Kitzbitz Art Glass

Mini Mo' January 2012 - Underwater World and Kiss Me Quick

2012-01-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

I decided to work on an underwater theme for my first Mini Mo' for 2012 because one of my Mini Mo' ladies specially requested sea/water themed collection. Underwater World uses Effetre Coral, transparent light Grass Green and Petrol Green with CiM Hades and CiM Sherwood.

I have included a mix of “hollow” barnacles, silvered barnacle points and Tang tropical fish, murrini with Green Dreams silvered shards.

I've been itching for ages to try and make some little tropical fish murrini and so there are Tangs in amongst barnacles (these look like they are hollow when encased as the core is clear glass) and ivory and fine silver laced murrini that I have pulled in to points.

This chunky aquarium bead used the flat cane from Underwater World wrapped around a clear core and also as raised seaweed decoration on the surface. Here you can see the complex striped ribbon twistie cane and Tang murrini magnified under deep encasement.

This deep Green Ocean set shows what the barnacle murrini looks like pressed flat as surface decoration and my ""Green Dreams" shards both under and over encasement.

Kiss Me Quick is a cheeky little collection just right for Valentines beads. I used Effetre Dark Red 460, Baby Pink 260, White 204 and CiM Cranberry Pink and CiM Hades.

The murrini is a mix of red hearts and pink starbursts with shards made from a selection of pretty reds for Valentines Day.

Ahhhh, what a fabulous excuse to get out all of my pink glass for a play. I had forgotten all about this beautiful colour, Reichenbach Mystic Pink. Yum! I used the goldstone cored twistie from the Kiss Me Quick collection and Sweetheart murrini to make these sweet little beads.

A romantic set of florals useing swipes of flat cane to form the petals. I've teamed it up with some handmade goldstone stringer which adds a touch of glamour.

My first set of lentils in ever so long, each of these beads has a central clear window with elements of Kiss Me Quick cane visible underneath.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Mini Mo' December 2011 - Big Top and Bejeweled

2011-12-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

I wanted to play about a little with bold opaque primary colours for my first December collection, a circus themed glasswork pack called Big Top. I chose Effetre Dark Red 436, Light Lapis 240, CiM Pumpkin and combined the three in one gather to make “Circus Circus” patchwork shards.

This zany focal is very different from anything that I've ever made before with big bold flower petals swiped on with flat Big Top flat cane and a wrap of ribbon twistie along the base and a googly eyed ladybird!

The colours are so bright, bold and fun that I couldn't resist letting the colours do all the talking with this collection of funky beads, wacky shapes and rounds, showing the cane and twistie as surface decoration and under encasement too.

This *every so slightly* more grown up set shows all the different Big Top canes under clear encasement over a base of pastel baby blue with a few Big Top murrini on the surface of a couple of the beads.

My second colourway this month is based around the idea of gem toned glass, transparent secondary colours, including Effetre Light Topaz 012, Transparent Dark Purple 044, CiM Great Bluedini and Vetrofond Transparent Light Brown 084. I have completed this collection by making reactive "Tribal" shards using Ask Tribal Turquoise.

I stumbled across a thread on Lampwork Ect by Jacqueline Parkes advertising her new shard making tutorial and couldn't resist getting it to try. Tribal shards are my own glass recipe but have been created in the way that Jacqueline describes in her wonderful tutorial. I tested itsy-bitsy bits of the Tribal shards out on several base glasses. There isn't much rhyme or reason to my choice of base colours here - just labelled shorts that I had close at hand at the time.

Here is a chintzy floral focal with an encased core of gem toned ribbon twistie and asymmetric sculptural floral decoration on the surface using flat cane.

Bejeweled canes over a base of CiM Mojito, encased with Effetre 006. These beads show how Bejeweled Murrini looks as surface decoration.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Free Kitzbitz Frit Blend Recipies

2011-11-29T06:49:00.000-08:00

I had a dabble with frit testing and blending back 2009/10 and came up with some really lovely combos. I'm retiring these blends now and don't plan to add to my blend range in the near future as I much prefer making canes and murrini and I never seem to be able to rustle up any of those mystical extra hours in the day for a decent fritty playtime. I thought it would be really lovely to share them for free as a little gesture of thanks for all of the freely given information and inspiration that has been gifted to me over the years by talented and generous lampworkers all over the web. G=Gaffer

Smokestack

G045	1 part
G024	4 parts
G108	5 parts
G172	5 parts
G022	5 parts

Cottontails

G112	1 part
G121	1 part
G116	1 part
G124	1 part
G127	1 part

EZ Tiger

G013	2 parts
G171	2 parts
G052	2 parts
G183	3 parts
G063	1 part

Hocus Crocus

G077	5 parts
G111	5 parts
G114	2 parts
G132	1 part
G015	1 part
G137	1 part

Orange Grove

G070	1 part
G071	1 part
G073	1 part
G182	1 part
G186	1 part

Enjoy, Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Floral lampwork bead gallery

2011-11-20T00:20:00.000-08:00

As I'm very much on a floral kick at the moment, I thought I'd pop up a quick and dirty gallery page showing a few of my latest floral beads.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

The anatomy of a Lampwork Mojo Box and a little about Mini Mo's too

2011-11-15T00:18:00.000-08:00

When my daughter was born in September 2008 there was, as you can imagine, very little time for making beads. I kept my glass melting addiction fed by making twistie cane and occasionally blowing some shards. By the end of that year I had graduated on to making my very first simple starburst murrini too and it occurred to me that these elements should all belong together in pretty little colour coordinated collections to dip into from time to time for lampworking inspiration.

In Jan 2009 I put together my first collections, Southern Belle, Wisteria Gem, Summer and Red All Over. I don't bring out Lampwork Mojo Boxes often, as I tend to work on a collection over a long period, adding to each when I discover new and beautiful elements. I usually make just two boxes in any colourway which makes each collection very special.

The Mini Mo' Colour Club was a wonderful idea given to me by the talented Kaz Baildon of Cheeky Cherub Designs. She suggested offering Mini Lampwork Mojo collection of glasswork on a monthly subscription basis and so Mini Mo's were born. I absolutely adored making these collections from the start, working hard each month to make beautiful glasswork even better than the collection before. When I started blogging at the end of 2009 I began to post about them here too.

I fell with my son at the beginning of 2010 and had a difficult pregnancy second time around which led me to make the tough decision to take some time out from lampwork. With two preschoolers on my hands it has taken me much longer to get back in the saddle than I had anticipated. After just over a full year out from making lampwork beads, Mojo Boxes and Mini Mo's I got back to the torch full time in April this year and must confess that I'm loving being a self employed glass artist. In addition to the 12 regular places in the Mini Mo' Club I offer short term subscriptions to the Mini Mo' Colour Club in my Etsy glassy supplies shop, Frit N Chips and also lampwork beads at Kitzbitz Art Beads.

If you would like to see some of my Mini Mo' blog posts please click here.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Mini Mo' November 2011 - Point Break and Secret Garden

2011-11-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

My glasswork collections for November are named after films but inspired by thoughts of the ocean and of country gardens. Firstly an apology, this post is going to be much longer and picture heavy than previous Mini Mo' posts for a couple of reasons, one is that I've managed to get more time at the torch than usual through October and the other is that I've used many of the elements in Novembers Mini Mo's separately rather than in combination.

The glass I have used in Piont Break is CiM French Blue, CiM Hades, Effetre Cobalt Lapis, Reichenbach Multicolor and a medley of blues in the ribbon cane.

I've used some of the ribbon cane from Piont Break to make these raised etched floral beads (you can read a bit more about them here).

This set shows Point Break shards over CiM Commando and Effetre Transparent Dark Teal. These shards are infused with fine silver leaf and have some beautiful organic patterns as a result.

This is what Point Break murrini look like when they have been applied, poked whilst still partially raised, capped with clear to trap a small bubble and then encased.

I was very lucky recently and received a bundle of the newest CiM Ltd run colours to play about with - one of the glasses was called Submarine and so I just couldn't resist the temptation to have a crack at making a yellow submarine murrini with it. Although these submurrini are the result of my just mucking around for fun, they sort of whispered in my ear as I was packaging my Point Blank glasswork and they jumped in the murrini pots too as little fun extras.

