tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47787165365355466142024-03-12T23:16:15.383-07:00SteamPunk GlassSteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.comBlogger178125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-16935290714335799592017-05-24T06:03:00.002-07:002017-05-24T06:03:57.806-07:00May Madness again!<b style="font-weight: normal;"><div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-26799495-3a8b-7773-9e27-9a9bb422bffb" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes, its that time of year already when I am surrounded by boxes and a never shortening ‘to-do’ list! This weekend will be the MCM Expo & Comic-con at London Excel, from 26th-28th May, where I have a small booth in the dealer's zone in the North Hall. A lot of people tell me they get lost, the secret is to look at the big section numbers on the wall of Excel itself, we are in section N4 which is the section where the cloakroom stairs are, towards the back of the hall. I’ve attached a map at the end, look for us at BF2.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Just because we don’t have a huge stall doesn’t mean I haven’t packed it with as much as possible! I’ve lots of new marbles, pens, pendants, aliens, earrings, plus some brand new designs seeing their first outing at the stall. Look out for a new display box with a weird blue glow coming from it, inside a new range of VERY glowy pendants and earrings, all containing some high grade glow-in-the-dark pigment which the makers assure me can glow up to 12-20 hours after being charged with light! That’s not all, I’ve also a range of glass that only shows its colours when lit by UV blacklights, so ideal for clubs and festivals too, plus lots of other new designs, as well some new big wooden boxes and a show special on ‘B’ movie cushions too.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> For those of you not coming to Excel who like to come to the London stall I have further good news for you. As some of you may know I’ve been struggling with time issues, finding it hard to be at Covent Garden and have enough time to make glass. I’ve finally got some help with two helpers who are covering the long hours on the stall. I’m still trying out days but at present this means the stall is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays AND Saturdays! Please do pop along and say hi to Ellie and Pip who will have the same high quality glass pendants, pens and earrings, but without my ugly mug to scare you away! One of the advantages of the extra time this will give me is time to create new designs, and some of you may have already seen some of the new mega-sized pendants I’ve been creating for the stall as just one example of some of the new items I hope to introduce over the coming months. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> As you can see there has been a lot happening here behind the scenes, and this is just the beginning. I’m planning to increase the selection and variety of glass available in my Etsy shop too, so please keep an eye on my shop and Facebook page over the coming months for sneak previews of new designs as well. The Etsy shop is now closed for a few days though so I can concentrate on getting organized for the weekend. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I hope I get to see lots of you at Excel this weekend, right now for me it’s back to melting glass and packing boxes!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> All the best</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Glenn</span></div>
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<br /></b><br />SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-75799578413277373772016-08-17T06:36:00.000-07:002016-08-17T06:36:11.412-07:00LFCC, Birmingham, and Sunden changes of plan
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;">Firstly a big thanks to
everyone who came and saw us at London Film and Comic-con at </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;">Olympia</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;">. For those of you who keep up with my random
Facebook postings you’ll know at one point it was touch and go if I’d make it
at all! I’m so glad we did, the new layout made walking around a lot easier
with wider aisles plus less stair climbing with almost everything on one floor.
I’ve already booked for next year, so I’m hopping to make that a regular appearance
from now one (fingers crossed!)</span><br />
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;">Although this past
month has taught me that all plans can suddenly change at the last minute. A
combination of transport problems and ill family member two weeks before LFCC
caused some very fast change of plans, plus a few sleepless nights trying to
re-arrange everything I’d put into place months before. I do dedicate a lot of
time and energy before these events to ensure I have everything I need as well
as a good choice of some of my best glass for people to choose – but then I
also expect last minute things to go wrong, and as much as I make contingency plans
forgetting to pack things like enough business cards does still happen! </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;">Recent events behind
the scenes means that I am going to have to radically change a few things over
the next few months, and regrettably November’s Birmingham MCM at NEC is going
to have to be one of the events I am not going to be able to attend. It’s
really a shame, as it is such a relaxed event, we meet such great people there,
and as a bonus </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;">Birmingham</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"> has some of the best curry houses we get to
visit too! At the moment we may also have to miss the March 2017 one too, but I’m
hoping things get resolved before then so we can make our return then. Also I
am only able to get to </span><st1:place><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;">Covent
Garden</span></st1:place><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"> one day a week
at the moment, on Tuesdays, and I am also hoping in the next few months that I
will be able to get there for more days too. I do also hope to also increase
the amount of glass in my Etsy shop too, which not prepping for Birmingham will
allow me more time to concentrate on too.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;">One show that definitely
we will be at is </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;">’s MCM Expo at Excel on 28-30<sup>th</sup> October.
Not only will we be back with as much as I can carry but we will be in exactly
the same spot at May, with a ‘booth’ style stall too which makes it much easier
to layout and display the glass for you to see. I’m already making new aliens
for it, I’ll be extending the range of coloured inks for dip pens too which
previewed at LFCC, including three new metallic colours. There will also be
pendants, marbles, more rings and earrings, and if we have room some more boxes
and ‘B-Movie’ cushions too. I do hope to see you there, so long as nothing else
happens in the meantime! </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;">All the best</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;">Glenn</span></div>
SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-12628081040304256142016-01-19T12:29:00.001-08:002016-01-19T12:29:15.636-08:00New year, new glassHappy New Year! It seems so long ago already, but maybe because I've been so busy melting glass it's taken me this long to share all the new news with you.<br />
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Firstly thank you to everyone who came and saw me, or bought on line, this Xmas. Its great to see so many people supporting handmade crafts, Covent Garden has such a buzz with people. Of course the next few months are a lot quieter, and much, much colder, so I won't be there every week from now until March. I'll be staying in front of the flame thrower to keep warm and make new glass for you, but do keep an eye on my Facebook page for when I'm next there.<br />
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Of course I have been refilling the Etsy shop over the last few weeks, the past few months have been amazing as I have now sold to 23 different countries directly from my Etsy shop since opening it! And what a range and diversity of countries; Argentina, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, to name but a few, with about ten of those new countries added over the past few months alone.<a href="http://www.haxanshus.n.nu/">http://www.haxanshus.n.nu/</a><br />
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I'm delighted to also announce my glass has gone even more international with a shop in Sweden now stocking a small range of my potion bottles and teapot earrings at <br />
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The keen eyed (and Swedish speakers) will recognise that translates as 'Witches House' and by coincidence I have been working on a new range of blown glass, base around tiny caldrons. A few of these went into my Etsy shop today, I hope also to extend the range of colours and make some larger ones too, they are quite fun plus like my potion bottles the smaller ones can fit tiny corks to fill them.<br />
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I've also taken the chance to upgrade and tweak the design of my classic potion bottles, and add a little extra 'evil' to them. I'm now producing a few with a skull and crossbones design pressed into the hot glass. Unlike so many mass produced bottles this means it isn't just a bit of paper stuck on, with coloured dye or paint on the bottle, it won't wear off and adds a textured design to the bottles. A few of these are also going into my shop too.<br />
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I will also be endeavouring to make more marbles this year, last year I was plagued with shoulder injuries so haven't been able to make as many or any flower marbles due to the awkward angle I need to hold the glass at for these. That's on the mend, so I hope to get back to adding lots of new galaxy and space marbles soon, and already have put quite a selection of micromarbles for the Orion's Belt prop on line. However I may have to hold back on producing more earplugs, as I am still not happy with the way the designs are working, and need to do some serious tweaking to get a process I am happy with, so apologies to all those waiting for various sizes and designs, I'll re-launch those properly once I've got them right in a few months time.SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-49212854412012833672015-02-16T12:53:00.003-08:002015-02-16T13:08:15.340-08:00New Little Worlds 2.0 are coming! And this time they're Alien!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New Alien little worlds being cleaned</td></tr>
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Long time no blog, but as I've been taking a few extra weeks away from Covent Garden and Greenwich I've been catching up on a few things, including new ideas.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tiny 'Men-in-Black' marble with penny for scale</td></tr>
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Lately everything has been small, from smaller and smaller little galaxy marbles for people making the 'Men in Black' prop (or just who like small cute marbles!) to a return to finding a replacement for the little world earrings I used to make.<br />
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For those who didn't read about if previously <a href="http://steampunkglass.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/crack-in-world.html" target="_blank">crack-in-world</a>, <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Past Little Worlds that had problems with batches of cracking glass</td></tr>
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or haven't seen them, I used to make some little tiny world earrings and pendants that had multiple layers of glass to produce clouds with 23ct gold leaf as islands and continents. They were getting more and more 'Earth like' and was about to explore a way of even adding poles to make them even more realistic when I ran into some problems with the glass I used for them.<br />
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It was pretty exotic stuff, and also needed lots of layers which didn't always play well with each other, I could have a failure rate of 20% some days, added to which it wasn't even the usual borosilicate glass that I use so have to clear the decks to stop cross-contamination of the different glasses. One of the types I used was becoming harder to get hold of, and after waiting a few months got a precious 1/2lb from the American factory that makes it. That's when disaster struck.<br />
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I always had a higher than wanted failure rate, but this last batch was terrible! Out of about 50 I think only 3 didn't crack in half before I even got them out of the kiln. Contacting the factory seem to also fall on deaf ears, and later talking to people 'in the know' found out they'd been having problems with this for a while. Even when I did get them to work the colours weren't nearly as good or as reliable, so I decided to start looking around for an alternative.<br />
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I made a few back in January of last year, and one or two looked quite interesting. One batch mostly went a boring bloody brown colour, but a few of these were an amazing multi-coloured medley of blues and greens giving them a real Neptune effect. Some stayed a little lighter red and whites to make passable Jupiters too. However time constraints and swapping from Greenwich to Covent Garden didn't give me time to explore them further - until now.<br />
