tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77693661928983231052024-03-06T02:56:44.139+11:00Beadmonki LampworkMy journey with glass - melting it, moving it, shaping it....... making art with it!Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.comBlogger112125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-69020776874914548272014-10-14T21:13:00.000+11:002014-10-14T21:13:22.348+11:00Marbles of weight loss - a positive way to record the journey<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yep, forgot the password (really did) have moved house, started back at a full time admin job, been thrown out of our house because of asbestos contamination.... you name it, its happened so far this year.<br />
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But this is a glass blog, so I wanted to get some ideas down for a start.<br />
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I need to get onto murrini making and now that I have moved my lampworking equipment over to my Mum's temporarily I am starting a new project. I know, I know, I have many MANY half done projects, but I have an idea, it will get me back in the swing of glass and murrini making and should be fun and sort of functional.<br />
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I have got to take off some weight (the story of many fellow sufferers of those of us who happen to love eating - a LOT). <br />
I have quite a bit of weight to lose and I am going to make myself a series of marbles with murrini representing different weights and some just with positive messages. I am going to make enough that I will be able to document my weight loss goal with them.<br />
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I am thinking of making them with the following messages/increments:<br />
"1kg" loss marbles - nice ones<br />
"1/2kg" loss marbles - relatively simple but nice ones<br />
"5kg" loss marbles (which will be larger and more complex and probably have scenes with murrini inside)<br />
Some small plain-ish ones that say "good try" or "nearly"<br />
A couple that say "oops"<br />
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I want to pop them in a large bowl or vase and then slowly move them over to another bowl representing what I have lost. I am thinking this will provide me with a visual measurement of what I have achieved (ie. getting to see the build up of marbles in the "lost" bowl) and give me the satisfaction of moving them around each week and take a minute or two to think about my goals and achievements. I am probably sounding completely crazy right now, but once I start I will show how I have gone.<br />
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This weekend will hopefully see the start of my Marbles of weightloss collection :-)<br />
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Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-59364516493244087612014-01-04T22:29:00.004+11:002014-01-04T22:40:11.258+11:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Iiiimmmmmm Baaaaaccckkkk</h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yep, after a shamefully long period of time I am back and want to try and blog my glassy journey once again. Its not a good excuse, but I honestly could not remember my password to google - I really am a lazy bugger!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Since my last blog entry, I have been absolutely insanely busy with my glass. I often struggle to keep up with demand, but to be honest this is often a combination of factors the most common ones being:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em>1. Genuinely busy with glass work and family stuff</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Yep, sometimes I have a hugely long list of things all those lovely people want from me. I am a devil for saying yes to nearly everything, I really do need to start saying no or putting some sort of caveat on taking the order (eg. it might be 6 months and you will have to remind me again). I have three girls and a husband and it can get really insane running around for the kids stuff, I often scam off for my glass, but I really do have to participate in my families lives sometimes!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em>2. Being distracted by other ideas</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Very very often I will be working on something and come up with some mad idea that quite frankly, MUST be made or attempted immediately - not next week, not tomorrow, not after I have made the things I should be doing ..... RIGHT NOW!!!!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em>3. Lack of inspiration/self discipline</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Oh dear, very very often I get asked for a particular glassy item and even though I might really love making that particular thing, suddenly I don't really want to make it any more. Its not a performance anxiety thing and I haven't really worked out why my brain is being such a massive pain in the butt, but I nearly always need to make the thing that someone asked for immediately or I end up slipping it to the end of the list repeatedly.... usually once I actually make it I enjoy the process and wonder why I was being a pain in my own butt!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The self discipline issue has been a big one. Particularly whilst I have been off work (admin office work that is) and have ALL DAY to saunter out to my torch and fiddle fart around checking the TV channels and maybe occasionally even do some housework before I finally light my torch. Many times I have turned the kiln on and then not even lit the torch.... shameful (bad for carbon footprint too).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Now that we have moved house back down to Canberra (a house we actually own) we are shortly building me a brand spanking new studio. Unfortunately I have to return to the admin work full time to pay for it... but I am hopeful that a reduction in available time will result in me being much more disciplined and encourage me to utilise my time more effectively when I can. I THINK it is likely that I will be getting more hours at the torchface than I did before and hopefully in a more organised fashion ....... Wish me luck kind people!!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I will leave you with a pic of one of my borosilicate glass dongle necklaces. Glass chain with a short rod holding a small marble at the each end. This one has a mix of colours and shape murrini, some are commercial and lots are my own home made jobs too. I am very proud to say that this one won its section and was put into the "standard of excellence" display. I got a second prize in the bead section too and all together a wonderful prize total from Affordable Inspiration of $250... I had fun ordering a huge glass fest!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2013 Sydney Easter Show dongle necklace</td></tr>
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Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-54674771900915880992012-10-17T20:09:00.001+11:002012-10-17T20:09:49.916+11:00Five minutes of fame - Magazine profile coolness!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8QT3k_Xxcakvj3ibIkT5y0iNjLSGuJIuhccQNBsEFTRqym-_ogeCub0ekshMIEcnP0zhpqmlsp1cRC0dkWcjyYyeaEC2csR9tIi2g0vU5ao4VooOLvVk0EZY59NxdTgUMHOcToDgBxBnM/s1600/002+-+Copy+(5).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8QT3k_Xxcakvj3ibIkT5y0iNjLSGuJIuhccQNBsEFTRqym-_ogeCub0ekshMIEcnP0zhpqmlsp1cRC0dkWcjyYyeaEC2csR9tIi2g0vU5ao4VooOLvVk0EZY59NxdTgUMHOcToDgBxBnM/s320/002+-+Copy+(5).JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Well, I am hopeful that people all over Australia are running out to buy the latest issue (Vol 9 No 1)of Creative Beading Magazine and turn to page 24 to read my profile!!!! What can I say, but... "Its Out"!!!! Yahoooooo! <br />
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I have never had something like this done before, so after I got over my intial surprise at being asked, I was excited and fearful in equal measure. Excited, because lets face it, its not every day you see your own name in print let alone a whole profile on yourself. Fearful, because what if the editors didn't realise that you weren't actually that important or accomplished or clever and when they write the article I sound like a knob!!!! Well, thank goodness Sharon (or Shazza as I think of her) who wrote the article on me was absolutely lovely and extraordinarily clever at putting it all together. She is a journalistic genius to make me sound so interesting and yet not resort to a single untruth!!!! LOL<br />
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One part of my magazine article journey that really did not work out was the profile picture of myself... lets just say that my eldest daughter Grace and and I had about 500 digital photo disasters and then promptly gave up to let my beads speak for themselves<br />
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.... here were a couple of the rejects LOL (although I have used the one with my tongue out as a facebook avatar.... just to scare my mates mostly ;-) <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAjS9qjU7TcHfcAi9oZw-c7hIcH7ZDJwFVblPMKNanv3ghBcgb48Dzo-bo7jrvNa3RcGAljZ5LM0XXbJfM733IgPpnkTGGjsfvBlAsPOdOqgfbASZznAo9hrG9xdnDMJe-nLqV1p-3Tcee/s1600/048+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAjS9qjU7TcHfcAi9oZw-c7hIcH7ZDJwFVblPMKNanv3ghBcgb48Dzo-bo7jrvNa3RcGAljZ5LM0XXbJfM733IgPpnkTGGjsfvBlAsPOdOqgfbASZznAo9hrG9xdnDMJe-nLqV1p-3Tcee/s200/048+-+Copy.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjbo-ws5eU7_3r5W_BdTXtupUL4YEa-BSRGjqbjNjWgjdDCGCCqyUKOljI-BSWdR5XI8GYd8OPJhm8XkpJgnCDUb4XynV_g2lCR_zOsnO9VzPvMfQ2zboJ_HNkmVN7rj3_5rS57b7-p26x/s1600/033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjbo-ws5eU7_3r5W_BdTXtupUL4YEa-BSRGjqbjNjWgjdDCGCCqyUKOljI-BSWdR5XI8GYd8OPJhm8XkpJgnCDUb4XynV_g2lCR_zOsnO9VzPvMfQ2zboJ_HNkmVN7rj3_5rS57b7-p26x/s200/033.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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Along with making a huge effort to try and catch up with some orders and odds and ends, I have been manically working to get some stock into my etsy store. A bit of a recent sideline has been making some tiny eyeball cabochons for use in jewellery design which has been fun. I have decided to use them as a way of testing out some glass colour and frit, sort of like a sampler... some are human and realistic, but there are also some ring-in's and I have definitely had fun making a few zombie apocalypse style :-)<br />
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Here's a little handful of the eyes..... elicits many opportunities for Puns I reckon!!!<br />
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I am having a fabulous time with my glass lately...... I would spend all day and all night on my torch if I could... its a good feeling!!!!! :-)<br />
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Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-13512816062017572012012-10-10T21:24:00.000+11:002012-10-10T21:24:19.633+11:00Beads... beads and more beads!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Its actually interesting the way my brain works (but scary no doubt LOL). First I work hard to get beads made, then I flitter off and do some off mandrel work.... then I flitter off again and try out some strange "I had a dream in the middle of the night" sort of torch session. I really do wish I could exercise some self control and settle down to doing just the one thing each day!!!!<br />
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Given my excitement at the fact that Creative Beading Mazagine has just done a profile on yours truly.... not just a wee little mention.... but a whopping three and a half whole pages!!!! I thought I should actually put some stuff into my etsy store... specifically some beads... just in case anyone wants a Natalie Monkivitch special if you know what I mean!<br />
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Well, when I checked the pathetic stash, there was hardly a bead to be found, so off to the torch I have gone... with a mission.... to make a set. Yep for those that know me well the word set usually sets my knees to knocking and causes a watery feeling the bowels.... Set allergy it might be called (but slack arse lack of self discipline it really is)!!<br />
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I am very pleased to say that I did manage not one set.... but two fairly big (for me) sets. I also got right into the swing of bead making again, not that I had stopped or anything, but I had definitely been distracted. I have had a real ball with it. First off here is the first set I made using scrap twisties off my workbench, they are italian soft glass and using the bead press (another thing I am usually averse to).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn6dlTkrVSM0Wnc66E6OGfEffa4Zp9YCBa10quXKOcnlavSooO7s3onavlI5FIQJGkeNnFY9aDEjqOFfbFTTRt2GOgquaDGseBZF3iVYu0Rqm9x4EErMq7Sx_6qnBOq8vHnl9e4E0Q5S26/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn6dlTkrVSM0Wnc66E6OGfEffa4Zp9YCBa10quXKOcnlavSooO7s3onavlI5FIQJGkeNnFY9aDEjqOFfbFTTRt2GOgquaDGseBZF3iVYu0Rqm9x4EErMq7Sx_6qnBOq8vHnl9e4E0Q5S26/s320/008.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green Scrap bead set</td></tr>
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After being so pleased at the success of the first set, and with the satisfied feeling that I had actually knuckled down and achieved something, I made some twisties for a second set in different colours. I hope everyone notices that I EVEN made the spacers to match..... yahoo!!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKkmLOMmbio_rDUHYIUU0DYhNKjAjV6thyZZsE8JQe_Qaytpa0d_lfITlopZKEQeGAs9k2Aal3NjLY2iOyrj9ZQR9-UzyLO7RXTuWXCQiZicTaAkYLxLCkct4JfDRwctqhymKsjsIOpaJz/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKkmLOMmbio_rDUHYIUU0DYhNKjAjV6thyZZsE8JQe_Qaytpa0d_lfITlopZKEQeGAs9k2Aal3NjLY2iOyrj9ZQR9-UzyLO7RXTuWXCQiZicTaAkYLxLCkct4JfDRwctqhymKsjsIOpaJz/s320/002.JPG" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pink, blue and turquoise twistie scrap bead set</td></tr>
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Amazingly I have managed to photograph them and list them in my etsy, although I will admit to a fairly lengthy delay in removing them from the mandrels and cleaning them.... I seemed to keep walking past and thinking of something more interesting to do ..... as other glass bead makers will attest... cleaning beads is not the funnest part of the whole process!!!<br />
