Art Elements Dragon Blog Hop Design Challenge.

If I am really honest I signed up for this blog hop, hosted by Niky of Art Elements, because I LOVE dragons and I wanted to see what everyone else made for the theme. 

I have made lampwork glass dragon beads since I started lampworking and they are still evolving...

Just this winter (2016/7) I have stumbled on a  new way to design the muzzles of my dragons and I think I will be evolving that in my future dragons.

Most of my dragons have a theme and they all have personalities and stories.

Dragons are so open to interpretation that each artist will create their own and on that note I am off to visit the blogs below to see more wonderful dragons in lots of different styles.

Guests

Shai Williams

Kathy Lindemer

Anita Rao

Kelly Rodgers

AJE Team

Susan

Jenny

Cathy 

Jen

Niky

Diana

Laney 

Caroline

Hot hot hot....

So its been a bit warm.  The sun has been shining, the skies have been blue, the breezes have been out of sight and I have been down the river with my dogs every morning, except Tuesday morning when my son had a wee accident on the farm and damaged his back, resulting in a trip to Accident and Emergency, some pretty potent pain killers and he is at home with me...driving me nuts already...not helped by the fact that its almost too hot to turn on the torch and the kiln.  I did try this evening, but having forgotten that I had taken a Piriton anti-histamine for the horse fly bite I got yesterday morning down at the river, I was nodding off in the heat of the studio...not a good plan!

This morning the horse fly bite has grown in size and I am rivalling my son for moaning about my bad back, my shoulder blade being twice its normal size and bright angry red and itching.  Its still too hot to torch, so I had a little look in the bead box this morning and found some Christmas and Halloween beads, not that I am trying to wish the summer away but more trying to think cold!

This Count Drag-ula I put up on one of the Facebook selling pages for lampwork beads and he immediately found a new home.  I am feeling the urge to create some dragons and dogs when the sun cools enough for me to not melt faster than the glass rod in the flame of the torch whilst in the studio.




Down hill ski-ing champion of the Polar Bear Ice Games 2014

This ski-ing Penguin is on eBay and looking for a new home.  Already number one of the salom down hill ski race in the Polar Bear Ice Games, he is working up to being the best down hill racing skier of the King Penguins.

 

This is the Christmas frog, a bit like the Christmas Grinch, he hates Christmas cheer, all that fresh frost on the river making it skiddy to hop from lily pad to lily pad..honestly anyone would think its a holiday.

He is still looking for a new home on one of the Facebook selling pages, click here for the link to the Lampwork Bead Market its free to join up to the page and lots of lovely beads to browse.

Right back to finding something constructive to do...might do some writing.....

 

Flower frenzy....

Cocktail ring on Etsy

Having a weekly round up :)  A comment kept being said about cocktail rings with my roses so I had a little play :)  This one is a lovely orange rose with copper wire and coral semi precious stones, its adjustable so will fit any finger...just imagine how fab this will look at a summer do :)







Cocktail ring on Etsy



Coral and teal flowers on eBay

 I am still very much on my flower frenzy, I just can't seem to get enough glass flowers and real ones in my garden. 


The beautiful poppy is from some seeds given to me by a friend last year and they are glorious,  big blousey flowers, my favourites.

The teal and coral flowers are have a lovely beachy feel to them.  I do like contrasting colours.


Coral and teal flowers on eBay



 

Orange mog for Halloween



Poinsettia flower on eBay

 I think I am thinking ahead already with fabulous Halloween cats, inspired completely by the wonderful and most favourite book of mine Slinky Malinky by Lynley Dodd.  I love Slinky Malinky!  The blue bead has found a home but the orange mog is still waiting for his fur-ever home in my Etsy shop.  The Poinsettia flower and buds are my reminded that Christmas isn't too far away, still plenty of long hot summer days to look forward to though...hopefully.

Jupiter Storm roses on eBay

It is most rare for me to use neutral colours, I am drawn to those bright primary colours, but this glass is new to me, Jupiter Storm and its a soft creamy ivory pinky colour, totally gorgeous.

 

So...that's this weeks round up. I do have some Gordy stories to tell but I really must get on and hoover up this house!!  Have a great weekend.

