Art of Hand

Phew, it's been a long time!

2011-10-14T04:15:00.000-07:00

I have really neglected my blog for way too long, and sincerest apologies!

It has been a turbulent year, with a lot of ups and downs thrown into the mix. What has happened, you may ask.

Well, Design Indaba happened in February. My stand was part of a group of 11, and we got the most gorgeous charcoal black/grey walls. Which made all my work dissapear. The black clay bodies were totally invisible, all one could see was little bits of colour peeping out of the rims of the vessels. So after a bit of a panic we painted my stand a traffic yellow colour (the accent colour).

I had some sales off the stand, and got a couple of orders. Which kept me busy for a while :-)

I moved home at that time too, just a couple of weeks before the show. Unfortunately my beloved Thomas Cat could not move with me, and I decided to bring him to the shop. I kitty proofed my door and hoped for the best. But my darling Tom was a real trooper and made the shop his new home. He loves the shop, loves the lovely garden in the apartment block next to my shop even more and demands that all the shoppers say hello to him with hugs and tickles.

The shop kept me busy, but I could see numbers of shoppers dwindling, and customers also tended to spend less. This was confirmed to me by other shop owners in the area.

So I spent some time preparing a tutorial!

And in June I launched my Disc tutorial. I was very happy with the response I got and it helped me financially :-) Thank you to everyone that bought a tutorial!

In August I traveled to Johannesburg for another sponsored trade show. I came back with a few sales and some orders again. but this time I really started to panic. My little shop was not doing very well, and on some days I had more beggars than shoppers visiting me!

And the beginning of this month I realized that I had to close my beautiful little shop. Financially I could not carry it anymore. I also found that my ceramics demanded more time from me, as I sold more of it than my glass range. But I spent up to 8 hours a day with glass, and could only squeeze 3 - 4 hours of clay into my day at night.

So now I am planning another BIG move in a few weeks!

I will try my best to be a well behaved blogger from now and is already thinking of my next blog-tutorial, as well as another 'for sale' tutorial.

Thank you for still following me :-)

Sneak preview :-)

2011-02-17T23:42:00.000-08:00

Geeze, it's been ages since I have updated my blog! Between a nasty case of internet stalking, and me preparing for Design Indaba things were really hectic here in the Mother city!

To all the wonderful people in this world

2010-12-22T03:56:00.000-08:00

Normally I keep my blog sterile of anything personal. I might show the odd picture of me hiking up Table Mountain, and slip in something here and there, but has always shy'ed away from things that affect me personally.

A lot of times I regretted that decision, other times I am glad that I did not spill my guts for all to see!

2010 was not my best year on a personal level. My dysfunctional relationship is finally on the rocks, and it blew out it's last breath a week or 2 ago. To say that I am sad, is an understatement. I have tried very hard to save it, but I had to give up the love of my life due to an unfortunate triangle situation.

The shop, my darling little place of safety is not so secure. Too many hours working, and adding frequent night shifts to earn enough money is slowly taking it's toll on my body. But I love it, I believe in it, and doggedly I will not give up without a fight. Reality is unfortunately sitting on my shoulder, and forced me at gunpoint to make a decision.

I have decided to keep up the fight till the 27th of February. What will happen then? The 27th of February 2011 is the final day of Design Indaba here in Cape Town. Should I get enough orders during the Indaba for my work to sustain me and the shop through the winter of 2011, we will stay open. If it fails, I will close the doors of Art of Hand ...

I have always been a cautious shop owner. I make contact with shoppers as they walk in, and listen to my gut. But last week, I did not follow through when my gut told me to ask someone to leave the shop. Twice he came back, the second time he managed to disappear with my shop rental, which was due the next day.

It felt as if my insides fell out when I discovered the theft. (About 5 minutes after he left the shop) Panic rose in me, bile taste in my mouth. I could feel how my body temperature changed. And seconds felt like hours. He disappeared down the street, gone, with money which was not his.

I had to voice my disaster, and wrote about it on http://www.lampworketc.com/. An hour later I left the shop, to go and work a night shift. When I arrived the next morning at the shop, I was given the surprise of my life.

One of my best on-line friends, Davina-Marie (http://davina-marie.com/), sent out a plea for donations. She arranged some grab bags. Other friends jumped in, and offered some of their glorious work as part of the grab bags.

Loco donated the monies raised from 3 sweet toothpick glass holders, handmade by Loco. (I could not find Loco's website, but will add it as soon as I have it!)

Mary Kate offered a beautiful fused dichroic earrings and necklace set in a shimmery blue. (http://www.silverliningdesign.net/)

Jo, our resident MacGalver on LE and another good friend (http://www.jorebeka.com/) contributed the sale from a tutorial to my plight.

Beth, the maker of the most amazing owl beads (http://www.etsy.com/shop/BethKnappTyner), offered 5 (yes! FIVE) of her owl beads.

The monies that were donated by you were enough to help me to recover the stolen money. I am in debt to you and this community of caring people for ever. Thank you to everyone that helped me. Thank you for every one that made a donation to me for my free tutorials.

At this moment I can only offer my limited knowledge of glass bead making. should anyone need any help at any time, please feel free to contact me, and I will try my best to help you.

As soon as I can, I will pass this wonder that happened to me, forward to other people. I have always insisted on offering free tutorials as a way of thanking all the Lampworkers out there that offered their knowledge for free to me. I think I need to continue with that :-)

Summery bell flower pendants

2010-12-22T01:42:00.000-08:00

I have sold the 2 bell flower necklaces that I made a couple of months ago, and had a request from a shopper to make a delicate little pendant using just one bell flower. Fine silver stamen anchors the glass bell flower to the chain. the stamen does move around, adding interest to the design.

It is available in my shop, Art of Hand, 305 Long Street, Cape Town. I ship anywhere!

Odd cufflinks

2010-12-07T23:27:00.000-08:00

Bold orange cuff links

2010-12-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

Monday newness

2010-12-06T00:48:00.000-08:00

I made these beads for my Etsy shop, but I have been itching to use it. Last week I made a few more disks, and knotted it today on the train into a 50 cm necklace. Sterling silver clasp.

Night beads

2010-11-16T06:43:00.001-08:00

I made this necklace after I completed the grey and black set shown a week ago. I think I need to wear it tonight!

New Hoop Earrings

2010-11-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

I have made these hoop earrings some time ago, but decided to rather wait for the ordered ear pins, instead of making my own. 1 month to the date of ordering the pins, I got the notification from our Post Office. I have a parcel to collect. Honestly - I thought they disappeared somewhere in outer space. After I paid the taxes owed, I hurriedly opened the box. Lots of itsy little bits of silver. Thank goodness I had bought some stainless steel stud plugs some time ago, as these came without any.

I used the my new Triolyse glue to bond the pieces together, and voila! New stock for the shop!!!

Black and grey

2010-11-06T02:41:00.000-07:00

A new necklace that I completed today. Softly etched black beads, knotted with some shiny grey beads that have micro stringers of white in the surface.

a tiny teaspoon ...

2010-11-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

I got some teaspoons the other day. I was warned that they were on the small side, so I think I actually need to rename them as salt or mustard spoons. Cute and delicate.

SA Silly Etsy Sale now on!

2010-11-02T03:07:00.000-07:00

Birthday sale at Etsy

2010-10-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

It's my birthday, so I offer all my work in Etsy at a 10% discount! Valid till 26 October 2010!!!
Hurry! :-)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/dianaglasenkeramiek

Friday pretties

2010-10-22T01:49:00.000-07:00

I made this necklace a few days ago, after I sold a similair one. I would love to have one of these myself!

And some hearts that I etched. Ivory glass, some with coral and silver shard decorations. It still need to get a sterling silver bail bonded into the glass.

Play date with silver leaf and shards

2010-10-20T03:46:00.000-07:00

Some new focal beads from the kiln this morning. I played with shards and silver leaf yesterday. I blew the shards myself. And all the beads are hand formed by me. I was very happy getting the round shape right for a change!

I got an e-mail this morning from someone who wanted some information about one of my beads. I might think about doing a tutorial on it ...

Glass Hoop Earring tutorial

2010-10-13T00:34:00.000-07:00

So you would like to make some of these cool hoop earrings? This tutorial explains how I make them. I would imagine that there is lots of ways to make it, and you can go out and buy some fancy cutting tools, etc. I made them, using standard Lampwork tools that I already had in my studio. Please use this tutorial as a guide, and remember to always put safety first! I wear glasses, but should you have perfect vision, please wear safety glasses. Since you are cold working the glass in water, I do not think that there is danger of inhaling glass powder ...

Let's start, OK?

You need to have at least a 5 mm thick (minimum) disk bead. I used a 16 mm ring mandrel to make my disks. If you need help to make a ring/disk on a ring mandrel, please view my ring tutorial, also in this blog. (http://deesignedbeads.blogspot.com/2008/11/rinig-tutiorial.html)

I am going to cut a 1/4 wedge out of the ring. With my first attempt, I just cut a ring in half. It really did not look good. If you look at most hoop earrings with a stud post, you will see that they are about 3/4 of a circle. I drew a circle on paper and crossed it. This allowed me to mark the cutting lines correctly.

Since I use my normal diamond bit that I normally use to clean beads, it will eat about a mm of glass. For this reason I start cutting the ring a bit inside the 1/4 area that I want to remove from the ring. It will also allow me to clean up the ring after I completed it, and ensure that both rings is the same size.

Start by cutting just a small groove in the glass.

Now cut on both sides of the ring. The reason I do this, is to ensure that if the glass breaks while cutting it, there will not be a chipped edge.

One side grooved.

Repeat the same groove cutting on the other side. Remember that you need to cut inside the line ...

Now it is time to cut through the one side. At this stage it is important not to hold the glass in the 1/4 area that you will eventually remove. That area is your 'Weakest Link'. I allow the diamond tip to eat away at the glass, with minimum pressure on the glass. Move the diamond tip in the groove as you cut.

(Normally I do the cutting under water but for the sake of clear pictures, I have captured images in the air.)

The first cut is complete. You can see a slight butt of glass. That will be smoothed out later.

Repeat the same on the other grooved cutting line. Remember not to hold onto the ring in the wedge area that you are trying to remove. When I cut the second area, I take my time. Just allow the diamond tip to eat at the glass. Do not put a lot of pressure on the glass.

Now it is time to clean up the edges. I gently roll the diamond tip over the surface, Visually eyeballing it to see if the edge is straight.

Change the angle at which you clean the surface, make sure that your surface is flat. Repeat the process on the other edge. Measure the ring on your drawn circle, to make sure that you have removed a 1/4 wedge of glass.

