Back from a Beadiful weekend (part II)

Sunday, the second day of the event, is open for the public. From 10am to 5pm there are demos to watch, you can try making your own bead, there is a beadcontest to vote for, both Ravstedhus and Ombos are open for business, and finally, there is the bead fair, full of awesomeness to bring home.

Here is my booth

and here is Martina Schlemminger's, which was next to mine. I could use some more colour, don't you think?

Here is a picture of some lampworkers looking at the contest beads. The theme was 'Eventyr', the danish word for fairytale. It also means adventure, so there is room for interpretation :)

And here are the winning beads!
First place goes to Connie Sørensen for the Sleeping Beauty Castle
Second place goes to my three Tinderbox Dogs (woohoo!!)
and the shared Third place goes to Bente Clausen's Goddess and Matina Schlemminger's Dragonhead.
Hooray, Congratulations all around! :)

You can see all the (13) participating beads at Brittas Blog Pibbs. She has made an extensive account of the weekend, 4 posts long: post 1, post 2, post 3 and post 4. Go have a look, there's a ton of pictures :)

Spending a whole day looking at beads can make you fall in love. This year I brought home this fun and colourful mushroom from Martina and the fabulous glass pen below. And I didn't need a full day, it was love at first sight :)

Glorious, aren't they? And now I just need some ink. Martina had brought some, but it never crossed my mind that I would need that too. I just loved the glass as it was. Yum!

Then I went shopping for materials. I got some glass, light ivory, sea colours and pinks, and also some tubing so I can try the blowing technique we saw saturday night.

And some leather cord necklaces, some copper wire for leaves probably, and 3 magnetic locks with inlays, so I can make either bracelets or necklaces on wire. Can you believe I have never made a beaded bracelet?

I also got 3 large neckdisplays and a hollow mandrel with a blowhole for hollow beads.
Yup, definately a great weekend :)

Lene

Hillerød Kunstdage 2012, Saturday

The second day of the show has ended, and today I will show you a couple of favorites of mine, from the participating Amio shops.

This fabulous necklace and the beautiful trees are from Smykkeunivers.
I should have made closeups, that necklace is soo delicious. It is made from thousands of tiny seed beads and other little beads, it is firm and has a lovely weight, which is something I apreciate as quality in such a piece.

She also makes seed bead rope necklaces, beaded beads and also less involved pieces, all with good materials and beautiful elegant aesthetics.

Brightly colourful and large feather earrings from Tjekija Design.
They might be a bit much for me to actually wear, but I love them!

She also makes bracelets in reindeer skin with braided patterns of metal, leather and beads on them. Now this I can wear easily, so I brought this one home with me :) Check out her more blingy and colourful versions too.



And finally, little glass houses from Meng Design (sorry, I can't find her shoplink). Check out the millefiori for garden flowers. I am sure others have thought of it too, but I rarely look closely into fusing, so this is a first to me. Brilliant :)

It was a good day, and I look forward to tomorrow :)

Love,
Lene

Hillerød Kunstdage 2012, Friday

I did it! I signed up to participate in Hillerød Kunstdage, and today was the first of three days.
It's been a long day, so I will just leave you with a couple of pictures. Here is a view of the Amio Hall

Here is my space

and here I got to meet the two lovely ladies who made it all happen, Ann-Karina, founder of Amio.dk and Stine who worked her magic at the Frederiksborg Center

Saturday and sunday the show is open from 10am to 5pm, so come and meet the crafty people of Amio.dk and while you are here, go see all the lovely and interesting art at the artshow next door.

Love,
Lene

Happy New Year!!

Yes I know, you may think it is a little late for new years greetings, but I have good reasons.
I have decided to start my year over, and I'm doing it now! Yay!

Last year in october I attended yet another art show/market that didn't really live up to my expectations. Or anybodys for that matter. When that happens it puts a considerable damper on my lampworking enthusiasm. I get full of fellings like 'why bother', 'what's the point' and 'what a waste of time and money'. Luckily for me, I am not alone with these feelings, it is called 'the Post-Show Blues'. You can google it, but here are two links to set you off: Robert Genn and Lisa Call.

