Monet's Garden

Here are a few of my lasted glass fused beads.

Now that I have solved the problems with the kiln paper, learning a lot more about heating times and temperatures not to mention how different coloured glasses react when heated I have been having a LOT of fun making beads and am averaging a few each night...

These adorable beads are all slightly smaller than a 5c coin so they are teeny tiny beadies.



The two pink ones are made from lilac glass and a gorgeous frit I have fallen in love with called Peacock.

The blue bead in the centre was made from blue glass and a Manifesto cane.

I loved the colour blend of the two pink beads so much that I made this larger bead. I have called this one Monet's Garden as the colours reminded me of one of his paintings.

And finally this one reminds me of an old tie dyed t-shirt. I had one in purples in my late teens and have to admit I wore that t-shirt until it fell apart... and even then I had to think about throwing it out...

.... perhaps I should make a purple tie dyed bead in memory of my t-shirt!

More glass fused pieces

I am certainly on a roll now with the glass fusing... I tell you that thin fire paper certainly has made a difference... I know I said it before and I am sure I will say it again... but boy what a difference lol!!

Here are a few more pieces I made on Monday...

Ok - I am off to play with some more glass... this is fun!!

Apologies for the picture quality of these... I was so excited to take some photos of my latest pieces that I actually took these on my desk at work... not the best lighting I had to admit lol ♥

Glass cabochons? .... no problem!

I've been having a few problems with my glass fusing in the sense that no matter how long I heat the glass I just wasn't getting a nicely rounded cabochon.

I had a bit of a chat with the girls on my beading forum and they kept telling me to just keep heating it but also to keep checking the pieces every 30 seconds or so. I couldn't understand this as my pieces seemed to be taking forever to form a decent shape.

Well... when I bought the kit the supplier had run out of Thin Fire paper so said they would send me some but told me I could use the paper that came with the kiln. This paper was a fibre like paper and the supplier said the only difference with this paper was that the bottoms of my piece would not be as smooth as those heated with the thin fire paper.

Well... the paper finally arrived yesterday so I used it for the first time... OMG what a difference this paper has made. I think the fibre like paper was acting as an insulation and was blocking out a lot of the heat coming up through the base of the glass.

The pieces below are ones I made yesterday. As you can see the difference in shape of the middle bead, which was heated on thin fire paper, compared to those on either side of it is quite amazing... and I managed to get this shape within about 6 minutes as opposed to the 18-20 minutes heating time of the other pieces!

The middle bead was made from black glass and a gorgeous raku frit. Unfortunately the thin fire paper curled up over the sides and therefore left an etched like mark.

Anyhooo... I am so excited to finally be able to make perfectly shaped glass cabochons... now I will be able to bead around my own beads... how cool is that!!

Dichroic glass... proving to be a problem!

As you know I recently bought my glass fusing kit and microwave kiln... well it turns out that Alan is loving it just as much as me... which I think is a good thing as I don't have to explain myself when I spend up big on more glass and frit!!

Anyway Alan made a piece last week using a grape transparent glass and a black based dichroic glass as shown below.

Not sure what happened but the dichroic glass basically fused down into a big black blog with a shiny metallic area.

Sooooo if anyone has any ideas as to what we did wrong or has any suggestions we'd appreciate them!

Teaching... what a wonderful feeling!

Every month I meet with a group of ladies from my Beading Forum and we have a wonderful day of beading.

There is usually around 12-14 of us and each month one of the member sets a challenge which the rest of the group take part in. It's a great way for each member to learn something new and perhaps something they may not normally try.

Our May Meet was on Sunday and it was my turn to set the challenge so of course I chose Beaded Cabochons.

What an experience! I have to admit that even though I know these ladies quite well now I was still quite nervous teaching them beaded cabochons... and to be honest I don't even know why I was so nervous. I guess it is that expectation that you actually do know what you are doing and know what you are talking about!

Everyone did fantastically well. A few of the ladies managed to finish their pieces and those that hadn't finished their pieces were eager to get them completed within the next few days.

The ladies have started to post their pieces on the forum so I might ask them if I can use their photos and post a few pics so you can see what they made!

Look who bought a glass fusing kit!

I visited the Stitches and Craft Show nearly 2 weeks ago and treated myself to a glass fusing kit. I bought the beginner's kit as well as a small microwave kiln.

In case you don't already know, glass fusing is simply the process of stacking two or more layers of compatible glass together to make a design, then placing the stacked glass into a kiln, in my case a small ceramic microwave kiln.

The glass is heated in the microwave kiln. The concentrated heat inside the kiln melts the glass up to around 800 degrees to the point where the glass softens or melts together... causing the glass to "fuse".

The glass that I am using is System 96 which has a coefficiency of expansion (COE) of 96... did I sound like I knew what I was talking about then!! Anyway you must use glass with the same compatibility at all times so I am sticking with the System 96 as this seems the most common and readily available glass.

You can also add frit (ground glass in various sizes and colours) to the pieces of glass which will create a speckled appearance on the glass as seen in some of my pieces below.

So here is a picture of the pieces I have made so far.

Alan actually made pieces #1 and #2 ... I think he was just as excited to have a play as I was... but I made the rest. The pieces are numbered in order of being made.

I am still trying to figure out firing times and temperatures so am really looking forward to experimenting over the next few days.

Watch this space!!

I finally braved the dentist

Well after around 18 years ... yep ashamed to admit it... 18 years... I finally got the courage to go to the dentist!

My top right wisdom tooth had been causing me a bit of grief for a while and a few weeks ago I just got to that stage that I knew I needed to be brave and visit the old dentist. I also felt that I had a cavity so now I had 2 reasons to go.

So off I went... quite terrified I have to admit. My first visit consisted of an examination, photos of my teeth and a full dental x-ray... $160.00 later and I am told that yep I do have a cavity and yep the wisdom tooth needs to come out as it is actually growing sideways which is why it is causing me so much discomfort... ok tell me something I don't know!

So a week ago today I went back and had my wisdom tooth removed.. in the chair. No gas... just a lot of needles and out she came... and boy what a tooth it was... it was enormous and I have to say I was amazed how how long and wide the root of that thing was... no wonder I am now left with one enormous hole!

I have to say I was pretty terrified of those needles but this dentist is just amazing. Out of the numerous needles I had only really felt one and that was one in the top gum. Once I was numb I could feel him poking, prodding and pulling and could hear my tooth actually cracking as he was pulling it out but surprisingly did not feel the tooth come away.

PHEW!!! What a massive relief. I have to tell you that the whole process was pretty painless.. until the anaesthetic wore off that is... and then I was left with the lovely taste senstation of anaesthetic, clove oil and blood in my mouth...mmmmm.... NOT!

Anyway a week on it isn't feeling too bad... still pretty tender but not too bad.

Alan is off to the dentist tomorrow... he is secretly quite scared as he feels he is going to require a bit of work...but he got to meet the dentist last week when I was there, got to come in the room so he at least knows what to expect in terms of who will be looking in his mouth and where he will be sitting.

I just need to go back and get 2 fillings done now and the dentist assures me that as I coped with the wisdom tooth removal the two fillings will be a breeze... let's hope so!!