Christmas Market at Valdemar Castle 2010

As I said a few weeks ago, my friend Lenette had invited me to share her boothspace at Valdemar Castle this passed weekend. The last couple of days before saturday presented us with a lot of snow, and I were worried that perhaps I shouldn't go since there were no time to get the summertires changed to fit the season :/

It all went smoothly though, and I had a great weekend. It was cold, it was snowy, it was beautiful. Lots of people came over the two days, and I had a great time with Lenette and the other sellers.

Here is Lenette demoing a bit of lampwork



here is my table



here the entire booth



and here is a fresh new pendant I sold. I only just made it and I am quite proud of it.
I'll have to see if I can make another :)



Happy Holidays!

P~

Kivanniversary!

Today is my second anniversary as a lender at Kiva, and I'd like to celebrate by sharing the Kiva site with you.

I am very happy to have been introduced to Kiva (Thank you Hanne!) those 2 years ago. On their site they state: 'Kiva's mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty'. Sounds good, doesn't it? They have made it so easy for us to microlend across the globe, and as your entrepreneurs repay their loans you kind of get 'free money' to relend.

It's a fabulous concept I think, and I love that you get to choose who to lend to yourself. I always have much fun looking through the loan requests.

If you'd like to join in or just check it out, go to their site and sign up, or let me send you an invite :)
I'll need you email address to invite you, so don't hesitate to let me know in the comments or at bindweed*@*gmail.com (no * of course).

Happy Lending!
Lene :)

Christmas Market at Valdemar Castle!

Yes! on December 4'th and 5'th I will attend/sell at the Christmas Market at Valdmar Castle.
My lampwork-friend Lenette has kindly offered to share her booth with me, and she has been allowed to set up her torch to be able to do live demos. It will be great!

I've never been there before and I am looking very much forward to the experience, not to mention seeing what the other sellers are bringing. I can see from the event website that there were 72 booths last year, and this year they have doubled the market to last 2 weekends of wich we will attend the second.

Anyway - I really need to have some fresh new work when I go there (just for my own pleasure), so I made these:


They will be pendants on sterling bails, and I am very pleased with the patterns, both the frit'ed ones and the deliberately dotted ones. The purplish frit'ed one ended up with a bit of a pearshape, and I love it! Just a touch more organic than the marvered drops, Brilliant! And the pattern on it looks like a fierce thunderstorm at sunset, so Yup, that is my favourite :)
More of both types will definately follow :)

Merry Christmas! (a bit early perhaps?)
P~

Gail Crosman Moore Class, Day 1

Ooh, I've had a great day :)
It is so nice to be in the company of dedicated beadmakers all day, torching away for hours.

We made 6 beads today, all in Gails lovely style. My first beads, we made 4 in a row on one mandrel, were quite wobbly and unevenly spaced, but after that it went very well, and I can't wait to see my beads again tomorrow.
Gail is a lovely woman, and everybody were very focused, working constantly at their beads all day long.

Here is Gail, working on one of her fabulous pod pendants






As for working in boro - the colours are just wonderful. Nice muted tones, just like I like them. Laying down lines of stringer is much easier than in soft glass, but shaping the base bead can take a while. The boro hardens much quicker and must be reheated a lot. Also, the bead while being shaped, is radiating a lot! of heat. It is not easy to get close to the bead when laying stringers or dots.

I am still undecided as to weather this is something I would like to invest in at this point, but since it will require a new pair of glasses, not just the glassrods, and probably new beadrelease too, I think I will have to wait for later. I'd love to try to make implosion marbles in boro, but I guess I could practice in soft glass first, then upgrade later if I like it.

Tomorrow will be interesting too. We have been asked to bring inspiration (pics, objects what have you), and our own works that we would like to develop on. I am not really sure what to bring, but that I must think about in the morning.

P~

Gail Crosman Moore Class!

I have been looking forward to this weekend since I snatched the last seat in this class back in may.
I love Gails pod- and flowerlike beads, and getting to try boroglass will be exciting, since I have only ever worked in soft glass. I can't show you a pic cause I haven't asked for permission, but here is her website with gallery and blog and many lovely pictures.