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Of course I went back for a second torch session and made some off mandrel cabochons for some more pocket watches.... I particularly like this dragons eye one.... I don't even know why, but it looked rather cool in real life. It probably won't sell or anything, but that is part of the problem with making things only to your own tastes... I hardly ever make anything yellow or orange unless it is for a particular person, its time I branched out a bit I reckon!!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZdPrqhcs4r2blcIJl8grj_qB1ilaqHvBwr_uxcu5Em7W_0XL3sGWeIZO5KwmsP0lXQO87wgS8cftL0704rtb9fnB4_PzTYLNy7fi3cb6drIrfQMOvxvt8UWSVe3q4Z5GAZXHdB9xrXHlL/s1600/033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZdPrqhcs4r2blcIJl8grj_qB1ilaqHvBwr_uxcu5Em7W_0XL3sGWeIZO5KwmsP0lXQO87wgS8cftL0704rtb9fnB4_PzTYLNy7fi3cb6drIrfQMOvxvt8UWSVe3q4Z5GAZXHdB9xrXHlL/s320/033.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dragons eye cabochon on pocket watch</td></tr>
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Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-89555125772014911192012-08-16T14:13:00.001+10:002012-08-16T14:13:21.762+10:00Pocket watch fun.... and the cabochon has it!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcNYooFF577PkUkP7FvMm3Fa48rjY9L_iR1M74gASEvSDd18ZjWRBDwJdL_RBdFKRo_Kcu8h3YxLQ0T0jaCwBTPxeVsA_jA1UZZJybmYY-ajR0bj39zjTOgpPx9H1VWk8sUt4-U90CrOuK/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcNYooFF577PkUkP7FvMm3Fa48rjY9L_iR1M74gASEvSDd18ZjWRBDwJdL_RBdFKRo_Kcu8h3YxLQ0T0jaCwBTPxeVsA_jA1UZZJybmYY-ajR0bj39zjTOgpPx9H1VWk8sUt4-U90CrOuK/s320/001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My glass cabs glued onto the little pocket watches</td></tr>
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Well, whilst conducting my usual late night "surf the large chinese supplier website because I can't sleep yet" internet use, I came across some really cute little pocket watches with rather cheesy porcelain cabochons installed on the front. I thought to myself that these would look so much better with a nice glass cab on there and decided to dip my toes into negotiating with the chinese supplier to get something custom made..... little did I know that about 1 million (prob only really 50, just felt like more) emails later, it looked like they have made up exactly what I wanted.<br />
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So I paid, stalked the postage tracker until they arrived into my hot little hand......... Cute, great.... but not exactly what I wanted. The big issue I had was that the surface of the watch where the cab gets glued is not exactly flat.... not even a little bit flat... bugger!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXzsuKY0HD5AGB7_JfzhOsl2kt50rUcbJAF2wCbrPcSrpfGFVzPEBYpoWUrxiDRcCnt_LyyYrGWpjxDqq-74pp-b5YM_I2JGAp_IM_zCjgd7CnjiiDdEtHkSSw0KzhGeZPfY-R9q_IHl3b/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXzsuKY0HD5AGB7_JfzhOsl2kt50rUcbJAF2wCbrPcSrpfGFVzPEBYpoWUrxiDRcCnt_LyyYrGWpjxDqq-74pp-b5YM_I2JGAp_IM_zCjgd7CnjiiDdEtHkSSw0KzhGeZPfY-R9q_IHl3b/s200/003.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The domed surface for the cab to go onto</td></tr>
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Well after some brain storming with a lampy friend Darcy we came up with the cunning plan to remove the front from one of the watches and try using it as a push mold on the back of a hot glass cab to give the perfect shape to cab for annealing and then later gluing on... it was a plan!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCP4EKHcveHAcyhhEE-NS-30L65o8_nSU20kBcz35HUFt4E667F5ZT2h5Etqg7KaJaVkN2tmolJpRFkG4THsDo9Zu-rROIOzDKTMSSq0yLs24jRvChKWgwdTyv5iQiuWrTZBMCv7FtDFU/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCP4EKHcveHAcyhhEE-NS-30L65o8_nSU20kBcz35HUFt4E667F5ZT2h5Etqg7KaJaVkN2tmolJpRFkG4THsDo9Zu-rROIOzDKTMSSq0yLs24jRvChKWgwdTyv5iQiuWrTZBMCv7FtDFU/s200/001.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watch I "killed" to give me the cab mold</td></tr>
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So, even though i was still feeling a little bit under the weather, I fired up the kiln yesterday and tried out the idea using both borosilicate glass and then some soft glass. I used the boro first (because the kiln was ramped up hotter to start with this, then I ramp it down later to the soft glass annealing temp). I made up the cab using a slice of my recent boro butterfly cane in a large diameter... the cab was looking nice, so I heated the backside up nice and hot and plunged it onto the "mold". First off there was some really nasty smells.... then a spitting sound and then when I lifted the cab up, this is what I found!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjriXlWKHXpCW74Zi9ac-cAzdA0nBQaYQBu6_qjxNTQGQ8z49xiR_poKw4sKQycl8rTuLoYBQvUL9nlKPOJHpeZP0vuCg5fsg0phWoDYuyUG-jE3ctHNkRKN4NAH5Fq-kFL6RTRIOhX2Whu/s1600/016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjriXlWKHXpCW74Zi9ac-cAzdA0nBQaYQBu6_qjxNTQGQ8z49xiR_poKw4sKQycl8rTuLoYBQvUL9nlKPOJHpeZP0vuCg5fsg0phWoDYuyUG-jE3ctHNkRKN4NAH5Fq-kFL6RTRIOhX2Whu/s320/016.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">melted mold after first use</td></tr>
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There is no doubt.... I killed it! Clearly not made of stainless steel, but probably zinc or something. In any case I was grateful for the good ventilation in my workspace thats for sure.<br />
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After this cab, I ramped down the kiln and resorted to plan B..... shaping the back of the cab by hand and just using this mold as a guage for diameter. I tried using the stumpshaper (the curved bit) to make a concave back..... nope, not neat enough. Then I tried using the back of a teaspoon and .....yahooo, it worked. This option works, but is not completely ideal I do admit. I am thinking of getting myself some graphite and sanding it into the shape I want and using that as a mold which would be MUCH better I reckon.<br />
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Some of the tips I got from this first batch other than shaping the back for gluing.... keep it slightly smaller than you think.... heat the back of the cab quite hard and then press down to give slimmer sides which sit nicely on the watch front. I am thinking there are a complete raft of interesting things that can be done with these watches.... it has been a difficult track to run, but worth it in the end!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTFQiXZ-G_VFPlP2N8IesDg9mVP8-GqmTFyVdgT-wQniRycgLzZB2twQ7Tpn8IlGMMo2_AFp-Hlgf2M5thZ70LqKw2rC_hAg6pD_NcUFdNQDVqz8Y1t_3dz-pyEs98GjCY2imwWNhNuUJo/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTFQiXZ-G_VFPlP2N8IesDg9mVP8-GqmTFyVdgT-wQniRycgLzZB2twQ7Tpn8IlGMMo2_AFp-Hlgf2M5thZ70LqKw2rC_hAg6pD_NcUFdNQDVqz8Y1t_3dz-pyEs98GjCY2imwWNhNuUJo/s320/008.JPG" width="314" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Butterfly cab glued onto pocket watch front.... this one was a little bit thick around the edges as my first one</td></tr>
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</div>
Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-68901320479987687402012-08-15T10:15:00.004+10:002012-08-15T10:16:59.994+10:00I can haz..... the flu! :-(<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yep, I have got it.... those dreaded lurgs that seem to be all over Sydney - aka influenza. I don't want to spend my time blog whinging....(is that called Blinge-ing? LOL) but I have found it fairly difficult to get out onto my torch and actually melt some glass. Interestingly enough it is not just due to incapacitation by illness.... it is my frame of mind and how being sick effects my creativity I think...... needless to say I have spend a fair bit if time in bed with the electric blanket set on 2, my ipad to play words with friends and pondering the great wonders of the universe... or my navel, whichever comes first ;-)<br />
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I thought I would share my experiences of lampworking when in different frames of mind.... sounds weird I know, but trust me - there appears to be a pattern here!<br />
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<strong><span style="color: #741b47;">Good mood, kids well behaved and feeling fit</span></strong><br />
This is a conchatenation of ideal circumstances for me... I am happy and excited to be working, feel like I have almost unlimited patience and like to make really complicated objects de glass! You can see from the examples below that I tend to use a lot of murrini when I am in a good mood:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8st9fOMtbAPEmRgcJGZ_BkNddK87-nuQFNjyo_kGL2keRKVdnK6hQMhOTR4x8ZXAlyIril7etyng6EYmD04kcQN88-YtZfBnJbwIVJKCfUdQC99l3C4r5VJZq-utpIQDHnw9CafYhdSTn/s1600/002+-+Copy+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8st9fOMtbAPEmRgcJGZ_BkNddK87-nuQFNjyo_kGL2keRKVdnK6hQMhOTR4x8ZXAlyIril7etyng6EYmD04kcQN88-YtZfBnJbwIVJKCfUdQC99l3C4r5VJZq-utpIQDHnw9CafYhdSTn/s200/002+-+Copy+(2).JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">aquarium focal bead</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxPZbTpX4xdVeD4S2rRrB7SkHw7Xz6fDu_-wTIj3ANHCa0E1Sdv9i58Eh5TRqpsVI524gpjwLd9FlfHcaNAtjNXW4a3rRXl1SHAyKCdpIsVkJz4au1bdp0glg72PkhEa4EfMwdxr6rn9kC/s1600/005+-+Copy+(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxPZbTpX4xdVeD4S2rRrB7SkHw7Xz6fDu_-wTIj3ANHCa0E1Sdv9i58Eh5TRqpsVI524gpjwLd9FlfHcaNAtjNXW4a3rRXl1SHAyKCdpIsVkJz4au1bdp0glg72PkhEa4EfMwdxr6rn9kC/s200/005+-+Copy+(3).JPG" width="121" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of burlesque bead</td></tr>
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<strong><span style="color: #741b47;">Feeling a little "out of sorts"</span></strong><br />
Hmmmm, you know that feeling when, well, nothing really excites you. You feel fine, but just not terribly enthusiastic about anything in particular. I often feel like this when I have an order to fill, I think the fact that I am somewhat constrained in what I will be making can sometimes stifle the fun out of the process. I tend to feel this way EVEN if it is something that I really enjoy making, I am sure the psychologist types out there could easily research into what causes this particular reaction, but for me, it is just bloody annoying! I do find that once I have made a start then it is all sweetness and light.... but 'till then, think Marvin the Manic Depressive Robot goes to work on the assembly line and you will have a closely matched thing to me walking out and lighting the torch!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLppPVB6D1UXT_pk4FwSnYQlovR3UmpYuH6VWEMeJuGtPUCI3h7mYkOsJEP5_kZOkxwEWwfmUIlspWhg1ilSMfVM7wdt_kRrYwPlfxayGTc-8w8rR9bLI1E-Rh45iIDGxzVqvfVWMvwnkn/s1600/Frog+pond+focal+bead.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLppPVB6D1UXT_pk4FwSnYQlovR3UmpYuH6VWEMeJuGtPUCI3h7mYkOsJEP5_kZOkxwEWwfmUIlspWhg1ilSMfVM7wdt_kRrYwPlfxayGTc-8w8rR9bLI1E-Rh45iIDGxzVqvfVWMvwnkn/s200/Frog+pond+focal+bead.JPG" width="147" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frog pond focal bead</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT_avl7Tcps5xfcTMdkpqszrRC9zfZX46yUXr6vF-67Vl9L_WTS4QhIwU0L-7Ni1fZ_fOy7q4zUWgjA4hkl96m-cPrLSA-fjw2sylfxsT6Bz8CNXiizx4oi47gvsZGG7OEK_ybc0qcFvvD/s1600/051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT_avl7Tcps5xfcTMdkpqszrRC9zfZX46yUXr6vF-67Vl9L_WTS4QhIwU0L-7Ni1fZ_fOy7q4zUWgjA4hkl96m-cPrLSA-fjw2sylfxsT6Bz8CNXiizx4oi47gvsZGG7OEK_ybc0qcFvvD/s200/051.JPG" width="193" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Very badly shaped vomitus focal</td></tr>
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<strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #741b47;">Cranky or angry</span></strong><br />
Well, this is not the time to be torching for me, nothing good and NOTHING nice comes out of torching when I am in a bad mood. The only advantage of Cranky torching for me, is that is can get the bad mood out of my system, unfortunately it is from punishing the glass somewhat though....ouch! When I am in a bad mood, I slap the glass on, I try to force it to do what I want, when I want and how I want.... of course, it is an epic failure as a result. To be honest when I cranky torch I could almost just get everything out of the kiln in the morning and throw it in the reject bin sight unseen, not because I am still cranky, but purely because it is ugly, unbalanced horrible stuff!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy1XnDg3VP1xw6CKIY8n-xt0GoLj6XrPSehcnAZ0sLI4Fb489nzJIfJjnuzK2mN8tOoKJeEE18H86ePMRINol5x4Bf76Hxt3547N82pJ82bCmaI8gkXhaQdRGwCDECf9gXfu9bq0A9wWmb/s1600/001+-+Copy+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy1XnDg3VP1xw6CKIY8n-xt0GoLj6XrPSehcnAZ0sLI4Fb489nzJIfJjnuzK2mN8tOoKJeEE18H86ePMRINol5x4Bf76Hxt3547N82pJ82bCmaI8gkXhaQdRGwCDECf9gXfu9bq0A9wWmb/s200/001+-+Copy+%25282%2529.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cranky torching = beads barely safe for human eyes LOL</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #741b47;"><strong>Distracted mood, is really thinking of other "stuff" not glass</strong></span><br />
Yep, I have torched in this stage and to be honest it is another one of those regrettable incidents that is only evidenced by more items in the reject bowl. I have put eyes where eyes do not belong. I have picked up the wrong colour and used it in the worse place (think murrini faces with a big birthmark) and have totally forgot to shape the base bead which means the end result is .... disturbing!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEN7M-BzyZWaeU1yNi0Sqe0sRLNo__QMIpgxA2fvsrWCFqNjcZwdGsTUQ9SavlRkUmdH1T3SNWez2IfIMqSp0zfF97WU_q1syUadCCMBsRFjcR7ZElB_9qGHJpofCLCq0Vook6lSzFz5mh/s1600/005+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEN7M-BzyZWaeU1yNi0Sqe0sRLNo__QMIpgxA2fvsrWCFqNjcZwdGsTUQ9SavlRkUmdH1T3SNWez2IfIMqSp0zfF97WU_q1syUadCCMBsRFjcR7ZElB_9qGHJpofCLCq0Vook6lSzFz5mh/s320/005+-+Copy.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fish..... sorta</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MtNZ3sHW3Vc4Knr6qk0G6FAsDJio0pxQzaAq-9SGsIyw3Tnm0fYpNcF9-Blx6qi6rFyvWvXO-mC8oCq-6eSWwT9wdXzCrsvahvPbiotNwkhx6Kvt_2dHnZy2XTTCAa3A4_BWkJtSqQW4/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MtNZ3sHW3Vc4Knr6qk0G6FAsDJio0pxQzaAq-9SGsIyw3Tnm0fYpNcF9-Blx6qi6rFyvWvXO-mC8oCq-6eSWwT9wdXzCrsvahvPbiotNwkhx6Kvt_2dHnZy2XTTCAa3A4_BWkJtSqQW4/s200/002.JPG" width="135" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Butterfly..... sorta</td></tr>
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<strong><span style="color: #741b47;">Sick... unwell.... think I am on the edge of death sort of thing</span></strong><br />
