Winter Berry Brooch

This weekend I had a lovely compliment on this brooche I made last year, so I thought I would show it to you.

I made it combining my two great loves in crafting, lampwork and metalwork. My first thought was to make a leaf with a lampwork flower, but then I realised that working in copper gives the leaf a very autumnal colour, and flowers don't bloom in autumn.

What then?
Aha, berries of course. So I made up a few delicious winter berries for the birds to feed on. 

The leaf is made with the foldforming technique, and a little bit on the large side at 4 x 9 cm (1 37/64" x 3 35/64"). The shape is very satisfying though.

Since this is only my second time putting bits together and soldering (except for 20 years ago), I tried my way through it, and made the pin in the back and the berries on separate copper wires. This was not easy to fit into the crease in the leaf, which left me with a tiny curl at the top, and the berries with a bit of a jiggle. Next time I would like to make it a single wire running through from tip of pin to attachment of berries.

Here are a couple more Pictures of the brooch, which really should be held in hand to fully appreciate the wonderful organic shape.

Front of brooch - those colours go well together

Side of brooch

Backside of the brooch - see that twist?

I'm rather pleased with it, and since it works very well with warm sweaters, I have been wearing it almost daily for months by now. Sweet!
I love working in metals and also finishing pieces ;)

Snow Time!

Another challenge I have set up on the new forum (www.glasperleforum.dk ) is a monthly theme. It is not a competition, just a gentle nudge in case somebody need it, and a bit of fun to be had.

This very first month I have chosen Winter/snow as the theme. Here we are, in January, and we have barely had a single snowflake all of this season. So I thought we could make some snow beads instead, and here are the ones I have made so far.

Snowflake beads for january

Snowflake bead on lavender silk ribbon

The big one is 26x20mm and the little one fell on the tiled floor and chipped so I'll have to toss it :/

I was thinking of coring the big one, and I made it on a 5mm mandrel because of that. But now I think I will ream the hole properly instead and make it transparent, to let the colour of the ribbon show through the bead. .

I hope I find time to make more Winter/Snow beads, but until then - it seems the temperature is dropping. We may get snow after all :)

A Dotty Challenge, Part I + II

Some time ago I came across this challenge on lampwork forum Lampwork Etc. Then later I found it again, on Frit Happens. Both times I were intrigued and read through all pages of each thread, full of insights, tips and pictures.

The challenge was Heather Trimlett's 40 bead Challenge, and on jan.1'st I began my own set of 40 dotty beads. I am having so much fun! I haven't made any dot beads for years litterally, and now I am enjoying it muchly all over again.

If you don't know this challenge, here is the gist of the rules:

Make 40 beads, using just 2 (contrasting) colours.
Decorate with dots only, making all 40 beads a different pattern.
Use no tools (except for the mandrel), and get all beads to be the same size and shape.

Beautifully simple, isn't it, for an exercise in creativity, attention, precision, heatcontrol and much more?

You can find the full version here, on Heather Trimlett's page.

I have chosen coppergreen and black for my 2 colours, and here are pictures of my 2 first sessions, nine beads in all.

I need to work on keeping my size and shape, but I'm quite happy with my dots. And making 40 different patterns - time might prove me wrong, but I don't think that will be a problem. Dotting up patterns is the fun part :)

These will need a bit of a clean-up after the lot is done. A soak in coke over night, to clean off the reduction and get a more even colour.

I have set up this challenge in the brand new Danish lampwork forum www.glasperleforum.dk too, so if you are Danish/Nordic - come join the forum, and join in on this fun and challenging dot-o-rama.

If you would like some inspiration, here are the links directly to the threads in Lampwork Etc (you have to log in) and Frit Happens.

Have fun!

Happy New Year! (and a gift!)

Is it just me, or is everybody a tad more energetic and hopeful around new years?

I sure am felling a forward rush of happy energy, even enough to get me out of hiding and start blogging again. Yay!

I have a lot of new lovelies to show you over the next couple of weeks, but first - a new years explosion as seen from my balcony. BAM!

