Flame November 2015
Find us at www.gbuk.org
Ursula
Heather
Scarlet
Russ
Colette
Debbie
Your new committee
Contact us: Chairman (Colette) Secretary (Debbie) Treasurer (Heather) Membership (Russ) Events (Scarlet) Webmaster (Ursula)
@gbuk.org
Torchlight on …
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GBUK
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Members’ beads from last month’s challenge: Page 8-9 Colour testing…Opaque turqoise.. by Ilsa Fatt
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How to make shards
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Annual competition
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No pressure, no prizes, just fun Make a bead, set of beads, focal, mixed media, on or off mandrel piece using the theme of
or ‘shards’
Post your photos on our Facebook page by All members' photos will be included in the December issue of the GBUK
Sarah Brown
When I first moved to Devon I knew my in-laws and that was it. Having 2 young children that soon changed with the daily school run. Soon I became involved with the PTA and like most village schools fundraising was our main aim.
Along with some other mums I organised an auction of promises. One of the promises donated was a jewelery lesson. I bid and I won. This the led to my discovery of lampwork beads, and I would spend far too many hours looking on line at them, and far too much money buying them.
I had a stand at a local fair when an old lady came up and asked me if everything was handmade. I proudly told her yes. She then told me how nice it was that I made the beads myself. I corrected her, saying that I bought the beads. She then abruptly told me that that meant it wasn’t hand made and off she went.
I took her comment on board and looked into how beads were made. I booked myself a lesson at Mangobeads in October 2010 with the thought of giving it a one-time go to at least say I had tried it.... and so the addiction began.
Father Christmas was gently nagged and later that year a torch, glassy goodies and 24 rods of glass appeared under the tree. A quick trip to Ikea a few days later and I set up in my garage in amongst recycling, surf boards, bikes and bags of dog food.
And so the journey began. Over the past 5 years I have had classes with Julie Fountain, Melanie Moertel, Carla Di Francesco and Holly Cooper to name a few. In 2012 I joined forces with Helen Gorick and together we created Flaming Hot Glass, this enabled us to attend much larger fairs. It’s so much easier when there is someone else to do the tea run and let you go to the loo!
n April 2013 I moved out of my garage into a lovely little studio, that had natural light, and enough space for me to set up a second torch so I could begin teaching. This is my happy place. It has everything you could need, glass, a radio, a sofa, a kettle and on the odd occasion a cocker spaniel. I love working on my own with no one to tell me what to do, but I equally love going to shows and meeting the people who buy my work. Like most glass artists my favourite glass changes with time. My first ever favourites were silver plum (591275) and dark ivory (591276) and my current one is silver black (591065). I hate making shards but love using them. I am currently trying to use enamels and want to explore and take this further.
www.thetartantrout.co.uk www.facebook.com/thetartantrout https://www.etsy.com/shop/thetartantrout sarah@thetartantrout.co.uk
Coming soon
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
‘Twisties’
Colette Ladley
Debbie Dew
‘Aqua’
Rebecca Weddell
Colette Ladley
Debbie Dew Colette Ladley
Rebecca Weddell
Rebecca Weddell
Heather Kelly
Ursula Mann Debbie Dew
Colour testing
by
Ilsa Fatt
Turquoise blue Effetre Dark Turquoise and Dark Sky Blue are virtually identical colours, and are both very close to the colour of the semi-precious stone turquoise. Opaque glass turquoise has a tendency to go a dull silver when exposed to a slightly reducing flame, making it a tricky colour for Hothead users. I made all the test beads using such a flame, to see how the different shades would stand up to it. Both Dark Turquoise and Dark Sky Blue had some greyness around the edge. This was slightly worse in Dark Turquoise. All else being pretty much equal, next time I need an opaque dark turquoise I will probably go for Dark Sky Blue. CIM Smurfy is just a shade lighter than the Effetre colours. It seemed unaffected by the reducing flame, retaining full clarity of colour. CIM Fremen is a shade lighter still, and, like Smurfy, stayed bright despite being subjected to a reducing flame. It shows interesting dark streaks. It is a lovely calm colour, but does have the major disadvantage that some rods can be extremely shocky. Half of my test rod is currently scattered across my work surface in little pointy bits.
Top tip: Soak the beads in coke or ‘Cilit Bang Line and Grime’ to remove the silver grey which leaves them shiny, or etch to remove the grey and the shine.
CIM Electric Avenue is a stunning colour, and quite unlike any others in the glass palette. It could probably be better described as azure than turquoise, and certainly puts me in mind of swimming in the Mediteranean on a hot summer's day. Ah….. like many of the CIM colours, Electric Avenue is semi-translucent, so is best used as a solid colour, or over a similar-coloured base.
Left to right: Dark turquoise Dark sky blue Smurfy Fremen Electric avenue
All these colours react very strongly with Dark Ivory, forming a dark line where the two colours meet. The reaction is most pronounced in the CIM colours, which have a very thick and ragged reaction line. Electric Avenue over Ivory goes a dark blue green, fading into brown at the edges, as the reaction shows through the semi-translucent top colour. Ivory over Electric Avenue shows interesting dark reaction patterns along the edges of the Ivory dots.
If you don’t know what a shard is, it is a piece of a very thinly blown glass bubble. Shards are usually applied near the end of finishing a bead or sculptural form, but they can be applied at any time during the beadmaking process to create different effects.
How to make shards You need a blowpipe, a metal pipe with a wide or narrow bore. Heat the end of the blowpipe and melt a large gather of glass on to the end of it. Alternatively build a hollow bead on the end. The latter has the advantage of already having some ‘starting air’ which it will make it easier to initially blow. Heat the gather thoroughly which will help the bubble to expand evenly. Blow a small amount of air gently into the tube. If there isn’t any ‘starter’ air it will be a bit harder, much like starting a balloon off. You will see the glass puff out a bit. Put your finger over the end of the tube, whilst reheating, to prevent the bubble of air escaping. Heat the gather again as evenly as possible and when it begins to droop a little remove from the flame, wait for it to settle then gently blow more air into the tube. Don’t blow strongly as the glass will stretch too quickly and pop. The bubble doesn’t have to be a regular size or shape as you are going to be breaking it up to use. Don’t let it get too thin as it will pop and become like tissue paper, may become airborne and is extremely fragile. Drip water onto the water-pipe joint to help remove the bubble then leave it to cool as it will still be hot. Leave it to rest in a tin or similar. Break carefully once cool as it is easily shattered and can fly off in unexpected directions! Experiment with colour; try adding frit. Even the smallest pieces can add additional detail to your beads.
Next year’s themes are:
and The deadline for entries is 29th February 2016 More images to get you thinking …
A specially commissioned blend of GBUK colours brought to you and dispensed on special occasions …
GBUKfrit
Do you have a tutorial or article to share with members? Contact secretary@gbuk.org.
www.gbuk.org