For me it is not a matter of a week or two, but rather months on end, and I don't even realize it for a long time. I just feel tired, and that other things are more important. Not even the thought of the Copenhagen Art Fair that I attended this past weekend, which is fairly huge, could shake me up. I find that odd, as deadlines usually will get me going, but not this time.

I have yet to find a way of nipping it in the bud, but as time has passed I am again feeling the call of the flame. Not only have the lovely Karin Castens plantet seeds of growing ideas in my mind (for later in the year), but the Art Fair was a great and happy experience, making me think that maybe there is a point after all :)

So - I am starting my year over. I am setting up my workshop even though the room has not been finished, and I am considering signing up for another show, in just over two weeks! Exciting? Yes!

For now I would like to shout out a great big THANK YOU! to all the lovely people that came to my booth at the Art Fair. To those that looked, to those that complimentet my glass, and certainly not least to those that invested in my pieces. I hope they bring you much joy.

Lene

KM&V Countdown - Week 0, Showtime!

Phew! What a couple of days it has been.
It was very nice to be out in public with my glass. I got soo many compliments from soo many people, and I even made myself happy with a new booth look and all new pieces.

Here is a picture of my booth. I were very happy to get a corner with two sides open. My clever sister came up with the table arrangement of one table against the wall and the other out from the wall. It was brilliant actually, with plenty of space between them for people to go in and not feel squeezed, and room for me to sit in too.


My nifty new booth look

And check out the photos on the wall. I never had those before, but always knew I wanted some, and they were great!

I also managed to make enough figures and pendants to fill the tables, and even have a good portion left over to fill in with as sales were made. Here is a closer view of my tables.

My nice and simple setup

I'm loving my new trays. They look good and also makes it very easy to pack up every night and set up in minutes every morning. Excellent!

Now the show is over, and since the number of guests were quite a bit lower than expected I have a lot of pieces in stock, ready to be photographed and uploaded to my online shop at Amio.dk. That will happen during the coming days as I find time to shoot during daylight.

For now I just want to say THANK YOU to all that came by, to all that let me know they liked what I have made, and especially to my boyfriend and my sister for all their help before ad during these 3 days of the show.

Thank you :)
Lene

KM&V Countdown - Week 2

Only 2 weeks to go! It is getting very exciting around here :)

This is this weeks production. Goddess pendant beads, one large goddess (+ 3 more in the kiln, Yay), and a bunch of drop pendant beads.


This week I also ordered and recieved most of everything I think I'll need, and I even had a bit of incoming funds, which is very nice.

There is no more time to worry, so I will simply be looking forward to the Kunst, Mad & Vin show for the remaining 2 weeks, while I torch like never before. Life is grand :)

Love, Lene

PS: I still have free/reduced price tickets for the show. Free admittance on friday from 14-16 and reduced prices for the rest of the weekend. Let me know if you would like one/some at profusionartglass[@]gmail.com. There is lots of art to be seen :)

KM&V Countdown - Week 10

I love getting mail :)

This week I recieved both the displays and giftbags I ordered last week and also a fresh bunch of glass, Yay!

I can't work without my favourite base colour Ivory, so I had to get some more. And while I were at it, I also got some new to me Double Helixs, the Kalypso and Helios.

I got to try out the Helios today, and I must say I love it. It fumes a lot, and when I made pendants, like the ones I have been making recently, but with the Helios instead of Psyche, I got lovely browns with a whisp of pale purple/light blue. They are very fall.
The beads are still hot in the kiln, so I can't show you until later, but I were very pleased with them when I put them in for annealing.

So this is just a short update, pics will be included later.

See you then,
Lene

----------------------------

Later is here!
And so are a couple of pictures. Aren't these just delicious? I am still very pleased, can you tell? :)
I love these shapes. Nicely melted half-way in, looking juicy and voluptuous. Very organic. Yup, this is what I have been after :)



And my new displays look like this. Stylish!


The foot is weighted so it doesn't fall over when you look at it which is nice. There is room for a pair of earrings up there in the middle, but I don't make earrings much so I will not need that. The pendants will present them selves better higher up, so I'll see if I can secure the chain somehow on the backside.
Hmm, I may need to buy more chains. I'll put that on my list.

