Socialising with Bead Makers

Saturday just gone saw me heading off to Exeter to the beautiful home and lampwork studio of Vonnie Truscott. I first met Vonnie when she came to me for a beginners lesson back in August 2010 so have known her a while. She loves lampwork and anything to do with it so of course course the birthday gift had to be a lampwork one and this is what I made for her. It is a technique I learnt whilst on a course with Carla Di Francesco which I love to do but need to develop it some more so as to make it my own.

I always enjoy these lampwork social days, from the copious amounts of food, cakes and all things highly calorific to spending time watching how others work and of course admiring any beads that are brought along. On this occasion we did a bead swap whereby we all put a bead or 2 into a bag and then pick one out without looking. I was thrilled when I picked out a lovely big lentil and a couple of matching beads with gold leaf inside made by Ray Skene. Ray does a lot of sculptural work and hollow beads. Ray did several demos of his work which was interesting to watch.

Above is a picture of a bead similar to the one I demoed on Saturday. I find demoing for others, apart from giving me the shakiest hand ever, usually leads me to think hard about what it is I am doing because I get asked lots of questions. This can often lead to new ideas popping into my head so all in all these social days are great fun and thank you to Vonnie for hosting this one.