Tuesday 30 December 2008

Studio Art Fire Blog

The new online selling market Art Fire seems to be growing in leaps and bounds.  They have just rolled out the 'Guilds' feature and it will be interesting to see where that goes - groups of like minded people inspiring and helping each other.

One person who's extremely active over there is Timothy Adam, Timothy works with metal, take a peek at his Art Fire shop here, you'll find jewellery, furniture and more all with a very unique style and with prices starting at under $20 there's something for everyone's budget!

Timothy started an Art Fire group and has a blog where he's featuring Art Fire Studios, I'm very happy to be featured especially as it's one of my all time favourite beads!  Be sure to check out the other Studios, it's always amazing to see how much talent there is out there.  Thanks to Timothy for adding me to the blog and for all the other promoting he's doing!

So......  Today is the THE day!  I'll be collecting all the email addresses I have this morning and pulling the lucky winner!  Anyone who has signed up to my newsletter before this morning will be in with a chance to win Stanley.  If yours is the name I draw, I'll contact you by email for more information on where to send him ;o)

Last day to sign up for my Giveaway!

Dec 30th, and tomorrow I will draw from the list of email subscribers to see who has won dear Stanley Starpuck.  He's really looking forward to getting the draw over and done with so that he knows where he'll be heading.  I have to say he's hoping for somewhere with no snow, but did agree that he really didn't mind too much about the climate as long as there were lots of bananas at his destination!

Tomorrow I will draw from the emails and contact the winner who can then send me their mailing address.  I'll announce the winner as soon as I know what their name is!

Monday 29 December 2008

My Big White Box! - Indoor ventilation.

Here's a picture of the big white box that finally made a showing just before Christmas -

vent

Now it may not look very pretty, but believe me it's a beautiful thing to behold!  It means I can now torch inside, in the warm, whenever I want, with no frozen feet or fingers!

Anyone who's looked into or is doing lampwork will come to understand that ventilation is one of the most important safety issues, it's critical to remove the bad air left from burning the gas and melting glass.  Just as critical as removing the bad air is bringing in fresh air - if no fresh air can enter the space your bad air is not going to leave!

My ventilation system is  what has become known as a 'Barley Box' - named after Michael Barley I believe, who creates beads and teaches his techniques.  It is essentially a box on legs, lined with sheet metal.  In the top is a hole and a fan and ductwork are attached to pull out the bad air.  In the rear of the box fresh air is sucked in through the black tube in the picture.  I have a wall switch that turns on the fan and a light inside the box.

The more I read on ventilation, the more complicated it seemed to become and depending on who or what you were reading specifications varied wildy.  The important thing is that your ventilation is strong enough to suck the bad air out of your torching area.  I chose a 'Barley Box' type set up because I'm working inside our house and believe that having sides and a back to the workspace really helps in focusing where the bad air is taken from, and hopefully with the the fresh air intake will minimize the amount of warm air being sucked from the house.  So far so good, a lighted incense stick shows smoke being sucked efficiently up and into the vent pipe.

My fresh air intake is attached outside to another run of ducting that takes it away from the exhausting bad air - not much point bringing air in if it's right next to the bad air going out!

Now to get things set up the way I'd like - I need to figure out exactly where my kiln is going and am planning on attaching my glass to the outside of the box so it's easy to see and close to hand.  My fire extinguisher needs to be mounted close by and another consideration is a carbon monoxide detector as a safety backup.

Sometimes it's really good when you can say - 'It Sucks!'

Wednesday 24 December 2008

Merry Christmas

snowy somerset



They said there'll be snow at christmas
They said there'll be peace on earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin's birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winter's light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that christmas tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire


Some lyrics from my favourite Christmas song 'I believe in Father Christmas' by Greg Lake and Peter Sinfield.  I'm thrilled to see that U2 have done a cover of this song - for Red Wire - but nothing beats the original.



What is (Red) Wire ? - (RED)WIRE is a digital music magazine with one very important difference.  It not only changes the way music is discovered, it provides medicine for people who need it in Africa.