 

Laney x

English Gardens

A white picket gate

The smell of Summer rain

Butterflies and bees

 

 



Available on Ebay for auction

Cut grass and fading lilacs
Buddleia dances in the gentle breeze
Reds, purples, yellows and greens

Rambling Roses and

Waving Lupins

Wishing for sunshine

 

I am wishing the Winter away, especially this rain, more expected today what a gloomy forecast, the fields can't take anymore rain and the drains are bubbling and gurgling at full capacity.  I always find I am drawn to bright reds and yellows and oranges when the winter starts closing in on me.

 

 

Check out the flip flops on this dragon....hehehe...

If you go down to the beach today....wear your thermals its bitter here on the UK beaches this time of year...you might find Doris Dragon in her yellow polka dot bikini with her shades on her very own sand dune complete with molluscs, seaweed, and star fish.

 

 

61 days and 16 hours until Spring...whose counting?

 



Back to normal

Back to normal this morning after Hereford Art Week its been an interesting week not as busy as last year and the weather changed to a definite Autumn feel but I still met some interesting people and found time to practise my off mandrel sculptures.

Bottoms up!!

Giraffe licking its bottom now on Etsy

Just listed on Etsy this rather lovely giraffe licking its bottom inspired by the fabulous book I finished reading last night, Whatever you do, dont run by Peter Allison.  A wonderful collection of stories from his life as a safari guide in Botswana.  Lots of lovely bead ideas have been formed from reading this book.  Here are a few more of the giraffe...

A complete 360 view!  Made with Ghee (the colour glass) a little bit different from my normal ivory colour, but I think it works well.

Another favourite colour glass is this one....

I think its Supernatural, but I would have to check.  Great for Dolphins though!

Laney x

Flower Fairies in glass

There has been a lovely monthly challenge on Craft Pimp that was on Flora. 

For a while now, I have wanted to do some 'people' beads to compliment my creatures and with my love of Cicely Mary Barker, her beautiful delicate painting of the flower faires and my love of fantasy, it was a good opportunity for me to push that boat out and experiment.

 

So here she is in all her floral glory.  Flora 

Now available in my Etsy shop, this beautiful collectable bead to make you smile and remember those childhood days of long hot summers and bright blooms.


Laney x

Polar Bears, Oak Trees and Tortoise

Post and run today, its been one of those days!

Just a couple of beads from me from yesterdays play, no more torch play now until after Harrogate bead fair this coming weekend, so if you are about come and say hi

Harrogate Bead Fair October 27th and 28th 2012

Mummy and Baby

The old man Oak tree I visit every day on my walk

Yet another Mandala bead this time with tortoise

Don't forget to click on the link, top left, to enter into my free giveaway at the end of October

Laney x

More Mandalas, Dragons and Undines.

I am really getting into these Mandala style beads.  They take an age to make, each one a complex study of dot after dot after dot, to build.  They are taking at least an hour, and my new Undine one took even longer than that, not only did my arm ache but my bum did too, all that sitting still!!  Was worth it though.  What do you think?

 

 

Dragon Mandala

Undine Mandala

Undine Mandala

Its a biggy!

Undine's are water nymphs and come from mythology, they are water elementals.  Some versions portray them as having legs, like fairies of the water, some versions portray them as tiny mermaids.  I think my mermaid undine suits my glass.

Laney x

Mondays Musing - Playing with Boro



Well, its wet, dreary, miserable and grey today.  I have walked the dogs down to the river, not seen a single soul even the squirrels were tucked up somewhere nice and dry, whilst I slurped and sloshed my way through what once was a track through the orchard and is now just a mire.  The dogs have dried off, well, Defi has, Iz will be wet for at least the rest of the day despite my vigourous rubbing with a towel and her sleeping in a warm kitchen. 

 

So.  Kiln is on, this afternoon I am in the studio, I have Harrogate bead fair coming up this weekend and my shipment of beautiful glass sculpture beads has been sent of to the gallery so I must make more.  What a shame eh?  Sigh, the life of an artist!  I will take the dogs in the studio with me, Iz might dry off a bit quicker with the heat from the kiln warming up a smaller space than the kitchen!

