Studio Renovation

So - do you remember, a year and a bit ago, I started rambling about how I were going to clear out all the stuff in the basement and have the room renovated and have a really nice studio?

Well, we're halfway there, and that deserves a fanfare: Toot tooteloot!!

And here are the pictures to prove it :)

The 'before', Yikes!

January 2013:
Only the flooring has been laid in at this point, but at least the room is empty. The table in the center of the room had nowhere to go, so we covered it up in paper and used it as a worktable.

The outer wall was in a pretty bad shape and had to be brutalized with a crowbar. You may be able to see that it was quite a layer that came off. And quite an area also.

Then my sweet and handy boyfriend set to work. He plastered up the wall, scraped off all the yellow paint, covered the walls and ceiling first in a sealing liquid, then fiber 'wallpaper' and finally painted everything white. See?

Except around the heater, that will be hidden by a curtain later.

 

So now I have the opportunity to build a great studio for all of my creative urges :)

 

I have many ideas of what I want to fit in there, but tell me - What do you enjoy most in your studio? What clever little details have you come up with? What have you done/build/bought, that you can't imagine functioning without?

 

I'd love to know.

Thank you,

Lene





Opening Day at Mille-Maj's

Opening day(s) went well, I heard from an excited, but very tired MilleMaj at closing time on saturday. She even had a painting class later in the day (I told you she is efficient), after all the visitors had gone home.

Picture time!

Here is the entire shop from outside, and the two windows seperately below for better viewing of the art (click them).

Inside, lots of goddies! Here a table full of ceramics, teapot warmers and other bits, and lots of colourful paintings and fused and slumped glass bowls by the wall.

A fine little cupboard, stuffed with pillows and owls. All the furniture is for sale too :)

The ceramic corner, cups, bowls and creatures, Oh my!

And here is the display for my pendants and figures in a glass cabinet in the center of the shop. Nice :)

And on the shelf above them, these fun characters. Is it a toucan or a punk-haired hunchback? Fun!

And look at this charming fellow :)

These were my favourite ceramic pieces. Mermaid bowls with beautifully decorated tails, and tiny little bowls with the most amazing red interior colour.

While I were having a look around, the girls were busy having fun with silk- and foamclay, and many little creatures were born.

There were so many more bits and pieces, but I'll stop here for now.
If you are into handmade, this is definately worth a visit :)
at Jernbanegade in Frederikssund

I'm in a new shop! Mille Maj in Frederikssund

This is very exciting!

This is a completely new shop, opening for the first time on friday march 1'st 2013.
Yes, there's only a few days untill the grand opening festivities, which by the way, will last for a full 2 days! Both friday and saturday will be stock full of great offers at reduced prices, and fun activities to join in on.

Mille Maj is one adventurous and highly efficient lady, and the shop is a wonderful mix of creativity. Yours and mine. She has pieces from several talented artists, in glass, ceramics, metal, fabric and paint, and also materials for you to buy and make your own crafts. And not only that, she is also offering a whole range of classes you can sign up for.

You can read all about it (in Danish) at Mille Maj's website.



Mille Maj's shop, before opening day,
with only a little bit of the craftyness showing :)
Thank you Mille-Maj for the use of your photo

This weekend I went and delivered my part of the goods. I gave her 4 godess figures and a whole bunch of goddess- and drop pendants, plus many pairs of loose flowerbeads for crafting jewelry. Many of these will be presented at a reduced rate for the opening.

I work on fridays, but I look much forward to going on saturday to have a look at all the wonderful creations. Uuf! I'm so excited!

The opening hours on the 2 opening days are as follows:

Friday 10-17.30
Saturday 10-14

You can see the regular hours at Mille Maj's website.

Come see all the crafty goodness for yourself :)
Woot!

The Making of 'The 7 Seas'

Hmm, what kind of ocean beads/jewelry could I make?

I had this thought of overlapping wavebeads. A wide, yet lightweight, area of sea colours intertwining, all around (or at least halfway around) the neck.

After a few colour and shape tests, I settled on this drop shape. I made a bunch of them, then sorted them by size to be gradually smaller towards the sides. I quickly realised there were way too many and settled on 7 drops, which seemed not too heavy to wear or look at.

Then I began playing with the form. The drops I had made were way too large for my first idea of the final form, so I made my way by trial and error

Should the middle drop be on top?

Or underneath?

Well, as you can see, neither version was any kind of light or elegant, but rather massive and clunky. And the drops didn't lay down nicely, like I had intended.

So I spread them out, but I didn't like the thought of filling the gaps with spacers either, which would be necessary to stop the drops from sliding about.

