new crop of flower stopper marbles

new crop of flower stopper marbles

Originally uploaded by steampunkglass

Sorry for the rather thin on the ground post the past couple of weeks! I seem to be doing my headless chicken thing here lately. As promised here are some pictures of the alien blood flowers I was making the other week. I am hoping to get back into the workshop and work on some more of these.

I did manage a long session the other day where I tried some really quite advanced techniques, however despite all the separate ‘bits’ and techniques working a treat, when I tried putting them all together everything failed! Never mind; if it was easy it wouldn’t be worth learning after all!

Hopefully I will have more to blog soon, in the meantime I’ve snuck some more stoppers into my Etsy shop, here are some of the alien flowers in the meantime; some are test ones which later got rejected, and they haven’t yet been properly fixed into the stopped, but it’ll give you an idea of how they are going!

Pimping on a friday! Sale time & bye wordpress!

mib3

Originally uploaded by steampunkglass

I’ve decided to have a clearout, so I have reduced quite a few bits in my FOLKSY store http://www.folksy.com/shops/SteamPunkGlass so if there is something you’ve had your eye you might be in for a bargin!

If you are reading this blog through the wordpress blog site then please re-tune your blogger dial as I am going to stop updating two different blog sites, and keep to just one now! Info where to find me over on my website http://www.SteamPunkGlass.com

cheers! Glenn

Full ahead, stop!

CHARIOT WITH LOGO copy

Originally uploaded by steampunkglass

Speaking to other crafters, (including you lovely non-glassy people!) I have noticed many of us have the same woe, but not one that seems discussed on many of the forums. There are lots of practical threads about improving photos, promotions, best blogs, etc, but few about one thing that seems to bug many of us (except for whispered conversations and mutterings!)

It’s the what-I-love-and-want-to-do versus the what-I-have-to-do-to-pay-the-rent. I can already hear the sighs and see eyes rolling at that one!

We all love reading the inspirational ‘gave up the day job’ stories in magazines and on places like Etsy, but for most it can be an uphill struggle to juggle work, home, family without adding in all the hours the business of crafting can take – and somewhere there needs to be a few hours of actually making too!

These ‘difficult’ economic times seem to be affecting many crafters I speak to in an odd way though. Many are finding they have more time to think about crafting and where they want to take their real career – rather than the one they might be stuck in. As the economic slow-down continues we seem to be eking out work, and have more ‘day-dream’ time at our desks thinking of what to tackle next; this then leads to a frustration of being tied to a desk not achieving anything when a hundred projects sit waiting for our attention at home/studio/kitchen table/shed/workshop. Crafters are do’ers after all! We prefer to be getting on with things!

Of course the flip side is there are those of us in day-jobs trying to do the job of 3 or 4 people because businesses have trimmed their workforces to the bone, and get home in the evening too shattered to do all the things buzzing in tour heads.

Personally I have been bouncing between both, plus all the plans I had made at end of last year of where/what I wanted to achieve have hit some unexpected pot-holes in life’s road. And now I suspect I have been running on damaged wheels and a bent axel for a while and need to stop before I make it worse. Stopping. Not something I’m very good at.

While I am trying to figure out which way is ‘up’ on my personal map, I think the amount of stuff I can list will be someone reduced, along with my blogging output and input on some of the forums. Hopefully this will be just a temporary blip; a few health tonics, some early night, eating my greens, and trying to remember I am a mere human with aging swishy bits that don’t always work so well, then I can get back on course again. In the meantime a little of my dodgy artwork for you to look at, I should probably run a competition to see if you can figure out what it symbolises – but that’s just making work for myself again! See, I really am no good at stopping!

Trying to hard to be perfect

carousel4

Originally uploaded by steampunkglass

Well, as promised, first release of MARBLES! Now in my Folksy shop, http://www.folksy.com/shops/SteamPunkGlass Just a few mind you, still expecting and hoping to make some even better ones!