Oh yeah, most lampworkers have done it, and probably better than me, but when I am sick I am just incapable of taking any joy in melting the glass so I don't do it. This is when I break out the dead bead graveyard - clean off the shitty old soft glass rejects and whack then into a VERY hot kiln walk away and they into little puddles....voila, cabs!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjBUC0mJyZdv7S5ER1rqujH4cxNTsPl-fLEn-gUnZSZJYH7F40iCFGl_fF_QP1Upj6kB0uNsI0tpUhmMdtlypjHxYfgsQ_Si02eO3mnioYPEv3tFVFiI3o7l6DiP4n0Tt-EL1Oazn3PJmq/s1600/Dead+Bead+Graveyard.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjBUC0mJyZdv7S5ER1rqujH4cxNTsPl-fLEn-gUnZSZJYH7F40iCFGl_fF_QP1Upj6kB0uNsI0tpUhmMdtlypjHxYfgsQ_Si02eO3mnioYPEv3tFVFiI3o7l6DiP4n0Tt-EL1Oazn3PJmq/s320/Dead+Bead+Graveyard.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dead bead graveyard - cabs</td></tr>
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Well, the only problem I can see with this journey of self discovery is..... how often am I actually in a good mood for glass. Thank goodness I am usually in a good mood.... probably 6 days out of 7 I would say.... phew! <br />
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There is one true exception to these observations of myself.... that is when, some middle of the night or heat of the shower bat crazy idea strikes.... all bets are off.... glass is melted in a frenzy - "things" are made! LOL All said and done, I think a positive frame of mind and approach to the glass will result in better work by yours truly. I admit that it shows a distinct lack of self discipline, but that is how my crazy brain works and I like to operate on making interesting stuff... not production line work (even thought that would pay the bills, I hope my hubby Leo is not reading this one) !</div>
Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-56482681090114864072012-08-09T18:58:00.002+10:002012-08-09T18:59:50.611+10:00All Chained up<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well, following on with my theme of work progression I thought I would blog about my boro chain making and its still evolving state :-)<br />
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I started making some boro glass chain work after seeing a gorgeous necklace made by a lampworking friend that was a little bit...... organic in shape. After some serious thought I came to the conclusion that I could make chain and fairly neatly if my idea worked.... off to the torch I went! Here is the very first boro chain I made. I made alternating Amber and clear links, partly so I could see where I was on the job and partly because I wanted something a little different than just clear at the time!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA1EwHqpbsFZa2eyGWpnbdeqn4XQQ0w4FSCk4O3Y8V3VmtNVzz3Vpve-WLrFwUdM-bnz8I7n6w5zqNsMicUkzl90DXn1KdTh4cSbuPUhfyVDOB7l9RvbyQA5sluk8CK6kRUm0PUzsYVkkp/s1600/Boro+chain+007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA1EwHqpbsFZa2eyGWpnbdeqn4XQQ0w4FSCk4O3Y8V3VmtNVzz3Vpve-WLrFwUdM-bnz8I7n6w5zqNsMicUkzl90DXn1KdTh4cSbuPUhfyVDOB7l9RvbyQA5sluk8CK6kRUm0PUzsYVkkp/s320/Boro+chain+007.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First boro chain work - 2009</td></tr>
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At first to get my links really neat and round I used a piece of thick walled stainless steel tubing my husband Leo got for me at a garage sale which I clamped onto my workbench. I could then heat the rod roughly to the length I required to wrap around the tubing then finished off each link using punty's (holding the work with a rod of glass for the unitiated). If the shape was not quite right a large diameter graphite reamer did wonders. Then came the tricky bit.... the joining links! I found out fairly quickly that it was easy to accidentally fuse one link to the other.... accidentally face the flame past the link you were working on and cracking another one.....etc...etc. I quickly worked out that working up under the flame was the way to go and using a small torch like a minor made the job fairly easy to be honest.<br />
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I made the chain...... I liked the chain..... but........ the chain was boring! Yeah, I know I could have used different colour links, but that was not challenging enough..... enter... the dongle!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1wjWnzPUHcUgLqFIDCBRHJjIjXoEsBHi__n6cRAzgFxNlzfsy61vQVqNs7YxsdfTVcDlGHXkbfCy6rzn6202mjxMyb23ToroD5lrhASV5FQD5IwNGnojM7JaOR0PX7i7dANbKoXCOdN-/s1600/Closeup+of+sunflower+chunky+dongle+necklace.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1wjWnzPUHcUgLqFIDCBRHJjIjXoEsBHi__n6cRAzgFxNlzfsy61vQVqNs7YxsdfTVcDlGHXkbfCy6rzn6202mjxMyb23ToroD5lrhASV5FQD5IwNGnojM7JaOR0PX7i7dANbKoXCOdN-/s320/Closeup+of+sunflower+chunky+dongle+necklace.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Momka sunflower cane murrini dongle necklace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Yep, following a good hot shower that nicely stimulated the grey matter, I decided to insert a section of rod through each link with a small marble at each end....... oh, clearly it worked, but OMG was it a nightmare to heat. I found at this point that fighting the weight of the glass as the necklace built was very difficult and badly complicated how well sealed the punty should be. To overcome that I made up a little wooden stand that I could sit the majority of the work onto underneath the torch... yeah it got scorched, but I reckon it saved the work from having a cracker of a time (if you get the pun) LOL I also found a few problems with keeping the work warm given the large volume of glass on the first marble end when putting on the second one..... yep... many a crack occurred for sure!<br />
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I tried different dongle ends as the fancy hit me... bumpy ones, helix twist ones, murrini ones:<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw608PrWGHPbJ8V0pscpaNnK4GyAwWSdKHfqzKiJuQe7sJ9dpS53NepD4PhVynOWyZBeymzW3b2gZcTv0ABf3yn1G3E5fQOteQqgyawnYD34f4X1XbPju9kfLsaKSh_vrgYHi2CTzCrtvg/s1600/006+-+Copy+%252811%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw608PrWGHPbJ8V0pscpaNnK4GyAwWSdKHfqzKiJuQe7sJ9dpS53NepD4PhVynOWyZBeymzW3b2gZcTv0ABf3yn1G3E5fQOteQqgyawnYD34f4X1XbPju9kfLsaKSh_vrgYHi2CTzCrtvg/s200/006+-+Copy+%252811%2529.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bumpy dongle necklace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAgRqhbhXyO2yTQFnRIFrsEXmpXLgLGAihCatn4_2EwkZY_JERqwpCVc7Td3xbrakBFz2egfUwZgqDYURQ3uwrX1Zew9jTsKx55sNsb56gU-QrGkHokkwlgLKAha992kM-qx198Ys-YEZt/s1600/Tiger+dongle+bracelet+experiment.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAgRqhbhXyO2yTQFnRIFrsEXmpXLgLGAihCatn4_2EwkZY_JERqwpCVc7Td3xbrakBFz2egfUwZgqDYURQ3uwrX1Zew9jTsKx55sNsb56gU-QrGkHokkwlgLKAha992kM-qx198Ys-YEZt/s200/Tiger+dongle+bracelet+experiment.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">helix dongle necklace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Its sad to say, but I went through a real "dongle" phase.... everything got dongles on it, fun and fiddly, but time to move on again. Thats when I decided I would try making some actual chainmaille in glass.... this is a fairly simple pattern, but it turned out quite well I thought<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd7qSI7-RXLD0yqd-_bPJ5qsX1Io_5whTCvl0O5kyOnZViQq2r_tZIMqRsquMVzrDukXMzu0fq9YaKYwuN72nzZU8zEbPnF4kWOaiCzeRSlCeKItEf0WHG8b9CMhdU7KHyZgTZ19-_OUe-/s1600/007+-+Copy+%25287%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd7qSI7-RXLD0yqd-_bPJ5qsX1Io_5whTCvl0O5kyOnZViQq2r_tZIMqRsquMVzrDukXMzu0fq9YaKYwuN72nzZU8zEbPnF4kWOaiCzeRSlCeKItEf0WHG8b9CMhdU7KHyZgTZ19-_OUe-/s200/007+-+Copy+%25287%2529.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">boro glass chainmaille</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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At this point I decided to go back and revisit the chain links itself...... coloured chain links made out of helix twist rod came out rather nice, but was a bit busy when put all together.... so I made some work using an alternating clear link!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf3905DJfzht7Ny3XoBroCT8PrHYgKZGP_SItC56C05Mnn_xqBYBS5w7gCjJ52II7-q8LCbtb3PrmH4FCq0tVEHDoVh1RgcoDjVcFFs7zYoNhPKzXxmug3avo2p29osO2LXTMNYEbYx6xm/s1600/002+-+Copy+%25283%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf3905DJfzht7Ny3XoBroCT8PrHYgKZGP_SItC56C05Mnn_xqBYBS5w7gCjJ52II7-q8LCbtb3PrmH4FCq0tVEHDoVh1RgcoDjVcFFs7zYoNhPKzXxmug3avo2p29osO2LXTMNYEbYx6xm/s320/002+-+Copy+%25283%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue helix twist alternating Chain links</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Then I had a play with the shape of each individual link.... here is my triangle necklace. It sits rather awkwardly off the neck, but surprisingly looks really great when worn. Bright and different, but definitely for the person who has some real sense of self and is a little bit out there I reckon!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlccMbjbfazG_BoQztZvI0iABmiNnfMM4EHyfPwSbs4KAB8RY48-tk3w-bbqYkj2FRbdQe7bVzuAu1xCGpbLnrjOK5y4kflj1H1wc2qd_l9Yr9HiPZMr4Pj0cf17mUFTLEfsUMPZwRMXBp/s1600/Triangle+links+necklace.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlccMbjbfazG_BoQztZvI0iABmiNnfMM4EHyfPwSbs4KAB8RY48-tk3w-bbqYkj2FRbdQe7bVzuAu1xCGpbLnrjOK5y4kflj1H1wc2qd_l9Yr9HiPZMr4Pj0cf17mUFTLEfsUMPZwRMXBp/s320/Triangle+links+necklace.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Triangle chain necklace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I came up with another way to decoration the chain what would satisfy my need for fine stringer work (something I actually enjoy quite a bit) and still use the boro chain. I made a couple of these necklaces, a gumblossom floral one and this ocean themed surface decoration chain linked necklace. They were a ton of fun to make, but incredibly fiddly and I don't even want to think about the investment in time they took me, but they came out really beautiful in the end. I am thinking I might make myself one of these, but flowers and butterfly murrini or something similar.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8mP5nTfc96jUlFKeHmWer65BhrY3H2UZtdjzLf6XaxQ-9Ukft4ioZBYR6l-TNNANXf70ABJPYjkplUWT21yiAYiGv5IGDbSY7tPgR3tLP_YtN574wDznYMy5xgH1X7dQ4NryO21N0uUES/s1600/A+glimpse+of+Reef.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8mP5nTfc96jUlFKeHmWer65BhrY3H2UZtdjzLf6XaxQ-9Ukft4ioZBYR6l-TNNANXf70ABJPYjkplUWT21yiAYiGv5IGDbSY7tPgR3tLP_YtN574wDznYMy5xgH1X7dQ4NryO21N0uUES/s320/A+glimpse+of+Reef.JPG" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A glimpse of reef</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I can't really say where I am heading with this chain work, but I know I am definitely not there yet. One of the nicest ones I made was just clear chain, with clear dongles.... it looked like drops of water around your neck. I am thinking I might make a clear fine chained small dongled clear one next..... that might look quite nice I think!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghoE47dLEWaz8vAoERh5qJD65AT97l6iHpY2of8rDMa4AG03iassMWKI3mS4k9-kvor_tmoACtSwDf7Mc86lf2wCiFtiiElZGtA811gk-9jXkYw3JvZUYeYaiy-e5g3jz-caydtWIg605Y/s1600/Seaspray+necklace.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghoE47dLEWaz8vAoERh5qJD65AT97l6iHpY2of8rDMa4AG03iassMWKI3mS4k9-kvor_tmoACtSwDf7Mc86lf2wCiFtiiElZGtA811gk-9jXkYw3JvZUYeYaiy-e5g3jz-caydtWIg605Y/s320/Seaspray+necklace.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seaspray necklace - clear chain, clear dongles</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-69872188705574292022012-08-08T21:08:00.002+10:002012-08-08T21:13:08.279+10:00The Honey dipper story :-)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
OK, so the local lampworkers here in Australia are fairy well aware of my penchant for making honey dippers. But..... for everyone else I thought it would be interesting to hear how they came about and where I think they might be going LOL<br />
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Honey dippers started as a bit of a mad idea. My Dad's mate (aka Uncle Geoff) and is a woodturner and I am sure everyone has seen the gorgeous wood turned honey dippers available all over the world, they work wonderfully well and look lovely.... so I thought... hmmmmm, what about the same thing but in glass. Off to the torch I went and after a couple of failed experiments (if there is such a thing, nothing is a failure that teaches you something in my opinion) I had some sweet success YAY!<br />
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Here is one of my early honey dippers. It is boro, which I think personally lends itself best to food and perhaps a little dishwasher abuse more so than the soft bright italian glass. I made a quick and dirty honey bee murrini I could inert into the top handle in a round marble shape and used some colour on the working (dipper) end. The design for the dipper part was a study in experimentation for me.... make an end, cool it.... drizzle honey with it....DOH...... make another.... cool it.... drizzle (you get it I am sure) until I hit on just the right base shape and distance between stringer wraps. The real trick was actually to make sure the end where the honey drips off is just right and pokes out a bit... that gives you the ability to write on your toast with the neat pour of honey!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywF5RhbDTz79YQB5RIjMPHeneIarD-byGDA1ptS96OM_Hcv0REwAJV557X4NgeIcIZd0-6y8DSG8S4Wfg2QgSa9KUw4FQJU93GdgsyW1R-Jfkg0ZLes198u07TMRUzYvs62ruZvS8JTzN/s1600/Honey+dipper+with+marble+top.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywF5RhbDTz79YQB5RIjMPHeneIarD-byGDA1ptS96OM_Hcv0REwAJV557X4NgeIcIZd0-6y8DSG8S4Wfg2QgSa9KUw4FQJU93GdgsyW1R-Jfkg0ZLes198u07TMRUzYvs62ruZvS8JTzN/s200/Honey+dipper+with+marble+top.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early honey dipper design</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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After these first clunky ones I decided that I did not want any glass colour near the food (just to be sure everything was all safe etc.) so they became all clear with just the fancy top. With the epiphany of approaching the honey dipper top a little like a bead (and on the same scale) it all went smoothly from there. Justin Rossi, fabulous bloke and brilliant glass artist showed me the helix twist and so I started applying that technique which looked much classier I thought. I also started making cute but slightly cheesy christmas honey dippers.... ;-)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0YxKFdF-latmKs8_T5Mnci59ioieyru0f6fJpOshW8ejofRZL6JNLdz2DLty2SVzIvri4VtU7ATWxmI21Hz6VglNlBWTuTvOa0_M3qoJ4JF3_x1FiaKxgpNglVQLEpfIUwUy_jYSx_i5Z/s1600/004+-+Copy+(4).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0YxKFdF-latmKs8_T5Mnci59ioieyru0f6fJpOshW8ejofRZL6JNLdz2DLty2SVzIvri4VtU7ATWxmI21Hz6VglNlBWTuTvOa0_M3qoJ4JF3_x1FiaKxgpNglVQLEpfIUwUy_jYSx_i5Z/s320/004+-+Copy+(4).JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Helix twist and christmas themed honey dipper tops</td></tr>
