Thursday, July 8, 2010

Window Donation

Haven’t posted in awhile but have been doing some pieces. Jewellery, wind chimes and cruise ships have been taking up my time. However did do a window for a fund raiser being held tonight at the Gaelic College. There is a dinner and auction and windows from different artists around the Island.

Hope they have a successful night.

 

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I call this “At the Lake” from Our Town Series.

 

Have ordered new frames that will be in this week so will need to get more pieces up to The Dancing Beaver Gallery in Halifax. It’s on the corner of Water and Prince Streets.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Mermaid’s Tears

Tomorrow is the third ship day of our season and from Sydney the ship is heading back to Europe. Sometimes I wish I was on it with them when it’s going somewhere I haven’t been. But if there is one thing I know for sure I am a true Cape Bretoner both from birth and more importantly because it’s where I want to be.

That being said these are being readied for the ship sales tomorrow. In sea lore they are known as mermaid’s tears and that story will accompany each piece sold. Every piece has been collected from a shoreline somewhere in Cape Breton. Other than drilling holes nothing has been changed. They are the real deal. It will probably not be to many years before there will be none left. We have become more environmentally aware and most bottles have become plastic.

These have been created by many years of being tossed around in the salt waters of the Atlantic Ocean among the rocks and sand and eventually washed up on the shores usually after a rough sea. The4 genuine pieces of sea glass have a pitted surface that only the salt water and sand can produce. The fake glass is tumbled and has more of a smooth etched surface.

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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

New Cast Glass Jewelry

Okay some new styles.They need an explanation however because they are not finished yet. First they are cast so they end up with some burrs and bumps on them. These get cleaned off hence the scratches you can see on them. Also there are some larger areas that I will clean with the dremel this afternoon.

They will then go back into the kiln and be fired to a temperature that will soften the glass enough to remove all the scratches and will be shiny again.

I am really pleased with them and they are something different.

 

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Sunday, April 18, 2010

Canadian Please

Picked this up today on the warm board site. Very catchy

 

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Doodles and Milllefiori

I haven’t been posting much but have been working. The frame set is gone to it’s owner. The drawer pulls are gone to their owner. The ship season is now only weeks away and I have been rummaging around to see what I can make with supplies that are already here. I am forever buying supplies and putting them away saying someday I will do something with that. Well the day as come.

Here is an example of pieces that I will be making for sale with previously purchased wire and crystal beads. They will be called Doodles

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I must admit I really like them.

Also have been playing with some millefiori. I think the translation is a thousand flowers although in modern times they are making the canes in more than flowers.

Do I make the canes? NO and never, here is a picture of how they make them

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They take all these tiny pieces of glass and very concisely arrange them in this steel mold to form flower shapes. The mold is then heated until all the glass is fused into one piece and looks like the pieces beside the mold. They then cut these canes into small pieces which can be used for many things. One is placing these pieces into molds to make jewellery and once again heating them until they become one piece. I buy them in pieces and fuse them. This picture is an example of that, a piece being put together, but not one of my pieces.

The second is one of mine finished because today the bails finally were found and I was able to finish a piece and get a picture.

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Not to many of these because I am using up all of our stock but I am happy how it turned out and who knows what the future may bring in goodies.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Some Completed Projects

I know I haven’t posted in awhile. Could have had something to do with the Olympics,The Hearts,The Brier and now the women’s World Curling. But honest, although I have caught a lot of the programming I did get projects completed. Didn’t get a lot of pictures taken but will show you what I did.

Did some coaster sets and desk sets for a local company.

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The desk set consists of a coaster, business card holder and a holder for paper clips or whatever.

Also did a set for a new born. Don’t have a completed picture but the set consists of picture frame, light switch cover and a night light. Here’s is an idea of what it will look like and I will post a completed picture.

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Did some drawer pulls for a fish room in Wendy’s shop. The glass is lagoon with ranges of blues,greens and whites.

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I am really pleased with them.

Then worked on some watches. Earlier I posted the pictures of what most thought were bracelets. Well they were only they are for watches. This way the customer can pick the band and the watch face they want.

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They are neat.

And last but not least I did some casting and am pleased to show you the new belt buckle.

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I really really like the glass insert on the buckle.

And that folks is it for tonight.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Back to Some Gem Stones

I have been trying to straighten up my house lately but not getting very far. I keep getting side tracked with “stuff”. I buy things with projects in mind then get side tracked or buy to much for what I needed but not enough for something else.

Last week I found watch faces and have lots of small amounts of gem stones left over from past years.

My friend Shari once mentioned that I should do interchangeable watch bands. One of those ideas I socked away and for the past couple of days decided to work on instead of glass.

So here they are

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