Playing Snakes and Lizards

Hi All,

So the other day I got a very unexpected and exciting request. Could I make a complete present (some special beads and bracelet) for a 21st birthday. Of course I could I said, (but did I speak too soon because this turned out to be a particularly CUSTOMISED custom order!!)

I learned that the lady in question looking forward to her birthday, was an avid reptile enthusiast and has many, many different animals of all shapes, species and colours.

Could I make beads that represented some of her actual animals? I didn't know, but I thought it would be a lot of fun trying...

So the adventure began...

First of all I got a CD of pictures passed to me in secret so that I could see what I was aiming for. I was a little apprehensive but....when I saw the wonderful patterns and colours I was blown away and I couldn't wait to start to see how close I could get to these in glass!

I spent a few days sussing out colours and textures:

Lots of questions whirled around my head. Some colours react better with each other than others so I did some 'test beads' to try out colour reactions. Also how would it be best to convey the very special textures on the lizards and snakes without distorting the patterns. To this end I got some great constructive criticism from friends and family.  (My boys are my best (or worst?) critics. I can never decide which!!)

Once I'd had a little 'play' with them it was time to get down to it, so the torch was fired up and the session began. People didn't see much of me on that day, but I was really happy with what I put into the kiln and I was even happier with what came out!!

So may I introduce you to the beautiful menagerie. (I must say a big thank you to Abi who has given me permission to use her pictures of her wonderful babies.) In each case I have popped in a picture of the animal with a couple of views of the bead itself.

1. 'Bubbles'

Well, Bubbles has to come first. I absolutely love this one. It is made with grey and an acid yellow in the core and then plenty of clear encasing and hints at texture with little bobbly bits of clear in a kind on randomised pattern.

2. Arya

Arya is lovely. She has a wonderful pattern and I wanted to do her justice. I used three colours and thinner encasing, so her texture would be nearer the surface.

3. Marbles

Marbles has a really interested organic looking texture. There are lots of colours here and a kind of dusty appearance so I used some frit in the core, and mica in the encasing to try and bring that to life.

4. Belle

Here is Belle. What a stunner with her lovely grey/green background and red spots! I loved the way that the light grey colouring seems to sweep around her body diagonally but the reddy/brown is more randomly placed, so I tried to attempt the same on the surface decoration of the bead.

5. Pascal

This one is called Pascal. How the light played on his body is really interesting. I'm not sure he is actually blue like this, but it really made a pretty bead. I did a bumpy version and a smooth to try out different ways.

6.Scorpio

With Scorpio, I tried to build a bit of that metallic shine that he has on his body to the side of the bead, but also create a nice contrast to some of the more 'busy' beads so that the bracelet as a whole had continuity and contrast.

7. Celery

Celery is amazing. I wanted to try and bring in the lovely almost iridescent shine that his/her scales have. So I used an antique cream core, encased it and then added lovely pearlescent fairy dust on the surface.

8. Lola

Now a little bird told me that this little beauty is somewhat of a favourite with Abi, so this one had to be 'just right'. Of course, because I knew this, she ended up being the trickiest one!! I hope Abi feels that it reminds her enough of her lovely Lola!!

9. Seraphim

Seraphim has a beautiful burning orange colour, but the individual smooth scales give a great effect, I wanted to try to capture that so I ended up mixing orangey glass colours and using a golden colour glass to add the tiniest dots which I melted in to give the effect of scales.

10. Mack Snow

Now, Mack Snow is another one of my favourites. His pattern is such a gift!! I knew from the moment I saw him that he would look amazing. He has an ivory core with thick encasing of crystal clear with 4 sets of adjacent dots going around his circumference. I added clear bobbles again for that important texture.

11. Spock

Spock is so sweet. I would love to meet him in person someday.. I started with a silvered ivory base. The most important thing to get with this one was his minute little black irregularly shaped speckles. I love this bead too. I still have this one, so if no-one nabs him soon I might take him under my wing!!

12. Stella

And...last but not least one of the most beautiful ones of all. Stella has a striking pattern of bright sunshine yellow and black. I would love to meet her in person too. It was a definite one to include, because those colours look so stunning next to each other and the colour combination is very unusual in a bead.

A selection of the beads on a Trollbead bracelet with some silvers in between..

Well, here are some of the beads shown together on a silver Trollbead bracelet, so you can get the idea of what they look like together. I have added some silvers here as well to show how it might look with a bit of shine in between. I soooo enjoyed doing them. They were tricky, but very rewarding.

And here was the finished bracelet all complete the day before Abi's birthday. We decided on a rubber and sterling silver charm bracelet because it was more fitting with the theme of the beads. (Not so 'pretty pretty' as it were)...All the beads were cored securely with sterling rivets and there are two sterling silver stopper beads on it to help keep the glass in place. There is plenty of space for additional silver charm beads or glass.