All done. But is it really done? That is a tiny surface to glue a post on, and if you bond your ear post to the 5 - 6 mm area, how secure will it be long term? I think we need to do some more work!

Using my 1 mm diamond tip I start to drill a hole in the centre of the ring. Start slowly, allow the diamond tip to slowly open up a little hole.

Continue to drill a little hole inside the glass. I try to drill at least a 2 - 3 mm hole.

All done!

Now the easy part! Normally I make my own posts.

If you do metal work, it is real easy! I cut a small disk from sheet silver (diameter of the glass surface), drill a hole in the centre, the diameter of the post, insert the post rod in the hole, letting it protrude a bit. Solder, pickle, and polish ...

But, I found some earring posts online that is used for pearl ear studs. Just SO much easier! http://shop.rings-things.com/cart/pc/Cup-Pad-Posts-with-Peg-c960.htm is just one of many online suppliers. My posts-with-peg is on it's way to me!

Use a good quality 2 part bonding agent, and cement the post into the drilled hole in your glass ring. I normally use Areldite, but I have been told that TRIOLYSE Glass Fusing Jewelry Metal Craft Glue is a very good bonding agent. And a little birdy have told me that Malcolm from http://www.artcoinc.com/ might stock it.

Allow the bonding cement to cure, and enjoy your new Hoop earrings!

p.s. If you feel that this tutorial (or any of my other tutorials) will benefit you, and you feel so inclined, please feel free to make a small donation.

a new button on my blog ...

2010-10-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

I have never sold any tutorials on working with glass. I have always felt that it was my little way of 'passing it forward' all the good that I have received from the glass community. But as with everyone, times is tough ... So with that in mind, I have added a Paypal button, should you feel that you would like to donate a $ or 2 for tutorials that I have prepared. The next step for me is to convert my tutorials into PDF files. Should you require any of my past (or future) tutorials in a PDF format, please feel free to contact me! I will do it, still at no fee.

And speaking of tutorials, I think it is about time to do another one, lol! I have made these cute little earrings for some time now, and think that it is time to share it with you guys!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

squiggle necklaces!

2010-10-06T04:19:00.000-07:00

Summer has arrived in Cape Town. Every afternoon when I reach the station I first slip into a food outlet and get myself a vanilla cone. By the time I board the train the cone has cooled down my tummy, jummy!

So it is time to get out all those bright summery colours. Here is 2 necklaces that I have made in the last 2 days. They are fairly short, and the squiggles open up in a fan pattern over your chest. It was fun making them too!

Purple bell flower necklace and other stuff

2010-10-04T02:28:00.000-07:00

I have finally added some candle stick blanks to my Etsy shop. Hurry, there is only a few available! This will make a very nice gift to someone who does not wear jewellery, lol!

And a new necklace that I completed this weekend. I took the picture outside, and just loved how the sun played on the transparent glass.

I am in another treasury!

2010-09-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4ca3933ec9fe8eefdffbe8c3/small-scale?index=0

Spring flowers!

2010-09-30T04:06:00.000-07:00

I made these glass bell flowers some time ago, and last night I finally decided how to assemble it. The sterling silver chain has been laying around for almost 3 years, unused. I loved it when I bought it, but never found that one idea to use it with. Fine silver stamen attach the flowers to the chain.

Want to be my friend on Facebook?

2010-09-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

I just realised that I am not friends with a lot of you, and although I follow a lot of blogs, it would be nice to read more about you everyday.
You are welcome to befriend me on Facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/Deesigned.Beads

A Pretty bead, but damaged goods ...

2010-09-28T03:22:00.000-07:00

I made this bead last week, and while I cleaned the hole, it slipped out of my hand. One of the tiny black dots on the edge of the bead chipped off. I REALLY loved this bead. The colours, the pattern, everything about it! Ugh.

I am in a treasury!

2010-09-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

One of my beads has been included in a treasury on Etsy!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c9addcdf3d86d9146a67b95/coral-and-turquoise-duo

Coral and Turquoise

2010-09-21T14:59:00.001-07:00

Large sand coloured disk pendant

2010-09-21T02:00:00.000-07:00

Some new work. I really love this big disk. The colours is soft, blending into each other with a raked pattern. Soft raised dots is on the perimeter of the disk. This pendant could be attached to a leather or a silk ribbon.

Monocromatic large hole disk

2010-09-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

I have made this bead some time ago but was not sure if I should keep it for myself, or sell it. It is now available in my Etsy shop.

Some new beads

2010-09-18T01:19:00.000-07:00

This week I have not been as productive having beads available for sale, but it is because I am busy trying to develop something new in glass. The first prototypes is kinda OK, but I still need to tweak the design, so no images, lol!

Here is the last of my chunky disks. A warm set with an accent of red spirals. It is a nice graduated set, slightly smaller than my previous chunky disks. Ideal for a necklace or even a bracelet.

Neutrals with turquoise

2010-09-14T23:15:00.000-07:00

I love this set of chunky disks the most! The colours is ivory, muted greens, a hint of terracotta and of course the turquoise bands. Available in my Etsy store!

Some new work

2010-09-14T00:58:00.000-07:00

Weekend Beads!

2010-09-11T01:27:00.000-07:00

Today I have some images of new earrings and some disk beads that I have added to my Etsy shop ...

A set of 14 disk beads with lots of different reds and orange in both opaque and transparent colours. They are chunky and best shown from the side. I have made some nice necklaces in the past using these types of beads.

And some earrings that is for sale in my brick & mortar shop. Sterling and Fine silver wires and beads with some tiny glass beads, all etched. Why do I prefer glass to be etched???

Ooh, and a bracelet, strung on a waxed linen string ...

Friday beads!

2010-09-10T00:37:00.000-07:00

It is a beautiful day in the Mother City today, and we have been promised an even better (warmer) weekend. This morning the birds outside my bedroom were really chirpy. Everywhere new leaves is growing out of trees and bushes, and there is quite a few flowers opening up. I love being able to wear summer clothes again!

Here is a new bead set that I have made. Lovely chunky disks that could be used in your jewellery! I have used 6 different coloured glass, both in the opaque and transparent spectrum. By using only white, black and transparent greys I were able to create a monochromatic set that would look lovely with just about anything! It is available in my Etsy store ...

And some new earrings for my brick & mortar shop! Tiny little beads, with sterling and fine silver wires.

More Shard Beads on Etsy and a necklace

2010-09-09T01:46:00.000-07:00

A red hollow bead necklace. I have (as with the clear one shown a few days ago) left the surface uneven, showing the layers of glass, when I built the hollows. I used transparent orange, but it looks more like a light red in natural light. It is for sale in my brick & mortar shop, but should you be interested in it, please convo me! I ship world wide ...

I have blown more shards, and this is what I came up with. I decided to blow some white glass. You guys know how soupy white glass gets when super heated? Try making a hollow on the end of the blow mandrel, hehehehe! But the results really pleased me. The beads were etched, and the white looks almost like spilled milk on the spheres. I think I need to make some for myself too ...

And a set of pressed white beads with some red, orange and yellow shards, and some micro stringer details.

Everything is available at my Etsy shop!

Why I need to wear my glasses ...

2010-09-03T03:32:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the previous post, I went on a bit of a bead making spree this week. I made what felt like a gazillion clear hollow beads, keeping the texture rough, just melting the glass enough to ensure that the structure is stable and strong. This is another bead style that I have wanted to do for a long time. But I really love to see how the 'ugly duckling' bloom into a beautiful round sphere. This time I was able to control that urge, and only ended up with 3 beads that were smoothed out ...

Anyway, I rushed home, cleaned the bead holes with my flex shaft tool and diamond bit, and used a super large syringe and thick gauge needle (bent slightly by moi)to flush out the unwanted bead release. As I was not wearing the mentioned glasses, and I was tired, and it was late at night, I did not notice that some still had tiny flecks of bead release in it! Only during it's photo shoot this morning did I see it, ugh! So I will not be able to sell it today in my shop, but it is back in my bag so it can get a thorough cleaning tonight!

New work on Etsy!

2010-09-03T02:34:00.000-07:00

I have been on a shard blowing blitz the last week, and this is what I have come up with! For a few years I have been wanting to make these beads, but always got sidetracked with other stuff. I do not know if it because spring seem to be in the air here in Cape Town (albeit chilly and wet at times), but I suddenly have an urge to really go bright!

I think that these 2 sets will really look lovely made up in combination with some silver and other beads! The beads were all hand formed by me, using gravity as my main tool. The shards were placed on the base bead, and melted in. I allowed the stringer to stay slightly raised, and it gives a lovely tactile feel to the beads. On request I could try my best to make smaller ones, that would be a perfect ear ring size!

I have used ultra thin stringer to decorate the surface of the beads, and allowed it to be slightly irregular. It reminds me of kinder art.

And speaking of kinder, the two most beautiful and cool kids have visited me in the shop today! My sister and her family came to Cape Town for a long weekend, and I had the opportunity to reconnect with the girls. Initially shy, they immediately warmed up when I gave them some beads, lol.

The Plastic Samoosa

2010-08-21T01:21:00.001-07:00

The other day I told the girls on Lampworketc about our plastic samoosas (and of course the jummy real samoosas!) and promised them that I would do a tutorial on the plastic samoosa. I always carry a few of these in my bag, recycling plastic carrier bags.

You know how much space a bunched up plastic bag (or even a folded up bag) can take up. By folding the bag into a neat little samoosa, you can save a lot of space for all the other essentials in your bag!

So, here is the shopping bag ...

Fold it in half length wise ...

and fold it again ...

Now comes the tum part, lol. Fold a small triangle in the base of the bag. Smooth the line with your fingers.

And fold the little triangle again ...

carry on folding the bag into the triangle shape, keeping the folds tight.

Some more folding, lol.

and the second last fold.

Here I fold a little angle on the last bit, so that the plastic can fold in smoothly into the slit.

Fold the samoosa on last time ...

Now all you need to do, is to tuck that little bit of plastic into one of the previously folded areas. I open the area with my fingers, and tuck the last bit into it.

I press down on the last fold, make sure that the bit is fitting into the samoosa neatly.

And that is it! You have just made your first Plastic Samoosa! Now go out, save nature, and recycle!

Tutorial beads in a candle stick

2010-07-09T03:14:00.001-07:00

Here is an image of the beads that I based my tutorial on. I love how the different coloured ribbons float over each other!

swirly pendants

2010-06-28T05:29:00.000-07:00

I had forgotten to add these photos when I wrote the tutorial earlier! Here I just used one layer of swirls ...

A Whirly Gravity Bead Tutorial

2010-06-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

It has been quite some time since I have posted anything, let alone a tutorial. but I have been enjoying making these beads so much, I had to share it with you all!

