Its that time of year, things are getting Christmassy, the mornings are frosty, and I made Penguins.

"So, erm, do you come here often ?"

So far I have made 22 penguins and I managed to get some pictures of some of them last night before they put on their new outfits and went out into the world as phone charms. I love making penguins, I love the fact they are all different, the expressions it is possible to get on their faces. They were so cute that I had to keep one for me.

Is there anything that you love to make near Christmas, something that makes you feel all festive ? Feel free to comment or leave a link to a photo, Id love to see. 

The finished beads

This is what the two sets of beads look like once they have had their masking removed and been cleaned up.

Ice Stars -

Frosty Daisies - 

The beads have a core of one colour and a thick coat of enamel, they have been masked off with a resist and then sandblasted to give this finish. I let the sandblast eat quite deep as I like that effect, but tried to keep smattering of enamel to keep that frosted feel.

Its a dirty job..

I thought it might interest you to see some pictures of what I have been working on whilst I have been very quiet this week. So I thought that I would share some work in progress pictures..

Can you guess what I have been doing ??

How about if I give you a bit more of a clue, one step further along the process -

Any guesses ? Answers on a postcard please,.. well ok then in the comments !! I'll share the pictures of the finished pieces soon.

Some days, you need a bit more..

And its even better when you make it in your favorite glass espresso cup. 

Normal service will be resumed shortly ! 

Rocking again

Its been a little while since I made Rocks and so I decided it was time for some, partly because I found a string of orphan rocks in my clearing out, and decided that I really liked the look of the thickly encased one therefore I needed to make some more, so I grabbed some silver glass and set off in search of that lovely mother of pearl shine.

My clearing out is part of the new studio plan ... work has currently come to a halt on the studio from a building point of view but I have been having a BIG sort out / clear out trying to get all bead / glass / metal / jewellery related things from their various locations around the house and outside into the studio. You would be amazed at some of the things I have unearthed !! .. or maybe shocked lol ! It has had the added benefit of me actually listing things in my Etsy shop again as I have decided for the time being to use that as a Sale area for all the bits and bobs I have unearthed.

Torch was poorly yesterday but Im pleased to say is better now (huge thankings to my lovely Himself for fixing it) so Im back off out there to melt some more glass and who knows there may be even more rocks soon !! 

Tangled Transfers

Now I dont know about you but I am one of those people who doodles. Pretty much on every available surface, and usually very boring stuff (I would love to be one of those people who creates mini masterpieces in 2 minutes on a serviette at a cafe but alas it is not to be) so when the lovely Julie Fountain of Lush Lampwork recently posted a thread on a forum I visit about a way of doodling called Zentangles I got a bit curious and had to check it out.

Now as some of you may know, on the odd occasional instance it has been known for me to be ever so slightly obsessive in my need for things to be straight and tidy so you can imagine the joy of finding a doodling "system" which encourages me to be as obsessive (or not) as I want and gives options for enforcing rules (this is my way of interpreting it, I am not saying this is the official way, for that, go read their website ;o) ) over my drawings.

Naturally for me the next step was to zentangle a bead -




So there you have it, a doodle bead !!

As Promised

Here is a picture of what I was getting all excited about -



New flutterbies ! Following on from all the comments both at the flame off and online since, about the sample beads I made with the Flutter set of transfers I decided I had to make some of these to sell. I am really pleased with how they have turned out and Im going to make one for me too, when I decide which is my favorite colour, which might take a while !!

They are all two tone so I had lots of fun matching up glass to get the two tones to be two I was happy with for each bead, and the butterfly design is slightly raised to give a bit of a 3D which also nicely magnifies the pattern ! Im hoping to get them online on my website in the morning.

Blizzard Tiles

I promised I would show the new beads and here they are, inspired by our current weather conditions here in the UK, they have a sprinkling of enamel for a frosty, snowy background and then some stringer work of abstract snowflake pattern.