Thank you Google, for adding the sparkle :)

And now for some great and exciting news ... There's a new lampwork forum being launched, Yay!

I have spent part of my holiday writing 'How-to's and setting up challenges for the brand new lampwork bead forum I have been co-launching for the Danish beadmakers!

It's about time we had a forum of our own, there are a lot of us by now, and I know there are people who have troubles with english speaking forums.

So here we are, it is not a secret anymore, if you speak/write enough Danish (or other northern language) to have a proper conversation, please come and join us at

www.glasperleforum.dk 

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 :)

Coming up: the Annual lampwork event of the Danish Bead Society, June 1-2, 2013

It's that time of year again. 
On friday I'll be off for the annual get together of the Danish Bead Society, taking place as always, at the grounds of Ravstedhus in Southern Jutland.
Two days of lampwork fun (June 1-2), demoes, glass and tool shopping, and of course - the bead contest.

This year will be extra specially exciting for me, as I will be doing my very first demo on saturday! I will be showing a basic flower implosion in soft glass. Very usefull for both marble making and bead making too. 

Saturday is for the members only, full of fancy demos. If you are not a member, but want in on the fun, I bet you could become one right then and there by simply showing up and paying the yearly fee (200,- Dkr).

But on to the bead contest. The theme this year is 'Contrasts' and since the deadline for sending in has passed, here is a picture of my bead.



My bead for this years bead contest, themed 'Contrasts'.

It is a sculpted bead, with a man on one side and a woman on the other. One is White, one is Black. One is rounded one is angular. One is curvy, one is fit.
It was my first and only idea, so I just had to make it :)
ETA: here it is from four sides

Since I have never sculpted a man before, I made a couple of beads before I were happy (and out of time) and sent off no.4.



I wasn't paying attention when I snapped this pic, so it's 1, 3, 2 and 4

and here they are from the side

 

It was not an easy bead to make. What troubled me the most (besides the sculpting of the man) was laying on the 2 colours seperately on either side of the mandrel, until I remembered (at bead no.4). I could simply make a transparent base, then 'paint' the two sides with the colours. So much easier! so there is your Tip of the Day.

 

Also, it is surprisingly difficult to make a body without a back. You would think it would be half the work, but no. All kinds of challenges arise from not being able to shape freely around the sides of the bead. It all comes down to practice though, and this is a bead I will continue to explore. It's a challenge :)

 

So - the event is open for the public on sunday the 2'nd, so come on over and try making your own bead, see some demoes, vote for your favourite at the bead contest and find many lovely treasures to bring home at the lampwork market.

Furthermore, the shop at Ravstedhus will be open, and several sellers from Germany will be there too, with all you need for lampworking and jewelry making.



Foldforming - I love it!

My first attempts with a more suitable hammer :)

You wouldn't believe it, but this is the start of a beautiful organically shaped leaf. The shape to the right is folded on the straight side, and then cut out of a 0,5mm copper plate.

The cresent to the left had the same shape before I took my hammer to it and gave it a good whacking. From the center and out to both ends, taking care not to hit the folded edge too much, just the open side of it.

Height of straight fold - 4,5cm

After hammering on both sides (to get the texture on both sides) I took it to my kitchen and heatet it on my gass stove to a dull red glow, then into the sink in a bath of cold water to cool it quickly.
Then the magic of unfolding begins ...

Oh yes ...!

Yummy

Smaller version, 3cm. I consider giving it a twist

 

And am I ever pleased. I love organic shapes, I love leaves, I even love the colour of copper!

 

These are straight from the flame (or the sink actually), and while I love the burnt autumn colours I would like to try a polished version some time. And a silver version ... Oh yum!

 

~ o 0 o ~

 

Oh, a slight problem - my lovely little anvil is now full of marks from the half of the hammer not hitting the copper (cause it's a tiny little bit of metal to work on). I rather thought anvils were too hard to get marks from hammers so I'm a little down by that.

 

Does this mean I should get a slimmer hammer? One that does not protrude beyond the edge of the copper. Is that what you all use out there in foldforming-land, tiny little hammers that are 1cm or less wide?