52 Creations - Week 19

Well I have quite a bit to update...

First of all my creations for this week aren't going to be glass related, or even jewellery related. I have been looking at making girls hair accessories for some times, even incorporating my cabs into it somehow. Anyways yesterday I tried making some korkers! I did only buy some cheap ribbon from a dollar shop to test it out on and while the ribbon isn't 100% good quality I still think they turned out alright.

This one is the first one I made with purple, blue and white ribbon. The white ribbon was a better quality. Now you're meant to have the curls all the same length bt the blue ones were a little bit longer as their curls weren't made as tight as the others and I was still counting '5 curls' long. I don't think it looks too bad but the longer curls don't work really well...


This one is better, made with purple, pink and white ribbon. There is def more pink though as I used plain pink and spotted pink ribbon in this korker. All of the curls are basically the same length...however it sits rather flat instead of puffy and bouncy. So now I have come to the conclusion that my lengths are too long. Instead of counting curls I think I will go for lengths that are about 6cm. The ones in this korker are almost 9cm long. Also the cheaper ribbon going quite floppy so I think that adds to the curls falling flat too.


I have been testing frit blends for one of the lampworking ladies on the ABF so I do have some cabs made which need to be touched up because of the STUPID fire paper being a b*tch again. However the weather is shit today and most likely tomorrow so I will have to wait to get some piccies of them.

Lastly it is my nans 88th birthday today!!! She opened all of her pressies this morning and we have to pop down to the local soon to grab her a yummy cake. This is a pic taken last night when we went out for dinner.

52 Creations - Week 17 and 18

Well I am doing a little bit of a catch up this week. I haven't uploaded any new stuff for about two weeks so I am doing week 17 and week 18 in one post.

First of all my offerings for week 17. These are two cabs, one made from a scrap piece of Nats glass (bottom left) and the other in one of my new-ish frits on some black glass. Love how bright the colours have come out.

This is week 18! It's not cabs but some jewellery. I saw a pattern in one of the latest beading mags and thought it would look pretty with some of the beads that I had. Well......my bracelets aren't really anything like the pattern but I think they still look great!! The first one with the blue and black crystals is my own bracelet and the second one with the purple and black crystals is for my mum.


Close up of the pattern of the black and blue crystals.



Close up of the pattern of the purple and black crystals.


Today I went to some markets in the city at Glebe which weren't too bad but nothing overly special. Went to go to the ones at Paddington as well but holey moley we couldn't get a parking spot within a decent walking distance. So we ended up heading out to the I Love You Beads shop. I had never been there before and we got a little lost on the way but thanks to the helpfullness of my lovely boyfriend, he looked it up at home and told us where to go. I....LOVE...THAT....SHOP!!! Didn't plan on buying as much as we did but everything was soooo so so so cheap I couldn't resist. Hopefully it'll get me back into making some jewellery again. It's sooo relaxing! So I've had a very busy day and then we're off to a friends place tomorrow for a BBQ and to watch the footy because my team plays over in New Zealand this week. Another busy busy weekend and I wonder where my time goes....

52 Creations - Week14 & Finished WIP

Well I have finally got around to uploading my pics for last weeks 52 creations. I seem to be falling behind a little bit lately. Anywho these two cabs are experiments of some new frit that I got. I am inlove with the blue/purple/green one. I think I'll test it out on some blue or green glass next. Maybe even the pale purple would work really well??


I have also got around to finally 'finishing' off my first beaded cab necklace. I'm not sure if I am 100% happy with the finished outcome but I guess it looks alright. I do have to tidy up those little ribbon tabs which you can see where the ribbon is attached to the beaded piece. Not sure how I will do that exactly, possibly either wrapping it around and glueing or sewing it around somehow. I'll figure something out.


I thought I would take a photo with it on as well so I can see how it sits on my neck. It was actually really comfy and a really good weight, not too heavy but enough to sit in place. I did do it up quite high in this pic but I could imagine wearing it a little looser if I have a V neck shirt or something on. It's not tooooo bad for my first attempt....but...yeaaahhh. Practise makes perfect I suppose!


I am hoping to make some more rings too. I've got some more ring bases now so I'm gonna go through my cabs and see what looks good enough for a ring. I have a couple of cabs which aren't annealed yet which I wanna make into rings as well. Excitement!

52 Creations - Week 13

Well this week I don't have the usual glass or even jewellery to show for my creation. What I do have is this brooch/decoration felt and lace flower. I saw some similar on a hairclip website when I was browsing through for ideas...well I thought it was similar. I only finished this yesterday and just took a look at the inspiration photo and they are quite...yes yes quite different lol! I still like the original flower design as it is a bit more delicate but I still like mine as well.

I think it suits my grey beanie well!! Plus it didn't really cost me that much and I still have enough felt left over for another one if I want to try it with a softer lace. I bought the lace from Lifeline and it was like a placemat thingo so I still have about 7 or 8 flower shapes left on that too.

