Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Playing with polymer

The last few days I have been having a little play with polymer clay by way of a bit of a rest from the glass. I've only used polymer clay a couple of times before but it is great fun and there are loads of different techniques that can be used to achieve different effects. I made some beads first by making a millefiori cane
and then I had a play with some inks and metal foil and have some shapes that I think I will make into pendants.

My lampwork beads in a bracelet

Sold some of my beads very recently to Eve at www.jemsdirect.co.uk and she made this fab bracelet with some of them! Check out her website, she has a whole section of jewellery she has made incorporating lampwork beads. Really looking forward to seeing what she does with the other beads she bought too!

Fifty???

Difficult for me to believe but I had my 50th birthday yesterday! Boy, time certainly does fly! I had a lovely day and went out for a meal to mark the occasion. Sat in front of this fireplace to have pre-dinner drinks and then coffee after dinner.
Then went home to relax before it was time for birthday cake! Sadie decided she wanted to help put the candles on the cake...
You know you're getting old when....you only have 5 candles to blow out...

Finished bracelet

Really pleased with how the woven treasure bracelet turned out! These bracelets feel really great to wear and this one is especially nice because it is so full of 'treasures'. Not sure yet but think I may have to keep this one...

Woven treasures

Well I haven't been getting into the studio (aka spare room) very much recently as it's just too darn cold in there with all this wintry weather we've been having. So the other day I started making a woven treasure bracelet (from the book Beaded Treasures by Robin Atkin) and they really are fun to do. Here's a picture of my work-in-progress.

This is the third treasure bracelet I have made and I think this one is going to be my favourite. Here's a pic of the first one I made too.

Winter wonderland!

So how many people woke up to a snowy scene this morning? We had a few inches here which has made everything look very pretty.
Sadie enjoyed running around in it until she started to gather too much ice on her coat, but she soon thawed out when we got her home.

It was certainly a lovely morning to go out for a walk in the woods but I feel sorry for people who have to drive somewhere.

Chickadee Giveaway!

Remember I told you about Chickadee Cards and the great work she does? Well she's having a giveaway on her blog at the moment to celebrate reaching 10,000 hits!!! Go check it out!

More beads!!

Well I really am in a beading phase at the moment. Yet more beads from me today. Once I start lampworking its difficult to stop but its the same with fusing too. Once I start making fused glass things I find I want to do more. So I end up either in a beading or fusing phase. Need to work out a good way to do both at once. Not sure the electric bill could stand having both kilns on at once though.

Anyway, here's some pics of the latest beadies

New Etsy listings

I have listed some more bead sets on Etsy this morning. Three sets at once as I haven't listed any for a few days.

Etsy Treasury!!

I have just discovered that I've had some of my work included in an Etsy treasury!! Thanks to Pennydog, who chose some of my coasters to go in her Crafteroo treasury! You can find the coaster here.

Icecool, Lampwork glass beads

Have listed some more beads this morning. These are a gorgeous blue colour and I've etched them again to make them look more like beach glass and give them that great matt finish. Thought about keeping these ones myself as I do love this colour blue.

Chickadee Cards

Sue of Chickadee Cards who makes wonderful jewellery, cards and other crafty things, has blogged about the beads she bought from me last week, go checkout her blog here to see which ones she chose. These photos are a very small sample of the lovely work she does.

Terra Plums, lampwork glass beads

Well, Dusky lilacs didn't hang around very long and they are off on their journey to their new owner in the US. So, I've decided to list another purpley set, this time purple with blue and the reactive glass terra. They will be on Etsy and you can find them here!

Dusky Lilacs, Lampwork glass beads

I've had this set of beads in my head for a while now and yesterday I finally got around to making them. Really pleased with how they turned out too which is good :).

Lavender skies, Lampwork glass beads

It's ages since I had a good play with dots whilst making some lampwork beads, so today I decided to be a bit dotty and combine turquoise with purple and grey to get some dot reactions. Here are the results.

