Busy not Dead

Hello lovely Curling Stones for Lego People friends... is there anyone out there still?

I was really tempted to leave just the title up for comic effect, but I figured that was way too mean... I was glad my last post was about Curling Stones on Instagram, as if anyone does follow me  there you'll have realised that I am indeed in the land of the living, or at least the snoozing.

As fun as it is to post pictures on the go, sometimes I have the urge to write a bit more than just hashtags, sooo...

What did I get up to? Well first there was a glass course in all things sparkly with Trudi from the Glittering Prize, followed by a festival, well technically 3 festivals in a week... brilliant but oh so tiring!

First time glamping at a Festival after 30 years of tents and buses!

The second festival was Flame Off  where I blew glass with Josh and Ann from Hen Ogledd Glass, made some amazing class beads with the lovely Jenny from Raspberry Rings, had my first go at Metal Clay with Tracey at Craftworx, caught up with glassy friends and immersed myself in glass generally down in Uttoexeter.  (That first link by the way is to the 2018 Flame Off and if you fancy a nice day out I thoroughly recommend it).

Photos of things I made over the 2017 Flame Off Event

This was interspersed with LOTS of gigs, a reunion of sorts, an amazing glass course down at a studio south of Bristol.  Unfortunately I was really ill with lurgy but due to the way cancellation fees worked for both my course and hotel I decided to attend - best decision ever!

Work in Progress Photos

My course Working with Images in Glass has kicked off quite a spurt of making fused glass using these techniques as part of my alter ego over at Born of Fire - Beads & Glass.  I've been doing a lot of commissions, and as several of them are for Christmas presents I can't show them on the blog publicly, but these are a few of the ones that aren't Christmas Presents!

Finished pieces inspired by, or made on my course

I ticked off a bucket list item by seeing Marc Almond perform at Pride, had another trip to Wales, wrote my car off, enjoyed another festival, bought a car, hired a car, sold a car and continued to be busy with another Glass Festival, The International Festival of Glass in Stourbridge and a Glass Course with the lovely Gay from Gaysie May.

2017 International Festival of Glass in Stourbridge

I may write about the Festival another day, I was really blown away by the whole experience and next time, which will be 2019 as it's every two years, I'm definitely doing all 4 days.

Phew! No wonder there was no time for writing!  So that was me...

Say hi if you're here, and tell me how you are?

2016 A to Z Reflections Post

Another A to Z Challenge is over and what did I think?

I'm so glad I decided to join in at the last minute!!

I was still dithering right up to the last few days; but I have to thank Tracy at Black Boots Long Legs and SENCO Cat Herder at Special Teaching at Pempi's Palace for their encouragement - it definitely helped tip the scales towards putting my name down.

I think Blogger to Blogger encouragement and support is an integral part of the Challenge, and that is plentiful from the A to Z Challenge, whether it's your first time or your seventh - or your third in my case.

What did I enjoy the most?
With all 3 Challenges, it's been the discovery of new blogs, writers or themes, catching up with old friends, the making of new ones and learning about different worlds, both real and imaginary.

My own handmade glass beads - photo courtesy of Born Of Fire

It was also getting over (some of) my fear of talking about my own work.  I normally write about what other people make that I like.  Showing my own work and writing about it feels very different, I have dithered about properly coming out of my bead making closet, especially opening the door into Curling Stones.  Now that I have done this, and the world hasn't imploded, I feel really good; although the temptation to scuttle back into the closet is quite strong!

I always enjoy the conversations I have on Curling Stones with people, it one of my favourite aspects of blogging and it usually offers a different perspective.  This can directly affect what I write (especially if I'm writing on the fly, as I did for this year's challenge) and I love that interaction - I did my G post based on an idea from a conversation I had on my A post comments!

What did I enjoy the least?
Lack of Time - I wish I'd been more prepared with my own writing in order to spend more time blog hopping; I felt guilty that I didn't visit as many blogs compared to previous years.

