Handmade glass jewelry by Christian Sorensen

pics from Hornby Islands Christmas Fair 2010

2010-11-28T19:25:00.000-08:00

First a quick and blurry look at my table

then a quick and slightly less blurry glance around the hall

about 3/4 of the vendors have arrived and are setting up ...

we finish our trip around the hall with a shot of Stephanie Wells' knee high shark skin boots - may not be real shark skin .... I got a funny look and funnier story when I asked to take a picture of her boots.

A good sign I hope.

2010-11-25T11:21:00.000-08:00

Hopefully a sign of things to come ... today I sold two pendant necklaces on Etsy.

The Christmas Fair on Hornby Island is Saturday and I hope that the roads stay drivable. Specifically Denman Island's roads. Denman has some pretty steep spots that get crazy in the snow and ice.

To get to Hornby from the mainland (Vancouver, Seattle etc) you must take a ferry to Vancouver Island, drive to Buckley Bay, take a ferry to Denman Island, drive across Denman and finally take a ferry to Hornby.

My oldest boy plans to share a table in the gym with another kid and sell pictures that he's drawn. A bunch of kids plan to have tables this year - I can only imagine the mayhem in there. Fortunately I'll be in the Hall with the adults, good music and even better food.

The most important thing: remember to bring LOTS of lighting with a power strip.

too cold to run equipment

2010-11-20T10:29:00.000-08:00

According to the manufacturers specifications - the M15 oxygen concentrator should not be operated in temperatures below 50F and mpt stored in temps below 30F. This means that I am done making glass until it warms up again - which could very well be April or May. What a bummer...

Hopefully I will sell enough glass at the Christmas Fair (a week from today) to place a bulk beeswax order. Beeswax is crazy expensive when compared to paraffin but it's a far nicer product. The plan is to make candles all winter until I can start making glass again.

2010-11-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

a few more pendants from yesterday

I'm pretty happy with this one. I'm using the same jade encased in yellow that I show in the previous post but with a more interesting color combination and more complex technique.

This is the first hoop made with my new "Peter's tweezers". Normally I leave a piece of glass sticking off the pendant and form that into a hoop with a seamless weld. This time I made a wedge shape of glass and bored a hole through it with aligned steel pokes set on tweezers.The trade off is more stress in the glass from the poking VS time saved from making perfect seamless welds.

It turns out that, as with all short cuts, it doesn't save me any time at all. I completed stressed out the glass with those tweezers and it took as much time dealing with that as it does to make the bail normally.

Further experimentation is called for.

Bail made normally ... the photograph is a little misleading. There is clearly a seam of color where the clear hoop meets the turbo cobalt background. However there is no physical seam in the glass.

simple rod implosion - snow white encased in alaskan thunder with ruby k background. This is the pendant with the pierced hoop.

rod implosion - 3 stages - silver fuming with snow white encased in alaskan thunder implosion, silver unobtanium frit with silver fuming back and turbo cobalt background. This is the pendant with the normally maid bail shown above.

encasing tricky colors

2010-11-17T12:21:00.000-08:00

Inside:
encased Jade (ns11) in Extra Light yellow (ns34)
this adds that hazy blue glow to the jade and makes it easier to work

rod implosion with light silver fuming AFTER imploding

Backing:
encased Steel Wool (ns129) in Blue Nebula (ns121)
this provided a deep blue color that sparkles from within

a few from today's session in the shop

2010-11-16T15:56:00.000-08:00

I was suffering from "writers block" today so I spent my time making encased stringers and pulling points. I also made a few pendants and a couple of paperweights.

