Helen G Beads

Naming Beads

2012-01-22T19:19:00.001Z

Well the part arrived for the kiln and it's been full steam ahead since and I have been making sets of beads. For some reason my latest set made me think of carnivals and that got me thinking about finally coming up with names for all the particular styles of beads that I make. I decided to call the latest set Carnival Capers in the end - you can see them below.

I also make lots of beads like the ones below in various colour combinations:

Sometimes I use transparent glass as the base and sometimes an opaque but it's always a solid colour with no coloured core or inclusions. The decoration is all on the surface of the bead and always an opaque glass. Basically I just doodle on the beads to my hearts content and generally the doodles are dots, so this style of bead sets are going to be called Dotty Doodles.

I have another 10 days of manic bead making before the Crafts 4 Crafter's show - just need all the marketing stuff I've ordered to arrive now! I did force myself to "step away from the laptop" when I found I was hovering the mouse over the "add to basket" button to purchase a t'shirt I could stick a picture of my beads on ;)

Waiting!

2012-01-19T10:50:00.000Z

I'm sat here waiting.............

The animals are fed.

The house is clean.

The Studio is spotless.

Even the ironing is done :o

What am I waiting for?

Let me tell you.
Some time before Christmas I decided I would push myself into doing larger fairs concentrating on selling beads rather than jewellery as this is how I would prefer to obtain my income. I chose along with a friend, Sarah from The Tartan Trout , to sign up to Craft 4 Crafters. It's a 3 day show at a large exhibition centre just outside of Exeter.
After much deliberating we decided that it would be good for this particular event to sell beads individually allowing the customer to choose how many beads they would like in a set and be able to mix and match etc. Let me tell you, filling little trays with beads is taking FOREVER!! What looks like a reasonable amount when tied in sets looks a pittance sat in a little tray. I made all my "bead" stock into "jewellery" stock in the run up to Christmas and was exceedingly busy which was fantastic and very much appreciated but left me with no beads to sell. Me being me thought to myself that I had plenty of time after the Christmas festivities to sit quietly making beads day after day. WRONG!!! Firstly I had to spend the first 2 weeks of the new school term rescuing my lad from his rather poor excuse for a motorbike breaking down. Leaving him with no other way (buses are non existed in rural Devon) except buttering up yours truly, to get to school therefore interupting good bead making time. Then to top it all, yesterday..........my kiln died and so I can't make beads!!!!! So that is why despite having a mountain of beads to make, I am sat here utilising my poor neglected blog. The guys that make the kiln have been really good though and it's not them that have kept me waiting.

For the show I have had a couple of photo's printed onto large canvas and this one is my favourite

Lets hope after all this that it proves to be a profitable show for both Sarah and me :)

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

2011-11-29T18:34:00.001Z

I thought I ought to give you all a quick update as I've been a little quiet lately on etsy, flickr and here. The reason is a good one, I've been so busy. Last weekend was my biggest show to date with my glass beads and luckily I was really well received and met lots of lovely new customers, had a few lessons booked up and generally found it all a real buzz. I am hoping I can make it a regular event.

I am currently doing home jewellery parties so if you are within 25 miles of Honiton and you are interested in hosting one then please do get in touch. Each hostess will receive a gift just for hosting plus 10% of all sales on the evening to spend on stock items.

This Friday I will be selling my jewellery at The Woodroffe School in Lyme Regis at their "Taste of Christmas" fair. This is a well attended popular event running from 6pm until 9pm.

Here are some images of jewellery I have in stock at the moment to wet your appetite ;)

Above: Glass beads, Peridot chips and lots of Sterling silver finished with a Sterling silver clasp made by me.

Above: Frosted glass beads, clear glass beads and lots of Sterling silver

Above: Sterling silver with glass rings.

Of course you can contact me direct if you see anything you'd like at info@helengbeads.co.uk or via facebook

First Christmas Fair

2011-11-07T15:47:00.001Z

Sorry blog followers, it's been ages I know :( It's not been because I've had no news but happily because I've been so busy :)

Saturday just gone saw me take part in my first Christmas Fair since I've been lampworking. I used to do them back in the days of Silver Elegance, my silver smithing business that I had Princes Trust funding to set up.
The foot fall was certainly very high, probably one of the busiest I've seen and after a slow start I was pleased with the days sales. I had a bit of a challenge though as I had to travel in my little 2 seater sports car (she's an old lady now but I love her to bits) so shoe horning a decent display into her whilst leaving the passenger seat free for my assistant (daughter) Megan, took some thinking about. After a few purchases (toughened glass shelf and glass cube vases to support it) and a few alterations to my previous set up this is what I came up with.

As you can see we were asked to make it "Christmassy" too.

I have dusted off my silver smithing tools recently and made some of my own toggle clasps and bails but the other day I got distracted by the desire to have a "statement piece that would set off a lentil shaped bead nicely and this is what came out of the polisher the following day.

It sits rather nicely on my neck so part of me is hoping it doesn't sell! I guess if it does I'll just have to make another!

