June 14th, 2009 WendyLee
Fused dichroic glass pendant that is made up of many layers of dichroic glass. One layer is handetched with a spiral pattern so that you see the colours though the spirals.
This pendant has a hole that has been fused into the pendant.
Pendant is currently available in my Etsy store. Wendy Lee on Etsy
Posted in Etsy Store, Glass, New Work | No Comments »
June 13th, 2009 WendyLee
I went out to the Sydney Craft Fair at Darling Harbour today and had an absolute ball. It was so nice to attand a show as a shopping customer as oppose to an exhibiter. When youa re an exhibiter you only get to madly shop on your way to the toilet or if you happen to 5 minutes spare. So it was really nice to leisurely stroll around unhurried and catch up with old friends.
Felt seemed to to be the big thing this year. I am not suprised the colours are so vibrant and the felt feels so nice.
Wendyt Bailye was the featured artisit out at the show who makes some incredible Felt work. You can see Wendy’s work on her website: Wendy Bailye
I purchased one of Wendy’s Nun Felting on Silk Scarves kits that were available from Unique Stitching. I also got some handyed silk cocoons adn some shiva sticks. I had gone to the show with the intention of purchasing shive sticks and they wer ethe only place that I could see that had them available. Unique Stitiching Website Its worth having a look at there website they have lost of wonderful things to play with.
Next person to help me part with my money was Scrapmatts
I purchased some of the chipboard shapes. Now I am not a scrapbooker and I am not about to take it up but I have an idea that I think these chipboard shapes will work with. I will certainly post about it when i get chance to play and experiment, lets hope it works. Chipboard Shapes
That Bead shop was my next destination and they had the most incredible range of Waxed cotton threads in various sizes. The colours they had available were amazing. So many people had the normal black, white, but these people really had ecery colour of the rainbow! Check out there website and you will see what I mean : Waxed Cotton They also had the same range of colours availbe in leather as well! I was also impressed that the man working there had gone to so much effort and dyed his hair purple to match the compoany colours! You certainly couldn’t miss him.
ATASDA had an impressive display of members work. Exotica You can always count on these ladies to create some sensational pieces of art to delight the senses.
My first actual bead purchase for the day and they are beads intended to be used as beads were these yummy little copper and brass knot type beads from Eureka Beads.
They have a website: Eureka BEads
Catchy Crafts at Hornsby were next exhibiters to help me part with my money. They were the only people in the entire show (well that I could see and I look at Everyones stall) that had the Adirondack Alcohol Inks. I purchased a few of there mulitpacks as I have been wanting to use these for ages. Especially after seeing a tutorial in Polymer Cafe magazine and they amazing colour effects that you can get with using these inks and warm clay! I had recently purchased some of these from an EBAY seller but they never arrived, so I was really happy to find them at the show.
Suprise another beady purchase. May from S’BEad had some brand new Matsuno beads in stock that only arrived a week before the show. I was very excited by these yummy little beads. They are peanuit shaped and they interlock kind of like a vertebrae. The ones pictured are a matte violet colour that look like stone.
I think the way these beads interlock they will make some interesting fringing. These beads came in 2 sizes kind of an size 8 and size 11 equivalent.
I also picked up lots of the yummy twisted bugles in lots of Matte colours.
That was it for my beady purchases, I was hoping to gt some new gemstones but there really wasn’t alot new or anything that called out to me. Alot of the bead sellers were all selling the imitation Pandora style beads. They were EVRYWHERE you looked.
Studio Mio Sells bag supplies. She had some really interesting new buttons that I hadn’t seen before and some great buckles. I already have a project in mind for the buckle I purchased and will show you when its finished.
All in all I had a great day, my feet were killing by the end and my purse was a little lighter but not the shoppping bag. I love going to a craft show as there are so many different exhibiters there that I can get inspiration to use there products in ways that were not originally intended.
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June 6th, 2009 WendyLee
Here is a couple more photographs I have been playing with.
Golden Tiger Eye
Look at the lovely shimmer and facets in this lovey cabochon.
Titanium Drusy
I have had this stone sitting on my bench for awhile not quite sure what i intend to do with it. I love the sparkle of the drusy and the facets on the side of the cabochon. It will be a challenge to set this one
Rutilated Quartz
This is my favourite in the rutilated quartz family, it has the burgandy/rust coloured needles throughout the cabochon.
Posted in Gemstones, Photography | No Comments »
June 5th, 2009 WendyLee
Have you all worked out that I have a fetish for Cabochons. I make lots of them but I also buy lots of artist made cabochons to use in my work.
I came across these polymer clay face cabochons on etsy and just had to have them as they were so unique and different.
These cabochons have been created by Jen Martin OF Graphixoutpost.
Etsy Seller: Graphixoutpost
I love the swirls on the foreheads of these faces, they are very tribal and remind me of tattoos.
This one reminds me of a princess with an elegant tiara or headpiece.
I am not sure what I am going to do with these yeat, although I have always wanted to make a beaded goddess doll. So maybe one these faces would be the feature.