After that I were out of ideas ... but as I were fondling the beads, moving them here and there, I pushed all the drops tight together, pressed the flat parts to the same level, and an open fan-shape appeared.
That will never hold up to being worn I thought, so I tied half a knot at the top, pulling the two ends together, and voilá!

I were happy :)
I added a spacer at the top to help keep the silk in place, and there's a little spacer on either end of the ribbon, for easier handling when tying and un-tying behind your head.

I am very pleased with this shape. It is as flat as I wanted. It seems light, yet has a definate presence. It keeps it shape nicely (as long as you don't bend over and let it swing freely) and the colours in the drops are perfectly matched by the ribbon. Yay!

Now I have just 1½ week to finish up and send off my bounty, and I still need to order cord necklaces (for the smaller version I'm sending too, that is just one drop on a cord), to sort and assemble the drops I have ready, and to make a bunch more, just because I don't want to run out :)

Up, up and away!
Lene

A new design, for Glasmuseet in Ebeltoft

I made a necklace!
My very own design, that I haven't seen done before. Woot!

Shortly before christmas all members of the Danish Bead Society were invited to produce Ocean themed beads and/or jewelry, and send in pictures to the Glasmuseum in Ebeltoft. The museum will host an exhibition this year with an ocean theme, and wanted pieces to match for the museum shop. 

We had 27 days over christmas and new years to come up with suggestions before the deadline, and this is what I made. I even have a name for this piece, 'the 7 Seas'. These are the pictures I sent in.

 

 

The Ocean exhibition will run from march 23'rd to november 3'rd 2013, and my contribution for the shop was accepted. Yay! I'm so exited.

Now I have 6 weeks to make a number of these and send them in. Which would be very possible, if not for the fact that I have just boxed up my entire workshop to get the room renovated! Doh!

Oh well, I am sure it will turn out wonderfully in the end, and I have promptly ordered more silk ribbon from the lovely Heidi at Jamnglass. They really are quite delicious, and I have several of her colourways in my supplies by now. I look much forward to trying this design in other colours (as soon as the 6 weeks are gone and I have made my delivery to the museum).

May Love and Beady Goodness rain upon you,
Lene

Happy New Year (2012-13)

Happy New Year everybody!

New Years Eve, fireworks seen from our balcony

I hope you have had a nice bit of a holiday and got a chance to relax before the year begins. I hope you made it into 2013 safely, and I wish you all kinds of happy goodness in 2013, with extra springles on top.

~ o ~

I love this time of year! No, not for the weather. Around these parts of the world it can get pretty glum, even downright depressing, with all the darkness and cold and an overall soggy muddy feeling.

No, I love the feeling of a new begining, of 'let's make next year even better', of planning and of all the good things that are bound to come.

I already have a couple of exciting projects in the works, which I look much forward to telling you about in the weeks to come. Ooh, this year is looking very promising already :)

Much love and happiness in your direction.
Yes, you! You deserve it :)

See you soon,
Lene

Tolkien Event at Galleri Castens!

The premiere of the new Hobbit movie is just around the corner, and jeweler extraordinaire Karin Castens of Galleri Castens in Copenhagen is making an event of it.

She has made a series of jewelry with an elven theme. It fits her style perfectly, and this saturday, on dec. 8'th at 2pm you are invited to come to her beautiful shop and enjoy a free Tolkien themed harp concert and the unveiling of her new pieces.

She has only revealed one of her designs, a gorgeous pair of earrings. They are so very pretty and I want them! I'll pet them and squeeze them and name them 'my precious'.
You can see them here, on her facebook page, where you might also be very lucky and win a pair! Yes, Galleri Castens has been touched by the spirit of Christmas and is giving away treasures right and left (or at least a fabulous piece every sunday until Christmas). Go and like her page NOW to have a chance at winning.
 
Karin also asked all of us, who have pieces in her gallery, if we would like to participate in creating Tolkien inspired jewelry for the event. Why yes, yes I would :)

My first idea got dumped pretty quickly, and my second thought was to make orc teeth and maybe some bones. But when I showed my children the tooth I had made, and asked them what it was (is it a pelican? is it a tadpole? well, at least one child suggested it was a claw) it was pretty obvious I'd need more time to practice to be able to pull that off.

In the end I was very pleased to send in this leaf and flower necklace on handpainted silk ribbon.

Making this have me tempted to do an all flowers necklace, with different colours and sizes all around the neck. That would be lovely for spring :)

Now I am looking very much forward to saturday, where I will go and have a listen and a look at all the beauties that has been made. Want to join me? :)