My First Big Show

2011-08-08T19:38:00.000+01:00

I did it! I actually got my finger out, worked like a Trojan to build up enough stock and attended my local agricultural show. Yes that's me and my cheesy grin stood behind my stand.
I wasn't in the craft tent (thank goodness as it didn't inspire me at all ) but I joined the Blackdown Hills Business Association and had a stand in their Marquee. Footfall was good and the overall feel of the tent was good - a lovely atmosphere. I made some new friends, one of which was Helen (yes there are lots of us ) Botterill of Kindred Rose, check out her website, she has some lovely items for sale like these personalised gift sets.

Well post show I have lots of jewellery that I am slowly adding to my website. For now I am keeping jewellery exclusively on my website and loose beads and buttons in my etsy shop

Here is a taste of what's available at www.helengbeads.co.uk

Heart Buttons

2011-07-26T12:16:00.000+01:00

I have been trying on and off for a few weeks now to come up with a quick and easy way to make heart shaped 2 hole buttons that were consistent in shape and not too thick. Several attempts later with buttons being broken as they stuck to the mandrels I have finally have got something to show that I am happy with. Once I have done the Honiton Show next week I will be adding them to my etsy shop for you to buy ;-)

My daughter Megan is the one responsible for setting me off down this path as she wanted some for a project she has been working on, making brooch/hairclips featuring my "seconds" buttons as there were a few mounting up and she felt they didn't deserve to be shoved in a box. This is what she has done with them which I think is rather cute.

She has also made flower shaped ones with a round button in the centre and butterfly shaped ones with a long narrow bead as the body. I'm hoping to be able to sell a few at the show next week.

Helen x

My Sunday

2011-07-24T17:59:00.000+01:00

Well here I am killing time until tea is ready, which incidently smells lush even if I say so myself :-)

This morning my hubby was up early to go an collect 3 of his 4 children to come and stay with us, it's been aaaaaages since I saw them so was looking forward to their return.

As I was awake early for a Sunday I made the most of it and headed studio bound at about 8:30am!! Yesterdays kiln haul was nice and satisfying and I set about filling her up (the kiln, I've yet to name her - suggestions welcome) again.

I have been working on some new style buttons, much simpler and therefore cheaper than my "usual" buttons so hopefully they will be well received. The first time I tried this design they all stuck to the mandrels and came of in 2-3 pieces :-/ so fingers crossed I have overcome that issue!

As I feel it necessary to add a picture to any blog post to make it more appealing I thought I'd show those of you that don't know, what my beadies look like fresh from the kiln.

Have a lovely Sunday evening whatever you are up to

Helen xx

Lampwork Play Day at Helen's Haven.

2011-07-17T17:59:00.000+01:00

I had such a lovely day on Friday, I spend a lot of time on a bead forum and had a group of South West beadmakers over to my studio to talk beads, play with glass, eat, drink and generally chill out. The weather was looking like it may not be too kind so I got the kids to help me put up a mini marquee thing we have but I needn't have worried. It was sunny until mid afternoon when people were starting to head home anyway. I would like to say a huge thank you to those that came and look forward to welcoming you all here again soon.

"Cheers ladies!"

A kick up the preverbial..........

2011-06-15T17:08:00.000+01:00

..........that's what I need!! I have dithered, faffed and time wasted all week so far and have nothing to show for it.

I made this a while ago but only got around to photographing it recently and it is for sale along with others in my etsy shop. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully I will find some motivation to get making again.

Traffic!!

2011-05-28T17:51:00.000+01:00

Why oh why didn't we just take the train??

Friday saw the opening day of my eldest stepdaughter, Megan's new shop in Southport and so we just had to be there. We left at 10:30am which should have meant we got there around 3-3:30pm. We should be so lucky! We finally got there after hours sat in standing traffic at 5:20pm. "Discovered For You" as she has called it is beautiful though, there is a range of unique clothes and accessories. Some of the clothes have been handmade combining various vintage pieces and are really quite beautiful.

Megan also has an online shop selling accessories for you and your home - Discovered For You -so you can still treat yourself or buy a gift for someone even if you don't live anywhere near Southport ;-)

Buttons finally up for sale!

2011-05-25T17:07:00.001+01:00

After 2 hours of editing photo's, uploading, writing descriptions, tagging etc, etc I have finally listed my buttons in my etsy shop so go take a peak. To temp you here are just some of those I've added.

Selection of focal buttons

Set of shank buttons

Buttons finally up for sale1

2011-05-25T17:06:00.001+01:00

Days that just fly!

2011-05-19T18:12:00.000+01:00

I've had one of those days that despite being up early (well early for me) and not wasting any time (well not much) I still have a list as long as my arm of stuff I wanted to get done today. And I've not even lit the torch!

These are from yesterdays session

Flowers

2011-05-18T10:01:00.000+01:00

I've been in a floral mood lately and been making a few of these, mostly as gifts for friends but this one will be going on my etsy shop at the weekend....if I get my finger out!!
Off out to the studio to check yesterdays goodies in the kiln-I love my job :-)

Twitter

2011-05-12T17:46:00.000+01:00

Yes I'm tweeting!

