Little Castle Designs

Wertheim 2011

2011-09-26T04:58:00.000-07:00

I'm nearly home! After a whirlwind three days, I'm back at Frankfurt airport, with a long wait ahead of me and excellent internet access what better place to blog than in a comfy chair with a chai tea latte in front?

Leaving at some ungodly hour, I got to Manchester airport, hopped on the plane to Frankfurt, and caught three separate trains to Wertheim. By the time I arrived, I'd been on the road for over 12 hours, and only a long trek up the hill (across cobble stones, with several thousand ££ worth of glassy stock in my suitcase) separated me from the bliss of a youth hostel bed. That evening, I managed to sneak back down into town and checked out the 'Arkadensaal', where all the shenanigans would take place.

I have to say, the Glasperlenspektrum people, organisers of Wertheim, got the location spot on:

Directly on the water, in a picturesque town, and round the corner from a glass museum, in the shadow of a castle - I was one happy bunny!

(The windows to the right in the picture above are where the action took place!)

Friday morning I spent dipping my demonstration mandrels (which din't exactly take hours ;o) and meandering about town, then, when everything opened officially, checking out the dealers' tent (which is a literal translation, and no drugs changed hands, unless one counts the addictive properties of presses, glass, frit, findings, etc!) I then had a chance to check out some demos, but made a wild dash to the glass museum, as I knew it would be my only chance!

Here, I encountered the mouthblown 500-litre flagon:

No machines involved in the making, which I think is just showing off.

Back to the Arkadensaal, where it was soon time for my own demo, and then, I was hugely disappointed to miss Charly Hummel's marble demo, since I had to try and get some credit for my dongle, lest the internet forsook me. What I thought would be a quick hop into town turned into a hike to the out-of-town petrol station, and so, by the time I got back, Charly was finished :o(

Out for a meal with a group of people, hike up the hill, bed!

Saturday morning, an early morning, hoiking my suitcase down the hill at 7am to set up my stall. A lovely mood in the artist space, which was also in the Arkadensaal, so we could witness all other demos first hand. Although my stall was a bit dark (lights not being the easiest to fit into a 'suitcase-proof stall', it looked okay.

The two days went by really quickly, although I have to say, had I not been chained to my stall, I could have spent a *lot* of money both on glassy goodies and on beads. As it is, I managed to engage in some swapsism, the results of which are packed safely in my suitcase.

I met so many lovely people that I'm deliberately not naming names, because I'll without a doubt forget somebody! But, since I was asked lots of times why more Brits didn't turn up to Wertheim, and having now met the Danish delegation who drives down each year, I think there is definitely scope for a class exchange - who's up for it? :o))))

I see angels

2011-09-14T03:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I made an angel - well, actually, I made a fairy, which was meant to be an angel, and then I had a little heart to heart with myself to sort the wings out, and then I made an angel. And today, the angel went on a little road trip, just across the road, to the local church. Here are the best 'angel captures' :)

...I think the top one might end up being my Christmas card this year...

Under Pressure

2011-09-09T09:55:00.000-07:00

Everybody says children are creative. So when my beloved three-year-old showed me this:

I knew that I had to make it work in glass. The same beloved three-year-old has a current obsession with Greek myths, which was kindled by seeing a picture of Atlas. So for a couple of weeks, my head went round and round, thinking of modern versions of 'Atlas', not carrying the heavens, but our daily pressures of the modern era, squeezed for time, for relaxation, balancing all our demands on a fragile base, which may shatter at any moment. And out came this:

The body is not 100% there yet - I could try and fudge that by saying it's starting to get mangled, lol! But I hope I've done munchkin's design proud!

13.8.1961

2011-08-15T02:11:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday saw the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Wall. Of course, I wasn't there. But my parents were. My father was born in Berlin, and my mother moved there, through the iron curtain, in 1962, and eventually, they would meet there, in Berlin, and marry, and have first my sister, then me.

Because large parts of my family lived in East Germany, I may have more of an understanding of the wall than my contemporaries, I don't know - I was 14 when the wall came down. I do remember the summer of 1989, the feeling building up that something momentous was going to happen, but not quite realising how momentous it might be. Because, you see, the wall was *there*. It was in people's minds as well as in concrete, it had become the status quo. I had not known the country any way other than divided. But things can change. People, no matter how fragile or small they might look individually, can make a difference. A big enough lump of glass will tear down barbed wire and concrete.

The wall came down in 1989, Germany has been re-united for 21 years. I's not all rosy - which country is?

But if recent events here in the UK may have made a dint in our beliefs in humanity, or the future, then let's look at the tea cups served on riot shields, the army of brooms, and let's remember that there are more good people than bad people out there in the world.

Shane Fero Course No. 1

2011-07-07T20:19:00.000-07:00

Phhhht! Let me try and blow some dust off this blog! I am currently at the amazing Bildwerk Frauenau summer school - imagine a place where people congregate to learn arts and crafts, and have done for 24 years, where popping into each others' classrooms for a nosy is encouraged, where talks and communal meals are organised, where you might chat with others about anything, shedding light on it from any number of media, where creativity oozes out of every pore, with random glass and clay sculptures dotting the landscape, where you might find a small carving on your wooden seat, or the windows engraved with sketches, or the walls painted with scenes and quotes from the minds of people who attended years ago. If you manage this (and you might well arrive in your head at some sort of 1960s commune - in a good way!), then you have begun to scratch the surface of Bildwerk Frauenau. I have been here for two full days, and I won't pretend that I have done any more than that!

If you now populate your visual image with a group of people spanning about 12 nationalities, and steep it in lovely sunshine, add a dash of 'sitting on the lawn on a balmy evening, discussing the day over a bottle of beer', then you have added a bit more detail.....

....and from me taking the pains to describe this in such detail, you might deduct that I'm rather enjoying this particular environment!!

I'm here to spend 16 days (!!!) with Shane Fero, lampworker extra-ordinaire. And in fact, now that I've given you a taste of what this place is like, I think I might wait until the next post to tell you more about the course itself ;o)

The time has come, the walrus said...

2011-05-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

...now, isn't that interesting? I chose the blog post titles because I haven't posted in a while, so I have to 'talk of many things'...but have you actually read the full poem? Well, I never! And I thought I knew Alice! If you're as clueless as I was 10 minutes ago, there you go: http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/walrus.html

So, so much happened in the last couple of weeks, it is truly astonishing! Two new galleries have received jewellery packages, one, the Schatzkiste, is on the island of Borkum, in Germany, the other one, St Mawes Pottery, is in Cornwall. It's odd to think that some of my jewellery is now much closer to my childhood home than I am!

As part of the publicity for Sheffield Open Studios, I got interviewed for Mosaic Magazine Barnsley:

Apart from looking like I'm the evil creator of glassy monsters, I think it's a pretty good shot (and I love them for printing this quote of mine: "I am a flame worker and I fight a constant battle against mass-produced tat so it's good for people to come and see why they are paying more for what I make." Yay!

Then, about a week ago, something amazing happened - I found out that I won Silver in the Craft & Design Selected Awards (Glass category) (http://www.craftanddesign.net/awards/selected/2011/winners/) - it has left me truly gobsmacked to be honoured in such a way, next to long-established artists (I know that sounds gushing, and that's exactly how I feel!) And in the way that good news sometimes breed good news, I know that there'll be a story on me winning the award in this Friday's Barnsley Chronicle :o) The finalists were decided by public vote, and the winners by jury - so, thank you so much to everybody who helped me reach the final, without you, the jury would never have had me to pick :o))))

Then, today, I got featured (or rather, my studio did) on the UK Handmade website: http://ukhandmade.co.uk/content/studio-sabine-little...I'm hoping this isn't the biblical 'time of abundance' to be followed by scarcity...eek! Hopefully, it's the start of 'onwards and upwards'!

(There'll be new beads tomorrow, too...while I'm writing about 'abundance' - my kiln looks like a butterfly house!!!)

Random Craft Attack: E-Reader Cover

2011-05-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I was going to do step-by-step photos, but it was done so quickly, I didn't get a chance, lol! After the success with the family Easter eggs, I decided to post the odd random craft tutorial, as and when it takes my fancy - I hope you like them. Today's crafty story starts like this:

In February, I bought myself an e-reader in America, plus a leather cover, from a brand endorsed by the e-reader, and sold by the same big-name store. I happily read my book for 20 minutes, put it in its cover, then in my handbag (otherwise occupied by my wallet and a 0.5l plastic water bottle). The next day, the magnetic snap button on the e-reader cover had shattered the screen of the reader and frozen the image. Complications due to having bought in America and an end-of-line product etc. seemed to make the returns process more costly than the e-reader itself.

I grumped for a good six weeks before I decided to buy another e-reader - but I was damned if I'd put it in the same cover. So here's what I did.

You'll need:

- A hardback book that is slightly larger than the e-reader, and that you are happy to 'gut'.
- Sharp knife or craft knife
- Two rectangles of cardboard that fit each side of the inside cover of the book
- Fabric remnant
- Rubber band
- Gorilla tape
- Glue

1. Take a sharp knife and carefully 'gut' your book.

2. Cut your cardboard to size (each rectangle should be slightly smaller than the inside cover, you'll need one card each for front and back).

3. Open your book cover and place the cardboard pieces accurately, then use gorilla tape to tape the cardboard together with the right spacing. Tape it from both sides, so you have a stable spine.

4. Cut fabric remnant to be slightly larger than your cardboard 'book'. Lay fabric face up on cardboard 'book', turn over, fold over all edges and either glue or gorilla-tape in place.

5. Decide where you want your rubber band - you're best off knotting a piece into an 'O' shape, rather than having to trust that knots don't slip through holes, etc. Place rubber band and hold in place with a length of gorilla tape.

6. Spread entire back of the cardboard 'book' liberally with glue and stick to inside book cover. Weigh it down with something heavy until glue is dry.

7. Marvel at your creative prowess :o))

Total cost for me: £ 0.65. Yup, 65p, the cost of the book at a second-hand shop. Total time taken: About 6 minutes. Enjoyment to be seen reading 'The naughtiest girl in school' for years to come - priceless :o))

"Untold Tales" or "When two glass people talk"

2011-04-23T01:58:00.000-07:00

My friend Emma Mackintosh and I recently had a natter - it was something to do with having a 'style', which kind of morphed into 'getting stuck in a rut'. We both love our 'usual fare', namely dragons and roses, of course, but we thought it might be fun to start some collaborative work to challenge ourselves, or to set some parameters for 'structured playtime'. So, over the course of a few messages and phone calls, we decided to start a joint blog, and to post about our efforts and outcomes. To give ourselves a bit of a framework, we thought we might tackle one fairytale each month. Since we both have leanings to the slightly obscure, we figured that it would be interesting to see how we each interpreted each fairytale, and promised each other to share out thought processes behind the pieces as well as the results.

To cut a long story short, there's a new blog on the block, called 'Untold Tales', and this month, we've been playing with 'Sleeping Beauty'. At the moment, there are only a few posts on it, but it will grow over time. We thought that, maybe, others might like to see what we're up to, too. This doesn't mean that this blog will stop, if anything, it'll get more interesting, because I'll be pointing to our blog posts as and when they occur.

If you're interested, you can find it at www.untoldtales.co.uk :)

Ring Top Tutorial

2011-04-20T04:11:00.000-07:00

Due to popular request :o) A quick explanation of the techniques behind making ring tops :o)

Option one - no pictures:

Make a cab on the end of a dipped 4mm or 5mm mandrel. Cool, glue in a nut with your favourite 'will hold even in the apocalypse'-glue, and you're done.

Option two:

Dip a mandrel in bead release - *either* a 2mm mandrel (left in pic) or a threaded mandrel (right in pic - trust me, the end is threaded, even though it's hiding under the bead release). If it's a normal 2mm, just pop the nut on top (as shown), if it's threaded, screw the nut on. Leave to dry.

When dry, get the nut in the back of the flame, as if you are warming a rod of glass.