These are Multi and Hades twistie over CiM Electric Avenue. The colours in these beads are so pretty but much much subtler than my original twistie test bead over Effetre Ivory (note to self get out test bead and take pic). I am planning to pop these back in the kiln at the start of my next garaging session and see if I can kiln strike out some stronger colour definition from the Multi.

My second colorway, Secret Garden, uses CiM Sherwood, Reichenbach Multicolor, Effetre Dark Silver Plum and a medley of pinks and purples in the ribbon cane.

Dark Silver Plum shards over CiM Blush and Mojito. These shards react strongly to flame chemistry in both a propane or oxygen rich flame. I favour the oxy rich flame to get this pretty silvering effect as turning the propane low to get a smaller flame means that the shards shimmer up as they are being applied.

This set is made with DSP shards and Secret Garden Murrini. I have melted the shards and murrini flat and shaped each one with graphite to bring out colour in the the Multi. I then distorted the murrini by spot heating and twisting the glass about with a DSP stringer.The base glass here is CiM Eggplant which is a deep opal purple. There ia an interesting effect on these beads as the silver sheen appears only as a halo outline on the shards.

A set of CiM Mojito raised florals using a single 6" strip of Secret Garden ribbon cane. The central focal shows the cane used under encasement too.

The core of this vessel shaped bead has been wrapped with CiM Sherwood and Milticolor twistie which has been melted flat and then encased with Effetre 006 to magnify.

This bead used the same twistie cane as rasied vine detail, the effect is subtle and shimmery, much more noticeable in real life than I have been able to capture in this picture.

Lastly a little collection of beads that shows a variety of effects using the ribbon cane, twistie and murrini, both on the surface and under clear encasement.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Lampwork bead giveaway

2011-11-01T15:45:00.001-07:00

CP-giveaway-beads, originally uploaded by kitzbitz art glass by Jolene.

These pretty little blue beads have little yellow submarines in them! They are looking for a new home, pop by Craft Pimp Forum and pop your name down if you would like them to be yours. I'll draw the winners name out of the hat on Saturday 6th of November.

Ta, Jo x

Mini Mo' October 2011 - She's a Rainbow and Back to Black

2011-10-30T06:25:00.000-07:00

The glasswork collections I have put together this month are each a twist on my perfect glass rainbow. As you can imagine form the names of these two collections, I spent a good deal of time singing in my studio in September! The glass I have used this month is

Effetre Crimson 432

CiM Creamsicle

Effetre Special Dark Lemon 408

CiM Sherwood

Effetre Periwinkle 220

Effetre Cobalt Blue 246

Effetre Purple 272

I've also used CiM Hades for the super dense black detailing on the ribbon twisties and two tone encased twisties in Back to Black. All of the twisities in both sets of Glasswork this month have been encased with Effetre 006 to keep the detail crisp and stop the webbing effect that is a characteristic quality of Hades.

She's a Rainbow features Persimmon shards, I've mixed this colour by hand and it makes me think of Effetre Tequila Sunrise.

On the left is a close up detail of She's a Rainbow murrini, melted flat on the surface of a large pressed tornado style focal bead.

I am very excited about the rainbow cane in the Mini Mo' collections this month, it's a new style of handmade glasswork for me. This bead shows the flat cane swiped on to form raised petals.

Back to Black features silvered Hades shards which are an absolute favourite of mine. My Back to Black murrini contains multiple layers of rainbow colors and Hades to create a darker and more complex looking murrini. Back to Black Murrini are also encased in 006 as the final layer to keep the black stripes looking crisp when melted flat.

The beads on the right show how the twistie cane looks when etched, both under and over encasement. Because they are encased twistie canes, not only do they not web but they have the same frosted appearance as the 006 base bead after etching, rather than taking on a powdery tone.

I've used the red cane to create a lip on this orange vessel bead, just the right finishing touch!

This is what the rainbow cane looks like when melted in flat. I made this cabochon off mandrel by making a maria, laying on the cane and melting it in flat. I then spot heated and twisted the soft area with a stringer in a couple of places to add interest and encased with clear.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Zephyr, 006 and making florals...

2011-10-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

Just recently I've been on a floral kick, I've always wanted to make beads that are like bottled gardens with layers and layers of prettiness to explore inside them. As you can imagine, with two preschool age children and my partner who works shifts, that my studio time is very limited. I could never quite justify to myself investing an hour or more on every bead which (at least in the early stages of the sharp learning curve) would very likely turn out to be for the fugly jar (or my daughters pocketses).

I found myself waxing lyrical to a bead making chum t'other day about my bead making daydreams and she told me just to do it! I suddenly realised that I have spent the first 4 years of my lampworking journey teaching myself how to make the beautiful preparatory elements I need for making the wistful cottage garden beads of my imagination and it was good time to get brave and start to put it all together. That evening I spent a fair bit of time playing about at the torch, making a series of beads that increased in complexity.

These are my favourites of the night

The orange blossom vessel bead is my favourite I've made to date and I accidentally stayed up torching til 2am without even realising the time!

Anyway, to the main point of this blog post, Zephyr and Effetre 006, Double Helix Glassworks just recently manufactured and release a super douper clear glass. It was said to be scum free, optically brilliant and completely compatible with all of the DH silverglass range. At nearly 6 times the price (in the UK) of standard Effetre 006 I did my best to resist temptation until the very first discussion thread started about Zephyr on Frit Happens Forum where Julie Fountain of Lush Lampwork shared her discovery that Zephyr doesn't etch.

It just sent my brain fizzing and popping with possibilities of selective acid etching and I just had to try it out with some floral bead sets I had been planning to make.

Unetched 006 floral cane beds over CiM Khaki and fine silver leaf

Etched beads, floral canes encased with Effetre 006 over Zephyr encased Effetre Dark Turquoise.

Etched beads, Zephyr encased canes over a base of beautiful CiM Commando.

I am so thrilled with the results, matt beads with glossy detail and glossy beads with soft powder toned petals, I am so glad I bit the bullet and bought some Zephyr in now. It's FAB.

Treasury round up in October

2011-10-29T01:41:00.000-07:00

A selection of some of the beautiful treasuries that I have been lucky enough to be featured in this month

Many thanks to
Georgie of flamingbeadies
Helen of helengbeads
Roma of jurooma and the lovely
Aimee of aimeesrockworks

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Mini Mo Sept 2011 - Tealy Dan and Pierrot

2011-10-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

The first colourway I wanted to make for September was a lush deep selection of teal and deep aquas. When the name Tealy Dan popped into my head as I was pulling twistie, I must admit, it did make me smile. The glass I have used in this collection are CiM Great Bludini, CiM Mermaid and Effetre Opalino Grass Green. I absolutely love using Great Bludini in twistie making and for murrini, it's such a saturated colour. Many other aqua transparents look weak and insipid when diluted and pulled out into thin cane.

The beads to the left show elements of Tealy Dan under encasement. The base glass I've used is Great Bludini and Unique Celeadon 511402-2.

Here is a necklace that I have made by laying stripes of Tealy Dan twistie over a core of 511402-2 and then melting, shaping and encasing the entire bead. The beautiful silk ribbon is by Diane Turton of SowZere and the pretty hammered ring is by Diane Cook of Dilunah Designs.

I love making monochrome glasswork but wanted to shake it up a bit for my second colourway by putting the emphasis on white rather than having white as light accent on a heavy black background. Peace and Hades are my absolute twistie making faves when I am planning to make encased twistie cane. I recently tried making twistie for another project using Effetre white and is was just too runny for me!

I had an image in my head of the classic Pierrot mime make up and found just the red shade I had been looking for in CiM Unique Lipstick 511140-1.

My Three year old has a fixation about crabs, shells and the seaside at the moment and I have been making a few themed beads for her so it wasn't too much of a surprise when I started to play with Pierrot glasswork that Crabby Dan turned up again!

The Peace based shards in this pack have little touches of Hades and Unique Lipstick in them. The Hades webs and the Unique Lipstick "blooms" like ink on blotting paper when the shards are melted in flat.

On the left is a mix n match collection of beads using all the elements of Pierrot in some form or another over CiM Tuxedo, twistie under encasement to enlarge the detail and shards and murrini on the surface.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Beads of Courage UK - Every bead tells a story of strength, honor and hope.

