my palette.....now that is always exciting and look at all these colours......

So the summer unfolded and my days were split between the beach and the workshop.  I have two furgals an older Spaniel called Roo and my Lakeland Terrier, Milly Lamb, who has her own Facebook page and oooodles of friends and they all come down this way in the summer so I become a furry taxi service most mornings in July and August!!

Milly also helped me and my husband design a water feature using all my broken and smashed beads....she now thinks it is her own private water fountain......which of course it is!

The up side of lots of friends visiting is the opportunity to watch fabulous sunsets from our local The Beaver with a chilled glass of something at the end of the day..

or a picnic on the beach..........

As the summer started to draw to a close I got a message from  Chloe, the editor of Bead Magazine asking me to write a tutorial for their readers....I of course said YES!  I have also written another for this year April time so watch out for that....

2013 was also the year I conquered TAG Dali Lama a glass that creates its colours through heating and cooling in the flame.   I had until this year never been able to get much from it but now I can...

 The Mandala is still one of my favourite beads and this year was no exception.....

I also launched a new tutorial at the end of the year after lots of requests from vistors to my Facebook page on how I created the depth within these beads..

So that is my year in a nutshell!

And what of this year?  Well I am thrilled to be able to tell you that I was approached by Diana East at Studio 19 and asked to teach a class this year - June 2014.  I am taking bookings for that currently the details are here
I am also excited to be taking a table at this years Flame Off 2014  This is the event for anyone who is interested in Glass, Beads and Fire!  Come say hello if you visit.

So there we are.....as I sit here reflecting on the year past and the year ahead we are battling huge storms which have battered our coastline  I can hear the tide thumping against the sea wall and summer is a distant memory.

The car park at our local beach often becomes a lake in the summer but last friday the whole area was a flood as the sea breached the flood defenses and swamped everything.  This weather, both here, and in the US, where they are battling snow, makes me realise how vulnerable we are in this world of ours and how we need to to take, treasure and use each day.....looking after each other and our environment and that is how I plan to live this year.........I hope it is a happy and healthy one for you all and thank you for reading my blog.

 I guess it would be bad luck to finish on a flood photo so lets hope our beautiful burrows and our little village  return to their former glory as quickly as the sea engulfed it