Meet Pyrois

Isnt he just gorgeous ?? My lovely lovely man bought him for me as a graduation present and we set him up last night so I have been having a play this morning. I have nothing to show you yet though although you know you will be bombarded with pictures once I have right ? Pyrois is a Greek boys name meaning "fiery" for those that are interested in these things :o)

oh, yes i did rather sneak that in didnt I ?? Yes I GRADUATED !! I made it through uni and then through the graduation ceremony (you know the really hot weather tuesday ?? hmm standing in the sunshine for 45 mins at lunchtime while they took photos....) but yes I did it, so HUGE congratulations are due to all my friends and family for putting up with me and supporting me through it massive thanks to all of you !!

melting

this is not the weather to be a lmapworker !! I have lots of beads to create, ideas are swimming around in my head but oh my is it hot !! It is apparently 29 degrees today and that is without sitting next to a kiln in front of a nice hot naked flame lol.

However I have not been slacking I promise, I have actually been melting glass, boro glass at that !! (Sucker for punishment me lol) so I will have new beads to share with you soon.

In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying the sunshine

Oh My !! Where did a MONTH go !! I knew it had been a while since I had blogged but a whole month ! I'm shocked !!

Ok so what have I been doing in that month ?? well... I have had my end of degree show at uni, tried to reclaim the house from the horrors of preparing for said show and I'm currently involved in a rather special and rather secret project all of which will be unveiled soon !!

The earrings below are in this months Making Jewellery Magazine. as a 6 step tutorial so if you fancy making yourself a pair check it out .



and wrists thoroughly smacked, I promise not to leave so long between posts in future !!

Sale at Chameleon Designs

Yep, that right Im having a sale, 3 for 2 on all mini sets and free postage !!

It was going to be having a big sale all over the bank holiday weekend but unfortunately we have been having problems with our internet connection which meant we were without all saturday and it is only just properly sorted so now its a mini set sale !



Thanks to everyone who has commented or sent best wishes about my uni work and assessments. Im sorry I havent put the promised picture of the final thing online but ..I havent got one !!! I spent a whole afternoon trying to get a shot I was happy with and failed, miserably !! My scaled up set up for window sil photography worked quite well for close up shots but trying to get a "whole thing" shot was really difficult and I didnt end up with a single one I was happy with. I will have another go when I bring the pieces home after the degree show. In the meantime I have some of the close up shots to share with you




this is a close up of two of the pieces that are in conversation -



and this is a close up of a piece and its reflection -

Luck and Confidence

Do you believe you make your own luck ?? or are you someone who believes in fate ??

I had a sudden thought this morning, kind of a need really, to find a specific piece of, well lets call it jewellery. I wanted it quite badly so i found it (no mean feat in our house at the moment) It is a piece that my mum gave me ooooo years ago, I *think* I was in my early teens, I loved it, she said she used to wear it when she was in her teens, on a chain round her neck so I put it on a chain and wore it too. It is a fabulous piece, I have had so many conversations due to this piece, people want to look at it and ask you about it...and there is something else, it gives me confidence. I dont know why, but when I wear it Im slightly different, more confident a bit more cheeky and more inclined to stand up for myself. Least thats how I feel lol.

It is quite an unusual piece, certainly its not something I have ever see anyone else wearing although I doubt it is a one off item, it was probably mass manufactured somewhere, but oddly I have never felt the need to find out. Its a bit quirky, and definitely not girlie in the least ...

so I hear you ask, come on, spill, what is it ??

here you go, and yes, it is me wearing it (sorry !!)



No, its not loaded, although yes I can be, and yes I could imagine that being quite dangerous (Hmm told you I'd been asked about it a few times...) ....It is a fully working cap gun :o)

Why today ? Maybe just because its been a while ? Maybe I have missed it ? Maybe because Im setting up my work for final assessment at uni today,...but maybe just because.

a close up for you, bit better without me in it ..



So do you have a special piece of jewellery, or clothing that gives you a bit of extra confidence ? A pair of lucky socks ? An heirloom gift that makes you feel special ? Id love to hear your stories or see a picture if you would like to share

Work in progress

I *think* im getting there ! I have had a few issues, glass chipping off from places I would really rather it didnt and other helpful things but I thought you might enjoy some pictures of the work going on.



Pumice, yep my grubby paws there on the first stage of polishing the glass with Pumice, delightful stuff, smells like sweaty socks. As you can imagine I'm a delight to be near by evening time lol, phew-ey !!



Can you spot the odd one out ?? One of these has got all the way up to its preliminary polish, I think it looks so much better that I thought i'd take a pic of it next to the others but can you spot which it is ??



Mucky Pup !!! Excuse the slightly vertiginous (is that a word ??) angle of the pic, these are my, rather dirty, legs !! The pink stuff is Cerium and what we use for the final stages of polishing the glass and I seem to have the knack of getting covered in it despite having to wear a plastic apron, at times I think more goes on me than the glass...... (and no, those are not shoes I would wear in the workshops, wellies are reserved for that at the moment :o) )

Back soon with more pics !

The Daily Grind

I know I have been a little quiet recently so, I thought I'd share what has been keeping me busy. As many of you know I am coming to the end of my degree, in fact I only have a week to go until hand in for my final assessments so im very busy at the grind stone. literally



The pieces I am making have facets cut into them which then have to be ground and polished until they are back to their gorgeous glossy glassyness. To polish glass is a many stage process, firstly the cut pieces are worked on grinding wheels with very coarse grit. From there its hand lapping time (pictured above) where you use progressively finer grits, with water on a piece of float glass and grind the glass by hand.



It is as time consuming as it sounds, between each stage the pieces are marked with a permanent marker so that I can make sure none of the surface has been missed, corners can be particularly devious especially on the finer grits and sometimes I wonder if they are trying to deliberatley escape lol. Once all the hand lapping is done its onto the polishing machines, first with pumice then with cerium until hours later, finally, its done. And sometimes its all worth it



The piece above is one of 5 that make a group, they rely on the reflections and refractions of the pattern (there is actually only 1 pattern in there the other 2 are refractions) and the grouping, to convey their meaning. I'll take a picture when they are all done ..some time next weekend, until then I hope you found that interesting. I hope to be back with some beads before the next bank holiday :o)