GBUK Confectionary Competition

I thought I would share with you what I made for the GBUK (Glass Beadmakers UK) competition that was held at the GBUK Bead Fair last Sunday. The theme was confections and so this is my cake stand and cakes bead -



The cup cakes were made off mandrel - for the non Lampworkers that means they are soild glass made on the end of a glass rod rather than wound onto a mandrel as a bead - and then the bottom layer of the cake stand was made, the cupcakes were then attached to the stand before the top layer of the stand went on and the last little cake was added.

The beads were all put into a display case anonymously so that people could vote for the one they like best and I got 2nd place :))) it was great fun and I got a prize too :))

And the winner is ...

Kristin of K S Jewellery Designs !! Kirsten if you can send me an email please then we can sort out your prize :o)

Thank you all for reading and for your lovely comments celebrating my blogiversary with me :o)

Autumn is in the air

Yes its that time of year again, some of the leaves are changing colour on the trees and some of them are starting to scatter and tumble across the ground, when I step outside first thing in the morning to empty the kiln there is a nip in the air and all is bright and has that clean freshness to it, all the signs are here, Autumn is coming.

It always amazes me how much the seasons in general but autumn in particular affect my work. Autumn always, without fail affects my colour choices. Sometimes it sneaks up on me and all of a sudden I look at the beads I have made and their colours and there is a little lightbulb moment, other times it is a more conscious choice. These are some of my beads from the past few days, anyone see a bit of a theme here ??



This year Autumn hasnt snook up on me, there is a fern I can see out the back window that has turned the most amazing bright acid green / yellow, its absolutely stunning, I'll have to try and get a photo of it for you !

Something a little different

Really I should be quite good with a sewing machine, or at the very least kind of "at home" with one as my Mum makes wedding dresses and ever since I was small has made me clothes from my school uniform to prom dresses. I do remember making a pair of pyjamas and a few other bits and bobs under her tuition but it has to be said that its rare my sewing machine comes out these days. However it was unearthed over the weekend for the shortening of some trousers and I went and dug out the fabric I bought, erm, back in January, to make a bag with.



As you can see the pattern cutting was a highly technical process, lacking a table big enough for my cutting board I took over the kitchen floor !!



but all the pieces eventually got cut out, with a few little adjustments of my own to the design and sewing could begin. As you can see below I work in a very tidy and organised manner *ahem*



However it did eventually get done with only one slight oops that was quickly remedied and here it is, my variation on Amy Butlers "Birdie Sling" pattern -



So now while the sewing machine is out, I guess I have no excuse not to make the tool bag for my blowing tools that I have been meaning to make for ooo, erm, well about three years !!! I'll let you know how I get on !!

I also want to say a BIG thank you everyone who has commented on the blogiversary post, keep them coming dont forget you have until Saturday evening to enter :o)

blogiversary prize draw details

Hello, ok I have finally thought :o) I have decided that Im indecisive lol, not exactly news to anyone who knows me I realise !! The result of this is that Im going to offer the winner a choice of prize from-

1) A pair of my Sterling Silver "leaf" stud earrings

2) A borosilicate Bisous silver core bead of your choice
(not actually one of these pictured but there will be a selection to choose from when I photograph the new ones )



3) Your choice of one of my new focal beads
...and no, I dont have these photo'd either but I will get that done over the weekend !


And what must you do to enter ?? Simple, just comment below ! Open to everyone, winner will be drawn by random number generator in the evening of Saturday 12th Sept so you have a week to comment

:o)

Good Luck !!

blogiversary

Woo Hoo !! Ive officially been blogging for a year so a huge and Mahoooosive THANK YOU to all my lovely readers. I think this calls for a give away, but it needs to be something special so I will have a think and see what loveliness I can come up with and put a post up later on with the details.

I wanted to share with you a cool site I came across when reading Metal Clay Magic I skipped over to try it and I love it, and Im not sharing how long I stayed to play on it lol but I suspect you could spend hours on there if like me you like to look at photos. The site I'm wittering about is Tag Galaxy and you put in tags for what you want to see pictures of and it brings up little worlds of pictures, whole galaxies of handmade loveliness if like me you choose at lampwork or silver clay ...and im sure I will be going back soon to look up lots of others.

Anyhow I must skip back of into the garage to slave over my torch :o) I will be back with info on the great giveaway later