The time it took me to make one of these beads is roughly about 20 - 30 minutes. They are HUGE! But then I use them in my candle sticks, so that is good, hehehehe. I have used plain old Moretti clear glass (my oxycon seems to be doing the trick, as I could not, for the life of me, use this glass on my Hot Head or while I used tanked oxygen), some white and intense black commercial stringer. I used a 2,5 mm stainless steel mandrel, and tools ... What tools??? OK, I did use the base of a brass press to measure the size of the initial cylinder and I used my trusty old scalpel blade to flatten the added colour a bit.

OK, lets start ... Here is some images of beads that I made for this tutorial. Lots of whirls of colour embedded in the clear glass, the colour seem to float and drift in the glass. I have allowed air bubbles to be trapped in the glass, as I felt that it added a something to the plain design. But that is just me ...

I started off by making a biggish doughnut. I used about 4 thick wraps of glass to create it. I want to press the glass to a width of about 25 mm.

Here I have pressed the doughnut and measured it on my trusty brass press. As mentioned earlier, I aim to get my footpath about 25 mm.

Using the commercial stringer, I add a slightly wobbly line of white on the clear tube. I make sure that the start and finish is slightly 'fuller' loaded with colour. You will later see why it might be a good idea to do that! I do not want the whirls of colour to start at the same place, thus the slightly skew application. The amount of glass that I have loaded on the barrel is quite a lot, and if I encase this, I would create to many air bubbles.

So I heat up the stringer a bit, and flatten the white a bit ...

Then it is time to encase it. I just use an 'around the world' technique, but quite frankly - you could use your favourite one. Just ensure that you have covered the colour band completely. Melt in smoothly, and at the same time start heating up the whole bead on the mandrel. You want this baby to be super hot!

As the glass on the mandrel starts to smooth out, I start turning the mandrel slower, watching for the tsunami wave to start moving on the glass. Here I have allowed the wave to go to the bottom of the bead (damn difficult to turn a mandrel and take a picture!). I aim to keep that pointy bit (the wave) more in a horizontal position). Now I slowly turn the mandrel, keeping my eye on the wave, allowing it to shift as I turn the bead. With the white glass that I added, I need to stop sometimes, allow the glass to cool a bit so I can see how many swirls I have created. Other colours does not do disappearing acts like the white!

Ah, the swirls! Can you see how the thick start and end of the white glass has thinned out? But because of the volume of glass that I loaded, it is still visible.

Now it is time to add the second colour for the swirls. Or, if you want, you can skip this application and add some more clear glass to round out the bead ...

Again I add glass in a slightly skew line. BUT - I add less black glass to the bead, compared to the amount that I loaded with the white.

Encase ... (ensure that all the black is covered)

Melt smooth and allow it to start shifting. Ride dem wave! The black glows nice and orange, showing me how far the glass has moved. Your white lines will move a bit with this, too.

Aha. I have shifted the black so that the centre swirl has passed the 2 outside starting/ending points. I take the bead out of the flame, continuously turning the mandrel, allowing the glass to center itself around the mandrel again.

The bead needs some more glass, so I add a few lines of glass around the center and perimeters.

Melt smooth, and Voila!

Enjoy this fun technique!

Can anyone help me???

2010-05-07T06:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, I must admit - I am clueless to we wonders of the web. Google I can do. But how the heck to I add my brand new Etsy shop to the Gadgets (or whatever) here on my blogspot?

Anyone out there who could help me?

thanks in advance ...

some new jewellery

2010-05-07T00:53:00.001-07:00

I have not shown any jewellery for some time. I made these pendants last week, and finished the silver work to it last night. I used shards that I blew about 2 years ago, and murrini that I made some time last year. I only got to cut the slices last week!

Purple and blue shards on a purple base. Images shown is of the same bead, different views:

Ivory bead with Silvered Ivory shards and murrini. Different views of the same bead:

Another Ivory with SIS shards and murrini, different views:

Ivory flattened bead with purple murrini twisted:

new furniture in the shop finally!

2010-05-07T00:45:00.001-07:00

Here is some images of the shelves in the shop. I like the way our little shop is coming together!

Rooms on View

2010-04-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

I have some good news to share!

I have just been asked to submit work for a Decor show. Rooms on View is hosted in Johannesburg, and the designer of the South Africa House saw my work this past weekend. Please visit the site here: http://www.roomsonview.co.za/sahouse.html

I will submit a tea set.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Decorex Cape Town and new work

2010-04-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

I have been quiet for weeks and weeks, I know. But I would like to present the reason:

I was preparing for Decorex Cape Town. Finally it is over. I still have adrenaline cursing through my veins, my sleep pattern is totally out of wack and I have ants in my pants. I have forgotten how to just relax and do nothing for a few minutes.

So what have I been up to these last weeks?

Well, I had to design and build my stand displays, which needed to double up as shop displays. In the shop we have this narrow ledge about flank height, just too narrow to really display an article on it. So I thought if I build a pigeon holed display unit with a wider shelf on top, to cover the ledge, I would be able to hide it, and provide more display space in the shop. Yet I realised that shelves below eye level might not be a good idea for the show. Money (or the lack of it) forced me to stay with my original idea. 3 1 meter wide shelves were cut to size and I set about assembling them. Wood glue and lots of screws later I had 3 units that were sturdy enough to hold my work.

And that was the other reason why I was so quiet. I have been working, working and then some more work. Sleep became a luxury in my life. I gave myself one night off this month - it was on Leo's birthday, and we went to a gallery opening and afterwards some dinner and a game of tenpin bowling. He loved the world map I gifted him, and we had fun. But we were both under work pressure to complete orders (him) and me stock.

I love working in my new ceramic studio, a.k.a. the garage. I must really remember to take a picture of it. At the moment it needs lots of shelves for storage of plaster molds and drying casted clay. A plaster spillage made a beautiful pattern on the floor that needs to be chipped off. My work area is littered with stuff just stacked on top of each other. It is a real mess ...

But, finally I could deliver my work to the venue. Leo helped me to deliver the display units to the venue on Wednesday, and Thursday I delivered the ceramic and glass pieces. The CTICC was busy with last minute construction work, paint and wood smells mixed with the loads of flowers that were used as decoration on most stands. the cost of some of the stands could sustain me for a couple of years and I sometimes felt nauseated by the waste I saw.

Then the show started. A metallic voice announced that Decorex is officially open and trade visitors started to flow through the hall. At the end of the first day my face ached from smiling. Not to mention my feet! High heels and a show is not best friends, especially if you are used to wearing flatties every day normally.

The 5 days melted into a waking up, coffee, getting dressed, driving to the centre. Smile, sell, talk. Smile, sell, talk. Smile, sell, talk. Home, bath, heating left over lunch, bed.

Finally we could take down our stands, and escape the repetition. It was pure bliss to wrap the remaining pieces of ceramics and take them to the shop last night. And then SLEEP!

Some new ceramic bowls

2010-02-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Took these out of the kiln today:

Some new beads

2010-02-12T00:49:00.001-08:00

Please vote for me!

2010-02-09T00:06:00.000-08:00

I have entered the Design Indaba superstars competition, and need votes!
Please follow the link and vote for me: http://www.designindaba.com/superstars/entry/diana-ferreira

thanks!

We got blogged about!

2010-02-03T05:25:00.000-08:00

Jenniffer wrote about us in her blog, http://www.homemag.co.za/content/?category_id=1&id=3557 . thank you so much for this, much appreciated!

lidded bowls

2010-02-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Africa lidded bowl

2010-02-01T22:39:00.000-08:00

A new look for the shop!

2010-01-25T06:39:00.000-08:00

Sadly our one partner choose to leave the shop yesterday, and removed all her stock and shop furniture. This caused quite a bit of late night work, and last night I completed new display units for the shop window. This morning poor Goldie walked into a shop still covered in wood dust, stock standing around and just general mayhem.

But within a few hours we were able to have the shop cleaned up and re-arranged displays to our satisfaction.

New stock received from friends found display space and suddenly our little shop looked brand new. I must admit that I am very happy and satisfied with the new look we created. Now I just need to get cracking with my studio area. It looks as if a bomb has exploded in it!

CCDI Core Product Exhibit

2010-01-20T07:22:00.000-08:00

I just got a phone call to inform me that my black teapot was accepted for the Cape Craft and Design Core product line. This means that my work will be on a permanent exhibition for the next 12 months, travelling around the country and also abroad.

To say that I am ecstatic is an understatement. I have worked so hard for this recognition during the last 4 years.

Every time I had lit my torch it was with something like this in mind. Granted, 4 years ago I did not know about the CCDI, and the thought of doing anything ceramic related was not even entering my mind. But subconsciously I was working towards this goal. Perfecting my skill as a lampworker with each and every glass bead that I made. The hardships suffered because I was prepared to sacrifice a comfortable lifestyle for an urge to lit a torch every day.

I have been living in Cape Town for almost 3 years, and wow! It has really been a joy ride with all the ups and downs. What has stood out for me through out this journey was the goodness of people that I have come into contact with. Help and sharing of information was given without hesitation. Support offered freely. Thank you!

Good news!

2010-01-17T09:43:00.001-08:00

I know that I have been in absentia for some time. Every now and then pangs of guilt ride me, but then work and general life takes over and demand even more time.

Ok, the good news is that I am busy preparing for a new tutorial. This one promises to be long, detailled and will cover stuff for a variety of experience levels. As with all my previous tuorials, it will be more a tecnique tutorial, rather than one with a design element to it. (At least that is how I see it ;-) )

I hope to have it ready by the end of the week.

The downside of this tutorial is that I am going to charge a small fee for it. I will cover 5 different types of the tecnique, and the time that I will have to invest in it, forces me give it away at a price.

Silent nights, busy days

2009-12-23T14:55:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that it is already Christmas Eve! I have been a bit quiet, but for a reason ...

We opened a shop!

I cannot believe it, I still have to pinch myself every now and then, but yea. A real brick and mortar shop. Let me give you a bit of back ground ...

A couple of weeks ago (roughly 5 or 6!) we were invited to a house party. At the party the host mentioned to me that he had a shop available in his business property, and would I be interested to have my own shop from which I could work, etc.? Truthfully, I pushed all thoughts about it into some nondescript file in my brain, as I thought the whole idea just not plausible. I mean - we are in the midst of a world wide economic recession, job losses everywhere, and people are down-sizing and no impulse spending is happening.

About a week later I got a phone call. "Please look at the shop. I get lots of phone calls daily about the shop, but I want you to have it." I cave in and drove to the city centre. Long Street is one of the busiest streets in our city. Bars, restaurants, backpackers and shops. Lots and lots of them in the aptly named street. On my way back to my studio I phoned a friend. Can I come and chat to her about an opportunity? I convinced her 50%. Promised to take her the next day to the shop so we could have a look-see. Am I mad, or is it a viable concept?