2011-10-17T12:41:00.001-07:00

BoC Beads 3, originally uploaded by kitzbitz art glass by Jolene.

I want to take a moment to give a shout out to the beads of Courage program in the UK. I sent my first parcel in last week and plan to organise regular collections for donations on Craft Pimp Forum. It's a superb charity and deserves all of the support and donations possible so please dig deep and raid your bead stash to see if you have any handmade beads to offer.

What is the Beads of Courage Program?

The Program is a resilience-based intervention designed to support and strengthen children and families coping with serious illness. Through the program children tell their story using colorful beads as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate milestones they have achieved along their unique treatment path.

How it works

Upon enrollment each child is given the Beads of Courage bead color guide with a detachable membership card. Their Beads of Courage journey begins when each child is first given a length of string and beads that spell out their first name. Then, colorful beads, each representing a different treatment milestone are given to the child by their professional health care provider to add to their Beads of Courage collection throughout their treatment.

Act of Courage Beads. These are the artist-made glass beads that are given to acknowledge the milestones in their treatment journey. This year, we expect that we will need approximately 100,000 of these handmade beads donated so that children can continue to receive one-of-a-kind beads for significant treatment milestones.

You can find out more about the program and how you can help here on the Bead of Courage Website http://www.beadsofcourage.org

The UK coordinator is Sarah Drummond, please print and fill in the form here http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/beadartists.htm and send your bead donations in to her at

Beads of Courage, Inc.
c/o Sarah Drummond
2, Park Close
Wickford, Essex SS12 9EH.

Thank you, Jo x

Rainbow lampwork bead giveaway

2011-10-06T09:57:00.001-07:00

lampy giveaway, originally uploaded by kitzbitz art glass by Jolene.

Another quick post and run from me! Just wanted to say I'm having a little lampwork bead giveaway on Craft Pimp Fourm. All you have to do to get in the draw is pop along and pop your name down.
Ta, Jo x

Treasury round up

2011-09-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

It's feels like an age since I managed to get a moment to sit down and write in my blog and so here is a quick and dirty colourful kitzbitz/fritnchips treasury round up post for this evening before I hit the hay!

First Mists of Autumn by Julia of http://www.etsy.com/shop/Pandanimal

Red and black for autumn by Sibel of http://www.etsy.com/shop/SibelDesign

Put a bit of zest in your life by Jill of http://www.etsy.com/shop/KilnFiredArt

"But the days grow short, when you reach September" by Sue at http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlueBoxStudio

Autumn or Fall I've got it all by Mel at http://www.etsy.com/shop/Inkydoodlecrafts

Last night at the proms by mary at http://www.etsy.com/shop/nemeadesigns

Never forget by mary at http://www.etsy.com/shop/MaryDevotions

A few of my Favourite things by Jo at http://www.etsy.com/shop/LampworkbeadsbyJo

Phew, what a lot of eye candy! I hope you enjoyed looking these lovely treasuries.

Also a big thank you from me to everyone who has taken the time to feature me and my work in your treasuries in September, I'm really very grateful.

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Mini Mo' Aug 2011 - Sedona Park and Parma Violets

2011-08-28T10:22:00.000-07:00

This colourway is my favourite so far. Lashings of Effetre Ivory, silver leaf and beautiful striking shards made from lovely Coral/Orange Phoenix. This collection was completely inspired by the very talented Helen Chalmers who was messing about with Phoenix and frit when she came to visit in July and I just fell in love with Phoenix shards. The colour takes me back to a holiday, many moons ago, to Arizona and it brings to mind fond memories of an afternoon tooling about in Sedona National Park in a Pink Jeep!

This pressed vertebrae bead has been finished with a Sedona park silvered murrini on each side. I have left them a little raised to show how they look when used this way. I have a thing for making murrini with asymmetric starburst "spokes" at the minute and these take that idea about as far as I could push it to give them a softer and more organic appearance without them looking unstructured.

This pretty little bead set has been made on a base of Effetre mid Topaz and uses little pieces of Sedona Park twistie encased with 006 to magnify the detail. Several of the beads have Sedona Park murrini which have been melted in flush to the beads surface.

My second colourway this month puts me in mind of those little rolls of perfumed sweets that I used to love when I was little. It is called Parma Violet (or more truthfully and being queen of typo's Palma Violets). It's a lovely (slightly reactive in an oxygen rich flame) lavender, lilac and pale violet selection. The glass I have used here includes Lauscha Violet, ASK petal Pink and CiM Thai Orchid.

To the left is a vertebrae bead with a twist, the ribs have been made with a rod of pale lilac filligreano which has left a floating ribbon of colour wrapped around my bead. I have finished each side with raised Parma Violet murrini - these again have asymmetric "spokes" to give them an organic feel.

to the right are a set of beads created using long lengths of Parma Violets Twistie cane. I wrapped these in a low flame over a tube shaped base of CiM Thai Orchid or ASK Petal Pink and encased with a thick layer of Effetre 006.

This final bead set uses Midnight Whisper shards which are made with a new colour - CiM Midnight ltd run. You can read more about my Midnight Messy Testing here.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Midnight Chameloen..........

2011-08-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

Midnight ltd run shards with pure silver

Midnight is a new addition to CiM's limited run selection and it's a bit of an enigma. In rod form it looks almost navy but when I held it up to the light it looked much more purpleish to me. I immediately wanted to play with this new glass as silvered shards. I tried some shards using midnight alone but found them to be too pale, generally I make transparent shards over a tiny base of a pale opaque to give them more depth, unless the glass is super dense like CiM Slytherin. For Midnight I wanted to emphasis the purple tones and so chose Heffalump to make a small core on the end of my blowpipe, layered on lashings of Midnight and then burnished fine silver leaf over the top. As you can see from the picture of my shards on the right, Midnight hasn't reacted with the silver leaf at all which is sitting in the surface of my shards in pretty little droplets.

I chose a number of different base glasses to pop my Midnight shards on top of. Starting at the top and looking clockwise - over the top of Zachary, Fremen, Blush and Gelly's Sty, these shards do indeed show purple tones. Over Desert Pink, Larkspur and Cranberry Pink, Midnight shards tend to look much more like a deep dark blue.

Midnight Whisper Beads

The amber colors that you can see coming through in Zachery, Fremen and Desert pink tell me that these base glasses have reacted to the fine silver droplets on my Midnight shards and that playing about with these and some silver rich glass would yield some interesting results.

Some cold worked and acid etched Midnight shard beads. These show that Midnight etches beautifully.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Pixie Tear lampy bead giveaway

2011-08-04T13:53:00.001-07:00

pt1, originally uploaded by kitzbitz art glass by Jolene.

I've fallen in to good habits and do a monthly giveaway for one of my handmade lampwork beads on Craft Pimp Forum every month. This week you could win this fab focal bead called Pixie Tear just by popping by and putting your name down, the draw will be tomorrow evening.
Ta, Jo x

Wonderweb - Unique Hades 511820-2

2011-08-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

Unique Hades 511820-2 is an extremely dense black but has a different formula to regular Hades. It webs and spreads beautifully on the surface of a bead but also picks up wisps of silver in an oxygen rich flame in much the same way as CiM Gunmetal. It is much stiffer to work with than Gunmetal however and looks a true black when pulled thin as Hades does. In my opinion it displays the best properties of both of these two CiM blacks.

The silver/black webbing in this bead came from applying a stringer that was about 0.8mm across over my encasing layer of Effetre 006 clear and then simply melting it down flat in a fairly hot, slightly oxy rich flame.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Team treasury treasure..........

2011-07-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

I am very fortunate to belong to two very hard working and proactive Etsy Street Teams. Here is a quick shout out for some of the glorious treasuries recently made by Anna and Mel of CPteam, and Helen and Sandy of FHFteam.

I've put my little team treasury treasure post and run post together ever so easily using a little widget that I found on CraftCult a little while ago, it's easy to use and ever so clever...........

Jolene x
FritNChips

For Betsy

2011-07-24T01:22:00.001-07:00

for Betsy too, originally uploaded by kitzbitz art glass by Jolene.

A quick blog and run from me via Flickr this morning - it shows a selection of twistie that I recently made for a customer on Etsy. I really like this picture even though it is just a quick snap that I sent for approval before posting as it makes me think of some kind of alternative rainbow.....now where did I put that pot of gold?

