Green Man Mask continued

I've taken the annealed mask out of the kiln and started work on adding more leaves and details. So far I've learnt;

Getting quite far along, still needs a few more hours yet

1) I need to think more about my work flow.
     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.
    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!

2) Nice work for hot weather.
      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.

3) Tricky to light, ok once lit
      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.

4) Tidy that workbench
      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.

5) More plaster, less filler
      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.

Charred and battered cast

6) Stay calm! Make good support underwear and it can be fixed!
      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.

7) Make more leaves
     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?

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!

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.

Put a chimney on it

I can't believe I've not even got Xmas over with, and I am already planning next year!

Ducting (centre) and one of the pair of Oxycons I use behind (right). Top left is one of the kilns I use.

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!

I am getting used to the bench looking this untidy!

 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!

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.

 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.

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!

In the Press & Big Marbles

I am seriously letting my on line life down lately, there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day, and I still never seem to get enough done! Although I do seem to empty the tea caddy quicket than I used to, so I suspect that I need to decrease my tea breaks and increase the time between them!

A few weeks ago I got a small mention in the Evening Standard. I had originally hoped they would be using a picture of one of my stoppers, as they had asked for high-res images, but sadly not and the mention was quite small - I even hot footed it to London to pick up a copy, so at £23 a ticket so rather an expensive clipping for five words! (One of those was 'and'!) I've highlighted the area in the picture.

Thanks to the weather and most of the DLR being closed things have been rather quiet at the market, so instead of making new pendants to refill stocks it has given me time to go back to some serious marble making. I've been trying to get the sizes up, at the moment I seem to be hitting a 'wall' at 40mm; although I am still playing with ideas to get up to the magic 50mm/2inch mark without having to invest in new equiment. Despite that I am really pleased with some of the new ones, especially a big 40mm galaxy spiral, which has a multicoloured galaxy floating in the centre. Even the back came out well, with lots of metallic blues!

Here are a few pictures of some of the new marbles, including some Lattachino vortex marbles. I have been approached about the possiablity of using one of my larger marbles as part of a public art statue, which is giving me even more reason to get some large marbles made!

Busy Days, and get ready for news!

Excuse the late posting, its been some busy weeks, made more so by so much happening last weekend. Firstly, I finally got the long awaited storage! Yay!

Also on Friday Greenwich market had live demonstrations of blacksmithing, and woodturning, as well as mock-ups of rooms filled with items available from the market as part of their of push. It was then I found out that I've been in the press! One of my galaxy stoppers was featured in a two page spread about the market in 'The Wharf.' It's a free paper that's distributed around canary wharf. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get my own copy, but have been promised a photocopy at least.

Here are a quick couple of photos from the friday before last, with Tom Biddulph www.tombiddulph.co.uk demonstrating wood turning, give one of the stall holder Menzie a quick lesson in woodturning!

I will have some exciting news coming up this week, keep tuned to my facebook page and twitter on Wednesday; I won't say anymore in case it doesn't happen but I am bracing myself for some more exciting news too!

I am also planning to have a 'Virtual open-day' very soon, although I've been having problems getting webcams and old laptops to work! I've nearly got the tech to work, so hopefully I'll be broadcasting live webcam from the workshop, I'll have to remember not to swear if I burn myself picking up a rod thats still hot!

The trolley saga updated

Last week I was describing the nightmare of getting through trolleys every few weeks as I move my stuff from Essex to Greenwich market, all via public transport. I ordered parts to make a new, longer lasting trolley, but the results were both mixed, and now unnecessary!

The first problem I had was finding a board wide enough to fit the bearings I bought, so had to make a platform out of two bits bolted and glued together; a very inelegant solution. By Friday though the metal for axle had still failed to arrive, so I had to improvise, using a length of clear 20mm acrylic tubing I'd bought to make marble display stands, with a rod of steel tube though the middle. I knew it wouldn't last, and hoped it would survive long enough to see me through the weekend.

Pictured here is the basic set up, as I headed into London on the 6.46 train. By now I had found that it was just all too heavy, and the handle on the original bag (which locks in place) was now too long. Getting to the station had turned into hard work again, as I either had to balance it as I pushed it forward to keep the centre of gravity just so, or drag it like a dead weight. Pushing it forward was more comfortable, but now it made the rucksack feel more uncomfortable and heavier! By the time I got to the end of Saturday the acrylic was cracking and the axle was sliding back and forth, and I was running out of ideas how to transport my equipment.