I have two more days of shop time this week so I hope inspiration strikes pretty soon.

mushroom pendant and earrings - a few pics from yesterday

2010-11-14T11:27:00.000-08:00

My struggles with photographing glass jewelry continue.

a simple pair of teardrop glass earrings on ~~stainless~~ surgical steel earwires. The blue green colors seem a bit weird in the pictures (probably due to the flash) but I'm not sure how to fix that without making it worse.

basically teardrops with frit and a twilight background - a very clean look that's my most popular design for earrings.

earrings listing on etsy::

white sands encased in clear with the tip rolled in antique copper frit
silver fuming and frit behind
turbo cobalt background

This is my outerspace mushroom pendant. My seven year old and I were looking at pictures from the hubble space telescope and I got inspired.

mushroom listing on etsy::

yesterday in glass shop ...

2010-11-12T13:02:00.000-08:00

A few favorites from my last session in the glass shop.

Lampworked borosilicate teardrop "stick and spin" pendant.

white sands encased in light ruby used for "stick and spin"
blue moon frit - turbo cobalt fine frit
obtanium background
low profile (no lens)

Abstract latticino "nauty roll" pendant

Nautilus shell roll with more expressionist shape and color selection

latticino colors:
twilight, turbo cobalt, blue moon encased in clear, blue exotic encased in light yellow, aqua azul encased in clear pin

texture:
blue moon fine frit on outside
clear magnifiers (off 3mm rod)

Cobalt and cyan with triple twist

name speaks for itself - technique discussed in another post :)

twisted glass bead pendant - a look inside the technique

2010-11-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

alright twisted glass beads - let's take a look.

it's all in the groove

Important: the grooves of the twist must be smooth vitrified glass NOT the devitrified ugliness that occurs as soon as you actually twist the glass. Constant attention and a pinpoint flame will help.

First: apply whatever colors you are using and make your design - latticino and it's variations are what I usually do, encased in clear or not it's your choice (encased is easier to keep smooth but is more work).

Next: Flame strike any colors that need it, heat evenly and gently smash kinda flat, melt a bit more and fire polish as if you are done with it. Then heat up until quite hot (pale pink) and twist. Now you need a needle point flame to heat the grooves until it's perfectly smooth again.

Tip: For the grooves I only heat one side the groove (from top to bottom) at a time and let cool before doing the opposite side. Apply hard, steady breath to the cool side while letting the hot side cool down then reverse.

This is a super easy, basic technique that's just a bit finicky. The twisty pendants seem to be very popular during the holiday season.

My christmas tree is covered in scrap glass twists that the kids love.

making glass VS selling glass online

2010-11-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

If you take the time spent making this pendant and compare it to the time spent taking the pictures (sizing, white balancing etc), and writing the listing - you realize that it's about 1:4 making/listing. The sheer volume of time spent on translating one small piece of glass jewelry into a commodity that can be sold via the internet is a lot more than I had anticipated.

Not to mention that in the summer this pendant will sell (very quickly) for $50 while on etsy it's listed for $25 with free shipping AND will cost me a few dollars in relisting fees plus if/when it sells paypal and etsy will both get a percentage.

Writing this post has made me realize that perhaps trying to sell online isn't the right choice for me.

too cold to run the glass shop

2010-11-09T14:48:00.000-08:00

instead I'm making candles...

I am making two types of glass container candles: fumed pyrex jars and glass jars of various soda lime types i.e. mason jars, baby food jars etc.

I dye the wax black when filling the pyrex jars since silver fuming offers a yellow transmitted color (nice) and a swirling cyan, cobalt, silver and purple reflected color. The darker the wax the more of the reflected color that you get.

For all other glass candles I use whatever color is in the pot already or if it's empty I default to pale blue as it seems to be the most marketable color.

Regarding scent - i have mixed organic vanilla and natural rose scents together at a ratio of approx 7:2. This mix then gets added to the wax - I aim for a load of 8% by volume which gives a noticeable but not overpowering scent throw for this scent mixture.