I seemed to have got stuck for the past few weeks, and my failure rates has gone up too – the one that was most frustrating I’d been working on for about 1 ½ hrs, it was looking good too – one of the nebula type which I’ve found really hard to recreate. It was past that point when good sense says’ ‘stop fiddling and leave it alone!’ Just saw one little dent that I KNEW I should have just accepted, but wanted it perfect – you know what comes next…….. clink! BIG crack, followed by a few more. Welding the bit together really didn’t work, still left a big fatal flaw in the middle.

Nevermind! Glasswork I find can be a bit of a ‘Zen lesson’ that you cannot control everything, and to accept some things will not be as perfect as we’d like – just accept them and move onto the next and try again. It’s still surprisingly difficult for me to let them go if they are not perfect though, I spend more time pointing out the flaws rather than the good bits!

It seems to go to that ‘bubble or no bubbles’ argument; I spend ages trying to pluck out every bubble or imperfection, yet it’s those that show the handmade marks people seem to like more! People tell me they like the very things I am trying not to leave in them saying it gives more ‘character’ and ‘shows it’s really handmade.’

Of course, me picking faults with them is probably really just an excuse not to sell them so I get to stare into them for a bit longer!

They’re Coming….. From Another Galaxy!!!

group of marbles

Originally uploaded by steampunkglass

Well the news seems to be out, my next project is being unveiled….. Galaxy Marbles! Yes, for all those who think I’ve lost them, here is a sneak preview of some that I have been squirreling away at over past few weeks. I still have a few kinks to iron out, but I think I’m just about there now! I am hoping to start listing some for sale soon, please keep an eye on the blog here or even twitter http://twitter.com/SteamPunkGlass when I will announce their release.

I have got the formula just about there now, and I got onto a great roll over this long weekend, with clearer definition and a lot less bubbles, more going on inside – I’ve been really getting excited about the results – until Easter Monday afternoon when my gas ran out! ARGH!!!!! Isn’t that always the way!

For me this has been a long process of evolution, I’ve surprised myself at the techniques I’ve learnt and developed whilst doing this project. From basic implosion flowers this led on to twists and spirals, then the whole new complexities of boro glass colours. There is a huge amount of chemistry involved, not my strongest point either! Boro colours have a lot of heavy metals, often it seems in greater/more dangerous quantities than soft glass. I’ve had to rethink and improve my ventilation as well to work these. Some have high levels of chrome which when heated become gas, some of which can then re-form with the molten glass producing new glass within the glass. Doesn’t sound like a problem, until finding out the new glass has different expansion properties – which is why I have one marble with a great big split in it!

I think it’s a testament to soft glassmakers that we have such a range of colours which we can use without too much thought about compatibility. I know there are a few that aren’t compatible and cause cracking issues, and we always moan when they do as it’s so frustrating when something toiled over breaks. Boro colours have only been around to artists since the early 1980’s, and clear Borosilicate is just over 100 years young, whereas soft glass has been around for thousands of years, so it’s hardly surprising it’s got the edge on reliability!

Anyway, enough glass-geek talk, I need to go and take the long walk to the gas shop!

Holey Shirts Batman!

workshop-glass

Originally uploaded by steampunkglass

I was going to post a picture here of my workshop, but bottled out as I don’t want to ruin the image people seem to have of me! Contrary to what everyone seems to think I am not tidy or organised in the way I do glass; the making process involves a lot more randomness and accidents – although the later is making things a little dangerous!

Take last night, I was working ‘off-mandrel’ which is where the glass is melted and shaped straight from the raw rods. I really like this way of working at the moment, it feels so much more organic, the glass dictates the way it’s shaped which, although sometimes doesn’t do what I want, can give me shapes and designs I would not have dared otherwise. Also there is no horrid bead release to clean, I still have beads from two months ago that need cleaning!

