FHF Team Blog - handmade lampwork glass beads, pendants, findings and jewellery

Lynn's Lampies - March 2012

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 18:48:00 +0000

Lynn’s Lampies

A regular spot from team member Lynn Davy, a self-confessed bead addict whose unusual designs often feature lampwork beads. In this series she shares some of her secrets and shows you how to use FHFteam’s handmade beads and components in your own creations!

March 2012
Cooking with Colour

Colour is fundamental to everything I make. It took me a while to figure this out, as I have a butterfly mind when it comes to beading and have played with all sorts of styles…

from minimal and monochrome…

To lush and rainbow coloured.

I’m often asked how I put my colour palettes together and the short answer is that I don’t exactly know. I tend to do it by a process of subtraction: I have an idea, then I grab a huge pile of stuff from my stash, put it all on a tray, sit in a really good light and weed out all the colours that don’t really work. Here is a typical trayload – I’m trying to pick colours that will go with these gorgeous ‘graffiti’ beads by Helen Chalmers:

If I’m stuck for an idea I go to my lampwork box. Close study of handmade beads can give you some unexpected but wonderful colour combinations, like the ones I found in these ‘Mojito’ beads by Jo Wolfe.

Or these pretty springtime beads from Sue at Flaming Eck:

We are all drawn to particular colour combinations; here are a few of mine.

.
Pinks with a touch of olive green, bronze, cream… the more ‘fleshy’ pinks are good for this, as they have more yellow in them than the ‘sweet’ rose and baby pinks.

Earthy neutrals – you can’t go wrong with these. Add touches of cream or green for contrast

Zingy opposites – lime, red, aqua, orange – this always seems to me to have a Mexican vibe about it.

Blues and greys. Use graded tones from light to dark to make the colours really glow. These beads were made for me by Julia Hay and are designed to pick up the colours of labradorite – my all-time favourite gemstone!

Apart from a stash of labradorite, there are a few other colours that I really can’t do without. Lime green and black and matte cream, of course. And these…

‘Silver lined gold olive’ seed beads – these are somewhere between a green and a gold and they tone or contrast with almost anything. The bracelet is a bit of a flop on the design front, but I really like the colour combination and will be returning to it!

Haematite. Not as bright as silver, but more interesting than black. The equivalent seed bead colour is often called ‘gunmetal’ and it gives a vintage feel to your beadwork.

‘Silk’ crystals – they’re pink… or are they? They add a lovely touch of warmth to creamy palettes, they add highlights to browny mixtures, they blend in with pastel shades, and they contrast beautifully with my favourite acid ‘olivine’ and ‘lime’ sparklies…

Crystals can be hard to put together in palettes because so many of the colours are strong and well defined. Here’s a little geometric construction that’s quick to make and useful for exploring different colour combinations before embarking on a major project. And equally useful for mopping up that handful of spare beads when said major project is finished…

Tutorial: Sparkly Hexagon Pendant

You will need: Twelve 6mm bicone crystals and six 5mm ones; 42 round 2mm metal beads (or little acrylic pearls or metallised rounds); nylon beading thread such as ‘Fireline’; ribbon or chain; needle and scissors.

1. Thread your needle with an arm’s length of thread. Pick up seven beads in the following order: round, 6mm, round, 5mm, round, 6mm, round.

2. Tie the working and tail ends together in a double overhand knot.

3. Go through the first three beads again.

4. Pick up the following five beads: round, 6mm, round, 5mm, round. Go through the same three beads again as you did in the previous step.

5. Go on through the next three beads (round, 5mm, round)…

6. … and through the next three beads (round, 6mm, round).

7. This is just like step 4: pick up (round, 6mm, round, 5mm, round) and go through the three beads you went through in the previous step.

8. Go through the first three beads of step 7 again (round, 6mm, round).

9. Continue adding sets of five beads as in the previous steps, until you have a total of six 6mm crystals forming a wheel shape. This is much simpler to do than to explain, honest! At the very last step you will add just three beads (round, 5mm, round) to complete the ‘rim’ of the wheel. Make sure you weave through the beads to connect the last set of beads to the first. Exit on the rim of the wheel.

10. Now start to add a second layer of 6mm crystals to form the other side of the pendant and hold the structure in place. These crystals will share the ‘rim’ of 5mm crystals. Pick up (round, 6mm, round, 6mm, round) and go through the set of ‘rim’ beads you exited in the previous step.

11. Pull the new beads firmly into place and go through the first three beads of step 10 again.

12. Add three more beads (round, 6mm, round), weaving through the existing 5mm ‘rim’ beads…

13. … and keep going until you have added all six of the 6mm crystals to the second side of the pendant. Make sure you weave through all the connections, and reinforce any that are loose. When you’re happy, exit somewhere along the edge.

14. Now add a round bead in each of the gaps between the ‘rim’ sets, to give extra stability.

15. When you’ve filled all six gaps, weave all round the rim to tighten it, and exit through one of the extra round beads.

16. Add six rounds and make a loop for hanging. Go round it another couple of times. Weave the thread into the work, knot and trim the end. Weave in and trim the tail thread too.

17. Now use a jump ring to hang the pendant on a chain or ribbon. Or hang in your studio window to make rainbows when the sun shines!

Happy sparkling

Lynn

Members’ shops mentioned in this article
Flaming ‘Eck http://www.etsy.com/shop/FlamingEck
Helen Chalmers http://www.etsy.com/shop/helenjewellery
Julia Hay http://www.etsy.com/shop/Pandanimal
Diane Turton http://www.etsy.com/shop/SowZeRe
Jolene Wolfe http://www.etsy.com/shop/KitzbitzArtBeads

Treasury round up 26/2/2012

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 11:10:00 +0000

You can find beautiful beads, glass and more made by the talented members of FHFteam HERE

Member Interrogations - Gay Massender

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Welcome this week to Gay Massender from GaysieMay! In this interview she tells us how she got started, gives us a beautiful quotation to read, and lets her love of glass shine through. Read on....