In th photo above, you can just about see the nylon insert starting to catch fire with a little flame - take the mandrel out, and just let the insert burn out:

Get you nut glowing gently - don't go hell for leather!

Wind glass around the nut, near the bottom, making sure not to cover the underside of the nut:

Cover the top of the nut as well, and make the top as large or small as you dare (but make sure there is enough glass to give the nut a nice even coating. Hold it so the glass can start to cover that last bit of the nut (you can till see an edge here):

Here, the nut is covered:

Decorate as you like (or make it bigger)!

A few hints and tips:

1) If you want to make a large top, use a marver and marver the bottom to ensure it doesn't creep underneath the nut.
2) If you choose the 'balance-on-top-of-2mm-mandrel' option, the bead release may break if you engage in too much poking and/or prodding, so be careful!
3) As you can see from the top above, light transparents aren't very pretty options, since you can see the nut. Use frit, or etch, in order to cover the 'evidence' :o)

And *cough* nuts, threaded mandrels, and rings and pendants in stainless steel and sterling silver are on my website: www.littlecastledesigns.co.uk ;o)

There will be glass - Part 2

2011-04-19T04:14:00.000-07:00

Can you tell what it is yet?

The lovely Rachel came over today, and my education in willow weaving continued! A morning well-spent!!

It's living willow, so it'll green over, carry on groing, new shoots will be woven in...in three years or so, you won't be able to see the structure, just a green play den!

There will be glass - Part 1

2011-04-17T22:53:00.000-07:00

As those who know me know, I do love playing with natural forms, and tying them in with nature....in fact, maybe you don't know, because I never shared my glassy moss, did I?

Here it is:

...and it glows in the dark:

.....but that's not what I wanted to show.

There's a clever project taking shape in the garden. It *will* involve glass, but only in step Three. Step One involved clearing a bit of the garden, making a circular hole, and filling it with concrete:

It is happening thanks to my lovely friend Rachel, and a text she sent me last Monday...and the idea kind of grew from there. I realise this is a slightly mysterious post, but all will be revealed ;o)

Meet the Twiddle-Fiddle-Diddle

2011-04-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

Isn't it funny! I spent ages trying to get a sculptural piece just right. No, I can't show it to you yet. Be patient. But as part of the prep for it, I found myself with large (we're talking at the torch here, so please see this in context) gather of glass. Sooooo....I pulled. And twisted. And twirled. And then stood like one of those kids who has played with a piece of string and tied herself in knots. So I melted one end off, all prettily, and shoved the whole thing under my fibre blanket. And forgot about it.

A couple of hours later, I started tidying up, when I noticed this rod sticking out from the fibre blanket. Oh.....it's the thingy. In order to get my rod back, I melted the other end off. Hmmm........there's quite a bit of glass at this end. If I heat it enough, I wonder if I can make a little base. Heat, heat, heat, plop. Oh yeah, a base. Great. I made a ... thing. It's small, it serves no purpose. I suppose, if you really wanted, you could plonk a couple of rings on it and call it a ring holder.

I photographed it for a laugh. And three people told me they liked it. The little twisty-twirly thing, now lovingly named...Twiddle-Fiddle-Diddle.

Is there a moral to this story?

Yes.

There is a place for twiddle-fiddle-diddles, for useless gathers of glass, random rod ends, bits and pieces. And it's not always the bin. Or the water jar.

Homemade Confetti

2011-04-10T02:15:00.000-07:00

I've been asked by the lovely Kati to take part in her 'world beautification' project, since the current topic is......the Royal Wedding. The idea is to post a crafty tip, a recipe, anything that inspires others to get crafty. And with the Royal Wedding coming, is there a better time to take a patterned hole-punch to a newspaper (or a Shakespeare-Anthology), to create your own heart-shaped confetti?

.....it is also a great way to - erm - recycle/destroy all that annoying press about *that* date and *that* event :o)

Vorsicht Glas No. 16

2011-04-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of Vorsicht Glas has been out a while now, but I wanted to get the British Craft Trade Fair out of the way before I got a chance to blog it.

The lovely Isi Merkel contacted me around Christmas, asking whether I'd be happy to be featured, and of course, I was absolutely chuffed to bits! Lampworking spread quicker in the German-speaking countries than it did in the UK, and I am always absolutely inspired by the talent there (this is not to say that I'm not inspired by the talent here ;o)) Being able to participate in glassy discussions in both English and German has been one of the best advantages of being bilingual that I can think of :o)

So, as well as posting photos of the article and crowing just a teensy little bit, a very big thank you to both my German-speaking and English-speaking glassy friends, for their ongoing inspiration!

You've been framed

2011-03-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

I've been busy framing this afternoon - partially to find permanent 'homes' for sculptures, to make them less fragile, and partially as a way to display my jewellery for the upcoming British Craft Trade Fair.....so, I thought I'd share :o)

There's one more 'type' of frame to come, but that will have to wait until the trade fair, I couldn't get a proper photo :o)

Easter Eggs a la Batik

2011-03-29T02:40:00.000-07:00

Hello all...I thought it might be time for another non-beadie post ;o)

Last year, I shared our family tradition of painting Easter eggs on the Frit Happens forum, but this year, I thought I'd blog about them a bit earlier, to give anybody time to get in on the action. Here's what you need:

- Eggs (no! Really? I hear you say? Yes......the whiter, the better, and scrub of that silly date stamp, if you can)
- Egg dye tablets (easy in Germany - in the UK, search for 'egg dye' on ebay or similar, you're looking for the kind where the egg is dunked into water)
- real beeswax
- lid from a tin of sweets
- pencil with a large-headed pin stuck into the back
- hob/cooker plate (electric)
- jars to make egg dye up in
- kitchen paper
- knife & fat (optional)

1) Put beeswax into tin lid and place on hob, on *low* heat (maybe 4 to get you going, but then, down to 2) - it should be about 5mm deep
2) Make up the dye in the jars (big compot jars work well, or pint glasses) according to instructions
3) Get comfy near the cooker, pick an egg, pick p your pencil (you're 'writing' with the pin head!), dunk it into the wax and *quickly* draw on your egg. You'll only ever get a single stroke or dot done before the wax is hard, so don't try to do more. Start with dots to get your confidence, if you want.
4) Dunk the egg :o) Pick your first colour, dunk - the longer the egg stays in, the more intensive the colour. While egg no. 1 dyes, paint egg no. 2.
5) Take egg no. 1 out when the colour looks right, and leave to dry on the kitchen paper. Once dry, take it back to the stove, and paint on it some more with wax, then dye a different colour.

Repeat the above steps with as many layers of colours as you like and/or have patience for.

Once all your eggs are painted, dyed and dry, you can either leave them as is, or *very* carefully scrape the wax off with a knife - this looks much nicer, as all the colours shine through properly. As a final step, use some fat (oil, butter, etc.) on a piece of kitchen paper to 'polish' the eggs.

NB: You can either boil eggs first, in which case, let them cool down before dyeing them. If you poke a hole in for boiling, close it with a dot of wax, or else the dye will run into the egg and colour it.

Alternatively, you can paint the eggs raw, then poke a hole in the top and bottom and blow them out - this is hard work, but it means you can leave them to dry before tying a piece of thread around a broken-off matchstick piece, stick it through the hole, and you can then hang it from the egg.

Happy painting, and if anybody has a go, I'd love to see pictures! For anybody interested, this method of egg painting is called 'Pysanky' or drop-pull, and is most prevalent in Eastern Europe. Our family, thanks to my son (seen in a picture from last year below) is now the fifth generation I know of to paint eggs this way.

Play Day

2011-02-12T01:03:00.000-08:00

It's always good to push boundaries - or so I told myself when I signed up for a neon glass workshop. Yesterday, I trundled off to Neon Workshops in Wakefield for a one-day course. Following an intro about the history of neon, the various gases, burners & other equipment, we were invited to create a design that would get created by one of the course tutors in the afternoon. Well........you know me, right? After explaining that I'd rather have a wonky squiggle that was mine than a masterpiece that got made for me, I hit the burner - As you know, I do do sculpture, but bending tube was a bit of a novelty, and my main reason for signing up. I was hugely impressed with how well behaved the glass was (neon makers work with soft glass, soda lime - did you know??). I discovered a love for the ribbon burner and managed to make two squiggles in 18mm tube - then, I have to admit, I let one of the tutors join them together into one long squiggle. Filled with Argon and a hint of Mercury, the squiggle will be my 'blue sea' and will proudly live one the wall in the new studio - now all I need is some glass fishies and boats to live above and beneath it.

Here are a few photos from the day - one shows my squiggle being filled with gas, one is of somebody else's piece (done by the tutors), and one show my squiggle on the 'aging bench' (underneath the main work surface), where the colour settles after filling :o)

Studio refurbishment - exciting times are afoot!

2011-02-06T03:44:00.000-08:00

I'm in the process of refurbishing the studio, after my better half gracefully donated the rest of the garage to me.

So far, the internal wall has been moved, the wall has been painted, existing furniture has been re-shuffled, new ventilation and some additional furniture has been ordered. There will be five ventilated spaces (four permanent torches (two big enough to handle boro, so either 'four littles' or 'two with two oxys each') and a silversmithing/occasional 5th torch space), a coldworking area with grinder and sandblaster in the far back, silversmithing set up with tumble & wheel polisher & bench drill, and a bit of space to sit/ponder/design/peruse books.

I'm hoping to be properly up and running in time for the 'teaching the teachers' course on 12th March (which I still need to blog about!), and will also start running group evening and one-day classes :)

I'm very excited bout this, and couldn't have done it without all the lovely people who came for tuition and made me realise that increasing the teaching space would be a good idea - thank you!

There's a new kid in town

2011-01-30T23:28:00.000-08:00

For the last few months, I have been thinking about a website aiming more at the trade than the general public, showcasing constant ranges made to order, gallery-style, rather than an actual shop with weekly-changing stock. Something to incorporate my slowly-growing sculptural work. Something the permanently house the fabulous professional photos we took a few weeks ago (yes, specifically for this website, among other things :o)

Well......it's here. The general public might never notice its existence, and there are a few things I'm not 100% happy with, but...ladies and gentlemen, may I present: www.sabinelittle.com. May the site live long and prosper.

The photo is, of course, by the fabulous Claire Penn again :o)

New year, new...everything :o)

2011-01-16T22:45:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year everybody! I'm really looking forward to 201, th first full-time year dedicated to glass! It has been very busy so far already - last Saturday, I spent a fabulous day with photographer Claire Penn (www.clairepennphotography.com), hair and make-up artist Clare Ardern (www.harryjon.com), and three gorgeous models - Tabitha Courtney Smith, Terasa XDx and Leah Slater. All six of us trundled up to a farm in Lancashire, took over a barn, and worked our little socks off - well, all the others did, I just made sure the jewellery was facing the right way and suggested a few poses.

The girls were all fabulous - trying to shoot elegant, dreamy and glamorous pictures when it's chucking down with rain, or while you're crouched in a drippy little cubbyhole because of the lovely dark background isn't easy. Clare did a beautiful job transforming the girls for different 'looks', before Claire and I dragged them through the mud. It was very cold and wet, and with only the odd cup of tea and lunch to keep them warm, I'm very grateful everybody was so 'up for it'. You will be seeing more pictures cropping up as they get edited, but here is one to start with, the fabulous Leah Slater modelling a poppy ring.

To celebrate the new photos, I'm running a little give-away on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/littlecastledesigns), so be sure to look out for it!