The small cabochons would make great cabcohons for rings for something a bit quirky.
Posted in Featured Supplier, Polymer Clay | No Comments »
June 4th, 2009 WendyLee
Have you looked at all the gorgeous copper bead caps around that have been etched with lovely designs and wish you could make these things yourself? I bet the one thing that stops you is lack of money to buy a nice disc cutter to cut those circles out. You wouldn’t want to hand saw them, my hands just cramp at the thought of it.
Well I was wandering the aisles of my local Bunnings (hardware shop) just because I find inspiration and some great tools down there and I came across this….
What are they I hear you say? Well its a multi pack of copper washers in various sizes.
I nearly jumped up and down right there in the aisle as I thought they would be perfect for bead caps, links and various other things that were currently running through my head.
These copper washers start at 14 mm ouside diameter and go up to 25 mm outside diameter. They are about 1.5 mm thick which makes them great for etching.
As these are pure copper they work like any other copper you have used. Patina them up for an antique look and turn them into necklace links. Dome them so they fit ont he ends of beads as bead caps, etch them for interesting patterns. Hammer them with a ball pien hammer for those gorgeous dimples.
The pack that I got had 110 pieces in the pack and they were really cheap. I had a search on ebay and there are so many different packs available to you if you do not have a hardware shop handy to you!
Posted in Etching Metal, Techniques | No Comments »
May 31st, 2009 WendyLee
The focal of this pendant has been called so many names by differetn seller. Dragon veins, crackle quartz, to name a few. I have also seem some try and sell it as a real gemstone but its not. Its just fancy glass that has a nice black vien through the deep yellow glass.
I have cored the bead with sterling silver and added gorgeous discs that have dream stamped on one side and create on the other side. The pendant is thread on a sterling silver ball chain so that it slides and flips as you wearing. Changing from the create side to the dream side.
This is one side of the pendant
and this is the other side of the pendant
This pendant is available in my etsy Store WendyLee
Posted in Etsy Store, New Work | No Comments »
May 24th, 2009 WendyLee
Sounds pretty cool doesn’t it, paper that you can fuse in between layers of glass to give added texture and patterns.
This is another product that I get students to play with with teaching when teaching images on glass. It is a paper that can be fired at high temperatures between layers of glass. The paper does not burn off or warp and colurs stay bright and vibrant.
The samples of the cabochons below is using the Fusible crinkle paper in pretty mauve colour. The paper looks like crumpled up paper that has been painted and then flattened. I use these 2 examples of the paper so that people get an idea of what it looks like when fused between glass. When people have a visual of what a product will look like its easier for them to then design and create somthing using the paper.
Using this product is very easy it can be used as you would any other paper. So you can cut it using scissors, plain or the fancy serrated scissors. Use paper punchies to punch out interesting shapes to fuse into your work.
As you will see in the above image you can still see the paper, its not like a decal in that the paper burns off and leaves the colour behind. The paper stays there. You also need to leave a border around the edge of the paper otherwise the glass will not fuse correctly.
Its a great product that has many possibilities.
Glassline fusible paper is readily available from Delphi
Posted in Glass, Images on Glass, Techniques | No Comments »
May 21st, 2009 WendyLee
If you find you are struggling with taking photos and need a little bit of help or simply need to fine tune your skills then this is the best site I have come across in a long time.
The site is broken up into sections
*Photography Tips and tutorial
*Cameras and Equipment
*Post Production
They also send out an amazing newsletter with links to updated information on there site. I highly recommend you have a browse on the site and to subscribe to there newsletter.
Posted in Photography | No Comments »
May 16th, 2009 WendyLee
Sometimes things do not work the way you want to regardless of the best laid plans.
Opening that kiln door will always lead to suprises, they can be good suprieses or they can be bad ones. Sometimes so bad you want to throw a tantrum.
Working with Ceramic decals on glass can sometimes be a bit hit and miss. Some will work beautifully and others won’t for no apparent reason.
The pig cabochon below is one of those ones that didn’t work. For some reason the colour of the pig leached out and smeared. The decal was fused betweeen two layers of glass. I don;t know why this one didn;t work out when the others in the same run did work. Perhaps it was a slightly inferior decal. Not sure if decals have a shelf life, perhaps it hadn’t been stored properly or was just a bit old.
I wonder if this is what happens to a pig with Swine flu?
The cabochon with the frog decal below is also a miss. The frogs shorts started to smear and the colours are not as vibrant as they should have been. Which is a shame as it such a cute frog.
The stone cottage decal was a hit, it worked perfectly. The colours are lovely, no smearing, no bubbles!
All decals were used in accordance with the manufacturers instructions, except for the minor detail of using them on glass and not ceramics.
You win some and you loose some, but thats part of the excitement and the learning process of working with glass.
Posted in Images on Glass, Techniques | No Comments »
May 15th, 2009 WendyLee
Some new fused Glass cabochons that I have been experimenting with using Silver Powder.
Here is a close up of one of the reactions
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