Now I think you can see the slight hazard with this, large lump of hot glass with nothing to hold onto except not-so-hot-glass. So yes, occasionally a hot bead takes a tumble, missing anything I have to catch it, and I quickly scrabble on the floor to retrieve it before it gathers too much dust or burns too much into the floor. The normal place it seems to fall lately is in my lap. It’s amazing how quickly I can move if provoked! I was at that point last night I knew I should have stopped and gone to bed, when one dropped in my lap, and I decided not to leap up but find a pair of tongs instead. A second later as a little flare, puff of smoke, and nasty smell, I realised I ought to get up quick! Fortunately I wear old cotton shirts and canvas trousers when I am working, although I really could do without the extra holes in both. No extra holes in me, thank goodness, but I do think I will invest in a nice leather apron now!

Of course if I worked at a glass blowers I probably would have to under health & safety; last week I managed a very quick peak into London glass workshops’ open day where Becky of Chameleon Designs http://www.chameleondesigns.co.uk was demonstrating lampworking to an eager public! I really only managed a 5minute pop in to say hi, before having to rush off again. She makes some lovely stuff, including silver and even gold cored beads! Well worth a look! I did have a quick peak into their glass blowing room whilst there, men with long sticks loaded with red hot glass – now that’s my idea of fun!

I am currently awaiting new supplies of glass and silver, hoping it might turn up before the long weekend so I can play. One of my latest projects is doing cabochons with flower & spirals inside, but not sure if anyone would be interested in those? (Char marks from clothing will be optional!)

I also want to have a go at marbles; unfortunately the tool I wanted is out of stock, so that might have to wait now. Since I started doing the little worlds I’ve had a few people asking for marble versions, or even Galaxies, such as in ‘Men in Black’ – my other half asks each time I finish a new batch of worlds (or should that be demand?). They had it easy, a whole CGI department! I’ve only got a holey shirt and burnt trousers to work with!

Accidental Glass

Sometime it’s the accidents that help me do things better, these are the ‘happy’ accidents, although they don’t always seem happy at the time!
I have spend days working on a new type of necklace with leaves made of glass, and I’m not talking about those little mould stamped green leaves you see in the bead shops, these are monsters! Most are about 2-3inches long, twisted, with colours layered into them using borosilicate glass. After I made the first batch I found the choker I put them on was too thick for the holes I made. Drat! So next glass session I make some more, and since they are organically made but going with the flow of the glass, not all of them were useable on the necklace I had in mind (although I am sure I will find a use for them eventually, even if it’s selling them in a de-stash sometime!). I threaded some on, and realised it needed so spacer beads, but once again the wire was too thick for my stash. This is where being a lampworker comes in handy, I was back to the torch for third time to make some customer green spacer beads!

So after a lot of to and fro-ing, I finally got the necklace done. Something bothered me about it, maybe it was because it didn’t just ‘happen’ as my best stuff does when some magic brings it all together. Regardless I went to take some snaps of it, and was trying to set up some pictures when the whole thing slid off onto the floor, meeting up with various objects that were rather ‘too solid’ for such a delicate crop of leaves. I think you can guess the result!

I don’t know if I’ve become more ‘Zen’ since I’ve started lampworking, or just because I was so tired, but I wasn’t as upset as I probably should have been about this, but when I looked at the ‘remain’ an hour later, it suddenly clicked. Only three of the leaves had survived, and it looked so much better like this! Less is more, I reminded myself! I made some slight adjustments, and it looks good, although I think I can still make some much better leaves for the next and final version.

I’ve been quite busy lately, and I’ve recently opened another shop outlet on MISI, where I’ve been transferring some of my stock from the old Etsy Shop. I am still in two minds about Etsy, but until things pick up or I have time to make 200 things to list there to make it worthwhile I will be putting stuff onto Folksy and MISI for the time being. They are all priced in £££’s rather than suffering exchange rate yo-yoing, and are just really nice places to be at the moment with a lot of friendly folk there. http://www.folksy.com/shops/SteamPunkGlass or my new MISI shop atwww.misi.co.uk/steampunkglass Hope to see you there!

worlds group

worlds group

Originally uploaded by steampunkglass

A very short post with a quick preview of the new crop of little words, I will try and make some more of these soon, and also turn a few into earrings.