Mystery guest in the studio

2010-11-29T09:50:00.000-08:00

Today, I had a visit from a lovely guest, whom quite a few people will know by name, and a fair few personally. If you're out and about online, this won't be much of a secret, so if you spotted her posting that she was coming, *sh* :o)

Otherwise.........who might it be? :o)

Poppy time

2010-10-12T03:33:00.000-07:00

I'm always quite late when it comes to beading ahead of the season, but recently, I've had the poppy fever - and all ahead of Remembrance Day. I've also found that a bit of sparkle has started to find its way into my beads, but I shan't mention the C-word just yet. Anyway, it's a funny old thing, isn't it? As a lampworker, I'm inspired by the seasons....in spring, the shoots and buds inspire me to get the frit out, do blossoms and vines....but jewellery makers need to get their beads ahead of the season, not when it's already in full flow. Right now, everybody is busy preparing for Christmas (oops, I said it!) markets, while at the same time trying to hold on to the last rays of sunshine. So, just out of interest, how do others deal with tis? The hell with it, and bead whatever, put things aside for ten months ;o)? Or enjoying being ahead of the times?

Anyway.....time to share some poppies!

Leave it to the professionals!

2010-10-06T04:58:00.000-07:00

Recently, pieces of the Alcazar range travelled up to Chester to be part o a professional photo shoot. Expertly modelled by Tabitha Courtney Smith, hair and make-up by Clare Ardern of Harryjon, and photos by Claire Penn of Claire Penn Photography. It's amazing what a difference it makes when the professionals get a chance to play with my humble roses, isn't it? The two shots below are my favourites. The photos will be used for banners and advertising - one of them was already sent somewhere to hopefully go into print, but I'm not allowed to say where ;o)

The rest of the festival

2010-09-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

It hardly does the International Festival of Glass justice to lump the rest of it into one post - there were other masterclasses, in engraving, Ghanaian bead making, casting, blowing - if I ever thought I was aware of the versatility of this lovely medium, I am now even more aware of it - I just wish I could use them all :o)

The Biennale private preview meeting was rather posh, with press and artists mingling, I now can put more faces to names. During the course of the week, I also met the lovely Carrie Fertig, who has work both in the Biennale and the exhibition at Plowden and Thompson's - I covet one of her feathers :o)

Selling over the week-end was great, because it turned into a 'saying hello to lots of old friends'. On Saturday afternoon, I was back at the Ruskin, presenting my work as part of a quick-fire pecha kucha. That was interesting, and again getting an opportunity to listen to others' inspiration behind their work.

I had to leave on Sunday night, and missed all of the lectures and demos - on Friday, I had a go at glassblowing, and I was absolutely thrilled with the results...now, just where could I get the money and space for a glassblowing studio??

So much to say, so little time!

2010-09-02T00:32:00.000-07:00

Where shall I start?! Since I last posted, I have begun my full-time beadmaking adventure, attended the most amazing Masterclass with Gianni Toso, sold at the International Festival of Glass in Stourbridge, sent stock to new gallery, met one of the Dragons from Dragons' Den, and launched my new jewellery range. And that' just beadie stuff! So, let's take things slowly, and let me tell you about the masterclass!

Gianni Toso has a history in glass that goes back 700 years on his father's and 650 years on his monther's side (on one branch of my family, I can get back to the late 18th century, farmers and shepherds, mostly, as far as I can tell.....hmmmmm! Not sure what that tells you.)

I had the honour of spending a week with Gianni, both as his student, and, together with the other class members, as part of the evening entertainment. The week has left me dazzled - by Gianni's skill, and warmed - by his generosity with his knowledge and friendship. Since he won't mince his words (the best free-standing butterfly I made was called 'arthritic'), every 'brava' from Gianni felt fantastic. But even more so, I could feel myself growing - I daren't say 'as an artist', that sounds rather poncy. But I think I left the week being more brave than I started it, with ideas for experimentation. I will always be making beads, but I am finding myself getting frustrated by the vulnerability of them, the idea that they have to be 'wearable'. Gianni's creations are so fragile you wouldn't subject hem to daily wear and tear - they are made to be admired, and seem so delicate that they are removed from the day-to-day world. I'd love to develop further in that direction.

I'll tell you more about the rest of the festival later!

London Glassblowing

2010-07-10T03:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I went to London to meet up with the lovely Becky, and together, we visited London Glassblowing, where my rose rings have been on show for nearly a month now. Originally, the exhibition was for London Jewellery Week only, but got extended until the 4th of July - now, it has been extended until the start of Art in Action next week. What a great place it is, round the corner from London Bridge Station, with the workshop in full view (they've even put chairs out!) It was fabulous seeing other artists' work (both jewellery and other). I enjoyed seeing more of Julie Anne Denton's jewellery, and loved seeing Peter Layton's various designs (my favourite being a very grown-up version of 'lace') - but what stood out most was Anthony Scala's absolutely gobsmackingly beautiful frozen rapier. It's a full-sized sword, with a hand guard that looks like it's made out of crushed ice crystals, with a beautiful, precise blade.....yum!!! I met Anthony as well, and so managed to convey my drooling admiration :o) And I had a chat with Peter Layton, too - all in all, a most fantastically spent hour or so.

As well as doing all that, I dropped some more roses off, and took a photo - I'm afraid my SD card broke first thing in the morning when I tried to document Marjorie Moo racing a snail, so the photo is only from my mobile. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them there!

Respect your fuglies!

2010-07-07T01:02:00.000-07:00

How many fugly beads have you got sitting somewhere? I don't mean the ones that are okay, if it weren't for the sharp edge, or the crack - I mean the bona fide butt-ugly beads that you start with high hopes, realise half way through that they're 'a dead duck', keep playing with in the hope to rescue them, and finally pop them in the kiln in the hope that the kiln fairies will - magically and overnight - turn it into a thing of beauty?

Well, I have several. And I can tell you - I respect my fuglies. Sure, I'm upset when I waste precious torching time to create something not even a mother could love. But you never know where things might lead.

So let me introduce 'Pumpkin in a Tutu' (and thank you to the fabulous George Harper for naming it so appropriately)! You know, a couple of years ago when I made this bead, I was actually proud of it.....for about 20 seconds. Then I was embarrassed, and then, after it got named, it made me giggle.

I hardly invented 'ruffles-on-beads'. But for me, the Pumpkin in a Tutu started a journey...which...well, probably hasn't ended yet, but the last stop was here:

I made the bead above about twelve months after the first one, then took it to my class with Claudia Trimbur-Pagel to decorate. As I said, I'm sure it's but one more stop on a long journey, but sometimes it's nice to look back to see where we came from :o)

Fairs coming up

2010-07-04T23:04:00.000-07:00

There is one month left until the big 'going beadie'-point, but summer fairs don't know that, do they? So there are a couple of fairs in July, which, should you be near Sheffield, I can wholly recommend.

The first is 'On the Waterfront', and annual summer fair at Victoria Quays in Sheffield (near the train station). From 11-4 on the 11th of July, local arts and crafts people will be showing off their wares. The fair is alongside a canal, which makes for a pretty walk before or after you spend your hard-earned money with the crafters.

The following week-end, on the 17th of July, it's the Craft Candy summer fair, in the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield - that's where the Winter Garden is, too, so there are lots of opportunities to spend an interesting day, looking at exhibitions - to see what's on, click here.

To everybody else with summer fairs to attend, happy selling, if they're outdoors, keep the SPF high!

The photo shows the bead 'Shakuhachi', named after a type of bamboo flute, and part of a recent batch of oriental beads that went online yesterday.

Meet Marjorie Moo!

2010-07-03T05:18:00.000-07:00

I just realised that some of you might not have met Marjorie Moo yet, although she has found fame (albeit not fortune) on Flickr & Facebook.

You see, one evening, when the sun disappeared among the trees and the mice tucked their babies in with the fluff left behind by the owl and the pussycat, a bead maker sat in her studio. She had been tasked with making twenty fat cows, and she had made eleven. But she was getting tired, and the last cow had had a crack, and the one before that had her ear melted to her horn. Speculatively, the bead maker eyed the very last mandrel left. Should she? Shouldn't she? Her conscience fought with her weary bones, and won. She wound the white glass on that she would need for the body, and shaped the rump. She added some legs and arms, and looked towards the work surface to find the black stringer to give the cow her pattern. But the black stringer was short - it wouldn't be long enough to add all that was needed - spots, eyes, ears...what to do? Of course, new stringer could be pulled, but after a long, long day, this was the stringer that broke the camel's back.

So instead of black, our bead maker picked up red, and yellow, and green, and blue. And she giggled happily as she made every teat on the udder a different colour, and she thought that this little cow surely must be one character, to go through life looking like this.

The next morning, the kiln held twelve cows - nine 'normal' ones, two damaged ones, and Marjorie Moo. Apparently, the others had made fun of her in the kiln, but she didn't mind, she had the frame of mind of those who are born different and care not one bit about it. And although Marjorie isn't always happy (who is), she has a sunny nature and a gentle soul.

If you want, you can follow Marjorie's adventures on Flickr, there'll be a new one every day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thesparrowinflight/sets/72157624352879710/.

Jumping off the cliff

2010-06-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, full-time beadiness for me is a mere six weeks away. It won't be easy, I know that. But I got this card from my Mum, and it's going to go in my studio today. In German, the word for beads is the same as for pearls, so it works better in German, but:

"If you want pearls (beads), you must throw yourself into the sea."

Come on then, let's jump in at the deep end :o)

Understocked or overkill?

2010-06-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

Open Studios start tomorrow - two week-ends open to the public, and what I thought was tons of stock suddenly looks a bit..........pitiful. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's plenty (and boy, am I grateful for my tutorials in Making Jewellery magazine - without those, there'd be a lot less!) The question pops up so often 'how much stock?' Well, here's what I tried to do - whether it helps or not, I'm not sure:

First of all, I looked through everything, for items that I feel I've 'overtaken'. They're not bad or second class in any way, just designs I don't feel people would look at and say 'I know who made that' - those I put in a completely separate place, as sales items. Then I grouped things together, something I rarely have the space for at craft fairs: Hollow lace necklaces, rose necklaces, etc. It's fluke that they're in groups of three, but that looks good. Printing and laminating only one price and title for them shows customers they're a 'range', and they'll be quicker to pack up (no removal of tags). I need to take a photo of my hugely ingenious display feature, but I'll leave you guessing for now as to what it is.

The wedding range went into the display cabinet, since I don't really expect to sell a tiara off the cuff, but you never know :o) With rings, I made sure I have a few of each, though I didn't have time to make tons - hopefully, I'll be able to 're-stock as I go', since I'll be at the torch a lot of the time. So, the main ranges have a work surface all to themselves - which leaves only ne bit of surface area, which I'm using for leaflets for future markets I'll be at, maps to other artists a guest book, and the enforced 'evaluation form'. I'm really liking it - although I do wish we'd persevered and got a second light in.....if it's nasty outside, I might have to find space on the worktop for a light.

That's it........just need some sleep, and I'm ready to go.

Holidays on 'Balconia'

2010-06-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

'Reefs'

'Urchins'

In Germany, where I grew up, there's a phrase for staying at home for the holidays - the above 'holidays on balconia'. And with the weather as lovely as it was today, it really felt like a holiday. So I only took a couple of hours or so at the torch, and quickly got into holiday-mode - soon, I'll be going to Devon for our summer holiday, and today's ring toppers got there just a tad ahead of me.

Rings at London Glassblowing

2010-06-03T01:07:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd share some exciting news - over the last few nights, I've been busy making rose ring toppers to go down to London Glassblowing, for a special exhibition to coincide with London Jewellery Week. I'm rather excited about this - after I'd made ten, I looked at them, and realised that they were all uni-coloured, so I made three with some funky summer frits - I liked the result so much that I thought I'd call it the 'Ascot Ladies Day' range (and no, I cannot for the life of me decide whether that's intended as a possessive or not, i.e. whether there's an apostrophe missing. I've found both versions. Just adding this because I don't want you to think I missed it out!)

There are 13 rings going to London today, together with a selection of rings, to make sure punters get the right size. I hope somebody takes a picture of them in place....or maybe I need to make a trip down to London to see!

