Saturday 5 November 2022

A trip down muscle memory lane

Handmade lampwork glass oak leaf headpin by Laura Sparling

Up until Thursday I'd not made an oak leaf headpin for five years. I approached the task slightly nervously because I was pretty convinced I'd forgotten how to make one but within two attempts my brain and hands had remembered exactly what to do. It was almost like I was watching someone else dab on the glass here, swipe it there, shaping and coaxing everything into an oak leaf kind of shape. Then I was off and away, muscle memory well and truly jogged.

Handmade lampwork glass oak leaf headpins by Laura Sparling

I make my headpins in different ways, depending on what wire I want to use for them. The acorns I make on the end of a mandrel. This is because I'm working with a glob of glass that requires shaping by gravity and for that I need something sturdy to work on rather than a thin bit of wire which results in the acorn bit boinging about far more than is desirable. After the acorns are cool and cleaned I epoxy in non-tarnish antique bronze finish copper wire. I make my oak leaves straight on the wire because the shaping and clean-up of them is easier that way. Because the wire I use for the acorns has a non-tarnish finish I can't put it in the flame so I use bare copper wire for the oak leaves. (This already feels like way more information than anyone wants to know about this process but I've started so I'll finish.) This results in acorns with brownish coloured wires and oak leaves with bright, shiny copper ones. To make the shiny copper wires less shiny I give them a bit of a patina with some liver of sulphur. This darkens the copper and makes it less blingy. It's a very simple process but my word does it stink! It's like being stuck in a lift with a group of people from the Hard-Boiled Egg Sandwich Appreciation Society conference who’ve been eating egg sarnies for the whole weekend. Honestly, I cannot describe how egg-farty the stench of liver of sulphur is. It does the job, though, and fear not, the offensive scent gets washed off in the clean-up.

This morning I turned the finished acorns and oak leaves into necklaces.

Handmade lampwork glass 'Acorn & Oak Leaf' necklace by Laura Sparling

Handmade lampwork glass 'Acorn & Oak Leaf' necklace by Laura Sparling

Handmade lampwork glass 'Acorn & Oak Leaf' necklace by Laura Sparling

I've only made five and they're in my shop at the time of typing, but if they sell out I'll make them available to order for a while.

I made some actual beads this week too.

Handmade lampwork glass beads by Laura Sparling

Handmade lampwork glass beads by Laura Sparling

These are CiM Little Boy Blue encased with a thin layer of Effetre Super Clear 006, decorated with spots in Effetre White 204. I never tire of the 'floaty' spots thing. There's one set of these left in my shop.

And I've also made another chain maille bracelet. This one is the 'Sweet Pea' weave which creates these little clusters linked to one another.

Handmade copper chain maille Sweet Pea bracelet by Laura Sparling

Handmade copper chain maille Sweet Pea bracelet by Laura Sparling

The bracelet is pure copper and it's available in the chain maille section of my shop.

2 comments:

  1. I'm fascinated by the chain mail bracelets - would love to have a go at this one day!

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