Seasons Greetings to you All

I was trying to find an appropriate picture to put up with my Seasonal Greetings so here is a photo of the Angel pendant I made for my Mum last Christmas. I have been busy making some commissions in the run up to Christmas and will post my favourite set on here next week.

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Happy Christmas to you all, may be it a peaceful and joyful time.

Joy x

Last Craft Fair Today

You have probably been wondering where I have been. Can't believe it is so long since I last posted. Things have been really busy. It is great how many people are making their own Christmas presents this year and the Art Clay has been flying out of my ebay shop ArtClayUK. I've been busy packing parcels and getting them posted out to you as quick as I can!!

Today is my last craft fair for this year. I am in the historic and pretty Battle in East Sussex for the Gala Night. Wealden Craftworkers are in the Memorial Hall from 4pm until 8.30pm. It is a lovely evening with all the shops taking part and people dressing up and offering goodies so if you are still in need of a few Christmas presents why not pop along.

Calling all Metal Clay Enthusiasts....

The Metal Clay Academy is conducting a survey all about Metal Clay. If you are using any type of metal clay then please click on the link on the right hand side (directly under my hamster!) to read all about the survey and to take part. The survey is completely anonymous but your answers really will count!!! The survey is open for all of December.

Thanks

My Fab Neckwarmer

Here is a photo of the lovely neck warmer Laura knitted for me like hers but in lovely orange. I shall try to get a photo of me wearing it but sadly I will never look as elegant as Laura does wearing her gorgeous purple one!!! Still the plus point is it should cover up my double chin (just look at the photo of me lampworking in my earlier post! :))) )

I shall be wearing it this weekend at the craft fair in an outside marquee, that is for sure with the current weather forecast!! Thanks Laura.

My Second Go at Lampworking

So... here they are. My second ever batch of lampworked beads made on my one to one workshop with Laura Sparling. I was very happy with the results. A very long way from perfect but Laura did keep reminding me I could not expect perfect in two lessons! :-) I was at a craft fair when these arrived and hubby texted me to tell me. I sent back a message saying open them at once and tell me what they are like! (ok, I was quite excited they had arrived). I got a reply that they were "quite startling!!". That's husbands for you! Laura also sent me a fab burnt orange neck warmer she had knitted for me. I shall have to try to get a photo of me wearing it. It is cashmere and gorgeous!

The beads from my first lesson had rather a rainbow effect with me trying every colour rod of glass I could get my hands on so this time I had decided to keep it simple with just 4 colours. I am really quite taken with ivory so used that with black, a transparent red and an opaque red. I even got to encase a couple of beads in clear. You can sort of see my progression in the flower design as I eventually managed to get the dots big enough. The bead at the bottom is a sort of sculptural bead (!!!) that rather took on a life of its own as it went along as I had started making something quite different. Now to buy my own torch....

I did two craft fairs over the weekend. Saturdays was very good, Sundays was a bit lacking in people but that meant all the craft makers had a good chat and a laugh together so I enjoyed the day anyway.

I am doing an extra craft fair this weekend at Stone Cross Nurseries near Eastbourne. I shall be there on Saturday 5th in the craft marquee. Pop in and say hi if you are in the area. They are having their Xmas Tree event and I think you may even get a free glass of mulled wine. Now there is an incentive to come along!

Glass Melting Fun

Well did I have fun yesterday? You bet! I even look as though I almost know what I am doing!! Laura really is a great tutor. I am now eagerly awaiting the arrival of my annealed beads to see what exactly I managed to create! I will take pictures and post them here no matter how bad they are - promise!!

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If you want to learn how to make your own lampwork glass beads Laura Sparling will be running more one to one workshops starting in January. I highly recommend it.

A Little Bit of ME Time!

The last few weeks have been really hectic. This weekend has been the first one for ages where I have not either been doing craft fairs or teaching, so yesterday I got into my workshop and had a good old sort out. It was getting in quite a pickle and definitely needed it. By mid afternoon it looked a lot better so I opened a packet of Art Clay Copper Clay that I had not had a chance to try since returning from the Art Clay conference.
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When you are used to using Silver Clay opening a 50g pack of Copper seems an awful lot of clay, especially as I wanted to use it all up in one go. I started off by using a bit of Gloves in a Bottle on my hands. I am fine with Silver Clay but I did notice when I tried the Copper Clay at the conference it made my hands itch a bit so I had bought a bottle of this ready. It coats your hands and prevents the irritation.
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The photo above is just some of the pieces I made. I still have a large fish and a pendant which need finishing off and firing. I was mainly working with the idea of making elements to combine with Art Clay Silver. The Copper clay has to be fired first as it fires on the open shelf in the kiln at 970c for 30mins. At this temperature the Silver Clay would melt if you tried to fire them together.
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Why the large holes in the flowers I hear you asking. Well the next stage is to combine the silver clay with the fired copper pieces, but silver and copper will not actually fuse together so to join them I need to have silver clay through the hole which will hold it all together after firing. Sounds a bit complicated? It will make more sense when I get a chance to finish them off.
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I was delighted with the way the Copper Clay worked and felt. A bit softer and wetter than Art Clay Silver it took the textures well and moulded beautifully. Best of all once dried the baby wipes worked fantastically well on it. Any of you who have taken a workshop with me will know I am the biggest fan of baby wipes for cleaning up the edges of dried clay pieces. No dust and mess and lovely smooth edges. I had heard it suggested baby wipes might not work well with the copper but no - they were fab. Even better than on the silver clay.
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The pieces come out the kiln literally red (well orange actually) hot and are dropped straight into a bowl of cold water. This makes the black firescale ping off, and then they go into the pickle to finish removing any black from the surface. After that these pieces have just been given a quick brush up with a brass brush under running water.
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I wont actually be getting to finish these off for a few days though as this week I am off to do a workshop myself. Whoppee!! I am going to Oxford to learn a bit more about making lampworked beads with the wonderful Laura Sparling. I did a one to one workshop with Laura at the beginning of the year. I had never tried making beads before but I just love all the fabulous beads Laura creates. I had a brilliant day last time and under her expert tuition I was amazed to produce all the beads below.

Of course I came home full of great excitement and enthusiasm to make more beads but then hit a very big logistical problem. My workshop is upstairs and a cylinder of propane needs to be stored outside for safety. I still have not gotten round this problem. Back in the summer I decided the solution was to clear the garage (full to the brim with years of junk). Hubby agreed he would have a go, but as it was the start of Wimbledon it would have to wait a few weeks. Then came the cricket, and then autumn and it was getting a bit cold etc etc and guess what!! - still no room in the garage. Oh well. I shall thoroughly enjoy my workshop this week and when I get back I shall see if I cant get something organised.
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I shall also be doing my best to post here more often.
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I only have 3 more craft fairs before Christmas so maybe I will see you at one of them.
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28th November 2009
Wealden Craftworkers
Memorial Hall
The Tye
Alfriston
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29th November 2009
Christmas Fair at the Llama Park
Ashdown Forest
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10th December 2009
Wealden Craftworkers
Memorial Hall
Battle