Take Heart

2010-06-01T01:27:00.001-07:00

I had some unexpected extra torching time over the week-end, and used it to increase the ranges of ring toppers. The heart ring toppers I made for the Flame Off flew out, with only a few left over afterwards, so I thought I'd find a way to structure them and put them online to order. For starters I have concentrated on polka dots, since I'm doing a vintage fair at the beginning of August (the 1st of August, actually, first day of self-employment, and a Sunday - no slacking here at Little Castle Designs!). I played with a few colour ranges, and then, when the first batch came out of the kiln, plugged the colour gaps with even *more* colours...and finally played even longer with arranging them for a photo.

For the vintage ones, now have several designs - leaves going in one direction, then the other...big dots, small dots...but I like these best! Already, the lovely Nicola of www.smittenkiten.de suggested that I do a pink and black dotty heart with a white rose...pic to follow shortly!

Right, I'm working from home today, but that's work-work, not bead work...for another nine weeks! Have a fab (short!) week everybody!

Happy Birthday, sis :o)

2010-05-28T01:44:00.000-07:00

It was my sister's birthday a week ago, and I had wanted to make her something special. When I recently blogged the special keepsake key ring with fingerprint and sterling silver charms, he seemed to like the idea, so I thought I'd make one just for her. She's a fabulous photographer with absolutely stunning photos on hr Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/glaesmann/) - I once nicked one of her flower makros to create a sticker cover for my laptop. So a camera definitely had to go on the key ring. She also loves the sea, and sails frequently on a traditional sailing boat, so one of those had to go on, too, together with a ship's wheel. The beads I made are Rocio Silver Mist and Reichenbach Antique Clear with its fabulous aquamarine look, plus some sterling spacers, sodalite, and lead crystal beads. And Toby the munchkin kindly provided his fingerprint for his favourite auntie.

I couldn't show photos until postie had delivered, but now it's there! Happy Birthday!

Beads are my world - the world is a bead

2010-05-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

I had this bead for absolutely ever - well, no, that's a lie - I've had it for about three months, made it in February. All it needed was a core. Ah...that's all.....except I liked it so much, I was absolutely terrified of breaking it! I had blown the enamelled shards for it, used my shiny new brass roller, carefully rescued it when the bead release broke....it came out of the kiln and I thought....'ooooooooh! It looks like the whole world got captured inside this bead'

And then it sat there, and sat there, and sat there. Until yesterday. And I sawed the tube, annealed it, pickled it, riveted the bead, and polished it up.

And guess what? Of course it happened - a small chip came loose. But I don't think you can see it unless you know. So I think I'll now have to work a bail for it and wear it myself. What a bummer ;o))))))) That tiny chip is, in fact, a perfect excuse ;o)

Business blogging: Google Alerts

2010-05-18T22:46:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd do some irregular blogging on some information, which you might find useful or not. Most people might well do any or all of these, but I figured....why not. So, for today...have you heard of Google Alerts? I *love* Google Alerts! They are a nifty little feature of Google - if you go here: http://www.google.com/alerts, you'll see the box shown here. Type in your search terms and your email address, and I'd suggest you set it to once a day. Now, I use it to keep an eye on my business, hubby's business, and my workplace, so I have alerts running on my name, my business name, etc. - you set up a different alert for each one. First thing in the morning (usually), I get an email - one for each alert - with links to the pages where the terms I have flagged up have cropped up over the last 24 hours.

The internet is vast, and we can't be everywhere at once - and Google Alerts aren't failsafe! Still, it's a great buzz when I find that a link takes me to the website of somebody who bought some beads off me a while ago, and is now listing a beautiful piece of jewellery they made with it. Google Alerts also catch Flickr photos, Facebook links, blog posts, etc., so if one of you were to blog 'I read this interesting blog post on Sabine Little's blog' or 'the Little Castle Designs blog', I'll find that in my inbox the next morning.

You could go further and use it to track trends or ideas - but be prepared for a lot of reading and clicking! If, for example, you track 'lampwork jewellery', that'll give you lots more results that little ole 'Little Castle Designs'.

Anyway, I hope you can use this info to get a bit more info about how and where your business name is appearing on the Internet!

If you'd like more of these posts, let me know, please? Apologies to all to whom I've just done the granny-sucking-eggs thing to!

And..trying a new thing - this *should* be a retweet button:

What a difference a day makes...

2010-05-13T23:37:00.000-07:00

...24 little hours....have I got you singing?

Some of you know I've not been well - yesterday, I should have had the results from a glandular fever test, but guess what? They're inconclusive, and I have to have it repeated in three weeks. Ah well!

This means I've not made as many beads as I would have liked, but I have spent more time online. This in turn meant that, yesterday, I re-acquainted myself with my FaceBook business page, http://www.facebook.com/littlecastledesigns - and its 85 fans (except FaceBook now call them 'Likes'). I set myself the target of getting to 100 before the end of the day, and thanks to you all, I - we - did it :o)))) It even continued growing overnight, and is now at 107!! Thank you all, I'm all chuffed! I will soon get to work and connect a shop to the page. In the mean time, I'm planning a fan-giveaway, which I'll list over the week-end, so if you're not a Fan / Like yet, do join! (but then, I would say that!) - the Like box is just to the bottom right of this post ;o)

The other thing that made me happy yesterday was a meteoric rise up Lampwork Go Top 100 - on my homepage www.littlecastledesigns.co.uk is a link to that page, and you can enter a vote, before you get taken to the Top 100 website. Now, in all honesty, it means little in the world overall, it won't feed starving children, it won't improve world peace...but it does mean that you guys took the time to click and vote for me, and that, of course, means the world!

Thanks to my sister for the screenshot of my site a no. 2......I now want to see if I can get to no. 1, of course, even if just to take another screenshot and treasure it :o)

So, thanks to social networking and you all, after one little day, I feel thoroughly smug about my online presence. I know there are others who have lots more Fans, etc., but I'm getting there. Thank you for helping along!

A new website!

2010-05-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

No, not a new address, but I've worked hard to get the best out of MrSite - I'm sure I could do more if I had the skill, but I'm pleased with how it looks so far. In the process, I became good friends with a couple of slate place mats, re-discovered some beads, finally got round to take pictures of some new jewellery (although it's not listed yet), and finished last night at 10.30pm on the pleasant feeling of listing new beads on my new website. Hurrah!

All the work's not done yet, in fact, there are a couple of tabs still missing, but I realised I was so daunted by the task, if I didn't start somewhere, it'd never get done. I hope you like the new site!

Travelling Rose Ring Toppers

2010-04-27T03:09:00.000-07:00

The exhibition my rings were part of at www.galerie-sam.de in Germany is now over, and I thought it might be time for the remaining ring toppers to come home. Not so! They've caught the travelling bug and like it in Germany, so I have allowed them to stay on, to be shown and stroked (and sold) at the Mannheim Festival 'Glas und Kunst im Park' (Glass and Art in the Park): http://www.glasundkunstimpark.de/ - it looks like a fab event - have fun everybody who gets to go, I'm still looking into travelling to Wertheim, if I get my act together!

Choose your future

2010-04-25T23:01:00.000-07:00

My calendar at work tells me it's 68 working days until the end of July - annual leave not yet deducted. I've just had a fab week-end with the family - long overdue, involving fish and chips in Bakewell and a trip to Chester Zoo. This morning, it's back to the grindstone, but the grindstone will change soon. So as I look at the keys to my two current 'work places'...which would you choose to unlock your future?

Have a good week, everybody!

Here we go, here we go, here we go...

2010-04-21T23:44:00.000-07:00

...here we go, here we go, here we gooo-hoooo! Good things are afoot, but I can't tell you what they are, you'll have to wait, but they could be gooooooooooood!

I'm back in the groove now, working during the day, lampworking in the evening, catching up on Flame Off orders. Thankfully, my next fair is now not until June (Open Studios) - so I should be in a position to make new stock. I'll comment on the post below in a minute, but wanted to say 'thank you' for all your lovely comments. I'm planning a teaching session at one of the bigger studios, so if you fancy a day of roses, butterflies, surface-sculpture beads, etc., keep a few pennies behind from that large glass order you were just about to place (see, I know you were. Are you like me? A permanent basket open, ready to check out? Frantz Art Glass are very tempting like that, they really do save your basket between visits. I order about twice a year, but *boy*, do I order!!!)

Have a lovely day, everybody!

Remiss!!

2010-04-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

It seems all I'm doing is apologising for not blogging...so why break with this new tradition - apologies!

Last week-end was the Flame Off, and I had such a marvellous time! I left Sheffield at 5.30am on Friday, driving down to Towcester to join my friend Sarah for breakfast. In my car, I had a whole load of rings, and all the ring toppers I'd managed to make...slightly hampered by the fact that my kiln had broken down last week!!! As a result of this, I didn't have enough stock - apologies to all who came to the stall not being able to find ring rose toppers!! Becky and Sarah were great company as fellow store holders - thanks, ladies! At 3.45pm, a voice came over the tannoy, asking for Sabine Little to report upstairs....time for my demonstration, in front of crowd and cameras :o) I thoroughly enjoyed myself demonstrating - apart maybe from the hole that piece of pinged-off stringer burnt into my thigh :o)

Doing the demo was my absolute highlight...although next morning came close, when Sharon Peters gifted me with her demonstration bead from the day before - thanks so much, Sharon, he has already assumed his pride of place!!!

Friday night, I went out for a curry with the fabulous Downton family (and the equally fabulous Sarah & Simon & Becky). Becky heroically did the driving, while Sarah, Sarah and I indulged in the vino stuff - three glasses later, sleeping was no problem!

Saturday was more selling, and making a couple of purchases - I've got a new press to play with :o)) I was asked for an impromptu demonstration of a butterfly - thanks to Richard Downton for letting me use the photo :o)

And then, all too early, it was time to go home again...so many people to hug and chat to, so little time! Thankfully, I'll be seeing a fair few of my glassy friends on our holidays in Devon in the not-too-distant future. But still - roll on next year!!!

Bite Me!

2010-03-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

What can I say - a post-and-run kind of blog post, but this one tickles me, so I think it deserves its own post ;o)

Abraham De Lacey Guiseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley

2010-03-21T00:35:00.000-07:00

As you might have noticed, there haven't been many beads online for a while. However, things have happened - behind the scenes, so to speak. A selection of my rose ring toppers went over to Germany, to be on display and for sale at the Ringtage Exhibition (Ring Days) in Walldorf at 'Galerie Sam', an exhibition led and curated by Aleksandra Baum, from the 26th of March to the 23rd of April. I hope they do well!

For those of you who are local, please come and visit me at the Open Up event, where artists around South Yorkshire open their studios to the public. The event isn't until June (12th/13th and 19th/20th), but you might as well pencil it in ;o)

And, finally, there are beads online. Hurrah! Mainly roses and butterflies, but some ammonites, too - I have a new press, and I'm not afraid to use it! What's with the title of the blog post? Well, the little one and I have been ill, and watching Aristocats has cheered us up, especially O'Malley the Alley Cat :o) The rose above is 'Casey' - and many other Aristicats names appear on my website this week :o).

This is your life!

2010-03-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

This is the commission I was talking about the other day - no, not the courgette! I was approached by a lovely lady, and entrusted with making a bag charm/key ring for a special birthday gift for her partner's mother. We started out with a finger print from the grandson, and a kanji bead for luck and happiness. When we exchanged emails and I said I could incorporate other beads that were meaningful, the piece progressed. The piece was to definitely come from all three, including the grandson, and together, we searched for special connections and memories. I found out that their is a mutual enjoyment of trains, that nan and grandson sing nursery rhymes together, and that the grand son (only a couple of months older than my own son) sings Bah Bah Blacksheep with his nan, giving both of them lots of fun. I found out about Welsh origins and daffodils, gardening, a love for chocolate and cats, a family history that included a miner for a father, and a life lived near the sea.

...and so I went about creating. It will be sent off today and given as va present next week, but I have permission to share it now. Some commissions are just a bit more special than others - thank you!

Strangest commission?

