Flame January 2016
Find us at www.gbuk.org
Ursula
Heather
Scarlet Colette
Debbie
Your new committee
Contact us: Chairman (Colette) Secretary (Debbie) Treasurer (Heather) Membership (Russ) Events (Scarlet) Webmaster (Ursula)
@gbuk.org
Russ
Torchlight on …
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GBUK
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GBUKmarket
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Members’ beads from last month’s challenge: Page 9-10 Colour testing…..transparent blue - medium and dark… by Ilsa Fatt GBUK AGM
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Annual competition
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It is with great disappointment and sadness that this . will be the last issue of The e-magazine was started in March 2014 in an attempt to pull the membership together with information, challenges and photos of members’ beads. Unfortunately this hasn’t happened and we have relied on the committee for the majority of the content. who has contributed Special thanks go to on a monthly basis with her glass testing and to all the artists who allowed us a glimpse into their lampworking journeys. Thanks also go to the members who did send us photos of their beads for inclusion and to the committee because, without their help, this magazine would not have happened.
Ursula Mann Beads and Beads and Beads – I am part of a type: that magpie sort that seek out shiny objects and like to string them together. I’m also a dualnational (American by birth, British by choice). Therefore, my lampwork story begins in Texas. As a keen jewellery-making hobbyist, I first encountered handmade lampwork beads in Austin in 2004. In a bead shop I saw an advertisement for lampwork beads by Donna Mehnert of Blackberry Beads http://www.blackberrybeads.com. Her beads were and are amazing to me. I bought some and found out that I could take a class to make beads at Blue Moon Glass in Austin. So I took a beginner’s course and bought a basic hothead setup and made some typical beginner beads and was thrilled. That year I also started a new career as an attorney for the Texas Legislative Council (working up to 70 hrs a week) and became pregnant with my eldest son – needless to say my hobby (and my cat) took a backseat. Fast forward to 2013: I’d moved to the UK (my husband is English), ended my career as an attorney, had a second son, moved to Devon from Berkshire and found myself jobless and within an hour and half of Mangobeads. So the first thing I did was come up with a plan to usurp our family budget to fund my lampwork interest again. (I’m very lucky to have a husband, parents, and in-laws who all supported my venture!)
This time, I thought I’d sell my beads as a small income while the boys were young. I knew my own beads wouldn’t be saleable straightaway, so I approached the Devon Flameworkers group (now disbanded) and suggested I’d try a commission-based stall at Tavistock Pannier Market selling other people’s lampwork beads and my own handpainted and eventually lampwork beads.
I sold in the market as the Tavy Bead Gallery from May of 2013 and while it was successful saleswise, the final profit for myself wasn’t enough to justify the time and effort that I was putting into the stall.
I packed up the stall in May 2014 and got a job selling National Trust memberships at Lydford Gorge – which is a wonderful workplace and a more regular income. This allowed me to pay for and focus on learning and improving my own beads.
In the last two years I’ve had a fantastic time taking courses from Amanda Muddimer, Corina Tettinger, and Irina Sergeeva as well as sharing some torch time and getting help with stringers from Joy Porteous. I definitely feel lucky to be so close to a large studio like Mangobeads and I’ve already signed up for Holly Cooper’s class there in February and Lydia Muell’s course at Flame Off. Taking courses has really helped me push myself to try things I thought impossible for me – like adding off-mandrel components to a bead, working on cabochon mandrels, and achieving 3D encased florals. I would highly recommend taking a course if you can, as watching someone else work with glass is extremely helpful in improving your technique. I also have purchased and worked through lots of tutorials and tried to add a Soda Lime Times tutorial to my making sessions each month too. Finally sending my youngest off to nursery also gave me time to join GBUK and eventually join the committee as the website admin. This brought me together with a whole different set of lampworkers based further north in the UK. Working on the GBUK committee, talking online with other artists, and attending classes has brought me in touch with a lot of really wonderful people who ‘get’ my interest in this art. I feel lucky to have this network because when you move internationally things can be a bit overwhelming on the social front.
What I really love about making lampwork beads is the same thing most people love, the absolute focus that comes from working in such a delicate environment, something that borders on meditation. The bonus is that you get to have this beautiful bead at the end that will likely last a lot longer than your own memory. (Have you seen the glass dot bead they found recently at the Bronze age site in Cambridgeshire? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35296062 )
My biggest success this year was my ability to make beads to match a dress that I wore for a Christmas party in a beautiful necklace that I made myself. I’m looking forward to how my beads will change this year too. Maybe I’ll even get around to selling some!