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I'm still tweaking the formula, the effects are quite random, but revisiting them I'm getting some lovely colour combos. There is a failure rate, but so far it's around 5-10% which is much better if it says like that. There are the green and blue Neptunes, a few with purple whisps, brown and reds for Mars, and even the odd Jupiter too. Plus it's given me ideas for new glasses to try, one is producing a green-yellow that's quite weird, and even some slightly metallic textures too. As for Saturn, no, not doing that one yet!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEaVmDpmkIEM9pfNdPCjSbgsFSnzQp77_cOiKYPdR8jahuvjUs4lpDjkipxvdqAcAt4ilJw4FIn6D13nXLtUg7XY2nDtBQSem2q8j12p2q_Fo7wQMbTIj4kpsglFY-we5dpu8gQzKQ46O7/s1600/blog1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEaVmDpmkIEM9pfNdPCjSbgsFSnzQp77_cOiKYPdR8jahuvjUs4lpDjkipxvdqAcAt4ilJw4FIn6D13nXLtUg7XY2nDtBQSem2q8j12p2q_Fo7wQMbTIj4kpsglFY-we5dpu8gQzKQ46O7/s1600/blog1.jpg" height="238" width="320" /></a></div>
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Pairing them up is going to be quite a tricky one though, but hopefully I'll have some in the Etsy shop soon, and will be bringing them along to the MCM Expo in Birmingham on 21-22ns March at the NEC.SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-37552809203708083622014-04-23T07:00:00.000-07:002014-04-23T07:13:19.447-07:00Handmade Glass Lace BobbinsI answered a desperate call over on the UK Lampwork forum 'Frit Happens' a week or so ago for 'help, can anybody here make glass lace bobbins?' After a quick google images to remind me what a lace bobbin looks like, I cautiously answered 'maybe, possibly.' I know, it's a cop-out answer but I've learnt the hard way not to commit myself to making something before I've tried - some of the simplest looking things turn out to be the hardest. I know some people run towards commissions, I tend to run away!<br />
<br />
After a few emails with the lady who wants them I had a go at a few designs since the kiln was already on and hot! It was unusal trying to match them to an existing design which was hollow, I made these in solid glass which I'm more comfortable with, plus I think it gives them a nicer weight. Sizing was tricky, as she needed a set of ten, so I remembered a bit from my class with Jennifer Umphress where she showed how she used simple cardboard templates to make some of her large complex glass frames, and a permanent marker to size the glass. I ended up making a few more than planned, altering the existing design to make it more my own style, plus simplifing parts of the design to make it easier to keep them straight when making.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWAnOkPQ3ImDPKpckH5Ia3-evJS7P0fEiNdpRVVpzT6MRxcVBVTeC1YoHWnKwpyrj4DLKnk3YCz-4_JizoSavat9iF0mlePTN4KfM7Q-MJHU_KN-PnvRXSAo-9eeROAN0E83w-9teBNE8/s1600/100_5436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWAnOkPQ3ImDPKpckH5Ia3-evJS7P0fEiNdpRVVpzT6MRxcVBVTeC1YoHWnKwpyrj4DLKnk3YCz-4_JizoSavat9iF0mlePTN4KfM7Q-MJHU_KN-PnvRXSAo-9eeROAN0E83w-9teBNE8/s1600/100_5436.jpg" height="320" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Test Glass Lace Making Bobbins</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The customer, luckily, liked what I'd come up with, so asked me to make the ten. I did a bakers/glass makers dozen which was a good job as despite the template the sizes varied a little more than I wanted. I'm guessing getting too closed to the template and lightly charring it probably didn't help much in that regard!<br />
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They were so different to the type of glass I normally make they were surprisingly therapeutic to make. I don't know if I'll make many more, it has to be a hard-head business decision of having enough demand, but I can already see scope for ways I can make really special and unusal ones. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLI-9SOIwO4Tf0jhLrr6VeDg9n9y1dMjjpybDrObLyeyt_q87HkwwhK6QzxtOPz1FWnx_4cMnnIiBtxu-bPY8g9egMtBtfD0nN3mqTFATaLENRuBEvrLyDwK4eNgQIQfrPuR88-HeU-ls/s1600/100_5438.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLI-9SOIwO4Tf0jhLrr6VeDg9n9y1dMjjpybDrObLyeyt_q87HkwwhK6QzxtOPz1FWnx_4cMnnIiBtxu-bPY8g9egMtBtfD0nN3mqTFATaLENRuBEvrLyDwK4eNgQIQfrPuR88-HeU-ls/s1600/100_5438.jpg" height="279" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished Glass Lace Bobbins</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'll probably make a more robust template if I make some more!<br />
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<br />SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-4884824511255175242014-03-14T12:03:00.000-07:002014-03-14T12:03:11.733-07:00My Lampwork ManifestoI've not published anything on the blog for a while, I've been using the immediacy of Facebook to relay any news, so I thought it a good time to re-think and re-state some thoughts. I'm thinking more about my 'art' side of things of late, and as I'm in more radical mood today I've re-written my 'artists statement and intention,' which has turned more into a manifesto, and explains 'why lampworking' as an artists medium. I don't expect everyone will 'get it' or understand some of it, but I think and hope it might strike a chord (no pun intended) with a few lampworkers who might read this.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOwNO_DERJME9VFzhyIH5VQtCfuWikb50mUZEHH4FMDLauRKEXlABRXs_gT1P4yQKbFpaDcCxkz_r2Dkmu6AELMGKCW3ZBPMtqirAOwVgtWZFhGQ_LY_p8PKafc8BDh0pscLzbbuCYwkOx/s1600/canistrum-mirum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOwNO_DERJME9VFzhyIH5VQtCfuWikb50mUZEHH4FMDLauRKEXlABRXs_gT1P4yQKbFpaDcCxkz_r2Dkmu6AELMGKCW3ZBPMtqirAOwVgtWZFhGQ_LY_p8PKafc8BDh0pscLzbbuCYwkOx/s1600/canistrum-mirum.jpg" height="320" width="254" /></a></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Lampworking is rock ‘n' roll. Not that corporate-MTV-boyband rock
‘n' roll, but the sawdust and spilt beer on the floor, stale smoke BO filled
dirty dark basement, ear-bleeding howling broken amp rock ‘n' roll. Furnace
glassblowers are the orchestral movement; choreographed and rehearsed, we
appreciate them in awe as they come together with grace and practise to produce
beauty. We do love the fused workers jazz creations as they layer colour on
colour, tone on tone, but we can't work that way. Spontaneity and individuality
are why we work alone to bring life our crazed obsessive visions that we can't
explain. We have to show and shout and smash and burn, to create.</span><span style="color: black;"></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">In garages and dark unloved rooms we make our noise, thrashing and
practising at guitars or torches to learn how to express ourselves. Cuts and
blisters for both, and we continue through bleeding fingers as the music takes
shape. The language is the same; one talks of larger amps and mixers to make
bigger noise, the other bigger kilns and oxycons to make bigger glass. For one
it's a Stratocaster or Les Paul guitar, for the other a GGT or Herbert Arnold
torch; a blank tape or a clear rod of glass. To get them we play our cheap
battered instruments, busking in streets or flea markets, making what we have
to to pay for the creations in the back of our minds. These are not
middle-of-the-road melodies or Christmas tree trinkets, these are single minded
visions, drawn out of the darkest depths of our mind. There is no expectation
anyone will even understand us, so we carry on alone, hoping our peers and
idols might give a nod and say 'cool'. That's the only bread we have to keep us
going in the hope of finally getting a proper gig. A dive bar, a tired art
boutique at the wrong end of town, our first real gig, and the hope that it
will eventually lead to that football stadium or whitewashed gallery. Always
the fear that we'll burn out and give up before we reach our dream, and, if we
finally succeed, our inner vision has taken over and nothing is as important as
the next cool rift or lattachino. </span><span style="color: black;"></span></div>
<span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">And both are the only jobs where you HAVE to wear dark glasses
indoors. Rock on!</span><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">(Lampwork Manifesto - Copyright
Glenn Godden)</span></div>
SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-52913464337211705842013-09-12T02:17:00.000-07:002013-09-12T02:28:40.014-07:00Crack in the World <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtggirZ_RVonnaw4rwaG0wJ7aGDJz1wqqjm1Xvfn6sAYjN0dPJQwustEkcUfon8YW9lqJE7hmFFjx4M2sRPn7x7BQ7BdeEBCNBJFQz1T9fdNpAlRx2sjdZGKmVIf4rzCaT7IicvUMNqsrZ/s1600/world1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtggirZ_RVonnaw4rwaG0wJ7aGDJz1wqqjm1Xvfn6sAYjN0dPJQwustEkcUfon8YW9lqJE7hmFFjx4M2sRPn7x7BQ7BdeEBCNBJFQz1T9fdNpAlRx2sjdZGKmVIf4rzCaT7IicvUMNqsrZ/s320/world1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The world cracked from side to side..... and around the middle, across the top, and everywhere else!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The terrible blog title comes from a 1964 sci-fi disaster movie, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059065/" target="_blank">'Crack In The World'</a>, but in this case it should be millions of cracks as I struggle to get some little world earrings made. Producing them is turning into a disaster movie of their own!<br />
<br />
I've been wanting to get some of the glass that makes such lovely cloudy effects for while now, and about six weeks ago I ordered about 3/4lb of this precious glass that hardly anyone seems to stock from a European stockist. And yes, that's in old school pounds weight, as glass producers still use imperial measurements as if they are sweet-shops (which, for anyone who works with glass, they are really!)<br />
<br />
So I waited, and waited, and waited a bit more. Without going too much into the sordid details after several weeks, a lack of communication from the supplier (which would have smoothed things considerably) I eventually had to take it to a paypal dispute to get my money back. I got the refund, but not the glass I really needed.<br />
<br />
So, now it was an order into an American stockist, which turned out to be super fast. They recommended using DHL for a few extra dollars, and considering the delays I'd already had I figured it was better to have the glass as quickly as possible. The last order I'd had from The States came from USPS (US Postal Service) was still moving around in the USA in the first three days, this delivery was picked up from the USA warehouse at 4pm Wednesday afternoon (their time) and on my door step before noon on Friday! Amazing, even more considering the USA is half a day ahead of us too, so they lost time flying it here!<br />
<br />
So, kiln on, 23ct gold leaf ready, and I start making worlds. Or rather, I don't. This batch seemed to be reluctant to make the nice cloudy effects, I made a good 20-30 or so to see how they came out, and switched to another type I had that doesn't always make such nice clouds. I expect a few to crack, normally they are straight in half, and the second batch were mostly fine, but the new glass I'd waited so long for was a disaster! As you can see from the photo's, they have some severe incompatibility cracks, normally caused by mixing two glasses with different expansion rates together (COE) which may be the clear I normally use. It's always been fine in the past, and worked with the other glass fine. I have tried emailing customer service of the factory, but they don't seem interested in answering their emails to tell me if they've had anyone else have problems with this batch.<br />
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So this means that little worlds are going to be delayed even longer now, whilst I figure this out, or try to get another brand of glass to perform the same tricks I could get out of this one. I've even been giving serious thought to making my own, it'll probably be quicker to get that way! I am experimenting with some new world designs though, so watch this space.<br />
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In the meantime, and on a more positive note, I am now finally getting my Etsy shop refilled. I've been posting on Facebook to let people know, although I've been doing so much I'm worried all my Facebook followers are going to start thinking I'm spamming them! There are lots of new pendants, marbles, a few pens and pins, although earrings may be in short supply for a few more weeks, however when there are they may be some more unusual designs, so keep an eye on my status!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTFLnOLSsrRYjstrrmDwliOTqV8o3jYe8u3yMjsEZA-iEg05FOTG7w-RGBqMYuwtfjvC2xPIV9TF7dDug6dM8pq1JbwGLyL28bPTjE6mP7WiFubEvmBpeHPfRzJEG8whi49bMovsmMyLxU/s1600/world2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTFLnOLSsrRYjstrrmDwliOTqV8o3jYe8u3yMjsEZA-iEg05FOTG7w-RGBqMYuwtfjvC2xPIV9TF7dDug6dM8pq1JbwGLyL28bPTjE6mP7WiFubEvmBpeHPfRzJEG8whi49bMovsmMyLxU/s320/world2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bah! A days work and loads of gold leaf wasted :-(</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-17789554290969133712013-08-22T03:53:00.000-07:002013-08-22T03:53:13.886-07:00The pens are finished - and off to amazing desks!Last week I finally finished the last of the pens, and as a bonus the company printing the boxes for them had them dispatched in record time. I always find it's the one thing that is out of my control that slows things down or puts an unexpected halt on progress, so I was delighted when they turned up a week before I expected them. This meant that I could package them up, and deliver them a full month ahead of the deadline. <br />