2010-03-11T22:59:00.000-08:00

You never know what can happen when you take commissions! And this very moment, I've got two running, each winning a top title. One in the category 'loveliest thought' - I'll write more about that soon! But yesterday, I got a commission for a courgette necklace. I had the day off work to stand at a local business event, flogging my wares. It was a networking event, so I didn't expect much in the way of sales, so I was surprised when a lady stopped by my stall and to a shining to my bramble tiara. It transpired that she works as a children's entertainer under the stage name of 'Madame Zucchini and her vegetable theatre'. We worked out that the tiara was maybe a bit OTT and not necessarily the safest costume part around lots of children, when she asked whether I could possibly make her a courgette necklace. Well!! I love a challenge :o) So watch this space for some courgettes in the near future, and watch out for Madame Zucchini and her vegetable theatre!!

It's the Final Countdown!

2010-03-08T22:12:00.000-08:00

Doobedoodoo, doobedupdupdoo, doobedoodoodoo, doobedupdupdoobedoo, doobedoo, doobedupdupdoobedoobedoooooooooo...

Today, ladies and gentleman, the final countdown starts - 100 working days until self employment (slightly kerfuffled by the fact that I've actually got a stinking cold and temperature, which probably means I won't get much work done today!) The working days don't include annual leave I still have to take, so it's more like 85, really, but this way, it's easier to count. I love my job, there is so much to do still, the next two months especially will be absolutely frantic, with a book to edit, a conference to organise, assignments to mark...but slowly, irrevocably, the end...or indeed the beginning...is nigh.

Maybe I've gone bonkers, but...

2010-03-04T00:14:00.000-08:00

...this week's beads tell a story, I think. I only realised it on my way to work. See what you think (bead names in bold)!

The Rough Pups Were Feeling Blue.

Life was stressful, they were running around, being here, going there, always just keeping on top of things. And, over time, the world seemed to lose its colour. Everything seemed muted, soft, without colour. It was as if everything around them spoke 'Sotto Voce', 'under their voice'. The world, in short, was not as it should be.

The struggled to understand. Colour was seeping away, from their days, even from their dreams. They went to The Magic Tree to ask for advice. Its branches were silvery blue, as if it got its colour from the night sky itself.

The rough pups told the tree of their problems, and it said "I might be able to help. Let my branches reach out, reach within you. Let the Tribal Dreams stored within me guide you on your way."

The rough pups saw the tree tremble and shiver, and its branches and leaves reached out to them. The world basked in a shimmery blue. Everything around them now glistened and gleamed, in the beautiful shades of blue the Magic Tree had shown them. The rough pups thanked the tree and went on their way in wonder. Yet, the further away they got, the less the magic seemed to work. Life, everyday worries pushed the magic away as they carried on living as before. They weren't sure what to do. Visit the tree every day, to see more of the magic? Or just accept that life would be in black and white? One morning, a rough pup woke up and turned to the others, and said "Remember When Your Dreams Were In Colour?

When they were green, and blue, and purple, and yellow, and red, and brown, and swirled and dreamy?" The others nodded. "Who can help with our dreams?" They asked themselves. Then they knew. Morpheus, the God of Sleep. He'd know what to do.

They reached Morpheus, and he nodded sagely when they told him of their troubles. "This has happened before, my little rough pups", he said gently. "You've simply lost your way. Nobody can give you back the colour in your life, or in your dreams. You must remember who you are, and what you aim for. To find the colour again in your life, you must be Rooted in the Stars, rooted in your dreams. You must reach and explore, and be brave, and fall, and get up, and try again. Your dreams are who you are. Even when you are stressed, or sad, you must dare to dream, and dream in colour. Then the roots from your dreams will reach through the stars to you."

So the rough pups made time to dream. Not just when they were asleep, but during the day, too. They made plans that were new, and uncertain, and sometimes a little mad. They took risks, and sometimes, they fell flat on their faces, but when things worked out, they were beautiful. And when they didn't, they helped each other up. And tried again. And soon, the colour returned, and their lives were bold and beautiful again.

THE END

....told you it was bonkers. :o)

Beads are on sale at www.littlecastledesigns.co.u k

March!

2010-03-02T01:49:00.001-08:00

I have a fair in four days. That in itself is not cause for panic - except for the fact that I wanted to change my range until then, and create a number of new pieces of jewellery for it. And therefore, the beads for that! Well, that's unlikely to happen! Fortunately, I found some pieces that I'd made in a frenzy for the Christmas fair I did, and guess what? They aren't even on my website! Funny how they're not selling, eh? Ah well, at least they'll mean I'll have stock!

I didn't manage to add new beads to the site this week-end, due to life getting in the way. However, expect a little (only a little, mind!) flurry of activity tomorrow night!

A non-beady photo, to explain one of the reasons why I've not made as many beads as I would've liked: work took me to Greece for a couple of days last week!

Cloud 9

2010-02-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

I have been told today that I have won the Flame Off Artist competition, and will be demonstrating on Friday, 16th April, at this year's Flame Off in Towcester. And whilst the thought of being on the same list as Sharon Peters, Diana East, Teresa LaLiberte and Lorna Prime fills me with absolute terror.........I'm rather excited!

Getting there!

2010-02-16T22:59:00.000-08:00

I'm slowly catching up! I've been having a number of fun commissions recently, which I'll hopefully be able to share soon - the personal kind, where you tailor a piece exactly to the recipient. I love those kinds of commissions! I just made another batch of butterflies, and since they seem to be flying out of the shop, I think it can safely be assumed that spring is on the way. More soon!

57 Channels and nothing on

2010-02-02T06:49:00.000-08:00

...sings Master Springsteen. For me, read: so many toys and no time to play! I have until the end of the week to write four tutorials and complete a few commissions...not to forget a meeting tomorrow night, and two evenings 'toddler duty' when hubby is out. Did I forget to mention work during the day?

On the other hand, I received no less than four toys today, and, I'm sorry, they demand to be played with! If I'm a really good girl, maybe I'm allowed to play with them this week-end? Pretty, please?

What lurks in that cupboard?

2010-01-31T13:24:00.000-08:00

I'm spring cleaning. Well no, not really, but I'm getting very annoyed with my ineptitude to keep my findings in one place, so every time I make a piece of jewellery, the search starts - where are the jump rings? They jumped away! Ceramic Spacers? Lost in space! Loose chain? Unchained and gone walkies. Don't get me started on head pins, my pliers, or my bead reamer! So (once again, trust me, this is not the first time) I vow to do better, and start little boxes. And come across a little bag of scrap silver. It doesn't look familiar. Hang on...I've got another bag of scrap silver...somewhere. Forget tidying up, I'm on a money-making mission! After unearthing two more small bags of scrap silver, I find a piece of jewellery that I made in my beginner's silver smithing class back in 2005. Okay, I was proud of it in week 2 of my course, but let's be honest - I'll never wear it. Neither will I ever wear (or have I ever worn) that huuuuge cuff I reticulated towards the end of my first year, or the bangle that I engraved so wonkily. Hang on!! This is starting to look promising! Out come mis-shapen castings (at which point, I find a pair of tiny 'blob' earstuds made of casting scrap, and put them to one side - they will get worn again!)

I'm still looking, but I've gone over the 200g mark. Now all I need to do is send it off, and the order I just placed at Cookson Gold will be - for want of a better word - free! Recycling, kind of.

In honour of the 'heavy metal' theme, a metallic rose topper:

The Three Ps

2010-01-29T05:16:00.000-08:00

I like playing around. I normally have very little time to play around, and, if I'm honest, little time to do the whole PPP thing, you know the one, practise, practise, practise. And that's okay...sometimes. Sometimes, it's okay to just do what you find easy for a while, to settle, to gain confidence, to establish yourself. Sometimes, you need to play. Nobody will ever see those beads, they're colour combos that you thought might be worth trying, the first goes with a new press. If you try it once or twice, then move on to something else...that's playing. And sometimes, you need to play.

But sometimes, you have to practise. There is an idea in your head, a bead that you see so clearly, you are convinced if only you lit your torch, you would hold it in your hands the next day. How can you not - you see it so clearly?

First, I made the murrini. And I have to say, hurrah, it turned out pretty much exactly as I wanted it. Apart from the fact that I'd done a black outline on it, which grew ad infinitum on the bead - blob-headed geishas! So, I ground the edge of my titchy-tiny murrini, to see if that would work in principle. Huzzah (this is why the face is a bit grimy, but at least now I know it's worth to do another one! And thus started the PPP - colours for the cherry blossoms, for the dress, the obi (belt). Research into layers of dress, right over left, left over right...translating these into stroke order. What to melt in, what to leave raised. Which colour for a background.

This is the bead I'm happiest with. It's not perfect, but it's the result of a lot of PPP - don't be surprised if there aren't too many beads newly up for sale this week-end! I've got some more PPP to do ;o)

Let the sunshine in!

2010-01-27T01:58:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everybody who nominated me for a sunshine award - I got four of them!! So, in no particular order, thank you to

Louise - http://louisebroomhead.blogspot.com/

Jean - http://aboxofbeads.blogspot.com

Mel - http://kookiedesigns.blogspot.com and

Lesley - http://coburgcrafts.blogspot.com/

Thank you all so much, it's lovely to know that I'm spreading sunshine. Having had a look around, though, it seems so many people already have one of these, so apologies if I'm re-nominating.

http://chatelainejewellery.blogspot.com/

http://saffieandherblog.blogspot.com/

http://helen-mitchell.blogspot.com/

http://katrin-myworldasiseeit.blogspot.com/

And because I cannot resist showing this one off:

What a lovely week-end!

2010-01-25T00:43:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, a group of lovely people descended on my studio, bearing biscuits, chocolate, homemade fudge, and lots of other goodies! We had such a fab time, playing with the torches, demo-ing to each other, and...hmmm....expanding our horizons. Dawn brought her grinder, and June brought her Koil Cutter...and now I have tool envy ;o) No, seriously, thank you all for a fantastic Saturday!

On Sunday, I had a bit more time making beads, and since the first two rose ring toppers sold before I could even take a proper photo of them, here's one:

I am liking these very much, and I hope the ring system will take the UK by storm, lol!

Catching up!!!

2010-01-22T00:39:00.000-08:00

Apologies, the day job has been getting in the way....but things have been happening, nonetheless!

Here's what's happened since the last blog:

1) I launched the RingXChange range on my website - see here! You only need one ri

ng, which is stainless steel, with a screw in it

, then all toppers have the matching nut, one ring

fits all toppers, and feel free

to experiment with creating 'washers' out of other m

aterials - I have a couple ready, but still need to take photos. No, that's a lie....here's a piece of driftwood from my honeymoon! I have made some rose and other flower toppers, too, but not had a chance to list them!

2) I have been on a fabu

lous course with Claudia Trimbur-Pagel, who is a lovely lady, and a great teacher! I am still waiting for my beads from the course, but will post photos when I get them!

3) I have finally

connected my Midrange burner, and am now officially owner of a two

-torch studio, equipped to teach two people at the same time, so...bring it on! :o)

4) As if that was not enough, I have agreed to teach a group workshop in November, 6 peo

ple, so I will have a 'travelling' set-up of hothead torches.

5) I have been busy writing tutorials, both for magazines and a

book. In this month's Making Jewellery magazine, you can find three of my tutorials, two involving

lampwork beads, including a kanji bead with

the Japanese/Chinese for 'Love', just in time for Valentine's Day. The 'Hidden Love' choker reveals the bead as you move, hi

dden by dangly sterling squiggles.

My roses are featured in this month's Bead Magazine.

And finally, I got the images from when the press came to call back in November/December. Shaun Flannery sent them, and here's my favourite:

...and my apologies for the rubbish formatting in this post!

So...things have been busy :o)

Mountains, Mohammed, and other things

2010-01-08T04:18:00.000-08:00

This morning, I drove as near to the sorting centre as I could, walked the rest, and picked up my mail. Boy, were they happy to see me! It was the first day they were open, and they were drowning in mail. Alas, the parcel I've been waiting for has not yet arrived - a real blow, it's been on the road for more than two weeks now, from Germany. But I guess the weather isn't helping anybody.