Monday 22 December 2008

World's Largest Blown Christmas Ornament

Found while surfing - The Joska company in Bodenmais, Germany has created the World's largest blown glass ornament, seen here being held by Franz Paternoska.

franz_paternosta

largestball

I hope they've got a reaaallllly big tree!
Meanwhile in Venice it's not looking like a white Christmas -
venice

I also read yesterday that this is probably going to be the first completely white Christmas for Canada since 1971 - meaning we have snow coverage from coast to coast - just to prove it, here's an image from NOOA -

[caption id="attachment_1222" align="alignnone" width="425" caption="It's going to be a White Christmas for Canadians!"]It's going to be a White Christmas for Canadians![/caption]

Sunday 21 December 2008

Boxes and Bundles and no Work today

There is a big box that has appeared in our house!  It's not particularly pretty looking (except in my eyes) and it doesn't have a big red bow on top, but that hasn't quelled my excitement - I'll tell more later!!

Today is the day David and I have been married for eight whole years.  We are not very gifty people so I was surprised to find a bundle wrapped and tied with string on the chair as I came to sit at the computer this morning.  It's soft and squishy - I have an idea what it might be, but am somehow relishing the thought that I have an unwrapped gift sitting next to me.  If I sit here too long I might have to open it, but at the minute I am enjoying the memories of that magic of wrapped gifts from years gone by.  Not knowing, but wondering.

David left me another surprise for this morning too!  New wallpaper for Windows!  I'm not sure when this was taken - chances are I was off in the land of dreams just like Raff.  I tell you, this cat sleeps in the strangest positions, but then don't they all!

[caption id="attachment_1208" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="Our little boy sleeping.."]Our little boy sleeping..[/caption]


No work today? I was supposed to have three appointments with one realtor, but he called last night to postpone them until the New Year - woohoo! Christmas has begun!

Thursday 18 December 2008

Make your advertising interesting!

I started out this morning looking for something Christmassy to put up here.

I went to YouTube and my mind started wandering onto the subject of monkeys...   which in turn brought me round to some of my very favourite monkeys from years gone by -



Now who could resist buying PG Tips with commercials like these? There's a whole series of them if you search YouTube.

Then I came across this Wintery ad for Irn Bru - why can't all commercials be like these?



The moral of this post?  People are more likely to pay attention to your advertising if you make it fun and interesting!

So did I end up finding anything Christmassy?? You bet!

Wednesday 17 December 2008

Show and Tell

I am so happy this morning!  Last night I posted one of my little cold monkees on the show and tell over at Lampwork Etc .  It's a little intimidating because so many incredibly talented beadmakers post over there.  The show and tell is a daily showcase of what everyone has been making, if you need inspiration or just want to drool over beautiful glass it's the place to go!

When I checked in this morning I was delighted to see how many people had written lovely comments about my monkee, especially given the number of truly amazing pieces on show!  If you want to check out the thread it's here!

I'd like to take a minute to shine the light on a lampworker friend out in BC too, her name is Sueze and she's been in my thoughts a lot lately, this year has been a difficult one for her.  Sueze has a talent for making delicious organic beads like these -



Aren't they beautiful! You can visit Sueze's Blog or her Etsy to see more of her work.

I really like this little set too!

I have a namesake!

My good friend Valentina has just posted on her blog, she's been making beads again and this is one her latest creations -

[caption id="attachment_1189" align="alignnone" width="320" caption="Valentina's bead!"]Valentina's bead![/caption]

Now how cute is THAT?? I am so flattered that she thought of me when she looked at it!
smileyhug

Thank you Valentina! You can read Valentina's post here.

Some new little monkees

I've just added a few items to my Artfire shop - a Space Monkee and two Cold Monkees.
I have tried etching these beads for an experiment and I have to say I do like the way it makes them look. I could almost pinch their little pink monkee cheeks!

[caption id="attachment_1179" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Glass Space Monkee Bead"]Glass Space Monkee Bead[/caption]


[caption id="attachment_1178" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="One little Cold Monkee!"]One little Cold Monkee![/caption]


[caption id="attachment_1177" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="This little Cold Monkee has a fur trimmed hood!"]This little Cold Monkee has a fur trimmed hood![/caption]

Don't Panic!

If something doesn't look quite right it's because I'm searching for the perfect 'theme' for my blog.  I might be trying some new looks  so bear with me ;-)

I'll probably end up right back at square one, but you never know!

Monday 15 December 2008

I love my 'stats'!

Most days I check my blog statistics. Maybe this puts me in the nerd group, but it really is fun! For example this morning I can see that I had a visitor from Kathmandu in Nepal - that's pretty neat! I can see they came to me through my Blogger profile and stayed to read some things. I am wondering who they might be and what it's like in Kathmandu, and even if it's common to have your own internet connection there or if people go to internet cafes.