Now I will pack a few tools and go to bed so I can get a good nights sleep before we tart tomorrow. 7 hours at the torch will be a bit hard, but the classes at Bifrost are great, and my friend Lenette will be there too, so I know it will be a fun couple of days :)

Yay!

P~

Frontpage!

Yes!Once more I grace the frontpage of Danish handmade shop site Amio.dk
This time with a pair of nifty earrings in black and white, see the top row there?



Also, if you look below the B/W you will see a lovely focal in purple tones on white that I am very pleased with. It is not as big as the one I wear myself, but the colours and organic pattern came out very nicely.

And new at my blog is the scrolling box of my goods at Amio, over at the left. Fellow Amio shop owner Bo Kavlslund made the script for all us sellers at Amio to use. He also makes sterling Jewelry, and this one called 'Fire' is my favorite, me being a lampworker and all :)

So - Danes, check out Amio, lots of good stuff there.
Foreigners, you are welcome too of course, just click around and see what the danish words are hiding. Don't be put off by the prices, just split the amount by 5,5 for US$ and 7.6 for EUROs (todays rates).
Enjoy!

P~

Trollbead Release Party!

Last night I attended the world premiere of Trollbeads' new concept, the nation speciffic beads.
500 tickets were available and the event was held at Arken, a danish museum of modern art.



The Trollbead people showed us a fun and lighthearted powerpoint presentation of the Trollbead history, ending with their thoughts on what might best represent the spirit of Denmark.
I'm afraid I'm not much of a reporter, if I were I would have pictures of the new beads here, but alas I didn't think of it. I can tell you however that the 4 new beads are:

1. a glas bead with a green core and alternating white and yellow flowers (lovely!), representing anemonea, the herald of spring in our forrests.
2. a sterling vikingship complete with a dragons head in front (a little on the light side)
3. an amberbead with 'Denmark' in runes around the middle
4. a tribute to the great designers of our country - a tiny Arne Jacobsen chair, the Egg, with a teeny tiny troll climbing it. It's a fun bead, with a very nice weight to it (I like that).

Before and after the presentation there were a couple of live demotables showing a bit of the process of making beads. One was a lampworking table



and much more interesting for me, two tables demoing wax modeling. This is something I have had an interest in for years and years, and I really want to try it one day, so even a little taster like this is fun for me.



Even more fun - I soon realized that I know the guy in the picture! His name is Allan Bayer and he used to be the younger brother of a boy my friends and I used to play with after school. Now he is a skilled jeweller with his own shop, making both lovely classic jewellery and fancyfull modeled pieces. Also - and that is the reason he was there last night, he is a Trollbead designer. I think there used to be a list of each designers beads at the Troll-site, but I can't find any now so maybe they took it down. He did make this fabulous tree though, and here is his website: www.guldsmedbayer.dk so go have a look for yourself.

The new beads were up for sale of course, along with a new necklace, and a lot of shopping followed. Here are a couple more pictures, from the end of the evening when things had calmed down.







I had great night :)
P~

PS: the shrimps in the buffet were great!

Anniversary!!

One year ago today I conquered a fear.
I told myself it would be okay until I believed it, and I jumped in feet first with excitement in my heart.
One year ago today I registered as a proper business, and it was huge for me.

What have I learnt:
It wasn't so scary after all. In fact it has been a fun, exciting and interesting adventure
I rather like doing the bookkeeping (when I'm done and have solved the 'what goes where' puzzle)

What to work on:
I really need get over myself and work on pushing my goods, really!
I must set a fixed date for bookkeeping each month, so as not to let it accumulate (done! now to keep it up ...)
Less TV/websurfing = more time to torch = better glass art! Yay!

To celebrate this happy event I am having a 20% off SALE at my new shop. You can find it HERE at the new danish website for all things handmade: www.amio.dk

The sale will last 'till the end of the month, 5 whole days, and prices have already been reduced by 20%.
I will upload new goodies during these 5 days, so please visit more than once.