1 - Your name: Gay Massender

2 - Your shop name and address: GaysieMay, GaysieMay.etsy.com

3 - Describe your artistic style in three words: evolving, wearable and fun.

4 - When did you first start working with glass and how did you get started?

I first got into lampworking in 2008 after buying a starter kit and 'The Complete Book of Lampworking' by Kimberley Adams. Prior to that I had taken a one day fusing course and bought a cheap kiln of ebay, making small fused pieces led me into jewellery making and from there of course I had my first real introduction to lampwork beads. I knew I had to try and make them, what can I say, from then I was hooked.

5 - What do you love most about your craft?

I love many things about lampworking, one of which is the fact that when I'm at the torch I become totally involved in what I am doing, its a form of escapism! Another reason for loving it is that there is always a challenge to be overcome, whether it is in how to make a particular bead or how it may work within a piece of jewellery. I've never sat at my torch and felt bored - frustrated occasionally, but never bored.

6 - If you could take a class with any artist (in your field or otherwise) who would you choose and why?

I would really love to take a class with Bronwen Heilman as I think that some of the techniques she uses would be both challenging and yet adaptable. I have the 'Bronwen Heilman' Jim Kervin book and I keep thinking one day I'm going to try this, especially the painterly techniques.

7 - Do you have a favourite piece of your work that you can share with us?

I'm particularly enjoying making these brooches at the moment using techniques learnt on the Sara Sally Le Grand course held by Tuffnells

I'm not sure when this is going out, but I am really quite pleased with the piece of work I've made for this years GBUK jewellery competition. I had several days when I woke up and just lay there thinking about how to construct it and which colour palette to use, I'm pleased with the final piece but can't show pictures of it until the competition is closed.

8 - Where do you find your inspiration?

A variety of places really, it often starts with colours, maybe a piece of fabric I've seen or colours from the changing year. Recently this has been combined with new techniques learnt on the Sara Sally Le Grand course run by Tuffnells last year.

9 - What’s your favourite technique within your medium?

I can't say I have a favourite technique as such, but I have noticed that I tend to use a restricted colour range within a piece of work. I try and be wild and pick colours up randomly, but they never seem to work, so before I start at the torch I usually pick a mit full of rods that I think will tone well. If new ideas are not working I always finish a session at the torch with a scrolled transparent hollow, because then I know there will be at least one bead in the kiln that is reasonably pretty.

10 - Where do you create your work?

I'm lucky enough to have my torch in the house looking out of the window into our front garden, the set up looks a little messy, but at least I can torch through the winter, which I couldn't do for the first couple of years when I was based in the garage.

11 - Do you have a favourite colour scheme or range when you’re creating pieces?

I guess I tend toward the cooler colours blues and neutrals. I rarely work with reds and oranges or yellow it's not that I don't like them, but I rarely wear these colours so can visualise them made up into jewellery.

12 - Can you give us a quotation/lyric/piece of advice that sums up your approach to life and your craft?

“In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” Albert Camus

13 - The most serious question of all: if you could meet any fictional character, from TV film or literature, who would it be and why?

Dr Who - I think time travel would be awesome, but also I've grown up with him.

14 - Finally, what are your plans or hopes for your work in the future?

I hope to keep learning new techniques and experimenting, I want to continue to feel excited and occasionally frustrated by glass. I want to always feel the way I do now about melting glass.

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Thanks Gay for a lovely read!

Treasury round up 19/2/2012

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

You can find beautiful beads, glass and more made by the talented members of FHFteam HERE

FHFTeam on Pinterest!

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:51:00 +0000

The FHFTeam now has a Pinterest team! Here's Julia from Pandanimal to tell you what Pinterest is, let you know what you can find there, and give you a taste of the tantalising eye-candy she's already collected.

FHFTeam Pinterest Boards

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is an online inboard/scrapbook which lets you capture or ‘pin’ almost any image you find on the internet and save it to a board/page of your choosing together with a link back to where you discovered it. This allows you and others to trace these images through to their original source. You can use it to keep ideas and inspiration all in one place, to share interesting finds, and even to store a pictorial shopping list. You can also choose to follow the boards of others, and others can follow you, which means you are free to spend many happy hours wandering around friends’ pages (and the pages of their friends!) finding all sorts of amazing things that you never knew were out there.

For the Frit Happens Forum Team on Etsy’s Pinterest we have boards to inspire our team members and other visiting artists, as well as showcases of members’ work, and pages that pair photographs of our creations together with the images or ideas that inspired them.

Each month I am going to create a themed board:

Our Team:

January’s board is a showcase of the wonderful talent that is the FHFteam, to start us off on the right foot.

A quick peek at January's board

Love is in the Air:

February’s board is a romantic collection of hearts in honour of St. Valentine’s Day. Here you’ll see finished jewellery, ready to give to your loved one; stunning heart beads adorned with romantic verse, flowers, swirls, stripes and patterns of many colours; clasps and other jewellery findings to add the finishing touch to your project; some beautiful romantic coasters; and, for the glass artists amongst you, some heart murrini to add to your beads.

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We hope to see you at our boards soon!

Monthly Giveaway - February

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:47:00 +0000

This month's giveaway is sponsored by one of our lovely team members, Jean Munro of Ceardannan Jewellery and Ceardannan.

Since February is the month of Valentines, love and romance, Jean is offering up this beautiful handmade lampwork heart:

I think Jean describes this beauty best:

"This is one of a range of heart beads I have been making which remind me of the intricate swirling designs and colours used in body art. This heart measures approx 27mm top to bottom and 29mm at the widest point. It is made on a base of ivory coloured glass and it is decorated with twisties, shards and murrini."