I have it on good authority that it makes good business sense so thought I'd give it a whirl. If you're on twitter I am helengbeads....what else ;-)

I feel like I'm bumbling around in the dark a bit but think I'm beginning to get the hang of it. I've had a busy week this week with appointments, meetings, web based stuff and...OK, lunch with a girlfriend. Tomorrow sees me heading of to Birmingham with my box of silver and gold scrap in the hope of some pennies to spend so yet again the torch won't be lit. I'm hoping to spend most of Saturday in the studio though so hopefully some beads or buttons to show you late (I'm teaching during the day) on Sunday.

In the mean time I thought I'd share this with you:

Isn't nature strange? Why have these guys (excuse bad photo, I didn't have the right lens with me).................................

.......................on here (a half finished "pond" for growing rainbow trout in on our trout farm)..................................................................................when you could have them on here just a few yards away still on the farm!? In my eyes no debate but then I'm not a duck :-D

My Lastest Obsession!

2011-05-09T17:21:00.000+01:00

Many of you will have seen these before........

Buttons!!!!!I hold a fellow lampworker fully responsible for this latest craze as she has released a fab tutorial on how she makes her style of buttons and having read it from cover to cover my own button journey started. Her name is Julie Fountain of Lush Lampwork and so a big thank you to you Julie ;-)

The button's shown are approximately 2cm diameter and of course can be made in virtually any colour combination you care to think of. I will be offering these for sale very soon so I'll keep you posted.

Helen x

IMG_2463

2011-05-05T10:45:00.001+01:00

IMG_2463, a photo by Helen G Beads on Flickr.

I loved making these and I am heading out to the studio to make more now. Have a lovely day x

IMG_2492

2011-05-05T10:43:00.001+01:00

IMG_2492, a photo by Helen G Beads on Flickr.

Well I was rather chuffed when this chap came out of the kiln :-)

Kristina Logan

2011-05-04T18:21:00.000+01:00

Well, it's better late than never as the saying goes!

You've probably seen the beads in this post before but I thought I'd finally tell you a bit about them. Back in March, I was lucky enough to attend a 2 day course with Kristina Logan. When I first started on my lampworking journey Kristina's work was some of the first I came across and at the time it left me virtually speechless marveling at her skill. As you can imagine when I heard she was coming to the UK I just had to be there.

Kristina is known as "the dot queen" as a lot of her work is made up of patterns comprising of a series of dots which in lampwork beads is not unusual but her precision in applying the dots is second to none. I was astounded to learn that she does them all with a whole rod of glass, as in a pencil thick rod. I pull the glass into much, much thinner rods that lampworkers call stringers, often less than a millimetre in diameter!

After watching intently it was our turn (there were 10 students altogether) to put into practise what Kristina had shown us. Below is a bead made using a technique of dragging the dots. Prior to this course I had struggled to do this without leaving behind a furrow deep enough to plant potato's in!

Kristina makes lots of beads with really big holes and sets them into her hand forged silver jewellery pieces. I was intrigued to watch how she applies the initial wrap of glass to the mandrel as it needs to be done in a smooth and controlled way in order to get the edges of the hole neat and tidy. She does this by heating the centre of the glass rod, folding it in two and at the fold attaching a second rod of glass so you are left with something resembling a tuning fork. This allows you to get a larger than normal gather of molten glass on the end and then it's a bit of a balancing act to wrap it around the mandrel in one go before it starts to get too cool. Although the back of this bead cracked while I was busy decorating the side you see, it is the bead I am most proud of to date.

I having been playing around in the studio today and if the kiln fairies are kind to me I should have another bead similar to this style to show you very soon ;-)

Helen x

New beads for sale on etsy

2011-04-02T19:23:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post before I get ready to go out for dinner with friends :-)

I have just listed some beads in my etsy shop for all your collectors and jewellery makers.

Head on over to etsy to see more.

Roll Up Roll Up......

2011-03-10T17:59:00.000Z

There's plenty of new jewellery to be had on my website!

It's taken me aaaaaaages, but I've finally finished photographing and listing all the jewellery that was left after I had my stall. Do you need an excuse to buy anything? Mothers Day perhaps? Ditch the flowers and treat mum to something unique this year.

Treat yourself, you desserve it, you've been really frugal since Christmas so get something to go with those summer frocks yoou'll be wearing soon.

Well, they say God loves a trier...and I'm trying :-)

I Did It!!!

2011-03-05T14:53:00.001Z

I actually managed to make enough stock to make a reasonable display for a stall :-) As the deadline drew nearer I even roped in my poor mum and best friend to help me with bits and pieces. I don't think mum wants to see another box ribbon for quite some time! I was really pleased with the overall look and am now looking around for other events to attend so will let you know when I find them.

If you look at the photo you will see I did cheat a bit by adding stock I have left over from my days as a gallery owner. It's all beautiful handmade glass pieces and I thought they complemented my work well.

I am hoping to add the jewellery stock to my website over the next few days so I have lots of photo's to take and descriptions to write but with Mother's Day on the horizon maybe I can inspire you to buy mum something unique this year ;-)

My first bead stall!!