I simply ran out of time on many days to get around all the blogs I wanted to.  In fairness I did know this would be the case before I started; it was one of the reasons I almost didn't take part.

What did surprise me is that apart from Q, which was a bit close to the wire, there was no danger that any post would be late, as I managed to keep on top of the writing all month.  Keeping up all the way through has taken it's toll, since the challenge finished I haven't done a thing, either writing or making glass beads as I'm still catching up with myself!

If you only read one more A to Z Challenge Blog from start to finish...
I enjoyed many of the blogs I found over the course of April but the one I couldn't wait to get to every day was Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles.

Photo courtesy of Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles

Sophie wrote her A to Z Murder Mystery letter by letter and I was gripped from Day 1!  I've pointed the link to her A post so you don't accidentally come across any spoilers prematurely, although it was written so that you could join in mid-theme and not need to reread any earlier posts as the catch up notes were excellent!

Improvements
A-Z Team - I don't have any suggestions for improvements, the team seemed to be keeping on top of the lists, visiting blogs and removing those that weren't participating as the list shrank quite a bit during the challenge.  I'm very curious about the A to Z lite experiment that I stumbled upon closer to the end of the challenge and how that might work running alongside the main challenge?

My feedback to other participants:

• When leaving comments please leave an A to Z blog link, or at least your blog name.  On a few occasions I had to give up trying to find out if you had an A to Z blog as I kept finding dead ends.
• Please consider tidying up your blog layout for the challenge, sometimes it was hard to find the A to Z posts, or figure out if you were taking part or not
• If I have to log in via my Facebook Account, or any other social media platform I have locked down for privacy, or sign up to a new commenting system in order to leave a comment, I will not be commenting, sorry!  I will try and find a way, but if it's not easy I will end up leaving - sad that I couldn't let you know I'd been and enjoyed your post.
• This year I came across very few blogs that had CAPTCHA still turned on, so I think that message is really getting through about turning it off for the challenge.  During the A to Z I have to be a lot more vigilant in catching spam comments myself, but I think I managed to delete them all quite quickly!

I would definitely encourage other bloggers to join in next year, it's great fun even though it's a challenge and it can be tough to keep it up, or in my case recover after you have kept up!

Especially if like me you hadn't prepped beforehand and you disappear off to F and have 4 days away in U during L to O - Confused? You'll have to read F and U to figure that one out!

View from the bus this weekend

It's rather ironic that the book to finish on my kindle this weekend was a find from the A to Z Challenge, picked from a Z post by Kathleen Valentine about her characters Zeke and Gabe from her novel Each Angel Burns - and yes I do recommend you go pick up a copy!

Do you have any tips to share with me
to improve my own A to Z experience
and / or navigation of my/your blog?

P.S. If you want to get involved and write your own *Reflections Post, all the blogs taking part are here. The A to Z team are interested in your views, whether you wrote and finished, wrote and stopped, or just read the A to Z!  The list is open from now until Friday.

*As long as it's about the A to Z this year, if it's not, or spammy, the link will be deleted.

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Here's a quick reference link to all my A to Z posts below - ignore, enjoy, revisit or just marvel that it all got finished considering I only decided to join the party at the last possible minute!

My Glass Beadmaking Journey by Mars

A is for Addiction & Adventures

B is for my Beads, Business Cards and a Bead Tester Group

C is for Coring

D is for Diddys

E is for Experimentation and Errors

F is for Flame Off

G is for Glass

H is for Hat

I is for Inspiration

J is for Jewellery

K is for Kiln

L is for Lessons

M is for Mandrels

N is for Naming

O is for Oxygen Concentrator

P is for Passing The Flame

Q is for Quality Control

R is for Rod Storage

S is for Silver

T is for Torch (and how to POOP)

U is for Uttoxeter

V is for Ventilation

W is for Website

X is for X-rated!