My concept: A shop that sells an eclectic mix of art and craft. Stuff not found elsewhere in the city. Stuff that we like.

But the place looked like a dump. Vertical potholes scattered the walls, stencilled graffiti littered everywhere, the roof a mix of dark blue with white streaks. The floor is covered with a hideous red and yellow patterned plastic.

After a few discussions with the landlord, we decided to renovate the shop ourselves. A 3rd partner joined the venture, and we set about the great clean-up. A handy-man painted the ceiling and repaired and painted the high walls for us, while us girls tackled the lower areas. 7 days later, too many pots of paint and a huge bag of filler we could finally remove the plastic that covered the terracotta tiled floor. I sighed in tiredness. More cleaning and scrubbing awaited us. While we renovated the shop, we slowly started to move furniture into it. The back of the shop would be my studio. Shelves and display units were painted a uniform white and everyone brought what he had from home. Finally we were able to install some lights, and suddenly we were ready to unpack our stock - a Hodge podge of art and craft work.

This is our 3rd week trading and the day before Christmas. With no budget, no loans from banks, Nada, we started slow. There is no money for marketing. We hoped that our location would bring feet into the shop. And it did. The week before we officially opened, frantically unpacking stock we had people begging to see the stuff. And we made sales!

Slowly sales increased every day. 'Window shoppers' came back a day or 2 later to purchase items that they saw, and I am slowly becoming less pessimistic about this folly. We made contact with our fellow shopkeepers in the street. The car guards knows us. The policing service that ensures safety in the street had meetings with us. Suddenly I am a Long Street regular. Even the 'Bergies' (homeless people) that frequent Long Street greets and chats to me as if I am an old timer.

Wine, anyone?

2009-11-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

With a new and exiting market that starts this Friday, I needed to come up with some new ideas for my beads. A resourceful person made a suggestion, and this is the result:

Ceramic exhibition

2009-11-19T11:19:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday (wow, almost a week ago!) the local branch of Ceramics South Africa held their annual exhibition. It was a juried event with only limited works showed. I swollowed my fears, and entered some work. I had hoped to get at least one piece accepted, but to my utmost amazement both entries were accepted!

So Sunday night we attended the opening, and I must admit that I was amazed by the beautiful work that I saw. Our region really have a lot of amazing artists. A small catalogue was available showing one entry of each participant, and I was quite chuffed to see my work in it too!

A busy month

2009-10-30T04:27:00.000-07:00

Wow, am I glad that this month is almost over! 3 Exhibitions in one month is a definite no-no. On the 7th an exhibition started at the Art B gallery in Bellville, showcasing 5 jewellers. I was the only one that incorporated glass into my work.

A week later I arrived in Bloemfontein, almost a 1000 km from Cape Town, where I shared exhibition space with a pewter artist at a beautiful house museum. I took my trusty little Hot Head with me, and did live demonstrations to the visitors. I had forgotten how beautiful Bloemfontein was!

And yesterday I entered some teapots for the regional Ceramic SA exhibition. To my relief I was informed today that both pieces were accepted! The exhibition will start on the 15th of November at the Ceramics Museum in Durbanville.

I will try and post some pictures as soon as I can of my entries.

Trade show

2009-09-03T02:54:00.000-07:00

Here is some belated images of the trade show where I showcased some of my work. The Cape Craft and Design Institute had hosted it and invited buyers, exporters and interior designers in the city to attend it. We each got a 2 x 1 meter booth, that we had to decorate ourselves. This created a bit of a problem for me, as I wanted to create little islands of interest, vs a table of mixed work. I wanted to showcase each work as an individual focus. But budget restraints had to ensure that I created something long lasting and effective.

I had some bedside tables that I bought from crafters that sell them on the street corners of our cities. These wooden and wicker furniture is made from scrap pieces of wood and it gives unemployed people the opportunity to earn a living working for themselves. By buying it from them, I feel that I contribute to preventing poverty in my country and hopefully help reduce crime at the same time.

After a few measurements, I took the beloveds utility and went shopping for super wood. At a nominal cost, they cut the pieces to size for me, and back home. A neighbor was supposed to help me, but never pitched. So a mad dash of me finishing off last minute work and pots of wood glue, filler and sanding blocks got all finished. I made tiny little floating shelves that were fitted onto a back board. Since these slide onto the wooden blocks that is screwed onto the board, I could remove them for easy storage once the trade show is over. I painted everything white.

Setting up was a breeze. A final touch-up with the paint roller, and I could arrange all my pieces on the stand. A set of spotlight created focus on the individual shelves, highlighting the work. I could store all my bags and what not in the shelves, thus keeping everything nice and tidy.

Yesterday we had a meeting at the CCDI where some prizes were handed over to the exhibitors. There were 5 prizes in total, and to my utmost surprise I took home 2! The exhibitors had to choose the best stand, and my peers awarded me with this prize. I also got a silver (2nd) award for the best stand as chosen by the organisers and visitors.

I was very satisfied with the outcome of the trade show, as I have made some valuable contact with buyers and exporters.

Here is some new work that I delivered to one of the galleries that visited the trade show:

And the winner is:

2009-07-15T02:12:00.000-07:00

Aww, this was so difficult to make a choice as I got to know some of you guys quite well here and on the glass forums. If I could, I would have loved to gift each and every one of you with a candle stick to play with, but alas, it is just not possible :-(

Anyway, to be fair I decided to do a random picking of the winner ...

So, a warm congratulations to Julie Haveland Beer.

I have contacted you already Julie, and will get the parcel out as soon as you have confirmed your address.

Thank your for everyone that took part in this and for visiting my blog!

Gift time!

2009-07-13T00:22:00.000-07:00

I am so excited about my candle sticks, and want to share it with you wonderful guys! So, here is the deal:

Comment about the candle stick, what you plan to do with it, what colours your beads will be, what ever. I will keep this open for about 48 hours, and then make my choice of who gets it!

I will publish the winner in a new post, and request the winner to supply me with their postal information. Easy peasy, right?

Tea, anyone?

2009-07-03T23:16:00.000-07:00

Helter skelter minds and a full week

2009-06-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

These last few weeks have not been easy on me ... I do not want to bore you with the gory details, so let's just stick to me and my tears equaled the amount of rain we had in the same time frame here in the Western Cape, lol.

In between this there was lots of hours spent working as a RN at the various hospitals and clinics, and the new Candle Stick range that I started to play with.

These and some of my other glass and ceramics were submitted to a panel last week for consideration to partake in a Trade Exhibition, hosted by the Cape Craft and Design Institute. Gosh, I really love these people!

On Monday I got the E-mail telling me that my work has been selected for the show. I got word last week through the grapevine that over a 100 crafters applied for it, and they were only choosing 20 for the show. So, the selection was really tough and I know that there is a lot of art and craft happening in our city that is WAY better than me ...

The retail industry, media and other key role players is invited to the 3-day event. All is organised very professionally, with professional set builders that will assist us with the building of our stalls. Furthermore, I am expected to attend a workshop in Displaying and Styling next week with a local design guru, Leonard Shapiro (www.craftsouthafrica.co.za). Due to other obligations, I have been unable to attend a set of workshops lead by him during the previous weekends, so this is my opportunity to get some of his genius to rub off on me!

The down and out of this trade show is that I have the opportunity to make direct sales, but also have the chance to get orders from retailers! And if my stand is nice enough and sales worth mentioning, I could be lucky enough to win a spot at a huge trade Expo in 2010 in Johannesburg!

But this week is spent studying. It is the second month of our Entrepreneurial Marketing course, and the homework keeps me busy till the wee hours of the morning every day. The focus this week is on business practices and stuff like how to draft a good business plan. Horrible details about invoicing, quotes, pricing of your work got thrown on us today, ugh! Stuff that will give any decent artist nightmares for life!

I still have lots of homework to do tonight, so bye for now!

Candle Power!

2009-06-15T04:58:00.000-07:00

In between a kiln that threw a tantrum and numerous ER shifts I have been able to make some beads and assemble them. I have shown some images of the one bead set in a previous post, here is it as I visualised it ...

Then a playful gather of bright coloured disks interspersed with tiny black disks. I made the beads on purpose slightly 'wonky' and added some dots to some of them to give it a bit of variety. My love for form and precision was seriously tested with this set! But I love the playfulness of it, and would assume that it would really look good with a candle lit in it.

Lastly a white set. I used a bit of the lightest grey transparent glass with it to create patterns on the beads. It is interspersed with transparent grey disks, giving it more dimension in the stark white colour range.

Bumpy jewels

2009-06-12T05:51:00.000-07:00

I have been working way too many hours as a RN these past few weeks, but it was all done for a good reason, ;-)

Luckily I was able to squeeze some torch time in and gave up on a lot of sleep. The problem is that I have just too much ideas racing through my mind coupled with some other day to day issues. But when that torch is lit, a peace overcomes me and I can go into a sort of a hypnosis that is just glass and heat.

These are some images of my 'trance' beads. Please note, these are 'honkers'. I am talking easily 30 mm wide (hole to hole) and more width wise ... But what a ball these were to make! One set was just normal Moretti colours with lenses of the softest hues of corresponding transparent colours, the other set is a mix of silvered glass that was laying around my work table. the lenses on them were a very pale blue transparent. And a close-up of one of the silvered glass beads. I just love the way the dark Ivory went all crazy with little mosaic like patterns.

Enjoy! These are all for a submission next week to be part of an exhibition/sales opportunity, and will be converted into candle sticks ...

Something new

2009-05-29T00:57:00.000-07:00

I have been quiet for a while, but believe me, I am busy!

Here is some images of my new design, I hope you like it! This one and it's mate will stay with me. The ceramic base and top part is hand build and a bit on the wonky side. I have since made some mould to be able to replicate the design evenly. I will add different coloured ceramic bits to future candle sticks to compliment the glass beads. I also plan on making them in different heights.

Student life, and travelling by train ...

2009-05-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

I started with my year long course, that is focused on the Entrepreneur in the Craft sector, this past week. It's like being back in school with homework and sticking up my hand in class when I want to ask a question ... But at the same time a lot of fun and totally eye opening. We get horrible (LOL) assignments, like having to make contact with NGO's and Government agencies that deals with the craft sector. And all assignment content have to deal with each student's own emerging business. The biggest advantage is that I have to do 'stuff' that I knew for years that I had to do, but always shrunk away from. I mean - it is much more fun to be creative, right? If there were good fairy godmothers out there who could take all that I made and turned it into hard cash, I would not need this course, but of course the fairy godmothers were just stories made up by Hans Christian Anderson ...