2011-02-21T17:22:00.000Z

Yes I've taken the plunge and said I'd have a stall at a local event. Building up enough stock to put on a decent display is challenging but I'm enjoying every minute of it. Hopefully it will kick start me into doing more as when I used to go places with my silver jewellery I really enjoyed the interaction with the public which as you can imagine is fairly limited in my shedio!

Here is a sample of beads I have made so far:

As you can see, I have made loads of Pandora sized beads, some to be sold in sets and some more complicated ones to be sold individually. The majority of the stock will be made into jewellery as I think this is will sell better than beads on their own at this particular do.

A Message From The Sofa!

2011-01-31T19:47:00.000Z

OK I'm feeling sorry for myself!

I finally get back into bead making after a prolonged period of missing mojo and then I'm struck down with a chest infection! On the positive side, it is the first one I've had this winter which for me is nothing short of a miracle.

As the title suggests, I am typing this whilst sat....actually.......laying on the sofa in front of a glowing woodburner which is where I have been all day ;-)

This is just a short message to let you know I have listed some bead sets in my etsy shop hopefully to appeal to jewellery makers in time for Valentines day.

Ta ta for now xx

Lots of Christmas Ideas!

2010-12-03T11:06:00.000Z

Well, I hope you are managing to keep safe and warm in this freezing weather we're having. I have finally got myself together and will be adding lots of lovely new jewellery to my website today made with my own lampwork beads, freshwater pearls, sterling, Bali & Hill tribe silver. Come guys, grab your girl a beautiful unique Christmas pressie this year and score some serious brownie points ;-)

Here is a taster for you:

Jewellery To Come

2010-11-21T11:28:00.000Z

I have been busy recently with various jewellery commissions (yes mum G even yours should be with you next week! ) and have uploaded pictures on flickr, just click the widget on the right to view more.

I am planning over the next couple of weeks to produce more jewellery in similar styles and new ones to offer for sale on my website and etsy. If you live locally you can of course contact me to arrange an appointment to come and see me.

Have a nice Sunday!

Helen x

Two Days with Astrid Riedel

2010-10-19T19:42:00.000+01:00

This post should really have come before the birthday one but I've only just got round to taking the necessary photo's today.

Mango beads, owned by the lovely Amanda Muddimer, hosted a two day course with Astrid Riedel of Pretoria, South Africa. Astrid's style of beads are very different to mine so I was taken out of my comfort zone and forced to work in a new way which was rather refreshing. Astrid uses a variety of techniques and builds many of them into rather large focal beads that have lots of depth to them. Her use of the silver rich glasses was inspiring and I am bursting to try all sorts of things although it's not easy to get the wonderful colours that are possible. Below are the beads I made on the course and whilst I would have liked them to be more uniform in shape, overall I was pleased with my results.

Now all I need to do is take what I've learnt and come up with something original!

Birthday Bash.

2010-10-17T19:31:00.001+01:00

I have had the most fantastic birthday this year. I turned 40 and can honestly say it feels great. Without getting morbid because that's not what this is about, there was a time when I and my family thought I would never get to be 40. In 1999 I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and after a period of treatment was given the all clear. However in 2003 it came back again and I struggled to fight it. After several failed attempts with different types of chemo, eventually it was decided in 2004 that I needed a stem cell transplant. Unfortunately it didn't go well and I ended up on life support in intensive care for 6 weeks with a very long road to recovery ahead of me. I'm pleased to say the moral of the story is never give up as I proved the medical team wrong because I'm still here and enjoying every minute of my life. So maybe you can understand why I felt it was important to celebrate this special birthday in style. If you want to know more about Lymphoma visit http://www.lymphomas.org.uk/

It started with a party on the Saturday evening. We were lucky enough to have lots of local friends offering to help out and it was a real "homemade" do that everyone seemed to enjoy.

Above is me and my husband Mark and on the right is me with my brother, sister and mum.

We had a total of 18 guests for a full English brunch the next day so Mark and I were glad not to have over indulged on the booze the night before!

Monday was my actual birthday day and Mark, myself and three of my girlfriends headed of to London. That night we went to see Dirty Dancing at the theatre and it was amazing. I love going to see a show in London and this one didn't disappoint. We headed back to the hotel for a late dinner which was delicious. The next day after a spot of shopping, well a girl has to do what she is best at, we did something that I have wanted to do for years-afternoon tea at The Ritz! The opulence at The Ritz is amazing and the cakes were to die for.

The photo just doesn't do them justice. My favourite was the macaroon (pale one towards the back) which I think was filled with cream and praline and then the blackcurrant one (deep red one in the foreground) that had flecks of gold on it and a lovely creamy centre.

I'm now back to earth with a bump and 4lbs heavier at that so back to the diet and on to beads again. Just before I went away I was lucky enough to go on a course with the lovely Astrid Reidel but I'll blog about that soon when I have a sunny enough day to photograph the beads I made!

What happens to my beads?

2010-09-13T13:49:00.000+01:00

This is something I've always wondered and today I received an email from a lady twho bought some beads off me a while ago to make her friend a necklace. Her friend was delighted with the result and when you see what Val turned the beads into, I'm not surprised.

