Tea Party Lampwork Necklace

When I was at the Flame Off, I spent some time with the effervescant Ray Skene. At the class we both attended he showed off some of his marvelous Lampwork beads.

My eye was immediately drawn to a string of frit covered beads in white with lilac and hints of green. "Ooooo they are nice" I exclaimed, to which he said "£1.00"!

Eh? £1.00, nah, I must have heard wrong, so I laughed nervously and continued to fondle them.

"Yeah £1.00" he says, and thrusts them into my hand.

I felt a bit bad actually, I mean £1.00 for a set of Lampwork beads, it's daylight robbery, but anyway, I agreed to the deal (well I would be a fool not too!) Then he almost chucked a matching set at me, "Now it's £2.00" he said.

Talk about it being my lucky day :)

So I kept the large round ones, I will do something with those later. The shaped oval ones I decided to make into a necklace for my Mum, she has a dinner to attend and needed a nice necklace.

This is "Tea Party" called so as it has a cute little Teapot toggle clasp. With Ray's lovely beads I have strung Swarovski Crystals and some Fire Polished Czech Crystals.

Another Weekend at Higham Hall.

I LOVE this place (http://www.highamhall.com/) I have just spent all weekend there teaching basic beadmaking. It was my second session and it was, like last time, simply brilliant !

The students were really keen to learn, eager and willing to try anything. They made some fabulous beads, and went away happy bunnies.

The lovely ladies were Sue, Judith, Jill and Chris. Here they are showing off their beads.

....and here they are working hard, and making pretty beadies.

If you ever decide to do a course there, I would fully recommend it. The food is magnificent, and they treat you really well, on top of that they offer a huge range of different courses from Languages, to History, to Crafts.

Unfortunately, for me, that's me finished now until September, but looking forward to it already :)

Quirkies - The Cream Bra

Yep, it's another one of my mad Quirkies. This time a pretty feminine Cream Bra.

Made in Cream AB Delica beads for a little bit of sparkle (which also made it blooming difficult to photograph) with a sapphire blue and a touch of lilac for a lacy trim.

I used Cream glass pearl beads along with Violet AB Swarovski Crystals to make the chain, and finished it with a silver toggle clasp.

And here is my chubby Buddah modelling it, although I think it needs an extra few rows to fit :)

Sharon Peters Lampwork Class

I was lucky enough to get one of the 10 places available for the Sharon Peters Lampworking Class - Kissy Lips & Goblins - at this years Flame Off extravaganza.

What a fabulous class it was, we laughed lots, played with glass lots, and produce some unusual looking beads :)

Sharon at the Torch,

Some of Sharon's amazing work....

...and this one just shouted out to me, so I had to buy it :)

If you ever get a chance to go on one of Sharon's classes, I would highly recommend it. It was fantastic learning the tricks from the master.

And these are the ones I produced. not quite to the same quality, but I tried :)

Now to practise, practise, practise :)

Introducing QUIRKIES - Chocolate Tie.

For those of you who have been following my blog, you will have seen my little odd bits & pieces, namely the ties, the bras and the butterflies.

Well, now they have a name ! QUIRKIES

An online Dictionary says that Quirky means "odd, unusual, eccentric, idiosyncratic, curious, peculiar, unpredictable, singular, fanciful, whimsical, capricious, offbeat, out there"

The Urban Dictionary gives the following definition: "something that is strange/not normal but cool"

So I think that name might just suit them very well, big thanks to my good mate Tan, who came up with the name.

So this one is a Tie Quirkie, in dark chocolate brown, with cream, pumpkin and turquoise patterns, oh and there is a touch of gold in there too - these little gold beads are real 24k gold plated delica beads, and they cost a fortune :)

I have strung it on Tigertail wire, with complimenting glass beads and gorgeous sparkly turquoise Swarovski beads.

Now let me show you one of the beads I use for the tie part. Tiny aint they? :)

If you have any suggestions of things I can do to make into a Quirkie, shout out and let me know.

Coming soon..... more Bras, more Ties, and a Crown :)

A Bead Giveaway....but with a difference.

It is quite a mad idea, but I am very impulsive, and when an idea hits me I have to run with it :)

This is a Bead Giveaway, but with a HUGE difference. You have to find me and ask for the beads in person.