So now I have some appointments set up with said Government agencies, got information about a workshop on Exporting products in 2 weeks, and more local selling opportunities.

And I also made contact with the most amazing bunch of people. Fellow students, most in their thirties and older, all trying to make their business as successful as possible in the present economic climate.

To avoid the dreaded rush hour traffic, I have opted to use the train service this week. Monday I could not use the train, as my darling Father came to Cape Town for a visit to his mother and sister, and I offered to collect him at the airport after class. But since Tuesday I was doing the commuting thing by train. Quite fearful of being robbed, thrown off the train by hooligans, and what not, I parked my car in the lot and asked for a ticket. The price was SO good compared to the petrol that my car would have used and the price for a parking spot. Actually it was cheaper to use the train than to park my car in the lot close to the CCDI!

Today some of the other students were also using the train, and since we travelled in the same direction, travel together. The only snag was that they travelled 3rd class. Originally in the bad old days of Apartheid this was the coach used by any person of colour. And us whities never set foot in it. And here is me, virgin train commuter pulled between fear of the unknown and sitting with my new friends. I decided to be brave, and took the 3rd class coach, never mind the fact that my round ticket was 1st class ...

While sitting on the train (it just left the main station) I noticed a woman throwing her empty tin of soda and pie papers on the floor. She saw my expression, and responded that there was no bin on the train. I asked her why she did not keep it till she got of the train and then deposit it in a bin. Before it became ugly my friends interjected and asked her if she threw things around on the ground at home. 'No', she replied. But why here? 'This creates a job for someone ...' was her laconic reply . I got up, and fetched the rolling tin and scrunched up oily paper.

We started to chat, and I told her that I was so proud of my country, how this is an offense and that you could get a fine overseas, and how I see the reaction of foreign tourists when they see such stuff happening. And since the tourist market is a huge segment of my income, I want them happy and in a spending mood. Not disgusted by our poor manners.

Later she moved closer to us, and started asking us questions. I could see that she was intrigued by our little collective of different cultures. Then one of my friends got up and left the train. At the next stop a bunch of young (about 8 - 13 year old) glue sniffing kids entered the train. Sniffing glue out of empty chips packets. And sat next to me. Believe me, I was holding onto my bag as if it was gonna fly away any minute. I moved over to the seat with my friends, and just stared at these sad street kids. Wise beyond their years, high as a kite.

Suddenly some men walked towards the kids and grabbed them, removing the crisp bags filled with glue from their pockets. A scuffle broke out and I was petrified. Most times these kids have weapons on them, even illegal fire arms. At the next stop they broke free and ran off the train. My friend also got off, but he told me to stay put. Told me not to be afraid, there are good people in the couch that will help me if there is a problem. So I sat, chatting to my new friend, the dropper of garbage, till we reached my stop ...

New Artifire articles

2009-05-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hi all!
I have started to stock up my Artfire shop. Over the next few days I will add more ceramic and Lampwork articles. Please visit it!

Fatigue

2009-04-28T23:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I attended the Decorex show. What a week it has been! I am still pooped and tired. Sleep is sort of priority number one in my life at the moment.

I did some stand duty, and extended my hours myself, as it is really important to have direct contact with the people. (Even though I hated every moment, lol) Ran out of business cards on the first day, and brought much more the next few days. The response to my work was totally unexpected. I sold some pieces, I got some custom orders and made lots of contacts with both local shop owners and international buyers. What I also found interesting was just the rub-off of creativity from other artists.

I am ready to expand the range and started to play with a new idea yesterday. Unfortunately my regulator packed up yet again - had it for about 6 weeks, and it is making a weird noise. Weird noises is not good if it is attached to an Oxygen tank, I think ... So I am back on the Hot Head for the time being, till I can get the regulator sorted out. I just do not have the energy to travel about 50 km to the supplier, as yet.

Now I need to start adding stuff to my Artfire store. I have also been invited to a wine auction in 2 weeks, where I will be able to show my work off. This is in a very upmarket little town that is on the outskirts of Cape Town.

Time to lit the torch ... Have a good day!

Fear for getting it right

2009-04-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

These past few weeks was just outright horrible for me. Few hours sleep per day, stressing about the upcoming Expo and that crawling fear for the unknown. 'What if' was on my thoughts the whole time. What if people really hate what I did? What if they like it so much that I have a gazillion orders, and cannot fulfill them? What if they are just bleh about it? Or those, 'I did not even notice it ...' type of reference to my work.

On the one hand I am really glad that I opted out of the dedicated stand on the CCDI's stand. To be standing there listing to others discussing my work would be to painful. I have handed my babies over to a pet shop owner, who is displaying them in the shop window. I have no control over who will buy them, or what will happen to them.

But it is also with a slight sadness that I realise that I have lost the opportunity to interact directly with customers, explaining to them about the hours spent at the torch melting the glass, telling them anecdotes about the glass industry, etc.

Good thing is that I got an order for a set of my cluster rings. Something that I have yet had to develop into a range. So Sunday when I go to do stand duty I will get some bucks ...

I also met John Bauer who did not realise that I was the creator of the bead cups. We had a long discussion about glass, ceramics, and other stuff.

It was good to spend the morning with Ingrid. I would most probably have been to nervous to enter the hall by myself. And she is a talker. She forced me to chat to strangers about my work.

Lessons in Drawing

2009-04-18T23:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I started with a drawing course at the CCDI, and hopefully over the next 11 weeks I will learn a bit about making pictures. The aim of the course is to give crafters the ability to make better drawings of products during the conceptualization stage while developing new stuff. Now, I have not drawn pictures for at least 25 years, and were quite petrified of what my stick sketches would look like ...

Our little group of 12 were sitting around huge tables, excitement and fear hanging cloud like over the room. Wire workers, potters, seamstresses, a nice bunch of variety is represented.

Anyway, here is some photos of my first drawings. Today's lesson was just a general lesson, getting us used to drawing, and focusing our attention on becoming aware of translating a 3D image to a 2D medium. We had to do a blind drawing first. I was not allowed to look at the paper, but rather just on the flower in the vase.

The second exercises was a continuous line drawing. At least we were allowed to look at the page this time, but oh boy was it difficult to keep that pencil glued to the page!

The last one is supposed to be an enlargement. Something that I could not do as a child in art class, and obviously still cannot do today!

a Loooong weekend

2009-04-15T04:21:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was long. Friday and Monday were public holidays in South Africa, but not in the Grieguszies household. Both me and Leo were busy in our studios from about 09 am till 12 pm every day. I used a whole bottle of oxygen during the course of the the last 5 days!!!

Yesterday was the birthday of the Dearly Beloved. And when I arrived home after a day in the city, I rushed to get some foodies ready for our visitors. My hart se punt was impressed with what I achieved ...

Tuesday morning saw me getting up at the crack of dawn to attend a workshop on pricing of products. All I can say was that it was one of the best I have ever attended. Costing of labour, materials, too much to mention. This morning I was ready with measuring tools to calculate my expenses, writing every thing down in my bid to have correct calculations. On some articles I was under pricing myself, others a bit too much ...

My baby has arrived!

2009-04-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

Last week I got my first teapot back from the kiln. As much as I wanted this first baby to be mine and only mine, I had to let her go, all dressed up in red with tiny white flowers. She is now with the rest of her brothers and sisters at the CCDI in their Gift Shop. I will miss her, but have already made some more ...

Almost there ...

2009-03-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

I just have to show you what I have been up to today ...

On Sunday I casted my long awaiting teapot. My goodness, how long has it been now? Weeks? Nah, rather months! After lots of quibbles and discussions about the shape that I created on the wheel, Leo capitulated, and casted my teapot. But before he did that, we had to determine whether the size globe that I created was indeed gonna give me 1,2 liters of tea ...

That is another story on it's own. I have a mental block against maths, and luckily Leo had some graphs that could help us calculate the shrinkage and eventual size of he vessel. We were spot on! After a final tweak to the shape by Leo the casting process started. In the meantime I was still perfecting the spout. And the piepie that will house the one end of the beaded handle. Oh, and we nearly forgot about the lid! 11 pieces or plaster later, and I am casting teapot after teapot, carefully wrapping pieces in plastic till I have all the parts of my puzzle together. Then the assembly starts. Wow! Do you know how difficult it is to assemble a teapot?

I insisted on having a pot with a strainer in the spout. So that difficulty became my baby. But then - I always go for the just outside my knowledge stuff. I need to learn while playing, have sleepless nights about the wild horses I choose to ride.

I cannot wait for the beginning of next week when I can assemble the first teapot with my lampworked beads. There is lots and lots of beads laying around in my studio just waiting for the opportunity - but before that happens I will need to learn yet something new ... Later more about that, lol.

A Perfect round bead again and again ...

2009-03-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

I had posted this tutorial some time last year on Lampwork Etc, and decided that it was time that it was moved to my Blog! This is just a small tutorial how I am able to achieve the same sized round beads again and again ... If you use the standard information to make a round bead, you really need to melt the dinges out of the glass for it to spread on the mandrel enough to make a round bead vs. a doughnut shaped bead. This is where frustration lead me. I normally never use any tools while making a bead, no marver, etc. except for my mashers when I want a round or tube shape.

My tools that I use is just a parallel masher, my trusty surgical scalpel and my torch. AND the bottom part of a brass press!

Step 1:Make a small disk on your mandrel. I normally do about 3 - 4 windings of fairly thin glass.

Step 2:Melt the disk into a small doughnut, allow the glass to melt well onto the mandrel to set a nice footprint.

Step 3:Take your mashers and press lightly, turn the mandrel 180 degrees, and press the same amount, so you end up with a square/rectangular bead. By pressing the same weight, you will spread your glass evenly on the mandrel, to secure an even footprint. Then I normally turn the mandrel about 90 degrees and press again, turn 180 degrees and turn. if the glass is still soft enough, I will continue to press and turn, take the mandrel back into the flame to heat up the gather a bit, and press, turn, press, you get the idea ...

Step 4:Now to make sure that your footprint is wide enough, I place the mandrel over the base plate of a press and measure one of the hollows that I would like my round bead to be. If I need to get the footprint a bit wider, I repeat the press process for a bit, measuring it every now and then. After a few beads, I can eyeball the width quite easily so that I do not really need to measure and press the whole time.

Step 5:Now I need to load more glass onto the footprint bead. Again, rather start with to little, rather than too much glass. (it's much easier to add than remove glass!)

Step 6:Melt it in. You will notice that your footprint is now slightly narrower than it was when you had placed the original footprint down. I loose about 2 mm in width doing this. Eyeball the top and bottom curve of your bead. If it is too narrow, you will have sharp edges on you bead holes. If you have too much of a curve, you will end up with a not round bead, but lovely dimples. I aim to get somewhere between these 2 extremes.