I hope Abi sends me a picture in the months/years to come to show me how it's grown!!

That's it for now. Quite a lot of excitement in the studio recently, I better get on and make my next ones and stop writing otherwise I shall be behind!!!

Take care,
Chellie xx

Night Sky on wrist...

My beautiful assistant displays nine of the Night Sky beads:

I think if you are on a computer you can see the 12 second movie, but on mobiles I'm not sure it works/ (I shall look into it..)

Starry Starry Night...

Wow!

It's been a bit of a journey bead wise this last week or two.

You might remember that I had been asked by a lovely customer to make some "Night Sky" themed charm beads.. Well, I have loved the challenge and finally can show you all what I've been up to..

I'll start with a picture of them all in one, and then go into each one in detail...

This picture tries to show each of the sixteen beads as a summary.

OK. Details on the beads in the top line:

Details on the middle set:

 And finally the ones on the bottom row:

So that's what I've been up to. I've got to get straight back on it though because I have a few bits waiting now, as I think I got a bit caught up in all this Night Sky lark! I will let you know which other ones are available soon.

My next adventure are a set of rainbows for a very special lady and preparing for the stall at the Summer Fair on the 7th June. Wish me luck

Take care

Round the Twist!

Been on quite a bobbly journey recently with all those rockpooly beads and the like.. 

Well after getting all the bobbly orders and off to their new homes I have been doing twisty beads. Can't seem to stop!

It's really funny how you seem to go in phases; everything I have produced in the last couple of days has had twists (or twisties) in them!

And... Am really excited as am going to make my first set of 'night sky' inspired charm beads soon. I don't quite know how they will turn out at the mo. but it's a lovely concept and can't wait to start. (..just need to do a few other bits first as always...).

Been looking at some images for ideas: 

Do make comments/suggestions of themes if you think of any. So far I've been thinking:

Starry, starry night:

Aurora borealis:

Comet

Nebula:

Meteor/meteorite:

Moonscapes:

Moon dust:

Also:

Moon Rock

Witching hour

Black hole

Neptune

UFO 

Now,... how these ideas might come to life as beads I do not quite know yet, but I'll be having a lot of fun trying to make it happen ;-)

Watch this space to see how it goes! Wish me luck x

Where the Dunes and Rockpools Meet...

You might remember that a while ago I did my post about the Dunes and the like... Well more recently another lovely lady asked me to do a commission on some Rockpool style charm beads. I so enjoyed doing the work I just had to put some of the photos in the blog. 

There are more photos of the set on my Flickr page if your mouth is watering....

I can tell you that c, d, e, f, h, i and j are now sold, but the others (as of 30th of April) are still for sale.


And here are some of the individual beads in close up. They were such a delight to make! Thoroughly enjoyable!

These two look great together (l and k). Might be making their way onto my bracelet if I'm not careful....

This one is a little sea urchin

Last week I had a most pleasurable couple of hours helping a favourite customer marry up 'The Dunes' theme with the 'Rockpool' theme when she came over to the house and we created a new bracelet for her completely from scratch! A few cups of various hot beverages later, and here is the result...

Going from the clasp end they are as follows: 1. Lemon Grass dotty bead, 2. Rocky Bobble bead, then 3, 4, 5 are three beads from The Dunes set, 6 is a Rockpooly Sea Anemone bobbly bead, 7 is a Dune bead, 8 is another Grey/Green Dotty bead and finally 9 and 10 are two more from the Dunes set. She picked up a couple of silver stopper beads from me at the same time. (The bracelet and other silvers are the 'models own').

The whole effect is a bracelet that is full of interest and plenty of colour as it tones through from lemony green to marram grass green to seaweed green. There are gold tones, sandy tones and antique lace/white sand tones which give it some timeless elegance. The dotty beads add a bit of fun and contemporary fizz to it too. Yet, most importantly we liked where we got with it because the bracelet remains (usefully) to be easy to wear, and blends with many clothing styles and colours as the tones are still subtle and gentle.

close up of the Sea Anemone Bobble Bead

On the owner's wrist in natural light

Lastly, I thought I'd better get these in...

On the last sesh of the torch I was obviously in a really bobbly sort of a mood. I just couldn't stop myself!! As well as the sea urchins, sea anemones and rocky bobbly ones that I did, (most of which are now winging their ways to their new homes all around the UK), I also made this Purple Bobblishious bead pictured below. 

Of course I had to take the piccies with the bluebells as a backdrop for obvious reasons...

It's quite big (15.5mm by 7.5mm wide) and it is made to fit a Pandora sized bracelet as the hole through the middle is a little larger. I've just listed it in the Etsy shop if anyone likes the look of it ;-).

I just love the way the colours are magnified by the clear glass bobbles!

Well I should really sign off now,  otherwise I won't be up for school-run in the morning... Take care chaps!!