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After struggling a little bit on the shape and balance of these honey dipper tops I started on the floral themed ones. I used some Momka commercial cane for the flowers and added some of my murrini bees for good measure, they came out nice and I started to see more of where I was heading with these dippers. You might see the lump of clear glass on the top of the dippers and that was really firstly because I thought it looked classy.... and secondly because it helped me line everything up nicely... I got over that fairly quickly when I realised that it was distorting the view of my work underneath LOL<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFGDP5sD0i33CdXnd4HlQs42xNiXwjvwf77WRnczn-m_YR4C873ae0gfbwogNfbBedHcaUrt1SZ537hQh526U8dOuSdQhyphenhyphenbSsVFIyCDK-T4zQHYOrLdA6p9D3UnrkxZoPmGONnHexsopV/s1600/Honey+dippers+V2+-+bees+and+flowers.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFGDP5sD0i33CdXnd4HlQs42xNiXwjvwf77WRnczn-m_YR4C873ae0gfbwogNfbBedHcaUrt1SZ537hQh526U8dOuSdQhyphenhyphenbSsVFIyCDK-T4zQHYOrLdA6p9D3UnrkxZoPmGONnHexsopV/s200/Honey+dippers+V2+-+bees+and+flowers.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Floral bee honey dippers</td></tr>
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As you can see in the above pic, some of them I got a bit heavy handed on.....after all, how many flowers could I fit nicely in a honey dipper. I resorted to asking for some feedback from my critique group..... my Mum Faye and my hubby, who when really pushed will tell me the truth (no pushing required for my Mum though LOL). The consensus was that just one bee and just one flower was the classier look. So I moved along, made some new flower murrini to add some extra colour and made some rather sweet butterfly murini to add in as well...... This is the latest incarnation of my honey dippers: <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMb-JuK8Blp1be69yTTLpRrr0MtkzXL9LhBxhAiUd9dMfcStJZYNjGF_Ji-FWGk2C6WAj41zv5s5CpPyrR6CLCt22wdAK_kI3BaIyPQ8juxJsxg3FazBco587l7GUtpO4hBEIf-3_u2TP/s1600/006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMb-JuK8Blp1be69yTTLpRrr0MtkzXL9LhBxhAiUd9dMfcStJZYNjGF_Ji-FWGk2C6WAj41zv5s5CpPyrR6CLCt22wdAK_kI3BaIyPQ8juxJsxg3FazBco587l7GUtpO4hBEIf-3_u2TP/s400/006.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Latest version honey dipper with butterfly murrini.... and the odd bee!</td></tr>
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When I was making some of these honey dipper tops I got a bit over excited on one of them.... hence, honey dipper gone wild Marble.... not so funny at the time, but I liked it when I got it out of the kiln. I just seemed to keep adding layers of flowers and butterflies and grass etc. It got out of hand I just decided that I would turn it into a mib.... ha ha ha<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifUQfccGK7hK3ndVvwRQrGH2mxLWzNz_mK_9fCblXK2L4Wan7FOxhCFDPMQRSx1p8rt3R-z2rdU8fgpEp1Py43QNpiZ_nIveTlx6exTaS80LLbom3kAtDGghFj6Irgc9f6BO9a3bwCrlXU/s1600/butterfly+mib.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifUQfccGK7hK3ndVvwRQrGH2mxLWzNz_mK_9fCblXK2L4Wan7FOxhCFDPMQRSx1p8rt3R-z2rdU8fgpEp1Py43QNpiZ_nIveTlx6exTaS80LLbom3kAtDGghFj6Irgc9f6BO9a3bwCrlXU/s320/butterfly+mib.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Last but not least I made a couple of sets with a matching honey dipper and jam spoon.... Here's adam and eve:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdnm6FezzN9E1DJvk2Jef62BUGDbjXNImQxlI-msr76THE-7b29TzyNq3Tfc-EkxxIVy7Bzoz0lH62HJp28nfHUICmqEaObL0uRmJDfTa4ytQmBfYwnQoP5AT16j7167UHJbBhF8Xnlo-/s1600/005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdnm6FezzN9E1DJvk2Jef62BUGDbjXNImQxlI-msr76THE-7b29TzyNq3Tfc-EkxxIVy7Bzoz0lH62HJp28nfHUICmqEaObL0uRmJDfTa4ytQmBfYwnQoP5AT16j7167UHJbBhF8Xnlo-/s200/005.JPG" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adam Jam spoon and Eve honey dipper set</td></tr>
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These honey dippers have been a real work in progress, they are morphing into something new regularly when I am at the torch and for that I have to be grateful for customers giving me ideas and the people I supply for allowing me the freedom to put what I like on top of the buggers :-) I sell these at our local honey supplier <a href="http://www.bluemountainshoney.com.au/">http://www.bluemountainshoney.com.au/</a> and at the Canberra Glassworks gallery <a href="http://www.canberraglassworks.com/">http://www.canberraglassworks.com/</a> . I do sell the odd one on my Etsy store, but to be honest I have a bit of a hard time keeping up the supply, I shall have to get my proverbial finger out I suppose ha ha ha.<br />
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I will be supplying some special ones for the Canberra Glassworks gallery Floriade stall, so anyone who is visiting Canberra during floriade, please drop in and see the gorgeous glassy goodness at the glassworks or at least call into thier stall at Floriade and see my honey dippers in real life... say hello to the girls for me, they are lovely :-)<br />
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<br /></div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-59458480510632051402012-08-07T20:00:00.000+10:002012-08-07T20:04:30.034+10:00Bad.....er..... slack blogger !<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well, finally I have got my finger out and blogged. I have spent MONTHS saying that I need to update my blog and yet, as the uncrowned queen of procrastination, I have managed to put it off!<br />
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A LOT has been going on in my glassy life since my last blog, so I think I will blog about it in chronological order.... at least then it will make sense to me if no one else ha ha ha<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXPUJdegm7xB79rQ6GBZEzl4BPap7XnC-REnQ4pkJwshntKQ273nWlBmIeSRMJJlZpeX5ev2Br7x29ewVlONVO4R2glY3-R7hzD9U5Phu_iJ46Jx5FqMvAQvquVzo_fzXLZ9lpXHUY62QN/s1600/015+-+Copy+(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXPUJdegm7xB79rQ6GBZEzl4BPap7XnC-REnQ4pkJwshntKQ273nWlBmIeSRMJJlZpeX5ev2Br7x29ewVlONVO4R2glY3-R7hzD9U5Phu_iJ46Jx5FqMvAQvquVzo_fzXLZ9lpXHUY62QN/s320/015+-+Copy+(3).JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gumblossom Dreams boro glass necklace</td></tr>
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First off, some of my readers may recall that I was on a bit of a mission to get some of my work into some galleries. Well, not only do I have work showing at the Barracuda Gallery over in Perth and the Canberra Glassworks gallery I was invited to participate in an "invitation only" flameworking event at the Craft NSW gallery in George Street in Sydney. The "In Nature In Glass" exhibition was fabulous and at the same time SCARY AS HELL. I was participating with a raft of big names in glass and felt a little like the tiny little tiddler in a pool of sharks, but I figured as long as I do my best, well that is the best I can do. It was a really big thrill to see my work displayed beside the likes of Chris Arnold and Laurie Young, Peter Minson, Al Usher, Bernie Stonor, Jo Wu, Justin Rossi, Carol Marando and the lovely Penel Bigg! I even braved the Sydney Train system (which is scary for a transplant from Canberra who is a little frightened of getting lost on the trains) and went into town for the opening of the exhibition by the gorgeous and talented Marina Hyasat.<br />
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Well.... you get the idea, it was crazy fancy and I am a bit of a bogan, but after leaving the crocs and moccies at home, I rubbed shoulders with the big guns and it felt really great! Here is a pic of one of my entries, Gum Blossom Dreams. Unfortunately it didn't survive the transport and didn't end up being displayed, but I have since fixed it and donated it as a raffle prize to a lovely Canberra Textile group (ACTTA).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwxbnxnY6CvKAU1XWC1LFf8za8pICJIKt1K_EL1VZzcdm9rsukcL_uuvV5M5zchsC5wWug6VdnFliNWRmpT97EkqFgsc_Q6OW5T4utvCWhHUjLq64NLRWlF9p_nrqxy42IKblxHWs6bnAW/s1600/closeup.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwxbnxnY6CvKAU1XWC1LFf8za8pICJIKt1K_EL1VZzcdm9rsukcL_uuvV5M5zchsC5wWug6VdnFliNWRmpT97EkqFgsc_Q6OW5T4utvCWhHUjLq64NLRWlF9p_nrqxy42IKblxHWs6bnAW/s320/closeup.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Year of the Dragon bead set 2012 Sydney Royal Easter show Entry</td></tr>
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I was also happy to participate in the Sydney Royal Easter show again and W O W was the competition hard this year. It was so great to see the diversity of styles and the large number of entries. for a competition that was losing some of its support by the local lampwork bead artists, it has turned right around and now a large number of people enter in support. I was EXTREMELY lucky to get a third with my dragon set this year and to be honest, there were some sets of beads that utterly deserved a prize and yet missed out. For local Aussies who want to see what is at the edge of the envelope in glass beads go along to the Easter show and have a squizz (might want to take a notebook to write down the names you might wish to contact afterwards too).<br />
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Well, I don't want to just write a novel on this one blog entry, so I shall continue on very soon with more glassy musings :-)<br />
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<br /></div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-80571755514407517692012-01-14T13:05:00.000+11:002012-01-14T13:05:10.238+11:00Fascinating flat laps..... yeah!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFDS8NjTicZ3N68exeYnsoGilbETn3LS61WUXrFY_XdzZiwGVQsgWlDnY9417u1lNfWLCOJXX0O8EK-mkL3BVsNhDM3H8iu45ynRl8-J5F9K_lSk-cbqeWOXLcjYyBbc6P4Nkhyphenhyphen1y3msnK/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFDS8NjTicZ3N68exeYnsoGilbETn3LS61WUXrFY_XdzZiwGVQsgWlDnY9417u1lNfWLCOJXX0O8EK-mkL3BVsNhDM3H8iu45ynRl8-J5F9K_lSk-cbqeWOXLcjYyBbc6P4Nkhyphenhyphen1y3msnK/s200/004.JPG" width="173" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chameleon top on jam spoon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Well, Happy New Year and a great 2012 to all!<br />
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Sorry I have been off the radar, in between christmas, kids holidays and a massive volume of glassy orders I have been too busy to pop up even a quickie blog entry.... doh!<br />
I have been honey dippering and now Jam spooning a LOT to fill some local and international orders. Here's one of my recent Jam spoons with a cute but cartoony little bloke on the top. The slightly difficult thing with these jam spoons is making the bowl a nice shape and my VERY clever husband made me a spoon press a little while ago. It is basically an el-cheapo pair of tweezers with two el-cheapo teaspoons on the end in position to cup each other and therefore press the glass into a bowl after squeezing into a flat paddle on the end first. Easy peasy, although I am going to get myself a couple of steeper more deeply bowled spoons to make a deeper dish on my glass one... more things for the drawing board!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlm_qAadbS6Xe70vQBPHN012vUn8xngYTwmNO1lewXb_lRdkdvddPeQoQj3eTueNoCEE710_7g87ehKa48hnWNUgcIgYRvZ6bsrJoXZv14opz_GLvUBOypYvmuNr9tdBrI0jaVfivDCOUI/s1600/Leo%2527s+spoon+press.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlm_qAadbS6Xe70vQBPHN012vUn8xngYTwmNO1lewXb_lRdkdvddPeQoQj3eTueNoCEE710_7g87ehKa48hnWNUgcIgYRvZ6bsrJoXZv14opz_GLvUBOypYvmuNr9tdBrI0jaVfivDCOUI/s200/Leo%2527s+spoon+press.JPG" width="130" /></a></div>The other thing I am glass to say that I got for christmas is a cheapish but cheer flat lap with machine. It is one of the Inland swap tops and I absolutely love it. All of my paperweights have flat and shiny bottoms now and I have started a few lapping experiments as a basic entry into some simple coldworking. I decided last night that I would make something to lap and rather than go with the "window" style commonly seen with the fish or garden scenes encased in clear then layers of opaque and frit and enamels and stuff around the outside that gives the impression of a thunder egg sort of thing.<br />
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I only had 10 minutes or go and reprogram the kiln (it was also 11pm so I was keen to get to bed) so I just make a simple barrel bead using lots of thin coat layers so that the layers would show as stripes when ground back. Here is the starting bead.... not fancy, but something to practice on:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjALT4s63OgOmWm54P3GXJjtNnsy22AHhiHi-5PTzVONacMqqdvf2A__L0gTNjv-8IVqQhwuE11urKjrsEhY55dMWTODcoy0ZTOOSiNiLZ1wO2xfHTiMVioPwFBvprZ0Q4M0li7own3Qms2/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjALT4s63OgOmWm54P3GXJjtNnsy22AHhiHi-5PTzVONacMqqdvf2A__L0gTNjv-8IVqQhwuE11urKjrsEhY55dMWTODcoy0ZTOOSiNiLZ1wO2xfHTiMVioPwFBvprZ0Q4M0li7own3Qms2/s200/003.JPG" width="154" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Simple layered barrel bead</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Then I lapped the ends a little, the two large sides and put a bit of a facet on each edge which I think made it look a little classier..... although it took a bit of practice to get these facets straight and even!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHIezO30O1Aonf9fI4pZU0esDY4suWY86IkMIfI0IJI6dW-FuaPaEf3f7wH663Mvg8tElRMwhIV7K8HkwTqUrkDIWZbfHzuaxsDm5kNyKj-u8XrFh7iKigWLEdUCQTtbotL7bbwGGjQDX/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHIezO30O1Aonf9fI4pZU0esDY4suWY86IkMIfI0IJI6dW-FuaPaEf3f7wH663Mvg8tElRMwhIV7K8HkwTqUrkDIWZbfHzuaxsDm5kNyKj-u8XrFh7iKigWLEdUCQTtbotL7bbwGGjQDX/s320/004.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lapped barrel bead after polishing</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It feels lovely and smooth in your hand and I keep running my fingers over the soapy feel of it. I am quite happy with the shape and I think I did a much better job of the polishing than I had done before (thank goodness that was only on the bases of the paperweights and therefore doesn't matter).<br />
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I have installed this one on a simple beadable pendant bar with a bali silver bead as a spacer to take up the tiny bit of slack on the bar..... I am really happy with it and are already thinking of more complicated things I can do.... using stacked murrini canes and stuff.......oh yeah!!!!!!</div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-16768515629222550452011-12-10T15:48:00.001+11:002011-12-10T15:51:48.594+11:00Crazytime..... but loads of fun<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1t_LyJtpkcTpzJj-1mPUuAk8yeD8t-48oon9PCQ0pRaxz0HU5xioe2_WyxLcWk-k331KBestPjnuOLhPq1z3A_nxfp-ZFYNLjpe5kg2tlD7GrMmtCRRclvmupRVXny415CnQdriQ9_Pcl/s1600/018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1t_LyJtpkcTpzJj-1mPUuAk8yeD8t-48oon9PCQ0pRaxz0HU5xioe2_WyxLcWk-k331KBestPjnuOLhPq1z3A_nxfp-ZFYNLjpe5kg2tlD7GrMmtCRRclvmupRVXny415CnQdriQ9_Pcl/s320/018.JPG" width="164" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New style of octopus honey dipper top</td></tr>