Step 7:Now you have a neat round bead that you will be able to reproduce time and again. Remember that when you add glass for decoration, you might loose your neat roundness, so start with a bit of a not 100% round bead before adding decorations, should you aim for round!

Step 8: Pop bead into the kiln!

Problem solving:Should you have difficulty to obtain neat edges in step 3 and 4, use a sharp knife/blade and cut about 1,5 mm from the edge of the undercut to push the glass to the edge and level to the rest of the footprint. If you do this closer to the edge of the glass footprint, you will end up with an uneven edge again!

Getting those damn dots to behave ...

2009-03-10T02:56:00.000-07:00

Dragged Dots

When in chat on Lampwork Etc this morning, I was asked how I get my dots to behave and evenly spaced around the bead. This is just a quickie tutorial that I did on how I get evenly spaced dots. For fun I also show you how to drag dots ...

1. Make your bead - I made a 20 mm hole to hole round bead, but you can choose any shape you like.

2. I start off with getting the correct distance between my dots by normally adding a raised dot the same colour as the base bead. The black would have been difficult to see in the pictures, so I did them in white. Please excuse the reflection of me and my overhead light in a lot of these pictures!

Here is the first raised dot. Do not squash the dot into the bead, and make sure that your bead is not glowing hot when placing the said dot. I will tell you in a minute or so why you need to leave the dot raised ...

3. Place a dot on the exact opposite side of the first dot. I normally eyeball the bead from the one bead hole side while I place the blob of glass on it, praying like mad that I placed it in the centre of the bead. NOW, if I placed that dot skew or in the wrong place, it is easy to flick it off the bead using a blade or other tool, because it is raised ... Once your are happy that it is in the correct place, you can give it some more heat, to prevent it from shocking off while you work on the other placements. Easy, huh?

4. Here I have added all my dots, and made sure that they are all equally spaced. Normally I melt these dots in till there is only a slight bump visible. To prevent dots from migrating and forming little groups of annoying dots, I have found that if I twirl my bead in both directions (i.e. forwards and backwards spin) I have less migration taking place. Some say to heat each dot individually, other schools say heat them all. I found the forward/backward motion really make them little buggers stay in place ...

5. (If I wanted to start adding decoration the the centre of the bead, I will use the empty space between the base coloured dots as my placement area. Just add your dots exactly in the centre of each space ...)
Now it is time to place my other dots. I will come back to these centre dots later on ... I start with the centre petal dot for each dragged flower/Fleur De Lis pattern. Add a drop of glass to dots that is not the same size ...

6. Now it is time for the rest of the dots/leaves. With the Fleur De Lis pattern I have found that you really need to add the dots in a perfect triangle pattern. If the side petals is to far away from the centre dots, you will really battle to catch them when you drag the glass. For most of these dots I have placed only groups of 3, but when you want to add another row, place them exactly below the first group of 2 dots.

7. Melt them all in, and regain a round shape of your bead. Again – use the forward/backward turning of your mandrel to make sure the dots does not migrate around the bead ...

8. Take a thin stringer of your base colour, spot heat the entire area of dots and the area where you want to drag your dots, touch the cool stringer to the black space between the 3 dots, as close as possible to the centre dot’s edge, and lightly drag the glass. Try not to push the stringer into the bead. (That takes a bit of practice to get right.) I do not always get all 3 dots to move, and when this happens, I just heat the area again, and drag it. No glass is gonna put ears on me!

9. Once I have finished decorating the one side, I move to the other side and drag them buggers! We will correct the wonkiness of the bead soon ...

10. Both sides done, so I added more white to the centre dots, to make them a bit bigger, and added dots of a transparent colour.

11. And some more white dots ... OK, I love dots, lol

12. So here is the bead, I am done with my decorations, but oh boy, it is seriously wonky. You can just twill it in the flame until your pattern distorts, or use my approach ...

13. First I just heat up the one side. Remember to turn the mandrel to both sides, otherwise you glass will start to float on the mandrel, and your pattern will become distorted. Once you are happy with the one side, let the bead cool down, and focus heat on the other side.

14. Normally the heat from the sides is enough to shift the glass a bit to create a nice neat round bead, but if you added a lot of decorations to the centre, you might want to focus some heat to the centre too. Admire bead while you continue twirling it around, and when it is stiff enough, pop it into the kiln!

Design and inspirations

2009-03-02T04:16:00.000-08:00

This past week I volunteered (OK, I was actually paid to do it, ...) to work at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. And the carrot? One of the biggest and best Design Expo's in the world!

With my staff card (which I got late last year, and consider one of my prized possessions!) I have almost unlimited access to venues in the building. So some days I will just walk around looking at all the exhibitions, sometimes spend money on interesting stuff, and just absorb. But last week, oh last week!

Top trendsetters, designers, even a top chef, all gathered in the big auditorium for lectures. All the trendiest who's who from South Africa and abroad were walking around, just looking and taking the atmosphere in. So was I. I bought a few books on pattern and design. And of course I sat in on the talks, hehehe! The delegates paid almost $400 for the opportunity, I got for free while sitting open mouthed just absorbing!

On Thursday night the Expo opened, and moi was there. I was gobsmacked, to say the least. Fabric, wall paper, jewellery, ceramics, clothing, furnishings, you name it. The top names in new and innovative design in South Africa was well represented, and they were all busy with the lots and lots of foreign buyers who were clamoring to place orders.

What did this do to me as an artist and crafter? Major rub-off ... Inspiration seemed to drown me as I jostled with the crowds of people flocking to see beauty. On Saturday night I rushed home, said hallo to Leo and disappeared into my studio. An hour later I had made a couple of rings and started to prepare some 130 beads and stuff for ceramics. At about 02 Sunday morning both me and Leo crashed in our bed, fatigued, but me with a happy and content smile while I drifted off to unconsciousness. Sunday Leo and a neighbor joined me as I once again did the rounds in the Expo. We saw lots of friends, and knew quite a lot of the ceramic exhibitors. I wore my new cluster ring, and got stopped a few times by people who wanted to know who sold it at the Expo!

Not a lot of drama happened from a nursing viewpoint - one broken wrist, a laceration that needed sutures, another wound that needed daily dressings from me at the clinic, and a fainting lady. All in all a week worth working ...

A grand day out

2009-02-20T07:46:00.000-08:00

Last week I was invited to visit our local Aquarium at the V&A Waterfront as part of a visual inspirational trip, that was organised by the Cape Craft and Design Institute. Visual stimulation, and the cognitive awareness of visual stimulation on Art and Craft is SO important, yet often neglected in today's race for financial gain. A day wasted and not spent at my torch turned into a day of awareness for me. Set with a camera emptied of all photos and batteries charged, I set off on my trip ...

Outside the seals lounged on a special ramp constructed for the pack. Afterwards, while viewing the photo's, I was more aware of the colour ripples caused by the water. But I really wanted to show you these beautiful animals, perhaps I will include the water pictures another time ...

I was bad, and never bothered to note the names of these fish, but I just loved the blue lips on this one!

And this evil looking dude was so well camouflaged, that even the inside of his mouth was patterned.

The something forest. Do not ask me - I have amnesia! I was so happy that I was able to duplicate the rays of the sun flowing through the water, making the picture almost grainy in appearance.

And of course I had to include a picture of the evil one ...

A sneak preview

2009-02-06T09:50:00.000-08:00

Here is the first coffee cup from my new line!

After a week of horrors and initially not having a kiln to fire my pieces, I finally collected them all this morning. Will I bore you with the details? Nooo, to boring. Let's just say that I had quite a few sleepless nights and stress levels that went into the stratosphere ...

Let me introduce 'Red Wallflower Coffee Cup' to you (soon in my Artfire shop):

I have a painting ...

2009-02-03T06:16:00.002-08:00

I had a young friend who's paintings always amazed me. Her parents house were full of her vibrant work, very reminiscent of Jan Vermeieren, an well known South African artist, whose work I also love.

When my dog, Johanna, disappeared in '97 all I had left from my dear dog, was a very bad photo. But Carla was able to make Johanna come back to life in this family study of us.

Where ever I have moved, it is one of the first items that I pack. And it always hang in a special place. Now it is hanging in my studio, where I can look at it everyday. I have over the years lost contact with Carla and her mom, but in a sense her spirit is still with me, looking over my shoulder at what ever I am doing, even now, watching me while I type this ...

2010 World Cup

2009-01-22T05:56:00.000-08:00

I planned to do some Lampwork today, but got bogged down in a chat room, having a lovely time with some online friends, till the website froze up. Then I suddenly realised that I had an appointment in the city with the CCDI.

They were briefing art and craft people about the 2010 World Soccer Cup, and selling opportunities. We all got lists of do's and do'nts and just general information. I wore some of my jewellry, and got a few compliments! That is always good, lol. Now I have to work towards the 10 th of February, when we have to submit work for judging. From there on, the panel will work with us, and help with marketing. Apparently the big corporations is already looking for gifting, etc.

I have also made another appointment with their panel to discuss my ceramic line. I took some of the completed pieces with me, and got good feedback. I am to late for Design Indaba, but will still be able to take part in the Decorex Cape Exhibition. That will also give me time to make sure that I could get some media coverage to coincide with the exhibition.

On the way home I had a mental picture of what I want my coffee mug to look like! Poor Leo, he will be slaving away for ever on my work! At least I am learning a lot about making moulds, and slip casting.

the proof is in the pudding ...

2009-01-19T09:35:00.000-08:00

I finally got my ceramic pieces back today, and spent some time drilling the holes clean, rinsing them with my squirt gun, and then took them all outside for a leisurely sun tan before I attempted to assemble everything.

Armed with my Vernier Caliper, and a lot of other stuff I started to measure, cutting bits of mandrels with my abused Jeweller's saw, and finally put all together. Currently the whole lot is resting with elastic bands around their ample bosoms, waiting for the bonding agents to cure, while I cannot wait to start using my pretties.

I absolutely believe in test driving everything I make. Whether it is a new ring design, or what. I must know that it will survive me and those around me before I will ever consider selling anything that I have made.

A belated Happy New Year!

2009-01-18T11:06:00.000-08:00

I was more than a bit shocked when I noticed my last entry - mid December 2008! I would like to offer lots of excuses, but I suspect that the real reason was me just not having a lot of energy. this last week my body finally orchestrated a mini revolt and declared itself sick. My immune system went off somewhere nice and fancy and left the back door wide open for bugs. As a result I have been coughing and spluttering till the wee hours of the morning, sleeping in bouts of strange nightmarish places.