Then on Sunday I finally got the news I was waiting for! I have storage! There are engineering works yet again this weekend, so to avoid the replacement coach bit I will be doing an extra day on Friday at Greenwich. I'll be quite loaded on the way there, using yet another trolley I have which I doubt would survive a normal weekend, but which will get me and my two storage crates to Greenwich where they can now live!

This doesn't seem like grand news, but in fact it'll do three things for me. Firstly it'll give me back Mondays, as I am usually wiped out from all the heavy moving. It will also allow me to take more and a wider range of stock, and lastly it means I can now concentrate again on a new display. I've wanted to revamp and change some of the equipment, some of which is getting pretty tired and battered now from the constant travelling, so if you see me sketching behind the stall on Friday that's what I'll be working out!

The Trouble with Trolleys

All my equipment, on the 'robust' trolley, ready to go.

And this is what it looks like when it's all unpacked!

Each week I need to lug a lot of stuff back and forth from SteamPunk Glass HQ to Greenwich. It really is a lot. I can get it into one giant wheeled holdall, which is about 3ft tall, and 16inch square, but experience showed it to be just too heavy to lift on and off busses and trains, and I don't want to overload it. (I don't drive, I never got around to learning, so it's public transport for me.) I now have it down to the trolley, and a large rucksack. The rucksack has stock (and a couple of overnight things) and the large trolley mostly has my display equipment and any heavy things like marbles.

Eventually, I might get some storage at the market, but it's very limited and there is a very long waiting list. I normally travel to London early Saturday morning with all this, which involves a bit of a walk to the station, then a train and DLR. After a day at Greenwich I pack up, and another DLR trip and bus ride later to where I will crash for the night, ready to bus and DLR back early Sunday morning.

Now why am I telling you this? For sympathy? No, to explain the amount of changes and moving around I do, and how I am currently getting through trolleys at an alarming rate! The original holdall I use are idea size, but it didn't take long to break the little wheels on them. Buying a new one seemed like a good idea, but that lasted two weeks before ball bearings trickled out of the bearings at Liverpool street station! I invested in a very robust metal trolley, with chunky wheels, and strapped the holdall onto that. A wheel broke after a week, so I assumed it was shoddy workmanship and got a replacement. All good for many weeks, until once again a wheel broke off.

So, enough is enough! Monday morning I ordered these 260mm/10inch Pneumatic tyres, a length of 20mm (one inch) stainless steel rod for the axle, and a pair of industrial bearings. The result won't be pretty, but I hope it will be tough. I am going to use the holdall as the carcass, and do away with the heavy metal trolley which will also reduce weight too. I've got a sturdy hardwood base already built which will bolt through the canvas and plastic; the only weak link might be the holdall, fingers crossed by the time they go (as I have a second as backup!) I might finally have local storage. In the meantime I'll post photos when the new trolley is ready to roll!

Bottom upwards; orginal holdall wheel, robust but broken metal and rubber wheel from latest trolley, and top the new monster 10inch wheels!

Craft and Design Month - come play marbles!

As part of Craft & Design month, http://www.craftanddesignmonth.net I will be at Greenwich market this Friday to help promote the amazing range on offer there. This Friday 13th the focus is on stationary, toys and gifts, and as part of that I've dug out a large bag of my handmade marbles to play with!

Yes, come along that day and you can play with my marbles! Of course they might not be my best marbles, they will stay on the stand too oogle at, but I have a nice lot of seconds and test marbles that I don't mind being thrown around! I've even been featured in press releases for the market, which is amazing as I still feel like 'new boy' there! Hopefully there will be lots of interest, and I'll try to get some pictures too if I can! More info at http://www.craftanddesignmonth.net/events/?pc=SE10+9LS&r=4

The two Fridays after that there will also be events, on the 20th the focus will be jewellery and fashion, and on 27th May it will be interiors and home. I probably won't be there on those dates, but will be around on Saturdays and Sundays unless something major crops up, you can always check my Facebook page for any last minute news.