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Oh dear, I have neglected my blog for a few days...er. maybe a week, but I have a good excuse.... I do....er.... maybe I don't, but I have been crazy busy! I have got stock in two galleries now....yay and my local retailers for honey dippers, beads, glass clasps and pendants are all needing more stock.......the murrini are still being done ..... OMG<br />
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Thanks to the suggestion by a very nice customer I have been playing about a little with some honey dipper tops.... these octopus ones are particularly cute and I admit that because they are not bee or flower related I never even considered something like this.... I am having lots of fun with them.<br />
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I have got myself to the point of not knowing where to start and as usual had a dream in the night (or evening after some spicy KFC) and had to try it out, so I though I would run you all through how my dongle necklaces come about.<br />
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First off is the concept, sometimes this is the colour of the chain, the size of the links, diameter of rods or murrini, twists or just plain dongles themsleves. Today I decided I wanted something classy, something that will go with my supposedly "slimming" outfits in black.... something delicate but busy.... hmmm, its a tall order. Essentially I have decided to make a very small diameter fine chain out of plain black (I used some very large diameter chinese black I have had sitting in my glass stash for AGES). I pulled stringers off the black cane, made the enclosed links, joined them together with less than neat on this occasion joining links and popped some dongles on the end to see how they will look. One trick I have recently picked up on is to make a bracelet length piece of chain and "dongle-ise" that to see how it is going to look. None of you would be believe how many bits of chain with ugly dongles I have sitting in a hidden bag of rejects....LOL<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRUqNBTwXLpucYsltWllOSAZmPD2jvCdh2lIOU-W4RzckyBOq3DgsSIBa4XZxM2hN96TUZCX-qJi-S2MnMeFszoPhkDFcknz-p3RH29PX40BsdFI8UevRJfilYSJz8aEAemaKvpSdyisk0/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRUqNBTwXLpucYsltWllOSAZmPD2jvCdh2lIOU-W4RzckyBOq3DgsSIBa4XZxM2hN96TUZCX-qJi-S2MnMeFszoPhkDFcknz-p3RH29PX40BsdFI8UevRJfilYSJz8aEAemaKvpSdyisk0/s320/004.JPG" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dongle chain evolution</td></tr>
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Above is a fairly good pic of the evolution process.... once I finish putting the dongles on this short length I shall extend it out each side until I have a necklace of the optimum length..... thats the plan at any rate!!!!<br />
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This is it thus far...... I think it has some potential, although being such fine small chain means LOADS of more work that the big chunky stuff. Still, I think it will fit the bill for delicate, goes with black dresses on the rare occasion I have to go to something formal and still just a little bit busy!<br />
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Have a wonderful week everyone!</div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-24685970620829253002011-11-29T09:49:00.001+11:002011-11-29T09:51:34.336+11:00Paperweight... not QUITE epic fail.... but close!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4fNCIQkKPkWaAN_AS1kc3Cv0KgocdJPZtdYVQbImhvAmHoBOFGIudGJe4WPwkkKEqHMHSm6lU0jbLdgxNneamMg3OKoOKOxD3_nYS8DPZNqhYyi75Q7hQnqVOilMwLZEhMkMzzWaT3vjU/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4fNCIQkKPkWaAN_AS1kc3Cv0KgocdJPZtdYVQbImhvAmHoBOFGIudGJe4WPwkkKEqHMHSm6lU0jbLdgxNneamMg3OKoOKOxD3_nYS8DPZNqhYyi75Q7hQnqVOilMwLZEhMkMzzWaT3vjU/s320/004.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The messy and squashy paperweight making zone</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Yep, she is fresh from the kiln and unfortunately an all-round dissapointment..... but at least the shape was good!<br />
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The difficulties started when my two oxycons did not come up to speed for running the phantom, then the hotplate kept tripping the safety switch on the powerboard....etc.....etc. In fact if adversity breeds success.... this should have been a whole lot better!!! LOL<br />
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After joining my two 10L chinese oxycons, I realised last night there was an issue.... there is not enough pressure to adequately supply oxy to both the inner and out flame on my phantom. Using a non-reducing flame was not hot enough to melt the puck and using a reducing flame put horrible "stuff" all over my work. Indeed having to juggle between these two states caused me in the end to sit my phantom on a neutral small flame cross-flaming with my minor which was the only way things could get hot enough without turning black.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfr9sYjjJIsJ4SjUDEGGNwojEWt5Zlma4b4bD9oSHM-ii3atqYhAI1FFjIt3XCbWP40UvMxivpnBNVCgx3Tyvog8OEXxU_Zbu_hobw1F28mHBN9bahTW266BvmSzP_yn_yQC_U47VizT68/s1600/005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfr9sYjjJIsJ4SjUDEGGNwojEWt5Zlma4b4bD9oSHM-ii3atqYhAI1FFjIt3XCbWP40UvMxivpnBNVCgx3Tyvog8OEXxU_Zbu_hobw1F28mHBN9bahTW266BvmSzP_yn_yQC_U47VizT68/s320/005.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Construction in the stumpsucker to be preheated</td></tr>
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The first and most worrying point the lack of heat because a serious issue was when I had peeled and then was trying to heat the puck to vacuum encase.... I was well aware that it was nowhere near hot and runny enough, but after about half an hour of getting increasingly frustrated I decided to plunge it in anyway.... therefore, the sails on the boats were all pressed down quite a bit and one came off looking like a sinking was occurring as you looked at it! The buoy was enormous... nuff said!<br />
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The next issue was the constant need to re-peel the scum off everything, now that was very annoying....VERY! But.... not nearly as annoying as 1hr of trying to melt the bugger enough to shape in for the final shape!<br />
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All in all, it was an excellent experience in trying to fix mistakes.... after this effort, I think the oxygen cylinder and a hot torch will make the whole thing so easy it will be a pleasure to make one.....<br />
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I am about to ring around for oxy cylinder hire and fills...... and maybe put two oxycons up for sale!!!!! Ha ha ha<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZzKlpz_hjslqiW7FaDyFMtQ-1PrrEBpQuByf69p61eQ-6V10QZN0BIYxf5fd9Yk6josGmC6hNVG20Sj2u8KDWvp_NO-kZrx28kL60iLPT5JHaXRzADMNoWd39tqtrhBJIyRvoJ-ae1m5H/s1600/Nautical+paperweight.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZzKlpz_hjslqiW7FaDyFMtQ-1PrrEBpQuByf69p61eQ-6V10QZN0BIYxf5fd9Yk6josGmC6hNVG20Sj2u8KDWvp_NO-kZrx28kL60iLPT5JHaXRzADMNoWd39tqtrhBJIyRvoJ-ae1m5H/s400/Nautical+paperweight.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished article..... see the sinking ship at the front of the pic and the enormous buoy at the back... DOH!</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-77804212174389579002011-11-28T15:46:00.000+11:002011-11-28T15:46:38.370+11:00Paperweight planning in a nautical style<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0zukjzK4PKAfS0IslQCJsjIyL4lphmQQntNi3bGNI1C9UPcpdpvh-3Gbu5ez6bpQ9rsFYc58DYM3WVlX0yg2W4uWtYJlLCHmo55P_GVoLnbIukq9ANtWqB4PCz1sQ_-9t-cVb4W9yI_l6/s1600/component+boat+canes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0zukjzK4PKAfS0IslQCJsjIyL4lphmQQntNi3bGNI1C9UPcpdpvh-3Gbu5ez6bpQ9rsFYc58DYM3WVlX0yg2W4uWtYJlLCHmo55P_GVoLnbIukq9ANtWqB4PCz1sQ_-9t-cVb4W9yI_l6/s200/component+boat+canes.JPG" width="196" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sail boat component cane and ribbon</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Well, I have for one reason or another managed to avoid making my nautical paperweight for the Barracuda Gallery...... there has always been a valid excuse, but I am getting to the pointy end of the stick and I really want to give them a bit of something special and unique - enter the paperweight!!!!</div><br />
I have had the equipment to vacuum encase paperweights for more than a year now and shamefully have only got it out and given it a run once with my friend Gail at her studio. In the meantime I have been amassing (much to Leo's disgruntlement) two 10L oxygen concentrators, a lovely GTT Phantom flameworking torch, little torch, large kiln and of course the stumpsucker and associated paraphenalia. Yet... there always seems to be a "bit" missing. At the moment it is one plastic bayonet fitting for the Y connection to the oxycons.....geeeze!<br />
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I am thinking I might try to Jury rig it up tonight when the sun is off the garage and shall rope in my darling 14yr old Grace to do the preheating.... mostly because Leo is away with work....again!!!!!<br />
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In regards to the planning for this one, I clearly did not see a link to a sailing, ocean themed exhibition with the usual floral type arrangement in these paperweights. I could have done an underwater themed one like Loren showed the students recently, but I have sort of run somewhat out of time to make up some decent 3D fish murrini and do not have a flatlap to grind and polish them, so that is out. Putting some thought into Fremantle and sailing I decided I might try something....hmmmmm.... nautical and sailing style! Here is the rough plans along with the canes and the encasement crystal that is about to go into the kiln to preheat as I type this!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNuIPJJyqwhTAxHa1RIgSTe4ulHgd43LI48SH1xFBunhh6KPRROXb-rBLAryHMcygsVPLomgKLH7OvLaPspSkGsgCePyfYzlYGau9dEsinXoXtz50Vb9PxNgyKcEoWiSLKKz3o52FQ-g2/s1600/nautical+paperweight+planning.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNuIPJJyqwhTAxHa1RIgSTe4ulHgd43LI48SH1xFBunhh6KPRROXb-rBLAryHMcygsVPLomgKLH7OvLaPspSkGsgCePyfYzlYGau9dEsinXoXtz50Vb9PxNgyKcEoWiSLKKz3o52FQ-g2/s400/nautical+paperweight+planning.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Planning sheet for making small sail boats with schott encasement crystal and component canes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I decided that the best way to make some little sail boats for the stumpsucker would be to use a striped cane for the hull of the yachts and some ribbon cane for the sail. I did end up making a dolphin back (to poke out of the frit like a swimming dolphin) and a couple of slightly dodgy looking seagulls to add to the mix along with some red/white striped bouys, but I think I am guilty of doing my usual, enough is never enough jobs and filling the whole thing up too much. I am keeping firmly in mind also that everything in the paperweight is significantly magnified and therefore, blobby ends and mistakes are also magnified.... doh!<br />
<br />
The little yachts came out great although I did pull a lot of the sail cane a bit small, not considering that the sail needs to be nearly as long as the boat hull before tapering off at the top. I think I got away with it, but next time I do something like this I will keep that in mind.<br />
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Here is the little construction before I use my little torch to put it all together and make the frit (blue frothy sort of stuff for the surface of the ocean is the plan).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIKcGCk3IwjJpfBNiWAyDcbu4H70PHI5caHtFYKuDRwJ1IDtOKX1if_vKUm_aThPJhYN24wdfB930UsuI3tv9xTZ9r_ngruxm90dEkyM1clzlroJQ4_pFpfQzgBUv2usMp8cbmiAG5nWO4/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIKcGCk3IwjJpfBNiWAyDcbu4H70PHI5caHtFYKuDRwJ1IDtOKX1if_vKUm_aThPJhYN24wdfB930UsuI3tv9xTZ9r_ngruxm90dEkyM1clzlroJQ4_pFpfQzgBUv2usMp8cbmiAG5nWO4/s320/002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nautical / Sailing construction for paperweight</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Wish me luck!!!!!!! I have an awful feeling I am going to need it!<br />
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</div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-81300123115886243552011-11-22T10:11:00.000+11:002011-11-22T10:11:35.704+11:00Galleries, glass and all things good!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8yNHSs6hfS_D_gO5h3p-YhcXa-uxcz_CNC1hh-VuK7sjtdpY0ke-x0WFM3IAic-0LYXyP838um15uZnOPMWt5I_1LABxgmIWRWYnj5MnhroDxDqzSpVohyphenhyphen_9Vwr-q_Bf5PMhsd5R82V0p/s1600/Triangle+links+necklace.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8yNHSs6hfS_D_gO5h3p-YhcXa-uxcz_CNC1hh-VuK7sjtdpY0ke-x0WFM3IAic-0LYXyP838um15uZnOPMWt5I_1LABxgmIWRWYnj5MnhroDxDqzSpVohyphenhyphen_9Vwr-q_Bf5PMhsd5R82V0p/s400/Triangle+links+necklace.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orange triangle links necklace with helix twists and murrini in boro</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I am in a VERY good mood today.... no strike that..... EXCELLENT mood! I am still insanely busy and still trying to catch up on everything (still more honey dippers, murrini, pendants, beads, paperweight etc.) but I am starting to feel like I am actually making some headway.<br />
<br />
Last weekend I went down to Canberra and saw Jess at the Canberra Glassworks who is in charge of the retail gallery space there. I have now signed my contract with them and dropped off some work which she seemed quite happy with ......YAY I can now say that I have work in a gallery and a fabulous glass-centric one at that! I took one of my honey dippers down to show as well and they are very keen to get some more..... sheesh, now I really need to knuckle down and get some more made. I suppose now is the wait to see if anyone actually wants to buy anything....I sure hope so!<br />