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Despite the weight I decided to deliver them in person, as I really didn't want these in the hands (or hobnail boot) of a courier company to loose, drop, throw around, and all the other jolly things that can go wrong. Like I said, minimising things that are out of my control that could go wrong! Also for the weight and size of the boxes the return ticket to London wasn't much more than posting plus I could wizz around a few stores to pick up some supplies too.<br />
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First stop was the offices of <a href="http://www.acadeuro.org/" target="_blank"><em>Academia </em>Europaea</a> who I can now announce commissioned the pens. I am glad, and very relieved, to say they were delighted with the pens, most of which will now be sent to Wroclaw University in Poland where they will be handed out during a major gathering there of Europe's top academics. Apparently many will be given out with prizes and scholarships, and a few as a thank you to some of the special guests as well, which the Secretary of the society mentioned included 'a couple of Nobel prize winners,' which I must admit I didn't quite take in when he told me this. I certainly never expected any of my pens to end up on quite such illustrious desks! As it is their 25th anniversary year they wanted something a little more original and interesting than a mass produced pens and tie pins, so I was delighted to hear that my dip pens fitted the bill. Although the various academic luminaries who will be getting one of the pens don't know yet, so don't tell them!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvbOQbWD49YkQr2T72jqPdGr0nHeq_ZpYKxm0Pe-Q9wIJZHs2MoZ4Q6Fta0fxn1uvhd4UNICY2GzRhk93Osifov5IIwOA81bB3kE3QfZz6Hv8D807YH2zCtvSXwXFQlMoNp4qyrQVlL94v/s1600/p1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvbOQbWD49YkQr2T72jqPdGr0nHeq_ZpYKxm0Pe-Q9wIJZHs2MoZ4Q6Fta0fxn1uvhd4UNICY2GzRhk93Osifov5IIwOA81bB3kE3QfZz6Hv8D807YH2zCtvSXwXFQlMoNp4qyrQVlL94v/s320/p1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
For me it's been a great commission to do, and it's a real bonus to hear that they are going to be a small part of such a large event to honour the work of some of Europe's leading minds - plus to be in their offices and on the desks when they return home. I certainly never envisioned this when I first had the idea to make dip pens.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglNXThjlt_SPvh5wDhSNZzAFh_vSUbli1r16mgV7aagTjbUmjt3soJSeBVaypMWqdC8nx3skkdo9l2H-zeZlsd8oaM3PN99gQiU0EIl8D4ndJc51_QKKmlA67WU2N53UeD-MJv4VZfHHEE/s1600/turq4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="99" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglNXThjlt_SPvh5wDhSNZzAFh_vSUbli1r16mgV7aagTjbUmjt3soJSeBVaypMWqdC8nx3skkdo9l2H-zeZlsd8oaM3PN99gQiU0EIl8D4ndJc51_QKKmlA67WU2N53UeD-MJv4VZfHHEE/s320/turq4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-23898260654443552472013-08-05T13:02:00.002-07:002013-08-05T13:04:06.357-07:00100 PensYou may have been wondering why the lack of new shiny in my Etsy shop, or general lack of new posts on my Facebook page. (Or maybe not!) Well, I've been making pens, lots of pens, lots and lots and lots of them. Endlessly. For weeks. And you can't have any of them!<br />
<br />
Sometime last year a visitor at my Greenwich stall asked if I might be able to make some pens for a yearly event, which I'd said 'maybe.' Well a few weeks ago I was commissioned to make 100 pens for 'an event.' I'm not at liberty to say who for or what the event is, but the one main thing is that they all have to be blue, maybe with a little yellow. (And no, this has nothing to do with Doctor who!)<br />
<br />
It's come at an ideal time for me, a few months before I start gearing up for Expos in October and November, plus all the craziness that happens at the end of the year! However I have had to put all the other projects and sculptural stuff on hold, as well as not having much time to blog, or make extra things to list on Etsy. Even my Greenwich stall is starting to look a little empty.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsJgYqfx4nMDWRUgoZ8rCR3Z66jH5xVq_thAOhm3xP_szJ4gzGqT4zykKAD4nbG7R0fh38miU0QUNSpVmBiXw6BbTckha7m7yI2Zh20n_NWMXIuPx-zS-a2U4kfh2-uytD3G68XoDDYW8_/s1600/IMAG0614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsJgYqfx4nMDWRUgoZ8rCR3Z66jH5xVq_thAOhm3xP_szJ4gzGqT4zykKAD4nbG7R0fh38miU0QUNSpVmBiXw6BbTckha7m7yI2Zh20n_NWMXIuPx-zS-a2U4kfh2-uytD3G68XoDDYW8_/s320/IMAG0614.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A few pens, and still a lot more to make!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In a way it's been quite nice not to have to think too much about what to make next during my days in the workshop. Instead of, 'do I make a pendant, and what sort, or a marble?' it's 'what to make next? Another pen! And then another!' I must admit around numbers 48 to 54 I did start getting a bit fed up of making pens, however once I got into the sixties I got back on a roll again. <br />
<br />
They are now nearly finished, and hopefully by the end of this week or start of next week I'll have them all finished and delivered (crossing my fingers and toes that the client likes them!) After that I'll get back to some normality and start making lots of new pendants and marbles for the Etsy shop and the upcoming Expos, hopefully including a few new exciting things too!SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-50956777170794008872013-07-15T13:08:00.000-07:002013-07-15T13:15:32.729-07:00Green Man Mask continuedI've taken the annealed mask out of the kiln and started work on adding more leaves and details. So far I've learnt;<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTqp9oL3VRCzPcs1fkyC1DhWcD0P-U_CGvbqrn3qoYAFlXxN1_R3wYEg9YlZcVRidGMIozdFeof6MNT9gp0tRP-paay4IqpJb9XpWHzSyJNhZ0cL1gGW1RGz2uYA5o8VPpP6oy36vfLSLB/s1600/2-mask-2nd-stage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTqp9oL3VRCzPcs1fkyC1DhWcD0P-U_CGvbqrn3qoYAFlXxN1_R3wYEg9YlZcVRidGMIozdFeof6MNT9gp0tRP-paay4IqpJb9XpWHzSyJNhZ0cL1gGW1RGz2uYA5o8VPpP6oy36vfLSLB/s320/2-mask-2nd-stage.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting quite far along, still needs a few more hours yet</td></tr>
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1) I need to think more about my work flow. <br />
I didn't really expect this first attempt to go so well, and jumped around the sculpture a little too much. This has left some areas under more stress as some leaves pull on others, and when I start heating sometimes this stress has caused parts further away to snap. There was quite a lot of re-joining and tweaking as I went back over areas, even just as I finished one of the first leaves came away that'll need re attaching.<br />
This time I went a little slower, as I added each new leaf I took time to make sure it was well joined, then while it was still hot (and the new join a little flexible still) joined it anywhere else it was touching the main structure to ensure it has at least two firm hold points, then re-heated the first joins just to make sure. I think 'just to make sure' should be the motto for doing this sort of work!<br />
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2) Nice work for hot weather. <br />
I do really need to get more pendants and big marbles made for the next Expo (yes I know it's months away, but foolishly I did book both London and Birmingham which are only separated by a few weeks). It's not too bad until the afternoon when the sun swings around, and the kiln starts getting hotter. This makes a nice change, and as I only need one wheezy old oxycon and the extractor hood on it makes for quite a quite and chilled out working.<br />
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3) Tricky to light, ok once lit<br />
Talking of old oxycons, it can be a bit tricky to get the mini torch to light and stay lit to start with. It might be because it takes quite a while to get all the air out of the oxygen and propane lines, once it has though it seems (mostly) ok so long as I don't have to turn it back off and on again! This is where a stand would be really helpful, if it allowed it to stay lit when needing both hands free.<br />
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4) Tidy that workbench<br />
Actually, I can't really see that happening, I even get around not needing to tidy it when working 104 glass by putting a board over the top of the debris! A separate little work area, with really, really good light would be ideal though, maybe that's a little higher too.<br />
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5) More plaster, less filler<br />
This poor face cast is starting to look like a bit of a burns victim, or something sort of Evil living-dead-doll from an Asian Horror film! The modroc is charring when the surface gets knocked or flakes off, so a thicker plaster/quartz layer might be better. Maybe also use chicken wire for strengthening instead. I mostly used modroc originally because I happened to have a big unused bag, and it makes quite light casts.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcuVIajKfuyp4D4A8DZcMeEVcQ83ZaDM2QgxynyuoLVP8TgE9duLRJRmbPUX1M4hMB7Z2WEAZyj0jN7pyiliYJLaLzHT8klYhWM8MxzelarOsY0cLTdd_KRnaYDr-FGFt-3Z5FkI4H6VZI/s1600/2nd-stage-cast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcuVIajKfuyp4D4A8DZcMeEVcQ83ZaDM2QgxynyuoLVP8TgE9duLRJRmbPUX1M4hMB7Z2WEAZyj0jN7pyiliYJLaLzHT8klYhWM8MxzelarOsY0cLTdd_KRnaYDr-FGFt-3Z5FkI4H6VZI/s320/2nd-stage-cast.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charred and battered cast</td></tr>
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6) Stay calm! Make good support underwear and it can be fixed!<br />
Hard to do when you heat up one area and another goes 'crack,' but that really probably comes down to the initial problems with not making some of the first joins as well as I should have or putting others under too much stress. Having to go back and re attach them has probably made the whole sculpture stronger and better made though. Next time I'll have to think more carefully about the best way of putting down those first leaves that become the scaffold for the rest of the sculpture.<br />
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7) Make more leaves<br />
This uses a huge amount of leaves, which is ok as I wanted to define the shape just in leaves anyway, but I never seem to make enough. When I've looked at Green Man pictures and original church stone sculptures they make most of the face with very few leaves. Sometimes it's one per face area (i.e. one of each cheek, one for the nose) and then stretch them out to make the shape. I wanted these green faces to be more like you might see them, when in a glimpse out of the corner of your eye the overall shape of the branches and leaves in the trees suggest a face, but then when you look it's gone. Or is that just me?<br />
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All in all this has been an interesting project, although it's not finished the next questions are 'do I make another in coloured glass,' and 'do I leave clear or sandblast it to a frosted finish?' And if I did frost it, it then leaves another decision, to then leave it as it is or paint it which leaves a nice matt finish? Mind you, as I don't have an airbrush/sandblaster yet it's probably not really a relevant set of questions!<br />
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In other news I might only be at Greenwich this Sunday (or not at all, I'm not sure if I can make it yet) so I am hoping to get some more marbles listed into my Etsy shop this week. As usual I'll give a heads up on Facebook to let you know when I start getting them listed.<br />
<br />SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-18934491298090732562013-07-11T15:29:00.000-07:002013-07-11T15:29:09.105-07:00New Toy & Green Man/Woman SculptureIt's been a bit of catch up since the last Expo and class, mostly I've been getting my head down and making new pendants and marbles for the stall. Hopefully they'll be some new marbles trickling through into my Etsy shop again in the next few weeks as well.<br />
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However I still want to try and make time to keep practising and improving my sculptural techniques. For a while I've quite fancied a hand torch, something that can go to really fine pin-point flame to tweak and work on details. Of course I couldn't quite justify the expense, it's not just the torch but all the new pipes and connectors too, plus I couldn't decide which one would be best for me. After chatting about hand torches during the course, and then seeing a cool photo of an American artist standing before a three foot sculpture he was assembling with a hand torch, I looked a little harder and came up with a Smiths Mini Torch at a bargain price. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCrLHd9vGRbfdktk47Qvy7p-Au3z1ytEpoDKxz4xeFUNMYM_HLg7XrHBr6_rYFeQPRrnmzT_MCA6YxAGAx8GW8TML_1v2WFC0Qi92WZKTc-jZ-wdlq-mxa5cQY3lIduRlmdxQ6NoIcNztl/s1600/newtorch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCrLHd9vGRbfdktk47Qvy7p-Au3z1ytEpoDKxz4xeFUNMYM_HLg7XrHBr6_rYFeQPRrnmzT_MCA6YxAGAx8GW8TML_1v2WFC0Qi92WZKTc-jZ-wdlq-mxa5cQY3lIduRlmdxQ6NoIcNztl/s320/newtorch.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New Little Torch</td></tr>