If you're the lucky winner and don't happen to be a jewellery maker, Jean has also kindly offered to turn the bead into a silver pendant just for you!

As usual, the winner will be randomly drawn from the names of FHFTeam blog followers who comment anywhere on the blog during February, so don't forget to 'Follow' us, and start sharing what's on your mind! Drawing for the prize will take place on 8th March, so until then, we look forward to reading your thoughts.

Hazel xx

Pick of the Month in February

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:15:00 +0000

Etched Silver Earrings: Oh Lord won't you buy me... from disandland

Shocking Pink Lampwork - abstract garden from MadelineBunyan

Bratislava, Pair of Stud Earrings from helenjewellery

Pink & Green Floral Lampwork Focal Bead from helengbeads

Twist Vessel/Perfume Bottle from jeanniegems

Beautiful teal and aqua from FHFteam

Treasury round up 13/2/2012

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:49:00 +0000

You can find beautiful beads, glass and more made by the talented members of FHFteam HERE

January Giveaway Winner

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:25:00 +0000

Yesterday we drew the winner of Jolene Wolfe's stunning lampwork focal, and bundle of twisties:

And the very lucky winner was...

Marg, from Maigret Lampwork! Congratulations - Jolene will be contacting you for your address shortly.

A big thanks to everyone who participated in our blog this month - check back soon for news of the February giveaway (to make sure you don't miss the announcement, why not sign up for e-mail updates in the little box on the left?)

Member Interrogations - Gemma Woodrow

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

This time around, our interview is with Gemma Woodrow of SilverGems Designs, who talks enthusiastically about her love of molten glass, big torches, and Slipknot...intrigued? Then read on...

1 - Your name: Gemma Woodrow

2 - Your shop name and address: SilverGems Designs http://www.etsy.com/shop/SilverGems89

3 - Describe your artistic style in three words: still finding it

4 - When did you first start working with glass and how did you get started?

I first melted glass in January 2010 at Sabine Little's studio open day and was hooked! I ordered my hot head kit a few days later. I first "discovered" Lampwork beads through ebay while looking for unique beads for my jewellery designs, once I found out I could make them myself in my home, I knew I had to have a go!

5 - What do you love most about your craft?

I just love the way glass moves, and how it can be manipulated, when molten! I also really like the fact there is always something new to try, it stops me getting bored!

6 - If you could take a class with any artist (in your field or otherwise) who would you choose and why?

Hmmmm, this is a really tough decision, and one I have been trying to make for a long time now! But I think it would either have to be Anouk Jasperse, to learn the secrets of silver glass, or Sarah Hornik, because I love her use of colour and fun designs.

7 - Do you have a favourite piece of your work that you can share with us?

I found it really hard to choose a specific bead, so these beads represent my favourite "style" of bead, mosaics! I just love the way the glass reacts and the patterns it makes, if I had to choose one style of bead to make every single day these would be the ones, I never tire of them!

8 - Where do you find your inspiration?

From all sorts of places, anything I come into contact with during day to day life can become an inspiration, a colour combination, shapes, pictures, literally anything! I also find great inspiration in the work of other lampwork artists, sometimes I just get inspired by the glass

9 - What’s your favourite technique within your medium?

My favourite technique, which is something I'm working on at the moment (now I have a new big girls torch ) is striking silver glass, seeing the different colours you can achieve and watching them develop while making the bead is really fascinating to me.

10 - Where do you create your work?

The spare bedroom in our house has been officially converted into my studio, I have a 2 metre long bench, about 2/3rds of which is dedicated to my lampworking set up, the other end is free space for the other crafts I like to dabble in

11 - Do you have a favourite colour scheme or range when you’re creating pieces?

I find myself drawn to very "girly" colours, pinks, purples, pastels of any kind! I also like using strong, bold primary colours with black, for maximum impact!

12 - Can you give us a quotation/lyric/piece of advice that sums up your approach to life and your craft?

My favourite lyric is one from Slipknot's song Sulfur, "The longest hours you'll have in your life, are the ones you sit through to know you're right." Ever since the first time I heard this lyric it has stuck with me, every time I think life is getting hard this lets me know that everything will be alright in the end

13 - The most serious question of all: if you could meet any fictional character, from TV film or literature, who would it be and why?

Ron Weasley from Harry Potter, he's so funny, I'd just love to hang out with him for a day! (I am a HUGE potter fan!)

14 - Finally, what are your plans or hopes for your work in the future?

I am very much looking forward to getting to grips with my new torch, and trying all the techniques and designs I previously never had the fire power for! Overall I hope my work continues to improve and I can begin selling more pieces!

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Thanks Gemma - your love of glass really shines through!

Hazel

Treasury round up 5/2/2012

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:59:00 +0000

You can find beautiful beads, glass and more made by the talented members of FHFteam HERE

Treasury round up 29/01/2012

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:09:00 +0000

You can find beautiful beads, glass and more made by the talented members of FHFteam HERE

Lynn's Lampies - February 2012

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Lynn’s Lampies February 2012

A regular spot from team member Lynn Davy, a self-confessed bead addict whose unusual designs often feature lampwork beads. In this series she shares some of her secrets and shows you how to use FHFteam’s handmade beads and components in your own creations!

Love is in the Air

It’s that time of year again – Christmas has faded into distant memory, the sun is shining (occasionally), the birds are singing, the odd spring flower is daring to blossom… and we’re coming over all romantic and thinking about Valentine’s Day.

When a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of… buying handmade jewellery for his beloved, we hope!

No shortage of prettiness in FHFteam shops, as a quick Etsy search for ‘FHFteam flower’ will show you. And I had plenty of suitably romantic items in my bead box when I came to write this post…

Pretty, romantic, flowery beads by FHFteam members Helen Chalmers, Hazel Ward, Julia Hay, Helen Gorick, Ilona Ruttle and Jolene Wolfe

Earrings are always popular and it’s very easy to turn an ‘earring pair’ of lovely handmade beads into a unique and covetable gift.