Sunny Days

It's such lovely weather in my part of the world at the moment. Lovely crisp clear autumn days and the foliage colours are great. This morning we managed to get up into the woods for our walk, here's a photo of the woods although the picture doesn't do it justice.

We are so lucky to have lots of good places to walk around here. Last week we took our visitors for a stroll alongside Loch Lubnaig and the scenery was gorgeous.

Lampwork glass beads

It's been quite a while since I have been at the torch as I've been doing more fusing work lately. I love doing both though and sometimes it's difficult to choose which kiln to turn on in the mornings! Looking through some of the bead sets I have for sale I thought it was time to list this lovely set of very colourful lentils and spacers so they have gone up for sale on Etsy today.

Etsy and MISI

Hollingdale Designs fused glass items are now available on Etsy and MISI! Testing the waters to see how things work and get some things up for sale in time for Christmas shoppers online.

Art 'n' Action and Autumn Time

Final preparations are underway for Sunday when I will be taking part in the Art 'n' Action day at Alloa Town Hall near Stirling.

Have lots of things to take with me but probably the last thing to add to the collection will be this fused glass clock which I finished this morning. I doubt I will have time to get anything else ready before the weekend but who knows...

Fused Glass Clock

My very first fused glass clock and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I love the bold stripes against the white. It certainly helps cheer up what is a very dull and rainy morning here in Scotland. Plus it's free-standing so can go anywhere and doesn't need fixing to a wall.

Rainforest

Just when my fused glass work was starting to get a bit chilly looking things have taken a turn for the more tropical. This is Rainforest, fresh out of the kiln this morning.


Here's another picture of the same dish, the camera wasn't cooperating when I was trying to take a close-up of the sparkle in the pattern but I like the way the circles look like planets.

Fused Glass Dish

Here's another blue dish fresh from the kiln. This time a lovely, intense, transparent blue to let the light shine through.

Iceflow, slumped

Here's the finished article, Iceflow, fused glass bowl ready for the finished shelf. This one has a lovely satin finish and I'm really pleased with how the blue stripes turned out.

What happened to the white circle?

In case you were wondering what I did with the white circle that I cut in the previous post, here's a quick shot of it just before it went in the kiln to be slumped...

Cutting glass circles

I know there are a lot of people who have difficulties cutting glass circles so I thought I would just tell how I do it and hope it will be of help to somebody.

So, I start by cutting a square of glass a minimum of 2 cm larger than the diameter of the required circle, so for a 24 cm diameter circle I cut a square with sides of at least 26 cms. The smaller the circle the more excess is needed.

Using a circle cutter I then score my circle, trying to place it as near as possible in the middle of the square. Making sure to apply even pressure, I then score the whole circle only once. When I have scored the circle I then turn the glass over and place it on a softer surface, I use a fairly thick tea-towel folded in half.

I then apply gentle pressure to the glass above the score (this is easier with clear glass as you can actually see the score line). I do this with both thumbs, one pressing on the nail of the other and I use a really soft bouncing motion, gradually increasing pressure, until I see a crack appear in the glass. The crack should run in a circle along the scoreline. Once the glass begins to crack in this way I move my thumbs around the circle continuing to apply gentle pressure and watching the crack appear.

Once I can see a clean crack all the way around the circle I turn the glass back over and make a score from the circle to the outside edge of the glass where the circle is closest to the edge (ie at the centre of the side of the square). Repeat this score on the four sides. If the circle isn't almost falling out by itself, use your normal method to break along the score line starting with the part of the circle nearest the corners of the square.

After some practise it's possible to remove the circle by making only one further score which leaves the scrap glass fairly intact and ready for a picture frame or mirror (a lesson for another day maybe). Here's the scrap left after cutting the white circle seen above. The small dish is only there because my camera wouldn't focus without it.

Hope this is helpful!

Midnight Rainbow

This morning I have another fused glass dish to show. Fresh out of the kiln is Midnight Rainbow. A really dramatic look to this one, lots of contrast between the colours and the black and the straight lines and the curves of the finished piece.