More IFG & Lots of Bead Listings

Hi

I'm home from Stourbridge and had a wonderful time meeting lots of old friends and making new ones. It was fun being in the Bonded Warehouse with other lampworkers and a great way to catch up with some I haven't seen for a year or so. Online communication is great but its good to meet the "real person" too. I also met lots of my regular customers - one or two for the first time which was lovely. Its always good to see the people who make my beads up into beautiful things. 

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see much of the Festival itself but Simon had a good mooch round and even bought a stunning piece from the Biennale. I don't get to see it until the middle of September when the exhibition closes so I'm looking forward to that. He also tried one of the "have a go at glassblowing" sessions - I think he took rather a liking to it and will be having some lessons closer to home too.

The great thing about glassy get-togethers is that I always come home inspired to try new things. My head is buzzing with ideas and I know that as the autumn colours start to show my creativity leaps. I'm not quite sure what happened to summer this year - it was all a bit of a wash-out wasn't it?

I've been sorting beads out since I got home and have listed some new ones on my site. There are some gorgeous focals with lots of gold leaf and silver as well as some more earthy organic sets.  I'll be listing in etsy later in the week as well so keep an eye out for those and watch twitter for the updates to see what's new.

Sarah

xxx

International Festival of Glass

Hi - I can't believe I haven't been here since April. Its been a very busy few months for me. Not all of that has been glassy & I'll tell you more below but first I wanted you to know about the International Festival of Glass this weekend.

Its a bi-annual celebration of all things glassy with fantastic opportunities to try glass blowing, fusing and lamp working as well watching demos &, of course, lots of spending opportunities. I have managed to claim a last minute table at the Bead Fair in the Bonded Warehouse and will have all of my current stock with me. It would be great if you could come & say hello. I have lots of new beads - most of which I haven't had time to photograph - and some small fused pieces too.

So what have I been up to? Unfortunately my Mum hasn't been well so I've spending time with her. She fell & broke her hip a few weeks ago and is slowly recovering but has also managed to contract an infection in her leg. As she's in Northumberland the distance makes it harder to be there for her. But my brother has been doing a fantastic job of looking after her and I'm making regular visits to keep her company and help out. 

I've also been able to spend two wonderful weeks in Greece on land and at sea. I'm uploading some photos in my flickr album. Santorini is, I think, my favourite place in the world and we've had some very special holidays there. But we also made our first trip to the Saronic Gulf this year. We were sailing with friends and visited Hydra, Ermioni & Poros and fell in love with Greece all over again. I think I should have born Greek! 

I used our sailing trip as inspiration for some new beads - lots of precious metal & silver glass as you'd expect from me. These are almost an inch in diameter so make great focal beads.

Aegean Sun

Aegean Treasures

See you soon & hopefully at Stourbridge

Sarah

xxx

Lots of Beads on Sale

I seem to be missing lots of glassy gorgeousness at the moment. I was in Devon during the Big Bead Show last month and am missing the annual gathering of lampworkers at the Flame Off last week. Don't feel too sorry for me though as its because my weekends are packed with lots of other things!


It does mean that I have lots of beads around the house so I thought I would have a spring sale - checkout my website where all beads are reduced by at least 20% and use the code SPRINGTIME to gain a 20% discount at etsy.


Be quick though - the sale won't last forever!


Enjoy Spring


Sarah
xxx

New Beads at Last!!!




I know - its been such a long time but I am back in the shed and making new beads to share. I had some time last weekend during the snow and made these gorgeous golden snow queen beads.

So what have I been doing since (ahem - bad blogger alert) October? The big news is that I'm back at work full time and loving my new job but its been having an impact on my free time of course. I no longer have all the beading hours I could wish for and I'm also missing all the time I spent swimming over the summer. 


I've also been playing with some new things - Simon bought me a voucher for truffle making at William Curley as a Christmas present. Becky and I went together and made an enormous mess, giggled a lot and made some lovely chocolates. I made my first post-course truffles this morning (and made lots more mess) which are rather scrumptious if I say so myself! I am slightly worried about the impact of truffle making and lack of swimming though - I must get swimming again.


I've also been knitting which is something I haven't done for at least twenty years. Apparently its very trendy now (in fact we sat behind two women knitting at a music festival last year); I was inspired after coming across Ingrid Wagner. She sells kits for the most amazing rugs and throws which are made on humungous needles! I am now the proud owner of my own hand knitted rug which you can see on my flickr account part way through its creation. I recommend Ingrid's kits wholeheartedly - they are great - but you might want to be careful taking the needles on a plane - you have no idea how much trouble I caused by flying them home. And it was only a domestic flight.....


I will be back soon - I promise!


Sarah
xxx

Corners!


I've been playing with my lovely hobby fuser kiln this week and making some fairly simple bowls and coasters. Well they were meant to be simple but I can be a bit of a perfectionist so they've taken me a while to get them just how I want them. This is where my lovely friend Becky will tell you that what I really mean is I had to get the corners right!


You see I don't really like corners in glass. I don't know why but it may be the part of me which once flirted with engineering a long time ago. Corners are supposed to be right angles for me - absolutely spot on 90 degrees and that doesn't really work in glass. So when (and it isn't very often) I make beads with corners they have to be soft and rounded and almost not corners at all. That's a bit difficult when you're fusing a square coaster and as I can't cut circles (yet - I'm working on it) I've played with my fusing programme to get my corners just how I like them. Obsessive? Oh yes but at least I'm a happy obsessive!


Anyway, here's the coasters and a couple of slumped bowls too.


Sarah
xxx

Thank you.....


......to everyone who came to say hello to me at the Big Bead Show. Its always good to put names to faces and meet my lovely customers. It was also fun to hang out with my lovely friend Becky of Chameleon Designs who saved my day because my organza bag order was lost in the post and I was down to my last half dozen. So lots of you had elegant silver grey bags instead of my usual fiery red & gold.

Becky's beautiful beads won second place in the show's lampwork competition - check them out on her blog. Even better I got to take them home as Becky had to leave before the show ended - do you think she'll believe me if I say I lost them?

I've been in recovery mode today - it was a long day yesterday. So other than a nice roast at our local pub I haven't done very much. I have a few test pieces in my fusing kiln and I'm planning a cosy evening in at home.

I will be listing some new beads later this week so keep an eye on my website and etsy or follow me on twitter.

See you soon

Sarah
xxx

I can't believe how long it is since I posted - I promise to be a better blogger in the future!


So what have I been doing with my time? I've been making beads and beads and more beads for the Big Bead Show. The show is on Saturday 15 October at Sandown Park and it would be lovely to see you there. I'm tucked in a corner on Stand 63 - please come and find me & say hello! I've added some photos so that you can see some of my new stock. I haven't finished yet though so there will be more.


I've also been playing with my fusing kiln and have just received a rather big box of glass from the Warm Glass sale. I have lots of ideas for coasters & bowls so watch this space. 


But right now I'm off to my shed to make more beads for Saturday.


See you soon


Sarah
xxx