Etsy Listing Polishing Project....

2011-07-22T01:37:00.000-07:00

This is something I am aiming to do for all of my Etsy listings over time but for now here is the very first example of my Etsy Etsercise Listing Polishing project.

The whole idea of this project is to create a top notch listing that will work as a template for future listings. What I am aiming for are good images that will draw a potential customer in and a few tricks that will tempt them to stay and browse longer in your shop.

Etsy Etsercise Listing Polishing Tips

Take the best photographs you can

Aviod portrait images opting instead for square or landscape images. Minimum image size of 1000 px is reccommeded but I find both 1000 px by 1000 px and 1000px by 800 px can work really well.

For your primary photo choose the one that looks most interesting as a thumbnail

Use all 5 spaces for images

Do include a close up of interesting detail
Do show your product in situ
Do show your product in an image with other similar products
If you are marketing your product as a gift show packaging
You can even show yourself at work or a view of the equipment you use to make your products

Use all 14 tags

Include specific colours such as sky blue or baby pink
Include any/all of your team tags

Include tags that describe who the product is for
For instance:

Mothers day present
Bridal shower
For him
House warming gift

Include a URL that takes you to another related listing or to other relevant products

If your necklace has matching earrings post the link to them
If you have a range of products post a link to that shop category

What I haven't covered here is how to write an interesting shop description – I think this merits it own Etsy Etsercise project in the future.

Here are a couple of before and after pics for one of my listings. I hope this post is useful and easy to follow and will help others to create the most professional listings they can too.

Further Reasearch

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Mini Mo' July 2011 - Lemongrass and Little Black Dress

2011-07-10T13:28:00.000-07:00

The main colourway for my Little Black Dress Mini Mo’ glasswork this month is CiM Peace and CiM Unique Hades 511820-2 with “The Big Smoke” enameled shards.

I absolutely love the classic combination of black and white together - a little back dress teamed up with vivid colour accessories for a party or with elegant monochrome jewellery for that very important meeting - whichever way you choose to play it, it just works!

So, when I decided on the black and white them for one of my Mini Mo' glasswork themes I kept thinking back to the idea of a trim, elegant and finely detailed little black dress for inspiration. The Little Black Dress murrini follow this idea very well and I am thrilled with them.

The beads on the right show how the twistie behaves both under encasement and melted flat on to the surface of a bead. Unique Hades 511820-2 is an extremely dense black but has a different formula to regular Hades. It webs and spread beautifully on the surface of a bead but also picks up wisps of silver in and oxygen rich flame in much the same way as CiM Gunmetal. It is much stiffer to work with than Gunmetal however and looks a true black when pulled thin. In my opinion it displays the best properties of both of these two CiM blacks.

I have used various graduated shades of grey tone enamels over Peace to create these moody shards to compliment the Little Black Dress Mini Mo'. I've called them "The Big Smoke" because they look so industrial and cloud like when placed on the surface of the bead and twisted in to elegant trails with a stringer.

The main colourway for my Lemongrass Mini Mo’ glasswork is Effetre Petrol Green, Effetre Lemon Yellow Special, Effetre Uranium Yellow transparent and with “Meadow Sweet” enameled shards. The primary colour My Lemongrass Murrini is CiM Soylent, chosen for my club members who work with hot head torches because it is much less reactive to flame chemistry than Petrol Green.

My colour inspiration here comes from my tumbleweed garden at the moment, all long grass and dandelions - I chose the name Lemongrass for the collection though as the glasswork is so much prettier and more sophisticated than that!

My test beads on the left show a core of Petrol Green encased with clear cored twistie and Lemongrass Murrini which have been melted flat. A final layer of encasement gives an optical enlargement to the detail underneath.

I wanted to show how this murrini looks left raised on the surface of a bead too, and so finished this large tab focal bead with a single raised murrini.

More tinkering around with enamels for the "Meadow Sweet" shards - some were created with an additional layer of Effetre Clear 006 encasement and some were blown with enamel on the surface which allows for a pretty layered effect and some subtle organic effects with a reduction flame.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Style File no.2

2011-07-02T13:54:00.000-07:00

Style file is my new Etsy treasury project and Style File no.2 is the second instalment. I'm planning on curating a Style File treasury each month which shows off the work of CPteam, Etsy shops that I heart and fun people that I have met on twitter. Click the pic to take a better look, hope you like.

Jolene x

Gaffer Frit Colour Chart

2011-07-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

This is the start of a long term project that I have in mind for Craft Pimp Forum. It is the beginnings of a colour chart showing Gaffer frit in use in lampwork bead making.

Gaffer frit is manufactured in New Zealand by John Croucher and John Leggott and has a coefficient of Expansion (CoE) of 96 but can be used in small quantities very effectively with CoE 104 glass such as Effetre (Moretti), Reichenbach 104, Lauscha, Vetrofond, CiM and other sodalime and soft glass.

There are somewhere up close to 200 shades of frit available in the Gaffer colour range and not all are readily available in the U.K. This little chart is just the tip of the iceberg really so far.

If anyone has images and notes that they would like to add to the chart I would be very grateful. There will be full credits and links given to everyone who makes a contribution.

I think that this project is going to be a labour of love.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Feeling Blu?

2011-06-26T15:43:00.000-07:00


Great Bludini

Then you need to get a little Great Bludini in your life! The colour of this stuff is utterly beautiful no matter which way I melt it. It makes me think of the taste of Blue Raspberry Slush Puppies (remember those?).

This selection of twistie has all been made using pulled over a base of Peace, using either224 Light Sky Blue or Reichenbach 104 3206 Iris Dense Blue for opaque contrast.

These beads show how the various patterns of Great Bludini twistie looks when melted flat over a core of 224 Light Sky Blue and encased with beautiful Laucsha Clear Glass.

I think that Great Bludini is such a beautiful saturated colour that it lends itself to twistie making beautifully, coming out a delicate aqua tone when heavily diluted with white and pale blues.

Jolene x
Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Abstract UK landscape

2011-06-11T12:17:00.000-07:00

Abstract UK landscape by cards by Jane

this is a superbly clever treasury by Cards by Jane and I'm thrilled that my green lampy stringers make up part of this wonderful abstract landscape.

Jane makes a fab selection of handcrafted delights including beautiful decoupage style cards but my favourite has got to be this cute Elephant card, he's absolutely charming. Jane sells her cards in order to raise funds for the charity AYME which stands for Association of Young People with M.E. Which is a very worthy cause.

Jolene x

Kitzbitz Art Glass & Frit N chips lampwork supplies

Artists Spotlight - Claire of Clasibags

2011-06-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

Today I'd like to introduce you to Claire of Clasibags. She is an extremely talented textile artist and accessory designer who works with felt (that she also makes herself!) and with yarn and wool. This little tactile black and white number is my current most favourite of all Claire's bags so far but heck she is always surprising me and filling me full of uncharacteristically girly accessory lust with each new creation she makes.

I adore the way that Claire adorns her bags with her own special coordinating knitted and felted flowers. She also offers these in her sophisticated a range of stylish brooches.

You can find out more about Claire's gorgeous designs including this unashamedly funky hot pink number by following Clasicat Designs on Facebook. You acn also get the latest gossip from Claire on Twitter and follow her lovely blog.

Jolene x

Mini Mo' Club June 2011 - Sea Heather

2011-05-31T15:27:00.000-07:00

After taking a full year off from melting glass during pregnancy and after my son Ethan was born, I am very excited to be back to work and creating lovely little Mini Mo' packages again. This selection of glasswork for June is the very first collection for the the Mini Mo' Club this year.

The main colourway for Sea Heather Mini Mo is CiM Lapis and Effetre Dark Turquoise, two of my absolute favourite glass colours. I have teamed up elements of Sea Heather with CiM Crocus in my first test bead set and really put the murrini through its paces. On the left you can see Sea Heather murrini both encased and as a surface embellishment. The murrini in the round bead at the fore of this picture has been melted flat, spot heated and the twisted to form a delicate swirl.

I have encased the murrini in the focal bead for this set. First I made a small tube bead core from CiM Crocus and attached two murrini, one on each side. Next I heated the murrini gently until it domed and then used a brass pokey tool to indent the center of each murrini. I heated a gather of Lauscha soft clear glass and spot encased over the murrini fully to trap and air bubble and protect the murrini from smearing. Neat I put down some twistie in between the murrini for interest and then spot encased and melted te encasing layer smooth and marvered in to shape.