52 Creations - Week 12

It seems I have been quite busy this week making some cabs. I didn't think I had done as many as this but oh well, I'm not complaining! Got to test out two new frits, Mood Swing and Fairy Dust which I received from GirlFriday (Thank You!). Also had a play with some bits and pieces I had received from Nat (BeadMonki). So here is my Week 12 offerings!


Also recently I have been looking into making hair accessories for little girls (or big girls). Along the way I came across some tutorials for making hairclip holders which I thought were great! What little girl doesn't need more room for her hair pretties! One of our friends little girls is 5 next week so I thought I would make her one of these hair clip holder things.

Well here is my first attempt. Her name is Taylor so I thought a cute little "T" would be a nice touch, was good to get my paints out again to make it white. Then I found some cute little butterflies in the scrapbooking section of a cheap shop and they were perrrfect since she LUUURRVVVESS butterflies. Plus I'm pretty sure her two favourite colours are pink and purple....soooo....I think I am pretty safe with this :)


Little purple butterfly in the corner of the hairclip holder.


White 'T' with a pink butterfly. Just adds that personal touch.


I had to get my mum to help me with the stapling of the material and ribbons but I don't think it turned out too bad for my first attempt. Lets hope Taylor likes it!

A couple of things to share! Week 11 - 52Creations

Well I have recently made a couple of sales...yippeee!! I am excited about that and more excited about the fact that people actually like my stuff. It's very humbling. I am up to 71 fans on my Facebook group *blushes* I am very lucky!

Anywho...I recently bought some ring bases and have made two rings so far from my cab collection. I have worn one of my rings two days in a row I love it so much!! It is so light yet till big enough to make a bit of a statement plus I wanted to test run the ring bases and see how they go. I haven't made a large cab into a ring yet.....I said....yet.


However on the thought of me being very lucky...Nat (Beadmonki) who anneals all of my cabs for me has given me another whole big bunch of glass which I will upcycle in my cab making. Along with that she also gave me some dichoric frit (cool!!) and some dichroic chatons (ultra cool!!). I can't wait to give these chatons a go! I have a black cab cooling in the kiln so I will hopefully get time to test them out tomorrow sometime!


This is how small they are compared to my hand and I don't have overly big hands lol


Then I thought I would test out a funky looking piece of glass. It wasn't EXACTLY this piece but looked very similar.


And this is how it turned out! Looking good I reckon :)


and now...I am done! Think I might make my rings and this cab my Week 11 in my 52 Creations!

52 Creations - Week 9 & 10

Well I am a little bit behind and ahead of myself this week....does that make sense? I am posting up some of my cabs from last week and advance posting my week 10 entries. Not sure if I will get anymore made before I drop them off to be annealed on Saturday so I thought I would post them all up together.


I am pretty impressed with the raku cab in the bottom picture. I had to re-fuse it which still left some marks on the cab anyway so it'll only be able to be used in beading or in a setting. But after the re-fuse it had actually activated the raku effect and I got this cool blue/green outline. LOVE IT!! Will def be trying this again now I know how to do it.

Also the cab in the bottom pic is my other one from the other week which I added some more frit to, looks much better me finks!

52 Creations - Week 8

I was determined to be on time with my photos this week so I haven't been able to do the finishing touches. All of these cabs need re-fusing once I have grinded some of the marks away. However you can get the jiist of it anyway. I think I will be adding some more frit to the one on the left hand side when I put it back in the kiln, it's not colourful enough for me.

52 Creations - Week 7

Finally got some nice sunny weather today so I got to take a semi-decent pic of this weeks creations.


One of my experiments which needs to be experimented again is my little alien dude. I kind of fused his eye down a little too far but lucky it still has some depth to it even thought it is barely raised. He also has some incredibly red lips! Either way I still think he is kinda cute!

Also the red/purple one is from the accident the other day. It didn't turn out too bad in the end and no doubt I can work with it somehow. Oh also in the green one I found that the fit must have some of that glitter glass in it as this one has some little glitter sparkles which I put it in the sun. I'll have to check out the other one that I made and see if it has it as well. Adds something a little special to the cab. Might have to look into getting some of it in sheet form.

On a good/bad note. I got my study materials the other day so I am going to have to slow down the cab making for a little while. Depends on how quickly I get stuff done and how much "relax" time I allow myself. I should be able to get one or two things made each week though. Force myself to relax and chill.

Hope you all had a great Valentines Day and Chinese New Year! Here is a pic of my boyfriends present which I decorated with ribbons and little hearts.

52 Creations - Week 6

Ok ok I know I am a little bit late posting these ones this week but I was hoping to get some more finished before taking photos for this weeks 52 creations.