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Although really made for metal work, it's quite popular with some glass artists. Although the flame really is tiny, it's nice and compact, has a tight hot flame, and best of all comes with it's own light and small hoses already attached. The hoses were the clincher, not only did it save an extra expense of new hoses, I didn't fancy having to hold a torch being dragged down by the normal heavy propane hoses.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7uR0Zv17WDvoeRdeIKH8hFe-FfIubkUMnSe462ao608CF3iqE0pn2UQdUCp0cl7TAwN7msjZQbQTlMMlq2G4RUOLXr6W11MwSQ9tmjQFVA7TxWBrxEfY-iYzAdLuZ_yGwFTBoUymvlWJ_/s1600/face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7uR0Zv17WDvoeRdeIKH8hFe-FfIubkUMnSe462ao608CF3iqE0pn2UQdUCp0cl7TAwN7msjZQbQTlMMlq2G4RUOLXr6W11MwSQ9tmjQFVA7TxWBrxEfY-iYzAdLuZ_yGwFTBoUymvlWJ_/s320/face.jpg" width="311" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Work in Progress, glass leaves being added using a plaster former</td></tr>
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It's taken a few weeks now before I've had time to play with it though, apart from playing catch up I'm just confirming a very large commission which will keep me busy for weeks (holding breath and touching wood that it comes off, more on that when it's all confirmed!) However there has been an idea that's been kicking around in my head for a while, and this seemed the ideal tool for the job!<br />
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These are some 'work in progress' pictures, of a Green Woman mask that I've been making using the little torch to assemble the leaves which I made using my Lynx torch.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbHbfOSFKoxS752ZfMPJcmFcgBWIi_aHdQhjVpQrtorkXK4uwZtO3375Fo35sRclbl4dnJBa9eF1o7ltGqp30N8WEldUZn3OlI7wPTLPt-t22CZ84NQ_piexQy2I16GGS37HjOB0xKjn3y/s1600/topview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbHbfOSFKoxS752ZfMPJcmFcgBWIi_aHdQhjVpQrtorkXK4uwZtO3375Fo35sRclbl4dnJBa9eF1o7ltGqp30N8WEldUZn3OlI7wPTLPt-t22CZ84NQ_piexQy2I16GGS37HjOB0xKjn3y/s320/topview.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top view of the mask removed from the former, with a leaf beside it</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJMAxpB6WOmRQ4xJSAY6aaayH5bmHsqUQ1wH5ZAvQj6nuZxvb66BsfZYVKJAnplU5klwIqHXSJLGQvqktvTB9ZKFIZtks6TN9xueEs00qQxnfewJBSwc-uRd9u1nKFP-r9CudAlgIorUVT/s1600/sideview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJMAxpB6WOmRQ4xJSAY6aaayH5bmHsqUQ1wH5ZAvQj6nuZxvb66BsfZYVKJAnplU5klwIqHXSJLGQvqktvTB9ZKFIZtks6TN9xueEs00qQxnfewJBSwc-uRd9u1nKFP-r9CudAlgIorUVT/s320/sideview.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Off the former, this needs to be annealed before I carry on. One of the 'blank' leaves loose beside it</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQAXvqJ2A8HBIxpC_6WMibsL8hg20n4XoBQWo0W17PzQtuHJXVDnmnXejvyysTZM5ZjDmi2wqIjHw3960eLVP5eIF9BfCMZ8HzaVPM7FBj3ePbV1nZWcrmKa_X_7ABa4SdN6p28QCRBlf/s1600/mintorch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQAXvqJ2A8HBIxpC_6WMibsL8hg20n4XoBQWo0W17PzQtuHJXVDnmnXejvyysTZM5ZjDmi2wqIjHw3960eLVP5eIF9BfCMZ8HzaVPM7FBj3ePbV1nZWcrmKa_X_7ABa4SdN6p28QCRBlf/s320/mintorch.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little torch with it's tiny flame next to my Lynx running a fairy small flame</td></tr>
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Before starting on this I've been wondering how to put the leaves together to make a good 3D shape. I figured a former would be the way to go, but I certainly couldn't afford a custom graphite shape in this size. Bellow is a quick run down on how I put this together, using plaster and mod-roc (basically bandages impregnated with plaster-of-paris, which many model shops stock for making hills and mountains on train sets etc.) For the mould I used the packaging from a paint your own mask kit from my local 99p shop! I was going to use the mask, but the plastic blister pack it came in was ideal as I didn't have to plug up the eyes and mouth cut outs, and it was waterproof!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHgk-NqOLJ_7KVVOKxibyO44GFknIQFkoE3eKjBT-lXxWCG1oS8XuWF18JjiiT6kQt5BWHyCn1vfN0REU3APExtc_A5RN64YeYIwj9t9cPwEG9bMvgz8C7f7_miCJcKtaQ2l_-lTtV8hYT/s1600/mould.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHgk-NqOLJ_7KVVOKxibyO44GFknIQFkoE3eKjBT-lXxWCG1oS8XuWF18JjiiT6kQt5BWHyCn1vfN0REU3APExtc_A5RN64YeYIwj9t9cPwEG9bMvgz8C7f7_miCJcKtaQ2l_-lTtV8hYT/s320/mould.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mask mould, I left the mask underneath to add some support and strength to the mould</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR92Sj0DfuHFHZf8X27WvWbpyjkUPYMNFiD1ucs025zmhEm9rH8v21DZwC7Jsm2V2mb5_tXaG4cwctJKhUbGRpihuzD4mH0QnbjhyphenhyphenXCyccvKdLxEhFJrKsu0JLbFVxMYYzMPtzXcQuxv86/s1600/minitorch2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR92Sj0DfuHFHZf8X27WvWbpyjkUPYMNFiD1ucs025zmhEm9rH8v21DZwC7Jsm2V2mb5_tXaG4cwctJKhUbGRpihuzD4mH0QnbjhyphenhyphenXCyccvKdLxEhFJrKsu0JLbFVxMYYzMPtzXcQuxv86/s320/minitorch2.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>
This is my first real go with the torch, and it's quite a liberating way of working, although I could really do with a safe stand where I can leave it when lit if I need both hands free. It's a bit temperamental to light and keep lit until the gases have settled down. I found that I can even use a thin stringer to help 'weld' or 'solder' two parts together, and that if I get really close it's fierce enough to even 'push' the glass. I certainly need a bit more practise with it, maybe once I get time to finish this mask off I'll have a go at another once, with coloured leaves this time. It certainly opens up some interesting ideas and new ways of working.<br />
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Bellow is a quick run down of how I made the plaster blank, for anyone who wants to try something similar. Do use the torch on this at your own risk though, this is an experimental technique, and the plaster and modroc WILL get burnt as you work!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Bee4aqgQSPzv_EdVmxAHW5e3XkN167fpA5cMOJoqIHjkqBuLe_HOE7SGUjbAPK8iGO8QRSyRFwu10lIcasuTQKVk4PpKPbrUK3Hx4ICWZBElZVvrJlZkClUMc4l-XKZoAo014O0FxLN3/s1600/plaster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Bee4aqgQSPzv_EdVmxAHW5e3XkN167fpA5cMOJoqIHjkqBuLe_HOE7SGUjbAPK8iGO8QRSyRFwu10lIcasuTQKVk4PpKPbrUK3Hx4ICWZBElZVvrJlZkClUMc4l-XKZoAo014O0FxLN3/s320/plaster.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_h6u3OVmY-njrBgivkKtDSlayj6GwUCiGWtYFCGj80KktmfINaiKZ4nfXsGrrM7sBBzC1j1qwQr1zL73S1cjqhELUvbctSsYy7E8XHZDK7ffamzvPbZ9HsNq8GpX85jnu4Ep1UOKIt4LR/s1600/firstpour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_h6u3OVmY-njrBgivkKtDSlayj6GwUCiGWtYFCGj80KktmfINaiKZ4nfXsGrrM7sBBzC1j1qwQr1zL73S1cjqhELUvbctSsYy7E8XHZDK7ffamzvPbZ9HsNq8GpX85jnu4Ep1UOKIt4LR/s320/firstpour.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First layer, I used plaster and quartz (equal parts) which is a formula usually used for making kiln casting moulds. I hoped it would provide better heat tolerance for the 'working area' of the cast</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvkBHEW-cY0t77k0W29yusO3IVNe1okMGCLedHokqjpgTsso2tr-B1zXaiFEk1u41FAVz81TFur0BelVcJuhTzrGpbbOeT_bfZv_N_3B-w7XVr9ycU9QGujAAkPCV4BOZYwhtQVSoCZRxM/s1600/modroc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvkBHEW-cY0t77k0W29yusO3IVNe1okMGCLedHokqjpgTsso2tr-B1zXaiFEk1u41FAVz81TFur0BelVcJuhTzrGpbbOeT_bfZv_N_3B-w7XVr9ycU9QGujAAkPCV4BOZYwhtQVSoCZRxM/s320/modroc1.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mod-roc, cut into strips and rough squares. Just pass this through a tray of water to moisten and then slap it on!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xqA1nEOox2VVbNbYQM0ALIanZGWHxUZ6zI4Aoq5a64MS17GIPOekQNNY_ZSWeBZoEYY1lBE_PkW35iLklxJCXxO0nFg39KWF05TDj67yTOIrSSJUaglXKp3-ebc6EZjglDBP5zJsVl6n/s1600/modroc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xqA1nEOox2VVbNbYQM0ALIanZGWHxUZ6zI4Aoq5a64MS17GIPOekQNNY_ZSWeBZoEYY1lBE_PkW35iLklxJCXxO0nFg39KWF05TDj67yTOIrSSJUaglXKp3-ebc6EZjglDBP5zJsVl6n/s320/modroc.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After adding some more plaster I started building up the sides with modroc and re-enforcing the main part of the cast with the modroc</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidd-kNr57VfOarpcEFKI6VZSKwRdBadqdKuD6vtKwNa1M7hKCFMv9utOOykAO4gQfyYSfYePrjFt6IgMFrFLh35-91S-a0uoQgHi8lqKqTfAe-edes_RO8izlOetF5gNemtoLzRkg6NmcO/s1600/pouring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidd-kNr57VfOarpcEFKI6VZSKwRdBadqdKuD6vtKwNa1M7hKCFMv9utOOykAO4gQfyYSfYePrjFt6IgMFrFLh35-91S-a0uoQgHi8lqKqTfAe-edes_RO8izlOetF5gNemtoLzRkg6NmcO/s320/pouring.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add more plaster before the last has set in the hope it all sticks together well!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZ1sHrr7w5G7_AwDoK0GmjN2nybWKIXhNLqS33mjtVN5SB1ngxNQLxcJqO1Ut84zDUQfBHS7Zu-VTVPajJ8ZcQ6kY6UwbE4f_GwqLEx6V-fPsqwMMl3Ptvy96zOw1mIbPX70GxQEYmjR1/s1600/halffull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZ1sHrr7w5G7_AwDoK0GmjN2nybWKIXhNLqS33mjtVN5SB1ngxNQLxcJqO1Ut84zDUQfBHS7Zu-VTVPajJ8ZcQ6kY6UwbE4f_GwqLEx6V-fPsqwMMl3Ptvy96zOw1mIbPX70GxQEYmjR1/s320/halffull.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alternating now with layers of plaster and modroc, this adds both lightness and some structural strength</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFca4f2vgW2RosN2y5rwJnOKvpU1xl-Uls-X7k0T7sdiDCnKmJX1r14T2NHpO7ekrGyjOLzWc-myo0nsCtwEhgmYC82JzbZ8Gv3XwRi8UFg1ppCreRxLMx3XohXcGGSgA9iHFDWekzCBTa/s1600/smoothwithfinger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFca4f2vgW2RosN2y5rwJnOKvpU1xl-Uls-X7k0T7sdiDCnKmJX1r14T2NHpO7ekrGyjOLzWc-myo0nsCtwEhgmYC82JzbZ8Gv3XwRi8UFg1ppCreRxLMx3XohXcGGSgA9iHFDWekzCBTa/s320/smoothwithfinger.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's really easy to smooth out the modroc with a fingertip, be careful not to get it too damp though</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWQQi38b7u9aLMjnvlk9RkK3D1oNKJy8Q2RLfuNtYDG-R-HVB3Ol3Ps-Mo2D0_Sxk18sWlaX4vIVAukxXzAzxY7_1lNS50iFGMcKNj2WJh3QIEMmiSucixOFQUFbyJVLIWVe-x984sBRof/s1600/fullcast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWQQi38b7u9aLMjnvlk9RkK3D1oNKJy8Q2RLfuNtYDG-R-HVB3Ol3Ps-Mo2D0_Sxk18sWlaX4vIVAukxXzAzxY7_1lNS50iFGMcKNj2WJh3QIEMmiSucixOFQUFbyJVLIWVe-x984sBRof/s320/fullcast.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top up to the top, and smooth over so it will lie flat when de-moulded. It's a working cast and this bit isn't going to be seen so no need to make too much of a fuss of neatness.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjljD5qy0dHxVSoscLi3rktW86iKoBWgwJCHebUvHKWvhVN3zXLHFcJfviHD-Ei63m2jn24OeCm4bHefKBzkuPltNEw7VybHgKvIQraw5-Vbhk21ip6qg8WyVwbkluqgRQ3f6J1zltsDVvo/s1600/broken-chin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjljD5qy0dHxVSoscLi3rktW86iKoBWgwJCHebUvHKWvhVN3zXLHFcJfviHD-Ei63m2jn24OeCm4bHefKBzkuPltNEw7VybHgKvIQraw5-Vbhk21ip6qg8WyVwbkluqgRQ3f6J1zltsDVvo/s320/broken-chin.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broken chin! I made the quartz/plaster layer a bit too thin, and then didn't push the modroc down enough so had a void under the chin which then flaked off. You learn by mistakes!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeAPFvxuVn_LN0FSIavcMHg46LDg1GNUq-EHWJbpvMGVQn1O4E0hHDHD_jCfbWlGIkORzXXFehE2_8laL9ke_2noClie98DFMvaLQbDo9ZmOuQWWiKZAmkbd1Tv2y7psqOcI-COg3d54ZL/s1600/finish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeAPFvxuVn_LN0FSIavcMHg46LDg1GNUq-EHWJbpvMGVQn1O4E0hHDHD_jCfbWlGIkORzXXFehE2_8laL9ke_2noClie98DFMvaLQbDo9ZmOuQWWiKZAmkbd1Tv2y7psqOcI-COg3d54ZL/s320/finish.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished cast. Now leave to dry, I left this near (but not on) my kiln for about two weeks to make sure it was fully dried.</td></tr>
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SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-89155081841923734542013-06-03T15:59:00.000-07:002013-06-03T16:07:07.982-07:00I know Kung-Fu - Jennifer Umphress classThere is a bit in 'The Matrix' where Keanu Reeves is plugged in, and they start uploading martial arts information into his brain. When asked how he feels, he just says, 'Woa! I know Kung-Fu!' Well, I sorta know how he feels now.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYXB4eHkA3I0Q_BpBXshvRmoFFE1MBngYipwsftg3kOQJ0-d3aFUC4jJgcEeLdZGMAQdrJ21AADnMksfDWl6yCVQwQDXeXtUXjQODeccGvyOPvWbI5aPMCJxqed5KcMhik2kOnZiggrtf/s1600/jIMAG0556.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYXB4eHkA3I0Q_BpBXshvRmoFFE1MBngYipwsftg3kOQJ0-d3aFUC4jJgcEeLdZGMAQdrJ21AADnMksfDWl6yCVQwQDXeXtUXjQODeccGvyOPvWbI5aPMCJxqed5KcMhik2kOnZiggrtf/s320/jIMAG0556.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jennifer Umphress working on an Octopus</td></tr>
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This weekend I went for a short 3 day course at Diana East's lovely studio at the Old Dairy in Narborough. I felt very lucky to be able to get lessons from <a href="http://www.jenniferumphress.com/" target="_blank">Jennifer Umphress</a> who produces some really stunning sea life glass sculptures. It's so rare to get a chance to take borosilicate lessons in the UK from someone of her calibre, so the first pleasant surprise was <a href="http://www.jessicalandau.com/" target="_blank">Jessica Landau </a> had come along too to act as Teaching Assistant! So, combined with it being a really small class, we got really well looked after and the opportunity for some really intense teaching, almost one-to-one on many occasions. We actually discovered that Jennifer normally teaches this course over two weeks, so we really were getting the intense full-on version. Typical that I had a cold that weekend, and a cough that occasionally interrupted my lampworking!<br />