Evil Ruler of The Kiln Galaxy

Small Blue Worlds

Originally uploaded by steampunkglass

It seems at the moment I am at my most productive on a Sunday. Saturday seems to start slowly, plus this weekend I was completely shattered which is not great for being creative. Sunday was a different matter! I cleaned down my work desk and decided to leave the boro flowers for a while to use up my soft glass stash. This was about the time I realised how much I’ve come to love off-mandrel working! Twiddling around sticks of bent metal that are covered in potential harmful dust is not ideal (although I still love the smell when first heated, reminds me of my first time bead making.)

Second bead and straight in with 101-stupid-mistakes! ‘Putting hot sticky bead into kiln and touching other hot bead.’ Not a good start, although I think I saved one of them, albeit after having to reshape it again.

So enough with normal beads, thought I’d make some more of my ‘little worlds,’ which I’ve had some nice comments back about this week. I’ve been meaning to make some more for a while, and to try out some new colour combos as well. Suddenly it all clicked again, and from having mandrels sitting around gathering dust, and bead release hardening in the pot, I actually had to raid my drawers for any more I could find – even some part bent ones! I’ve filled the kiln before, but never this much! The kiln turned into a little galaxy of Planets!

I’ve done a good few with the classic deep blue, (as per the picture here) plus more of a nice pale green peridot colour. I’ve not listed any of these yet as for some reason I can’t seem to get any of these to be a close size match yet. I have had a go with some more ‘Mars Red’ and some fab ‘Indigo’ – yet more new colours I have yet to unveil! However I left the best to last, and think I have come up with some of the best little worlds I have EVER made! Even ‘The Boss’ was blown away by them, and that takes some doing! I am really excited about the way these are going now, the three hours for the kiln to cool was torture last night! The only problem I have is I only have a tiny bit of this glass left, and when I checked this morning found out because of the high silver content it’s about 12 times the cost of my normal blue glass!!!! Ekk!!!!! I will have to ration this stuff!

I will get these cleaned up later this week so I can make some new earring with them, keep a look out for the pictures as these really are worth seeing, until then I’m going to be mean and leave you wondering about them – after all I seem to be Evil ruler of my very own universe of little planets now!

I really must feed my subconscious more often

big shell1

Originally uploaded by steampunkglass

It’s funny how glass making can be come a kind of trance somedays, and that’s when the subconscious can sneak in and give you a nice surprise. I had a brief afternoon trip to St Ives the other week. Normally that would be great, except this was a cold and windy day, and we went there to try and clear our heads after a funeral in Truro a day before.
I must say I do like seaside towns when they are off-peak; you get to see the real place hiding under the plastic spades and holidaymakers. After a few hours cheerless wandering, I popped into a tourist shell shop, feeling the need to get something ‘positive’ however small and silly. I bought a small bag of chipped shells and one larger long coil shell, not even sure why. When asked what was in my little £2.99 brown paper bag I said ‘a bag of inspiration,’ although I felt far from inspired. On my return home the bag got left in a corner of my workshop as other routine things like washing clothes and buying cat food took precedence.
Then on Sunday I was messing around with some new techniques I’ve been trying, mostly involving making spirals trapped inside beads (I love doing spirals!) Some of them were taking ages to do, 45mins on a bead is a very long time to stare at the same thing, when in a lapse of concentration – or I think maybe my subconscious had a better idea – I pulled too far on a spiral, and then pulled a bit more, and a bit more, until I had these amazing shell-shaped beads, with little sea anemones trapped inside! Of course what I didn’t realise until after I had tidied them and tweeked them a little, that they were like that one big shell I had bought a couple of weekends before. I then looked on my desk and found I’d ‘doodled’ the same twisty texture with some other glass that I then didn’t know what to do with the night before.
So, the moral is, feed your subconscious, even when you don’t think it’s paying attention, it might repay you when you’re not looking!