The three murrini visible inside my Sea Heather focal Bicone have each been treated differently, One was attached and immediately encased, one was melted partially flat and then encased. The third was melted completely flat and then encased.

Pictured above is one of my test bead sets for the Sea Heather shards. I've used CiM Gunmetal with is pewter patina as a contrast to the glossy aqua colour of these pretty enamelled shards.

In this large organic focal I have used a fairly substantial piece of shard and covered big section of surface area of the bead, dusting with some white enamel to add interest and texture just before garaging.

Here are all of the Mini Mo's for June together in their pretty packaging.

As an extra special treat I also made a second murrini pull, Atlantic, to send with the June Mini Mo's as thank you to my Mini Mo' Club members.You can see it both as surface decoration and also under deep encasement in my Pink Atlantic bead set shown here.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

A treasure trove for Frit 'n' Chips

2011-05-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

A huge thank you to Amanda of DameandGent Anna of annamcdade and Gemma of
BristolTreasuresUK for the recent treasury features for my newly restocked lampwork supplies shop FritNChips, I'm sure you would agree that they are all stunning and packed with pure joyous colour!

I'd also like to give a little shout out about the new treasury widget that I have recently discovered on CraftCult, it's easy to use and ever so clever...........

Jolene x
FritNChips

Artists Spotlight - Mel Harding

2011-05-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

I have been looking forward to writing this spotlight since the start of the Craft Pimp artist spotlight project. All week various things have happened including the blogger upgrade blip and a whole evening down at A&E with my eldest (don't worry folks, it turned out to be nothing serious after all).

It's almost the end of the week and I can finally sit down with a mug of coffee and surf about the net looking at Mel's beautiful creations. Mel and I have a fetish in common for winged things. This intricate enamelled six piece topper is my current favourite piece in Mel's brand new Etsy store called Inkydoodlecrafts

These seaside scenes are rather gorgeous too and would look lovely in tiny driftwood frames. You can also find pretty toppers from Mel at Inkydoodlecrafts on Ebay.

Mel is moving in the exciting direction of using her own original designs exclusively throughout her product range and I have been lucky enough to see her first original topper up close, you can read more about the birth of a dragonfly on Mel's own blog. When I think about Mel and her work and creative spark I can imagine such bright things in the future, demoing to packed crowds at the NEC or pitching products and original artwork to the buyers for Ideal World. I have this lovely feeling that I will get to say one day that I knew her before she was famous.

Jolene x

Artists Spotlight - HazelB Handweaver

2011-05-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hazel Brend is a professional handweaver living and working in beautiful North Wales. She gets inspiration for her work whilst walking our dogs in the stunning countryside in Wales. The colours that inspired this stylish scarf come from a male Mallard duck. Hazel takes photographs of her subject and then mixes dyes, paints the warp yarn (which is the longways thread in her woven creations) and sets the dye before she begins the weaving process. You can find this piece and other stunning scarves and wraps in Hazels's online store.

I asked Hazel if she would mind writing a short short article for us on Craft Pimp Forum to give us a better idea of the process and equipment involved in weaving such delicate and fine fabrics. She kindly agreed and so you can read more about her creative process here.

This is a picture of Hazels largest loom. She has three working looms in her weaving shed and they are intriguing and complex and baffling to look at. The rows of threads put me in mind of a beautiful harp and perhaps in a way it is fair to say that the fabrics that come to life under Hazels skilled hands are like music for the eye.

Here is a little look at what a collection of Hazel's work looks like, her stand at Erddig, a fabulous 18th Century Welsh Country house. Hazel travels extensively doing shows in the summer. At the back if her stand you can see some sumptuous patchwork quilts for children - I think there is just no end to Hazels talents!

There are a couple of galleries on flickr where Hazel's handwoven wraps and scarves can be seen. Hazel also has a beautifully stocked Etsy store

Jolene x

Artists Spotlight - Dianne Sandland

2011-05-04T07:29:00.000-07:00

Di Sandland is an amazing chick, a compelling wordsmith and an amazing silversmith.

Today I am focusing on Di's recently released series of hand forged and acid etched sterling silver beads and findings. Dianne says - After a very long time trying I think I've finally achieved what I set out to do - and that is to incorporate sentiments and feelings into my silver jewellery and findings.

Di recently launched a competition on her blog to give one lucky winner the chance to win a set of her stylish beads - which, being honest, are the coolest thing I've seen this year! Her range is now very elegantly named Caprichos Expressions in Silver by Di Sandland.

The stunning sunshine toggle above is delicious beyond belief, looking at it makes be smile and evokes memories of happy seaside jaunts and sunny days. The ultimate in feel good findings!

Dianne will soon be opening her very own online shop Expressions in Silver.

Jolene x

A Perfect Circle

2011-05-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

A Perfect Circle by Anna McDade

I am sure you will agree that Anna has created an stylish treasury jam packed with some extremely beautiful hand crafted treasures.

I'm thrilled that Anna has chose one of my new scarab tattoo bead pendant bead sets to be featured in her beautifully curated collection.

I am finding it just too hard to select just one piece from Anna's stunning Etsy inventory to showcase and so I wont.....I'll show you three!

Watch this space for a more in depth feature on Anna in the near future and she and I are fellow CPteam members on Etsy.

Jolene x
Kitzbitz Art Glass

Flutterby Butterflies

2011-05-02T08:02:00.000-07:00

Flutterby Butterflies by minipretties

A big thank you to Christina of mini pretties for featuring a piece of my lampwork in her beautiful butterfly treasury. My featured beads are is called "the one with the Moth"

Christina makes and sells a broad range of fabric and crochet items including lip balm holders, hair clips and brooches and textiles for dolls houses. I really like her newborn baby clothing best and love these little slippers!


Denim and Blue Plaid Soft Sole Crib Shoes

Jolene x
Kitzbitz Art Beads

Artists Spotlight - Gemma

2011-04-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

This evening I am blogging about the very lovely Gemma of SilverGems Designs. The images I have shortlisted to show off her work are bright, beautiful and they make you feel good, very much like Gemma herself. My first selection is a trio of Byzantine weave bracelets. The ability to create beautiful chain maille is a skill I much admire and that I know I will never have the patience for.

I have had the pleasure of watching Gemma's progress from a complete beginner lampworker to become a master at colour mixing with reactive glasses and develop the skill and precision evident in this stunning trio of silver lined big hole beads.

You can find out more about SilverGems Designs on Gemma's pretty pink blog and also find Gem's work flickr Silvergems89 photostream and vistit her New Etsy Store.

My last selection is this stunning cabochon because I am lucky enough to have one very much like it by Gem in my stash of lovely glassy goodies. It boggles my brain that the cabochon that you can see here was her very first ever attempt at making one!!

Jolene x

Artists Spotlight - Delicate Sparkles

2011-04-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

Donna Saunders works with seed beads, with patience and artistry she links together tiny little splashes of colour to make extraordinary and beautiful things. She has been making jewellery since her teens including peices for her GCSE art exam.

I just love this stylish blue necklace, the titanium Drusy cab came from Designer Cabochons. Donna explained - It's blue (my favourite colour) and sparkly so how could I leave it there? This piece is all mine! I decided just to make a simple bezel for it out of Delicas and put it on a spiral rope which I made with Swarovski crystals in Montana blue. The clasp was experimental. I'd never made one like that before and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

I also smply adore this delicious seaside themed cuff. Donna told me that the cuff came about when She was on holiday in St. Ives and found the tiny little Miyuki cubes in the right colours for the sand, sea and sky in GJ Beads' shop. Donna made this cuff whilst sat on the beach and the little starfish on it were made using Lynn Davy's tutorial.

My last selection is from Donna's current gorgeous range of Rivoli Flowers. The inspiration for this beauties came from another Craft Pimp Forum member, Catherine, who showed her a similar flower she'd for a hair slide last May. Donna had made herself a sunflower cuff and wanted a necklace to go with it. She has since many different colour ways as she matches the beads to the silk strings from Diane at SowZerE. Donna is currently in the process of turning this project in to a kit.