[caption id="attachment_1166" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Kathmandu"][/caption]

Besides being fun, checking your statistics is also a good way to find out how well your blog is doing. Online blogs often come with built in statistics, but if you don't have any and wish you did you might consider Statcounter.  I've been using them for years now and really like all the information I have access to.  A starter account is FREE which is always nice, this lets you see the last 100 entries, or pages that people have looked at.  It keeps track over time of how many people visit your blog or webpage and you can run reports to see graphs of how your traffic looks for the last month, year etc.  Another nice feature is that you can have a visible or invisible counter on your site/blog.

You can also see a wealth of other information -

  • how long your visitor's stay

  • which pages they visit

  • which search engines they used with what keywords

  • if they are new or returning visitors

  • even which browser they are using!


[caption id="attachment_1167" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="You can find ways to increase your site's popularity!"][/caption]

That might all sound a bit boring, but if you've got a website or blog and are using it as a business tool it really is a necessity.  Statistics can tell you how your visitors found you!  This is very useful information if you are trying to build a bigger presence.

For instance, if I post pictures of my latest beads in online showcases I can see the number of people who clicked through to my website from there.  Similarly, if I was paying for online advertising I could tell how effective it was - something that's very important if you are spending money.

[caption id="attachment_1168" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Track whether paid advertising is bringing you results"][/caption]

You can see that besides being an interesting thing to watch, your website or blog statistics are also a very important way to gauge your success!

Wednesday 10 December 2008

A bracelet from Samma's Tutorial

One of the really wonderful things about my lampworking journey is the number of friends I am making along the way.

Samma is a regular on 'our' not so little Newbie thread over at the Wet Canvas forum.  It's a place where we share ideas, praise each others achievements and offer support when things aren't going quite as well.  I don't think a cross word has ever been posted in that thread, which is really something to be amazed about.  Don't even try and read it from the start!  If you visit, jump in at the end!

I noticed that Samma had published a tutorial over at Beaders Showcase for a fun bracelet made with seed beads.  Since it's been cold and I haven't been able to torch as much as I'd like I figured I'd give this tutorial a try.

I have a habit of not following things to the letter, which can sometimes get me into trouble, but this time I think it worked out quite well!

Here's my Monkees in The Jungle bracelet that is the result of Samma's Tutorial!  Thanks Samma!

[caption id="attachment_1132" align="alignnone" width="425" caption="Two By Two Bracelet - Monkees in The Jungle"]Two By Two Bracelet - Monkees in The Jungle[/caption]

At the moment Bob is wearing it, because he thinks he's Lord of the Monkees!

[caption id="attachment_1131" align="alignnone" width="425" caption="Bob, Lord of the Monkees"]Bob, Lord of the Monkees[/caption]

Tuesday 9 December 2008

Black and White Bead Exchange

Yesterday a package arrived for me from Australia.  I'd been waiting for it as I knew it was coming and what it contained.

I took part in a Bead Exchange on the Wet Canvas glass forum and this box held the spoils of the game.  It's very exciting to receive beads from other beadmakers, and even more so if they are on the other side of the world to you!

Here's what I snagged!



A pretty dot bead from Mallory - here's her Artfire shop



Beads from Howie in New Zealand!



Some disk beads from Maggie, which is wonderful because these are one of her signature beads



A pretty shell from Joy - my very first shell bead



A lovely elegant dot bead from Deborah - I know, I messed the photo up - sorry Deborah!



A starfish on a bead from Trish



And last but not least a MULTICOLOURED Kitty from Maxine! which is actually funny considering the grief she gave everyone else about ONLY using BLACK and WHITE! ;o) -- we love you anyway Maxine!

Alongside the beads was a delicious little taste of Australia (Maxine's home)



I've been good, I keep looking at it, but haven't opened it yet.  Methinks I'll have to include some moose droppings in Maxine's next package, heheheh!

As if all that wasn't enough, didn't she go and Secret Santa me as well!!  I still can't believe she sent me this



I am no longer a press virgin!  ..Well I won't be as soon as I can fire up my torch and try it out!

Maxine thank you so much for your generosity and kindness!

What did I send for the exchange?