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I won't go into full details now, I'm pretty tired, but they were such excellent teachers, and refreshingly open about sharing techniques and skills with us. I'm also not going to post loads of photo's of what I managed to make, as they aren't as good as I know I can do with some more practise. I was really intent on trying to learn as much as possible, I know the real work comes now as I practise, practise, practise all that we covered - and we covered an awful lot!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq494reYTS-iIVeSFL2fX6jmM7xbmQgwzu29yEsSPyjN_VEvXcpDMTHJt5CdNPTKErJ4ikSFDzffCaN856_K2Y016-bFilE3K_TIBEzo4yA9317KWjnY5h5fIFerFTKW3JORnY1z34x0DJ/s1600/jIMAG0511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq494reYTS-iIVeSFL2fX6jmM7xbmQgwzu29yEsSPyjN_VEvXcpDMTHJt5CdNPTKErJ4ikSFDzffCaN856_K2Y016-bFilE3K_TIBEzo4yA9317KWjnY5h5fIFerFTKW3JORnY1z34x0DJ/s320/jIMAG0511.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turtle</td></tr>
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The first day we made some little cute whale sculptures, which had a really tricky fold technique in their tail (literally!) A bit of practise on those and xmas tree decorations, and it was straight in to making turtles and pendants. The next day was jellyfish, which gave me a chance to brush up on my techniques for these and see how I could improve, and then into some 'woooooaaaa' moments as Jennifer demo'ed a huge seahorse sculpture, which was incredibly elegant and stunning - and then it was our turn! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRULxREBW-IZf8sdimCBvdJbaSZu1BkjWuMq5hcDtdcFwThZArLDwVs4bAWMsFgTQeaPDpdDpR_XKy_5VrrpG7DNhz4XoOl6zEnOKFjl-Pnf6R9JIpsz31tZNjYygms78KNWhuHzSu2Ah0/s1600/jIMAG0516.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRULxREBW-IZf8sdimCBvdJbaSZu1BkjWuMq5hcDtdcFwThZArLDwVs4bAWMsFgTQeaPDpdDpR_XKy_5VrrpG7DNhz4XoOl6zEnOKFjl-Pnf6R9JIpsz31tZNjYygms78KNWhuHzSu2Ah0/s320/jIMAG0516.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sea Horse</td></tr>
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Quite nerve racking and tricky to do, I'm certainly going to have to practise that one! Luckly Jessica was on hand to help save one from becoming just a melted blob of scrap glass! Jessica then showed us how to make a small pendant size version (it was incredibly tricky and delicate) before one last demo of the day from Jennifer, of a manta ray, which was just open-jaw-stunning!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjqoPQ6x1kTwLKUwFahK3CqLz9VcUxMfii7-k6R3StErsm35qc4gJ6Pbz2RfLfJ6B5NJhs-etvNEiXscq3Oa5ftQLSCIyE_TXBSeotdf1tKOjG-xXCs0VxCCTdKd-MAu7gOipf_tcHwMlW/s1600/jIMAG0519.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjqoPQ6x1kTwLKUwFahK3CqLz9VcUxMfii7-k6R3StErsm35qc4gJ6Pbz2RfLfJ6B5NJhs-etvNEiXscq3Oa5ftQLSCIyE_TXBSeotdf1tKOjG-xXCs0VxCCTdKd-MAu7gOipf_tcHwMlW/s320/jIMAG0519.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Manta Ray, the picture doesn't do justice to it!</td></tr>
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After a lovely meal with everyone on the course at the local Indian restaurant, (which bizarrely doubles as a hotel where a few of us stayed), I woke on the last day with ideas already buzzing around my head of ways I could use some of the new techniques. We were straight into making huge Angelfish though - I loved making these, they are both chunky and elegant, and have room for some experimenting too.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSXwYnSpoFRTMDr318VJR4fcM1WY5q3WH6BUJJtEmuHd7_hMDSEm04oNxC6fTHnrKCm1x8gcwVNpgwNmgVAuBFxSm5lTFw444FA0YcVpHqfCRroh8cjlvqF57nXq9qetZ_Ep-Hwk0rpVuK/s1600/IMAG0530.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSXwYnSpoFRTMDr318VJR4fcM1WY5q3WH6BUJJtEmuHd7_hMDSEm04oNxC6fTHnrKCm1x8gcwVNpgwNmgVAuBFxSm5lTFw444FA0YcVpHqfCRroh8cjlvqF57nXq9qetZ_Ep-Hwk0rpVuK/s320/IMAG0530.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>
Jennifer then took some time to talk us through and show how to do some incredibly clever stuff to mount our work, I think I could actually feel my brain filling up at this point! They were both so open at sharing skills and techniques that I've seen used on sculptures that I'd not imagined I'd be able to easily learn, or anyone would be so happy to share. This was some serious glass 'Kung-Fu!' Along with my brain filling up, so was my note book, every page has techniques and snippets of information that was gladly imparted to us. We were desperately running out of time (and oxygen) but there was just enough of both for us to learn how to make little octopus pendants, before the final demo where Jennifer made one of her signature 3D octopuses. Although she said we'd probably not need to see each leg put on as it might be boring for us, none of us moved! It was quite awe-inspiring to see, I did get a few photos but my phone camera was just too slow and shaky. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking a hot octopus in hand!</td></tr>
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After buying a few colour rods (errr, ok, many rods) we all regrettably said goodbye and headed off. It both flew past, but was so full and inspiring, and it was such a treat to spend so much time with so many fellow UK lampworkers too, and chat about the world of glass. In fact there was so much more that happened and we covered in such a short time that I can't cover in such a short post!<br />
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I certainly have a lot to do this week after the expo, I don't know where some of these new techniques and ideas will take me, but I certainly feel that I've got the confidence to go and now take on so much more - now that I know glass Kung-Fu!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLKw_9AOcmA2E7VbvtOm7MSFzdyfSmqkbwYsOiExOaYE_K2IZtGm-mG8Q1A1DHe5fD5EcOfI8Ly1KikrCOMFqiybZmTvc1me8DMCjbCZT2n9yzO-KzR6Q6kCtLTVKjSK2upD18_QZcq_bA/s1600/jIMAG0585.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLKw_9AOcmA2E7VbvtOm7MSFzdyfSmqkbwYsOiExOaYE_K2IZtGm-mG8Q1A1DHe5fD5EcOfI8Ly1KikrCOMFqiybZmTvc1me8DMCjbCZT2n9yzO-KzR6Q6kCtLTVKjSK2upD18_QZcq_bA/s320/jIMAG0585.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My notebook, this is how many pages I filled during the weekend!</td></tr>
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<br />SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-37243158032207821062013-05-29T12:48:00.003-07:002013-05-29T12:49:49.394-07:00London MCM Expo May 2013I've said it before, and I don't mind saying it again; Thank you! Thank you to everyone who came and saw us at the Expo at the Excel centre this weekend, who took time to chat to us, who bought something from us, and of course those who just looked amazing! Thank you!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo44NbbH4eNbLmCT0AKAblyKZ3_qPC3ux2u5MVnnpkbtMvlFfEPGU6n3-kUwu064FXx0HaHVb56-90kidgUjtqVF-ZVMXQ8UEi69DX0LcZakmHJrB8JWlP9MaYUL9PNdch3dMbu1-BlahL/s1600/IMAG0500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="481" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo44NbbH4eNbLmCT0AKAblyKZ3_qPC3ux2u5MVnnpkbtMvlFfEPGU6n3-kUwu064FXx0HaHVb56-90kidgUjtqVF-ZVMXQ8UEi69DX0LcZakmHJrB8JWlP9MaYUL9PNdch3dMbu1-BlahL/s640/IMAG0500.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outside the Excel Centre on Saturday night </td></tr>
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It has to be the most amazing Expo for us yet! With wider aisles, better spacing, and more exits/entrances it was so much easier to get around this time. Of course for us Expo started months ago, with me making extras that I've been putting aside ready, mostly larger sparklier marbles! That didn't stop me from last minute panics and glass melting, and the almost expected propane tank running out on Sunday morning! The local garage had run out of canisters, but luckily a local garden centre had one of my 'emergency back-up size' in stock, so a quick dive there and I was back in business! I managed a couple more kiln fulls by Wednesday evening, including a couple of new Aliens designs too, although neither ended up being mounted as I wasn't happy with them. I did have a very few Aliens, but not as many as I would have liked to have taken. <br />
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Wednesday night and Thursday morning was all last minute packing, and 'what have I forgotton' panics, before the evening drive to London. We decided to stay over the night before this time, as it meant we didn't have the early morning start and then drive through rush hour, and we could take more time over setting up. However we were really surprised to see how many Expo-goers had already turned up too, after checking in to the hotel as soon as we walked outside saw a group of fully dressed Jedi going into the corner shop opposite! I got a very quick snap, which doesn't show they were also carrying their light sabres too! So, now you know, Nisa shops are favoured by Jedi's!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx0o-aZ8H7SQCbcf-L-DDF0dBJQmzmeAnSCG2Hslfezg79rnvKaLFDsssJWC7HgFKvA7GUnkWSGvVY1Py-UWYUudm6j3ZcUFx6FDcCh1jWaRKb0QuHRdNca4X3NIP3qeT4crh58vkG5f4f/s1600/IMAG0497.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx0o-aZ8H7SQCbcf-L-DDF0dBJQmzmeAnSCG2Hslfezg79rnvKaLFDsssJWC7HgFKvA7GUnkWSGvVY1Py-UWYUudm6j3ZcUFx6FDcCh1jWaRKb0QuHRdNca4X3NIP3qeT4crh58vkG5f4f/s400/IMAG0497.jpg" width="301" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jedi's heading to Nisa</td></tr>
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Friday! First a tense ten minutes whilst I tried to book for the October Expo, then a hour to navigate the complex Excel loading bay system, get our passes, unload, park, then finally begin to set up! We were luckly to be on a odd end where the stall next to us had to suround their stall for security (they sold knives and swords) so it gave us a handy wall to display the few aliens I'd bought. It was great to feel rested and able to take our time to set up, but the time still flew and before I knew it they were announcing the doors opened in thirty minutes!<br />
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And then the doors were open, and after that everything became a wonderful neon blur! Lots of people to talk to, many of them who'd seen us there last May and had come back again, including one Lady who'd deliberately come along for an Alien for her birthday pressent! On Saturday it was so busy they even opened the doors ten minutes early, but the new systems kept it feeling open and not crushed. I barely got chance to take any pictures, but I did get a quick shot of the Excel on Saturday night, which had turned into a lovely sunny day. Before we knew it, it was Sunday, the Expo was over and it was time to pack away and get home for a soak in the bath, a pizza, rest, and catch up on all the boring admin I've been ignoring for the past month as I've been manically melting glass! That hasn't stopped me from starting to plan for October's Expo though...... <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirzhbwUhLN4yoLEErlKtc3AVmbLsNxV9PidPr9kmYr00ElBmcla-uNgs-R32WOZVI5TnjyMG8C2zDLT_dfhkf7WF4-ne_yrcP4gZ8PC26rdKD_qQxov_ty9zXrjAWsYW9riBSzupngIkPQ/s1600/IMAG0498.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirzhbwUhLN4yoLEErlKtc3AVmbLsNxV9PidPr9kmYr00ElBmcla-uNgs-R32WOZVI5TnjyMG8C2zDLT_dfhkf7WF4-ne_yrcP4gZ8PC26rdKD_qQxov_ty9zXrjAWsYW9riBSzupngIkPQ/s640/IMAG0498.jpg" width="482" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our stall set up ready on Friday</td></tr>
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SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-66740513392615664622013-04-29T08:52:00.000-07:002013-04-29T08:56:54.231-07:00Exhibition!!!The exciting news is that I have some of my Alien Specimens in an exhibition, starting on Friday! The collection is entitled 'Glass' and features work from 30 different glass artists at the Cuploa Gallery in Sheffield from 3rd May to 16th June.<br />
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<a href="http://www.cupolagallery.com/exhibitions.php?ref=1305" target="_blank">cupolagallery.com</a><br />
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This is quite a major show, it's been quite a surprise to see myself (and a picture of one of the Aliens) featured in press releases and emails from other mailing lists I'm on of upcoming exhibitions. I really wanted to go up for the opening night, but I just don't think I can make it as I only found out I was including a short time ago (thanks to some lost emails) and it seems all the trains and hotels rooms in Sheffield seem booked that weekend. This was by selection only, so I was delighted to hear I'd been chosen!<br />
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One lobster didn't make it, thanks to the post office, and arrived upside down in a box clearly marked 'this way up,' one of the gallery directors told me he saw the driver offloading it, and was surprised that only one was broken. Not as bad as one artist though, for whom every item he sent arrived smashed. However the lobster I know can be rebuilt, and will give me the excuse to make some tweaks to it that I wanted to make.<br />
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This does mean I won't have very many aliens to take to the MCM Expo in London, but space is limited there this year, and hopefully the ones in Sheffield will now find new homes, then I can use the proceeds of their 're-homing' to fund making some more new and exciting ones!<br />