So for this week I only have these two cabs. Even though I am not a "green" person I really like the green cab and how it turned out! The other cab is just a larger experiment of another cab that I made in a smaller version and thought it would look funky a bit bigger. I think it just might be a keeper!

I do have another two cabs which are made but just need some touch ups so I didn't post them up. I also have another three or something ready to go so I might get one or two of them made today if I can push myself to do it. I am sooo tired!

Also if any of you find some of my words are missing an "r" it's because my "r" key seems to be a little bit funny to press and doesn't respond sometimes. So I apologise if my 'there' and 'here' turn into thee and hee. I'm not trying to turn into shakespeare or something.

On an update for my Artist Profile as well. I have made a list of 10 questions which I think cover the basics but will also be quite interesting to read. All my of artists will be forum members from the Australian Beading Forum. However not all of our members are from Australia so there will be some artist profiles from other countires too! :)

52 Creations - Week 4 & 5 con't

Here are some more of my 52 creations for week 4 & 5. The pic wasn't the best so you can't really see the colours in the top cab. Its a mixture of blue and greens.

52 Creations - Week 4 & 5

Very sorry for the late update but here are some of my creations from the last two weeks. Not much compared to other weeks but I have been quite busy this week plus the heat doesn't help as I need to go outside to my glass. The black and white based ones are using my "rocky" homemade frit. I want to make some more of these cabs but they take a little more prep time because I am using the rod glass. The othe cab is actually made with ivory glass base which I soon learnt reacts with aqua/blue coloured glass. If you click on the photo you can see more clearly that the blue glass as a brownish outline to it. I have another cab getting ready with some solid aqua glass, the one above I used translucent blue glass.

So I will update with some more cabs over the weekend but I just have to make them first.

I have some bad news but I will do a seperate post for that which will be located ^^^ above once I have written anyway.

On a good note though my Facebook group has reached 70 fans! Absolutely awesome effot by everyone. I am hoping to get to 100 fans by the end of the year and I MAY just have a special give away ;) So if you know any friends o family who are into jewellery, glass or simply like handmade items then ask them to join!

52 Creations - Week 3

Well these are my offering for this week! First off I have my cabs which I have made this week. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Still having trouble with the firepaper but I always have my good old dremel to sand it off and re-fuse!


The bracelet and earrings are a present for a friends little girl who is turning 5 tomorrow. She starts school in Feb this year and since she is going to a Catholic school I imagine they have a pretty strict rule on what they can and can't wear to school. But she loves her jewellery so I'm sure she'll find sometimes to wear it.


This necklace is something which has been going around in my head for a while now. It is only simple but I really enjoyed making it and the style is really comfy to wear. Once I got a hang on doing those triple sliding knots of whatever they are called...maybe chinese sliding knots?? Something like that!


I have updated my website as well. I have added some new cabs to the gallery section. I will have a heap of cabs to put up for sale once I actually get them annealed which will probably take a couple of weeks still so maybe I should get to making some more!

Also for those of you who use twitter and facebook you can follow me on both of these. I created a page on facebook and an account on twitter. Click on the links below to go to each page.

FACEBOOK or TWITTER

Well I have been quite a little busy bee this past week! I think my course enrollment should go through soon so I am making the most of the time that I have!

52 Creations - Week 2

Week 2

This week I was a little bit more productive! I know I set myself the goal of at least making one thing each week but I was on a roll and thought why not make more! All of these cabs except one were experiments, some came out good...some not so good. The black one on the bottom right did and didn't work for me. I was trying to use balls of silver leaf and all of the balls did what they should except one which kinda chipped the glass a little around it and also is rough...grrr. Also the purple one in the left top didn't turn out too nicely and also got some firepaper stuck to it. But never mind!

52 Creations - Week 1

Week 1

Only made a small group a cabs. I had experimented with silver leaf once before but burnt it all off so this time I controlled it a little bit better. One has little strips of silver leaf and the other is one big strip with little holes made into it. I like both looks. The last cab was a mixture of two different translucent frit but it just made the middle really dark. The colours on the edge look nice though.

365 creations?? I don't think so!

Well a couple of the ladies on the Australian Beading Forum have set themselves a goal to make a creation a day which equals 365 creations! I think this is such a great objective and also quite rewarding if it's possible to do something like that. So far I think they have all stuck to their goals.

However I was thinking that I don't think it would be possible for me to make something EVERYDAY...I could probably make 7 items in one day which is a weeks worth but it really doesn't work like that. So I have set myself to make something once a week. Sometimes I can go weeks on end without even touching a bead or my glass so I am going to make an effort to do something at least once a week and post it up here between each Friday-Sunday. It all depends what I am doing and if I get good photos or not.

So I am going to call mine 52 creations! I know that doesn't sound as exciting as 365 even though I might end up with that many the way I am pumping out these cabs! I have something I have made last week and I have some more for this weeks so I will have to backtrack a little bit and post up two lots of photos for the end of this week.

Wish me good luck!