[caption id="attachment_1120" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Two face Black and White Monkee beads!"]Two face Black and White Monkee beads! - What else?[/caption]


If that picture looks a little chewed upon, I took it ontop of an old bookcase that is sitting in our front porch. Mr Higgins loved to nibble on it bless him.

Annealing Beads, Garaging versus Batch - pros and cons

I've changed my annealing habits lately and have been considering the pros and cons of batch annealing and garaging.

All beads should be annealed, no question there - especially if you are going to sell them.  Small beads might survive without annealing but you'll never know for sure!

Batch Annealing

[caption id="attachment_1099" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Batch annealing beads"]Batch annealing beads[/caption]

I started out with this method as I didn't have a kiln.  Batch annealing is exactly what it says it is, you save up a batch of beads then anneal them all together by slowly bringing the kiln up to temperature, letting them soak and then slowly bringing the temperature back down.

What does this do?  This allows all the stress that has built up in the glass during the bead making process to dissipate, thus giving you a stronger more durable finished bead.

Garaging

I recently started garaging out of necessity as I found my cake testers would crack if I batch annealed them.  This must be due to the different expansion rates of the glass and metal rods.

Garaging means heating your kiln up to temperature - mine is around 900 - 950, then adding beads directly to kiln as you go.  The kiln is held at the working temperature until you are finished bead making and is then switched to the soaking temperature for a period of time before slowly cooling down.

[caption id="attachment_1100" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="garaging beads - yes, I know there are none in there, but wanted to add a picture for interest ;)"]garaging beads[/caption]

A good link for programming digital controls can be found here on the Wet Canvas forum - thanks to Lori Greenberg for sharing that information.

So - the pro's and cons?

Whichever method you choose, if you do it correctly  your beads will be annealed and should be of equal strength.  As far as I am aware one method does not exceed the other in the quality of annealing.

Batch - pros

  • not using the kiln every time you make beads

  • can make small quantities of beads at a time without feeling like you are wasting electricity


Batch - cons

  • need to cool beads very slowly in order that they don't crack

  • larger beads and sculptural beads are more prone to crack

  • beads may crack while waiting to be annealed - I'd recommend waiting until after they are annealed to clean them, I think cleaning them in their non-annealed state is more likely to cause them to break

  • I end up with piles of non-annealed beads, I find it interrupts the process and makes it more difficult to get a good production feel going.  I'll take pictures of beads before annealing and then find that the actual annealing and cleaning process is anti-climatic


Garaging - pros

  • process is streamlined, beads are complete when they leave the kiln and just need cleaning

  • safer for larger and sculptural beads

  • kiln may also be used to keep bits of sculpture hot, enabling you to add them to the piece without so much fear of breakage

  • if your workspace is cool, or cold you can keep rods of glass warm on top of you kiln


Garaging cons

  • you use your kiln every time you torch, probably shortening the lifespan of switches and elements

  • it seems wasteful to make only a few beads


So, which will I use in future? - Both!  I can see applications for both, although I must admit I am really enjoying the feel of having completed beads at the end of the same day they are made.

Japanese Annealing Bubbles

[caption id="attachment_1098" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Japanese Annealing Bubbles"]Japanese Annealing Bubbles[/caption]

there’s a product on the market called Annealing Bubbles, while these ‘bubbles’ don’t actually anneal the glass, they do aid in making the cooling time a lot longer than with a fiber blanket. This is a good thing because it means your beads are less susceptible to cracking as they cool.

Here’s a link to a thread on this topic on the Lampwork Etc. forum and if you scroll down this page you’ll see the bubbles for sale.

I’ve heard good feedback from friends who are using these, and it’s definitely something worth considering.

Does a hot crock pot help? I’m very doubtful about this, a crock pot heats to quite a low temperature and given how hot the glass is when a bead is finished and comes out the flame I don’t think the temperature of the crock pot is going to make much difference.

Have you got pros and cons of batch vs. garaging? I’d like to hear them! I know when I started out beadmaking there was so much to learn about things that I’d never even dreamed of before, and annealing was one of those great mysteries of life!

Somewhat like this -

[caption id="attachment_1101" align="alignnone" width="425" caption="Raff in Space"]Raff in Space[/caption]

Sunday 7 December 2008

-20 means no beadmaking!

Yes, that's what the thermometer is reading as I make my morning tea. I think the glass might be a little shocky out in the sun porch today! My ventilation system can't come quick enough.

