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.

Flickr Tags: Sea glass,jewelry,mermaid's tears,beach glass,Cape Breton Island

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.

 

Flickr Tags: jewelry,cast glass jewelry,cast glass,glass frit,multi color kiln glass,kiln glass,kiln glass jewelry

Canadian Please

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

 

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

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

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.

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.

Flickr Tags: Jewelry,millefiori,wire,crystal beads,pendants,fused glass,Doodles

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.

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.

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

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.

They are neat.

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

I really really like the glass insert on the buckle.

And that folks is it for tonight.

Flickr Tags: cast glass,belt buckles,gemstone watches,fused glass picture frames,fused glass switch plates,fused glass night lights,fused glass coasters,fused glass business card holder,fused glass dish

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

Flickr Tags: gemstone,crystal,watches,watch bracelets

Finished Fused Glass pieces

Okay so the Olympics has taken over my life, it is almost over but remember the Brier starts on March 8.

Just to let you know that although I haven’t been blogging I have been working at glass in between everything and have some pictures to prove it.

Night lights finished, bagged, tagged and ready for sale

Stars – made, bagged tagged and ready for sale

Pictures finished, framed and ready for sale

And last but not least spent time trying to decide how to display our table this year as we are only going to have one instead of the 1 1/2 like last year. So room is the key. Found these new display items for our jewellery pieces.

It’s great, will hold approx 25 pieces and will take up less than a foot of table space.

So that has been my past 2 weeks.

There are drawer pulls firing now as I try to construct a back for them, there are clock pieces being done, lupine hot pads and belt buckles in the works.

Next week, new month

Flickr Tags: fused glass,home decor,desk accessories,fused,fused art,fused framed art,fused night lights,fused glass stars