If you’d like to follow my progress, I have a Facebook page dedicated to my beads, named after my house, Highgarden. https://www.facebook.com/Highgardenbeads/ That’s one of those things I love about the UK: named houses.
You have your own page in the Gallery? Haven’t got one? Email webmaster@gbuk.org with a short bio and up to 5 photos. Send a link to your own website so visitors to GBUK.org can find you. Photos of winning beads from past winners of our annual competitions can be found here too. There is a members only area with tutorials and techniques - please feel free to send us any tips, tutorials or techniques to share with our members.
Do you teach? Let us know so you can be included on our ‘Classes’ page so prospective students can find you. Are you on Facebook? Come and ‘like’ our page. W have lots of non-members that show great interest in the content we post - your beads will be seen by them.
We are still working on
GBUKmarket
A dedicated online marketplace for all your beads. Each member will have their own shop. One basket, one checkout for multiple members’ purchases. No more to pay - cost inclusive with your membership fee (must be a current member to qualify) Sell your beads, sculptures and gifts online
‘Green’
‘Murrini’
Ursula Mann
Colour testing
by
Ilsa Fatt
Mid Blue, Light Blue and Pale Blue are all varying shades of a periwinkle blue - fairly neutral, but if anything tending towards the purple end of the blue spectrum. They are all pleasant to use and fairly non-reactive. They don't pit or bubble, and are nonshocky and easy to melt. None of them had any reaction to either ivory or silver glass (in this case, Triton). They are all pretty light colours, and in my opinion the names they have been given are somewhat misleading. So here is my effort at re-naming them for greater clarity: Mid Blue should really be called Light Blue, as it is, well, light. This means that Light Blue should be called Very Light Blue, and Pale Blue is actually Extremely Light Blue. Hope that clarifies things.
Light Turquoise is very close in colour to Dark Turquoise, but obviously a bit lighter. Like Dark Turquoise it reacts with Ivory, but the resultant colour when laid on top of Ivory is not very interesting or attractive. For me, the great discovery with Light Turquoise was how lovely it looks as an encasement for Triton. It gives the silver glass a rich turquoise glow, and seems to enhance its shine. This doesn't show up that well in the photo, but believe me, it's lovely, and I'm tempted to use Light Turquoise every time I want to encase Triton.
Baby Blue is actually a very pale turquoise, so pale it could easily be mistaken for clear, were it not for the turquoise glow at the end of the rod when you look down it. Being turquoise, it does have a little reaction with Ivory, but this is fairly negligible, as there is so little colour in the glass.
GBUK AGM The next AGM will be held at Flame Off, hopefully meaning more of you will attend. Whilst the AGM is a legality, we have to hold one every year, the last few years have seen fewer members attend. We hope, by holding it where we know a lot of you will be, that this year will be different. The AGM is when the new committee takes over and so we invite nominations for the following posts: Chairman Secretary Treasurer Membership Secretary Webmaster Events Co-ordinator Journal Editor
If you are interested, please send any nominations (and you can nominate yourself) for committee positions to secretary@gbuk.org. More details will follow by email.
The meeting will be held after close of play on Saturday 16th April at Flame Off in Uttoxeter. We will notify you of where at the venue as soon as it’s finalised. Please do try and attend if you can, we need your input otherwise it’s just the committee making decisions about what you all might like without actually knowing what you all might like! Come armed with suggestions, ideas, thoughts and demands…
Next year’s themes are:
and The deadline for entries is 29th February 2016 More images to get you thinking …
The categories are as follows: * Newcomer – any form of entry is valid. Newcomers may enter this category OR enter any/all of the main categories. *
Focal bead – on mandrel, single bead.
*
Set of beads – on mandrel, multiple beads.
*
Sculptural – on mandrel.
* Other – incorporates anything else not included above e.g. cold working, dioramas, off-mandrel. Members are welcome to enter multiple categories with different pieces of work, except the newcomer category. No one entry can be submitted for multiple categories. * Jewellery – one entry per person, or collaboration group, which must include lampwork beads. This is a good one to suggest to your customers – they can enter the competition using your beads as you do not have to be a member of GBUK to enter the jewellery category. You need to be a paid-up member on 29th February 2016 to enter any category other than Jewellery. Entries need to be received by email and be in the post by midnight on Monday February 29th, 2016 The entry form and rules are available in WORD or PDF format from the website http://www.gbuk.org/pages/gbuk-bead-jewellery-competition-2016/
Do you have a tutorial or article to share with members? Contact secretary@gbuk.org.
www.gbuk.org