To get the latest news and an eye full of eye candy check out Delicate Sparkles Facebook Fan Page and Facebook Shop. You will also find the latest updates and news from Delicate Sparkles on Donna's blog

I asked Donna what aspect of beadwork did she most enjoy? Her Reply?

At the moment I'm really enjoying beadweaving and bead embroidery (I've just got Sherry Serafini's new book and that has definitely inspired me) and I'm looking forward to the Bead Retreat I've organised with some friends for next month. We all get together and just do our own thing and maybe learn from someone else if they're doing something you want to know about. It's all very informal but lots of fun! I'm also planning to convert my garage into a beading studio so I can give classes and am really looking forward to getting stuck into that in the next few weeks.

Jolene x

Style File #One

2011-04-19T04:30:00.000-07:00

Style file is my new Etsy treasury project and Style File #One is the first instalment. I'm planning on curating a Style File treasury each month which shows off the work of CPteam, Etsy shops that I heart and fun people that I have met on twitter. Click the pic to take a better look, hope you like.

Jolene x

Artists Spotlight - Ruthies Ramblings

2011-04-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

Today I have the pleasure of blogging about an amazing beader, Ruth Duck.

Ruth had her first experience of beading when she was little and told me that she had been taught by her mother to make a daisy stitch chain with picots when she was four. After a long break Ruth rediscovered her early fascination for beading about three years ago when she went through an arch she hadn't been been through before at her local craft centre and found her local bead shop. It was like walking into Aladdin's cave and Ruth left there that day with an armful of beading materials and beads and treasure.

I really like this cuff bracelet and amazingly Ruth had only tried bead embroidery for the first time about three weeks before making it. It was her entry for a Making Jewellery magazine bracelet competition and it took second place. When I asked Ruth about the inspiration behind the design she explained - The coin came about because I was skint at the time and didn't want to fork out for a cabochon.

Ruth designed the pattern for this delicious peyote cuff one day when she was bored at the day job. She describes this Celtic cuff as a cow to work out but even worse to stitch. Since then Ruth has moved on to using computer software to design new patterns for her peyote work but her designs will always start out on paper first.

This necklace is a real work of art. I asked about the inspiration behind it's creation and Ruth said - I’ve always like Egypt (used to have a bright yellow bathroom with Egyptian stencils all over and full of cheap and nasty nick knacks although the camel was rather cool) and I got a book out of the library about jewellery design through the ages, just to get an idea of the thought process behind designing a piece and there were some lovely Egyptian pieces. I had an idea to create a beaded Egyptian style piece and Google some images for inspiration and spotted the piece I made out of gold and enamels. bead embroidered pendent based on ancient Egyptian jewellery design. The polymer clay scarab was created by the very talented Caroline Harvey. In total this beautiful embroidered bead necklace took about 9 months from idea to completion.

Visit Ruthies blog and flickr to find out more about Ruth.

Jolene x

Fairground Attraction

2011-04-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

Fairground Attraction by Helen Blue Fairy

I am sure you will agree that Helen Blue Fairy has created a mesmerising and tastefully curated treasury. Even better than that, it features quite a few of my very most favourite people.

Where is the Polymer Clay you ask? Well my listing feature is for those pretty pink Rubino Ora Twisties from my lampwork supplies shop on Etsy called Frit N Chips. I have had almost a whole year away from the torch, from my second trimester until now. My son has just turned 6 months and is starting to sleep through the night and so I can feel the beauty of this FHFteam treasury calling me back to my first love. Thank you Helen xx

Helen is a true shining light, a joy to be around and bubbly fun. She is also a mega talent to boot with an awful lot of fabulous skills and original designs to bring to the table. Here is a little taster of the kind of magical doodle that this lady can create...


Rainbow Doodle Wall Hanging

Watch this space for a more in depth feature on Helen in the near future and she and I are fellow Craft Pimp Forum Bloggers

Jolene x
Frit N Chips

Colors of Sunrise

2011-04-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

Colors of Sunrise is a stunningly curated treasurey by of gipsy spirit with the most gentle and serene colour soft pastel colour pallete.

I was thrilled to see my Palma Violets bead set featured among so many other lovely hand crafted goodies. I'm particularly drawn to those very pretty edible butterfies (and how could I resist!) by Lisa G of Sugar Robot

Gypsy Sprit has an indisputable amount of good taste an style. Check out a few more of her collections (images clickable) above and you will see just what I mean. Thank you ever so much for the feature,

Jolene xx
Kitzbitz

Cheeky Bead Gallery 3 - Tattoo beads

2011-04-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

Firstly a quick shout out for Craft Pimp.....Do you create with polymer clay? Why not enter our *all about FIMO® Competition* on Craft Pimp Forum with monthly prizes donated by STAEDTLER (UK) Ltd.

And now a quick cheeky gallery of some of my latest inspiration and beads. This gorgeous pram blanket was a gift to my son Ethan from my good mate Tam. It is the jumping off point for my first bead series, Tattoo Beads. These beads use three intricate canes based on the butterfly, scarab and bird that you can see in my son’s baby blanket.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my pictures.

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Artists Spotlight - Curious Cat Creative

2011-04-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

CJ is a skilled artist specialising in leather work. My current favourite CJ piece are these lovely decorative leather flowers with ting ting. They have been handcut from quality leather, tooled, dyed and finished. The large flower is constructed from 3 layers!

Being as I am fascinated with the imagery of butterflies it was impossible for me not to choose this elegant necklace in dusky pink as one of my featured images. It is so pretty and absolutely me!

This bag shaped bag tag tickles me too. I am such a fan of this kind of gentle but elegant pictorial humour. You can find out more about CJ and her current projects on Facebook

Lastly here is a picture of CJ hard at work which I have naughtily stolen off of CJ's blog. If you fancy a laugh, read this!

Jolene x

Artists spotlight - Smitten Kitten

2011-04-10T13:27:00.000-07:00

Nicola describes herself as a devoted hobbyist, keen crafter, passionate about making clean cut simple stylish jewellery.

I love this Fiery Dragonfly, it is part of a hugely successful series of stunning cluster pendants that Nicola has a talent for creating.

Aside from pure eye candy, Nicola also shows off the funky fun side to her designs. These tweety bird earrings inspired by the popular "Angry Birds" game are so cute.

I'm also loving Nicola's more serious side. Glam Rock in Schwartz is a tasteful little number which would be equally at home with a flirty little black dress or looking cute and moody next to jet black painted finger nails.

To see more from Smitten Kitten check Nicola out on Facebook and on her beautiful and interesting blog and on her own website SmittenKitten.de too.

Jolene x

WIN! WIN! WIN! with Brand New All about FIMO® Competition on Craft Pimp with monthly prizes donated by STAEDTLER (UK) Ltd

2011-04-04T04:36:00.000-07:00

I am so thrilled to be able to share the news that I have just launched an Brand New *all about FIMO® Competition* on Craft Pimp Forum with monthly prizes donated by STAEDTLER (UK) Ltd.

I am a huge FIMO fan as you may have gathered from my blog and can't believe how excited I am to be able to share this news and project, there will be a prize up for grabs every month now up until Christmas 2011!

Come and join the fun!

Jo xx

Please obtain full instructions/safety leaflet and stockists from STAEDTLER (UK) Ltd.
marketing@uk.staedtler.com

For more information and project sheets:
www.fimo.com
T: 0845 600 5930

Sunday Finds - Miniature Marvels

2011-04-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

I have been tweeting a fair bit lately, promoting Craft Pimp and being all around generally nosey. It is amazing the amount of talent there is on display through various links to listings and blogs to be found when you dip in more than just a tentative toe in to the tweet stream.

I have also found it wonderfully surprising how nice people are when you are brave enough to say hi. One such lovely tweeter is marottesud. I knew the moment that I saw these miniature dollhouse books that I had found my first Sunday Finds find.

These deliciously tiny books are such a treat that they make me hope that my Daughter grows up to want a dolls house when she is older. I would love to have an excuse to play with one again and help her kit it out in lavish style.

Other than a love of reading another one of my loves is Sushi. This foodie treasure is a proper visual treat and would grace any sophisticated table. This miniature marvel has been hand crafted by minihandmade. Best not go look around in this Etsy store if you are offended by calorie free sweet treats, pies and puddings.....