I would love to see what others have made so if you've bought my beads in the past and have photo's of your creations then pop them on an email to me and let me know if you're happy for me to blog about them. Although I can't promise to blog about everyone I will pick a couple out of the hat to show you all ;-)

Another "match this top please" commission.

2010-09-09T12:12:00.000+01:00

I've been itching to show this set of beads that were made into a necklace for my most recent commission as I really love the colour combination.

The lady in question asked me to make some beads using the colours in her top. I get asked to do this a lot and as long as I'm pretty much able to do my own thing pattern wise I enjoy the challenge. It gets me using colour palettes that perhaps I would normally overlook although sometimes the chosen colours will react badly with each other and blur or split. Sometimes the reactions can be used to my advantage and others I add a nice layer of clear glass to keep them apart.

Below are some more "match this top please" beads and jewellery I have done. If you have a favourite top or dress and would like a unique set of beads or jewellery to match the drop me a line.

Etsy Update

2010-09-04T16:30:00.000+01:00

Good afternoon :-D

I have put just a couple of sets of beads up for sale in my etsy shop so if you're interested pop by there.

The summer seems to have flown by in a complete whirlwind of kids, camping, visitors, more kids, more camping, more visitors and I even managed several teaching sessions amongst it all. I will be glad to get back to normal though and am now looking forward to my 40th birthday celebrations in October.

Bountiful Harvest.

2010-08-21T15:37:00.000+01:00

OK, so it's not beads but I'm as proud of this trug of veg as I am of some of my beads as it's all home grown and was waiting for me on the return from my camping holiday in sunny Cornwall- and yes it was actually sunny! If you like the look of the gorgeous trug you can find it at Vanilla Coast along with a host of other goodies ;-)

You can see two varieties of courgettes, two varieties of cucumber, tay berries, Victoria Plums and runner beans. The runner beans were polished off for lunch by me and my son Ben (a junk food eating 15 year old!) with plenty of black pepper and butter...yummy :-D

I have a few appointments to get out of the way on Monday and Tuesday and then I have my longed for peace and quiet (kids away) to finally get some serious bead making done.

New Jewellery on Website

2010-07-12T15:09:00.001+01:00

I have added lots of new jewellery to my website here including these:

Where Does The Time Go?

2010-07-07T15:15:00.000+01:00

I am always amazed at how long it is since my last post whenever I update my blog. I have been having issues with my PC as my Internet connection is rubbish and everything seems to take ages, I think if the problem wasn't there I'd gain a whole day each week! I have stolen my daughters laptop to be able to blog without pulling my hair out this afternoon, I just need to hurry up before she gets home from school ;-)

I have added lots of photo's to my flickr and facebook pages and thought you may like to have a peek. Here is a little taster of my favourites.

I am hoping to add new jewellery to my website in the next few days, fingers crossed!

IMG_5377

2010-06-07T21:49:00.001+01:00

IMG_5377
Originally uploaded by Helen G Beads

A very girly addition to my own collection that I made for my recent holiday :D

Facebook!

2010-06-06T17:09:00.000+01:00

Helen G Beads now has it's very own facebook page. If you are anything like me you spend far too much time on facebook checking out what everyone is up to. So I thought what easier way to update everyone with bead things. I will still blog here too so if you are not a facebook fan, as I know several that aren't, you can still keep a beady eye on me here ;)

Holiday :)

2010-06-05T23:01:00.000+01:00

Question.....Where have I been since the election?

Answer.......Busy then on my holidays :)

We spent a lovely week in a very nice holiday cottage at Widemouth Bay in Cornwall. There were loads of things to do on site and we didn't get round them all so we are just going to have to go back! One of the things we did do which I would highly recommend is cycle part of The Camel Trail from Wadebridge to Padstow and back. I am far from fit but I managed it quite easily so I would say it is suitable for most people, it's flat all the way. I did have the added insentive of Rick Steins fish and chips at the halfway point which was scrummy.

In the photo below from left to right is: ,

one of my stepdaughters (the older two had other commitments) my stepson, my hubby, my daughter, my son and me.

We are back home now and I have had plenty of thinking time so have lots of beady ideas swimming around in my head so should have plenty to show yo over the coming weeks.

Lots of New Bead Sets

2010-05-06T23:31:00.000+01:00

Hello and happy election night!

The joy of a laptop is being able to catch up with work while watching the election live on TV. It's a good job my daughter had one for her birthday and I can "borrow" it while she is fast asleep ;-)

While sitting here on the sofa I have also managed to write my website newsletter and upload several sets of beads into my online shop.

My favourite sets of those uploaded are these

I'm of to watch the results come in in bed now so ta ta for now.

I am still here!

2010-05-05T12:41:00.000+01:00

Just a very quick post to let you know I am still here and am still making beads just very busy with other stuff too. I am hoping to edit lots of photo's of new beads and upload new items to my shop by the end of this week.
Back soon x

Flame Off

2010-04-19T11:58:00.000+01:00

Last Friday and Saturday was Flame Off 2010. For those of you that don't know, it is a lampworking show with suppliers, bead makers, wonderful demonstrations and loads of bead obsessed people like myself :-D

I spent an absolute fortune on glass, tools and displays......well a girl can never have too much......and couldn't wait to get back into the studio yesterday to use my new goodies and try out some of the many techniques that were demonstrated.