My lungs is behaving a bit better, the gaggas in my nasal passages seemed to be leaving and the absolute fatigue that has been plaguing me since new year seems to be disappearing.

Good news is that I will receive my first batch of fired ceramics tomorrow! Just some teacups and sugar bowls. I have been a bit tardy with the milk mugs and they will start their firing process tomorrow. Except for the pitchers that I played with last year, this will be the real fire walk for me. Will my head pictures work? All the what ifs will either come true tomorrow, or be dispelled to Lala land forever. We have not started on modelling any saucers or cake plates, as I first wanted to see how the tea cup's shape is altered by the beaded handle. At a later stage I would like to add a beaded lid to the sugar bowl. And of course the Tea Pot! I have already made some beads for the first one!

And not least: I hope that you all have the bestest of best year ahead of you! May all your wishes come true, may your path be an easy one, your health excellent and your purse full!

Finally, I have finally tried going BIG, lol. Please find the link to my new Art Fire shop. I will be adding more goodies in the next few days!

A new direction

2008-12-16T23:59:00.000-08:00

I have been playing around with some ideas where I could use my glass beads, and this is what I came up with. My stunning boyfriend helped me with the ceramic part of the project. I hope that I can evolve this idea into something new for 2009.

A wild garden

2008-12-10T01:00:00.000-08:00

About a week ago we suddenly noticed that we had a set of new tenants on the property. The bird is known as a Kiewiet, and is a ground nesting bird; with an almost invisible nest. The parents is very protective and hisses at us when we dare to get to close to them!

Earlier this morning I had to cancel our garden services, because we do not want these beauties to leave our garden.

Up the mountain ...

2008-11-24T03:39:00.000-08:00

I have not done a lot of hiking for years, but recently I got a pair of hiking boots for my birthday, so when the lovey told me that he was meeting some friends on Table mountain on Sunday, and did I want to come with (since I had the new boots) I could hardly say no, now could I?

So with a lot of fear (I really hate heights) I dressed accordingly, used about a litre of sunblock and donned a hat. We got a whole picnic thing together (lots of German sausage, cheese and rolls) to enjoy at the top.

Leo is a marathon runner. So after the first 100 meters I told him to meet me at the top, I could not keep up with him. OK, I was panting and sounded as if I was in dire need of a macho rescue guy who could carry me down the bit that I had walked. I could see in Leo's eyes that he thought that I would bail out. It was a wonderful sunny day, with the slightest hint of a breeze, making it all very comfortable (if you exclude the half a meter steps that you had to take ...).

I took lots of pictures - my handy excuse for a rest. After the first hour I got a bit better and started to focus on a rock or outcrop just ahead of me. Diana, if you can make it to there, you are allowed a break of one minute. And that was what I did. Just a few more steps, remember the look in Leo's eyes? Show him that you are not a moaner and a giver-upper.

The new boots really helped a lot. My ankles never wavered, and I could walk/climb/heave myself up the next rock. At last I was in the shade of the gorge. Water was dripping of the overhanging cliffs, and some Chinese tourists refilled my water bottle with some fresh mountain water.

About 200 meters from the top Leo rescued me with a welcoming bottle of Icy cold Savanna. It tasted like nectar from the Gods. Suddenly I had more energy and could keep up with him. His friends were already at the picnic spot, having a good party going. Leo was proud of me. I was even prouder of myself. Wanting to do something, and actually doing it is 2 entirely different things. I have climbed my mountain.

Throughout these pictures, I have tried to include a ribbon of tarred road. That was our starting point. In some of them you could see teeny tiny cars parked. I do not know how high the mountain is, but my body told me today that it was VERY high!

Ring tutorial

2008-11-23T21:52:00.000-08:00

I have promised a tutorial, and here it is, finally!

Prepare your mandrels as per usual manner. If it is a new set of mandrels, you will need to give it a good glow in the flame, and then a water bath. Then I normally use a fine sand paper, and give it a light sanding to create a 'key' for the bead release to adhere to. All these mandrels were freshly dipped, and the bead release is still wet. (Not that it matters, I use a flame dry release, so no problems!)

Take your ring mandrel, and put it in the centre of the flame. (It is OK, I have been doing this for the last 6 months, and never had a ring mandrel burn through!) You want to heat that mama till she glows pink in the flame. If she is not hot enough, she will loose temperature too quickly, and your glass will pop off as you attempt to lay it on. Really, let her get cross!

Now add your spirals of glass around the centre of the mandrel. I do it very slowly, working a lot of times with my mandrel in the flame, and just taking my time; turn the baby while I control the thickness of glass that I add. Note how my start and finish is graded. Even so I might still have a bumpiness. Oh and do not correct any wonkiness yet ...

Melt that in. When I add glass to the ring mandrel, I normally do not have an even coiled rope look between the glass and the mandrel, but more of a pushing technique, which cause some of the glass footprint to be a bit wider than the rest. that is OK. Now I will get rid of that uneven footprint. I heat the glass well, making sure that I turn the mandrel the whole time. I also focus direct flame on the glass from an angle where it meets the mandrel.

When you have one fat circle and a nice and even footprint, let you bead cool a bit, and the look at it from all angles. This is also the time that you will correct the meandering ring . Use your marver and nudge the glass a bit left and right to make sure it is straight. Is there an area that needs more glass? Oh goodness, yes.

Add extra glass as needed. And then melt it in, of course!

You now have a basic ring shape, and you can leave it as it, change it, what ever! At this stage, it would be a bit uncomfortable to wear, so I suggest to flatten it a bit. Do not roll the glass on you mandrel. (OK, if you want to, do it; but believe me, I had quite a few that separated from the bead release when I tried it in this step ...) Rather use your marver, and press gently on the glass, and while you turn the mandrel, gently pat it a bit flatter. When you have spread your footprint a bit, you can roll the glass on the marver.

Spread the glass till you have the width/thickness that you want. Correct a wonky edge and decorate, etc.

When you are happy with your bead, pop it into the kiln, but be careful! that mandrel is till very hot, and will transfer the heat to the glass, making it soft for a bit longer. I normally twirl the mandrel in my kiln, let it rest on the edge of my beautiful kiln door (grin) for about a minute before I lay it on the kiln floor. If not, I will have added kiln floor decorations to my glass ring!

And this is it!

Disclaimer: This is a method that I have figured out for myself. I am sure that other's might do it in this manner, or completely different! When I make a glass ring, I try and have a glass thickness of at least 1,5 mm or more. This will create a stronger ring that will last longer.

When wearing a glass ring, I have 2 rules. Do not hit an inert object (husband, dog, wall, table) while wearing the ring. I suggest removing it, hit said object, and return ring after frustration was vented. Secondly, remove a glass ring from you finger when you work in soapy water. The beauty WILL turn into a flying missile if not removed! Place back on finger once hands are dry.

the men in my life

2008-11-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

After working just plain too many hours for the last couple of days as a nurse I had enough, and cancelled my second shift for the day (I guess working from eight in the morning till 5 is enough) that was due to start at 7 pm till midnight, and opted to go and visit Leo last night.

After a brief catnap I arrived at his house at 9, and found him still busy in his studio. I got a serious fun toy at the Convention centre and for a while we played catch in the night garden with the lighted bouncy ball. It is small interactions like this which really keeps us close. Just doing silly fun things because we can. Afterwards I helped him cast moulds (my very senior job is to fettle the edges and sometimes the boss will allow me to use the compressor to release a plaster mould) till about 11 pm. I had found some lovely vintage music at a discounted price over the weekend, and Smokey were filling the air while we worked, watched by the shop supervisor, Thomas.

Thomas has been living with Leo for the last 5 months, and the 2 men really get along fine. Leo grumbles occasionally about the damn cat, while stroking his tummy. Tommy is a man's man and love to sit in Leo's studio, just keeping him company.

A busy few days

2008-11-17T12:57:00.000-08:00

I have promised to make a tutorial on how I make glass rings. The good news is that I have taken the pictures, bad news is that I have been unable to compile the tutorial yet ... I have been working shifts back to back for the last few days, and in between I have to make more pieces for an up and coming exhibition this weekend.

Wonderful oppertunities

2008-11-10T05:50:00.000-08:00

I had a late start this morning - only got up after 9:00 and it took me some time to wake up fully. Coffee helped a lot!

I had a meeting with Ingrid at the Old Biscuit mill (http://dostuffct.com/node/59/edit) to discuss our upcoming exhibition running from the 22 November till 6 December. The shop is a hot and stained glass gallery, and I am so excited about it all! On Saturday's the place is really abuzz with trendy people shopping at the Neighbourhood market on the premises, and I plan on distributing leaflets at the gates to gain more feet to the gallery.

After that we quickly went into the city centre where we met the very gentle and beautiful owner of The Cape Gallery (www.capegallery.co.za) who will be hosting us from the 7th of December till the 10th of January 2009. Are we already there? Gosh, the times really flies! We will be co-exhibiting with a painter, and I am REALLY looking forward to it. both owners loved my work, and is happy to host us!

I will be at the Old Biscuit Mill on Saturday's to help and answer questions. Something I really hate. I do not mind talking about the process and techniques, but when people start looking at my work I just want to crawl into a hole! I also have to get around the whole pricing thing. I know that I totally under price myself, and that is most probably due to a host of compounding factors.

Anyway, I had my 'feel good' time, now it is time to to grind and go and work that torch!

Have a good day!
Diana

Markets, and such

2008-11-08T06:20:00.000-08:00

For over a year I did the 'market thing'. Every Saturday I would pack up all my beads and jewelry and props, and drive to an outdoor market. Some days were good, some bad. Spitting rain, sunshine, had to be there. I had build up a nice client base, but it tired me. Yes, I know 'doing the market' is good - you get to see first hand what the client wants, interacting with them and all. but it reminded me too much of my years of selling pharmaceuticals. So I stopped. I took a break, and got happy again.

But this past week I did a few markets again. At the same time I had, for the first time in almost a year, a severe bout of insomnia. Being awake till 3 - 5 in the morning, and having to get up at 8 is not a lot of fun. But I have committed myself, and did it. Was it good? Was it fun? YES! Today my best friend came to visit me at the market. We had freshly made carrot and orange juice (she opted for the beetroot mix), chatted and just caught up on everyday gossip. How was my week? KAK. I told her about my Internet saga. She told me of her essay that appeared in the national newspaper, which was beautifully written.

And I chatted to customers. I looked at their reaction to my new designs, and came home with a better understanding of what works, or not. But the best of all was a woman who absolutely freaked out about my work, and requested an appointment from me next week. She owns a shop in an upmarket district in our city, frequented by tourists and trendy locals. WHOA! What a lovely way to end a seriously miserable week! Ooh, and yes! and I made money too!

