UK Flame Off 2015

Well, we have just come back from an exhausting weekend at the yearly Flame Off event.

Hosted by Tuffnell Glass and held at Uttoxeter Racecourse, it is an event for people who love melting glass - and for people who think they might quite like to have a go at melting it too  ;)

The event is made up of separate areas, the selling village, which is full of hand-made glass items, tools, raw glass and other bits and bobs needed if you are a glassworker.

Then there is the demo room, this is where visiting artists demonstrate their own personal style.  They usually have a 45 minute slot, but it is so interesting that the time just flies by.

Let me introduce you to the 2015 artists.  I have made their names into links to their own pages so go off and have a look at their work if you like.

First of all there is Joy Munshower - her sculptural work is just out of this world!  In this demo she showed us a sculptured horse bead - so much detail it was unreal... actually it was very life-life, not unreal at all  ;)

This is Kathryn Greer.  Kathy started bead making at the young age of 14, and she produces the most intricate amazing floral beads with loads of depth and detail.   This was the  demo I was most looking forward to, and I wasn't disappointed  :)

Following on was Irina Sergeeva, her website seems to be all in Russian but if you click around you can see her beads.   Sadly, I didn't manage to get a photo of her demonstrating as I was stuck behind the camera man, but check out her website anyway  :)

And this is Glenn Godden, a most magnificent Borosilicate (type of glass) marble maker.  Both myself and Hubster were very impressed with his work.  This is him on the second day of demos making one of his signature alien art pieces.

Stunning isn't it?

Finally there is also the "play" area, where you can actually sit down at a torch and melt glass!   It's good for people wanting to start as they can play with the different torches to see which they like, in the same way it is good for people wanting to upgrade their torch as they too can try out a few to see which one suits.

Also, people who already work with glass jump on and do mini demos for the newbies.  This is Hubster starting a marble.

And the lovely Lorna Prime demonstrating how to use a bead press.  Doesn't her gorgeous arm tattoo just rock?

Oh, who is that I see opposite?  It might be me  :)  concentrating very hard.

I didn't make many purchases this time, Hubster made enough for both of us  :)  but I did treat myself to this lovely bead from Raspberry Rings as it reminded me so much of Marrakesh.

It is such a great event for meeting up old friends and making brand new ones too.

We were quite shattered after our busy weekend, but totally re-inspired.  In fact Hubster has started making marbles again already.  You can see them on his Facebook page - iMarbles.

Next year seems such a long time away  :)