Y is for YouTube

Z is for ZigZag Razor

Z is for ZigZag Razor

I have a razor tool that lets me create a ZigZag shape in the glass, it's a wavy razor that I use to "cut" into the glass whilst it's very soft, almost molten, to make patterns.

Razor tools are probably one of my favourite tools to use in glass, I have 3!

On this bead, I've used the zigzag tool to create one type of effect - a pattern beneath transparent glass that you can almost see through into the layers.  You can use the tool in a number of ways; but this is one of my favourites!

Well dear readers and A to Z visitors - this is the last of my A to Z posts on My Glass Beadmaking Journey - I hope you've enjoyed a peek into my own glassy world!

Mars xx

P.S. This is also the 400th post on Curling Stones for Lego People, at the 100ths I tend to mark the occasion by writing something a bit more personal or special in some way... so it feels very fitting that this one marks my story to you about my own glass journey from A to Z.

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Now we are at the end of the A to Z challenge, and as always I'm off for some Zzzzz's... that is if I can get over my Beadsomnia...

What will you do next, now the A to Z Challenge is finished?

P.S. Don't forget to come back for the A to Z Reflections Post on 9th May!

Y is for YouTube

When you're trying to teach yourself YouTube can be your friend, there are lots of glass beadmaking videos on YouTube, some more helpful than others, but in the absence of lessons every week it can be a great resource.

This is an hour long video so I'm not suggesting you watch it, it's just one that really interested me and goes into a LOT of detail!

The bead is quite spectacular, so after all my "simple" beads I thought I'd contrast this with one that takes a lot more time and skill to make!

What resources have you used to teach yourself a skill in the absence of a teacher?

X is for X-rated!

Actually not really but a few people thought these two beads bore a passing resemblance to something else... Things I didn't intend to make as part of My Glass Beadmaking Journey.

The pink bead came first, I was trying to recreate a drop pendant type bead and twisted the end to make a spiral of translucent purple colours, only it kept springing back to form a head...

The black bead started life as normal shaped bead that was going to have a silver star on it... only the star "sunk" into the glass and it's shape developed as I was trying to pull it off to release the star... the star is still buried in the bead somewhere, near the tip I think...

Have you ever accidentally created anything X-rated?

W is for Website

When I started making beads, and had chosen a studio name to make under... I bought my Domain Name immediately - see N for that particular story, more to secure it rather than with any thought about doing something with it.

After all, I wasn't 100% sure about having a website; it's just me making some beads and would there really be any worthwhile content to justify it?

Very recently I randomly bumped into someone who I'd first met last Summer, we had had a fabulous conversation about art and creating things, and she had really inspired me at the time.  I haven't seen her since, until last month - when we continued with our conversation as if the intervening 7 months hadn't happened... that second conversation inspired me to come home and finish the website.

Now, whenever I chat with someone about making my own beads and they invariably ask the question "Do you have a Website?" now I can finally answer - Yes! it's here...

Born of Fire

I wonder what will happen if I bump into her a third time?

Have you had a random meeting with someone
that's inspired you to do/finish something?

V is for Ventilation

Lots of bead making processes create some nasty fumes and dangerous dusts.

Ventilation needs to be a bit more than just having a window open at the time, beadmakers can be like anyone else and be a bit naughty sometimes but there's quite a few nasties to consider when it comes to your lungs!

I have a big hood set up which sits behind my flame and is attached via tubing to a fan (like you'd find in your bathroom) and then more tubing which vents outside.  You need to make sure you have a fresh supply of air coming in, and that your ventilation system is removing what's inside to outside.

I certainly notice the difference if I don't vent when I'm working with silver, my chest gets tight and I can "feel" the difference after a relatively short session.

I've avoided working with enamels as the set up I have doesn't really allow for using fine powders regularly - as the studio spaces have other people working in them and fine powder really is nasty for your lungs (definite mask on at ALL times as well as ventilation), such a shame as I saw some great beads made at Flame Off using enamels... one day!