Making the mundane interesting

I've been trying out a few new designs this week, and if you subscribe to my facebook page you may have already seen pictures of some new work from me. Along with some more razors I've also been expanding on non-jewellery glassware too. I've produced some calligraphy dip pens!

Unlike other glass versions these are made with borosilicate glass, and have a classic holder inside so can take any italic nibs! At the moment the metal holders are visible on all but one of them, but I also hope to make some where it is a little more hidden too.

I am trying to make a little more time for making new 'stuff' along with all the usual favourite I already make as I would really like to expand the range of glassiness that I have on offer. I like making pendants, but I like making functional objects even more, especially if I can take normal boring items and raise them up to be more 'interesting' such as the razors I already make.

I am quite surprised and intrigued by the comments I hear when on the stall to the razors. Often men comment 'they're a bit posh for shaving!' but I think everyone should be able to start the day with special and individual things to remind them that they are too! My favourite is when I often seen young girls, usually 7-12 years old, who point very excitedly at the razors to their Dads, suggesting they should get one - and the fathers ALWAYS have full beards! I think they are trying to tell them something!

I hope to get some more razors made soon, and so start listing them again on line, up until now I've only been able to make just enough for the stall, but I've managed to get a small stash of the heads so will hopefully have enough to be able to list them too. I am also hot from the torch (quite literally!) where I've been working on another new non-jewellery item, and is looking good. This came entirely from a chat with a customer at the stall, and has already started to morph into an unique design whilst playing with shapes! More on that to come!

Monday is the new Sunday

Where have the weeks gone? It seems like a million years since I've had time to update the blog or add new items for sale. Greenwich market has been keeping me very busy, even when it's a quiet weekend I still seem to have run out of something and need to make more!

Monday has now turned into the new Sunday for me, I drag a huge case on a trolley and rucksack to and from the market every weekend, and it's quite a load. So far I've managed to break two trolleys and one wheel! Monday morning I'm left somewhat battered, bruised (from lifting the trolley up and down onto trains and buses as I don't drive), and more than a little tired. However I've never been fitter!

This Sunday I decided to take a much needed break; it was marathon day and I expected the market to be quieter as the route goes around the market, blocking entrance from nearby Cuty Sark DLR station. It's actually taken me a couple of days to feel ok, just ready for a very long four day weekend! I plan to be at Greenwich for Good Friday to Bank Holiday Monday, hopefully I might see some of you there!

I'm trying to make lots of new razors and bottle stoppers ready, and feeling a bit rested today I've even found a little time to polish a few new ideas that I've had on the back burner. I'll try to get some photos taken! In the meantime here are some of the new razors I've been making, plus a new 'publicity' photo of me melting glass.+

I'm at Greenwich!

Last week was momentous! After a lot of work, I have been accepted to trade on weekends at Greenwich Craft and art market, so it's all systems go! I'd have blogged sooner, but I've been in Greenwich nearly the entire week until now!

Wednesday was a chance to test out some new stall displays, and get feedback from the market managers. I was delighted (and somewhat pleasantly stunned) when they said I could come back and trade any day! I returned on Friday, there were a lot more stalls, however it was bitterly cold and instead of making some much needed cash I spent loads on hot drink and food instead!

Saturday was the big day, the sun came out and I was delighted to be rushed off my feet. I had such great reactions from customers to my stall, and near the end of the day started running low on some stock which I really didn't expect. It was quite a relief to be so busy after so many lean weeks, and as I've had to spend a lot on new equipment for the stall too. Sunday wasn't as busy for me, there were a few minor problems, but not enough to mar an incredible start to trading at Greenwich. It's quite an effort to haul all the display equipment as well as enough glass, I seem to be breaking a trolley every week! The new heavy duty one I got Thursday broke on Sunday morning, so I'll be glad when I can get storage space near the market.

I will certainly be back next weekend, and as many after that as I can manage. In the meantime I've still got some tweeks to do to the stall, plus I need to melt some glass! I've barely made any glass for the past two weeks as I've been so busy trimming material and making display stands, so I want to make lots of new stuff for this weekend. I will be a little slack on posting new items on line until I get settled in, but once I have I will start filling my Etsy and Folksy shops with new glass!