2016 New Years Bead Resolutions in Review

Well hello blog! Long time no see...

I've finally got around to having a sort through my bead box, and in doing so my thoughts turned to the resolutions I made at the start of the year, how I got on with these, and that I really should get my arse in gear to tell you the results!

Making resolutions is something I've done for the last 4 years - so I really couldn't end the year without doing my annual review.

My New Year's Bead Resolutions 2016

• To become a better beadmaker - this is a little vague and broad at the moment.  It's been spurred on by a rather unsatisfying session I had on New Years Day at the torch, where I learnt I not only can't bead and talk, but that not beadmaking for 4 weeks does make a really big difference to what I can produce!  I'm fairly sure this resolution is much more than become a more consistent beadmaker, although I'd like to do that too, along with learning a whole host of techniques that I'm spectacularly bad at, at the moment!  Perhaps this will morph into mini goals as the year progresses, we shall see!

• To spend less in 2016 than I did in 2015 - This is my repeated bead resolution, I've actually achieved it every year, so it's not because I can't reduce my spending... and I am starting to get into the ball park of what I'd like to be spending on beads per year, not what I actually spend. So I've kept it in for another year as a reminder that I'm not quite there just yet.

• To share more of my beadmaking journey - I've not really done this much apart from where the blog naturally crosses over with my beadmaking e.g. my Element bracelet where I wanted to make a glass set to go with my silvers.  I've been promising to do this more lately, so I'm going to set it as one of my resolutions to talk specifically about beadmaking, and learning to make glass beads, from my point of view.  As I'm writing this down, I think it might help me with No.1 too!

Okay, in no particular order... I dedicated my AtoZ to my beadmaking journey, so there were a whole 26 posts dedicated to glass.

However once the AtoZ finished that was pretty much it.  Not only for the spilling the beans about the beadmaking, but also for a lot of my blog posts and content, it's been rather sporadic for 2016!  So what happened?

Well a whole heap of things; I started going to college in April for half a day a week to learn more about glass fusing and kilnforming, I continued to make beads and fused glass and sell them via my new business and the day job got super busy.  Something had to give and that was usually the blog, and er, a lot of my social life!

For those curious about my beadmaking journey, the most updated place for information is probably the Born of Fire - facebook page (apologies for those not on Facebook), or my Born of Fire - Instagram (on occasion), or (rarely) my Born of Fire -Twitter.  The Born of Fire - website gets updated once in a blue moon when I remember... or I have to pay the fees!


To become a better beadmaker, looking back as what I was making December 2015 to what I made throughout the year, I think in many ways I did, but I also fell down the fusing rabbit hole, which was inevitable I guess given I started college in April so there were a whole load of new ideas I was trying out!

One of the best changes I made was attending Flame Off in April.  In turn this gave me the confidence to finally try some group lampworking courses which I had been too nervous to do before.

After a quick 1-1 lesson in Borosilicate to give it a go (different glass, different rules), my first course was with the lovely Marcel Rensmaag to make eyeballs!  We did make other things but it was the eyeballs I really wanted to try out.

Later in the year was a quick fire course with Ray Skene.  This really boosed my confidence and I learnt a whole host of new tricks, my favourite make from the day was my leaf pendant!

Finally on to the money, to spend less in 2016 than I did in 2015. In spite of a trip to Denmark, where I had a lovely splurge on Trollbeads and Eske Storm Jewellery, I managed it!  By quite a considerable margin actually, my spending on jewellery is finally coming down to something I consider more reasonable for a jewellery addict - although it's probably still a lot by "normal" standards of course!

All things considered I think I did okay on the 2016 resolutions.

What did you get up to this year that was different to last year?

Or did you want to do more of the same as it was so good?

The World of Mars and Skewiff Scheduling

Well thought I'd better pop in and let everyone know what I'm up to at the moment as my blogging schedule is a little skewiff!

Side Stage View from Humber Street Sesh

I've been a busy bee in August; hanging out with my husband and friends when they all played a festival - they had sofas in front of their stage... and cover (it rained a lot in the afternoon) so guess where I stayed for most of the day!

Wales... for once in this pic it wasn't raining!

I did a bit of Pandora shopping before heading off on a whirlwind trip to Wales to catch up with family, celebrate a special Grandmother's birthday and generally chill out, with good food & drink and more bad weather unfortunately.  I also came home with some very special pieces of jewellery... but I'll save that story for later!