My last choice is another miniature corker. A beautiful hand-stitched doll house carpet in 1/12 scale by smallworldstitchery. The design contains Chinese symbols that represent luck, longevity and happiness. It boggles my mind how each and every tiny stitch is so very perfect!

Jolene x

Artists Spotlight - Dizzy Kitten

2011-04-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

Dizzy Kitten, otherwise known as Kayleigh is a fellow polymer clay addict. She has a real knack for combining zingy colours to create bold and vibrant jewelery designs. You can find out more about Dizzy Kitten by following her fan page, Kayleigh's Craftyness on Facebook.

This picture below shows a range of Kayleigh's whimsical toadstool necklaces which are very cute indeed!

And these pirate cats really capture the sense of fun that Kayleigh brings to her creations which brings her critters to life.

To see more visit Flickr and Dizzy Kitten's Arty Farty Stuff.

Jolene x

Pimp my Widget!

2011-03-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

I have put together this little blog widget/gadget/button to help to promote Craft Pimp Forum. This fella is our forum mascot Pimp Boss, fictional hero and official bad boy.

Craft Pimp Forum

..whatever your craft, come in and chat!

If you would like to pop him up on your blog then follow this link to grab the code!

Thanks, Jo x

Sunday Finds - Treasure from the scrap heap

2011-03-26T07:08:00.000-07:00

My first pick this week is from an extraordinary metal work artist and jewellery designer who goes by the name of Mixed Metal Mimi. There is so much loveliness in Mimi's store that it was very hard to pick out just one piece to feature but I think that this butterfly necklace is a show stopper. There is such attention to detail, beautiful feminine texture and a sense of movement to it too. All of the beautiful work in this store has been created using repurposed vintage metal and I am a real fan of Mimi's design ethic - Upcycled... good for the environment, and best of all handmade.

Don't you just love the name of this Etsy store? Fork Whisperer, brilliant name for brilliant products and design. I really get a kick out of this sterling silver ring which has been created by hand from an actual antique fork. I have met the idea of creating with household cutlery as a medium once or twice before but never have I seen it done with such style, swagger, class and desirability. I love this store!

This stunning treasure was made from reclaimed steel sheet by Giselle and Tim of The Rave 'n' Iron who combine traditional metalworking techniques with a contemporary eye while looking to mankind's oldest inspirations: Nature and Love. This engraved dragonfly pendant is certainly a very romantic piece and would make a fantastic talking point - it's magical!

Jolene x

Craft Pimp

2011-03-26T04:07:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I started a new forum called Craft Pimp and I'm thrilled at how things are going, more than 100 members already and growing fast! It is a gallery based forum where members are actively encouraged to showcase their work and talent. Why not stop by and say hi and show us what you have got!

Jolene xx

Sunday finds - Preloved Glass

2011-03-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

How cool is this? Very cool is the answer! If someone had given me an old light bulb and some copper wire I certainly wouldn’t have come up with this cool little critter and so my first selection for Sunday Finds (yes, I realise it is Monday already but I have been a busy little bee this week - blog about that to follow) is this gorgeous little Enlightened Peace Spider by ecohead from Israel. The ethos behind ecohead is utterly beguiling - Alon Shalom is believer in sustainability and his goal is to bring new life into what most of us consider as trash.

I'm in love! Ok so it's no the kind of love that is accepted in polite society but in the privacy of my own head (and blog) it is acceptable to look at an object of such elegance with covetous desire. This breath taking chandelier has been created from hundreds of recycled Italian mineral water bottles and even has a whole sanded bottle as its center piece. I can only imagine how beautiful it sounds. The Etsy shop Metamorphosi is run by Ilaria Sadun to raise funds for the Organization Progetto Metamorphosi which promotes the use of recycled material to create art and design and opportunities of work.

Da-nana-nana, boom-boom boom-boom, da-nana-nana - hmm there has got to be a word for it - like synesthesia (or maybe that is the word). This is image causes me think bluesy sounds in the same way that for some a colour brings a sensation of smell or taste with it. Anyhow, I like the idea of these glass guitar slides, they are very funky and cool. RedRocketStudios is a joint studio shop for the artists C.Bromley and J.Edward, Their goal is to Re-Use before Re-cycle, they seek inspiration from everyday objects and re-imagine them into fun, practical and eccentric goods.

Jolene x

Cheeky FIMO Bead Gallery 2

2011-03-01T01:52:00.000-08:00

This is my second cheeky gallery post showing my progress with using polymer clay an a medium.This selection of images are all beads that I made in February 2011.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my pictures.

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Sunday Finds - Colour = Happy

2011-02-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

I haven't played with the colour finder tool on Etsy in ever so long and I'm so glad I did when I started preparing for this post a couple of weeks ago - because Etsy announced the soon to be retirement of all of their flash based buying tools just Last week! And lookee what I found! This Summer colours - Swirl felt necklace by Clare of softywalter is such a visual delight. Just looking at it makes me feel happy and in a strange way I want to lick it too (but only if it was made of sweets - which in my imagination it is)!
Clare is another London U.K. based fellow Etasian like myself, Fab!

My second pick for my finds post is an art print by Cheri of Art2ArtColorado. This image is very appropriately named as Spring City Nights and it feels somehow like a snapshot of a dream place to me - populated by faeries and elfin folk. It seems to have a wonderful illusion of depth and gives me a sense that there even more magical happenings happening just out of view.

Color Wheel Necklace by Tamar of NestPrettyThingsKids is a pretty little bauble in itself but the presentation of it in this image is simply stunning. It is gorgeous photography and product presentation like this that reminds me that I have a long way to go yet. This whole shop is an uplifting colour therapy happy treat for the eyes. Go on and take a peek and I dare you not to smile!

Jolene x

Love and wounded hearts

2011-02-11T15:32:00.000-08:00

Love and wounded hearts by DoubleDmentia - Reflecting the light and love, but also the darkness felt around Valentine's Day...

A stunning collection of dark and beautiful treasures. Love and wounded hearts by DeeDee of DoubleDmentia is a spectacular treasury. Not least for it's eclectic sense of the bazaar and dark humour.

It is an honour for my Lipstick Rose beads to be featured by my fellow Etsian and fellow member of HAFteam.

DeeDee is a jewellery designer and artist. Her Etsy shop is full to the brim with her distinctive creations, all of which have a real edge of dark Gothic romance. It is so refreshing to see an Etsy store that has the owners personality and desires so clearly represented by their work and imagery. I have selected this fascinating watercolour print to show you, it is part of DoubleDmentia's AntiValentine collection.


Hemophiliac Heart (print reproduction of original watercolor painting)

You can find out more about HAFteam on the Handmade Artists Forum Handmade Artists Forum

Jolene
Kitzbitz

Girls only. Do not enter.

2011-02-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

Girls only. Do not enter. by moncy3

I am absolutely thrilled and stunned to find my Stonewashed Candy beads featured in this beautiful collection today. Girls only. Do not enter. is a corker of a treasury, such a pretty and girly collection, curated by Claudia of moncy3. Look at those colours! Denim and bubblegum - delicious!

Claudia uses paper in all sorts of magnificent ways (her byline is - Pretty mail is my business) recycling children's books, upcycling junk mail, combining all sorts of graphic images with fabric, felt, beads and ribbons. The results are utterly appealing! This pink candylicious friendship stationary set gives you a bit of an idea what Claudia's shop is all about - hand crafted envelopes with gorgeous matchy matchy cutie stickers and paper wrapped tiny pencils. Gorgeous!


Friendship Stationery Set

You can also more treasures from Claudia's in her hand crafted fabric and crochet Etsy store at moncy's cottage

Jolene
Kitzbitz

Color me Happy

2011-02-08T01:57:00.000-08:00

I made a treasury last night called Color me Happy.

I contains bright and beautiful things from members of the Etsy Street Teams that I belong to, FHFteam and HAFFteam, plus a few listings from fellow Etsians that I found that were just plain irritable!

I hope it makes you smile

Jolene
Kitzbitz

Delicate

2011-02-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

Delicate by Rachel Heath

This treasury is a total delight, utterly feminine, utterly gorgeous, and absolutely delicate. I am pleased as punch to have my Honey Dew bead selected for this stunning treasury by Rachel of rachelheath.

