Paperweight... not QUITE epic fail.... but close!

The messy and squashy paperweight making zone

Yep, she is fresh from the kiln and unfortunately an all-round dissapointment..... but at least the shape was good!

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

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.

Construction in the stumpsucker to be preheated

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!

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!

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.....

I am about to ring around for oxy cylinder hire and fills...... and maybe put two oxycons up for sale!!!!!  Ha ha ha

The finished article..... see the sinking ship at the front of the pic and the enormous buoy at the back... DOH!

Paperweight planning in a nautical style



Sail boat component cane and ribbon

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!!!!

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!

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!!!!!

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!

Planning sheet for making small sail boats with schott encasement crystal and component canes

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!

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.

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).

Nautical / Sailing construction for paperweight

Wish me luck!!!!!!!  I have an awful feeling I am going to need it!

A full plate.....

Handful of experimentals

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!

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!

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!

Watch pendants with my beads

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!

Loren Stump underwater sphere.... given to me as a gift!!!!!

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!

Two kilns heated and life is goooooood!

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. 

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

Scrap canes and murrini fused sheet

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!

Rear of cab

Front of cab

 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!

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......

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).

Back from Crazy month... with a bit of sharks vomit !!!

Ascidian bead experiment

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 http://www.flameondownunder.com/flame-on-2011-photos.html  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 http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/flameondownunder/m.html?_nkw&_armrs=1&_from&_jpg&_trksid=p3686 for the full listing of lovely stuff to drool over and maybe even buy.... LOL

 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!

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.

Sharks Vomit - Pre fused

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!

Oh..... on a VERY happy note, my work has been accepted by the wonderful people at the Canberra Glassworks Gallery........YAHOOOOOOOO!

The Bead Soup is in the house!!!!

Well, first off, let me apologise for not having any updates for more than a week.  I somehow managed to faint after visiting the facilities in the middle of the night and knocked myself unconscious on my bathroom floor for some time.  Apart from some mild concussion for a few days, I managed to fall with my head tucked under and have pulled the muscles down my neck, spine and shoulders..... very sore stuff!  The doc thinks my blood pressure dropped suddenly, lets hope there is no repeat of this!

Now onto my bead soup.  It ARRIVED!!!!!  and, its gorgeous.  My swap partner Niky is so very clever she sent me a sort of Peacock coloured theme in purples and it is a divine mix.

Niky even sent me some lovely english lollies called parma violets which are the yummiest violet flavour (yep, I have a "thing" for them) and I am rationing them out slowly... one a day!

I will have to try and get some more pics of the beady goodness out of the plastic bags and maybe some progression pics before the big unveil next month (without giving too much away of course), but this mix is so lovely I am sure I will make a couple of things out of it rather than squishing all that goodness into one article!

On a lampworking front I am about to go and work as Loren Stumps technical assistant again.  This time for two back to back Loren I and Loren II courses.  I am really excited about it and just hope I can be helpful to the students when they need/want it, I suppose worse case I can make sure they are all fed and watered (last year I hand fed chocolates to some of them whilst still torching.... LOL)  One of the best bits for me personally is that Loren is running an under the sea themed level 2 course, so I will see him make that gobsmackingly gorgeous complex fish murrini..... Oh yes, there shall be some secretive notes taken.... well, maybe not at all secretive, but I can't wait to see how he does it.  I have to add that Loren is an absolutely top bloke, a brilliant teacher and a real genius with what he can do with glass... an inspiring man to be about I can tell you!

Out of the kiln, through the saw and voila..... murrini!

I am so pleased to say that my final murrini pull on a couple of my recent sojourn's into the complex murrini world came out of the kiln this arvo....... thank the murrini gods (most likely Loren Stump) THEY WORKED!!!!! (insert lots of jumping about in relief here).

The butterfly cane is a graduated pink one (although the pic is a bit crappy) and one thing I was a bit annoyed about is the scummy clear. I know that if I want a perfect butterfly in crystal clear then I have to peel the rods but I just couldn't face all that peeling!!!!! I sawed up some slices and have them in the tumbler as we speak - I was going to have the tumbler going over the last few days, but if you don't fill it enough the contents just swoosh around one side..... now it is "fully loaded" and off and running. I hope it doesn't take as long as rocks do to smooth off though!!!

After my rather boxy attempt at a complex leaf cane I am very pleased with the second attempt sawn this arvo. I decided that I would serrate the leaves on this one and I think they look a bit more realistic that way (but a wee bit of a poop to heat prior to pulling to keep the serrations actually there) I am particularly happy with this cane, because even though Loren gave us the basics, I have done the veins in this way which was my own idea - I am hoping he would be proud of me! I was very happy with the graduated transparent green moving to the darker side in the middle of the leaf and using the Grass green opaque was a nicer colour effect too I reckon. I have sliced some leaves up and have got them in the tumbler as well, but thought I might slice some really thin ones and some of the dodgy ends of the pull, preheat in the kiln and try applying to the outside of a soft glass marble..... there's not much point in making all these murrini if I am not going to use the buggers!!!

