Nipsenålstræf

This saturday I went to the 2'nd Annual Get-together of the Danish pin collectors.
It sounds very fancy, but in reallity it is simply Marianne being nice and inviting us over for an afternoon of chatting, buying/selling/trading and having a good time - and some cake, yum! :)

We will each bring the pins we want to sell, and the ones we want to show off, like these cushions from the large collection of Søren.

 

A small part of Mariannes figure collection, with a star pattern of rounds in the background.

Cartoon and fairytale characters

 

I don't know who owns the next two cushions, but they are fine examples of how to display your pins.

 



The old fashioned way - make a pattern of rounds and an outline of figure pins

I love bell jars :)

 

Finally a close up of Sørens supremely solid and very heavy cushion from the first picture again. The pins cover the front and sides completely and at least half of the back too. It's basically a very fancy brick. Sweet!

My own collection is very small as I only began collecting last year, and I am not all that serious about tracking them down. You don't find pins just anywhere. But of course I brought pins to sell. Last year I had made bee pins for the day, and this year I brought my new mermaids and also horses in black.

 

Two more pictures of my own handmade pins can be seen at my brand spanking new instagram account. I have a feeling I am going to like that app :)

And finally - a picture of pins by the incredibly talented Susanne of dugperlasnipsenåle.dk. Her pins are insanely detailed, and so small it boggles the mind. She even makes miniature pins, exstra tiny ones. Enjoy (and visit her site for fine pictures of very fine pins) ...

New website - www.nipsenåle.dk

It isn't mine, but I'm on the frontpage, Yay!

It's a brand new danish site for the antique toy and collectible 'nipsenåle'. I have writen about them before, because I like making them, and I have even bought a few of them for my own tiny collection. It can be quite a challenge working on the tip of a pin, but it's a challenge I like :)

See those 3 little cars?

I made them on request of Søren Schmidt (who made the page), after a rare pin from 1924. I made a few changes to make it my own, but it looks much like the original pin, a little car from Hanomag. It is a tiny little vehicle, with one headlight in the center, but it still fits two people side by side to go for a ride. I only put one person in it, as on the original.

On www.nipsenåle.dk you can see pictures of the antique pins from the 1895 and up, and the pillows they are kept on. You can find links for sellers and producers of contemporary pins if you have caught the collecting bug.
The site is still being build, but there are many pictures already, and if you have pins yourself that are not shown, Søren would be happy to recieve pictures for the site.

Go have a look at www.nipsenåle.dk. Me? I'll be off to make a bunch of the pins called 'snegle' (snails), pins with just a round blob of a glass swirl on them, used to play games with. I'll see if I can get my girls interested in a few rounds of 'nips'. Fun!

Have a look at my 'nipsenåle' here and start/expand your own collection :)

Back from a Beadiful weekend (part I)

Hooray! What a wonderful weekend :)

It is such a treat to be able to visit the one and only annual lampwork event of the country. This was the third year I got to visit the lovely south of Jutland and spend a full two days on nothing but lampwork.

Beautiful clouds over the flat land of southern Jutland

The first day, saturday, is for members of 'Foreningen Danske Glasperler' only.

We started out with Thomas Risom, who told us about glass beads from the times of the vikings and the first glass bead maker in Denmark, located in Ribe. He was very entertaining, and I enjoyed hearing him speak even if ancient beads doesn't interest me much.

Later he showed us the bead volcano he had made himself from clay, sand and horse droppings. It does not go as hot as our torches, but it goes up to about 900 C which is enough to round out the beads. You can see more pictures of his process at his vikingblog.

Thomas and Jesper working the bead volcano

Then Jytte Petersen showed us how she makes the decorative pins, known in Denmark as 'nipsenåle'. I was looking forward to this because I have made a few of them myself.
Jytte makes them in the old fashioned style. They are quite adorable, tiny little creatures, all with a very happy body language.

Jytte Petersen making a bird pin



Grooming bird, seahorse, horse, elephant and a happy, happy pig :)
The seahorse and the elephant went home with me,
along with another seahorse and a simple bird


Later Martina Schlemminger showed us her mixed colour beads. The green/yellow combination is very popular in Germany this year.



Martina Schlemminger spinning a bead




Martinas Bead Candy, Yum!

 and Christiane Strauss of Ombos showed the chrysantemum bead.



Christiane Strauss making a chrysantemum bead

In the afternoon Tom Lundsten showed us the process of making a beadstamp. He is working on making a product for Ravstedhus, where you can mail off a drawing and get it made into a brass stamp. Exciting!

After dinner at the local Inn, we went back to hear from Tina Moeslund. She showed her set-up for engraving beads and also a super easy way to center a 1 wire bracelet into a 5mm magnetic clasp. It involves a centering bit which also makes it very easy to get a very secure and tight closure.

Finally to end a wonderful day, Jens Christian Kondrup blew hollow beads from blobs of molten soft glass, and it didn't even crack from cooling off in open air. I got myself a couple of tubes so I can try this at home :)

Phew. You can certainly learn and experience a lot in just one day!
I only got a little bit lost on the way back to my B&B :)

More pics in my next post, including the contest beads ...