Is there anything you'd like to try,

but haven't because of Health and Safety?

U is for Uttoxeter

Told you I'd manage to get Flame Off somewhere else in the alphabet apart from F!

I spent a very wonderful 4 days in Uttoxeter from the 14th to the 17th of this month... and managed to keep up with the A to Z Challenge - I hope you're all suitably impressed!

I've wanted to attend for a while but I've had blogger clashes in previous years - so this time I was determined I'd be there!

Hotel booked, car packed and off I set, with a stop off on the way for a coffee to keep me awake, also because it's a favourite stop off in our bus on the way to a certain festival.

Once arrived I went for a wander around and took some pics, it was a lovely sunny evening and I settled in with a glass of wine ready for the first day.

Uttoxeter

On the Friday there were classes going on, and the event was just for those attending the classes, there were 3 different lampworking classes, 1 beginners glass blowing class and a beginners ceramics class.

Flame Off Classes

Saturday and Sunday were 2 full days of shopping, demos, having a go at glass blowing and lampworking and meeting lots and lots of lovely glass artists, traders and interesting people.

Flame Off - Saturday & Sunday

I had an amazing time, and for regular readers, I will be writing about this in a lot more detail after the A to Z is over, this is just your taster blog post!

I cannot recommend Flame Off highly enough, it's a great event and well worth a visit!

If you had the opportunity to attend, would you chat, watch, shop or have a go?

T is for Torch (and how to POOP)

Well if you're making glass beads you need something HOT to melt the glass... I use a Nortel Minor Burner which is a fairly standard entry torch.

Propane and oxygen are mixed at the surface of the torch to produce a hot flame, one that is hot enough to melt glass so I can make my beads.

The torch has two valves, so I can control how much propane (red valve on the top) and how much oxygen (silver valve on the side) are fed into the flame at any given time.

When you make glass beads it's not only how much heat and how it's applied that you need to think about but also the ratio of the gasses you use to produce certain effects, most of the time you work with a Neutral flame, but sometimes you need to add more propane (or reduce the oxygen) to make a Reducing flame or vice versa to produce an Oxygen rich flame.

I did worry I was going to blow myself up or set fire to everything when I first started... however I always remember it's Propane on 1st, Oxygen on 2nd, Oxygen off 1st, Propane off last.... and that is how you POOP safely!

What important info do you need to remember for your hobbies?

S is for Silver

When you mention silver and beads, most people will automatically think of beads made out of silver.

I love using Silver in my glass beads.  I mostly work with silver wire or foil, but I do have an experiment on the go with silver shavings.

The first bead on the left on my bangle is one I made for myself early on with silver wire in, and the bead on the right uses silver foil to give that beautiful stone/organic effect to the background, it's one of my favourite beads to make!

You can also use the silver in the foreground of a pattern, above left I used silver foil to help make those galaxy type swirls... the bead on the right is silver simply encased in glass which is an effect I love in transparent glass.

For my regular readers, silver was the main "ingredient" in the glass bead set I made to go with my Elements Set by Alex Cramariuc.

Silver is definitely one of my favourite decorations to use as it's so versatile!

What silver effect do you prefer out of the ones I've shown here?

R is for Rod Storage

The main glass for beadmaking comes in rod form, you usually buy the rods by weight in a certain colour.

Sometimes with expensive glass I buy it by the single rod, it's not the cheapest way to buy glass but as I'm a part time beadmaker I don't get through enough glass to justify having lots of expensive glass stock sitting around.

In between bead making sessions I use a test tube rack to store rods that I'm currently using so they are to hand, as my test tubes are plastic I need to make sure the rods have cooled down before I store them like this!

Do you use any raw materials in your work or hobby?

If so, how do you store them?

Q is for Quality Control

Quality control can be quite subjective, you have the obvious issues... like the bead is actually in two pieces!

