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.

Flame On 2011

Hello, hello, yes Im back. Im sorry I have been quiet since my return, I have been rather busily running about trying to put the house into some sort of order having spent the run up to flame on charging around like crazy and as a result turning the house into a scene of chaos reminiscent of my bedroom as a teenager with piles of stuff everywhere !!

Im finally getting to the point where there are work surfaces visible again and life is returning to something approaching normal so its time to sit down and tell you all about the Flame On. I shall try not to end up with an epically long blog post but I feel it is only fair to warn you that I have made myself a hot drink (Vimto if you are interested, having just rediscovered it) in order to write this so you may wish to get a brew yourself and settle down in order to read it !

The trip did not get off to the most wonderful of starts as on dropping the cats off at the cattery her spottyness decided to take a great dislike to being "abandoned" and started to create and play up awfully shrieking, growling and hissing constantly at which point i apologised and scarpered quickly !!

We decided to take the ferry over to The Netherlands so we could take the car and himself decided that Harwich to the Hook of Holland was the best route involving the least driving on the "wrong" side of the road. The ferry was surprisingly nice and we had an excellent meal, all the lovelier as we were not expecting it !

Our first night hotel at Hoek van Holland is worthy of a mention for the sheer amazingness of the breakfast. With a "starter" of fresh warm croissants with fresh strawberries and cream, followed by a whole host of warm breads, meats, cheese, fresh fruits, boiled eggs and even fresh made pancakes !! and there were yoghurts and cereals too but we didnt get that far !! (Should you find yourself in the area we stayed at the Hotel Noordzee)

There were also curious little boxes of "sprinkles" very similar to hundreds and thousands, for bread. My inner child was delighted, and when we came across a supermarket I had to buy some to bring home with me ! I can confirm that despite being very messy to eat they are very nice. ( I cant read the label as it is in dutch so I remain blissfully unaware of how many e numbers they may contain or how much sugar I consumed :) )

Anyway.. we got to Oosterhout without incident, had a very good coffee in a lovely little shop we found, which was served in fab little bodum double walled glasses (another thing to add to the must get list !)

Thus revived we went over to the hall where the Flame On was to be held we were introduced to Joyce who has been co-ordinating and organising and started the setting up process, amid a certain amount of chatting with the other stall holders

That evening Joyce cooked us a lovely dinner at her home where we got to meet the other demonstrating artists Anouk Jasperse, Mauro Vianello and Michou Pascale Eliane Anderson, and also to meet her partner and their lovely cats.

They day of the Flame On dawned with some nerves from me as my demo was to be first and despite having made the beads I was demoing many times I did get a touch of the shakes, however everyone was very kind and said that it was not very noticeable ! After my demo I relaxed a bit and was able to enjoy the demo's of the others. I dont have photos of the demo's but there are some excellent photos of them in Mauro's facebook album .

I do have some photos of work that the artists had bought with them to sell so without further ado -

Michou's beads - 

Mauro's sculptures -

Anouk's Beads -

It was lovely to meet everyone who came to say hello and great to see some old friends too ! I was very lucky and got to do some glassy swaps with some of the other stall holders so I will take photos of my haul of beauties and share them with you soon ! For now I must go and unearth the rest of my house but hope you enjoyed the pictures so far !

British Bead Awards

Ive had a lovely day today. I have been to the Big Bead Show at Sandown racecourse as I had a set of beads in the finals of the British Bead Awards.

Im very pleased to say that they got 2nd place !! What a lovely start to the day ! 

I have spent the rest of the day drooling over pretty shiny things and talking to friends and must say a huge thank you to Sarah of Flame Force Five for letting me use her stand as a "base camp", Judith Johnson  and Hazel Crompton  for being their usual lovely chatty selves, it was a pleasure as always ladies, and to my lovely man for chauffeuring me about. 

One of the best moments of the day was getting to meet my first bead soup partner Niky of SilverNiknats you know when you have been talking to someone online and you have built up an idea of what they look like etc ? Well it was great to meet Niky finally and her lovely daughter. 

Ive also been gathering supplies for a special project idea I had, inspired by the bead soup swaps, which I loved being involved in. Stay tuned for more on that very soon !!