Sometimes the beads speak for themselves and need only the minimum of interference. I had three gorgeous red rosebuds in my bead stash – what could be more romantic? So I teamed them with ‘fire opal’ crystals, to bring out the sharpness of the red and its hint of orange where the light comes through, made simple dangles and put them on handmade hoop earwires.

Red, red rosebuds by Sabine Little; sterling hoop earwires by Diane Cook

The third rosebud could have been a simple little pendant on a sterling chain, but the rich, acid colours went so well with a whole range of crystal shades that I gave it the opulent treatment and made it the focal point of a sparkling necklace with plenty of silver.

Rosebud by Sabine Little

The crystal colours are slightly randomised: a symmetrical arrangement looked too formal alongside the organic shape of the flower.

I think the finished necklace has a rather Indian feel about it – lively and vibrant

Sometimes you might want to add a bit more detailing or movement to earrings. These little polymer squares have been strung onto eyepins (which have a little loop or eye at the bottom, as distinct from headpins, which have, well, a head) so that I could add a cluster of charms underneath.

Polymer clay beads by Hazel Ward

The flower and leaf charms are made in just the same way as the earring dangle, but smaller, then linked together with a jump ring that goes through the eye of the eyepin underneath the clay bead. And although none of them is the exact colour of the polymer clay, they are similar tones – so the overall effect looks matching, even though it isn’t. (See, I cheat all the time!)

Make sure you hang the earrings so the charm clusters are mirror images of each other: one leaf on the left, the other on the right. Little touches like this make your work look professional.

And now, seeing as I have a huge pile of pink and green beads still sitting on my desk left over from my latest beading project, I think I’ll turn them into a charm bracelet. Somehow that seems easier than sorting them all out and putting them away again. And charm bracelets are gorgeously romantic and lovely for spring, when those big woolly jumpers go back in the wardrobe and you get to see your wrists again…

Tutorial: Charm Bracelet

You will need:
·    A charm bracelet base (or a length of chain and a clasp to make your own)
·    Headpins*
·    Jump rings or split rings
·    A selection of accent beads*, 6-10 mm seems to work best: small lampies, pressed glass shapes, pearls, stones, whatever you like really
·    A selection of smaller accent beads, 2-4mm
·    A spoonful of seed beads in sizes 8 and 11 - leftover ‘bead soup’ is ideal
·    A largish charm or metal bead to go beside the clasp – I used a pewter heart
·    5-6 charms or metal beads
·    A few beadcaps or metal spacers and/or 2-3mm metal beads
·    Round-nosed, flat-nosed and (if possible) crimping pliers; wire cutters

*The exact numbers of components are up to you. I like to use 4 charms per link of chain and my bracelet base has 17 links, so that’s a total of around 70.

1. To keep the colour balance roughly even along the length of the bracelet, divide the beads into four groups and lay them out in rows. Otherwise you tend to find you’ve picked out some beads preferentially and run out of them by the time you get half-way. I work on one bracelet link at a time to avoid losing my place.

Materials and tools for making your bracelet. Note how the beads are laid out in rows

2. This is an important point and often overlooked – if your bracelet has a toggle clasp, you need to make sure the toggle can pull through the loop to fasten it. If you add charms right up to the bottom of the toggle, you’ll find it’s very difficult to put your bracelet on. So leave a blank link (or two if they are small).

Leave room for the toggle to fasten

3. Most of the charm dangles are made on headpins with wrapped loops – just as for the earrings we made back in my October 2011 blog post. But since the loop is to be wrapped onto the bracelet chain, the finishing is a bit different. Start in the same way, but make the loop fairly large and don’t do the wrapping part yet – just slip the loop over the chain link.

Adding a wrapped loop to a chain

4. Now put the tip of your pliers into the loop to hold it while you do the wrapping. Trim the surplus wire and use crimping pliers (if you have them) to neaten the coil. Check that there are no scratchy ends – file them if necessary. Bracelets need a lot of care as they will be worn next to a sensitive area of skin. Add four dangles to each link before moving on to the next.

Wrap the loop and tidy the ends

5. Charms are much easier to deal with – they already have a loop for hanging. You can use a jump ring or a split ring (more secure) to connect the loop to the bracelet chain. If the charm’s very small and gets lost among the beads, add more rings or use a bigger one.

Charms are simple to attach

6. And what about those teardrops or leaves that are ‘top-drilled’, i.e. with the hole across the top, rather than running up and down? You can’t string them on a headpin. And unless the hole is large, jump rings won’t work either, because they’re curved. What you need is a triangle bail. You can buy these, or just make your own from surplus wire. (Cheapskate? Moi?) Make a triangle shape with the ends meeting in the middle of one side. Then just pull the ends apart, put the chain link through the gap, and put one end into each side of your top-drilled bead. Use pliers to squash the sides together until secure.

Making a triangle bail. Bend half a side, then two full sides, then the remaining half, and trim the wire. Then pull gently apart with pliers to link to the chain and attach your bead

7. Something else to consider is how to unify your design when you’re using a wide variety of beads. Restricting the colour palette is the most obvious; so is using more than one of each kind of bead, or the same shape but in different colours. You can also be subtle and use the same seed beads – or just slightly different ones – every time you make a dangle with a particular type of bead.

Try using the same colour of seed bead, or a small metal bead, at the bottom and/or top of each dangle. Or use beadcaps or spacers with one particular shape of accent bead.

All of these will help to make your bracelet look carefully considered rather than just thrown together. Even if it was just thrown together.

