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

Dragon Mandala

 

Mandala is the Sanskrit word meaning circle.  These are my dragon mandalas....or one of them!

 

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

Not long now!

'Christmas' by beadercollie

Frosty The Snowman 2 Lampwor... MadCatGlass $15.00	Red Dragon Christmas Ornamen... IzzyBeads $22.00	Needle Felted Robin - Christ... feltindevon $6.00
Needle Felted Christmas Mous... feltindevon $6.00	Christmas Ribbon Wreath 2 lakindawn0507 $28.00	Christmas Santa Mesh Wreath HolidaysAreSpe... $110.00
Christmas Dog Collar Christm... SweetiePieColl... $16.00	Christmas Cookie Tin - Vint... VintagePDX $16.00	Red Green Buttons - Polka Do... LittleRedCotta... $2.50
Paper Bead Large Focal Old ... PassionForPape... $4.00	Stained Glass Christmas Tree... GaleazGlass $26.00	Handmade Beaded Jewelry Earr... Fanceethat $20.00
Round Santa Holiday Christma... moonrakerbeads $10.50	Large Handmade Felt Stuffed ... cazrajane $6.75

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

I can't quite figure out if I am getting excited about Christmas, I do love putting up the tree and having the twinkling lights in the evenings, or if I am dreading the cold days, dark nights and wet and stinky dog walks, but, my lovely friend Cazz (Beadercollie) has made this fab treasury in all the gorgeous Christmas colours and included my hanging tree dragon ornament. Have cuppa and a browse at the beautiful items she has found. Laney

History Blog Hop - Pre-Columbian...oh my!

Leah, from Beady Eyed Bunny arranged this blog hop and let me join in, even though its an alien concept to me!  I have never done a blog hop before and have just spent far too much time going through the list below and seeing the beautiful creations already done and up on the blogs - at the right time, as the reveal date was the 13th October and I was...well I ....ok, I was busy and I forgot...sorry Leah x

So, the gist of the blog hop, as I see it, is that you choose, or Leah gives you (as in my case) a time in history, you research the era, you find out about the jewellery that inspired the time and you create a modern piece in that style.

All the pieces I have just looked at have been very elegant and very beautiful, without exception, take a look, some really talented ladies out there.  Mine, on the other hand, is completely me!

I don't do elegant.  I don't do posh.  I do...me.

Leah gave me the time period of Pre-Columbian, and if you look down that list no one else took it up!  Not surprising, I nearly choked when I researched the period.  The Pre-Columbians used anthropomorphic images in their jewellery, they did not have the way of the written word and used images to record their way of life, their religion and culture.

I was stumped.  What do I know about Pre-Columbian that could inspire a piece of jewellery worthy of the blog.  I was looking at it all the wrong way.  What I should have done was think, 'how can I put my twist on Pre-Columbian art?'

One of those Eureka moments happened by accident, on a piece I had already made for a different reason.  I wanted to make a piece that I could wear to the fairs I am doing around this time, this time being October, Autumn, Halloween.  I love the colours of Autumn, the oranges and reds and I love Halloween, all that witching and mogs...ta dah...I had done my piece without thinking about it!

 

 

I used my lampwork beads, what else!, and my anthropomorphic twist on Halloween.  How Pre-Columbian is that?  I am thrilled to bits, I am Pre-Columbian!! 

So Leah...you thought you could give me a hard task eh?  Hopefully next time will be a challenge, heheheh...

Do have a look at the list below and follow the links to their blogs, especially if you really do like grown up and elegant pieces, I can honestly say, no one, had a twist on their time period, quite like mine!!

Ahowin - Art Nouveau www.blog.ahowinjewelry.com
Alicia Marinache – Victorian http://www.allprettythings.ca/
Becca's Place – Renaissance www.godsartistinresidence.blogspot.com
Beti Horvath – Ancient Egypt and Art Deco www.stringingfool.blogspot.com
Cherry Obsidia – Ancient Mecynae Greece www.cherryobsidia.blogspot.com
Cooky – Renaissance www.shepherdessbeads.com/Blog.html
Jamie Shipp – Middle Ages www.celebratinglifewithdamamashipp.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Davies-Reazor – Medieval www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog
Kathleen Douglas – Indus Valley www.washoekat.blogspot.com
Kashmira Patel – Etruscan www.sadafulee.blogspot.com
Lady Grey – Victorian www.beadsteaandsweets.blogspot.com
Laney Mead – Pre-Columbian www.laney-izzybeads.blogspot.co.uk
Leah Curtis – Ancient Roman www.beadyeyedbunny.blogspot.co.uk
LiliKrist - Persia www.lilikrist.com
Melissa – Mesopotamian www.design.kcjewelbox.com
Melissa Trudinger – Art Nouveau www.beadrecipes.wordpress.com
Micheladas Musings – Ancient Romans www.micheladasmusings.blogspot.com
Paula Hisel – Victorian www.simplybeadiful.weebly.com/simply-stated.html
Sandra Wollberg – Art Nouveau www.city-of-brass-stories.blogspot.com
Sharyl McMillian-Nelson – Art Deco www.sharylsjewelry.blogspot.com
Tracy Stillman – Victorian www.tracystillmandesigns.com

Laney x

Where do you get yours?

Inspiration, that is.

I read lots, from fantasy to fables, novels to comics, childrens books, they have the best pictures, to classic literature, poetry plays..I read everything, except cookery books, I loathe cookery books, because I loathe cooking.  My husband finally banned me from the kitchen last week, after setting fire to a tea towel and welding egg onto the hob, but that is another story!  Thankfully, he loves to cook and is good at it.

So.  Other than reading, where else do I get my inspiration from?  Funny tales I hear from other people, of minor catastrophes that morph into funny cartoon beads, and pictures.  All pictures.  I have boxes of photographs, from back in the day when you developed film, all the animals I have loved and now lost, the kids growing up, holidays, gardens, lots of pictures.  I also have pictures on my laptop, sadly I have lost as many as I have kept due to not backing up my systems often enough.   And the internet. 

I love the wildlife websites, National Geographic being one, and just recently this one, Project Noah  This is a great website, with fabulous pictures of all wildlife, fungi and plants.  I found this fabulous guy on there, he is gorgeous...



Philippine Eagle
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/8050935

Isn't he gorgeous?  Have a little look on the website, its brilliant, lots of lovely pictures.

Another picture to finish off and one that is exclusively mine...well whom else has a chicken in a bowl of water in the utility room sink, being stared at by an old mog?

Claude and Dave

Dave sadly, passed away not long after this picture was taken, nothing to do with the bath I assure you.  I was told to place her in a bowl of warm water, chooks love this when they are feeling unwell, it can revive them, and it did Dave for a few days, but sadly she didn't make it.  Still its a fab picture and a treasured memory, perhaps there is a chook in a bowl coming to an Etsy shop near you!!

For some of my inspired beads! visit my Etsy shop

Laney x