Happy New Year everybody!

Mythbuster!

Yesterday, for the first time in 3½ months, I fired up my torch.
I have no good reason for not torching, so I must have just needed a summer break. Well, a break this long will make you loose your routines, and besides making uninspired beads, I also got a burn. I were rolling a bead in frit, reaching under the torch, when I got my highest knuckle turned up into the flame. Very stupid, but my attention were on the other end of the mandrel.

I finished off the bead (quickly!), and then thought I would try out the advice I had read about for burns, a remedy you are pretty sure to always have handy: toothpaste! I smeared on a blob, and what can I say, it really works! The pain subsided right away, and I could go about my business.



So I went about my day with a glob of toothpaste on my hand. A couple of times I had to wash my hands and each time I removed the paste I would feel the burn again. So I reapplied and even kept it on for the night (secured by a piece of bandaid).

Today I have a blister, but no pain, and I didn't have to spend the night with my hand in a cup of water. Excellent! :)

And the bead I made? So not worth a burn ;)

A Lampworkers get-together

Well isn't is about time I let you all know that I am still alive and well and having a good time with my glass? I think it is :)

In particular I'd like to tell you about the lampwork meet-up and market I attended during this weekend.
It was a two-day event on the grounds of Ravstedhus, clear across the country from where I live. I packed up my BFs festival tent and took off to spend the night come rain or come shine. Fortunately we had the best weather ever, you might even say it was a bit on the hot side, especially on sunday, the market day.



I have never visited Ravstedhus before, and I was surprised to see how huge the shoparea was. I don't know what it normally looks like but this weekend there were 3 visiting German sellers of lampwork tools and glass as well as the regular shop. It was a beadmakers heaven :)

Saturday was wall-to-wall demoes. I especially liked to hear about electroforming and marblemaking, which are both techniques I'd like to try one day. I found out that I might not entirely enjoy electroforming the way I'd thought, because of the lumpy edges, but that they can be reduced by turning down the voltage. I'd love to try it sometime :)
I'd absolutely love to make marbles, but not opaque ones as was demoed. I'd like to try the transparant ones with implosions and stuff inside. Yay!



Later in the day a meeting was held in the tent in the yard, and the long awaited Danish Bead Association was formed. I look much forward to having a central place for all our Danish beadmakers to connect and get together and I joined on the spot. It'll be great :)



Then we went out to eat at a nearby restaurant. Lots of chatter all around and good food, and then back to more demoes, this time by Jens Chr. Kondrup. He showed us how he works in tubes, and when the conversation came to torsos I showed him one of my ladies and he made me a man in a matter of minutes. It was fun to see his technique of starting at one end and never going back. I go back and forth and back and forth again. I'll have to try his way as he said it creates less stress in the glass.

Sunday was the day of the market open for the public.




I had been looking much forward to this and had signed up as a seller. I probably should have asked questions before I signed up, but now I know that for next time. I had imagined perhaps 15 sellers and maybe around 150-200 costumers, but aparently that was way off.





I guess everything has a growing periode, and since this was only the second year of this event, well ... I'll be happy to go again next year though, and then I'll know better. I should probably mention that Ravstedhus is in a tiny village out in the countryside, which means people have to really want to be there to attend. You don't stumble upon it accidentally. This is not ideal for a market, actually it is quite counterproductive, but for demoing the place is perfect, with lots of space and workstations and supplies and tools all over, so it's a bit of a dilemma.
I'll be happy to go again next year as the socializing was great. I got to meet a lot of new people and talked about beads all day long for two days. Excellent weekend :)

So yes - in all it was a great initiative. Thank you to the organisers and the participants too.

P~

(PS to the person who nicked one of my Goddess-pendants: Congratulations on your great taste. You picked the nicest one of the ones I had laid out at the time. My paypal is open for payment at any time convenient for you on p@profusionartglass.com (that was 350Dkr. in case you 'forgot' that too). Thank you, and have a nice day.)

Silver cores.

A couple of new beads today, and yay! no cracked tube this time.
It all went as smoothly as it used to. I am happy :)


P~

Bottoms!