The Bead Hunt will happen tonight....(Sat 10th April 2010)...yep TONIGHT....between the hours of 8.30pm and 10.00pm. If they are not collected tonight, then I will hide them for some lucky person to find at a later date. :)

They are handmade glass beads, made by myself in my little studio, and are one-of-a-kind.

So you will want some clues?

I will be in the City of Carlisle, in a family pub on Scotland Road, which has a Premier Inn attached to it.

This is my Weemee avatar, you have to be able to work out who I am from that (unless you have already met me of course, then it will be relatively easy)

...and this is a snippet of the top I will be wearing.

All you have to do is march up to me and say "May I have the beads, please" and as long as you are the first person, I will hand them over. I will try and update our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/TheBeadShed) as soon as they are collected, so try and keep an eye on it.

If you are not near Carlisle, then do not worry, I will be hiding beads all over the place in the next few months, so you might be lucky then :)

Good luck.

A Blue Bead Day

On Easter Monday, the weather was unpleasant, so dog walking in The Lakes was out of the question. So what a fabulous excuse to turn on the torch and make some beads.

I decided it would be a blue day, and only use blue glass - mixed with a bit of this and a bit of that.

To start with, while the kiln was heating and the mandrels were drying, I made some simple fritty gravity beads. These are made by rolling a basic bead in broken glass "glitter" and melting in, then letting them droop to drag the colour round.

These next ones are a deep deep cobalt blue, encased thickly with clear, and dotted with white. They are a Laura Sparling style :)

Next I used an Ivory base bead, put a wiggly stripe of aquamarine transparent blue, topped with a turquoise.

And these have to be my favourite. An aquamarine transparent base, with a covering of silver foil, fumed to give it a depth of different colours and encased in thick clear.

Free Tutorials.

I have put some of my designs on my website as downloads, some are chargable, but most are free :)

There are some tutorials for total beginners, and also for intermediate. Along side are a couple of useful "how to's" for basic beadweaving stitches.

Do let me know if you make anything, and I will include your photo in one of my next blogs :)

I hope you enjoy making them as much as I enjoyed designing them.

Here is the link for you :) http://www.thebeadshed.co.uk/tutorials.htm

Bra !!!

Some say I am a little mad, some say I am a little odd, I just think I am a little eccentric :)

And here is the proof...... yep, it is indeed a little bra, made from tiny Delica beads.

Why, you may ask? No idea, it just popped into my head and I had to do it.

It measures around 4" across, and I have strung it onto tigertail wire adorned with Czech pressed glass flower beads and Swarovski Crystals for a little sparkle.

A pink lacy one next I think :)

Tartan Cuff.

Well, this piece was a labour of love. It was a case of three rows forward, two rows back !!

What a nightmare, I have never unpicked so many beads in my life, even then I see a few stray ones where there should not be, but I got to the point that if I did not get it finished, I never would.

Maybe I made the pattern a little complicated, the next one will not be quite so detailed :)

So..... it is Peyote stitch, made in Japanese Delica beads, a nice thick cuff with a huge chunky button, measuring around 40mm, as a clasp.


Bay City Rollers fans, eat your hearts out :)

Some more Klimt Cane Beads

Today, my daughter Shona, and her mate Hannah decided to have a play day.

They decided on Fimo beads for this morning activities, as Hannah is studying Klimt at school for her GCSE Art, and I had previously made some Klimt Beads, we decided to revisit the technique.

After the last attempt at these beads (http://soozintheshed.blogspot.com/2010/03/klimt-complex-cane-beads.html) I had bruises on the palms of my hands from pushing the clay through the extractor! A friend who makes the most magnificent fimo pieces, suggested I bought a wind-down extractor, rather than the push one I was using - I have to say it was worth every penny of the £22 I paid, it made making the beads so much easier.

All three of us picked totally different colours, I did mine in a muted grey & pinks with a touch of turquoise, while both girls picked vibrant psychedelic shades.

Here are mine, a set of eight beads with a matching pendant, which is very large at around 60mm.

The girls hard at work, Hannah is the blonde, and Shona..... well, the non blonde :)

These are Shona's beads and a matching pendant.....

...and last but not least, Hannah's beads and matching pendant.

After lunch the girls went on to bake !!

Shona + Hannah + cake making ingredients = MESS !!!

Still, at least they had fun :)