Bye for now!
Lene

KM&V Countdown - Week 11

Okay then, only 10 more weeks to go.
This week I have (yet again) spent recovering. This time it was the back-to-work and get-up-earlies that got me.
Yes I admit it. I love staying up late and sleeping in in the mornings. And since vacation time is the only time I get to do it for days in a row I may over do it a bit. Lets just say that a 3 week vacation can shift my rythm with about 5 hours, which makes it a bit hard to go back to early mornings.

So, what did I do to get closer to a fabulous and well prepared show in 10 weeks?
Well - I have been looking for a nice way to display my pendants. So far I have been laying them on a polished black slab of stone. It is a very nice stone, but it really doesn't do much for the pendants.

This week I got a special offer from BoxDisplays on a standing display I have not seen before. I can't find it in their pages now either, but I have ordered some and will show them off when they get here. I hope they are all I imagine and need them them to be ...

Also I have realised for some time now that I have no nice packaging for my larger Ladies, and that simply will not do at such an occation. So while I were at it I ordered a whole lot of giftbags with handles.
They are black and with a matt surface, which I imagine to match my jewellery boxes perfectly. I will stamp them with my logo and they will be all lovely and nice, and if I get a folder or postcard ready there will be plenty of room in the bag for that too.

In conclusion, I am very pleased to have these two problems mostly out of the way (there is still the stamping to do of course), but once more I must admit that I have quite a sinking feeling about the most important part - my actual glass products.

This week I plan to go shopping for a bit of glass. I have run very low on light ivory and it's the base of pretty much everything I do so it has to be taken care of, and quickly so I can continue my quest of creating a forrest of lovely Ladies.

P~

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.)

After the show ...

First off, a List of Participating Englebasser!

-~o~-
Anja Gram: Illustrator, brought Greeting Cards and a Childrens Book

Marianne Lundov: Felted Hats and Scarves

Diannas Hatte: Fancy Hats and Headbands

Mette Duch Olesen: Childrens fleece sweaters

Pia Pamperin: Ofelias Opal, High End Jewelry

Dorthe Walbum: Paintings

Inge-lise Kristensen: Paintings

Kathrine Smedegaard: Was sewing a fur stola, but on her site shows headbands

-~o~-
Do check them out :)

Now for the show ... I have to say, it was a bit of a dissapointment. It was really very slow, and we had expected many more people. I don't know where the arrangers got their numbers, but they were quite a bit off.

I did sell a few pieces. 6 to be exact, in 3 full days! Two of them to my fellow angels. How is that for slow? That does not cover my booth fee at all, or my supplies.
I did get tempted by other sellers to spend money on their stuff though. I was especially pleased to meet www.smykkestativer.dk (jewelry displays) from whom I got a neckdisplay off the bargain bin. I have been looking high and low for one of those, and this was a great price. I also got 10 earring displays (to use on my next show ...) at a quarter of the price I had had quoted from a different guy (in a jewelry shop) some time ago. Excellent! I should have gotten one of those acrylic pointy things, for photographing rings on, but they live in Copenhagen too, so it's not a problem.

I also got the custom inscriped cap from my last post, and a bodyscrub with salt from the dead sea for my mother.

I'd like to link you to Sine Strøm too. I can't pull off wearing her clothes, but I really love her style and secretly wish I could :)

I had to eat too of course (yay for the 2 chocolate stands, and the very nice popcorn and softice guy, who let us help empty the maschines in the evening, Yum!). Luckily I could get free water from the tap.
In all I've had a very expensive weekend, when I really were supposed/hoping to bring home a bit of cash.

We all had plenty of time to chat during the 3 days, and it was so nice to get to know and speak to all of the great ladies in our group, and the surrounding people too.
We also had time to think, and I have come to a few conclusions.

1) I need more than 3 weeks to prepare propperly for a show, it can make me very tense. I did have a lot of nice pieces ready though, and since it was a shared space and my table wasn't too big, it all worked out well this time.

2) I need to settle on a specific style, rather than be all over the place. This may be mainly to help myself focus.