Beads sold straight off Flickr all week, but I will list what I have later on. Making Jewellery Magazine should land on subscriber's door steps tomorrow, a reminder to get sorted for Valentine's Day!

Here some rough pups that I'm rather partial to :o)

Go, postie, go!

2010-01-07T03:10:00.000-08:00

I'm planning something special. And for that special-ness, I need the post to get to me. I've not had any mail yet this year, which is highly frustrating when you're planning something special.

On the plus side, I've been in the studio every night so far, and am officially up-to-date with commissions and tutorials (six this month).

And just in case you were wondering what my studio looks like at the moment, based on yesterday's story:

This was at 9.30pm last night....stay warm, ladies & gents, stay warm!

Snow, snow, snow!

2010-01-06T03:26:00.000-08:00

Well, there will be many, many people blogging the snow, so instead, I shall blog my route to the studio. Put on knee-high boots, stuff jeans inside. Put on extra jumper & coat. Nab torch & keys. Open back door, eye knee-high snow about to fall into the kitchen with suspicion. Gently tread it down towards the outside, avoid kitchen flooding. Take one last look at warm, cosy house, sigh with regret. Step outside and firmly shut door behind. Narrowly avoid saying 'I might be some time'. Realise snow is so deep that wading through it means it comes over knee-high boots. Stupidly decide that it'll be less wet if I do it quickly, so start thrashing through the snow like a frolicking pony. Realise this is quite fun, and do a few sideways jumps & kicks for the heck of it. Just in time, spot the ilex spiky bush, so laden down with snow that it is now shoulder height. Decide whether it would be better to get thrashing from bush, or to stoop low enough to avoid it, crouching into the snow. Give a contortionist a run for their money and do an oscar-worthy limbo...realise coat was trailing in the snow. Open studio door and turn on light. Bring in two cubic metres of snow when I realise I didn't do the 'tamping down' bit before opening the door. Wonder how it could have snowed horizontally against the window...everything covered in snow. Realise clothes & shoes are soaking wet. Turn on ventilation and heater and break into hysterical laughter at the futile struggle of industrial strength ventilation (huge draft) vs. tiny heater. Settle down for two hours of torching.

Come back inside. Realise it's been a while since I've felt my toes. Sit in front of open fire, feet an inch away from the flame. Watch steam rise, and realise I can't feel a thing. Contemplate inching closer, stopped only by 'the look' from hubby. Be overwhelmed with love when hubby comes with a bowl of warm water. Strip socks of, gently lower feet in. Twenty minutes after coming inside, watch with strangely detached interest how all toes have turned pink, apart from one. Idly wonder whether it would be possible to lose a toe when beading. Realise I'm actually quite attached to all my toes. Starting to worry. Watch toe very, very closely, decide there might be a tiny hue of pink. Praise the kiln fairies and wonder whether I'd do it all over again tomorrow. Realise that I will.

Name in lights :o)

2010-01-04T22:34:00.000-08:00

When I entered my Warning! Necklace for a Frit Happens! Forum Etsy Street Team challenge on 'Resolutions', the lovely Jolene went on to feature it on the team blog - you can read about it here - thanks Jo!

And then, I had a look at the new Handmade Artists Shop, which grew out of the Handmade Artists Forum......and if you go to the shop (see link above) and take a close look at the banner, what do you see? My Ice Fairy! Thank you for featuring it! It is lovely to see that the fairy (R.I.P., courtesy of my then 16-month-old) lives on in cyberspace!

Some Rough Pups as a photo today...there are new, new beads, but they'll get wrapped up and parcelled off in secret today or tomorrow ;o) So you'll have to be patient for a little while longer.

Little grumbles

2010-01-03T13:13:00.001-08:00

Some days, I swear my torch is out to get me. Of course, it's not, it's always human error! But why is it that:

- I made a commissioned set - with a base on clear - only to find out that...errr, no, one of them has a base of pale, pale blue transparent?

- I made three virtually identical focals for a tutorial. One broke in two coming off the mandrel, one has a tiny flaw in it, and the third shows a hairline crack near one hole?

- What I thought was coral turns out to be CiM Phoenix?

- My opaque turquoise glass has disappeared?

...and all in one day?

Yes, okay, give it to me: If I was tidier, calmer, better prepared, thinking things through in advance, I wouldn't have had these problems. Work starts again tomorrow, that's my excuse.

...

...now, that was rambling, and an unusual post for me. Still........nobody's perfect ;o) At least I got to show you my new 'Crossroads' beads :o)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T11:06:00.000-08:00

It's been a long silence from me - apologies! First the rush of pre-Christmas commissions, then a few days in Germany, then back just in the nick of time to panic about that little festival you might have noticed was happening last month - what was it called again? Chirsmas? Crimas?

Anyway, the studio is positively freezing, but I'll be listing a few goodies later tonight, including this necklace - I made the beads for it before my holiday, but only now got to wire it up. I've also posted the poem it's based on, although I'm sure many of you will recognise it.

Happy New Year to you all - may it bring only good news, exciting adventures and lucky coincidences. May you be healthy and safe, and may you have everything you need, and a little bit extra for luxury :o)

Warning

by Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat that doesn't go and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only eat bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers

But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old and start to wear purple.

'Blind' commission

2009-12-13T10:38:00.000-08:00

Normally, when I get a commission (and I'm sure that's true for most other people!), the person commissioning the piece has seen something from me and liked it. So when an ex-colleague on my Mum's said she'd like to buy some jewellery off me, I'd assumed she knew what she was getting - until it transpires that she doesn't have internet, and only ever saw a bead on mine that dangles from my Mum's keys. Uh-oh. I have met the lady in question.....last, possibly, about 15 years ago! So I convinced my Mum to at least get me a hint - are we talking bracelet? Ring? Necklace? Brooch? Whacky? Classy? Well, I'm glad I got my Mum to ask, because the first piece of info coming back was...gold! Me, on auto pilot, I would have made silver every time. So, after firing an order for findings off, I turned to the rest of the brief - necklace or pendant, simple, possibly leather, beads with green or blue. I'll be taking two - I hope she likes one of them.

New talent on the block!

2009-12-10T23:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, the studio was properly 'christened', when the first teaching took place in there. I'd taught in the garage, but ... well, let me tell you, the studio works a *lot* better.

Suki had come over from York for the day, and I think you'll agree that her beads are fabulous - there's not a wonky one among them!

We did round beads and some dots before lunch - by then, I'm afraid to say, we were a bit cold - which will be remedied when I get 'proper' heating for the studio this week-end! But the scampi & chips in the pub across the road warmed us up nicely!

The afternoon was given over to trying different techniques - raking, silver foil (and therefore encasing). All the beads in the photo are Suki's, and no, she's never been at the torch before. I helped a little bit with the flowers, but that's it. Here comes the competition!

What happened there?

2009-12-07T23:55:00.001-08:00

I've been quiet, but that doesn't mean nothing's happening - au contraire (why do French & German have lovely sounding phrases for this, and English only has the clumsy sounding 'quite the opposite'?).

As some of you know I'm stand-in newsletter editor for the Glass Bead Makers UK (GBUK) society, and...erm....not that there was a deadline as such, but I set myself one, and it has passed. I was going to get it out of the way before the whole pre-Christmas stress, and didn't, so now, I've had orders, fairs, tuition, a full-time job, a toddler, *and* a newsletter to edit. On the positive side, it's nearly done. On the other side, I'm not getting as much play-time as I'd like. I'm just finishing a batch of fingerprint jewellery orders in time for Christmas, too.

So, while I go and do all that, why don't you go and read the feature on me which got put up on the fabulous Frit Happens Etsy Street Team blog? I promise I'll be back with more news soon! And since it's not getting any warmer, I'm sharing a photo of a snoozle to keep you cosy snug!

Come closer, no, closer, and closer......

2009-12-03T08:28:00.000-08:00

I just did an interview. No, that's a lie. I did the interview the other day, parked by the roadside, on my mobile. Today, we did the photo. And what a good photographer avoids, is dead space between his points of interest....i.e. dead space between the torch and me. If anybody in the know happens to see the article, no, I'm not short-sighted, and yes, I am aware of health and safety regulations. And yes, that's my fringe, about two inches away from the flame. What's that smell...? ;o)

The photographer stayed behind to shoot more photos for his portfolio, and got all artistic - which I fully approve of. So, should you ever see a picture of my silhouette illuminated by the radial glow of a blob of glass....ask not what I was making at the time - I was making a blob of glass big enough to produce enough radial heat to light my silhouette :o)

Now, where's the space heater? The garage is cold!

Branching out

2009-12-02T01:05:00.000-08:00

I've had an idea (oh no, you groan, another one!), for which I need wire. Now, I know my way around precious metal wire. but this is more the other kind - copper (which I kind of 'get', courtesy of silversmithing classes), or possibly aluminium (because it's silver and thus a cheat on sterling - it'll all make sense). And I need it thick - 2.5mm minimum. Now, I have questions:

- Does aluminium wire follow the same rules as other metals, i.e. can you work-harden it with a hammer?

- Where can you buy short length of thick wire, to have a play (avoiding major outlay, in case this is a dead duck?)

....and where, oh where did I put the magic machine that creates extra hours each day?

Is it something in the water?

2009-11-28T23:03:00.000-08:00

First, this is not a moan, just an observation - and, I guess, a query. Picture the scene: Christmas Fair. Same place. Two consecutive days. Same stall. Virtually same stock.

Day 1: Lady approaches stall, fingers stuff. Me: "The glass beads are hand-crafted - I'm a glass bead maker." She: "Are you really? How fascinating!" Repeat that scene numerous times (with both men and women), liberally sprinkle with happy chats about different jewellery making techniques, the weather, tuition, matching colours, etc. End of day: pretty good, as far as the till is concerned. Frantic jewellery making to re-stock in the evening.

Day 2: Only slightly less footfall. Lady approaches stall, fingers stuff. Me: "The glass beads are hand-crafted - I'm a glass bead maker." She: "Oh yeah?" Insert fast exit here. Sprinkle with numerous people throwing a cursory glance at stall without ever wandering over. End of day: :o(

Overall, I'm not unhappy, the overall balance was okay. But why? Are Sunday shoppers casual shoppers? It's an out-of-the-way venue, no passing traffic, really, so everybody would have to make an effort to come in. Do craft-people exude invisible fumes on the second day, sending out messages like 'don't come near'? Are 'Saturdays' for spending (week-end grocery shop, etc.), and Sundays for leisure (i.e. 'browsing'? Was it just a fluke (which did repeat itself all over the fair, not just on my stall)?

And has anybody ever done a PhD on the psychology of craft fairs and their shoppers? Hmmmmmm...........................................

Double whammy!

2009-11-27T22:50:00.000-08:00

So much has been going on, I've not yet blogged this month's Making Jewellery magazine! I thought I had one tutorial in it, until I was told another one of mine had been pulled forward, so there are two! Although I'm not normally one for fashion, I thoroughly enjoy this magazine - mainly because they also support fashion advice like 'this would look great with jeans and t-shirt' ;o) This issue is full of gorgeous Christmas bling, including several art clay tutorials that look rather yummy!

I'm in there with a pair of cufflinks and a bracelet.

The bracelet I made features an exchangeable clasp, and it just came back from the publisher, so I took a quick photo. The question is.......sell it, or keep it?

Off to my Christmas fair in a bit!

I need a new bust

2009-11-27T05:40:00.000-08:00

Recently, I posted on a lovely forum about how to display large necklaces - I got lots of fabulous responses, that gave me loads of ideas!! Dutifully, I bought some polystyrene insulation, a cheap second-hand picture frame, an old velvet jersey top, and a staple gun. Not too long afterwards, I had a pretty 'picture' of velvet, to which I could pin my jewellery. But.....it just wasn't right. So, with two days of Christmas fairs to go, I decided I needed a bust - and a big one at that! Not being a woman who does things by half, I ordered three. Fingers crossed they'll arrive today. So, here's a 'before the new bust' photo - do you think getting the new busts will help me get noticed at the fair???? I hadn't realised just how important a good bust was..........