Keeping a bit of consistency helps to pull it all together and satisfy the eye

8. Carry on adding four things to each link until you’ve filled the last one. Then take your heart bead or charm and attach it to the end of the bracelet, right next to the clasp loop. This is a good place to attach a maker’s tag if you have one, or perhaps a photo frame charm with a picture, or a custom tag with the new owner’s name… the possibilities are endless.

Add a nice big heart charm to the clasp

And there you are, done!

There are as many styles of charm bracelet as there are beaders. I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about mine. Now grab your bead stash and go and discover yours!

Happy Valentine’s Day!
Lynn

Member Interrogations - Becky Fairclough

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

A welcome this week to Becky Fairclough of Chameleons Designs, who talks about her inspirations, perfectionism, and lampworked lungs! You'll have to read on to find out more...

1 - Your name: Becky Fairclough

2 - Your shop name and address: I have two Etsy shops, Chameleons Designs where I sell transfers for use in lampwork and Becky Fairclough which has some of my fused glass pieces in it. I also have my website http://www.chameleondesigns.co.uk/

3 - Describe your artistic style in three words: Contemporary, delicate, pretty

4 - When did you first start working with glass and how did you get started?

I have always loved glass but my first proper experience of working with it was during my art foundation course and I went from there to a glass degree course and was completely smitten.

5 - What do you love most about your craft?

Most of all I love working with glass in a molten state, there is something magical about being able to manipulate it and then it freezing in a position.

6 - If you could take a class with any artist (in your field or otherwise) who would you choose and why?
There are a number of Lampworkers I would love to take a class with, well actually more of a very long list, mainly in that ever increasing thirst for new techniques, but if I had to choose just one then it would be Annie Cattrell as she was my first (albeit at the time unknown) introduction to lampwork when she gave a lecture called Art, Science and Transparency when I was doing my foundation course. Im still in awe of her piece "Capacity" (Lampworked lungs - can be seen here - http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1637_outoftheordinary/artists_detail.php?artistTag=cattrell) to this day.

7 - Do you have a favourite piece of your work that you can share with us?

At the moment it is my blue flower necklace, which I love and wear most days.

8 - Where do you find your inspiration?

Usually from things I see around me, my work will quite often change when I have been on holiday and seen different things and I come home and play with incorporating them into my work.

9 - What’s your favourite technique within your medium?

Im not sure I can pick only one ! I love to make sculptural work although I am still very much a beginner at it, and then to combine it with surface decoration such as transfers, lustres or sandblast

10 - Where do you create your work?

I work in my studio at home. I have slowly taken over more and more space until the point where we had the garage converted into a studio for me.

11 - Do you have a favourite colour scheme or range when you’re creating pieces?

I love transparent glass and have about 10 colours that I use a lot of the time with only occasional forays into other colours, I think if I had to choose just a couple of favourites it would be sky blue (052) and Reichenbach Antique Crystal as both of them go beautifully with Silver.

12 - Can you give us a quotation/lyric/piece of advice that sums up your approach to life and your craft?

I would love to say something really fun here or light hearted but the mantra that I tend to repeat most often is "If you are going to do something do it properly" and that does sum up my work as I tend to get wholeheartedly involved in what im doing and do it to the best of my ability..it has been know for me to be a touch of a perfectionist about things ..

13 - The most serious question of all: if you could meet any fictional character, from TV film or literature, who would it be and why?

I think it would have to be Claire from Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, I was given the first book as a teenager and loved it, I have kept up with the series as new books have come out and frequently re read the whole series and get totally absorbed in it. I think Claire is partly responsible for my interest in medical plants and poisons and I think with all her experiences she would be a totally fascinating person to talk to.

14 - Finally, what are your plans or hopes for your work in the future?

Im currently working with fused glass and patterns as the opportunity has come up and Im really enjoying it.
My future plans revolve around concentrating more on sculptural lampwork, and I hope to work on bigger projects. I have several different threads of work in progress at the moment and I'm hoping that I can bring them all together but I need to improve my skills to match my ideas first !

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Thank you Becky for sharing your enthusiasm and philosophies with our readers!

Treasury round up 22/1/2012

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:08:00 +0000

You can find beautiful beads, glass and more made by the talented members of FHFteam HERE

Pick of the Month in January

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:07:00 +0000

Verdant Lampwork Bead Set Petals Blue Green from Alchemy Lampwork UK

Jumping Jacks, Handmade Lampwork Beads from ARJewellery

Floral Lampwork Tool Roll from chameleonsdesigns

Carnival Lampwork Bead Set from Beadupastorm

Visage Lampwork pendant with moon face - Temporis from flyingbead

Striking and uplifting beads and more from FHFteam

FHFTeam Design Process, Karen Lilley

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:21:00 +0000

Karen Lilley (Lilley Glass Designs) - Design Process for Black and Green work.

This body of work started life as part of my Glass Techniques course that I finished last June. We could choose any subject, but the idea was that all the work should be obviously linked. I didn’t want to have to choose only one technique (am quite a butterfly) so did look at ideas with the wish to produce fused and slumped work, lampwork and blown work.

I like plants and flowers and so chose to collect a whole heap of pictures of leaves and flowers which I gathered together in my sketch book. Having got them together I considered which I found most striking, which I thought it might be practical to do something with bearing in mind the constraints of glass. These are the ones I liked best for this project (there are others of flowers, seedheads etc etc in my sketch book, some of which I used for other things):

I liked the shapes and the black and green. I liked the stripes.
These bits are from East’s packaging, I like the Chrysanthemum, though I prefer the monotone version they have (top left, rather than the bottom one).

I did some drawing and came up with this:

Largely based on lines from the East Chrysanthemum and the stripes from the collage, and in the three colourways, because although I thought green and black would be what I would go for (that’s why that one is the top one) I thought I should just do a bit of colour investigating to be sure.