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SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-77436747116771342502013-04-16T13:53:00.000-07:002013-04-16T15:09:21.991-07:00Alien Sea HuntressOr it might end up just being called Sea Huntress, or The Huntress. In my mind it's just 'why have I got this crazy necklace idea in my head? I've got enough half finished projects already without starting another one!'<br />
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This nearly did stall, and I know that I could still be tweaking it, but I'm trying to get back to one of the earliest lessons' I learnt with glass - stop, move on; that's as good as you can do for now, learn by it and take those lessons to the next thing you make. Easier said than done, I even posted some earlier pictures on Frit Happens to get some feedback to see what needed tweaking. I almost ended up with too many ideas of changes, so after a dozen more times threading and unthreading it, moving elements around, adding and taking them away, it ended up going very nearly back to how it started. I did find adding a few small Tibetan spacer beads helped some of the claws sit more neatly, which ended up being the main tweak. I wasn't going to put the spike in the centre, and just have the two claws facing each other, but when I did it was just crying out for something major between them. I even had to make beads for it - yes beads! I hardly ever make beads, and I hated the first ones, but then remembered some 'bumpy' style ones I'd seen somewhere, so made some like that which I really liked, and as a bonus kept more of the metallic lusters.<br />
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It's been an interesting project, and bizarrely came from working on the Alien monsters, where I'd developed some interesting ways of adding colour and texture. With this one the colour has a really, really, high silver and metal content, so in real life has some wonderful metallic lusters. Oddly though parts of it show up as yellow when light shines through them, but green-blue when the light hits it straight on! <br />
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I am still deciding if I should list this on Etsy, or take it along to the May Expo. When I make things like this, I tend to think 'would this look like something someone of 'Farscape' would have worn?' If the answer is yes, or at least possiably, then I think it's right.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYQ2yn2-yXZHXc6CbW-tm49d58oARmBNH4P9i_KmG9qVmrga-ZQC_vJVD_iQ_BNmPPUQrnLsx54l1W8rt8Iy2J-frfb4lyABdTrYLZUIh4PX1dZvP2hXoTQGLo1QpUNDqJURrrPfu94m8Q/s1600/s100_3637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYQ2yn2-yXZHXc6CbW-tm49d58oARmBNH4P9i_KmG9qVmrga-ZQC_vJVD_iQ_BNmPPUQrnLsx54l1W8rt8Iy2J-frfb4lyABdTrYLZUIh4PX1dZvP2hXoTQGLo1QpUNDqJURrrPfu94m8Q/s320/s100_3637.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim4bjp-SF-HtQvXvcY4OVGJnrmn5zo_Mhf9n7UcdAElyfHc1TjU-BDcERs2i5gSZn0HQjM3L1tdgRZ_RUExyGd-Im0AnUQs9dOYCirGu-Ll4WjSyjpZwbYuY_2WwC0gXGeUKnLtwWOhbeH/s1600/s100_3632.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim4bjp-SF-HtQvXvcY4OVGJnrmn5zo_Mhf9n7UcdAElyfHc1TjU-BDcERs2i5gSZn0HQjM3L1tdgRZ_RUExyGd-Im0AnUQs9dOYCirGu-Ll4WjSyjpZwbYuY_2WwC0gXGeUKnLtwWOhbeH/s320/s100_3632.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqXUNlFCRX5zwM2YU4hyPKwpwAjAndXuyXveNyf1JEfx67JAMej01v1dL1DBLuhTW4Qlr_FkvhWJPAeyegp1PCfcKV0S5AqqkiQTJJyFko8Ovny1a1o8bUI6ghJaNnAxH2GsIkP_8fyJuZ/s1600/s100_3640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqXUNlFCRX5zwM2YU4hyPKwpwAjAndXuyXveNyf1JEfx67JAMej01v1dL1DBLuhTW4Qlr_FkvhWJPAeyegp1PCfcKV0S5AqqkiQTJJyFko8Ovny1a1o8bUI6ghJaNnAxH2GsIkP_8fyJuZ/s320/s100_3640.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOwv5j3MS1k1sNpgM5UueV_igCQ4nNZEtHfGf0KNvsfuod-Ylv1T4GDcW8EBTSKxuZTJ-4AQpm6FqEz_y0TpUAzteaOZeJTrotYWDyHtFZmGCBkPflAJBkJMVQSTmlb4gej44NKHD8wEX/s1600/s100_3628.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOwv5j3MS1k1sNpgM5UueV_igCQ4nNZEtHfGf0KNvsfuod-Ylv1T4GDcW8EBTSKxuZTJ-4AQpm6FqEz_y0TpUAzteaOZeJTrotYWDyHtFZmGCBkPflAJBkJMVQSTmlb4gej44NKHD8wEX/s320/s100_3628.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Talking of which, I have some news about the Aliens, but it's not confirmed yet, so you are going to have to wait until the next post, but I will post on my Facebook page as soon as I know it's going to happen. <br />
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In the meantime, here's lots of pictures of the necklace.<br />
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SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-40019999242852312332013-04-04T04:22:00.001-07:002013-04-04T04:22:50.158-07:00Etsy ReloadedI am having a tidy up of my Etsy shop, ready for an onslaught of new listings later today! This is partly because of the new postal prices - I'm actually putting international prices DOWN - and also because I've run out of propane, so I can't melt anymore glass until a new tank is delivered!<br />
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For a while now I've been charging more than I wanted to on international deliveries, after having too many going missing in the post I've upgraded to 'signed for' service. From customers responses I noticed they seem to have got there a little quicker, however I was partly subsidizing this and it still made postage very expensive and off-putting. I also had the unexpected problem that many USA customers have PO boxes, and as PO boxes can't sign for parcels I couldn't use the Royal Mail's International signed-for services anyway! So, as soon as I can figure out how, I'm going to start offering it as an optional extra instead, or just pay for it myself if it's a larger order. Oh, and go back to crossing my fingers when I go to the post office.<br />
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It's just as confusing for UK deliveries too, lots of the old smaller weight options and sizes have been removed, so it looks like everything I am going to post will fit the 'small package' size - so long as I don't overdo it with the bubble wrap and make the envelopes more than 8cm thick! It does allow me to post up to 1kg though, so for most UK deliveries in my Etsy shop it will now cost a flat fee of £3 if you buy 1 thing or 20!<br />
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Still confused, or confusing? I'm just glad I don't work at the post office, the Ladies at my local branch are the ones I feel sorry for as they try to unravel all the new size regulations. It was so much clearer and easier when it was just a matter of weighing a box!<br />
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In 'other news' I've been playing around with my second 'little kiln' which goes up to much higher temperatures (shown here at a chilly 880degrees centigrade! I've had it up to 958 deg C for these casts.) <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cooling down from 950deg C, this was taken as it hit 880 deg C!</td></tr>
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However it's still not going to plan, although I've had some unexpected success with some beads I slumped into flat cabochons, I litterally popped them in at the last minute before firing to take advantage of some spare space. I've just fired some more, a few will be cropping up in my Etsy shop too.<br />
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SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-521464234198011402013-03-20T07:23:00.002-07:002013-03-20T09:36:56.102-07:00Birmingham Comic-ConWell, I am back! The Etsy shop is half re-opened, I'm still tried, but still buzzing with ideas after this weekends MCM Expo at Birmingham's NEC. Instead of too much waffling I'm posting lots of photo's here that will hopefully give you a taste of the event, and the always amazing costumes that so many people put together for these Expos that transform them into such colourful events. Ellie has a smart new camera and even managed to get a video clip ( <a href="http://youtu.be/BGL9I6hDFNs" target="_blank">You Tube Video</a> ) of one of the 'parades' of characters - everyone from Darth Vader, Indiana Jones, Xena, to 'Top Gears' The Stig!!! There was even a stall of an R2D2 builders club, with lots of R2D2's wandering around the venue!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4304LRIgLDIT_4-5QJxZIGCk_5G_RgicJdy6Hm97m6MQ4TAW_kHq_9NUzqEB8GJlQSm_rFe9hekQ2BtnBZtj0TsPCfjTJGi3UHuNGrhx_PUoKniUlbPNEH_5EwYrHL9_-QkX0bx-B5aic/s1600/IMAG0447.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4304LRIgLDIT_4-5QJxZIGCk_5G_RgicJdy6Hm97m6MQ4TAW_kHq_9NUzqEB8GJlQSm_rFe9hekQ2BtnBZtj0TsPCfjTJGi3UHuNGrhx_PUoKniUlbPNEH_5EwYrHL9_-QkX0bx-B5aic/s320/IMAG0447.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A very large and very empty NEC</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Home for the next two days, the last set of tables on the end of this row<br />
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Of course, after a three hour drive the first bit of transformation needed was the hall itself! We got there by 2pm on Friday, ready to unload and put everything together, and transform some unexciting wooden tables into our stall.<br />
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A short video of The Parade </div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJIyGXrNu0tOE3PIY02-EVXPNOF0tYbvdnfmSZlljtxAT6ee98d9x0rXClNh5ACX56aOD0j9QBaVNqaqG4718-2B0WTuD6OGo2EMLdE45NSrJ1JmWsTVfWTo3BYKu4T-5q_wYaHXrVhdf/s1600/r2d2buildersclub.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJIyGXrNu0tOE3PIY02-EVXPNOF0tYbvdnfmSZlljtxAT6ee98d9x0rXClNh5ACX56aOD0j9QBaVNqaqG4718-2B0WTuD6OGo2EMLdE45NSrJ1JmWsTVfWTo3BYKu4T-5q_wYaHXrVhdf/s320/r2d2buildersclub.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">R2D2's from the builders club, note the massing Star Wars Stormtroopers at the top right of the picture</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another R2D2, this one hiding in a corner</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fight! Fight! Plenty of chances for some mock posed super-hero/villian fights!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An unlikely group!</td></tr>
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SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-73360651867397172022013-03-14T14:00:00.000-07:002013-03-14T14:00:31.775-07:00Birmingham, here we come! (What have I forgotten to pack?)Well, it's been months in the planning, and then lots of last minute running around and I am still wondering what I've forgotten! It's the Birmingham MCM Comic-con this weekend, and not only the first big event of the year for me, but also the first time I've ever done this show so am not sure what to expect! Hopefully it'll all be good things, and if it's anything like the London show it'll be full of amazing outfits and really lovely people to chat too! I've got some really nice new large marbles, plus new Aliens Specimen pictures too! OH (Other Half) is on hand again to help out on the stall, and in return I've promised her a trip(s) to some of Birmingham's legendary Balti houses! Yum! As you can see from this quick snap everything is packed (I hope), I guess I've either forgotten something as it feels like this time we've got less to take, I think I've got better at packing!<br />
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I can't wait, although I am still wondering what I've forgotten.<br />
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Ah, just remembered..... clothes, toothbrush..... I haven't packed my suitcase yet!SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-21362999285601504272013-03-07T04:11:00.000-08:002013-03-07T04:11:52.635-08:00T-Minus 8 days... and counting...In a few days I'll temporarily close my Etsy shop (so if you have you're eye on anything please grab it before next Monday!) as we're off to Birmingham for the MCM Comic-con & Memorabilia Expo at the NEC on 16-17th March. This is the first time I've been at this event, so not sure what to expect - appart from the chance to get a really good Balti curry of course!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGwk_RtZjknmr4HgHiI7HT-yIRfm1vjR-rH4_cJpBsMv_x5a8snZLzQNiK2eEFOQKtDls9cfo9xa9bG5UhUKpPhntsneJxt_camGgep3PB5Q64tl0zmH6-7AdwZZc0rxjNLz8qoDq-ZZ7y/s1600/IMAG0431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGwk_RtZjknmr4HgHiI7HT-yIRfm1vjR-rH4_cJpBsMv_x5a8snZLzQNiK2eEFOQKtDls9cfo9xa9bG5UhUKpPhntsneJxt_camGgep3PB5Q64tl0zmH6-7AdwZZc0rxjNLz8qoDq-ZZ7y/s320/IMAG0431.jpg" title="Another day, another Alien Glass Lifeform" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New test alien lifeform</td></tr>
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What is familiar is the impending chaos and worry I haven't got/done/made something, even this quick shot shows how I'm already getting burried under boxes and bits. As it was, I was going to write this blog a few days ago, and not had a chance to until this morning.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq0L4Raxk2ninH0T_OTGr9mvk0RmonIDdRkyfTA9l912KBGv1I4J3x3haQw8zyhmnYO6cucguuJV8Ih12H37WtGUG6ltYyjplCdq9EhyphenhyphenYpkpzX4oKgusK5qVbZOVl2IUOAUZQQHGQHDVOi/s1600/IMAG0437.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq0L4Raxk2ninH0T_OTGr9mvk0RmonIDdRkyfTA9l912KBGv1I4J3x3haQw8zyhmnYO6cucguuJV8Ih12H37WtGUG6ltYyjplCdq9EhyphenhyphenYpkpzX4oKgusK5qVbZOVl2IUOAUZQQHGQHDVOi/s320/IMAG0437.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Somewhere, I put it down here somewhere....</td></tr>