;o)

Words that Inspire

2009-11-26T02:59:00.000-08:00

I am hugely motivated and inspired by words. When I was five years old (yes, that's right!), I made a book in kindergarten, weaving the cover out of paper strips. It's slightly smaller than A6. And, at the tender age of 5, I decided that I would put one poem or saying per year into it - one per page - until the pages ran out. I realised that the end of the book would take me to the ripe old age of 25, which, of course, appeared ancient. At some point around the age of 14, English appeared in these sayings, or not. At the age of 18, I realised one saying was not enough to capture the mood of a year, so I wrote down more - 4, 5 sometimes - but I always stuck to one page. Looking back, I can watch myself grow up, from the first two years, where my Mum helped me find a quote (leading to quite old-fashioned proverbs), through teenage rebellion, into adulthood. Amongst other things, the book made me focus - what was this year about? With my birthday in October, I wouldn't even attempt to leave a quote until the following summer - what if my life was about to change radically, and the year would forever be eternalised with a quote that was no longer relevant? Through the quotes, I can track when I was grateful for things going well, when I was keeping myself psyched up to keep on fighting when things were rough, when I felt I was in need of cheering myself up, or when I was feeling contemplative. I would write down bits of poems, full poems, random sentences from books. If it meant something to me, it would go in.

And now, I'm on the hunt for words again. Words that mean something, that inspire, keep us going, motivate us, remind us of what we have, who we are, and what could be if only we went and got it. And I shall turn them into jewellery. On commission, or to buy. I have more ideas than there are hours in the day, but I have just listed the first one in my etsy shop. The quote is by Victor Hugo:

Be like the bird that, pausing on her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels

them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings.

So, ladies (and gents), let us keep singing, for we all have wings!

My question to you is this: Which words motivate you? What saying/poem/random phrase reminds you to get out of bed, face the day with a smile on your face...and keep on singing?

I hope you're all having a good day!

Candy Cane Christmas market and a bit of a natter

2009-11-25T02:37:00.000-08:00

This week-end is the Craft Candy - Candy Cane Christmas market, at the Sheffield Workstation (near the train station). You can see more information here. I'll be there on both days with jewellery, and have been making original items (like the Mad Hatter necklace I blogged yesterday). It's a funny old balance, isn't it? With beads and some jewellery in one shop, bridal jewellery and tiaras in another shop, work in a local gallery, and an etsy shop that is in the process of being resurrected, as well as fairs to attend, what do you list where? And when do you list it? So, I will be taking the new jewellery items to the fair, and on Monday, there shall be a listing frenzy. Expect keys on silk ribbons, fabulous chokers, and more poetry necklaces...unless they all sell, of course ;o)

Oh, and I did another interview yesterday, parked by the roadside on my mobile, since that was the only way to get a very excited birthday boy to fall asleep so I could have a good natter with the PR lady - watch this space - we need to book a photo session....now, where's my 'airbrush?

Oh (lol, that's two 'ohs' - a bit like Columbo!), and munchkin the birthday boy discovered a bigger flame than from mummy's torch - the fire tornado at the Magna Centre in Rotherham!

Mad as a Hatter

2009-11-24T01:20:00.000-08:00

I spent a ridiculously long time yesterday wiring up beads - I thought it'd be quicker. Before that, I played with a 3mm sterling silver wire length I've had for some time,

hammering, stamping, soldering, polishing and satin-brushing it. Then I joined everything together, and looked at it. And then I took some photos.

I love words. And I love sculptural lampwork. And

asymmentrical necklaces. And things with stories and meaning. And my 'major mojo' idea came when I realised that I could combine the whole lot!!!!! I've got the components for a second necklace - very different to this one - and if I manage to finish my commissions quickly tonight, I'll see if I can finish it. Until then, may I present: 'Mad as a Hatter'!!

The advantages of a 4am start

2009-11-23T00:27:00.000-08:00

When the little one decided 4am was a reasonable getting up time, I was...erm...disappointed. But then I realised: what an opportunity! So, by the time I got to work at 7.45am, I had:

- cleaned yesterday's beads

- made a pendant and earring set up out of 'champagne bottle beads' for a celebratory graduation commission

- got to know the engraving gadget on my dremel a bit better

- packaged yesterday's orders up

- checked and replied to emails

- sketched a few ideas to do with my new

jewellery range

- had lots of cuddles with munchkin, showed him how to use hammer & anvil for silversmithing

- done all the mundane household things: showering, making lunch, having breakfast

- bought some milk on the way to work.

I have also learnt that I need way more PPP for my engraving tool to create what I want it to!

New beads went online yesterday, I'm attaching a close-up of my favourite focal/set combo, and a little butterfly.

Mojo alert!

2009-11-22T09:32:00.000-08:00

There are weeks, even months, when mojos go on holiday - mine included. Then, suddenly, ideas burst out everywhere.........that's where I'm at at this precise moment in time. Never mind Christmas fairs, never mind the job, never mind the fact that there's lots to do in the studio yet.....I want to PLAY! I've had ideas for jewellery especially, and I'm keeping back some butterflies to explore these ideas.....sorry!

But there are still plenty of beads from my open day yesterday that will go online either late tonight or early tomorrow - if you want to be on my mailing list, just send me an email at mail@littlecastledesigns.co.uk and tell me so, and I'll add you in a flash!

Open Day

2009-11-21T11:22:00.000-08:00

I had my Open Day today, and since my studio was in tip-top shape, I thought I'd share the 'grand finale' photos of the development. Ladies & gentlemen, may I present: the Little Castle Designs / Now Forevermore studio :o)

Rod by rod, bead by bead

2009-11-19T23:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, something slightly more philosophical today - are you ready? There are a lot of expressions that illustrate when something is done slowly, but steadily - bit by bit, peux à peux, little by little, etc. But they don't really express what it means, do they? Analogies and metaphors work better: you build a house 'brick by brick', you empty an ocean 'drop by drop', you walk a thousand miles 'step after step' - in these contexts, a seemingly impossible task is broken down into minute components, implying that, as long as you stick with it, you'll do it - however long it might take.

When I first discussed bead making full time with my OH, he was, of course, apprehensive - it's a great leap into the unknown. I am fortunate in having been given a long lead-in time, my job ends next summer, so I have a long time to make it work. We both joked that I would take over the world - bead by bead. That, of course, was a joke - I have no intention to take over the world (and aren't you glad to hear it). But, thanks to you all, who buy my beads and my jewellery, bead by bead, spacer by spacer, full-time bead making looks like a viable option. And for that, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

So tonight, when it is finally time to move all my glass across from cellar to studio (and there is a lot of glass!), I shall take it steady - rod by rod, if I have to, so that tomorrow, those visiting my open studio, can see the full gorgeousness of glass :o)

Philosophical moment over! Today's photo is of my glass rods, but taken by my talented sister Katrin (see her other photos on Flickr here).

I'm a success, lol!

2009-11-17T23:37:00.000-08:00

Surely, otherwise, nobody would have written a success story about me, would they?

Here's what happened: About half a year ago, I found out that the university I studies at (and now happen to be working at, too) was giving out enterprise grants for start-up businesses. Cheeky as I am, I checked regulations, double-checked them, and found out that I was fully eligible (as a graduate within the last five years) - in fact, I was strongly encouraged to go for it. So I asked for the money for the stall at the UK Wedding Show. No way would I have contemplated attending such a high profile (although, now that I've done it once, I might well do it again). With this grant came, of course, responsibility - handing over receipts, writing a report, but, to be fair, nothing onerous, especially not when your day job includes writing reports. And, now that all this is done, and I'm still standing, I'm a 'success story', and was interviewed by the lovely Samantha Deakin about my trials and tribulations. Reading it this morning, I realised it should say 'the further you get from the *mandrel* the colder the glass gets', but other than that, I'm chuffed to be sounding even remotely coherent. Whether or not anybody is interested in reading it, I don't know...but if you are, click here.

An older photo today, while I'm working on new stuff :o)

And so......it begins!

2009-11-16T23:38:00.000-08:00

The first torch moved into the studio under cover of darkness yesterday...and tonight, come hell or high water, I'll be making beads there - even if I have to carry a single rod of glass across.

Don't get me wrong - it's not 'finished'. Not in the 'everything's pretty, and clean, and dusted, and the fairy lights are up, and the potted plant is out'. In fact, anything but! I am two clamps short of setting up the full ventilation (and here was me, thinking I'd counted it out beautifully). I also have two 90 degree bends spare, since the design I had in mind just didn't work. So it's not as pretty as I'd hoped, but after setting fire to a random worktop offcut yesterday, I can confirm my ventilation works. I still need to sort out glass storage (OH had a very clever idea here - watch this space!!!!), and...well, carry everything across apart from one torch, one oxy, and one bottle of propane. My old hothead is set up on a splitter from the mega minor, so, I guess I carried two torches across. Still contemplating whether to mount it as an 'occasional third torch' and for demos, or whether to re-connect my Sievert silversmithing torch.

You know what I'm actually looking forward to? Not running out of propane...but simply switching torches. I have now owned the midrange plus for pretty much half a year, and since the new studio was always just 'round the corner', I've still never set it up, nor lit it. Criminal, really! I won't take any more pictures until I'm 'in' a bit more...and I guess I better go out and buy that potted plant!

Since there are no studio photos, have the newest dragonfly :o)

Things that make you go 'ugh'

2009-11-16T00:48:00.001-08:00

.....like this pesky studio still not being done. *But* it's getting there :o) This is what it looked like this morning.

Playing with widgets

2009-11-12T13:52:00.000-08:00

How tempting is it to waste lots of time with widgets??? I've now added my Facebook page - well, the Little Castle Designs one anyway. The geek in me wants to play with it until the perfect layout is achieved - the busy working-business-running Mum is reminding me that not even my banner is straight. A heads-up to trusty followers - the website should get updated tomorrow night, with new stuff on each and every bead-related page......and new options for made-to-order lace beads, including different shapes, such as these lovely mini-marquis ones!

Tantalisingly close...

2009-11-11T00:27:00.000-08:00

I have a set of keys to the door in the picture. You will notice the foam spurting from any crevice, and what you can't see is the pile of junk that is still inside. Fingers crossed, the elves (in the shape of DH) will knuckle down properly on Saturday, while I'm doing the first Christmas fair of the year, at the Leopold Hotel in Sheffield - why not pop by and say 'hi', if you're around?

And I think I will go this lunchtime and get a spare key cut......in bright pink, with flowers on it. Then I shall make a big, chunky bead to go on the key ring - no mistaking which is the key to my studio! And just to carry on a discussion from elsewhere - if a studio in a shed is a shedio, is a studio in a garage a gudio? A goodio? A garudio? A studage? Answers on a postcard, please!

A blank canvas

2009-11-10T00:32:00.000-08:00

Well, I was disappointed to find that the door still wasn't in when I came home from work yesterday. You must all get bored with the never-ending story of the studio conversion! However, apparently, the building inspector is booked for Thursday to sign off the final result, which gives me hope. And with hubby having Wednesday booked off work to start building the interior, we took to throwing bucket after bucket of masonry paint at the stones. I was all for keeping it natural, but trust you me, these stones were beyond rescue - we tried, wire brushing them and acid-etching them...there was no way around it. This way, the interior will look much brighter, too. The photo shows the first coat of paint, and the wall is painted up to the end of 'my bit'. :o)

Open Day 21st November!

