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

Not So Secret Testing for Tuffnel Glass!

So this morning an exciting little package arrived from Tuffnell Glass with the new colours from Effetre from the left above : Green Cave, Light Umber, Yellow Barlotti, Turq. Grey Pastille, Moss Green, Antique Green Pastille.  I was so busy making the larger beads I  ran out of mandrels so there are the two rods infront as well, Marc Pastille that beautiful mocha colour and Wood so 8 new colours in total.  You will be able to see those in action in the beads below!  My first observation was that the Turq Grey Pastille is a fabulous colour but it reduces quite heavily, personally I liked the slightly antique shiny finish that appeared but might not be for everyone and the Antique Green Pastille also reduced slightly too.

I usually use much brighter colours so to play the game, I limited myself to the 8 new colours and added white and clear to complete the palatte. I then created a range of beads with this restricted colour range.  I work quite hot and I was looking for crisp lines and in this instance all the glass passed that test apart from the Yellow Barlotti which had a tendancy to go blurry if used for small detail, but it is a fab egg yolk colour and you can see on the other beads where the  Yellow Barlotti is used to create lines and shading it behaves beautifully.  It was only as small dots like the ones on the wheel that blur but it was in the flame for a long time!   I loved the greens and the 5th bead in the row below was my favourite the colours all blend so beautifully together….You have a touch of the Light Umber then Moss Green, Antique Green Pastille, Green Cave and Wood, the base of the bead is Wood as are the bumps, Wood is a great cream colour and a lovely alternative to white.

All in all lovely colours and the Light Umber is a great addition to the brown palette as is the Mark Pastille both are rich tones and great to work with.   I will be updating on new glass that arrives at Tuffnell as and when they ask me to to show what they look like within designs so exciting.  Thank you for reading my blog and if you want to find out more about me do join my Facebook Page the link is on the right of the page.