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Quite a few things have had to go on hold, including inventing new Aliens, however I couldn't resist the chance to show you this little fellow. He needs a little more work, as this was a test piece, then a few more to keep him company and then a nice rock to mount the colony on. I'd imagine he's a sea urchin, the tendrils ontop will have stinging points to catch any unwary alien fish, and grip onto rocks on the shoreline. I have been rather inspired after seeing a post about the Cambrian explosion of life, <a href="http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/18/weird-youth-animal-kingdom/" target="_blank">http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/18/weird-youth-animal-kingdom/</a> . This was a weird period when nature threw some very odd creatures together, it seems however strange some of my alien fauna and flora are, nature has got there before me with some <em>really</em> strange strangeness!SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-2974765977507396782013-02-25T13:36:00.001-08:002013-02-25T13:36:47.579-08:00Bumpy Marbles, and Bombs<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUEA4_28SE-E1oAXYMJ7YhzJrKBH3vt47pFcMF-ZnltVEfbAr-95C5FT3lgQedj5gmnw74jm16aWGuW8ycATkUElptYJmF_N6gociP1pAixCQG1E3u0SZGLpNUcCPQ5AJ3rGV4KM0cx9c/s1600/100_3440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUEA4_28SE-E1oAXYMJ7YhzJrKBH3vt47pFcMF-ZnltVEfbAr-95C5FT3lgQedj5gmnw74jm16aWGuW8ycATkUElptYJmF_N6gociP1pAixCQG1E3u0SZGLpNUcCPQ5AJ3rGV4KM0cx9c/s320/100_3440.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Bomblets! Not quite 40mm long, and make of solid glass</td></tr>
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I'm now on the final countdown for Birmingham, three weeks to go, and loads to do! Plus whatever rush (fingers crossed) that Mothers day might bring at Greenwich. Yet I've still been experimenting with some new ideas and techniques.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCFFdM6t3FTBV3C45P-qsf94pYfS0kEy6HIyKiAEJJyoxoJziWgN8q6a1fSdgPRpZBbI7AM3ONQnKL8OsHbn8JirIrtL8lKRGcTl_Rmbn3KlXELsBb3-S3ex8s4bZqtA0POk8uOxLD7MdF/s1600/b1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCFFdM6t3FTBV3C45P-qsf94pYfS0kEy6HIyKiAEJJyoxoJziWgN8q6a1fSdgPRpZBbI7AM3ONQnKL8OsHbn8JirIrtL8lKRGcTl_Rmbn3KlXELsBb3-S3ex8s4bZqtA0POk8uOxLD7MdF/s320/b1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bumpy world loaded with metallic lusters</td></tr>
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Whilst developing some ideas for alien specimens, I started playing around with some techniques for adding ceramic-like textures to the glass. I've been developing that further, and whilst doing so I thought I'd re-visit planet marbles.<br />
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Now I've not really been happy with any ways I've used so far to make planets, other than the little worlds that I make and I've not been able to really upscale those or make really interesting alien coloured worlds in them either. Chucking in these new ideas though has produced some much more interesting worlds, and now they are starting to feel a little more like what I was after. As I was working them I became a bit disappointed how encasing them lost some of the lovely metallic lusters and bumpy matt effects. So the obvious thing was to try some un-encased, and then push them even further! So, here are some of the results, they've been quite fun to make, plus I've been able to even add in some icy white polar caps as well. I posted pictures over on Frit Happens and Facebook, and have been really pleasantly surprised at how well they've been appreciated, so have made a few more and have listed a few on Etsy.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwY1m4ReQgNLV6D8knSShfTqk0nJY5oQVugsvjrtKNcLeB8hWu6XyAGQMqRPHQhuOkrDqlVMJD4Nz6OC19_U6fWi1FKkLE9w0pMOk4trF9y2U-zHPuKBmsJkYh9kjHrKHsRrFDiTXC8NAb/s1600/sm3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwY1m4ReQgNLV6D8knSShfTqk0nJY5oQVugsvjrtKNcLeB8hWu6XyAGQMqRPHQhuOkrDqlVMJD4Nz6OC19_U6fWi1FKkLE9w0pMOk4trF9y2U-zHPuKBmsJkYh9kjHrKHsRrFDiTXC8NAb/s320/sm3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smooth world, with swirls of white over one of the poles</td></tr>
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Whilst playing with this I noticed how like old painted metal some of the colours were coming out, and as I was pulling out a glass stringer from a larger rod noted how 'bomb-like' the shape was. It seemed like a good idea then to combine these, which I think will now end up being incorporated into the head-dress project too. I also tried a quick red one too, and put a loop on it so it could be a pendant, but I haven't got the shape quite as I wanted that one. Not entirely happy with the fins on the grey-black one, but I do like how the surface texture makes it look like a World War II bomb that someone has accidental dug up! <br />
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SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-11620629633443513582013-02-05T08:56:00.000-08:002013-02-05T08:58:54.836-08:00Plastic and BulletsI seem to have several projects on the go, the problem often is finding time to finish them or just that last component that will make it work. Embarrassingly, for far too many months gathering dust I have some glass from another artist for a collaboration that have sat in a box in the corner of the workshop/office/studio/storeroom that I seem to live in right now. The problem with that one has been finding two odd bits that will bring it to life, plus some old text books that are buried in the attic. I am sure I will get to it (eventually.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyYDmxKBnzAF-rnmoIS-zXK-kuMoJzfTdloHoScwdUH0PmYIk3RJEIsSQRSEvsmq3xUm8nNCiMhsrabQ5zbO9HQolV9KLVOgB9Gk_1F8qCIiUS6r0ohIBMYoGfTCtBsgaT_ld5_spH9TRw/s1600/head2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyYDmxKBnzAF-rnmoIS-zXK-kuMoJzfTdloHoScwdUH0PmYIk3RJEIsSQRSEvsmq3xUm8nNCiMhsrabQ5zbO9HQolV9KLVOgB9Gk_1F8qCIiUS6r0ohIBMYoGfTCtBsgaT_ld5_spH9TRw/s320/head2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crown blank neatly cut out by machine</td></tr>
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A newer project that has been rattling around my head for a year or two saw a step closer this week to actually getting out of my head and into the real world. It is going to be a head-dress, or a crown, or something like that - it's still taking shape. I'd could describe it, but I won't, because partly it might spoil the magic of it comeing to life, but mostly because I'm not totally sure how it's going to come together yet.<br />
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One key part needed was some old bullet cases, but it's taken until my short New Year break to be able to pop along to a local army surplus store to rummage around for some fired blank shells in various sizes. At the same time I bought some blank tiara/alice bands from a haberdashers which were going to form the base. However once I'd got home I realised they were too thin, too flexiable, and also I'd need to bolt parts onto them at right angles.<br />
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Faced with having to cut out a crown shape by hand didn't really fill me with excitement. I was debating between aluminium sheet and acyrlic, both are light, acyrlic was cheaper but I remembered the problems I had last time when cutting through a sheet. I used my trusty electric scrollsaw, very carefully taking my time to saw through so I got a neat straight line. When I finaly got to the end the heat of the blade had just re-welded the plastic together again! So, aluminium it would be.<br />
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I was going to order a sheet when on Saturday morning I was setting up at Greenwich and inspiration was setting up a few stalls away in the shape of 'The Shed Laser Co.' who make all sorts of things out of acyrlic! I remember chatting to Sarah who said she could cut anything to order, so I described what I wanted, got a quote, and was sorted!<br />
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Monday afternoon I spent drafting on the PC, then cutting out bits of paper trying to get the shape and sizes right, before emailing Sarah with the design - even down to having the holes so I didn't need to drill them out (and risk cracking the plastic while doing so.) Next Saturday morning I was at Greenwich she gave me the crown base, all neatly cut out! If I'd have done this by hand it wouldn't be anywhere near as neat, I'd have been hot and bothered, broken a few blades, and probably just put off doing it! If you want to do something like this too, and need some plastic 'printed' I know Sarah is in the market most weekends, and you can find 'Theshedlaserco' on facebook too! (I tried to put the link, but for somereason blogger doesn't want to!) <br />
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Hopefully there will be more on this head-dress/crown/head-art-installation in forthcoming blogs as i make up some more parts of it.<br />
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SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-40791041754778395522013-01-14T12:50:00.000-08:002013-01-14T12:50:29.365-08:00Sawdust January<br />
Well, as expected, January hasn't gone quite to plan, but then I never really expected it to! The original plan was, tidy and sort out the work-spaces, make lots of stuff, work on some new experimental stuff, and do lots with the huge glass order I placed two weeks before Xmas. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I've managed to find time to make a few new marbles too!</td></tr>
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The one big hold at the moment is a big order of coloured borosilicate glass, which left the USA warehouse on the 12th January. By 14th it had got to 'forwarded to exporter,' where it seemed to remain until 2nd, when on-line tracking said 'arrived in UK.' I finally heard today, on month later, it might have actually got through customs and just requires me to pay up for tax and duty before I can git my mitts on it!<br />
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In the meantime I have got some small degree of organisation going in the workshop. First on the list was the ever expanding quantity of jars containing frit and powder. I have quite alot of old baby food jars with special lids for plant micro-propagation (long story!) These are ideal as they are designed to be removed with one hand, so I can easily pop the lid off one that I need to use whilst the other hand is holding a rod of hot glass ready.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before</td></tr>
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What I obviously needed was some kind of spice rack. I'd previously tried a 'lazy Susan' rotating stand to hold them, but it just seemed to take up too much desk room. The result isn't very neat or well made, but it does the job! The before and after photos show how much tidier it looks already!<br />
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I didn't realise how much frit I'd acquired, some of them only have a little left, so I'll use those up and start transferring over to all having the same jars. Luckly the commercial small 4oz Northstar jars are about the same height too, as I know I'm going to end up with some more of those too!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After</td></tr>
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The slightly bigger job was to sort out rod storage for the incoming 26lb box of glass (yes, I went a little crazy with the ordering, but I figured it would keep me going for quite a while.) It also became a bigger job as the table that it was going to go under had a strengthening bar that was in the way. In the end I replaced the table completely, it was quite old and rickety. A pack of 40mm plastic pipe chopped up into lengths has made a nice neat 60 storage holes, but I've left space above as I'd like to extend this later on. I probably should have gone for slightly wider tubing, some of the colours may have to take up 2 slots for now, but the 50mm came in dull grey rather than white. At the bottom I've left wider sections to keep the more bulky supplies of tubing.<br />
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Apart from this the other major January job has been to get the dust off my <a href="http://www.steampunkglass.etsy.com/" target="_blank">Etsy shop</a>. If you check my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/steampunkglass" target="_blank">Facebook</a> page regularly you may have noticed I've gone listing crazy, as I try to get lots of variety and a range of items back into my Etsy shop. I've been aware for a while now how little I manage to list, Greenwich seems to have taken up an awful lot of time and energy this past year, so I'm taking a few weekends off over the quieter months to try and catch myself up in advance - if that makes sense!SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-74727510464639788022012-12-27T12:56:00.001-08:002012-12-27T13:09:05.743-08:00New Fan, New Aches but No Toxic GasesWell I finally got the new fan installed on boxing day. The original plan was for a day off (I've heard of those) and go out, but it seems it's business as usual when OH got called to work instead, so I figured I might as well use the time productively.<br />