2009-11-09T01:00:00.001-08:00

Okay, this is scary! No, the studio is not finished yet, BUT! there will be an open day on Saturday, 21st November, to coincide with the Bolsterstone (my village's) Christmas market, and I believe there's an art show in the village church, too. Bolsterstone is well known as a starting point for lovely walks around the Peak District, there's a pub with good food, and I'll be demonstrating, as well as selling beads and jewellery. So, if you're stuck for something to do, why not pop by? Just come to Bolsterstone, park in the middle of the village, and I promise you won't be able to miss our house (getting a banner printed especially). Looking forward to seeing you there!

Trends

2009-11-08T01:05:00.000-08:00

Here's what happens. I bead along happily, minding my own business, then somebody mentions a tutorial. Hmmm...I think, and rarely bother to check it out. Then beads start appearing from other bead makers. NICE! I think.....oh, they're from that tutorial. Hmmmmmm.........then MORE beads start appearing. Oh bum, I think. And off I go to buy the tutorial. In all honesty, that still doesn't mean I'll make the beads with it. But in this case, it does. Amy Kinsch's tutorial on storm beads is fab, and, above all, really straightforward. And I could even do it in the dark deep cellar.

On the studio front, I *think* the door and window are being put in. But then, I thought that before, so I'm fresh out of promised finishing dates for now.

Lest we forget

2009-11-06T00:30:00.000-08:00

While I was on the course last week, I got a commission for an off-mandrel poppy pendant - I think it's safe to say that I'd have struggled a lot more had it not been for last week's off-mandrel experience. I'll be making some with holes to go on the site this week-end.

THAT poem

2009-11-05T05:42:00.000-08:00

I'll take a photo of the final piece when I get it, but wanted to share the epiphany of the poem that went into it. I wanted to create a piece that I could look upon as inspiration, for my chosen path, which now looks more and more like a lampworker's path once my current contract finishes. I wanted something that spoke of beauty and fighting spirit...I found it hard to describe exactly what I meant...and it took me three days to realise that a poem I first discovered as an 18-year-old, by good old Nietzsche, and one of my favourite poems of all times, was already saying what I was feeling, better than I ever could. I finally tracked down a translation, too, after cobbling together a translation myself for ages. So, without further ado, Nietzsche, Ecce Homo:

Yes, I know from where I came!

Ever hungry like a flame,

I consume myself and glow.

Light grows all that I conceive,

Ashes everything I leave:

Flame I am assuredly.

So, for all of us, here's to 'being flame'.

Can you say pretty, please?

2009-11-05T05:27:00.000-08:00

I'm at work on my lunch hour. Yesterday, I came home to find that the gables have been mortared, as has the very top of the roof, where it joins the house. No more leaks. The skip out front is fit to burst, it's that full, and a distinct sense of 'tidy up' is becoming apparent. If I say 'pretty, please' - will that ensure the door & window will be in when I get back from work - leaving me free to brush down the walls & move in? What do you think?

And meanwhile, I'm hearing rumours that, all over the country, the results from last week's course are arriving by courier. If I say 'pretty, pretty, please, pretty, please' - do you think I'll have the doors & the window, *and* a notice saying my casts are with a neighbour, rather than in a depot 100,000,000 miles away?

Pretty, pretty, please, pretty, pretty, pretty, please!

Interim measures

2009-11-02T06:41:00.000-08:00

I'm off sick at home today, but it occurred to me that I've not shown my interim 'studio', read: the cellar. So I crawled down the steps to take a photo. Yes, that dark stain on the wall is water coming in, when I was torching yesterday, it was raining outside. The worst the cellar ever flooded was by about 2ft - 60cm. Since that would just about kill an oxycon, I've been keeping everything crossed. Actually, with the flash from the camera, it looks less bad than it is, lol!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

2009-11-01T00:54:00.000-07:00

...the kitchen units have arrived, the roof has been slated, the velux windows are in, and both gables have been built up. Now, the gap between roof and brickwork needs mortaring, and the door & window need putting in the back wall. It transpired that builder automatically left a gap wide enough for wheelchair access, which means far less workspace for me, but once I'd thought about it, I'm quite happy about it :o)

Day 5

2009-10-31T01:09:00.000-07:00

If the other days were busy, day 5 was a veritable rollercoaster! There wasn't much flameworking going on (I joined rods, and that was it), but a few people put some finishing touches to their pieces. Then they went into the kiln, and that was the end of it - no more second chances. Katie did a cold-working demonstration, which was very helpful. Then, we sifted the newly arrived sand and got mould-making, most of these got fired just before lunch. Then we added powders and frit to the bottom. And then the kiln was hot, and that was that. I have to admit, my final design was simple compared to most others, and it looks like every single one will come out beautif......no, let's not jinx it ;o)

It was lovely seeing everybody's creativity in full flow, and by and large, I think we had the teamwork in the hot shop down pretty well. Tom was a star for pouring all of our moulds, that ladle was heavy, and hot!!!

After the final one, it was tidying up time, and that took us to 4.45pm. Time for good-byes and thank yous - to Julie, but also to Tom, Charlotte, Katie, Rowan and Kim. The drive home was quicker than I expected, and so I made it home just before 10pm. Back to the grindstone now :o)

Day 4

2009-10-29T23:17:00.000-07:00

I still can't get the new photos to upload onto Flickr, but it's home time soon, so I'll do it from there.

Well, Day 4 started with us finally seeing our first casts! Note to self: alabaster/opalino colours don't cast well, which is rather disappointing. And where there are creases in the glass, bubbles may appear (which could bring us to well-sculpted, farting mermaids, but that's a different story!) ;o) Most of us had thrown some sort of experiment in, and many of these turned out...others...didn't so well.

Then, those of us wanting to do an experiment in casting got do do so. I'd been eager to try and cast my hand, so I shoved it into sand, pinned a leaf down for good measure (allegedly, the veins keep intact), and Tom kindly poured it for me. I saw some fingers poking through the sand as it got transferred into the kiln, so I'm hoping it's a goer!

Demonstrations abounded - elephants, fish, and....oooh yes....dragons! Well, one dragon. Which was especially cool for me, since I missed it at the Flame Off this year! The rest of the day was about producing the flameworked components to go into the cast....so I made five different ladies - now, if only I could pick the best bits from each one. Julie kindly showed me how she makes a rose, which is completely different to how I make it, and a great way to do it off mandrel.

Then we had a BBQ, and copious amounts of wine, and, for me, the lastest night so far - very clever when you know you'll wake up at 5am, and will end up doing 5-6 hours' driving before you can sleep again. Ah well!

Day 3

2009-10-29T00:32:00.000-07:00

Right......what did we do. Calm breath, remember....oh, it's all a whirl! After our morning discussion (how's it going, where do we go from here?) Julie decided to split the class into two levels of flameworkers, giving separate demos for each group, going into more or less detail accordingly. Other than that, we took it in twos to prepare our casts. Emma and I went first (by virtue of having all our bits and pieces ready - which meant we were the ones waiting for an hour for the kiln to ramp up to a high enough temperature so that our inclusions wouldn't ping all over the place. I don't know whether it was for this reason that both of our moulds ended up ma-hoosive & freeform - would we have stopped earlier if we'd had less time? Nah, I don't think so. But we both vowed to do smaller ones for our final pieces.

I also discovered that I'm a wuss - the radiating heat from a huge blob of molten glass is quite - erm - hot!! But we got ourselves sorted, and, if Flickr ever plays ball today, I'll be able to upload photos!

After that, we flameworked - I made my daily marble, and two ladies after Julie's demo. During this time, the others cast two-by-two (Noah's ark for glassy people). I now think I know what to do for my final piece, but will need to work on the inclusions for that. Our first casts (from Tuesday) should be cool enough this morning to come out - keep your fingers crossed.

We all went out in the evening, which was lovely! And ow, it's nearly breakfast time again.....and there'll be a dragon demo. Excited? Moi??? :o))))) Photo to follow once I get Flickr to play nice!

Day 2 of Julie Anne Denton

2009-10-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

On Day 2, we split up, half of us (those who were organised and had produced stuff to go into their casts yesterday) to cast first, the other half (including me) to cast after that. So I spent a frantic hour making roses and leaves on vines – a first, I have to say, and, although I know most joints were rubbish, a valiant effort! Making the mould was like playing with sand – except much, much more serious. We’ve been given our very own mould, about 6x6” and about 3” high. We’d been asked to adapt it to our heart’s content....but only very few of us wanted to mess with it (applause to Emma, who cut off a corner). So, we plonked our mould into the sand, jiggled, patted, checked, adjusted, levelled, hammered, patted, jiggled, until we had a hole in the sand that looked like it came from said mould. This got sprayed with molasses (yup, the sugar stuff) and caramelised with a big propane torch, to form a crusty shell to cast into. After this, we chucked some powders & frit at the bottom. Tom from Liquid Glass did the pouring, and we talked through the specifics – how many layers, who would come from where, then Julie helped on our side, getting our pieces out of the kiln, where they had been pre-warmed. My rose made bubbles, which I’d been warned about – one of them rose to the surface, pulling the petal with it – bummer! The casts will take forever to anneal, so we'll only see Tuesday's and Wednesday's casts - those from Thursday and Friday will need to be shipped out afterwards.

This took us into the afternoon, then there was more planning, more flameworking – Julie demonstrated a tree and a flamingo, and also a big, freeform cast, and set us our task for the next day – buildings or the human form. And so we planned again.

As for me, I can now make a squiggle – which I’m dead-chuffed with, so applause, please ;o)

When it's all worth it...

2009-10-26T22:58:00.000-07:00

For months now, I knew that end of October would be busy....very busy! After two days of the UK Wedding Show in Manchester, I got up at 3.20am on Monday morning, threw random clothes in a backpack, and drove for four hours down to Trowbridge (near Bath) for a course with the lovely Julie Anne Denton. So, for weeks, I told myself "just make it to that Monday night" - you'll be able to sleep that night, and all will be well on Tuesday. I don't think I fooled anybody when I tried to look lively yesterday, but, lively or not, I don't believe I've learnt so much in a day for a long time.

The course is about flameworking and sandcasting - flameworking pieces that then get put into cast glass pieces - if that makes sense. We saw a demonstration with Julie doing it, and we had plenty of torch time - aided and abetted by Kim of Liquid Glass allowing us to use the studio until 7pm. I finally turned off the torch at 6.50pm, and the me-time at the torch (the first time to *play* for months since we emptied the garage) was *almost* as good as sleep ;-)

Among the lampworking demonstrations Julie did were one of her gorgeous ladies - this one a juggler - and a dichroic vortex marble. I have to admit I only took photos of the sandcasting demonstration, after that I was busy!!

This is an all-round course - as Julie explained, we'll be having a lot of test pieces and - we hope - one beautiful piece at the end. So we spent time drawing, and thinking, and trying stuff at the torch. The kiln got quite full with all our flamework, including a couple of marbles, a space rocket, and a *lot* of ladies!

I'll try and blog every day, so watch this space! Photos of the course will be uploaded here.

UK Wedding Show

2009-10-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

How do you know you're doing a busy fair on your own? When it takes you two-and-a-half hours to eat a simple sandwich, that's when!

Yes, I'm at the UK Wedding Show this week - which seems a bit odd, since other people with stalls include House of Fraser, John Lewis, the BBC, and other huge names.....but also an 'owl bearer', i.e. having your wedding rings delivered by an owl (no, the owl is not at the stall). I'm half way through, one day down, one day to go - only time will tell whether it was a worthwhile investment :o)

Studio update

2009-10-23T13:33:00.000-07:00

Okay.....builder came today, and built up one gable - it has to be propped up for a week for the mortar to set, to make sure the RSJ doesn't buckle. And it has to set for 3 weeks before they can drill a hole for my ventilation. So....if it doesn't rain tomorrow, he'll do the other end. If it does, he'll come on Sunday - and if it rains then, we'll be set back another week - aaaaaaaah!

It's alive!

2009-10-23T01:28:00.000-07:00

The new Now Forevermore website, that is. It's part of a one-two punch, the second update will happen at Christmas, with 'View Cart' buttons, 'Customers who bought this also bought', and feature buttons. But for now, I'm a happy bunny - I hope you like it!