Taking a (metal) leaf out of Sarah's book

Following from drooling over the amazing work of Nancy Sutcliffe  which has the most gorgeous gold patterns in it, I have been pondering. Specifically over metallic surfaces on beads, not the gloriously smooth metallic of my much used lustres but a rougher, more "distressed", less perfect sort of metallic. All my experiments have annoyingly fallen short of what I was looking for.

I bought Frances Federer's Gold Leaf, Paint and Glass (Excellent book by the way) but decided that as I didnt want a top coat on my metallic-ing that gilding was not going to work for this.

So I played. And faffed, and sanded and filed but no, not what I wanted.

Then I was pondering the work of my good friend, the very talented Sarah of Flame Force Five and her use of gold. and I had an idea... so, following on from a bit more faffing, I have the spark of something Im pleased with using metal leaf and deeply sandblasted Im hopeful these are the start of something exciting -

..and yes, I am totally addicted to that soft green. Its almost on a par with grey. Almost. 

Recent work

Not beads exactly (they are built around beads) but some of what I have been working on recently

Hope you have had a great weekend !

OK given my very long absence from the blog I though I'd do a little overview of 2012. The heavily edited highlights are as follows -

February. BIG News. My lovely man and I got engaged. It was a bit of a surprise but in a thoroughly good way and Im still completely deliriously happy about it... and keeping busy planning and making weddingy stuff.

June. I heard that I had been selected for Glass Line Magazine's "Small and Beautiful" issue. I cannot describe how excitied / delighted / amazed / overjoyed I was and still am about this. For those that havent heard of it Glass Line decided to dedicate their June / July issue to celebrating "Significant works of art in glass beads" and asked internationally renowned artists Sara Sally LaGrand, Barbara Becker Simon and Paul Stankard and historian Robert K Liu to select 40 artists representing the international "best of the best" to be documented in that issue. Well, you can imagine the amount of happy dancing that went on in my kitchen when I got the news that I was one of the chosen right ?? Definitely a OMG Wow "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" moment.

August. I had the pleasure of taking a photography class with the lovely Mr Simon Bruntnell who was amazing, I learn so much in that day, he was very generous with his knowledge. If you get change to take a class with him I highly recommend it.

September. Had a dabble with print making at a one day class at Ochre Print Studio in Guildford, which was very inspiring and has resulted in some dabbling with printing on / with glass (nothing terribly successful yet, but one of these days it'll work)

October. I got first place in the British Bead Awards glass beads section with my set "An Ode to Miss Haversham" (detail photo below) lots of silver leaf, lace, and CZ's. I entered rather at the last minute in a should I / shouldnt I  frame of mind, as while I love the set and was really pleased with it, I wasnt sure it was really the right sort of thing, it photographs dreadfully, but I went for it and I am so very pleased I did.

We have also been to Prague and Vietnam in the last year, both of which were wonderful (and totally different !!). So that gives you a bit of an insight into what Ive been upto ! I'll be back soon with some images of some recent work !!!

This one is for Caroline

I had a lovely student come to me for a class yesterday and we got onto the subject of blogs and specifically how very neglected mine is ... so THANK YOU Caroline, it was lovely to meet you and just for you - look a blog post !!

There has been rather a lot happened since I last posted which I will write about in another post (yes, really) but things are good here and Im certainly keeping busy, Im still doing lots of glass although not so many beads but beads are still part of life here at Chameleon Designs and there will be pictures of NEW beads to share too soon (Gasp!) once I have finished the cold work anyway...

On which note, out to the studio I go, and I promise I will be back again soon.

Interviewed !

My "interview" for the Frit Happens team blog is online today ! A great reason to pop over there especially if you haven't been there before, there is lots of information about the team including the member interviews, great insights into the design processes of members, tips and tutorials for putting together jewelley and of course lots of eye candy !

Pattern and Glass

How is 2012 treating you ? So far, I am really really excited by 2012, I have set myself some targets and Im working hard to achieve them, some are quite quick and easy, some are a little more in depth. The first completed one has been on my list for a little while, experiment with the patterns I have been working on and combining them with glass.

I finished this little beauty yesterday and Im really pleased with how it came out, it is a 20cm x 20cm x 3cm dish and I have etched my pattern into the iridescent surface of the glass.

I am finding as soon as I finish one piece Im overflowing with ideas for variations and experiments so I think I might end up having rather a lot of these !! To that end I have set up a new Etsy shop BeckyFairclough - Pattern and Glass where I will be selling the fruits of my experiments. I look forward to sharing more of these with you as and when I get chance to make them and hope to be able to share some exciting lampwork related news soon too ! 

Its that time of year again, making for Christmas events. I have a few new pieces that Im really excited about, some are still work in progress but I have a couple of new flower pendants (Which would look super stunning with a little black dress... hint hint) to share - 

And a prototype of a new design, this one I made for myself to test it out, but it is an interchangeable pendant you can swap the drop between a range of glass or semi precious drops and/or the bead for different big hole lampwork beads,  so it can be mixed and matched with your outfit or mood. 

If you are out and about looking for some unique handmade Christmas presents then Im going to be at some great events in the next few weeks, including Guildford Craftacular on Saturday 3rd December and the We Make London Christmas Popup Shopping Experience on Saturday 10th December so do pop by and say hello if you can.