New Listings

Today I made beads. I'm not sure they are any good, but I did make some, and that is half the battle sometimes.
I also uploaded a couple more beads to englebasserne.dk. Now there are 7, and I am all out of pics to list. Getting pictures taken has always been a hurdle for me, but I am working on that.
Here is one of the listed beads


P~

Grand Opening!!!

ETA: The site mentioned and linked to does not exist any more.

Well then - Tonight I have listed my first couple of beads ever, at the danish site www.englebasserne.dk. I now have two online shops, and one more will follow sometime during this summer.
I'm not sure it is a good idea with so many shops, but this one is good because you can pay with the Danish card Dankort, which is very clever. I've always wanted to be able to accept cards :)
So go here to see my profile and my beads, Yay!

P~

Grand Re-Opening!

Yes! Tonight I have re-opened my etsy shop.
It has been a very long time since I listed anything, and I look forward to using it again.
I have only listed 2 items so far (silver cored beads of course), but I will list more in the days to come.
Fun, fun, fun! :)

P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 28 (Workshop Clean-up)

Todays thing - is not really a thing.
I would have liked to end with something fabulous, but instead I ended up cleaning up my workshop.
It was needed too, and now I am ready to jump flying into march and the rest of the year.
My pictures today is before and after the cleanup. It feels great, and seeing it in pictures makes me realize ... I need some inspirational art on that wall!
My gosh it's barren. That needs to be fixed.







Well - today is the last day of this years Thing-a-day. It has been a great experience to be a part of this project, and I have learnt several things.
It is indeed possible for me to blog a lot more frequently than I usually do.
It is also possible for me to make a 'thing' on an almost daily basis.
It is possible for me to get up early, to torch before going to work.
It is possible for me to produce more than I thought, if only I put my mind to it.
So - I should probably quit complaining about being tired and not having enough free time, and just decide to take action and work towards my visions :)

This has been great, and I look forward to joining next year as well, and also to take some time to look at all the entries I have missed over the days.

P~

Thing-a-day: Feb.27 (S-Clasps)

Today I made a couple of S-clasps.
I shaped them simply with pliers, and hammered them afterwards, which gives the metal a nice finished look.
I like them :)


P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 26 (Silver Core Failure)

I am afraid todays thing didn't quite happen.
I wanted to core a couple of beads, but the sterling tube kept splitting, even after I sanded it smooth and pressed it very gently.
I startet over 4 times, and it is very odd, because the other bit of tube I got in the same order worked perfectly and easily, and I didn't do anything different this time. I think I will have to order some more fresh tube and hopefully it will go back to being easy again ...

So I give up for tonight on the coring, but before I go to bed I will make an S-clasp since I am so fond of the one I am wearing. I'd like to sell bracelets to go with my beads, but I wasn't satisfied with the toggle clasp I had before. Now I have a much better feeling about it, so I'd better get to work :)
Good night all, and have a nice weekend :)

P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 25 (Beads & Sculptures)

New beads!


All made yesterday. This is what I usually make in a productive week (or two).
I could so use more days off ...

P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 24 (Bracelet Clasps and Pics)

Excellent productive day. Yay!
Unfortunately my beads are stil in the kiln being annealed, so they will be tomorrows thing.

I do have a pic though, of my bracelet. I had first made it using a toggle clasp. I have never worn one of those, just seen them being used for bracelets all the time. After a month of testing I'm not sure I like it though, so today I changed it for a S hook I had made a long time ago and never used. Oh what a difference, I love it! It is a 100% better. It is so pretty, easy to use and generally lifts the over-all appearance of the bracelet. Super!




I did get to go shopping for materials today. I got the soldered jumprings on either end of the S which made it possible for me to assemble the piece. I also got some sterling wire for making fibulas, and got carried away and got some agate beads. They have a large hole that will fit on 1,5mm wire and are the first semi.precious stones I have seen with this size hole. Yeah, I don't get out much :) I look forward to working with them.

