Frit mania

OK, so I've been making beads now for around 5 years, give or take breaks for house moves and although I've spent time playing with frit, I've never really 'got' it. I just couldn't see what was so exciting about little pieces of smashed glass. I'd put it on my beads and it looked like, well, little pieces of smashed glass!

So I took my frit to the Flame Off last month and exchanged it for some glass...then promptly bought some more! Go figure. But I'm glad I did, because I've been playing some more and trying different things and I think I've been converted :) At least half the beads I've made in the last few weeks contain frit in some shape or form.

This moon bead has some metallic silver glass frit sprinkled across the sky;

This set is made with a blend of blue frit which has been gravity swirled and encased;

And finally a lentil bead with raku frit and a couple of Multicolour murrini.

All on Ebay now :)

In the Pink!

Well, despite working all through Easter, royal weddings and various bank holidays (the joys of working in retail!) I've managed to find some time to make beads. Although to be honest, I'll always manage to cram a bit of beadmaking time in somewhere :) The other day, I finished work at 4pm and drove home really quickly, spent an hour making beads and then jumped back in the car and went back to pick up Chris...obsessed, me?!

Anyway, I'm still playing with pretty colours, so I have this lovely hot pink focal bead;

 And the inevitable moon bead. This one is made with some of my murrini and frit purchases from the Flame Off. Aahh, a new obsession is born...expect to see a lot more frit and murrini in the future!

On Ebay now :o)

A flaming good time...

So, back to real life after attending the Flame Off last weekend. For those of you who don't know, the Flame Off is a gathering for all of us loopy lampworkers...demonstrations, torches to play on, likeminded people to talk to and of course lots and lots of glassy goodies to buy! I arrived home with my bag several kilos heavier and my purse somewhat lighter and itching to play with all my new glass murrini and frit and try out the new techniques I'd learned. Unfortunately it was straight back to work for me, so today will be my first proper play day :o)

However, my week and a half off work before the Flame Off was very fruitful, so there are now some beads up on Ebay...this lovely set of blue and green pebbles;

 And this comet bead, made with dark silver plum and with three dragged turquoise dots...

Shiny new beads

Yep - the first brand new beads in a looong time! Happily, getting my new studio set up has coincided with a week and a half off work, so I'm really making up for lost time. I've been making beads every day, which is quite a luxury.

I seem to have got over my 'dark phase' from before Christmas and I've rediscovered colour. Mostly blue, but hey, at least it's colour! Looking out the windows onto a sunny garden probably helps, it's great for inspiration.

So here you go...summer pinks and fresh blues, on Ebay right now!

Happy happy happy!

Lovely landlady has finally come back from her extended holiday and given me the go ahead to use the conservatory for my studio...so I'm good to go!

 And if it looks really tidy...that's because it is :) For the first time ever, I might add. Normally, my studio looks like an explosion in a glass factory. However, the conservatory is also the entrance to our house, so I have to make an effort to keep it tidy. Also, Bob likes to stick his beak in everything (as cats do) and I didn't want him getting bits of glass stuck in his paws.

I haven't mentioned Bob, have I? He's our newly adopted cat. An ex-stray, when he was found he had rope wrapped around his tail, so he had to have the tail amputated. Mostly he seems fine with that, although he does sometimes have episodes of invisible tail chasing! I guess if humans can get phantom limb syndrome, cats can too. Apart from that though, he's a very happy chap!