One of my favourites over the weekend was a surface decoration as demoed by Theresa Laliberte of Lavender Creek Glass and below is my attempt. And yes the gold is real gold, 24ct gold leaf infact.

That was the easy one I think! I also attempted a "creature" in the style of Sharon Peter's but won't be subjecting you to a photo of that, instead you can admire her work here

The lovely Lorna Prime Di East and Sabine Little all of whose work I admire were also part of the program. There were also plenty of unofficial demos on the various "have a go" tables dotted around the event. All in all well worth a visit if you are interested in finding out more about the world of lampworking.

One of the new glass colours for me was Multi Colour Dark by a company called Riechenbach and so far I can see me using a lot more of it. The bead below is a sample of the colours you can coax out of it without too much bother.

OK, off to the bead shed for me now, ta ta!

Beads for sale!

2010-04-05T13:28:00.000+01:00

Happy Easter Monday!

Just a quick post to let you know there are lots of new beads for sale on my website. I have added a couple of new catagories, Big hole beads for some of the popular bracelet systems on the market and mini sets or 2 an 3 beads for you to make into jewellery or maybe just collect.

Big hole sets include these, click on the photo to go to my shop ;-)

Beads!

2010-03-31T21:07:00.000+01:00

Blimey, has it ever been cold today? Just when you don't need it, the heater in my studio packed up this morning too!! Luckily dad came to the rescue, he works next door to a recycling shop and he popped in there and bought a fully working one for the amazing price of................£2!!! Bargain!! Once it warmed up a bit I carried on beading but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see those, meanwhile here are some I made earlier. Always wanted to say that ;-) They will be for sale on my website on Saturday morning

A bit of inspiration perhaps?

2010-03-26T12:39:00.000Z

Hello and Happy Friday!

I can't believe where the time has gone this week. We had some good friends staying with us on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and the time always flies when we get together so that probably has something to do with the speed with which Friday has crept up on me.

Going back a few days to last Sunday, my husband (Mark) and I took the dogs for a walk on Charmouth beach. For those of you that may not know, it is a mecca for fossil collectors and is part of The Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. Luckily for us it's only about 15 minutes away. The fossil collectors were out in force on this particular occasion, in fact I don't ever recall seeing as many! Once we were safely past the people sat at the cafe having their burgers and any temptation, we let the dogs off the lead. It was Ditto's first beach visit and he was so excited but really quite well behaved too, probably down to my pocket full of his favourite treats.

I find it impossible to walk along a beach without looking down to see what I might find and suddenly something glinted in the sun, I was so chuffed when I picked it up and discovered it was a tiny ammonite made of fools gold or iron pyrite, it actually looks more like bronze. I found a couple more too and have stashed them in the studio as one day I want to make some beads based on them.

Spring Clean On My Website

2010-03-05T14:11:00.000Z

As the title suggests, I have spent some time sorting through the items on my website. I have reduced a few things that were a bit "sticky" so there are some bargains to be had. I have also listed several new focal beads and a couple of sets.

This bead is the latest in a long line of practice beads.

I have finally worked out to do this technique which as you can see produces a bead that resembles a clover flower. I still have a way to go before I am totally happy with it and then the challenge will be to make a set that are all pretty much the same size!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, if the weather holds it will be a gloriously sunny one here.

Helen x

Chocoholics Dream AKA My Daughters Birthday Cake.

2010-02-27T11:52:00.000Z

I'm not actually a massive fan of chocolate these days but I know a lot of you guys are and my daughter Megan definitely is!

Yesterday was her 13th birthday and I can't believe my youngest is now a teenager!! As I said, she adores chocolate and the Lindor round truffles by Lindt are her favourite. I used a fab Mary Berry recipe called "Death by Chocolate" for the sponge and then at Megan's request, sandwiched and covered it with chocolate butter icing. I then added my own touch by rolling in chocolate crumbs and covering the top with Lindor chocs. Et voila!!!

Having said I'm not a chocolate fan, it was rather yummy if I say so myself! Rather annoyingly, the dog thought it was good too!!! Yes, the little b****r helped himself to a few large bites before I caught him with his paws on the table. I don't think he'll try it again!

Bead wise I am rapidly catching up with all my orders and have a nice clear week of beading ahead so I am hoping to finally get some stock onto the website at some point.

Have a good weekend peeps xx

I'm Back!!

2010-02-13T10:36:00.000Z

The reason for my absence has been a nasty chest infection-I'm prone to them and just have to live with that due to previous health problems. I find that when I have a break of more than a few days, it takes me a while to get back into the flow so to speak and the best way I find to get around this is just to "play" around and have fun, put orders to one side as I just wouldn't do them justice.

My favourite bead from this session is this focal which in the second photo I have made up into a necklace using some gorgeous beads of Kate Sullivan's from Sublime beads.

My next challenge is finding beading time with half term and 5 children to keep an eye on.....wish me luck!

Bad Week for Beading!

2010-01-21T15:53:00.000Z

Well, I'm not having much luck this week as far as torch time goes.