I made this plate in black and green, not without its problems, the long thin bits of green were hard to cut without them breaking and it did take a long time to cut for what is quite a small dish and therefore had a limit on what I could charge for it. It also took a fair time to arrange all the bits of green on the base plate of black. Irritatingly one of the greens also had a tendency to devit so I ended up having to cap it with clear and fire it a second time before slumping it. Once I’d slumped it I sandblasted the underside so there was a matt underneath and a shiny top.

I liked it and made coasters to match.

However, if I was to make bowls of this sort then the process had to be quicker, it just was not economical to make the bowl with so many leaves so I simplified it and made:

At the same time I was playing with pattern bar (fusing glass into a solid shape e.g. square, triangular etc which can then be sliced up). Having decided that I liked green and black I made some triangular pattern bar that I sliced up and polished. To decide how I would like to have it arranged for a dish I played with it, moving the bits around each other – so there aren’t any pictures of this. I found I liked a square pattern with chevrons that reminded me of the stripy leaves (though they were green and red). The pattern bar section was not big enough for a plate so I needed to do something to make it plate sized, more stripes of green and black seemed a good plan so I made this square sushi dish

How to make some lampwork that would sit with this green and black work? I decided to continue with the stripes so I made stripy green and black beads starting with a black base and winding trails of different coloured green stringers round the bead. I then raked the trails backwards and forwards (I have a weakness for this sort of raking, it reminds me of colourful book edges and papers, and it also echoed the red and green stripy leaves from the picture). I wanted a lentil shape and so used a press to get a nice shape and consistent sizes. I made a necklace and a bracelet with the beads. I used copper as I thought it went with the green and black better than silver.

The blown work, well, I was (and still am) at the stage of learning how to do it at all, so for that I decided I would make pieces that had a trail which was then raked
I didn’t have any black or red so replaced the black with yellow, this is one of the very early pieces.

I’m still enjoying stripes – this is one of my more recent vases.

Now I’m playing with other ways of getting stripes, using an optic mold and also experimenting with different rims too:

And so the process continues and evolves.
I hope you enjoyed this.
Karen.
PS: Please don’t think I’m always this structured though – sometimes I go to the torch with no idea of what I’m going to make until I start, sometimes I go to the torch or the hot shop to practice a particular skill (that’ll be encased floral beads in the case of lampwork – I love them and want to learn how to put flower murrine in to beads).

To see more of Karen's gorgeous work, you can visit her website: www.lilleyglassdesigns.co.uk

Treasury round up 15/1/2012

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:35:00 +0000

You can find beautiful beads, glass and more made by the talented members of FHFteam HERE

Member Interrogations - Josephine Wadman

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

The first member interrogation of 2012 is an interesting insight into Josephine Wadman's thoughts on her work, on Mr Rochester, and on changes in direction. Read on...

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1 - Your name: Jospehine Wadman

2 - Your shop name and address: Josephine Wadman Designs, www.josephinewadman.etsy.com & www.josephinewadmandesigns.com

3 - Describe your artistic style in three words: ‘varied and eclectic’, others tell me it is ‘easily recognisable’.

4 - When did you first start glassworking and how did you get started?

About 5 years ago. I was making jewellery but wanted to do more than buying and stringing beads. I toyed with silver clay. Then I stumbled on Laura Sparling’s website. I ordered a hothead starter kit and that was it, I was hooked.

5 - What do you love most about your craft?

The magic of transforming the solid glass, the variety of effects you can achieve and the good days where you sit at the torch, listening to radio 4, glancing out at the garden…..and end up with a kiln full of little treasures.

6 - If you could take a class with any artist (in your field or otherwise) who would you choose and why?

I love organics so maybe Amber von Meter (Naos) or Aja (Wandering Spirit) and I think you would have to go a long way to learn more about glass from someone than you do in one of Julie Denton’s classes.

7 - Do you have a favourite piece of your work that you can share with us?

I’ve made quite a few of these now and I still love them.

8 - Where do you find your inspiration?

Anywhere and everywhere. Often its just the glass, I sit down without any particular idea. Other times it’s a season, a scene or a picture.

9 - What’s your favourite technique within your medium?

Nothing very complicated but I don’t think I could function without silvered ivory stringer.

10 - Where do you create your work?

I have a workshop in the garage.

11 - Do you have a favourite colour scheme or range when you’re creating pieces?

Either blues and greens or earthy colours.

12 - Can you give us a quotation/lyric/piece of advice that sums up your approach to life and your craft?

I think I might have to go with one of the many wise words of Albus Dumbledore, either "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." or "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

13 - The most serious question of all: if you could meet any fictional character, from TV film or literature, who would it be and why?

Well I do want to go to Hogwarts, but failing that I wouldn’t mind spending an hour or two doing crosswords with Inspector Morse or being swept of my feet by Mr Rochester.

14 - Finally, what are your plans or hopes for your work in the future?

Well it’s all change for me with a divorce looming. I need to support myself fully within a few years but I have decided that it won’t entirely be with bead making. That constant pressure to come up with something new and then sell it doesn’t assist with creativity in my experience. And as I don’t have a pension waiting for me I need to earn reasonable money rather than scrape a living. So I have decided to train in book indexing with the intention of working freelance. I will still make beads too. But with the two running alongside each other then there won’t be quite so much pressure and I will be able to enjoy the beads.

I will probably ease off the jewellery side of things, no more big silver bills, commission to galleries and paying to stand in drafty halls watching people sell mass produced tat! Just me, the glass and my etsy shop. It will be a gradual change over the next few years. Just hoping I can get to grips with the indexing, it’s a lot more complicated than you might think. But if any of you decide to write a book on bead or jewellery making then you know where to come for the index!

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Thank you Josephine, for an interesting read - we all wish you good luck with your new 2012 plans, in both beads and books!

