Still going...

Ok, so I've been quite busy this week. I used more little bits of confetti shapes to make a couple more boats. This time i did them on smaller bases (2x3cms & 1x2cms) so i could use them as jewellery. I also used light turquoise powder frit as the 'sea'. I put a few shards of fine frit on the larger piece for added texture. Along the middle are a couple of 'matching' pairs of millefiori slices that i thought I'd put in for stud earrings or something similar.

The longer piece is a few strips of different bits on baby pink glass. the little triangles and strip in the middle is dichrioc and has a lovely 'oil spill' effect.
I put a silver plated eye pin in between the layers to see if it'll make a good loop for a necklace.

I've put this in but the camera doesn't do the image justice. This was taken just after the kiln came out of the microwave. The glass was glowing a bright, cherry red! Weirdly it just looks a dull purple here.

And this is how they turned out. The eye pin idea was a disaster... It disintegrated when i was cleaning the bead! I'm not too keen on the dark strip either. It's meant to be purple, but it pretty much just looks black. Aah well, it's a learning curve.

 


The boats are good though- despite the fact that the sea has dissapeared! Probable shouldn't have used transparent frit on dark/similar colours! I don't know if they'll be popular as necklace pendants, or if it's just me that has developed a boat fetish!




More pics to follow... I've made quite a lot and still need to take photos of some.

First Fuse!

I've fused my first beads... I'm so proud! I wanted to try two different techniques to see what the kiln could do. 
Here is the before pic;

And this is how they turned out;

 


This bead was made by lining up 3cm lengths of different coloured stringers then putting a square of clear tecta glass on top. Although not intentional, i like the little bubbles that have got trapped between the layers.

I love this little boat. I made it using little bits of confetti for the hull and sails, with a teeny shard for the flag. The sea and sand were made using fine frit. I'm not sure what i'll do with it yet; i don't think it's quite right for jewellery. Maybe it'll find a way to mount it and make it into a mini picture.

New toys!!!!!

Ok, so i've just got my new microwave kiln and some glass goodies to play with.

I've bought a HotPot microwave kiln that can heat glass enough for it to melt and fuse. I also got a starter kit which comes with a selection of bullseye glass (the sheets at the front), frit (tiny bits of glass ranging from powder to gravel sized), stringers (long thin sticks of glass), shapes (ovals and circles), and confetti pieces. I also got a tool to score and break the glass and the two types of 'paper' you need as a base in the kiln. I know i like making tiny things to use for jewellery so i also bought some glass glue to hold everything in place and a special type of rope to put between the layers of glass so a hole will remain for stringing the bead.
So... after a huge amount of time laying it all out and staring at it... it's time to play!