Monday was out as I had my "Mystery Shopper" hat on. Someone my mum knows runs a little business and occasionally asks me to go and spend his money on little bits and pieces and have a nice morning coffee and lunch and then give him feedback on the customer service. Very nice little job I have to say.

Tuesday was full of appointments, things like doctors, dentists etc and during a 3 hour gap in the middle of them all I spent some much overdue time with my mum.

Wednesday I had to go and see my accountant, dull but necessary and I am much happier and relaxed now everything is sorted. In the afternoon I was the children's taxi service!

Today..........fume, fume!!!
Today should have been a whole afternoon of blissful uninterrupted torch time. This morning I had to wait in for a delivery of a dishwasher to replace the brand new one I had just before Christmas which went wrong the weekend before last. Firstly they were supposed to deliver by 13:45 and at 14:15 I rang the office concerned to ask where they were. I was told they were nearly here and it wouldn't be long. An hour and a half later the phone went, it was the driver of the lorry saying the lane was too small for his truck (we get farm feed deliveries all the time in huge lorries so not sure why he finds it such a problem) and I now have to wait in again on Monday therefore loosing another day! I don't expect for one minute I'll be compensated.

So if you're wondering why there have been no beads, that's the explanation, however.........
Tomorrow is a brand new day ;-)

Colour Combinations and Snow!

2010-01-08T16:48:00.000Z

When I was asked to make the above set it was one of those "oh well, what the customer wants, the customer gets" moments as I wasn't sure about the colours. However, I stand corrected as I really like the combination.

We have snow too! It first arrived during the night on Tuesday (5th) and on Thursday morning the sun shone and everything was really pretty. This was taken looking at the house with my studio on the left.

These guys love it too!

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-06T19:54:00.000Z

Hello and a happy new year to you all, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that this year will be a good one for you.

I have been itching to share a couple of photo's with you but as they were Christmas presents thought I ought to keep them secret until the recipient had received!

The first is a pendant made for a very dear friend that wanted it to match a dress she had. I was sent a photo of the dress and was free to interpret it how I liked. I love working this was and the result was very well received.

The second was a heart pendant in pink and a matching stretchy bracelet. For those of you not familiar with lampworking, bright pink is a tricky colour to work with. To achieve the right pink usually means layering a colour called rubino over white. Rubino is a very reactive glass that does all sorts of weird things, some of them desirable and some not, in essence it's not an easy glass to work with and the thought of making a large hand shaped heart bead in this colour didn't exactly fill me with joy. Not one to be defeated though I set to and the end result was very satisfying.

I am hoping to get back to the torch tomorrow. Originally it was going to be today but, oh joy of joys, I have spent all day re installing everything on my PC as I upgraded to Windows 7. It is soooooooooo much faster than Vista though, that was doing my head in!!

Happy Christmas

2009-12-23T14:25:00.000Z

Just popping by to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2010
Helen x

Santa's Elves Needed!

2009-12-18T11:30:00.000Z

Just a very quick post while I sit here waiting for delivery of a new dishwasher........why does stuff always break down at this time of year!?? I am still busy, busy, busy and could really do with a few of Santa's elves. I will be posting pictures of things I've made recently after Christmas so as not to spoil anyones surprise! Ooooo dishwashers here!

A Busy Week

2009-11-22T18:39:00.000Z

This week I have been fairly quiet online as I have been busy making up various comissions. I have sent out a few orders and was pleased to have emails from very happy customers. One of the comissions which is yet to go out as I still need to do the earrings is this.

It is the first time I have made large versions of my spring garden beads. it is 22 inches and the beads are approximately 20mm rounds.

Off the subject of beads for a minute, what do you think of the latest addition to our family?
Isn't he just gorgeous!! My daughter Megan is holding him. He is still living with his birth mummy at the moment but we pick him up on 6th December and I can't tell you how excited I am! I am calling him Ditto as I had a black Cocker Spaniel several years ago who was just the best dog ever.

Beads from Laura Sparling Course

2009-11-15T15:56:00.000Z

Well Saturday brought the arrival of my long awaited beads from the day I spent with Laura Sparling. There were a few others but these are the best ones from my batch.Hope you've had a good weekend
Helen x

Laura Sparling Day

2009-11-13T11:27:00.001Z

How lucky was I? Last Saturday I spent the whole day with a lovely group of ladies learning tricks of the trade from Laura Sparling, one of my favourite UK lampworkers. We all met at Fireworks Studio in Bristol. Georgina and John were perfect hosts and I can thoroughly recommend checking them out, especially the included lunch made by John!

Laura herself was a joy to watch and work with and I feel I made real progress with my beads under her expert guidance. An example of which can be seen in the 2 photographs below. The first picture is my latest hand shaped heart bead which I am really pleased with and hangs proudly around my neck as I type. The second picture is the very first so called heart shaped bead I ever made.......oh dear!!!
I have also been busy filling a custom order for my stretchy bracelets and decided to take a photo of them altogether. I am rather chuffed with this picture and am going to update my website home page with it as I feel it best represents the work I am producing at the moment. Hope you like it too.

I'm still working hard to get stock of beads and jewellery onto the website in time for Christmas shopping!