Whirley off mandrel work

2008-11-08T06:16:00.000-08:00

I tried something new yesterday - new as in for me ...

2008-11-06T01:17:00.000-08:00

I've had lots of time to sit and think these last few weeks, while working in my studio. Normally I sit and listen to classical music while I create. An old habit from the days when I was studying towards my nursing degree. Classical music calms my soul and it almost become a white noise, as I tend to hit the repeat button, and the same tracks will play endlessly. I reach a stage where my hands work on auto pilot, my mind elsewhere.

For some time I wanted to change the path that I am on. Do not get me wrong in thinking that I want to stop Lampwork! Not in the least, only a change in what I am doing. As much as I love creating jewelry, I realise that I need to expand my horisons, and look at new ways of incorporating my beads into different types of articles. I know that any new path would not be me creating the wheel, as I am sure that just about everything out there has been done hundreds of times already.

Please check out my blog in the following months, as I would for sure show my new ideas here!

Secondly, I had been totally overwhelmed by the total kindness of people these last few days. Thank you to every one that had sent me kind words!

When I made a boo-boo of humangous world altering proportions last week, I was initially sickened by what I saw happening on one of my favourite web sites. A lot of soulsearching happened on this side of Mother Earth, and I decided to supply all the information about this sad topic on the web. A partial bit of what I had e-mailled to someone, was re-printed in a manner that distorted my original intentions. I will accept responsibility to be 'die vark in die verhaal' (direct translation: be the pig in the story) if I am guilty. But this time I do not believe deep down in my heart that I had done anything wrong (excluding the fact that I had E-mailed someone who, although her e-mail adress is readily available, does not want contact with strangers).

Wavey Ribbon tutorial ...

2008-11-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

I have been playing a bit around last week, trying to do something, but I could not transfere the brain picture into the glass at hand. Instead I created something new/not new. Just a few tecniques thrown together, and something nice popped out.

Here follows the tutorial that I had put together tonight while torching with one hand, the other trying to take pictures:

I used 3 rods of glass: Transparent Black, Clear (and clear stringer) and a silver glass stringer.

First I made a disk about 3 windings thick on the mandrel.

Melt the disk down to a fat doughnut.

Add 2 windings of clear in the centre of the doughnut. Just flash it in the flame, so that the new application of glass is 'glued' to each other.

Apply a row of dots with the stringer. Any type of glass could work. Want rainbow? Go for it! Do not melt if flat, but just gently melt the dots a bit down. If you have used a silver glass, reduce it now.

Add 2 windings of clear over the dots. Make sure your clear rod is very soft, and press down over the dots, as you want to cover the dots with the clear.

Hit the glass with your flame, but make sure that you only heat the edge of the glass; if your rod or the centre doughnut gets red hot, drop or raise your mandrel! This will allow the glass to melt and pull the dots into a line - old tecnique no 1!

To help the glass and the lines to pull to the mandrel/bead hole, focus heat first on the one side, and then on the othe side of the bead. Make sure that the other side is cool while you do it, as you only want to shift half of the bead at a time. You may angle the bead/mandrel at a 45 degree angle to aid the glass to flow. This will reduce the base colour that shows on the side, as that will be sucked into the mandrel, and your outer glass will move closer to the bead hole.

This is what the bead should look like:

Heat the whole bead to the base colour, and use your mashers/parrallel press, and press the bead gently, turning it in 180 degree turns. Shape it into a barrel. Heat it regularly, as you will damage the bead release if you try and shift cold glass.

Press it as long as you want you bead to be. Be careful not to press at an angle. Try to maintain the same thickness through out.

Heat the centre of the bead and either allow gravity to shape the flow of the stripes, or use your marver to drag the stripes. Technique no 2 - Gravity bead

Use a clear stringer to shift areas that you had spot heated to create more swirls. Experiment!

When you are satisfied with the look, melt the bead into a neat barrel again. I use my masher to aid me.

Encase the bead with clear.

Make sure that your ends are neat and straight.

Super heat the whole bead, and flatten it, should you wish. Decorate surface as you please.

Sorry, image dissapeard, but this image is not really neccesary, is it?

Pop bead into a kiln. If you do not have a kiln, and use Vermiculite or a fiber blanket, I would not advise you to flatten the bead, as this will increase the chance of the bead to thermal crack.

Disclaimer: This is not a new tecnique. This is just my interpretation of the encased stripy bead and gravity beads. By creating a clear portion of glass between a solid base and the waves I am able to manupulate the ribbons that I have created, without distorting the base too much.

Go well
Diana

Walking the dark side

2008-10-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

I had never in my life imagined that I would enjoy working with Borosilicate. But after Ingrid gifted me some shorts I had to try it out.

Yesterday I sort of had a a horror day as a nursing sister. An easy short day shift at the Convention Centre turned into a very long day with a follow-up of a 12 hour nightshift stint at a hospital. 16 hours spread over 23 hours, and me only cat napping for an hour in between. Who is to blame? Boro ofcourse!

I have never attempted Mr Smiley's puffy heart either, and desided that that was what I had to make with the shorts at hand. And what a wonderful surprise I got this morning when I got home!

Thank you Ingrid!

Viking Knitting

2008-10-08T22:15:00.000-07:00

I have been playing around with this method to create a flexible rope to use with my glass beads:

Up, up and away

2008-10-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I had the most wonderful meeting with a wonderful buch of people. But oh, the dread before I went! Sleepless nights, Leo telling me that I mutter about glass in the little sleep that I do get, and me getting up tired and drained in the morning.

Thoughts of 'What if they laugh and chase me out of the building.' roamed through my head. Them telling that I am just not good enough for them to represent me, etc. 'I am a doomed failure' raced through my head every day leading up to 'the big' day.

Then I arrived - too early it seemed, and was asked to wait, as they were still busy with someone else. I wanted to make a dash for the door, but is was locked and the secretary had to open it. No sculking away like an invisible intruder. I just did not have the guts to ask her to open the door ...

What felt like hours later, I was invited into the boardroom. There the panel sat, all looking at me. I dress plainly. I do not wear make-up. But I do wear some of my work. After I unpacked everything, the grilling started. Who am I. What do I expect to get out of my work. Were do I plan to go with it. On and on it went. But they also ooh'ed and ah'ed over my work. One girl was just rolling a set of beads between her fingers, playing with it. Ideas rolled between us, me telling that it was possible or not, seeds were being planted. Now it is my job to nuture it, and bring it to life.

The next morning I got a phonecall. Those beads, and that ring, you remember? Yes, I remembered. Could I make a bracelet out of them, and could she buy the ring? And by the way, it was such a pleasure to meet someome of your calibre work that we can represent ...

I am gobsmacked. What? You must be joking! I make plain and basic beads. Nothing fancy about them. But someone LOVED them. And that is it. Plein en simpel. Accept it and go with your insticts. Something that I find very difficult after years of mental downgrading from those close to me.

So now I have a wonderful bunch of people who cares about what I make, and is prepared to showcase it for me!

Emergencies!

2008-09-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

Every morning I tell myself that today I would make an entry in my blog, but by the end of the day nothing has happened. Well, actually nothing on the blog, but in real life so much have been going on that just took priority over me writing ...

For the past 2 weeks I have been doing mega shifts at the hospitals in and around Cape Town. I have now actually asked some hospitals to remove my name from their databank as a locum nurse, as I either live to far from them, or (well, I did not tell them this) I just do not want to work for them! Currently I work in 2 trauma units and our Convention centre. The hospitals is fun - busy as hell but good in a weird kinda way. the centre is dead boring, but the biggest draw point is their access to internet. So my days at the centre is spent browsing sites dealing with glass.

I was under the impression that Saturday and Sunday was going to be easy-peasy in a small trauma unit - not! I had one staff nurse to help me, a unit that I have only worked in once before, and a doctor with round hands. God, the days of nursing slaves is long gone and banned!

On Sunday the hospital matron tried to force me to go and work in ICU nursing a little prem baby. I refused. I was so tired from the previous day and the days before that working long shifts and trying to fit in a couple of hours at the torch, that I just did not feel competent enough taking charge of a tiny life. Instead I choose a chaotic day of non-stop drama with really sick people and emergencies. At 17:00 I got my second breath and skipped and jumped through the madness till 19:00 when I could go home.

Tomorrow is a big day on my calender. I have a meeting with an organization that help to promote art and craft in Cape Town, and all my work is done. All I need to do tomorrow is a last bit of cleaning and packing. Oh, and I need to get a photo taken of myself ...

The pics is some of the work that I have done in the weeks gone by. I will take photos of all the new stuff in the next day or 3 ...

Do I call it work, or is is just fun?

2008-08-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

I have been busy these last few weeks practising new and old tecniques on my torch. So I saw these funky looking beads on http://www.lampworketc.com/, and decided to try and figure the methology out. After many hours and failed beads I had a group of improving beads until the last final perfect bead! And then, when I went online, I found a tutorial on the same bead! But I am still happy that I could figure the process out all by myself, and had overcome the troubleshooting all by myself!

Melvin, a local wire and paper artist, made the most amazing sculptures for my displays. I love the fact that I will now be using art to display my own art! And all it took was an initial meeting, a follow-up to check progress, and should he need to make changes, and 1 week later I have the finished product!

These last few weeks consisted just out of dashing from one point to the next. Work the day in the studio (or meetings), then a quick bath before I race to the hospital for a short shift from 19:00 till 24:00, then racing to Brackenfell and Liefie, a quick chat and me passing out in bed. A couple of hours later (05:30) gets rudely awaken by the alarm, rushing to get ahead of the morning traffic back to the city and my home. Unlock the studio, and start working ...

But then I love my current life so much, and do I really want to change it?

I got some silversmithing tools this week, and this will help me to make more finished jewellry at home, not try and race through it all on my favourite day of the week. Wednesdays is definately the best ever, and I really enjoy interacting with the other students. Brenda is also such a help and and her patientce with me is worth mentioning. I have learnt such a lot these last few months, and love the chalange that silver offers me.

6 months after my last entry ...

2008-07-07T17:32:00.000-07:00

I have been busy - that's my excuse, ok!

Winter in Cape town is not always pretty. We have had a lot of flooding in the last few days, and the bitter cold is seeping through every fiber of my being. The only happy one seems to be Thomas. Electrical blankets is apparently made for cats own personal useage ...

I will start to upload pictures of my work during the next few days.

First Entry

2007-12-29T13:20:00.000-08:00

It is late at night, hot and humid. Did I mention the mozzies? Hungry little buggers, them are!!! Sorry, but there area no pictures as yet, need to sort some stuff out, but belive me, I will have some serious eyecandy for your eyes in the next few days ...