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I am currently working on some pieces for Barracuda Gallery in Fremantle. It is my first formal participation in an invitation only group exhibition and I was extremely excited to see my name on the flyer.... will have to keep a copy for the brag book!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEHRVgEhVgnIOpQdRQ-iDfyZmCMg-_d49nebsATuyf2xUdoiOQrGpZ2Noq1jlWs1TSRX06TSS2dUu-HFJqGPb0Jf9VQ7xLfgG0tnnMakNkW-Fwt5GeyzxgVqNeiSzDWdMYWWCrXYh9JvY6/s1600/Barracuda+Gallery+exhibition+flyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEHRVgEhVgnIOpQdRQ-iDfyZmCMg-_d49nebsATuyf2xUdoiOQrGpZ2Noq1jlWs1TSRX06TSS2dUu-HFJqGPb0Jf9VQ7xLfgG0tnnMakNkW-Fwt5GeyzxgVqNeiSzDWdMYWWCrXYh9JvY6/s320/Barracuda+Gallery+exhibition+flyer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I have made a necklace that I am hoping the gallery likes and are about to make a sailing themed paperweight using my stumpsucker. I have decided that I am going to seconde Leo into helping me with the preheating, Grace (my 14yo) would do it, but I would probably want flog her if she managed to bugger it for me.... I know thats totally not fair, but I think I am best of protecting her from any chance of wrath.... even my own!<br />
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On a legendary note.... a really good mate put me onto some glass that was being "given away to a good home". Apparently there was a box of boro that was not being used, was gathering dust and was about to be thrown out because it was in the way....... needless to say i was up for the rescue mission and dragged Leo and my Mum along with her station wagon expecting one or maybe two cases of glass........ OMG there was a massive pile of glass and they wanted it GONE! The pic below is not ALL of it either, but we have temporarily popped it into my dads lean to shed out of the elements for a couple weeks and then I will have to find the space here in Sydney, I reckon Leo's man shed might have to undergo some shuffling..... ha ha ha!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMDa-8n1URaJ-XiAzmbpInA82H_jC28_8ADv5JSPOHsJCuTc2-g2vKKuOtEofqYNYt8wyoYlrRP4g-L7mf9mv_HRV_bUzEcWPgSu5ZOIZQUp65jQUdRGHqI75kIfBuhDtZiih-YQTPEIkh/s1600/026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMDa-8n1URaJ-XiAzmbpInA82H_jC28_8ADv5JSPOHsJCuTc2-g2vKKuOtEofqYNYt8wyoYlrRP4g-L7mf9mv_HRV_bUzEcWPgSu5ZOIZQUp65jQUdRGHqI75kIfBuhDtZiih-YQTPEIkh/s320/026.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rescued boro glass, tubing and stringers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I am already missing my increased stash and a whole lot of new ideas for converting it into something interesting is running through my head at night.... needless to say I am not sleeping particularly well, but I am making sure I have my nocturnal notebook and pencil ready to go which helps somewhat. There is a heap of small diameter tubing right down to pipette sized stuff and all together about 15 cases of the stuff..... keep in mind that here in Australia a case like this costs around $350 - $500 each, its a lot of moneys worth but more importantly a lot of fun waiting to be had!<br />
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On a happy finishing note, the recipient of my glass mojination kit loved it and has already melted glass and had some fun with it...... YAY, that sort of thing makes it all worth while.<br />
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</div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-74056216822417351842011-11-16T15:49:00.000+11:002011-11-16T15:49:39.038+11:00Emergency Glass Mojination Kit...... kickstarting your glass mojo!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibnFWgcs2MBek2hrA6QcPZ2tFQAa9cgL72yck9vPoF63mJRlzt7up804bBiZ8QiTJkVKg9Vxx9JlfUv9y_9Y_wx_S70E9thC3pWoLLVUphCNXU9kJRg6uxLRrXrrem0hz7_jw5o-Xdh6zo/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibnFWgcs2MBek2hrA6QcPZ2tFQAa9cgL72yck9vPoF63mJRlzt7up804bBiZ8QiTJkVKg9Vxx9JlfUv9y_9Y_wx_S70E9thC3pWoLLVUphCNXU9kJRg6uxLRrXrrem0hz7_jw5o-Xdh6zo/s320/008.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dangly boro chain necklace with tiny frog at top right side</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Hmmmm, well I am slowly making some headway on my backlog of glassy work which is a good feeling. Finally knuckling down a bit and being able to tick a few things off the list really helps my morale! Above is a sparkly pic of my latest boro chain necklace design, I quite like it and it has a little tiny frog on one of the dangly bits too just for fun - I just can't help myself!!! LOL<br />
<br />
But..... speaking of morale, I have been trying to work out the best way for me to brighten up a mates day. Someone who's Mum has been VERY ill and has given up her own social time and torch time to help out when her Mum really needed it. Interestingly this very nice lady did not complain or whinge or really say much at all.... but she is the sort of person that you notice when she is missing, a very nice lady indeed. I have heard her Mum is mostly on the mend and she is finally getting some torch time but is having some trouble kick starting the glassy mojo.... everyone needs a boost some time!!!<br />
<br />
Well I have been mulling over stuff and have decided that I would do something proactive as a pick-me-up for her. Today I sent off what I am calling an "Emergency Glass Mojination Kit". I got a whole heap of different glass garnishes and interesting things to do with lampworking, wrapped them up in a small box and mailed it off......<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTp-h5zqVzjJgtuLxipCl7rp7ywGU6xL9pA2Ll1F8qWsyRv4wSvIT0dnUzBvxk3UkTUY-kAIK_JQcTcBuCfSVFXL_OOli-PgKtGvRHi55RwV0tkWIrTGFrYiRd09fNxZL5yZOyAc1JtrGF/s1600/Emergency+Glass+Mojination+kit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTp-h5zqVzjJgtuLxipCl7rp7ywGU6xL9pA2Ll1F8qWsyRv4wSvIT0dnUzBvxk3UkTUY-kAIK_JQcTcBuCfSVFXL_OOli-PgKtGvRHi55RwV0tkWIrTGFrYiRd09fNxZL5yZOyAc1JtrGF/s640/Emergency+Glass+Mojination+kit.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emergency Glass Mojination Kit... lots of glass related fun to be had!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
..... I can't wait until she gets it, I just hope it makes her day a good one after a few dodgy ones lately!</div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-45633635420106359052011-11-09T14:32:00.000+11:002011-11-09T14:32:06.529+11:00A full plate.....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGgs3GK3udM2NMQiLyqSyEpDi9WCqwDj-DrcxHXG6Pkd12HbuWk1igSyH0IOLh-8AOz3ZNASUaskXnWvJ6jpH1OXIQxmSoVPTdSs7Y0hn1azFy5nyX0mQ_0miuHWXTQoeKgno5iquSmPwG/s1600/019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGgs3GK3udM2NMQiLyqSyEpDi9WCqwDj-DrcxHXG6Pkd12HbuWk1igSyH0IOLh-8AOz3ZNASUaskXnWvJ6jpH1OXIQxmSoVPTdSs7Y0hn1azFy5nyX0mQ_0miuHWXTQoeKgno5iquSmPwG/s200/019.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Handful of experimentals</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I have sort of taken a breath to work out exactly what jobs I have on my plate at the moment and really.... it looks like a VERY busy time prior to Christmas! I am having quite a bit of trouble prioritising and have sort of found myself either doing lots of bits of jobs without finishing any completely or doing something akin to procrastination by trying out experiments when I do have some torch time... naughty girl I am!<br />
<br />
One thing off my plate is the honey dippers. I spent two days of marathon efforts to remake the broken ones and dropped them off to the Blue Mountains Honey peeps the other day.... thank goodness they really liked them, especially all the christmas themed ones! Apparently they have a market stall at a local festival which is usually VERY busy and with the lead up to Christmas most of my honey dippers will go up there for sale which is really cool. I was going to try and make a few extras, but the weather has been stinking hot here in Western Sydney.... REALLY REALLY hot which is not condusive to sitting in front of a torch with a largist kiln pumping out heat behind you..... I have been working in the mornings and evenings where possible and keep my fingers and toes crossed for a cold change!<br />
<br />
I have been busy packaging up murrini for Affordable Inspiration too. I should really send a parcel off tomorrow and another a few days later or I am sure I will be needing a bloody box if I am not careful! I have a couple new murrini in there and rather than a blend, just packets of the blue striped fish or the black and yellow butterfly fish as well as restocking the run out/low ones!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixXDis0ubKZvMObXE8GzEhnPKIgWrOzZAuZbcRKr6Z0HP_NuitcLUJjP4IOT7RwdLqMsNyt-PML424MjSYGGbXZK6O0GMcBEM2JdfGbe9bIzfm2eEDLsMMM-xxuQyRf_wHh9pnq6SiZO3Y/s1600/024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixXDis0ubKZvMObXE8GzEhnPKIgWrOzZAuZbcRKr6Z0HP_NuitcLUJjP4IOT7RwdLqMsNyt-PML424MjSYGGbXZK6O0GMcBEM2JdfGbe9bIzfm2eEDLsMMM-xxuQyRf_wHh9pnq6SiZO3Y/s320/024.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watch pendants with my beads</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
One thing I did get in the mail this morning was a rather nice parcel (after all who doesn't love getting a parcel) and in it were some necklace watches I bought in a bulk buy. They are completely and utterly super cute and I am already wishing I had bought more than a handful, but I am thinking of some ways of using them with my beads and then shall list in the Etsy store. Here's a piccie of what I did with the first one I got out of the bag!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiod1POU0iKu2e_sxecB7xgTT7u_lqQpBP3xNZDXmk4fWAjqIYEpNOQAj1sNqaHIkdpjfZO_Rwd1Nx1JL6nqFeDXJzGhXGnQ__jEK8cf7YZngWv1wSVLX8BAtTV5xxK_5yhVROVsmIzN7B/s1600/Precious+on+stand.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiod1POU0iKu2e_sxecB7xgTT7u_lqQpBP3xNZDXmk4fWAjqIYEpNOQAj1sNqaHIkdpjfZO_Rwd1Nx1JL6nqFeDXJzGhXGnQ__jEK8cf7YZngWv1wSVLX8BAtTV5xxK_5yhVROVsmIzN7B/s320/Precious+on+stand.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Loren Stump underwater sphere.... given to me as a gift!!!!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Oh, and for all of those lovely people at the International Flameon Downunder in Sydney early October... here's a pic of my "precious" that Loren stump gave to me. My Dad's best mate Uncle Geoff is a very accomplished wood turner and he made me a couple stands to choose from. I am thinking I might change them about depending on the mood or the decor at the time..... whoa, how posh and fortunate do I sound now..... I am a lucky lucky girl!<br />
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</div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-2377691734818902862011-11-02T19:40:00.000+11:002011-11-02T19:40:53.582+11:00The Great Honey Dipper Disaster of 2011<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB3Dfhk9vEHguFGLMW6jn7VE499831JLZA0iyABXCPXiEMSq_Afl8dGNuA8eaY4WcuyS9Bkj_o11eSRjZehvE-tAiECUoDhRmD39MWQgZXfwl7YxT_3OshC7HVMnGokCHFa9sc_EMYtyVZ/s1600/001+-+Copy+%25283%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB3Dfhk9vEHguFGLMW6jn7VE499831JLZA0iyABXCPXiEMSq_Afl8dGNuA8eaY4WcuyS9Bkj_o11eSRjZehvE-tAiECUoDhRmD39MWQgZXfwl7YxT_3OshC7HVMnGokCHFa9sc_EMYtyVZ/s200/001+-+Copy+%25283%2529.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas Honey Dippers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Oh dear, disaster has struck at my house on Melbourne Cup day in Western Sydney. I came home early from Leo's work Melbourne Cup function to take my new stock of christmas themed Honey Dippers up to the honey lady only to find my Mum (who was up visiting from Canberra) was in tears.... not just tears but sobbing inconsolably sort of tears. I was understandably concerned, counted my three kids were all here, checked I had the clean undies on (something that would potentially have made her cry with frustration if not), looked around to check there were no flames.... and then asked the fatal question...... "what's wrong?"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAVvdM_IaDP590xEgijZGXhbbIbph6NFXWOE0Y-Jboy-FA8iv5wP0gkZyUumFLDFoUSpWTV7kt3dHgxJUzGd9jtU00hsqwEcMZKsVtmDLFVk8NPKV5_R9_19qwkaZwXbmKAAapr8l7b15F/s1600/christmas+honey+dippers+and+stand.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAVvdM_IaDP590xEgijZGXhbbIbph6NFXWOE0Y-Jboy-FA8iv5wP0gkZyUumFLDFoUSpWTV7kt3dHgxJUzGd9jtU00hsqwEcMZKsVtmDLFVk8NPKV5_R9_19qwkaZwXbmKAAapr8l7b15F/s320/christmas+honey+dippers+and+stand.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Honey Dippers on stand before floor annealing... ie. breaking into bits!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It turns out that poor Mum had been putting a bag on the table and had knocked off my whole box of honey dippers (packed and ready to take) off the table face down into the tiled floor......hmmmmm, only one lonely one survived... wouldn't you know it.... it was the ugliest simple one!!!!!!!!!<br />
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As you can see above Leo has made me a super cool display stand for the Blue Mountains Honey peeps and I am positive they will love that bit, but I REALLY want to take along some actual stock too, so the kiln is heating up right now and I will make another dent in the list.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSvLOiBtWnkF6s1kpwpITB-21yjSKjBd7GXKglkR2QO6k-qPfFaDtT2w63MVZU2mSg9hjZB-hEpQ1ncRAfhy7goY6m3iZNxDzzzemIiLKxRVupCaCsSr0M4Ji73E8ck3toHswEnnbKEZ7Z/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSvLOiBtWnkF6s1kpwpITB-21yjSKjBd7GXKglkR2QO6k-qPfFaDtT2w63MVZU2mSg9hjZB-hEpQ1ncRAfhy7goY6m3iZNxDzzzemIiLKxRVupCaCsSr0M4Ji73E8ck3toHswEnnbKEZ7Z/s200/002.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broken "bits" of honey dippers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I am sure there will be a little tiny bit of angst making more of these and the reality is, being borosilicate glass, they could be repaired, but it would be quite a bit faster for me to just make some new ones. The added benefit is also that I would know they were lovely and strong - sort of like a new car rather than a refurbished one. At least this time around I will be a little faster and probably do a better job avoiding the odd pitfall you have with sculptural glass items.<br />
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I still feel badly for Mum who has been totally distraught for two days about this..... she's still upset I might add!<br />
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I am a bit more prosaic about the whole thing, after all, no-one was hurt and really...its only sand!!!!<br />