 

Yesterday, I cleaned the house, hence no blog post.  But I did get a chance to put into the kiln my boro pieces.  I have been having a play with boroscilicate glass, sent to me by Kevin at Melting Glass

 

My first attempts were nothing to write about, I did those a couple of months ago.  I only have the one oxycon so using boro glass is much slower for me and patience is not something I am blessed with!  But, I tried again..

 

The first piece is a flower and a butterfly, unfortunately I dropped it and the butterfly broke, I did manage to 'stick' it back on in the flame, but the join is far from perfect.  The little dog is a memory from when I was little and had a collection of really naff little dogs joined together with a cheap gold chain.  I was always told they were made of glass, but I think really they were plastic or resin.  Either way I loved them, they were clear and blue, which was the colours Kevin sent me to try, clear and cobalt blue.

I am now really wanting another oxycon, and some more boro glass! 

Dear Santa Claus, I have been a really good girl this year.....

Laney x

Cute blown seal pup bead



Cute seal pup on Etsy

 

I used a blow pipe mandrel for this gorgeous seal pup, he is just so sweet!  Available on Etsy.

Laney x

Count Drag-Ula and the Beadathon......

Count Drag-Ula available in Izzybeads Etsy shop

Now you know the truth...Count Dracula is really Count Drag-Ula, the world famous dragon vampire, seen here with his pet bat...Batty, together they stalk the skies, causing mischief and putting fear in the hearts of every...ok until mum says 'time to go to bed' then they take off the fake vampire teeth, put Batty under the duvet and get mum to read a bedtime story...they rather like the story of Pete's Dragon.


I wont be blogging for the next few days, its Beadathon time!!  The weekend is nearly here and the 24hour marathon, bead making for charity is due to start 7pm tomorrow night...thats 24 hours of lampworking!! 

All this glass bead making is to raise money and awareness for Beads of Courage, supporting children and teens with cancer.  Please support us, even if you just tune in and watch for 10 mins, we are screening live HERE its all for a good cause.  If you want to donate please follow this BEADATHON LINK to take you to the right page.

Have a great weekend
Laney x




 

For the love of sculpture

Woburn Abbey Gardens

 

 

I love sculpture, in all mediums and I think that is quite plain to see in my glass.  I don't do girlie, but I do do dramatic!  In my teens I was quite keen on colour, mostly clashing colours lime green with pink, purple with orange...I didn't know then that my 'clashing' colours are really 'contrasting' colour, or opposites on the colour wheel.  In painting, to get that blue or purple to sing, add a dash of orange somewhere in the painting, it will bring out the bluey purples, or add green to a red painting and watch the colours pop, I love contrasting or complimentary colours. 

When I started to draw, that was just what I wanted to do, just draw.  I wasn't interested in colour, I loved form and wanted to be able to recreate a 3D image in 2D form in graphite.  Colour came later when I was encouraged to use coloured pencils as a medium, but even then I tended to use coloured pencils with graphite or an ink pen, later using the ink to sketch with, which is my prefered way of sketching, ink and wash, and back to the simplicity of just line and form.   

Trunk Tied, Elephant sculpture focal bead


Colour still plays a part in my sculpture work, and I still love contrasting colours, like in this gorgeous baby dragon, lilac with deep green and pale blue.  I think this gorgeous dragon is very well going to go to the gallery (more on that news another time!)

Its been a busy, and wet day, here at Chez Izzybeads, I have been soaked twice, once on the dog walk and once on the trip to the post office, I have been in the studio though and made some more sculptural beads and even a trip to the vets for Iz's yearly boosters.  Both dogs go to the vets, their boosters are 6 months apart, so they both go, both times and both get weighed. Its a good way to keep a check on them.  Being big dogs and being Golden Retrievers, they have to watch their weight so they don't put too much stress on their back legs in older age.  The vet was thrilled with our Iz, perfect teeth, perfect eyes, perfect ears and perfect weight...PERFECT :O) she is a healthy 33.8kg and at 6 years old that is brilliant news.  Defi got weighed too, he has gained 4kgs and is now 31.5kg, which is about right for his age of just 2.  He should get to about 35-37kg when fully grown I reckon.

The perfect duo...Defi and Iz


Laney x