I don't sell candles on my Etsy store since shipping them is far too expensive compared to the price of the candle itself. However if you see me at a craft fair the hand blown candles are $20 a piece and the other jars range from $5 to $14 depending on size.

current stock for christmas fair

2010-11-08T22:27:00.000-08:00

this is everything (except what's on Etsy) that I have made for the Christmas Fair. Not nearly enough I think.

pictures from last shop day

2010-11-08T16:19:00.000-08:00

a few pictures from last day in the shop. I made lots but I haven't had much time for photography.

today's glass

2010-10-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

alright - it's a new day and I get to work in the shop again today. The question is, what should I make first (earrings, pendant, ornament, jar or pipe) if anyone has a preference please let me know.

I will post pics later of what I made.

Here are some other shots from yesterday's session in the shop.

a jar of frit (crushed glass) - really don't breathe it !!

on a break from making glass ornaments

2010-10-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

Just taking a quick break from the shop.

Today has been ornament day so far (twisty stuff) I will put up pics later. Hopefully I can find some inspiration before I get off break ... I really want to make something different today.
ordered from Artistry in Glass (ontario based supplier):

clear simax rod 9mm (case)
blue moon small frit by Northstar glass
piercing tweezers

the shipping cost from Ontario to BC is actually more than the cost of the goods. Shipping in Canada is crazy expensive!!

However - I should get everything in a few days which is awesome since I am almost out of solid glass. I use the 9mm as pontils (pronounced punty) when working hollow or as stock glass for smaller solid pieces.

rest of pics from shop time

2010-10-20T22:47:00.000-07:00

picasa had scheduled maintenance or something .. rest of pics are up now .. check it out:

The jar is fumed with .999 silver ... that means that it changes color like a "color changing pipe" ... This christmas I am offering silver fumed jars filled with black wax (and a wick) as color changing glass candles.

When you're done you can rinse the jar out with hot soapy water and it's good as new (can be used as a shot glass or whatever). It takes a 1 inch cork.

Lampworked glass earrings .... I don't make earrings that often but this year I am committed to having a wide selection of glass earrings for Christmas. Now I just need to get more time in the shop. I think these are a good start though.

All earring hardware is surgical steel.

today in the shop ... pendants, earrings and ornaments

2010-10-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

I meant to make several fumed glass jars BUT I was having all kinds of thick and thin problems with the hollow stuff ... so I took a break.

I made a decent jar but wasn't feeling it so I started on pendants and earrings .. check it out.

well .. these are all mixed up and I only managed to get 5 images uploaded before picasa stopped working ...

tree - good or bad ?!

2010-10-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

2 new listings today:

hhhmmm is this tree background helping or hurting my cause ??

photographing glass is crazy hard

ads ... I just noticed them

2010-10-15T22:54:00.000-07:00

I just turned off adBlock plus to see if any ads appeared on my blog ... and did you know ... ads DO appear on my blog.

I never really thought about it since I almost never see ads anymore. I have adblock plus and noscript running and they simply block everything. It's great :)

I don't know how I feel about this and I have an extremely wide range of emotions from which to choose.

more about this later

omigod ... wrk wrk wrk wrk

2010-10-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

alright it's done ... I had the showcase, adwords, listings and blah blah blah PLUS I made some stuff in the shop too (not the greatest though).

final numbers

$26 ($15 adwords + $7 showcase + $4 listing fees ) Not too bad really.

It would have been nice to make a sale today...

fresh from the shop

2010-10-15T17:26:00.000-07:00

I like it ... it's super dark and photographs horribly ... but in person it's a stunner ...

new pendants listed before midnight

2010-10-14T23:36:00.000-07:00

I started using the tree next to our back deck as a model ... I like it ...

shop pics

2010-10-14T15:43:00.001-07:00

sure ... it's a bit ghetto looking ... but I built it to be fireproof NOT pretty !!

pics - fresh from the kiln

2010-10-14T15:41:00.000-07:00

these pendants are literally just out of the kiln. I took these pictures less than 60 seconds after unloading the kiln.

These are my picks for the day ...

work work work

2010-10-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

more listings to go up today ... have to get ready for big sales promo day tomorrow