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</div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-55974835471992295352011-10-30T12:19:00.001+11:002011-10-30T12:20:49.574+11:00Glassy confusion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYeM-du2OSBQ71mLASJ-eEJw4xVtuXoV4wQGzTJ2ao8w1vrHDxkc-AJJ6ldnbVFHhuVSrZmFP0kyYj8WTX6iowb7KpuOmwTDEx2fWWV7QypnGgCOAHrBWU2igSaXpyPgO6snihM1mQSCP/s1600/014+-+Copy+%25283%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYeM-du2OSBQ71mLASJ-eEJw4xVtuXoV4wQGzTJ2ao8w1vrHDxkc-AJJ6ldnbVFHhuVSrZmFP0kyYj8WTX6iowb7KpuOmwTDEx2fWWV7QypnGgCOAHrBWU2igSaXpyPgO6snihM1mQSCP/s200/014+-+Copy+%25283%2529.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>Yep, I have to admit totally that I have managed to confuddlate myself lately..... I have a big long list of stuff to do and I have been working though that (thanks mostly to the whyteboard list which somewhat keeps me on track, well a bit anyway), but I keep getting distracted by other stuff. I have been working on odd ideas, things to try out and just plain "stuff" that is not on my to do list and yet I feel the burning need to put these ideas into practice, not tomorrow or even an hour from now......... right NOW!<br />
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Is it an obsessional thing, like OCD although mine would be called OGD (Obessive Glass Disorder) or is it just the nature of the artistic beast? Who knows for sure, I just know that if I don't follow through on some of the stranger ideas then I feel very unfulfilled and unhappy. The main thing is that I would not worry even the tiniest bit if this didn't affect other people, but it does! I have poor buggers waiting for things for months very patiently, which I know deep down I could have finished thier items off and had them back at least weeks ago, and I just haven't done that work. I am equally annoying myself and having fun, like the kid at the fair who feels a bit sick, but still keeps eating the fairy floss.<br />
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Bugger.... enough of that D & M stuff.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxYB0w48CRp8euv3NrPm6I9ku0XFopeSF7OZMYVX0DvJ9uxLmrac22Rb9yCpdkTFWXRoz2bWHi_0vYAHQuaXvPsw3Sx7zrotriWG_NDopLKQk9onlxOvDeDt8QnC_gWNGw8qP1j1kL7eQI/s1600/021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxYB0w48CRp8euv3NrPm6I9ku0XFopeSF7OZMYVX0DvJ9uxLmrac22Rb9yCpdkTFWXRoz2bWHi_0vYAHQuaXvPsw3Sx7zrotriWG_NDopLKQk9onlxOvDeDt8QnC_gWNGw8qP1j1kL7eQI/s200/021.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>I have been ticking a couple jobs off my list of to do's and in between making some murrini components I have been making some beads using my new lentil press (interestingly I have never ever liked presses, not even a little tiny bit, but I like this one from Peter G in Melbourne and made to my specs). I have been on a listing fest on the Etsy store to try and get the total number of items over 100 which I have been told is the "magic" number for interesting people to have a look, so I thought I might as well try.<br />
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The other job I have been attempting to get done is to restock my honey dipper lady at Blue Mountains Honey with some christmas themed jobbies..... I have done one lot last night and have the kiln hot and ready to go right now for some more. I am going to try and get at least 30 out to her next week and Leo is making another cute little stand for them which will be cool too.<br />
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Oh well, the re-purpling of my hair is ready to rinse and the kiln and glass are waiting for me. Have a FANTASTIC week everyone!</div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-75629388505763103992011-10-25T12:04:00.000+11:002011-10-25T12:04:23.956+11:00Two kilns heated and life is goooooood!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVzptzipwld9Bx_MS1GUHcY6l_Lx4CVlrbmlBkRa_-f8hUC_NdXXbd3V1ookqZF6rXOGW3-8pGlVFWps2j6T6f5MSf5eEyCUhiDerPiTdU7RDSlnBw_9DH6Tczk3wPZOD42zhwNDJquzg1/s1600/006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVzptzipwld9Bx_MS1GUHcY6l_Lx4CVlrbmlBkRa_-f8hUC_NdXXbd3V1ookqZF6rXOGW3-8pGlVFWps2j6T6f5MSf5eEyCUhiDerPiTdU7RDSlnBw_9DH6Tczk3wPZOD42zhwNDJquzg1/s320/006.JPG" width="298" /></a></div><br />
Yep at the moment I have two kilns.... thats right, my new lovely big girl I have dubbed Penny (Penny Paragon) and my old, but VERY useful Aim kiln that goes on a trip to Canberra to stay forever more with my little Sister Amanda... sort of sad to see her go, but she is well needed down south and I know my sis will give her some love for sure. <br />
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At the moment I have my Aim set up for the fusing (hence all the fusing related postings this last week...he he he) and it is currently full of glassy goodness once again, only this time I have mixed some dichro in there with the murrini, it'll be interesting to see how it comes out for sure. Here's a pic of the sheet I threw in with just scrappy bits and pieces on it (twistie, murrini and lumps of "other") and it still sort of came out fairly cool..... I still don't know what I am going to do with this one, maybe stick some rubber bumpies on it and use it as a butter dish for visitors or something like that..... LOL<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4MnAC6SBobnp_rZWCmfa9VHrTII1B6V87EXm4ZPORTwXqA9TGGtYZz8s3hdfd_twFJvSuB9zRCFqY9RqwHMdyzUlszGtEAkw4S0BolcPDUe8HfPTGOeIhkgs9KE_rukGLga7mSdYmaKPf/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4MnAC6SBobnp_rZWCmfa9VHrTII1B6V87EXm4ZPORTwXqA9TGGtYZz8s3hdfd_twFJvSuB9zRCFqY9RqwHMdyzUlszGtEAkw4S0BolcPDUe8HfPTGOeIhkgs9KE_rukGLga7mSdYmaKPf/s320/002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scrap canes and murrini fused sheet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I had some interesting results from my fusing tests on small bits of sheet glass. This one using some clear centred cane came out really interesting, although I am finding that I often like the back view (that has less murrini distortion) much better. I will show both sides of this one, which I am going to glue a bail to and wear as a pendant I am thinking! I am actually re-fusing a couple of these tester cabs upside down (now with the clear sheet on the top) to see if that clarifies the integrity of the murrini pictures and maybe adds some depth and magnification too.... I will be keen to check the kiln when they finish for sure!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXSHMrNXrGRw_KpvJ__yP413KSt0rc49VTpnqvYIOvraZL1oDs13G3MdmzCPMMfipmLpTbFhxtg3YA6MsP_p6_xhnzVbVSU6-i58Z1ewFpiuIy9cLFCIHNjNzLvgO2ye47WsAat_IroTOK/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXSHMrNXrGRw_KpvJ__yP413KSt0rc49VTpnqvYIOvraZL1oDs13G3MdmzCPMMfipmLpTbFhxtg3YA6MsP_p6_xhnzVbVSU6-i58Z1ewFpiuIy9cLFCIHNjNzLvgO2ye47WsAat_IroTOK/s200/008.JPG" width="166" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rear of cab</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQJ4Ec6qsX_UzteT_XAh4-cTB0P0dOzzZaqm5Eb-HXrUK6hk80IEoTa5LnFGbInQjKxQrZYkXvQigVfP62s-dBRjiHU_ZZD8VV2R5PFPz42y3LG5WCNytdl3uUdTMieSlcjrPInUv0yCa/s1600/005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQJ4Ec6qsX_UzteT_XAh4-cTB0P0dOzzZaqm5Eb-HXrUK6hk80IEoTa5LnFGbInQjKxQrZYkXvQigVfP62s-dBRjiHU_ZZD8VV2R5PFPz42y3LG5WCNytdl3uUdTMieSlcjrPInUv0yCa/s200/005.JPG" width="199" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front of cab</td></tr>
</tbody></table> On a non-fusing front, I have been madly making up murrini for Affordable (geeze I am a shocking slacker with keeping up the stock, she might need to take a stick to me I think!) mostly because I have misplaced a whole lot of my stock murrini (some of which I had even bagged up...doh) and therefore I must pay the price of making extras.... I have really annoyed myself I tell you!<br />
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I haven't made any complex murrini for a little while now and the bug is starting to bite..... I have some plans afoot as you can see......<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSIDnrzBy8x0jes_35c7GEytze0XovPAZIJRackZs_l2VP_Ad2kGD4B9KaUhfuxM6t7EMftH6aOj1o6qajy0nrhvzdGRT2ziiReXbwSPyBgHfdmpVbqTB5MPfMRsJpXu8iAdzl5VqHq1Jz/s1600/Owl+murrini+planning+sheet.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSIDnrzBy8x0jes_35c7GEytze0XovPAZIJRackZs_l2VP_Ad2kGD4B9KaUhfuxM6t7EMftH6aOj1o6qajy0nrhvzdGRT2ziiReXbwSPyBgHfdmpVbqTB5MPfMRsJpXu8iAdzl5VqHq1Jz/s320/Owl+murrini+planning+sheet.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lets hope it comes out as cute as I see it in my brain. I am yet to make a murrini that I am totally happy with.... maybe that is just the nature of the beast, but at least I do see myself improving. You might note that the plans for this owl murrini include using the same component as Loren Stump's fish scale.... I am thinking it will make some ultra-cool feathers YEAH! Now off to buy a can of corn for shaping the bugger (those little cans are the trick to this shape Loren showed us).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-31325583893973186972011-10-23T20:43:00.000+11:002011-10-23T20:43:31.585+11:00Death of a plate..... but tried again with success!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQyao0esYeuRMPJlsaN8JPykPi9IOQthBdFLdd259M7ZL-LF1UUuID3eH0bJVm08aignEvAxKhe9Ech1tfTAY1XNYV0u-fD_VcmAUxjq54SMU4ia77dKT7A1Ww5q3Ocx3XY2n1zYIeM4CC/s1600/Slumped+SV1+with+hole.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQyao0esYeuRMPJlsaN8JPykPi9IOQthBdFLdd259M7ZL-LF1UUuID3eH0bJVm08aignEvAxKhe9Ech1tfTAY1XNYV0u-fD_VcmAUxjq54SMU4ia77dKT7A1Ww5q3Ocx3XY2n1zYIeM4CC/s320/Slumped+SV1+with+hole.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sharks vomit plate 1 with hole</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Oh yeah..... there is no question, I killed my plate using Sharks Vomit 1 when I tried to slump it into the mold. It is mostly due to the fact that I totally forgot that I needed to slow down the ramp up heat rate and so when the plate hit about 350deg C there was a muffled clang...well to be honest multiple clangy sounds and when I peeked into the peephole, there it sat.... in MANY parts. I was not happy, indeed I was rather upset, but as they say... you learn much more from a mistake than you do from getting it right the first time. I decided that because it was in pieces, I might as well ramp the temp right up and see if some of it will fuse back together. In fact it did fuse back quite a bit, but left a little hole that I have decided would be a good spot to sit a marble ( I put a circle around the hole zone on the above pic). The glass also somewhat dripped down the sides of the plate mold and I will have to grind that off. I am still toying with the idea that I should re-fuse and then try slumping this one again.... just toying at the moment, but if I have to look at it too long like this, it shall feel some heat I promise you! LOL<br />
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Being a big one for getting it right at least once, I decided to spend 4 hrs of my time yesterday to make up another fusing plate using my murrini again. This time I tried to stick with half decent murrini (ie, not too many clear inclusions etc.) although they are still my rejected ones, I made sure they were as tightly packed as I could get them. I even pulled some little stringer sized murrini to pop down the gaps and it really paid off. The glass did not move around very much at all and the fuse came out lovely. I slumped it late last night and got this beauty out of the kiln this arvo and now have a cute little square plate..... I love it!!!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj7NCkMY1ytXh_Yf1MiAW5VLte4qrf5mWz2CxOWjl05Lyf8S8ZyfXwAYZP1wDQLcjjxVi-uw5O5jowVFeZe2eINuMKf6Lai8UQ-f7TVeDP6C6ry_V1MGedIzs1wd_pC86Ldau_Zjk5kJcV/s1600/Slumped+plate+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj7NCkMY1ytXh_Yf1MiAW5VLte4qrf5mWz2CxOWjl05Lyf8S8ZyfXwAYZP1wDQLcjjxVi-uw5O5jowVFeZe2eINuMKf6Lai8UQ-f7TVeDP6C6ry_V1MGedIzs1wd_pC86Ldau_Zjk5kJcV/s320/Slumped+plate+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sharks vomit 2 slumped into plate - sweet success</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I have now got a kiln full of "testers" that I will see how they look when they come out before I think of using them in a larger plate size. The handy thing is that I will be able to glue on some bails and voila.... instant pendant. Hopefully they won't be too ugly to be worn and if they are, well I will keep them or donate them to someone who seed beads cabs or something fun like that.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYtEMSRXXIlzejOk2OuPmSQ3hjr_RbxTueo_42dxCIrc3w7cmIv02aMAHBSG_dk7LUSkiQuWQ6waKIGYm7LN01gTa_naOx1SW3L3wY4H7AGSVXWtXHnp0TwKUdItZd_hrdeRbs7mKzccAj/s1600/Testers+in+the+kiln.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYtEMSRXXIlzejOk2OuPmSQ3hjr_RbxTueo_42dxCIrc3w7cmIv02aMAHBSG_dk7LUSkiQuWQ6waKIGYm7LN01gTa_naOx1SW3L3wY4H7AGSVXWtXHnp0TwKUdItZd_hrdeRbs7mKzccAj/s320/Testers+in+the+kiln.JPG" width="294" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Testers to see what happens in the kiln!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Have a fabulous week, this week is getting things done week for me....... YEAH!</div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-32904155908165841982011-10-21T14:36:00.000+11:002011-10-21T14:36:05.724+11:00The 104coe murrini fusing experiment..... SUCCESS!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Well despite my concerns about fusing the miriad of murrini (I quite like how that rolls off the tongue... Miriad of Murrini.... yeah!) I opened the kiln lid this morning to some sweet success! Both sides of the piece were really cool with the bottom side maintaining the integrity of the pattern where the murrini sat against the clear glass:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMDFJ3c193pz23BkVispyzZmzShPSxHjdF0eawUuukjOVK_EHh3NUqsxJ1AmslNcQ9yfV4RTnAfofWaBjbDSeKoseVixlpOcAUwhr1_OfrTiL36RejKRDI3rScELaPGa_6KrmHFlWoor7/s1600/Bottom+of+the+murrini+fuse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMDFJ3c193pz23BkVispyzZmzShPSxHjdF0eawUuukjOVK_EHh3NUqsxJ1AmslNcQ9yfV4RTnAfofWaBjbDSeKoseVixlpOcAUwhr1_OfrTiL36RejKRDI3rScELaPGa_6KrmHFlWoor7/s320/Bottom+of+the+murrini+fuse.JPG" width="277" /></a></div><br />
And then there was the top side where the different glass sort of moved around a bit an squidgied the top of the pictures. Green and Blue glass seems to be really prone to this moving around in a very viscous (not vicious) fashion, I am sure the techno-types out there would be able to say exactly why, but for me, sometimes I really like it and sometimes ....er.... not!<br />
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Here's a pic of the top side and you can see the distortion to the pics, and yet I still think it is pretty damn cool!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTT8I_c13Hfw6W_1ZOmagZRleJrrqnI87IoNooZr3rDy4bf0YZBynGMNYOthHa-F0BhJxZTr-SQA7kwrGZIqdZAdoXAfG046YwITHB9OP2ubLbGKimG4vPRe9Y_rsvU8awqBsW2MoHiaAJ/s1600/Top+of+the+murrini+fuse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTT8I_c13Hfw6W_1ZOmagZRleJrrqnI87IoNooZr3rDy4bf0YZBynGMNYOthHa-F0BhJxZTr-SQA7kwrGZIqdZAdoXAfG046YwITHB9OP2ubLbGKimG4vPRe9Y_rsvU8awqBsW2MoHiaAJ/s320/Top+of+the+murrini+fuse.JPG" width="301" /></a></div>The next job will be to try slumping this into a plate mold, which I am now a bit nervous about given that I do not want to ruin this glass now its worked out so far. I could be conservative and try with some other glass first...... but NAHHHH I will stick my neck out, scoff at the danger (danger of buggering it up that is) and dip my foot into the slumping waters...... ok, now I have slightly scared myself!<br />