We had six squirrels at our birdfeeders yesterday - all at the same time! I felt bad for them as David had said he heard that acorns were in short supply this year. I made some peanut butter sandwiches to take out to them and felt like I was in a scene of Alfred Hitchcock's lesser known movie 'The Squirrels!'. They were all perched high in the tree looking down at me, except one who squawked at me from a lower branch.

Our birdfeeders are starting to look pretty shabby!
[gallery]

Friday 5 December 2008

A couple of Cold Monkees

Yes, everything you were told is lie! Monkees don't all hail from tropical regions at all! They are alive and well in the Great White North! Descendants of a tribe that trudged across an ice bridge from Madagascar in the Pleistocene Age over a million years ago (you didn't know about THAT either did you!)
In order to survive with their less than woolly hair they learned to adapt by weaving moss and lichen into very spiffy parka's to keep themselves warm.

However, despite Global Warming there are still days when the mercury dips to levels that leave them feeling like very Cold Monkees.

cold monkee glass bead

cold monkee glass bead

These two are currently visiting David Paterson at his Glass Blowing Studio in Merrickville, Ontario. Not too far from Ottawa, the Nation's Capital.

Thursday 4 December 2008

A little Monkee YouTube show!

Just when I thought Today couldn't get any better...

It did!!!  I was Secret Santa'd on the Wet Canvas forum!  Oh my,  I am so excited - I have received from my very generous Santa one of Pipyr's tutorials - the one for eye cane!  WoooHOOOO!  I can't wait to try it, there are instructions for using silver glass, regular glass and borosilicate, each eye is lensed so they really pop with all the colours that are inside the iris.

Take a peek right here .  Pipyr is an extremely talented artist, I've been watching her for a couple of years now, her boro 'creatures' are full of wonderful colours and other materials - horse hair and electroformed copper for a start!  But these eyes!!  Oooooooh!  All I can say is thank you very much Santa!

Wednesday 3 December 2008

Beading Times Featured Artist

Beading Times is an online magazine for all things connected to beading.  Each month they feature a different Bead Artist and I'm so honoured to announce that they chose me for December's edition!



Here's a link to the article December's Featured Artist, Carolyn Jankovskis of Beading Times was drawn to my Monkees and also my Faux Boro beads so they are the main focus of the article.

I'm very excited - it's a fantastic way to finish up a year that's been full of growth and firsts for me on my beadmaking journey :o)

Tuesday 2 December 2008

A tutorial from Aardvark

Sometimes my will is weak.

When I saw what fellow WC-er Maxine had created with her Aardvark Fish Tutorial - take a peek here, and saw what wonderful creations people were posting on the LE forum , I have to confess my will broke completely!  I purchased my first ever tutorial.

Was it worth the money?  You bet it was!  Lots of useful tips and ideas, but no matter how hard I tried to follow the instructions I couldn't quite end up with a fish ..

Sea monkee glass bead

It nearly looked like a fish, but not quite, something just wasn't right...

So I tried another...

Sea monkee glass bead

THEN I realised what the problem was!

These weren't FISH!!

Sea monkee glass bead

The were SEA MONKEES!!!

After that revelation I tried the eyelid part of the tutorial and I think I ended up with my first ever Sea Monkee in Space, and she looks pretty PO'd about it!

Sea monkees in Space?

I think I need to work on the eyelids a little!  In my defence it was getting dark when I made her and the light in the suporch is really bad ;o)

So would I buy another tutorial?  Yes, most definitely!  The trick is to take the information you learn and turn it into something else, to put your own twist on things.  Sea Monkees hadn't entered my mind until I got the 'It's a Wonderful Fish' tutorial and brainstormed with a friend.

Monday 1 December 2008

Art Fire shop is brimming with cake testers!

I didn't get them all added on Saturday, so this morning I have cleaned and photographed all my latest cake testers and uploaded some of them to my Art Fire shop .  I'm about to send out my first newsletter and wanted to make sure I was well stocked before I did.

Here's the wackiest one so far.  I'd like to try and refine this design a bit, but I thought someone with a wild sense of humour might enjoy it.

crazy cake monster!

Along with this crazy cake, you'll find space monkees, chef monkees, Bill the Baker and little Nobby amongst others.

Who's Nobby? Ahhh well, there's a story....
Little Nobby never did understand why his mother made him keep his hat on all day at school...
Nobby cake tester