3) I need to figure out my target audience, which will of course be related to the style I settle on. I gave out a lot of cards, but several seemed to take them only to be polite. Many did go to have a look though, which was nice. I had gotten myself placed in the center of our area, so I had to point my table out to people if they were to notice it. The lights helped a bit, I will always request lights. On the last day I got half a day on the outer rim which was much better. I will not volounteer for a center space again.

4) It dawned upon me that since I never have the time to do it when working up to a show (based on my 2 tries :), I should go ahead and make the folder I want now. Now is when I have time, and then it will be ready when I need it, and will not make me tense the next time. Clever, eh? I'd also like nice printed signs proclaiming 'Unique Handmade Beads and Jewelry' and 'Please Touch!'. Also - stamping my new boxes in advance would be a plus :)

5) I like to dress nicely. I should do that more ... It just doesn't have much purpose when going to work.

I'm sure I thought of more, but now I'm back at home/work and thinking of other things again. It's time to work some more on my website, which by the way was freshly up-loaded in a new version last thursday. Go have a look at Profusion Art Glass and rest assured I will update and add stuff over the next couple of weeks.
If you have suggestions of sections you'd like me to make, do let me know, yes?

P~

LEG-messe

Tak til alle gæster der besøgte Englebassernes stand på messen, og tak til alle der tog imod mit kort. Jeg håber at I vil besøge mig her på nettet, og måske endda sige hej :)
Her er lidt billeder af min stand.

Here are a few pictures of my table.

Left side:


Right side (check out my new neck-display, yeah!):


And a close-up of my spiffy new hat with custom inscription :)


It makes me look like a truck driver, so I put it on the white lady. I'll use it when I'm torching though :)
P~

LEG-livsstilsmesse, all weekend

Well I'm off then.
Wish me luck on my show, I really could use a kiln of my own ;)

I have just finished a few rings I'll be bringing, and I think I've got everything I need packed up, so I guess I'm ready.

The show is in Roskilde Kongrescenter (Roskilde Hallen), so if you're around Roskilde this weekend, come on over and say hi :)

P~

OMG! OMG, OMG, OMG!!

I have done something insane! I have registered to be in a show - in 3 weeks!!!
If that doesn't kill me, I'm sure I will be stronger. Or perhaps just completely worn out. Ha!
Hmm, I should probably ask my dayjob for a day off, right? It's a 3-day event, friday, saturday and sunday.

I have 1 week only, to make new beads for this. Then 1 week to have them annealed and shipped back to me by mail, then 1 week to make the beads into beautiful jewelry. How is that for stressing out a poor stressed out girl? Well, I am sure it will be fun in the end :)
Here is a link by the way: LEG-livsstilsmesse. Not an artshow this time, but a show of wellness and luxurious unique clothings and accessories. That kind of thing.

And to re-cap the last weeks time - last saturday I got in our car and drove off to Ebeltoft, to meet up with some of the members of Webglas. We had a great day of torching, chatting and sharing at Louisa and Henrik Moeslund's. It was fun to meet people you have only known from mails on a Yahoo group.
I were happy to see their glassblowing workshop and the shop where they sell from. I love the bulls on wheels they have, there's a similar moose on their website :)

I have also joined a group called Englebasserne (Danish word for those fat cute heralding angels). It is a group of mostly women, artists and crafters, who has joined up to support each other. The lady who formed the group is very energetic. She arranges bazars and participation in shows and deals on promotion for the members. I went to a group meeting on thursday, and it was very envigorating. Which is why I have mailed her and asked if I can be in on the next show :)
I should probably have checked my calender first, and I have not had a confirmation yet, but YAY! :)

P~

Ahem ...

I might have been a tad overenthusiastic about my new ventilations system.
Yesterday after a few hours at the torch I thought my lungs weren't feeling as perfect as I would like them to, and I had BF come down and smoke on the contraption.
It does infact have a bit of sucktion, but only within the vent hood. Everything that escapes around the hood is free to do it's damage. I do have the hood as close to the flame as I can, it is plastic after all, and I do expect the heat to bear the fumes up and into it, but apparently it is not good enough.
I could feel my lungs misbehaving a few weeks back too, but I thought it was an overdose of the pollen that was around at the time. Now I don't know ...
I think sitting in the basement is not the best idea, but it is the only place we have right now. I will be spending a lot of time down there over the next 3 months, so I need to have this fixed fast.

