Week - 01

Here is my week 1 piece for 06/07,  only 51 pieces to go *gasp*.
Unfortunately I cannot take credit for the lampwork bead,. that beauty was made by artist Peter Minson, using a technique I had seen in an online tutorial, which I then described to him and asked if he could show me in real life.  I tried it after he showed me and my efforts where erm,… cwappy by comparison.

The last two beads here were my sad attempts,lol.

Week - 52 YAY another year done!

Wow,..what a year,.. those weeks seemed to keep coming faster and faster… I could barely keep up for most of the year, but I made it *thud*.

Here is my finale piece. My first necklace, made with my own lampwork beads. Whoot!! What a buzz that is.

Just a little Gas & Oxygen is needed.

Then I’ll be able to melt glass in my studio at long last.  Well it seems like it’s never going to happen for me. I’m no longer kicking myself for not getting setup three years ago because trying to setup now, brings back all the memories and reasons why I gave up back then. It was hard back then,.. but it seems that even though I have less obstacles three years later,..there are a few things (which really should be simple to do),.that are proving to be problematic. 

Gas,.. well I’m still waiting to hear back from the second gas plumber. He did say a week ago that they’re running three weeks behind on the jobs already on their books. He also said he would try an pop in last week to inspect the job,.. *snif*.. haven’t seen him yet.

Oxygen,..hmmm.. last week my Oxygen Concentrator arrived and for a few precious minutes I was thrilled that I was getting a step closer to having my setup complete. That thrill soon turned to,.. ho hum *heavy sigh* when I inspected the OxyCon after seeing a big dent in the box. It looks like it took a bit of a pounding (most likely dropped) in transit with it suffering dents, bruises and a gouge out of the plastic body where the power cord plug was smooshed into it.  It has to be returned ,.. and I’m still waiting for a phone call for someone to tell me they are coming to pick it up. I have no idea when I will get a replacement. I’m fairly sure all units that came in this shipment were already spoken for and going to new homes (I just happened to be the lucky one to get the short straw for the damaged one). I believe another shipment has been ordered, but know nothing more about when it would arrive in Australia.

Here is a little pic of the smooshed power plug,. couldn’t even plug the unit in if I wanted to,.. see how bent the prongs are,… have you ever tried to bend these prongs??  Hmm this suggests to me that this Oxygen Concentrator received some pretty heavy force.

Soooooooh,…. I’m now aiming to be setup before Christmas,lol.

Second session at the torch.

Yesterday, 18th Sept 06,.. I had my second session at the torch and this time, I brought my own torch (a Bobcat) along and used it for the very first time (I’ve only had it three years *rolls eyes*). 

I had an absolute blast. This torch was a little harder to work with,. it was a lot hotter and so I had to work further out in the flame. It also was very directional (not as bushy) and for some reason,. the flame kept going gradually smaller and hotter, which required readjustting a few times.  Just a matter of getting used to it though,. it’s an awesome torch, I love it.

Here is my first bead set. I’m going to make my finale FSOJ piece out of these.

Since one bead from last session (bead 11) missed the photo shoot,. these beads in this set are beads 13 to 20 in order of making.

and bead 12 (first bicone), then beads 21 & 22 were messing around with another technique,… a little outta shape,. cos I think I got excited about the cool happenings inside, I forgot to get them back to shape, oops,lol.

Well,.. I’m ready to go and make beads in my own studio,.. I have all my tools and supplies and all I need now is a couple of minor things like oxygen and gas. :)  See my setup progress next post *snif*.

Week - 51

Ok,. I know I have posted this in the Lampwork Journey category, but it is also my Week 51 FSOJ piece,.. ‘fed two birds with one seed’ (DDs saying, she hates the original saying where you kill two birds with one stone,lol).

Anyway,. it was an absolute blast to make a piece using my own lampwork bead,. whoot! what a buzz. A simple little pendant just so I can wear it myself. This bead is really cool,. it has funky bubbles and organic looking formation inside which is hard to capture in the picture. There is also a deep red in the centre which blooms out on the top and bottom of the bead. All accidental of course, because I had no idea what I was doing apart from including three deliberately trapped air bubbles which worked ok.  The rest of the funky bubbly inclusions I’d guess were created because I worked too hot and boiled the glass,lol.

Week - 50

Using up more scrap,. it was time for a funky though not very practical ring,lol.  Took about 10mins to make and that’s all the time I could spare hee hee. Busy, busy, busy…. has anyone got some time for sale??,… I’m a little short of it and I need to do a bulk buy.

Week - 49

Another busy week, where speed, new earrings for me and use up scrap were the main reasons for these.  Unfortunately the pic makes the wire look a little chewed,. buut the wire is beautifully smooth. WordPress wont allow me to enlarge a photo and constrain the size to keep the proportion correct, so the jaggies creep in grrr. Anyway,. a very simple and quick pair of plain earrings,.. just how I like them for myself.

Week - 48

These weeks are busy for me at the moment,.. because I’m trying to cram too many things in sooh little time,.. so there was three main aims for doing these earrings. 1. speed,  2. use up scrap wire and  3. I need some earrings. :).  Made from little silver-blue coin pearls,. they hang beautifully and look very nice on.

Simple Pendant with a first bead

Ok here is the first piece I have made with my own lampwork beads,. whoot! what a buzz. A simple little pendant just so I can wear it myself. This bead is really cool,. it has funky bubbles and organic looking formation in side which is hard to capture in the picture. There is also a deep red in the centre which blooms out on the top and bottom of the bead. All accidental of course, because I had no idea what I was doing apart from including three deliberately trapped air bubbles which worked ok.  The rest of the funky bubbly inclusions I’d guess were created because I worked too hot and boiled the glass,lol.

First beadmaking lesson today! Yay!

After waiting three years,.. I finally touched my first rod of glass,. and made my first bead today,..well 10 beads in fact….and wow, what a thrill it was.  I had a lesson today with Peter Minson and the day just flew,..we had lunch at 3pm because we were so caught up and I couldn’t believe it was so late.  Talk about getting lost in a creativity. I’m a little worried,.. I’m already time challenged,. and today it felt like someone snuck in and stole four hours from me.

We fast tracked through quite a few techniques for basic beads after learning some all-important safety procedures. I still have all my fingers and I didn’t sneeze in the flame and fry off my eyebrows like I imagined I would since I’ve sneezed at least 12 million times :} in the past 24hrs *cough*. 

I can’t wait to get back at the torch again. We have made arrangements for me to have another lesson, two weeks from now, so there will be no more beads from me til then *snif* as my studio is still not ready for flamework.  Hopefully,. by the time I have my next lesson,.. my studio will be ready,.. keeping my fingers and eyes crossed.

Here are my first beads.

In the order I made them, from left to right,.. beads 1, 2,3 & 4

beads 5, 6 & 7

 and beads 8, 9 & 10.

Too much fun was had in one day,… it should be illegal. :]