These beads are made with an oddlot of orangey coral-coloured glass that I bought about three years ago. I purchased three pounds of it because I loved it so much and I can't believe I've never combined it with enamel before. The colours of these beads really do remind me of fresh strawberries!
I'm still doing the Wii Fit thing. I'm particularly enjoying the jogging and the hula-hooping. I haven't fallen off the balance board for the past couple of days but I made up for it this morning by falling over in 'real life'. I went down to the shed to switch the kiln on and to fetch my full-to-the-brim-with-dead-beads-and-bits-of-glass water jug and on my way back up the garden I tripped on the patio step and went flying. I dropped the water jug, banged my head on the wheelie bin, grazed my shin against the edge of the step and then put my hand in the spilt water-and-bits-of-glass mess. Plus it was raining. Not a good start to the day! But things got better after I'd picked myself up and then removed bits of glass from the palm of my hand. The postman arrived with the new Marian Keyes book which cheered me up no end! I'm already well into 'This Charming Man', which incidentally has the most beautiful purple spangly cover!
I'm calling these zingy green Rococo beads 'Mexican Lime'. Very bright and cheery!
These olive-shaped beads feature a new design from me. They're decorated with lots of intricate stringerwork in the form of scrolls and lines. Quite ornate, methinks. I'm calling them my 'Rococo' beads. These seemed pretty popular tonight so if you missed out, fear not. I have many colour ideas for these whizzing about in the bead department of my brain .....
I've been having fun with Nintendo Wii Fit this weekend! I say fun, but in actual fact I'm starting to detest my virtual 'personal trainer' with quite a fierce intensity. I'm calling him Dirk but most of the time he gets called much more unsavoury names. I was doing the yoga exercise where I had to balance on one leg like a flamingo with my hands up in the air. I fell off the Wii balance board and Dirk said to me 'I see you're taking a break!'. The cheeky bugger. But Dirk's witty comments aside, Wii Fit is very clever and really entertaining!
I haven't etched any beads for a while so I thought I'd make some to do just that with. Light brown and periwinkle. Quite chic.I had a slight mishap the other day. I was making some frit beads and as I was unscrewing the lid off a jar of frit I sneezed. I didn't even feel the sneeze coming on - it just happened! I jumped and threw the entire jar of frit all over myself, my workbench and the floor. That was a lot of fun to clean up!
I can't quite believe that after about two weeks of intense nerves and worry that the Flame Off has been and gone!
It was a great day - very nice to meet lots of people who I've been emailing for ages. It's always good to put faces to names! I finally met Manda from Mango Beads after more than three years of speaking to her and she gave me one of her beautiful silver cores. It was also lovely to meet Pam from Maple Glass who gave me one of her fab beads too. Thank you both!I'd like to say that I enjoyed doing the demos but I was such a bundle of nerves I was concentrating more on stopping my hands shaking than actually enjoying the experience! For those that watched my demos I apologise for the lack of decent commentary but I found it very tricky to make beads and talk at the same time.My favourite part of the day was later in the afternoon when I was downstairs making beads where I was able to answer your questions and show you the beadmaking techniques that you wanted to see.Martin Tuffnell and everyone else involved with the organisation of the day did a wonderful job and Towcester Racecourse was a great venue too.Finally, I want to say a big huge thank you to my wonderful boyfriend Chris who was fantastic moral support and a general calming influence on a very nervous me. He was also an ace photographer and handbag and coat minder too! ;o)
These beads are made with an oddlot of orangey coral-coloured glass that I bought about three years ago. I purchased three pounds of it because I loved it so much and I can't believe I've never combined it with enamel before. The colours of these beads really do remind me of fresh strawberries!