Tonight I will not be torching. The last two nights have been bad torching sessions with lots of cracked beads and weird reactions and colourcombos. I think I have been too tired and need a bit of rest. There is always tomorrow, and I have a lot of planning to do still that I can think of tonight.

P~
------------------------------

Hooray! I just got an extractor hood* from off the Copenhagen freecycle group. How perfect is that :)
Yay!

------------------------------

*Extractor hood, had to look it up in the dictionary. Never heard it before. One of those hoods that lead the steam outside when you cook. What do you call them?

Supplies, Argh!

Whoa! This show of mine had better be brilliant, because buying supplies is cleaning me out completely. I might have to borrow too ...
Maybe I am overdoing it, but how do I know? I try to picture how a certain amount of e.g. necklaces will look, and then shop according to that, but really I have no idea. It is kind of scary how much one can spend in a few minutes. Well a lot of minutes actually, because I think and consider and reconsider and almost bail out. But then I think 'I need this stuff, go to check-out woman!' and I wave goodbye to my meager funds, once not so meager, but now ... gone. Poof!
Scary, I tell you ...
P~

A first step ...

So, for the big upcoming event, I have broken out my fattest mandrels. They are nothing spectacular at 1/8", but they are bigger than what I normally use, and for some reason I can make beads that are bigger than normal too which is very nice.
These beads will fit perfectly on the rubbercords I am planning, with nifty sliding locks for easy change of bead. I do hope people will not object to rubber, because the leather cords I bought and got very excited about last year turned out to leave a fairly pronounced shade of colour on ones neck and any clothing it might rub up against. Very sad, but now I have found a supplier of the nifty locks, and that is all I need :)

I am also working on a detailed plan of all the things I need to make/get/consider/think of or buy, which should be the backbone of this adventure if I do it right. There are soooo many details, and I get lost easily.

I have begun working on beads, and have been making a new shape that I like a lot. I sure hope other people will like it too, cause I will be making a bunch of them. They seem to hold up to my no-kiln situation nicely, even at a substantial size. They look quite a bit like these shapes, only shorter, fatter and in one colour only.



(Thanks for use of your pic Sue)



As for the kiln, I have (almost) decided to use my funds for supplies for now, and wait until next year to get a kiln. It's a very long time though, and it really would come in handy at this time, so I could be making beads up until the very last day before the show. I do need supplies though ... It's a bonafide dilemma, see?

Oh I almost forgot - it has been such a long time since I have gotten any bead books, so I had ordered 2 last week. One is Masters: Glass Beads and the other is 1000 Glass Beads. I didn't realize the books were from the same publisher and contains a number of the same or similar pictures. They are still delicious though, and I am so happy to have them right now as you can't avoid being inspired when paging through them :)
P~

Upcoming Event!

Oh my! I have an upcoming event, how cool is that?!
I have booked booth space for an artshow and I am so excited!!!
I will share the space with my sister, she'll be showing her photography in different techniques and it will be so beautiful! She is very talented and I look forward to us being there together :)

It's a new show called Artfreak.dk and it is not so well known yet. It had it's first event just a few weeks ago, and apparently it went so well they want to do another one right away. We were there to see it, and it was mostly paintings, and a little bit of fused glas, so I might get to be the only lampworker there. There were a few other people selling jewelry though, but nothing like what I will do :)

The show is in 4 months, on oct. 31 - nov. 2, but one of those will be full of vacation, so basicly I have 3 months to get ready. From 0 to 100 in 3 months - is that even possible? o_0

I have made a list of things I need to do/make/get for this event, and even something as basic as business cards or packaging boxes is stuff I don't have. I am going to need so many new supplies too ...

The no kiln - no planning ability combo is dragging me down! But I'm too excited and will work as hard as I can to make this a success. Can you tell it's my first show? :)

Come on Brain, plan!

P~