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I was going to get a boxed acoustic fan, to keep down some of the noise, and know they are quite popular with many lampworkers, although I wanted something with a bit more power. I'd almost settled on one when I came across some reviews on a hydroponics forum, for which many of these fans are made. The reviews were good, but many of the mentioned a TD-Silent being the best and most reliable they'd come across. Price-wise they seemed pretty good for the money too, the one I wanted only had a 19db level too, so took a deep breath and placed my order.<br />
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I didn't quite expect something that looked like it had fallen off a military jet! I didn't get around to taking a picture, so here's a quite You-Tube link for those considering one! <a href="http://youtu.be/9j1fo5nARQs" target="_blank">TD-Silent video</a><br />
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The one I got has a massive 200mm intake and outlet, so the first job was stripping out the old fan, which it turns out might have needed a bit of a clean!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old fan from the original cooker hood</td></tr>
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I've kept and used the switches from the original unit, it wasn't until the new fan turned up that I found it has two speed so needed more switches to control it. At the same time I took out the lights (which were in the wrong place so never used) in the cooker hood and just about anything that might block the airflow.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Straight up and into the outside world for you Mr nasty toxic carbon monoxide!</td></tr>
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From there it was time to seal up the sides of the chimney. Originally I'd intended to use a big 200mm pipe I'd bought for the job, but since the old cooker extractor had a nice chimney that was nearly the same size I figured it would do just as well. A quick trim of some spare aluminium sheet, then a little duct tape to seal any gaps and holes and the job was nearly done. Or so I thought! A joist was in the way so everything came down so I could move the whole canopy over just 3 inches!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFqvW-6e-SBLY7rn6-S8zrUXTYAtNOgL68awogaz1psPUVEg6z-JmtpwpX3aC_bSDBKqsNaydVNK0IW1_2KoDzsvqeaL6UCZ9VvBqLBKM5eQys2efXF9w_Bhg9Zc4enk2faDc3a0QSjWU/s1600/end-of-the-tunnel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFqvW-6e-SBLY7rn6-S8zrUXTYAtNOgL68awogaz1psPUVEg6z-JmtpwpX3aC_bSDBKqsNaydVNK0IW1_2KoDzsvqeaL6UCZ9VvBqLBKM5eQys2efXF9w_Bhg9Zc4enk2faDc3a0QSjWU/s320/end-of-the-tunnel.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shiny! There really is only one exit, but the mirror inside of the chimney makes it look like three!</td></tr>
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After another hour or so of clambering around in dark and dirty, and very uncomfortable, spots to get a small bend of flexible tube attached and sealed, the job was really finished. It's not a very tidy or as neat looking as I'd wanted (I went a bit overboard with the duct tape!) and needs a bit of trunking to hide away the leads. It is quiet though, and a quick test with an incense stick showed even on low power it whisked it away with no problems. On high power I barely even saw the smoke leave the incense stick, it was just gone! Not as quiet as I thought, there is quite a rush of noise from the air moving, however when stepping just a few feet away I could hardly hear it, a huge improvement on the low rumble the old one used to generate.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7JI8mDeVtKR34k7zn5PfGwb3MhhUEfaFaYzZzH8m7NSTz5ap9TYIKXtquYTGL3cddUEkCBRBrCwv119tYN9Vwea2xzmfWB3eHzZQgyrGAGtXII3ygJvWrCcMpqU0oTMrIYhKZEgUmg8DC/s1600/ext1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7JI8mDeVtKR34k7zn5PfGwb3MhhUEfaFaYzZzH8m7NSTz5ap9TYIKXtquYTGL3cddUEkCBRBrCwv119tYN9Vwea2xzmfWB3eHzZQgyrGAGtXII3ygJvWrCcMpqU0oTMrIYhKZEgUmg8DC/s320/ext1.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Needs a bit of a clean, but despite the bodging it has nearly doubled the amount of air this old cooker extractor hood can remove</td></tr>
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I'd expected it to take two days to get everything in place, so was pleased to get it done, despite the odd set-back, in a day. However today I've woken up with so many aching muscles and bruises I've got hardly anything done, thus getting chance to sit and blog, so maybe my original schedule was right after all!<br />
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I still am not sure if I'll be back to Greenwich between now and new year, I am sure I'll get around to a break sometime in the next few weeks if not! I hope you have all head a great Xmas, and may I be the first to wish you all a happy 2013!SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-48644964845431442852012-12-14T12:03:00.001-08:002012-12-14T12:05:06.457-08:00Put a chimney on itI can't believe I've not even got Xmas over with, and I am already planning next year!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqOLPjHf8fo7TjmqxG5nm0pcbsRnjrSFnxtXhcAf9GCOw7OqRNLzv9IUEB_F1pwyerCRwzyuybkf2BX2T7FuAPGv2IE7lt1fV0pHSBNDdE6_Qm2IDobiOrCsp9kdpE_cYmJPiOMyVsZXY3/s1600/ducting-and-oxycon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqOLPjHf8fo7TjmqxG5nm0pcbsRnjrSFnxtXhcAf9GCOw7OqRNLzv9IUEB_F1pwyerCRwzyuybkf2BX2T7FuAPGv2IE7lt1fV0pHSBNDdE6_Qm2IDobiOrCsp9kdpE_cYmJPiOMyVsZXY3/s320/ducting-and-oxycon.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ducting (centre) and one of the pair of Oxycons I use behind (right). Top left is one of the kilns I use.</td></tr>
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The last few weeks have been quite busy, and I've still hardly managed to get my Etsy shop up and running again, but, fingers crossed, I hope to start working on that again in the dark days of winter. I am not sure if I will take a few weekends off in January yet, even if I do there won't be any let up as I've signed up for another big sci-fi festival in March!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbEey094vzNcQIUo0XOf1nlo4grh2v7xH3S7XHbPBgvpjfVgKT54p1acASi2auF8Qk-SkTz94HPS9jsw0aJRNSc6d241M9c7cHhmBcFIme_z7DoQGun7o6dTRpQFFm20M8_S5TcDtMj0-a/s1600/IMAG0294.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbEey094vzNcQIUo0XOf1nlo4grh2v7xH3S7XHbPBgvpjfVgKT54p1acASi2auF8Qk-SkTz94HPS9jsw0aJRNSc6d241M9c7cHhmBcFIme_z7DoQGun7o6dTRpQFFm20M8_S5TcDtMj0-a/s320/IMAG0294.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am getting used to the bench looking this untidy!</td></tr>
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This time it's Birmingham NEC on 16 &17th March for the joint MCM Expo & Memorabilia festival. If that goes well I'll hope to book for the one later in the year as well, not to forget the two London MCM shows as well! I'm already confirmed for the 24-26th May. Plus of course most weekends at Greenwich, which as you may/maynot have heard is now NOT being redeveloped, instead they are going to repair the roof and fix some of the cobbles to make them a little bit easier to walk and stand on - especially good for those who get to stand there for 9 hours or so!<br />
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Amongst all this I also need to do some work on the workshop space. Yesterday I took delivery of a new oxycon (for those who don't know what that is, it's an ex-medical oxygen concentrator that takes oxygen out of the air to help boost the flame I use.) After a few initial problems once I got it up and running I realised just how wheezy the oldest one I use had become, I use two paired together, already I am noticing how much hotter the flame is.<br />
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The other job is also to upgrade the extractor fan as I've never been very happy with how well it works. I already have one part of the new chimney, a 200mm diameter steel pipe and connectors, and I am just waiting for the fan and final parts. At the same time as installing that I'll take the opportunity to have a bit of a spring clean, put up a few shelves for jars of powered and crushed glass, and maybe even organise some better racking for glass rods.<br />
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Somewhere amongst all this I'll be trying to get plenty of new pendants and marbles made for the Expos, Etsy shop and Greenwich stall, plus I have a few sculpture projects I've been wanting to find time to have a go at. They say there is no rest for the wicked, but I certainly don't remember ever being so wicked to have earnt so much to do!SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778716536535546614.post-91522930946623434302012-11-01T14:49:00.002-07:002013-02-06T11:34:37.472-08:00Where's my workbench?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4s5G4X9HvcnUzEkJCFRSWkPYuAlmW2BjHAonTF3S9y8B8tDCW1q0um_cuNzTPvPkEb8L_1Vts0WtXMz51NV0HTzihl75ZZTurZsq66NcSjJPYH9IEcaMQsWNXAD7rzeQYs5qgeXhMXPdO/s1600/deathnote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4s5G4X9HvcnUzEkJCFRSWkPYuAlmW2BjHAonTF3S9y8B8tDCW1q0um_cuNzTPvPkEb8L_1Vts0WtXMz51NV0HTzihl75ZZTurZsq66NcSjJPYH9IEcaMQsWNXAD7rzeQYs5qgeXhMXPdO/s320/deathnote.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The apple loving demon from 'Deathnote' with friend! Note the girl with an axe strolling past in the background!</td></tr>
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Well once again the MCM Expo at the Excel centre was mad, busy, slightly crazy, hard work, stressful, but fun! There were a few more problems this time than May, not helped by it being so packed, but I'm not going to dwell on those because it still remains one of the events we enjoy doing the most! It was ultra packed on Saturday, and I didn't really get a chance to take many pictures, but here are a few to give you a flavour of the event. The Expo's video team were around and about, they even filmed my aliens, so they might appear on the next Expo Youtube trailer! A big thank you to everyone who came and saw us, and thank you to all the lovely comments on facebook, emails and Twitter. I haven't hesitated to book already for the next one in May so we can come and see you all again!<br />
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My next problem now is trying to get equipment back to Greenwich, and getting back to normal, along with making new stuff ready for the run up to Xmas! And before the Expo I didn't think I had enough hours in the day!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN0b1Rc5rpLF5DEUQvLez37D7ZIA_T7Z5GHZZSP7EYJmNjc63SkHu3n-TFaxNnGmMCVtzAB3HtYWzjoRu0kzxhijxO7kUxY33lE829gJF3mYhTyzMHt6o-GsqAjJ1-3K9s6WOOzffzI3_M/s1600/workbench1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN0b1Rc5rpLF5DEUQvLez37D7ZIA_T7Z5GHZZSP7EYJmNjc63SkHu3n-TFaxNnGmMCVtzAB3HtYWzjoRu0kzxhijxO7kUxY33lE829gJF3mYhTyzMHt6o-GsqAjJ1-3K9s6WOOzffzI3_M/s320/workbench1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting Aliens ready for the show</td></tr>
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I'm slowly running through the lists of things to do as well, so this all means my Etsy shop might have to stay closed a little longer whilst I catch up with myself. However I made many more alien specimens than planned, so I think some of these might be in the shop very soon, and maybe even one or two at Greenwich as well.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2zAe8IOV-fnMwTE7iWzVscM6xBRdpmQejQzwj7W7A51xgcHwC4WqtYcXm4e3To2ILG-gbLX2ogvH0qA0KHKBOd8Efm-sHpaySXqX3vdiGp5TgjLAijKPVHzAbf8YeHWH9TWVZd1nYs0Bt/s1600/exceloct2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2zAe8IOV-fnMwTE7iWzVscM6xBRdpmQejQzwj7W7A51xgcHwC4WqtYcXm4e3To2ILG-gbLX2ogvH0qA0KHKBOd8Efm-sHpaySXqX3vdiGp5TgjLAijKPVHzAbf8YeHWH9TWVZd1nYs0Bt/s320/exceloct2012.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shakey picture of the Aliens, the top picture of 5 Martians shortly afterwards found a new home</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtnwnFMVmm97f0RfaMMRIrZEB165aasVLo3COXqItyYk5IKV8fnTpSrzC19QTbOYfUYYRAguAdulrWIFlWdK9WLoNJ1fXKbAbNvpAhr_WYmbm-jzfloY1Nn34lZ3n6ZoTn9dfHcwZVG9sA/s1600/metaloides-framed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtnwnFMVmm97f0RfaMMRIrZEB165aasVLo3COXqItyYk5IKV8fnTpSrzC19QTbOYfUYYRAguAdulrWIFlWdK9WLoNJ1fXKbAbNvpAhr_WYmbm-jzfloY1Nn34lZ3n6ZoTn9dfHcwZVG9sA/s320/metaloides-framed.jpg" width="267" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Metaloides space lobster framed </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0zgzNdHAfE5UfILPuu9upspoGmVpz-pYbFXnJxdYYoPsZjybsloHqL51jlQ0d7-7uxnaxoB5iyUoS4HUcjVEVziQXyOKfyjhgHCOHxArl0Wwjc9mj3AZh4pAt0GruBPcpR1QlyKvytnS3/s1600/walking-dead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0zgzNdHAfE5UfILPuu9upspoGmVpz-pYbFXnJxdYYoPsZjybsloHqL51jlQ0d7-7uxnaxoB5iyUoS4HUcjVEVziQXyOKfyjhgHCOHxArl0Wwjc9mj3AZh4pAt0GruBPcpR1QlyKvytnS3/s320/walking-dead.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Safe here from 'The Walking Dead' This was taken in a nearby bar on Sunday night where we stopped to grab dinner!</td></tr>
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Along with all this I have come away wanting to re-visit some ideas I'd not had a chance to play with, and to make some very new products ready for next May and to go into my Etsy shop. One in particular I'd started on a few weeks ago, which got put on hold as I had to put together new stands, organise supplies and so on, I am really keen to get back to. The first trials worked really well, but along with lack of time I have another problem. I can't find my workbench! It's buried under the debris of weeks of pre-event chaos!SteamPunkGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16131598659682458353noreply@blogger.com1