Broken Bead

This one was made at the end of a session - I was renting a bench so I had a set time limit for making and there wasn't enough time to flame anneal this properly at the end of the session... this was the result.

There are other things wrong with this bead aside from it being broken, but I did like the colours I'd used.

Below are some obvious rejects that aren't broken in two but suffer with quality control issues.

A range of quality control issues!

Left to right - bad shape, dot pattern not quite right, horrible smeared pattern (looks like a dirty protest), bad shape/not quite sure what happened or what I was going for with the last one!

The next set contains some classics; horrible jagged edges (not a nice pucker), uneven width and in the foreground a slanted end (not deliberate).

Jagged edges and uneven beads

These were all quite early examples, so the next one is a very recent one for balance and a problem I have with my encasing sometimes.

Sometimes it can be a clear bald spot, where the clear encasing has pushed the patterned glass inwards... in the pic below, the bead off the bracelet has a bald spot!

Bald spot on the bead off the bracelet
(the ones on the bracelet are fine,
I just didn't have a pic of the other bead on it's own)

But sometimes a flaw can work in your favour, they're not all bad.  Here is a bead that is uneven, there is more glass on one side than the other, it's not quite round and the ends are not particularly puckered; it's a definite reject bead - but it works beautifully on a bangle - the less glass on one side means it sits just perfect on your wrist!

Uneven glass distribution around the core can
make for a "great" bangle bead

Who knew wonky beads had such a great use!

Any stories of quality control - the good, the bad or the ugly?

P is for Passing The Flame

Passing the Flame is a glass bead making book by Corina Tettinger and is pretty much regarded as if you only buy one beadmaking book, you get this one!

It was quite the investment as the book is not something you can pick up on sale at your local bookshop but it was worth every penny.

It's full of great illustrations, large colour photographs and it will take you through the basics of how you can hold rods and mandrels, through to much more complex topics.

I love Corina's style of writing, she has a very dry sense of humour and if you are ever going to indulge yourself with an expensive coffee table book this is well worth the money; it also comes in handy for me to flatten my roles of kiln paper after I've cut them to size... but shhh don't tell anyone as it's probably against the law to use it for such a trivial purpose!

What is the most expensive book you have ever bought?

O is for Oxygen Concentrator

Mine is called Glow and was adopted by me in August last year!

I need to use Oxygen for my torch and this is the safest (and cheapest) way for me to do so, rather than using an oxygen tank.

Glow is a 5L refurbished medical oxygen concentrator that uses air and coverts it into oxygen to feed into my torch.  He makes a noise when he's working, so he's not a quiet bead making companion by any stretch of the imagination but it's a noise you get used to!

He has a pressure guage so I can check that he's breathing properly, and much like getting a torch it was all a bit overwhelming to start with, but now he's my trusty beadmaking buddy.

When I brought him home I even strapped him into the seatbelt of my car to make sure he didn't get hurt on the journey home... any sane person would have just have had him delivered rather than chauffer him door to door, but who wants to be sane?

Do you have a non-human trusty companion whilst you work?

N is for Naming

Choosing a name almost made me give up... I could make beads, I mastered coring, got over my fear of showing people what I'd made without apologising but finding a name to live with? Almost impossible!

Talking with other people it seems it's a common theme, apparently I'm not the only one who struggled with this.

The name I make beads under is Born of Fire, I'd got to the stage where I was running out of time to choose my trading name as I had to register this within 3 months of starting to sell beads.  Now it's chosen I am learning to not only live with it but to love it.

All the other names that I'd come up with, were often already taken, or were too narrow in definition of what I might make, or too silly to live with forever once the novelty wore off.

I've kept some of my notes as I'm going to get some of them in somewhere; probably as the name of a bead or a collection in the future - hence not telling you all the names I did consider just in case that contains a future spoiler!

What have you had to name, and how did you choose?