Art Clay World EU Conference

Well - I have been off on my travels again . . . This time to the fantastic Art Clay World EU Conference. Held at the beautiful West Dean College in Chichester I spent a wonderful jam packed three days playing with metal clay, meeting awe inspiring artists and spending time with new and old friends.

I was also lucky enough attend the full day Master Class with Gordon Uyehara. This was his first ever time teaching in the UK and it was just wonderful being taught by such an incredible artist. We were taught how to make the adorable little Cosmic Honu Pendant (see photo above). Here on the right is a load going into the dehydrator. Everyone was wearing their little turtles with pride for the whole weekend!

The competition pieces were outstanding!! Here is just one of the pendants (I'll pop more on Flickr!) I had to leave to catch a plane home and I missed the announcement of the winners - but as soon as I hear I'll let you know! I did today hear however that I was the VERY LUCKY winner of the 1st Prize in the Raffle!!!! I won £300 of Art Clay GOLD! I have no idea yet what to do with such a valuable piece of clay, but of course I'm really thrilled!

Along with learning and having great fun we all got down to serious business in the AGM and appointed several new members of the Guild. Under our new Chair Person Lynda Cheney we voted in several new officers - and here will start an exciting new period of change for the Guild. I'm the new Regional Officer for Scotland - which is really exciting news for me and hopefully for all Guild members in Scotland. I'll be working hard organising some Regional Events, and soon contacting all members in Scotland to introduce myself. If you are not a member then be sure not to miss out and join here.

EB

If you were among the people who came along to my open studio on Thursday the 4th of September then you would have seen me working on one of these beads. These are the result of a few afternoons at the torch - I don't know what to do with them yet, but may just hang on to them as reference for colours to use in future sets.


BUT this little bead to the left has a more concrete destiny, its perfect for a project I have had in my mind for a while. . . . I'll post a pic once I have finished it :)

EB x

Scottish Bead Fair

Wow - The Scottish Bead Fair was another huge success. The rain poured down outside but everyone inside seemed to be enjoying themselves. A big thank you to all of you who stopped by our stall to say hello or shop! It was great to see some familiar faces and to meet some new ones. Little Baby Tarvish did'nt seem too interested in the beads or clay - and promptly fell asleep - but at a few weeks old who can blame him :)

Our Demos were very popular and we hope that if you managed to see what was going on that you found them interesting! Here is Emma beginning the Rose Demo.

Due to popular demand we will be setting some day courses on Sundays from now until Christmas. Keep an eye on our website as full details will be added soon!

A New Age - BronzClay

PSSSSST.................. Have you heard about the New BronzClay??

We have exciting news. . . . watch this space. . . .

Scottish Bead Fair - Metal Clay Demos

Well - I no sooner got home and my attention turned to the Metal Clay Demo I'll be doing at the Scottish Bead Fair this Sunday. I have thought long and hard about what to show you - and decided that I'd show a few things! The Demos are running at 12:30 & 3:00 pm in the Foyer. They are both FREE - and there is no need to book!

12:30 pm - First I'll demonstrate how to make simple charms with the clay. I'll talk you through handling the clay, what to do if it dries out, using texture sheets, drying times, pre-firnishing, firing times & Polishing. Metal Clay dose not have to be complicated to look great - you can use little charms to make a bracelet like this one to the left.

Immediately following the charms I will demonstrate how to use Art Clay Silver with our two part moulding compound. This is very easy to do and the results are simply stunning! Following this I will talk you through the process of oxidising your fired silver with Liver Of Sulphur.

At 3:00 pm I'll show you how to make a beautiful Silver Rose. Its very simple and easy to do with using only your fingers!

I'm very excited about these Demos - and look forward to seeing you there!

Emma

Back from Sarah Horniks Course

Well - I am back from my trip to the International Festival of Glass where I spent an incredible 4 days on Sarah Horniks Master Class. Sarah is an incredibly generous teacher parting not only with well honed techniques but also with a massive amount of knowledge about various glasses and how they react with each other. Sarah is one of my all time favorite artists and I'm very lucky to have secured a place on this course! This photo shows her demonstrating one of her techniques.

Here is our group - I'm on the bottom left in the pink, and Sarah herself is second in from the right in the bottom row. It was a great group with all of us getting on like a house on fire. Lampworking can be a very solitary hobby or profession and we were all excited to meet others with the same passion!


Here are some of the beads I made over the four days. Each Bead was demonstrated by Sarah with her audience watching - admiring her skills! Then off we went to have a go. I was thrilled with the results and all of us could be found every morning at the kiln ohhing and ahhing at the results of our work!! Some of my beads had to be left in the kiln as they were still annealing - they will be posted out to me - cant wait to see them!


Manda Muddimer of Mango Beads was also on my course and I treated myself to one of her simply stunning beads. It was such a treat to see so many beads in the flesh! It was almost impossible to keep my hands of all the goodies Sarah had brought along :)



So - now I'm home and am full of more enthusiasm and inspiration than I thought possible. I'll be holding Open Studio afternoons from 2-4 on the following Thursdays - 28th of August, 4th Spetember & 18th Sepember.

Feel free top pop along to The Little Little Bead Shop to see Lampwork in action. Thats me at my torch on the left :)

Hope to see you there!! Emma x

Beautiful Greek Ceramic Beads in Store

We are thrilled to be able to offer our customers these stunning Ceramic Beads. We have these in a wide range of colours and will be getting more in soon! Sizes range from around 18m - 24mm. These beads make quite a statement.

Prices start from just 70p!

Gill x