Hazel

Lynn's Lampies - January 2012

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:13:00 +0000

Lynn’s Lampies January 2012
A regular spot from team member Lynn Davy, a self-confessed bead addict whose unusual designs often feature lampwork beads. In this series she shares some of her secrets and shows you how to use FHFteam’s handmade beads and components in your own creations!

One, Two, Three, Four… making best use of even-numbered bead sets

Happy New Year everybody!

Oops, my finger slipped! A haul of goodies from FHFteam members including Jolene Wolfe, Helen Clemons, Jeanniegems, Sabine Little, Hazel Ward, Helen Gorick, Ilona Ruttle, Helen Chalmers and Heather Webb

I was looking through my stash of handmade beads (as you do) and realised that I seemed to have several sets with even numbers of beads. It started me musing on ways to use them…

Odd numbers of beads are easy to use in designing. One, you use as a pendant or focal. Three, five, seven… you put the biggest or prettiest in the middle and build outwards.

‘Treasures of Atlantis’ bracelet with lampwork by Heather Webb and beaded bead spacers by me

But an even number? Well, OK, two is easy, you make earrings, and several of our members make ‘earring pairs’ for that very reason.

Earring pairs by Julia Hay; copper spirals by Diane Cook

But four, six, eight? You often find you wish you had just one more, or that you have one left over.

One simple solution is to bring in a solo act from another maker, and use it as a focal or a pendant along with your even-numbered set. To make an even-numbered set into a bracelet, just use an odd number of something else in between. That’s what I did in this necklace and bracelet set – there are three big black lava beads in the bracelet, alternating with the four lampies.

‘Dark Materials’ bracelet and necklace with suncatcher by Helen Clemons and an eight-bead set of lentils by Ilona Ruttle. Silk ribbon by SowZeRe and copper rings and spiral by Diane Cook

And of course I sometimes like to cheat and make a beaded bead focal

Red Hot Salsa’ with lampies by Tan Grey and beaded bead by yours truly

If there’s a bead left over from a necklace, and it’s not too big, turn it into a wireworked dangle (see my November blogpost) and attach it to an extender chain at the back, for an interesting detail. If it’s on a bracelet, make it into a charm dangling from the clasp. Or hang onto it because it might be just what you need to fill a gap in another project…

‘

Filling the gaps brings us nicely to this month’s mini-tutorial, which will be about beaded spacer beads. These add a nice touch of texture to all sorts of lampwork projects and are particularly useful when you’re short of a bead or two, or need to get the length of a piece exactly right.

But first you have to do a bit of designing to work out what you need…

F’r example. I fell for this fabulous eight-bead polymer clay set and toggle and wanted to make a bracelet and earrings. Take two out for the earrings and that leaves six for the bracelet.

Floral beads and toggle by Hazel Ward

Then I did a bit of colour matching, aka grabbing a load of things I thought might go with the beads, sticking them all on a tray and taking away the ones that really didn’t work.

Which left me with these. Some of which are still wrong but only a bit wrong, so they might just possibly be useful…

I took a bit of spare beading wire (also sometimes called ‘cable’) and tried out some ideas.
This was quite nice, and the green flash on the labradorite matched the green of the polymer beautifully, but…

...the labradorite was very flat and it was too much like a watch. (And those very sweet pink glass spacers on the rightmost bead were just too strong a colour edge-on.)
This also looked hopeful, but…

… it was too short to allow the toggle to fasten (it’s always worth making a proper mock-up with a handmade toggle, to check the bar will pull through the loop). And all the colours were very soft and there was no definition – it needed something to pick up the intensity of the metallic flecks in the polymer.

By now I had a pretty good idea of how much extra length I needed, so I tinkered around and decided that beaded bead spacers with a foundation of a darker colour (it’s a weird but very useful one called metallic khaki iris, to which I added a touch of metallic gold) were the way to go. I made three, and alternated them with pairs of amazonite chips, adding a couple of rose quartz beads at the ends. Result.

I used more rose quartz and amazonite in the earrings too.
　
Tutorial: Beaded spacer beads

A simple little ‘ladder’ stitched strip, joined into a tube and decorated with some extra beads. If you’re new to seed beading you might want to try it with a base of size 8’s first so it’s not quite so small and fiddly while you’re working out where the thread should go next. But once you’ve made one or two, you’ll be doing it in your sleep…
　
1. You will need:

· Size 11 seed beads – I suggest using two colours for ease of navigation – I’ll call these ‘A’ in the instructions
· Size 8 seed beads – these are bigger and will be called ‘B’ in the instructions – I used a mix of colours because I get bored easily
· Size 15 seed beads – these are tiny and will be known as ‘C’… if you don’t have any, just use size 11 ‘A’ instead
· Beading thread such as ‘Nymo’ or ‘K.O.’ – I’ve used a deep gold to give me an extra colour (and show up better in the photos)

· Beading needle, sharp scissors

2. Thread your needle with an arm’s length of thread and tie on a ‘stop bead’ (blue in the photos) by going through it twice in the same direction. You will take this bead off again at the end. Pick up six A beads, making the 2^nd and 5^th a contrasting colour.

3. Stitch through the first three beads again, in the same direction.

4. Pull the thread so the two sets of three beads sit side by side. Now go through the second set of three again. This is called ‘ladder’ stitch.

5. Carry on adding sets of three (making the middle one a contrasting colour each time) until you have five ‘rungs’ in your ‘ladder’. (Four is too few. You can use six if you want to make your beads slightly bigger or with a regular pattern. Seven is too big and floppy for this design.)

6. Roll your ladder into a little tube and stitch the ends together.

7. The fun part now. Come out of one of your contrasting beads in the middle of a rung, and pick up a B (size 8) and a C (size 15). These will make a sort of mini-fringe to give your bead volume and texture.