New Glass!

In other news - I bought some more glass and I've had my 2nd lampworking lesson - only 2 years after my 1st one! 

Pootling along by myself for the last few months, I decided it was time for some expert guidance in getting shot of some bad habits and attempting to learn some good new ones.

My own torch!

I've also taken the plunge and bought my own torch, after much umming and ahhing and driving friends and family insane with my constant, Shall I? Shan't I? questioning.  And, er, that is where the rest of my time has gone this month... I've been creating a little space for myself in my kitchen so I can make beads at home!

Alex Cramariuc - Elements Silver Set

Oh and I've also been gazing adoringly at my new bracelet made up of Alex Cramariuc Elements Silver Set... I did mention that Alex was the one designer that might break my New Years Bead Resolutions Budget and I was right, worth every single penny though!

So that's what I've been up to so far, I have a few things planned for the blog but my scheduling will remain a little skewiff whilst things settle down and I concentrate on not setting fire to the kitchen, or me, or the visiting cats, or anyone who tries to make a cup of tea at the same time... More on my progress later!

So that's me, what have you been up to?

Making Glass Beads ~ Taster Session

I can't believe it's taken me so long to write about this!  

To those of you who follow me on Twitter, or regularly read the comments, or indeed read G is for Glass during the A to Z Challenge this will be slightly old news, albeit with more photos!

Back in January I signed up for a glass bead making taster session, I felt confident my shoulder had recovered enough to be up to the job and spurred on by my trip to Trollbeads Cambridge I made the booking for "sometime" in February.

Dates decided and with a friend in tow who had always wanted to try lampworking, we met Victoria at Oresome Gallery's workshop ready for our glass bead making taster session.

For 2 very blissful hours that positively flew by, we made lots of beads, shrieked as bits of glass pinged off rods and said oops a few times as we experimented... not always to a positive result but surprisingly more positive results than you'd expect considering this was Billy's first attempt and only my second... I think we did brilliantly!

Am I going to try it again? Glass bought and sessions already booked used!

What have you waited for a long time...

only to be super excited once you actually got started?

Any beadmakers out there who can give us some tips?!

Torch Talk - Don't set yourself on fire!

The start of the new month, a few days booked off work and time to treat myself to something new... a class in lampworking!

I'd booked 2 hours of 1-1 tuition, the minimum recommended for a complete beginner and my aim was to not set myself on fire, anything else was a bonus!

The Studio was about an hour's drive away in a lovely rural setting and I was made to feel immediately welcome when I eventually arrived, as my Sat Nav decided I really wanted to go to the Vicarage instead!  Luckily knowing how quirky my Sat Nav and village postcodes can be I'd set off early so I wasn't actually late.  I'm told that the Vicarage are quite used to directing folk up to the Studio!  Cup of tea in hand and safety glasses on (after throwing them under the bench, I hoped I wouldn't remain this clumsy for the rest of the session) we got straight to work!

The session was organised so a bead would be demonstrated with my lovely tutor explaining what she was doing stage by stage.  Then it was my turn to either replicate this or do something very similar, we started off with just the basics of wrapping the glass around a mandrel.  This is akin to rubbing your tummy and patting your head... as you have a mandrel that you're turning in one hand, and a rod of glass you're melting in the other whilst trying to remember which bits need to be in the flame, and when, and also where... it was GREAT!

The 2 hours just whizzed by and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, time to clean the beads off and see what I'd made - for this session we cooled them in cooling bubbles so I could get some instant feedback on how they turned out.

The results?  Well you can see for yourself below, mine are on the bottom row...

The neat beads on the top row are my tutor's, the slightly messy ones on the bottom row are mine!

The first two beads on the bottom row are actually the last two that I made and I'm so pleased with how they turned out.  They both have larger holes so will fit on my troll bracelets, although they are not cored yet and have been flame annealed rather than kiln annealed but I had to try them out to see how they would look!

I definitely want to do this again, not only was it fun, but working with the glass and the flame was incredibly relaxing.  If you get a chance to ever have a go yourself or watch it being done I'd definitely recommend you try lampworking!

I did intend on taking some photos as I went along as I've always intended to blog about this experience... however I did book the class primarily for the pleasure of learning something new.  When I arrived, I realised I didn't want to lose any of my tuition time taking photos, or indeed miss anything my tutor was showing me because I was too busy taking a photo!  Maybe next time...