I won a Kreativ Award!!

It took me a while to see the post from Saffie's Blog to tell me that she has awarded me with a Kreativ Award!! I'm really chuffed, thanks Saffie! Now I have to nominate five Blogs that inspire me as well as link back to the Blog that awarded me. So - here goes......
1 - Touch of Glass Designs. This blog by Lisa Atchison is full of the most beautiful organinc beads!
2 - Such & Such. A blog by Lora Hart - inspiring metal clay work and regular eye candy.
3 - Ali Bali Jewellery - by the talented Alison. Regularly updated and gorgeous Blog!
4 - Silver With Lesley - Gorgeous Metal Clay Jewellery and innovative design!
5 - The Glass Slipper - last but by no means least the fantastic Blog By Sarah Hornick. Thought provoking and inspirational!

What a coincidence

Recently I have been finding myself inspired by colour. I'm experimenting with several methods of putting colour on metal and revisiting all my beautiful enamelling books. Last night I remembered about this little bowl I enamelled on a course some time ago with the hugely talented Dorothy Cockrell. I gave it a dust and took a wee photograph ready to share on my blog. So you can imagine my suprise today when my mum comes to my studio to tell me that Dorothy is in the shop with her beautiful bowls!! I wanst sure at first what she meant but could not hide my suprise when I saw it was Dorothy Cockrell!!! Needless to say the work she had brought in to show me was stunning, but I still cant quite get over the coincidence. Is it a sign...??

Have you heard of Handmadeology??

This is an amazing new website - and aims through Articles, Blogs, Videos & Tutorials to teach artists how to successfully sell online. You really need to check this out HERE!!

Flame Off 2009

Have you booked your ticket to the Flame Off? Following the success of last years event Tuffnells Glass are doing it again! Held over two days on the 17th & 18th of April there are demonstrations from some of the hottest lampwork artists around, including Sarah Hornick & Julie Ann Denton.

I am excited as I have been asked to run the Art Clay Silver classes which will take place on Friday & Saturday. These classes are suitable for beginners and last for 3 hours so you dont miss out on the torching action.

As if that wasnt enough excitement a Flame Off Artists Competition is also running. To enter all you need to do is send a picture of your work. The judges will pick the winner on the 28th of Feb. The only scary thing is the prize - you will demonstrate your bead in front of around 200 people!! All levels of experience are welcome to enter - are you going to give it a go?

Read more about the Flame Off 09 here.

A Quiet week....

I'm quiet this week as I'm away with my family. But I just thought I'd share with you this beautiful Lentil bead made by a student on my BronzClay class last week. I just LOVE the patina on it! It seems that the items at the bottom of the firing pan turn a lovely golden colour, where as the pieces toward the middle and top are more likely to turn shades of purple or blue. There is a lot of information out there on the BronzClay - and its excellent. I'm reading over all of it once again, but because I havent yet encountered any problems with firing etc I'll be sticking to whats worked for me so far. I am however looking forward to getting home - and continuing to experiment.

New Beads & Frogsongs Starburst Tutorial

Here are the beads that I showed a picture of in a big pile sorted into sets. The bottom left set are made using Frogsong's Starburst And Nebula Style Beads Tutorial - I really like them but am aware that now when I make a bead straight from a tutorial I feel its not really "me" - a good thing I guess as it means I may just be starting to develop my own style (pink, dots & pansies by the looks of it)? Its a great tutorial though and this is only one of many beads it shows you how to make!

Over on Frit Happens there is a thread where we share our first and our last beads we made. Its to see how far we have come - and looking at the progress of Artists in the UK is really inspiring! I thought I'd show you my first few beads - hopefully in the two years or so I have been doing this I have come on a bit too!

Shiny Bronze Clay Bead

Usually when I work with the Bronzclay I like to fire it and leave it with a patina. I thought I'd polish this lentil bead up to see just how it looks. Its been made as a class example - I think I still prefer the patinas you get on the Bronze but have something in mind that I think may look better with this highly polished finish. Its a personal preference - what do you think of it?