Yesterday I discovered Bigger Is Better! I upgraded to a bigger gas tank and can't believe the heat I'm getting from my torch even with the tank barely opened. It's like the difference between night and day, or a toaster oven and a pizza oven!! I'm even finding the flame is bushier too which is good because it keeps bigger beads warmer easier.

Here are yesterday's barrel beads, if I was a martini drinker I'd be wanting the 'olive' one ;o)

I'm feeling inspired with the lovely Spring weather, green grass, budding trees and spring flowers! My favourite time of the year. You'll notice a few changes here as I try my hand at customising this blog to match my website, hopefully I won't do anything too dastardly.

Watch this space for new beads!

Here are a couple to whet your appetite -


I don't do florals, but was pretty pleased when I tried and this was the result.


This is a little hollow bead with millefiore

Finally, finally!!! Spring (or Summer) has arrived - what a relief after a cold, damp, snowy April so far. It's going up above 20c today.

I got my hose for a bulk tank yesterday and have everything moved into the sunporch, now I just need to get the gas and I'll be away. My goal is to really try and spend as much time as possible torching to improve on my techniques and hopefully start to get an inventory of saleable beads.

In March I won second place in a contest that Artistry In Glass was running, I entered my very first bead in a bead, and won a $50 gift certificate. I'm not sure whether to put it toward 'Passing The Flame', tools or glass... Too many things to choose from.

Beadwise I've been working on hollows mostly, trying to get them bigger. Every now and then I feel like I'm in some sweet spot where the glass flows like honey just where I want it, so I know it can be done.

Pictures? Ummm, let me see what I have I can post..

A new cat design which makes them look like they are hanging over whatever they're threaded on


This is a hollow, squashed with suneye on it, for my daughter Jess' birthday


A charm for her to hang in her house.

We are well into March and I've been busy getting my website online. It's done for now, more pictures to add and I'm sure I'll be reworking it as I go - www.fireseed.ca

Earlier in the month I attended a symposium for artists/craftspersons wanting to sell their wares. It was fun, I made a couple of contacts and learned some new things too.

When I went to pick up my last batch of annealed beads, the store owner told me I had some pretty neat stuff and that if I could make them a bit bigger he'd be willing to have some in his store on consignment. That was quite exciting as he's a glassblower and has been in business for quite a long time I believe. So.... my goal is BIGGER beads!

What I really need is for the weather to warm up, I find often the wind is in the wrong direction and blowing right in the window I'm trying to exhaust fumes out of, let me tell you it just doesn't work! The heat is lost too quickly and I have a job to get the glass melting consistantly. I am in envy of folks with decent places to torch, mixed fuel torches and kilns - yep that's it, I just want it all!!

What's new for beads? I've been trying some hollows and had a really good day when by some fluke of the stars I managed to make a bead inside a bead. That has become my proudest accomplishment, especially as I haven't achieved another since.

I've also been doing more faces, dots and cats. I get a lot of comments about the faces, I think because they are colourful and a bit different. They are fun to do too, and I want to make these bigger also.

My bead inside a bead!!





Funny Faces


The grey and white one is our cat Raffi.

ooops I forgot my cats, these make cute little beads, but I'm finding with not having a kiln I'm loosing some things like bits of tails. I try to make sure they are well heated when I make the bead, but I think its the stresses that are causing things to pop off before they're annealed.

I have been reminded by a certain friend ;o) that I need to update my posts, so here goes..

We are half way through February and I'm almost ready to get my second batch annealed, I have been working on my faces, some cats and variations on the Warring States beads.

I've registered a domain name -fireseed.ca and hope to have a website up as soon as my hosting company get their act together and fix my account utilities, I feel like we are going round in circles at the minute. I keep getting emails that say 'try to set the account up now, it should work' and I keep replying 'tried to set the account up -- it doesn't work!'. Hopefully things will get sorted today.

I'm getting great responses from people about my beads which is really exciting, I have one lady who wants to buy some as soon as they are annealed and another asked for my website address as soon as it's available. It's very exciting to have something to feel positive and good about.

David and I worked on a logo and we came up with this, my idea was to have a 'flame' pod with seeds inside it, I was experimenting and liked what happened so it stayed.



I've noticed over the last few weeks that my little hothead torch is bothering me. It's partly the fact of using the small cannisters of gas - I did switch to the camping type, but it's still a problem - they run out too quickly and loose pressure too quickly and I find I'm always wondering what type of bead I can make before the gas runs out, and how much gas is left anyway. I feel like it is stifling me a bit because I tend to think 'better not try a big one..'. I've looked into all kinds of angles of switching to bulk propane in the spring. I'll be in our sunporch then so it is do-able, but the more I read the more problems seem to present themselves. What I **really** want is a proper propane/oxy set up, it would mean more heat, which means I could work faster and not feel so inhibited. Of course the big downside is $$$, they are much cheaper in the long run but require a fairly hefty outlay to get going (according to my bank account anyway ;o| )

Enough blabbing, time to post some beadies, I visited Tank Studios site - they're in Toronto http://www.ehmeglass.com/page.php and saw some beautiful beads there, and also discovered Dustin Tabor http://www.dustintabor.com, along with Larry Brickman http://www.brickmanartglass.com/ - what inspiration! Here are my attempts at their styles of beads -









what fun!! I feel like my dots are getting a little more uniform, but still have a long way to go until I'm in control of them.

January has gone by pretty quickly! I had to put away my lampwork over Christmas as my daughter Rebeka and boyfriend James came to visit from Newfoundland for three weeks. So... what have I been up to? I found some very interesting beads called 'warring states' that date back to approx 300bc China, here's one that is in the Museum of Bristol in England.


I want to be able to make these beads, but oh boy! It's hard to control all those dots!! These are my best attempts so far -




Here are a few pictures of my latest stuff, I'm getting a bit more control of the glass sometimes and I'm really having fun with my faces.