Mojito Madness

2009-10-30T16:23:00.000Z

My favourite cocktail at the moment, thanks to my eldest step daughter ;-) is a Mojito. For those who don't know it's a refreshing drink with a base of Bacardi, lots of lime and fresh mint, a bit of sugar and lemonade and poured over crushed ice. Well that's how I do it anyway. Imagine my delight when a popular glass manufacturer produced a load of new colours calling one of them Mojito! I had to get some of course. It is a lovely apple green and yesterday I had fun making these.

Tomorrow as you know is halloween and as I love to cook as well as bead I will be busy in the kitchen as we are having friends around for dinner. I didn't realise that Halloween was originally an Irish festival and one of the most traditional Irish dishes to have on Halloween is Colcannon which I love. It's a real good old fashioned comfort food and so the menu is pretty much along those lines....comfort food. We have dusted off the Karaoke machine so if we feel brave enough we may even give that a bash. Have a good weekend x

More Pandora Size Beads

2009-10-28T18:57:00.000Z

Well what a fabulous day it's been here in East Devon. The garden thermometer was showing 21c and it's in the shade!! Can you believe that? It's nearly November and I should be making beads with the heater full blast and woolly socks on not switching on the electric fan in the 30c heat! Please don't think I'm complaining, I wouldn't dare.

I have just uploaded some photo's to my Flickr gallery (see the link under favourite websites) which shows the individual sets in this collection.

I was rather pleased, there are 6 sets of 5 beads here and I particularly like the icey blue ones so you will be seeing this colour combination again.

The Pandora Size Beads!

2009-10-23T16:48:00.000+01:00

It's not the best photo, blooming dull weather! Dad just said he didn't like the combination so I'll just explain they are 3 separate sets, pinks, purples (nicer than the photo shows) and yellow golds!!

Pandora Size Beads

2009-10-22T21:59:00.000+01:00

Well I had a good session at the torch today and made some Pandora size beads that have been ordered by a customer. There are 3 sets so far (I don't have many mandrels in that size) one in pinks, one in purples and one in pale amber. All being well I will post some photo's to tease you tomorrow.
Night night x

Finally back up to speed.

2009-10-19T19:15:00.000+01:00

I have had just finished the best full day in my studio for some time and hopefully I will have some lovely beads in the kiln in the morning. My "mojo" has been a little absent recently, probably due to being poorly, but it's back now and I've got loads of ideas up my sleeve. I will hopefully be listed new stuff in on my website at the end of this week.

We had a flying visit to London over Friday and Saturday and as our lunch appointment (husbands business partner) was in Knightsbridge, what better place to kill a couple of hours than Harrods. If you have never been, the food hall alone is worth the visit. Some clever ladies I know make gorgeous, tiny cupcake beads-check out Laura Sparling and Wishing Well Glass. Although the photo doesn't do them justice these looked almost as gorgeous!

The rest of the cake counter was not a sight for dieters eyes, although I did manage to walk by without spending any money!

"Sigh".......I WISH I was skinny and could eat cake without a care.

My Birthday Weekend

2009-10-14T21:41:00.000+01:00

Last weekend was my 39th birthday, party time next year! I had a great time as we went to Edinburgh for the weekend with our friends Sara and Steve. We ate very well and one of the nicest meals for me was afternoon tea at the Balmoral Hotel. Is anyone ever able to eat everything you are given at afternoon tea??? For each person there was 4 finger sandwiches, a handful of crisps, 3 scones with jam and cream, a fruit tart, 2 Scottish shortbread biscuits and squares of Victoria sandwich, bakewell tart and chocolate fridge cake.......phew!! This was half way through......

ALL ABOARD!

.We also took one of the open top bus tours and stopped for a look around The Royal Yacht Britannia. What fascinated me was the complete lack of glitz. Not what I expected at all, the photo below is the Queens own cabin which as you can see is very plain and down to earth. Apparently she turned down the first set of interiors as "too fussy" in favour of something far more simple. Now the "jollies" are over it's back to business and I have a lot of days set aside over the coming weeks for bead making so watch this space....and the website of course!

I'm Blogging!!

2009-10-08T11:31:00.000+01:00

Well, I've done it, I decided to take the plunge and blog! For all those of you wondering why bother, there are several lampworkers whose work I admire and whose blogs I follow. Sometimes they may seem to be fairly quiet in the lampworking world and yet if you check out their blogs they are busy with other interesting projects. Its just another way to keep your customer informed. As a customer myself I like to be kept in the picture.

My blog will obviously be heavily geared towards beads and all things glassy although you will probably find out other things from time to time that I feel either particularly proud of or that I feel may be of interest to you.

Hopefully I won't bore you!

What have I been up to lately? Not a lot! I'm not looking for sympathy here but I've been a bit poorly of late and have been very lazy as a consequence. It is my birthday this weekend and I am being treated to a lovely weekend in Edinburgh. A friend is holding the fort here and feeding all the animals including the kids so I can completely relax knowing its in safe hands. Hopefully once back and nice and rested I will be raring to go and next week will be nice and productive and full of things to show you, in the mean time here are a few pictures of my studio.