KM&V Countdown - Week 16

This week I have lost several beads to cracking bead realease. Some mandrels were freshly dipped and dried, some were dipped weeks ago. I think it might be a humidity problem. Maybe.
I did get a couple finished, these are from my first torchsession:


And my second:


The green flowerpod is a mess, and that lady on the right? She has no boobs because of beadrelease releasing too soon. I decided to make some nipsenåle (cause they aer made without release), even if I don't intend to bring any for the show, and here are 6 happy turtles in a row.


On saturday we had 2 months worth of rain within a couple of hours. Some areas close by got 150mm. I don't think we got that much, but it still ended up in my basement and my workshop.
I managed to burn my arm when reaching behind the kiln to untangle the cord of my oxygen concentrator, the only part of my tools that is on the floor. I hope I got it out in time, that water was raising fast! But I have to say - peppermint tootpaste is your friend. It took the pain away quickly so I could shovel water all night completely painfree. Yay! :)


But oh my poor muscles. I have aches all over from shoveling for hours on end. I need a rest. Goodnight :)

P~

KM&V Countdown - week 17

I started out the week with a torchsession on sunday. I haven't been torching much at all during this year, so this was a practice run, to see if I can even make a bead anymore. I decided from the start that I would only be playing and getting my feel for the glass back, which was a good thing.


These ringbeads are my first ever and hold their share of mistakes and inaccuracy. I don't think this is a good time to start practicing something completely new (allthough I am dying to try making hollows by blowing, as well as these ring beads), so I will only be doing them for fun, if at all, during these weeks. I intend to make beads I know well, with little variations to keep it fresh.

The drop pendant bead is going in the 'to sell' box after all, and I have added 'Buy more bails' to my to-do list.

Then I had another torchsession, oh yes, two within a week, how about that?

I had a plan as to what to make, instead of just deciding on the spot. I know I want to bring lots of my large ladies and lots of pendants to the show, so I set off with a torso.
These are only hard to do because of the time they take to finish. This one took more than an hour, with all the melting down of rods and even more keeping her warm. But apart from that it is a calm process that does not involve much precision, which is the perfect project to start up on after months of inactivity.


After I finished her I made a couple of pendants, using DH Clio and Psyche and Zimmerman purple rose and extreme white frit. I love that stuff :)
They are all very well reduced and extremely shiny and jewel-like, and it doesn't show at all in this picture ...


I have also begun making a plan for the 17 weeks. Nothing solid as of yet, but I have thought of what I want to bring, and am settling on a colour palette for the entire range of products. I'd like my space at the show to be a pleasant visual experience, which will take a bit of colour discipline on my part.

That is all for this week :)
P~

Marketday has come and gone ...

Okay, so I have signed this Contract of No Complaining for 49 days, and though I may not have been fulfilling it perfectly, let me tell you about this sundays market.

The rooms we were in were lovely. The building was a small theater, and my booth was in the actual room where audience would normally sit. The stage was at one end and there were painted decorations all around from floor to ceiling.

I got there a bit later than I had wanted, but managed to set up my display in time for opening, except for pricemarks which I scribled right then and there.
I usually don't have space for people to go around my table, but the arranger convinced me that it was a good idea, and also it went better with the booths on either side of mine. So here is my first go-around set-up.




My neighboor booth were a couple of nice ladies, sisters, who works in needlepoint. Their business is called Sorbet Design. Some of their goods were freshly handmade, and others were vintage.
They use vintage pieces of needlepoint to incorporate with beautiful fabrics in pillows, handbags and shoulderbags of several sizes, all with a shiny vintage brooch on the front (not the pillows, that would be un-comfy).
I should have taken pictures, but you can go visit their website.

We also discovered a shared interest. Remember those nipsenåle a few posts back? One of the sisters is a collector, and she promptly bought 2 of my pins. Yay! I were happy :) I in turn bought one of her lovely pincussions. Look, isn't that a fabulous combination?


In the evening one sister asked if I were interested in a trade, and I am now the happy owner of a beautifully handmade shoulderbag. It goes perfectly with my favourite coat. Yay!
It is really well made, it's sturdy, yet feminine, it will last me a lifetime I am sure. I am very pleased :)

Then I packed up and drove home.

P~

Nipsenåle

Nipsenåle is an antique toy, that was given to little girls in Denmark during the first half of the 1900s. It is a purely Danish phenomenon of playing with pins with a glass head.

Some pins were short and with a simple single coloured drop of glass, those were for playing. Others were more interesting and were for collecting and admirering. Those were longer pins and had glass figures at the end. Many were of birds and other animals, and different series like 'People of the World' or 'Animals from Africa'.

The needles were stuck into little pillows, often made form expensive fabric, and were arranged and rearranged over and over by the little girls.

Today these fascinating little treasures are still collected, and since I have always loved miniatures of almost any kind, I have decided to try my hand at making nipsenåle. These are my test needles.




It really does take some practice to work at this size, but I am very happy with these. Especially the tiny cute elephant who is about 1 cm tall, and the robot who unfortunately has cracks from getting too cold while getting the details done.
I have gotten hold of a bunch of long pins and I look forward to decorating each one with a little piece of nostalgic treasure.

P~