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Have a wonderful day everyone, its sunny, warm and fabulous here in Sydney right now..... I am loving life!</div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-26325643771433333662011-10-20T22:11:00.001+11:002011-10-20T22:13:16.093+11:00Back from Crazy month... with a bit of sharks vomit !!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0YRdIQAMTJ4s6zind2spGMU-uB35xj4irX0mGWoOC6DFa01JtuTM0zHX7r8cRJ5xyy9dUvW_g9uh-mGNUFz5dJ1cFiu17S7QdYpUv5GwcyMR_T4Zgaobrwz9s9yNJ37pyeu_4f76veKOu/s1600/010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0YRdIQAMTJ4s6zind2spGMU-uB35xj4irX0mGWoOC6DFa01JtuTM0zHX7r8cRJ5xyy9dUvW_g9uh-mGNUFz5dJ1cFiu17S7QdYpUv5GwcyMR_T4Zgaobrwz9s9yNJ37pyeu_4f76veKOu/s320/010.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ascidian bead experiment</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Yahoo, I am glad to say that I am home after a literal marathon of glassy goodness. First off I was on the committee for the 2011 International Flameon event here in Sydney and whilst it was Motza fun.... it was also very exhausting! If you would like to see some photos of the event <a href="http://www.flameondownunder.com/flame-on-2011-photos.html">http://www.flameondownunder.com/flame-on-2011-photos.html</a> or of course would like a chance to bid on some of the items of art created and donated for Spinal Cord Injury Australia then try <a href="http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/flameondownunder/m.html?_nkw&_armrs=1&_from&_jpg&_trksid=p3686">http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/flameondownunder/m.html?_nkw&_armrs=1&_from&_jpg&_trksid=p3686</a> for the full listing of lovely stuff to drool over and maybe even buy.... LOL<br />
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After spending a crazy time at the flame on with Robert Mickelson, Chris Arnold and of course Loren Stump (plus heaps of other lovely lampwork peeps), I then got to help out at the studio for Robert who is a really lovely bloke and a great teacher. Unfortunately I didn't get to stay the whole time (friends wedding in Victoria) but the students were producing really amazing things!<br />
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After all my travelling around and being away from my own torch I have been rather desperate to melt some glass too and since I got home that is just what I have been doing. I spent some time today on my first ever fusing project to give my new (and much larger) kiln a good run. Here's a pic of the project before it went into the kiln. I had some 104 sheet glass laying around and decided to use a whole lot of the knobby ends of old and crappy murrini pulls with the odd lump of "other" also all in 104 COE of course.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGlwawBz6YfVK27SDas84uguSfPYLdf5L3KcRgcyCsmheas12rCb5ojSwQEFCKCxL_KzmjSXEvl8sIHw3bKc9DhsN70vF0PUaZrRB1ets3AGheV7HGFks6PQl9R1z4O7diLn0T7XgdktI8/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGlwawBz6YfVK27SDas84uguSfPYLdf5L3KcRgcyCsmheas12rCb5ojSwQEFCKCxL_KzmjSXEvl8sIHw3bKc9DhsN70vF0PUaZrRB1ets3AGheV7HGFks6PQl9R1z4O7diLn0T7XgdktI8/s320/001.JPG" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sharks Vomit - Pre fused</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I have decided to call this "sharks vomit" because it is basically a mish mash of all my scrappy ends and bad murrini pulls. It had great potential to just all smoosh together and looks really foul, but then again... it also might come out rather fun! If it turns out at all I am going to slump it into a greenware plate mold I bought a little while ago which I think might look rather funky!<br />
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Oh..... on a VERY happy note, my work has been accepted by the wonderful people at the Canberra Glassworks Gallery........YAHOOOOOOOO!</div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-88356646725793703662011-09-22T09:51:00.000+10:002011-09-22T09:51:55.611+10:00A fishy success!!!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Here she is:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYbYJ2H2PAZ1kPUsRqhbmJFzLDoCJd3vBXdSrUQaQgiMGmX_92durjCqD5hRttWz7eYbG7oVMdxtU-7adbLFmYcsza_3Vmlpzu3uLNoLKYxYOlc0KoDRjYnVrkQe9TuwzOj-g13dEc4Tq_/s1600/White+butterfly+fish.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYbYJ2H2PAZ1kPUsRqhbmJFzLDoCJd3vBXdSrUQaQgiMGmX_92durjCqD5hRttWz7eYbG7oVMdxtU-7adbLFmYcsza_3Vmlpzu3uLNoLKYxYOlc0KoDRjYnVrkQe9TuwzOj-g13dEc4Tq_/s320/White+butterfly+fish.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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Thanks goodness, when I got the large diameter murrini cane out of my kiln this morning and then sliced it into nice little bite-sizes (read pulling out smaller sized) I was happy to see that it looked like a fish, indeed much like the fish it was supposed to look like! It is by no means perfect and the body shape is not quite right and the top yellow fin was too small compared to the large tail fin and I didn't get the stripes quite right and the face..... well you get the picture! I do still have another face came component and might go back and try again when in the mood, but for just now I will pull some of this cane down to bead sized and cut into slices for Affordable to sell for me if Kerry is happy with that.... or, I will pop them into some containers for the flame-on freebie bags..... hmmm not sure, maybe both!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9srNjpvnUj8vgBNK95R9Ze9R3B6BB0QHbATLsENUjZDF64FnyV10E67NFi-3jyDYh9mEq_lSm7td-XOlBZWVglOpkty0am6e-kpbtTb0zuT058s1r3c1frGBUu8CZDMql5bWzhg3evXIH/s1600/White+butterflyfish.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9srNjpvnUj8vgBNK95R9Ze9R3B6BB0QHbATLsENUjZDF64FnyV10E67NFi-3jyDYh9mEq_lSm7td-XOlBZWVglOpkty0am6e-kpbtTb0zuT058s1r3c1frGBUu8CZDMql5bWzhg3evXIH/s320/White+butterflyfish.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Last night I decided that whilst I was waiting for the kiln to heat up to component cane temp I might as well throw a couple of boro things in there..... here are the marbles I quickly threw together. My hubby Leo is rapidly collecting a rather nice line of mibs for on his office window sill at work and he really quite likes them. He is quite proud of my glass stuff and gets all puffed up when a visiting person asks about them. I love that he is so supportive of my glassy endeavours, but it sounds suspiciously to me like he never grew out of that boys and marble fetish thing lots of young men have, but geeze, I like them too! Still, if a few marbles keeps him happy and cool with my buying glass, he can have as many as he likes!!!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4vcS6qKYMhdp5K3gggz06fmxTk7DtzUXrZxywcp9Pg_nsWqtKiNtOszS8YoglI1pbWXq8729dEAkFCs_Ojgs06qTUSAFlzS-21qF9hDD6NBgrnVt4LgD4Xu_ZjaaMudCzP6et2-S447p4/s1600/helix+Twist+mibs.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4vcS6qKYMhdp5K3gggz06fmxTk7DtzUXrZxywcp9Pg_nsWqtKiNtOszS8YoglI1pbWXq8729dEAkFCs_Ojgs06qTUSAFlzS-21qF9hDD6NBgrnVt4LgD4Xu_ZjaaMudCzP6et2-S447p4/s320/helix+Twist+mibs.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-80558382317367643862011-09-21T21:33:00.000+10:002011-09-21T21:33:24.279+10:00Murrini-ing on and more sea themes!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggARnVNEdXiUglKSpaNUKqHAem0wlWkaIeSDQBTvEi2qwVQsXh35xKqf85EcvfLsBup8RmTl8K6DBLYrK_HWqfnEcKeH5Ylig4erKQB0XNgUrvHBopEprQ3qj0v4j_WZQtOIbyCfK6RHCc/s1600/002+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggARnVNEdXiUglKSpaNUKqHAem0wlWkaIeSDQBTvEi2qwVQsXh35xKqf85EcvfLsBup8RmTl8K6DBLYrK_HWqfnEcKeH5Ylig4erKQB0XNgUrvHBopEprQ3qj0v4j_WZQtOIbyCfK6RHCc/s320/002+-+Copy.JPG" width="283" /></a></div>Well I am now definitely back in my usual swing. Which is in actuality a little crazed given that I have just got back from working with the lovely Loren Stump and are on the committee for the first ever International Flame-on Downunder in less than two weeks time (and things are hotting up in more than one way..... LOL) see <a href="http://www.flameondownunder.com/">http://www.flameondownunder.com/</a> for info . After the flame on I will also be working as Technical Assistant to Robert Mickelson, boro flamework legend and then driving for 10hrs to attend a wedding where my twins are flower girls.......aaarrrrggh (run away, run away....)<br />
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I need to make some murrini to add to the give away bags at the flame on from Affordable Inspiration who sells my murrini for me. But.....I have been making some absolutely horrible murrini over the last couple of days! Just lazyness or throwing them together and hoping for the best which is an option that NEVER works out well for me. I knew there was an issue with my blue striped fish when my kids commented that they looked like the offspring of a budgie and a fish.......hmmmm, could have shaped them better.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihPQFAKjScgiwdzkNfutRGZJZJna3Lq-fJU6AqgQkfhPhGJ7qwct43OKcmrJ7eIa_O8S-wC1XlRYDtisGJ4rJFyj2Q-kzJGQsnIaMYmOiUOQ_jYWt0_7kopEV_b6NJDUeFE7FFwXegJr2l/s1600/009+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihPQFAKjScgiwdzkNfutRGZJZJna3Lq-fJU6AqgQkfhPhGJ7qwct43OKcmrJ7eIa_O8S-wC1XlRYDtisGJ4rJFyj2Q-kzJGQsnIaMYmOiUOQ_jYWt0_7kopEV_b6NJDUeFE7FFwXegJr2l/s320/009+-+Copy.JPG" width="309" /></a></div><br />
And here is the clownfish with the large eye and the weird mouth......doh!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ao1Q0mbBvFOCO40dJulxDbQouLwf1bwgGq4ym-iJt2WKFm7QvJJpgl2YeKyBCDnJzSA1lMYz5Fz3CsS5goQ-r_ooB7q7KeBLR9D-GBZR1q71kPZiIXEPBHI8u7XPI19DvI7PWnKL_bAN/s1600/010+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ao1Q0mbBvFOCO40dJulxDbQouLwf1bwgGq4ym-iJt2WKFm7QvJJpgl2YeKyBCDnJzSA1lMYz5Fz3CsS5goQ-r_ooB7q7KeBLR9D-GBZR1q71kPZiIXEPBHI8u7XPI19DvI7PWnKL_bAN/s320/010+-+Copy.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I did knuckle down tonight and popped a little angelfish murrini (large diameter first off) into the kiln and hopefully something nice will come out for once..... cross your fingers and toes for me if you can, I will show the results even if shameful!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769366192898323105.post-80545229433441359122011-09-20T09:39:00.000+10:002011-09-20T09:39:36.681+10:00My brain is bursting with ideas.....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivvuq7a45HcuQ_hUtYVUWFcZv89YfI8xgmVkdSB2AXyeAWBVzSTuDoGD_hbJEAtQ3Ocym0kcshc2oQ_2Z-GemDuK48QVrmxqQfzVPGsZAvz7mUUUrL898NCNiZR1i0XrLhCpHBQH07VjU9/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivvuq7a45HcuQ_hUtYVUWFcZv89YfI8xgmVkdSB2AXyeAWBVzSTuDoGD_hbJEAtQ3Ocym0kcshc2oQ_2Z-GemDuK48QVrmxqQfzVPGsZAvz7mUUUrL898NCNiZR1i0XrLhCpHBQH07VjU9/s320/001.JPG" width="315" /></a></div><div align="justify"></div>Well, after returning from working as a tech assist for Loren Stump for two weeks and standing and watching the students all melting glass (well, not just standing there of course, but you get the gist I am sure) I have got home and have gone into a glass melting frenzy! I have been making murrini and beads like a steamtrain...... Some have come out ok, some NOT! Its interesting that when you are working and not a student you really do miss out on some of the finer points of how to do things, I am of course wishing I had done the course as a paying student right now, but appreciate Gail at Goglass (<a href="http://www.goglassart.com.au/">www.goglassart.com.au</a>) letting me work with such a great bloke and being exposed to a miriad of new ideas. I feel frenzied to melt glass and try out new idea's .... always a good thing I am sure!<br />
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I made myself some of the 3D clownfish Loren showed the class and boy did I wish I had actually stayed to watch how he did it. Mine look a bit more like a squirrel fish (those ugly ones with disproportionately large eyes) and then I forgot the mouth and adding it afterwards... well its not recommended lets put it that way!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2ErXmdTHrk6Nv41a1Cq9NkqUCksyUglihJbZ7GGCQGD-SdaH-0Ca0NlaD2bsEiVM-PwSqB3J4inr4ePhQozNHMG191KEN6_10fc6HEhe2OeKe87MC-ux7qxF9TcfSZdImry5JEqoOP_b/s1600/007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2ErXmdTHrk6Nv41a1Cq9NkqUCksyUglihJbZ7GGCQGD-SdaH-0Ca0NlaD2bsEiVM-PwSqB3J4inr4ePhQozNHMG191KEN6_10fc6HEhe2OeKe87MC-ux7qxF9TcfSZdImry5JEqoOP_b/s320/007.JPG" width="239" /></a></div> One good thing is that I have decided to make more beads using my own murrini. It seems mental that I tend not to use them myself and yet I see the lovely stuff my customers make with them and drool...... doh! The frog in the jungle bead above is the first bead I have used this particular leaf cane on and I am quite happy with it - although the frogs legs are not very well done, it did give the green leafy jungle feel and after all that is what I was going for.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIk9FMW7cKoNvS3Aa8K26Vg8SBbnOcnTv-eCegkZup0lVAIqQ_GWfVqeBsS4E4UIIm24d-BJaSkB81eb_51l-TrYC_Q1V0EW5v5bxmh7nN95iNwS1-cuQ6n1CMXtK_-FV8HMm3ApE_AWMb/s1600/005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIk9FMW7cKoNvS3Aa8K26Vg8SBbnOcnTv-eCegkZup0lVAIqQ_GWfVqeBsS4E4UIIm24d-BJaSkB81eb_51l-TrYC_Q1V0EW5v5bxmh7nN95iNwS1-cuQ6n1CMXtK_-FV8HMm3ApE_AWMb/s320/005.JPG" width="221" /></a></div>This bead is where I have moved on a little from my frog on a lily pond beads I had started on before going to work with Loren. This one I applied a bit of yellow rose cane as a waterlily and popped a dragonfly slice on top of that. I am loving the green growth on the side at the right too (based on ascidians, water filtering animals in the ocean) but I need to do more work on the koi fish on the bottom layer and are thinking I might make some koi murrini for them rather than a swipe of white with some orange and black spots.<br />
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I am still trolling my way slowly though the gorgeous work at the Bead Soup Blog Swap and there are some fabulous and inspiring pieces of art to drool over. I figure it might take me a week or so before I get though, but I will read all of them. I have tried to comment on them, but either through my own stupidity or the internet systems some use, can't work out how to have a say..... sometimes I make myself wonder I tell you! </div>Natalie Monkivitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15822144031550155332noreply@blogger.com4