8. Go back through the B (the C will hold it in place) and stitch through the contrasting bead where your thread was coming out – stitch in the same direction (so if your thread exited at the top of the bead, stitch into the bottom of the bead) and carry on to the end of the rung.

9. Go partway through the next rung until you are again exiting the contrast bead in the middle. Add another mini-fringe. Carry on all the way round until you have a mini-fringe on each rung. End-on, it should look like this.

10. You can use the spacers just as they are, but the exposed thread at the ends is at risk of fraying, so I’d suggest weaving up and down, adding an extra bead between each pair of rungs, until your bead looks like this. (This also gives you the chance to add an extra colour.) You may find you need a thinner beading needle if the holes in your beads are tight.

11. Finally, go through all the extra beads to join them together. End-on, your bead should now look like the photo above. Weave the working end of thread into the beadwork, tie a couple of knots (I showed you how in November's tassel tutorial) and trim the end. Then take off the stop bead and finish off the tail thread in the same way.

Thanks for reading, and happy beading!

Lynn

FHFteam giveaway - January

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:06:00 +0000

This giveaway is now closed - check the main blog for information about the new giveaway!

It's time for this month's FHFteam giveaway, and for this giveaway it's my turn - Jolene from Kitzbitz Art Beads and Frit N Chips. I wasn't sure whether to offer up a bead or supplies and so there are two prizes this month for our lucky winner.

This chunky aquarium focal bead featuring pretty little Tang tropical fish murrini

And a set of funky rainbow twisties

The winner will be drawn from the names of FHFteam blog followers who comment on the team blog during January, so don't forget to 'Follow' us, and start sharing what's on your mind! Drawing for the prize will take place on the 8th of February 2012

I'd also like to say a big thank you to all the lovely people who currently visit, comment and follow us - we all appreciate reading what you have to say!

Happy New Year
Jo x

Treasury round up 8/1/12

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 12:28:00 +0000

You can find beautiful beads, glass and more made by the talented members of FHFteam HERE

Welcome to a New Year! December giveaway winner drawn.

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:20:00 +0000

We're back, after a brief holiday hiatus, and ready to fill 2012 with more great articles, tips and eye-candy for all you glass, bead and jewellery lovers out there.

And to kick off the new year, I've drawn a random winner for the December giveaway. The prize was a choice between this bracelet:

or a £10 Continuum Designs gift voucher.

And the winner is: JeannieGems! I'll be contacting you about your prize.

And keep checking back, because another giveaway will be coming very soon!

Hazel

Treasury round up 17/12

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 12:41:00 +0000

You can find beautiful beads, glass and more made by the talented members of FHFteam HERE

Member Interrogations - Jean Munro

noreply@blogger.com (FHFteam) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Today we have an interesting read from Jean Munro of Ceardannan Jewellery, including words about her inspiration, her start in jewellery-making, and a great double-quotation that sums up her approach to life!

1 - Your name: Jean Munro

2 - Your shop name and address: Ceardannan www.ceardannan.co.uk http://www.etsy.com/shop/ceardannanjewellery

3 - Describe your artistic style in three words: organic ….eclectic…colourful

4 - When did you first start jewellery making/lampworking, and how did you get started?I first started making jewellery about 5 years ago when I was living in Greece. I was shopping with my mum and saw a pair of earrings made with lapis stones that I liked but the wires were made with a metal I couldn’t wear. My mum said, “I’m sure if you have a look on the internet you will be able to find the materials to make something yourself.”
She set me off on my first bead related google seach. This led to me buying my first set of lampwork beads on ebay, made by Mike Poole. Ever since holding them in my hands I wanted to learn to make lampwork beads. As soon as we came back to Scotland to live I had a taster session followed by a workshop with Rachel Elliot. I grinned all the way through it and about 2 years ago I bought my lampwork start up kit second hand on FH forum.!

5 - What do you love most about your craft?
I especially like choosing semi precious gemstones and lampwork beads in my jewellery making and playing around with different combinations.   I love that there are so many different colours and kinds of glass and the fact that I could never get bored with lampworking as there is always something else to try and something new to learn. And I really like melting glass!

6 - If you could take a class with any artist (in your field or otherwise) who would you choose and why?
So difficult a question but I would especially like to take a George and Julie Cab to Fab, or by George. it’s Lush class. I have admired George’s work since I started making jewellery and Lush Julies beads were some of the first I bought while Julies cabs are wonderful.   I would really like to dress a few beads George style.

7 - Do you have a favourite piece of your work that you can share with us?

I am proud of this fibula as my husband did the wirework in this and made my bead look beautiful!

And I really enjoy making my beady boxes in different colourways..

8 - Where do you find your inspiration?
The colours all around me, I love the colours in nature, especially the coast the sea and wildflowers, Also there are so many beautiful colours of glass which are an inspiartion in themselves.

9 - What’s your favourite technique within your medium?At the moment I am enjoying working with cane, murrini and twisties, and making organic style beads particularly seascapes.

10 - Where do you create your work?
In my utility room that wanted to be a conservatory but never quite made it.

11 - Do you have a favourite colour scheme or range when you’re creating pieces?
I guess I always go back to blues and greens though I’m also particularly drawn to reds and oranges. But I just really choose whatever colour I fancy at the time,

12 - Can you give us a quotation/lyric/piece of advice that sums up your approach to life and your craft?Do what you can with what you have where you are….Theodore Roosevelt.
And
It’s hard to be positive when your bottles gone! …big sis

13 - The most serious question of all: if you could meet any fictional character, from TV film or literature, who would it be and why?
Mary DiNunzio the lawyer from Lisa Scottoline books, she’s a great character warm, funny and smart and I really like her.

14 - Finally, what are your plans or hopes for your work in the future?Keep on keeping on!

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A big thanks to Jean for her answers!