10 days to go...

...until I fly to Melbourne. *Eeek* it's getting so close, all my tickets/accommodation are organised, but I still have heaps of packing to do...clothes, workshop tools/materials, camera, computer...hopefully not weighing more than the airline baggage allowance.

Meanwhile, I've just finished re-stringing this necklace. The lampwork beads in it are my very first, from the workshops I did to learn bead-making. I had strung them temporarily & was always 'meaning' to do it properly, but it somehow never happened...until my tempory necklace broke (the beads were to heavy for it)...

...now I can wear it again, yay :)

hot glass...

Since I've posted about working with pmc, I thought I'd ramble a bit about making beads. The photos in this post are taken by my sister Amy, it being, as you might imagine, a little difficult to take my own during the process :).

To make beads you need: a torch, gas, glass rods, mandrels, vermiculite....this isn't intended to be a tutorial or anything, if I get you really interested, I suggest you find a class to attend :)

So....adding glass to the mandrel:


...heating the bead, to make it rounder:

...& rounder:


...adding some decoration (dots in this case, using stringer, which is a thin 'string' of glass):


...melting the dots in:


...& some more:


...checking to see if it's ready to be put into the vermiculite to cool down slowly (& looking rather serious in my stylish glasses) :


once the bead has cooled, I remove it from the mandrel, clean it & the anneal it in my kiln....& presto, beads:

forest goddess...

Fine silver (pmc) pendant with three cubic zirconias. Strung with lampwork beads in green & violet, along with amethyst, flourite, aventurine, indian onyx, pearl, swarovski crystal & sterling silver.

All shades of green & purple, just the thing for the well-dressed goddess :)