Here's the paperweight!!!

I thought I might as well load up a pic of the paperweight I made on my Loren Stump level 2 course.

First off we made the butterfly murrini by choosing the colours we liked and making the lobes which are then constructed into the top and bottom wing. Here's a pic of the half a butterfly slice before I put the two halves together. I have to admit that mine was a bit dodgy compared to some of the gorgeous work which was partly because I had made my lobes too fat and then had to squish them a lot which distorted the ends of the coloured lobes. I also managed to pull my murrini a bit smaller than I should have in the final pull and therefore ended up with a fairly small butterfly. Good thing is that I have another set of halves ready to put together and pull again if I want. I have also come home and practiced a little and have made myself the top wing tonight and will do the bottom wing tomorrow then put together and see how we go.

I am LOVING the saw n0w I have my new lapidary blade set up and it is making the complex murrini making a real joy. I am going to break out the tumbler with some small bits of leather to try polishing the slices in there seeing as I don't have a flat-lap and don't really want to go to the expense of getting one in the near future.

I made myself a complex leaf cane which I have left at a reasonably large diameter today which is sitting in the kiln as I type....hhhmmmm, I am thinking slicing polishing then drilling a top hole and installing on a necklace should be fairly cool - very time consuming, but cool nonetheless!

Post Loren Stump course Murrini Frenzy begins!

Well, for those in know I was at a level 2 Loren Stump glassworking course down in Adelaide last month quickly followed by being a Technical Assistant for his Level 1 course in Sydney...... what a blast.

For those plebs who have never heard of Loren Stump, he is (to put it plainly) a great big whopping glass legend!!! Loren does absolutely amazing things with glass that everyone had agreed were impossible. Loren's murrini skillz are out of this world, when I say I am praying to the murrini gods.... well that is actually Loren I am talking about. He has even replicated great works of art into tiny glassy slices that are mindblowing. Loren is a top bloke and rather down to earth - almost on the bogan side really, but he is a fabulous teacher who holds nothing back at all!

Last year I did the level one course and came back to a real funk, it seemed that now I had been educated in what to aim for, everything I had made earlier was fairly crappy to my own eyes and I really avoided melting glass in the fear that more crap was going to be produced. Eventually I did get myself out of this funk, but have been determined not to give into the mind games with myself this time and therefore have gone out and melted glass already!

Leo (beaut husband of mine) got me a wet saw for my birthday and this definitely opens up loads of new opportunities as far as my murrini making goes. Being able to work using larger diameter componentry will make life much easier and whilst waiting for my new lapidary blade to arrive I have been making component cane for butterfly (lobes of the wings in graduated colour) and fish (graduated scales).

When I get my blade and do some slicing and dicing I will be back to show some of it off!

In meantime, keep your torches hot!

Nat

ps. new logo for the business!!

Making haste.....slowly!

Geeze, I know I have been really slack on my blog lately. I think it is a combination of feeling guilty over taking so long to finish my murrini collection and also (strangely enough) for not blogging for so long. Its a weird thing guilt! Sometimes I get so caught up in life that I can't even melt some glass and torch myself into my own glassy universe. My "Glassverse" is where I work to create a thing in my hands that is at least representative of what I picture it in my head. I must admit that as my lampworking / flameworking skills improve, I am feeling slightly less frustration with the deficit between my vision of my art and the end product...Well most of the time ;-)

I am about to ramp it up to a new level and head off to Loren Stump level II next weekend......aaaarrgh! He is a BRILLIANT teacher, but once again I will be taking a course where I am the least experienced person there and voted most likely to bugger stuff up. I suppose I need to keep my mind firmly fixed on the fact that my journey starts from where I am now and not a comparison with someone elses artistic journey. Last time I went to Loren's course I almost went into a depression of sorts where everything I had made previous to the training was crappy, I could see nothing but the faults and now that I knew better, glass works that had been my pride and joy were now a collection of errors and techical faults I couldn't see past. Its funny, but it took quite a while to drag myself out of the doldrums artistically and yet I could not wait to light up the torch when I got home........ I just sat and stared at the flame, my mind an empty vessel at the time and I walked away many times before I felt brave enough to dip in the toe and actually make something.

This time I am determined to bypass all the self absorbed perfectionism and work through it so I can recover the joy in producing the glass art I love as soon as I return....... hmm, might take some seriously good chocolate to guarantee that though!

Enough philosophising..... I have been making loads of little phone charms lately as a use for all those tiny experimental beads that were testing new colours or reactions of colours. I have been selling them via my Mum for $5 each and I am quite happy with that. She has been selling heaps of them to friends and family, next I will have to pay her a commission I suppose - but she has always been happy to support me in this way. I really am a lucky lady when I look at the big picture!