P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 23 (No Thing Today)

So - it appears I have begun to slack.
I have made no thing today, so I have nothing to show.
I did have at great day though, and I have taken tomorrow off from work, which means lots of torchtime!
I might even go shopping for some sterling wire. Can't make jewelry without it :)
Yay!

P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 22 (Working on Banner)

I have been working on a banner today, for a new online shop that will open this summer.
It is a place like Etsy, but in danish, and has just a front up for now with a bit of info and a lot of pictures.
Anyway, the banner - not finished and not worth presenting, so no pic today.

Hmm, that sounds like I am building a website community Etsy thing.
No, just a banner for my own little shop in the sea of handmade.

P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 21 (Lego)

Today I spent the day with my children at the 4 day Lego World show. We had a great time :)
I spent most of the time watching the kids, feeding them or trying to keep them together, but I also got to build a few things, and here is a pic of one of those.


P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 20 (Bead Pics)

I haven't been doing much today, feeling very tired, but I did get some pics edited which is nice.
I shot them yesterday, and now they are ready for use.










P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 19 (New Beads)

Todays thing is more beads. I got a bit into purple as you can see.
I did manage to get the redish hue I were after to appear, but not as easily as I had thought it would be.
I have cored a few of them already, but one broke because I weren't paying attention :/
I am pleased with the lot though :)



P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 18 (Fancy Banana)

For todays thing I decorated a banana :)




I scratched the peel of the banana with a knife and shortly after the lines had turned dark. The markings got darker as the day progressed, and I am looking forward to seeing it tomorrow.

P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 17 (Emergency Haiku)

No new thing today,
an emergency haiku
must step up again.

No beads have been made
as well as no jewelry,
now the time is up.

Another day looms,
will the morrow show a thing?
I surely hope so ...

P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 16 (Silver Cored Beads)

Today I have cored all of the beads I made last night.
It's a great feeling, getting things done.
I am very pleased that I decided to join Thing-a-day :)


P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 15 (Bead Photo)

Today I shot pictures of my beads so I can post them online for sale later.
Alas, it seems that they all have dust on them or are unfocused, so I'll have to redo them after all.
This one is allright though ...


P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 14 (Glass Art Sculptures)

Maybe not a forrest quite yet, but it's a beginning.
These aren't glued, just cut and ready to be.



P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 13 (Silver Cored Beads)

Freshly cored beads :)



P~
(Phew! I only just made it before the date changed :)

PS: visit my thing-a-day post, my thing-a-day blog, or the complete thing-a-day project blog

Thing-a-day: Feb. 12 (Beads & Sculptures)

Success!
I did indeed manage to get myself up and into the studio at 3 in the morning, so I could get a bit of torchtime in before going to work.
It was quite an experience as I am not a morning person.
This is what I made, two lady figures and some frit tests.


I am pleased :)

P~

PS: visit my thing-a-day post, my thing-a-day blog, or the complete thing-a-day project blog

Thing-a-day: Feb. 11 (The Frits Arrived!)

No thing today (again, ahem!), but ...
My frit is here!!!! Hooray!



I will go to bed now and get up in the morning before work to torch.
That is the plan anyway. I hope I can do it.
Then there will be beads tomorrow!
Yay!

P~

PS: visit my thing-a-day post, my thing-a-day blog, or the complete thing-a-day project blog

Thing-a-day: Feb. 10 (Business Card?)

Todays thing is a file for a new businesscard. It's a beginning anyway, as I have doubts.


I have put only my web-address on it, and a line saying: Handmade Glassbeads, Unique Jewelry for Unique Individuals.
What kind of information do you like to see on the card of an artist?


P~

Thing-a-day: Feb.9 (Book-keeping Haiku)

No thing today, sorry 'bout that.
I have used my day well though, by finally finishing my 2009 book-keeping.
The final deadline is tomorrow, but I am all done. Yay! :)

Oh wait! I can make a haiku.
Hang on ...

Amounts big and small
must line up in perfection.
It is done - now, sleep.

P~

Thing-a-day: Feb. 8 (Frozen Figures)

Fun shapes of ice.
I see a flying bird, a horse and a man.







P~