Rachel is a self-taught fine artist who works predominantly in acrylics.

Given my current fascination with creating polymer clay butterfly canes and beads I just can't help myself but to select this piece of her work to share with you with its delightful muted colour pallet and subject matter.


Great Escape

I am a smitten kitten with this next painting too........


Buttontree Lane

Jolene
Kitzbitz

My first FIMO butterfly canes

2011-01-16T12:20:00.000-08:00

Again just another quickie gallery, rather than a proper show and tell type post - other than to say that these are my first few attempts at making butterfly canes - left to right in the order they were made. The first was a very sharp learning curve, I made half, reduced, cut and joined it together and the body just doesn't line up, shame because I am really happy with the wings on it.

I think that I may well put a butterfly cane tutorial up here on my blog at some point.
Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Bold, Bright, Blue

2011-01-16T12:06:00.000-08:00

Bold, Bright, Blue by radiance boutique.

I have just listed a few polymer clay beads for sale for the first time this week and am so thrilled to find my Marine Checkerboard beads featured in this beautiful bright, bold, blue treasury by Jen of radiance boutique. Blue has been my favourite colour since I was very young and I have simply fallen for the raincloud earrings that Jen has also featured.

Jen is a fellow U.K. Etsian and she specialises creating wedding jewellery and bridal hair accessories. Here is a little teaser of her stylish bridal collection.


Romantic Pearl Wedding Hair Comb

Jen also has an Etsy store for children's jewellery under the name Jewellery For Girls and I just couldn't resist showing this, as my daughters name is Ruby.


Romantic Pearl Wedding Hair Comb

Jolene
Kitzbitz

A Cheeky FIMO Bead Gallery........

2011-01-16T11:29:00.000-08:00

Just a quick cheeky gallery post to show my progress so far with polymer clay bead making, earliest beads at the top to newest beads at the bottom x

I'm so happy with how things are going although I have only been claying for about a month, hope you enjoyed looking at my pictures.

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Sunday Finds - Found Objects

2011-01-09T15:49:00.000-08:00

I find these beach stone buttons by madeforfun utterly appealing – I have no experience working with textiles but can picture these as a closure on a hand stitched hessian tote bag. In my hands one of these would become the focal point of a funky necklace or bracelet and the rest piled up in a pretty little dish to make me smile every time I see them.

This makes me smile too – as do many other of the (and I don’t hesitate to say it) works of art from Kenjio. I think that art (both good and bad) is simply a word that can be used to describe that someone’s creation elicits an emotion or evokes a memory from you as the viewer (even if it is distain and a cry of “ha! – call this art do ya?”)
Anyway, back to the point – when I stumbled across Daniel Lai’s book sculpture on Etsy I fell in lust with the imagery, idea and beautiful execution of his original concept – I would love one of these in my home.

Cute? Oh yes!! This fella is called Blue and was created by Josh of BrownDogWelding. A minimum of 10% of all profits from this quirky Etsy store are gifted to wonderful charities, split between Home Fur-Ever and The Genesis House, a women's shelter in Detroit.

Jolene x

Sunday finds - Pretty Butterfly

2011-01-02T17:09:00.000-08:00

I think that what fascinates me most about a butterfly is its symmetry. The queens and kings of any butterfly house are those with the brightest colour, iridescent, pearlescent and spectacular. This edition of Sunday Finds is dedicated to the imagery of the butterfly used in some spectacular hand crafted accessories.

My first find is this stunning Tiffany style barrette by treasurefield. I love that it has been hand crafted using polymer clay and that I have no idea how these stunning pearlescent effects have been created. Alisa also has one of the loveliest blogs, filled with pretty images and photography, that I have had the pleasure to browse in a while.

I fell in love with this stylish faerie and butterfly cameo cuff as soon as set eyes on it. Designed and crafted by Lara…. otherwise known as Mistress Autumn. Eternal Autumn is chock full of original, funky and overall deliciously dark macabre romantica……and this! Love it thank you and Nom Nom Nom!

And my last pick this week is this stunning butterfly necklace by FairLeia. I can’t tell you anything much about its maker…but I do know this, it’s blinking lovely.

Sunday Finds - Polymer Clay Sculpture

2010-12-27T16:15:00.000-08:00

Okay - you got me! It's not Sunday, but it is the first chance I've had to poke around on t'interweb during our Christmas celebrations. This weeks finds are dedicated to fellow Etsians who sculpt with polymer clay. I couldn't narrow down my picks to just three!!

First up is this cutesy little polymer clay "wooden" horse from trinasclaycreations it is absolutely darling. I just adore it's glitzy little saddle and brushable looking mane and tail. You can find out more about Trina Prenzi on her website Trinas Clay Creations.

My next pick is Jazber, a polymer clay monster figurine by
iHeartMutants aka Nichole Topley. This guy makes me smile - something about the happy colours and stunning detail in his twinkling eye made me instantly fall in love. Nicole's crazy critters are all absolutely unique as she doesn't work to a pattern - each and every one of her cute figurines is painted by hand and is signed.

This guy is soooo sweet! I wanna scoop him up and pop him in a blanket to keep him warm. Mavin the baby elf gnome was skillfully crafted by Dolores Marple of trolltracks. Delores's blog is also utterly delightful too!

This amazing fella is Comic Book Caleb, a Robot Sculpture by RobotsAreAwsome. It was so very hard to narrow down to just one robot from this shop to feature in my Sunday Finds post, the comic book surface treatment - an ingenious thing to do with polymer clay is what swung it for Caleb....this Etsy shop is a corker of a creative cool hang out! You can be kept up to date with what is new with RobotsAreAwsome on FaceBook here.....

Four very different styles, I'm sure you would agree - but there is a common theme of cuteness and a heartwarming humour that links them all for me.

Hope you like these cool creatures as much as I do! Jolene x

FIMO Classic Colour Mixing Resource

2010-12-22T07:15:00.000-08:00

I just found this on the STAEDTLER FIMO website and it is too useful to keep to myself so thought I would post up a quick link here on my blog. Click the image to go to the webpage where you can download this colour mixing chart pdf.

Jolene x

Glitter on New Years Eve

2010-12-21T18:33:00.000-08:00

Glitter on New Years Eve by Aimee.

It was lovely to log in to Etsy today and see a message there to let me know my work had been featured. It is such a thrill when that happens. A big thank you to Aimee of Aimees Rock Works for putting my Sleeping Beauty beads in her glittery, girly, magpie’s dream of a gallery.

Aimee's shop is a Mecca for those of us who love rocks. She has a degree in Geological Sciences and a wonderful knack of creating quirky objects from the innocent pebble that are both useful and that will make you smile like these lovely beach pebble place card holders. She also uses rocks to create door knobs, curtain hooks and bottle openers which make excellent man gifts!


Beach Rock and Wire Place Card Holders

Jolene
Kitzbitz

My first FIMO beads

2010-12-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

FIMO beads with flower and leaf cane

Here are my first beads with polymer clay, I am pleased with them, they are very flawed but also very pretty.

I threw myself in at the deep end, picking a truck load of tricky techniques for my first time out because I love making murrini beads with glass - so it is only natural to want to go to that idea first with a new medium.

I am going to break down for this blog post all the things that I found tricky, what went wrong, what further research I have done and how to best avoid similar problems in the future.

Slicing Cane - The images on my flower canes were getting squashed and distorted as I cut slices. I made them from FIMO soft which I found out later was not an ideal clay for picture cane. I found a great article which said to put your canes in the fridge or even your freezer before slicing and also to rotate your cane slightly before each cut. I have also been using an ordinary craft blade and a thinner sharper blade such as a tissue blade would give less distortion.
Equal Sizing - I rolled a ball of FIMO and sliced it in half, then sliced each half in two again and so on until I had 8 pieces. When I rolled these pieces in to balls they varied in proportion much more than I thought they would. A better method would have been to roll the base clay in it a tube of the desired diameter of your finished bead size and then to measure and cut off at lengths of the desired diameter to make your blanks.
Scale - I made base beads the size I had wanted for my finished bead not taking in to account that I would be adding significantly more clay with my cane decoration - my finished beads were all huge (20-25mm in diameter). Cutting thinner slices of cane to apply would help me maintain scale along with starting with a smaller blank.
Discoloration Whilst Cooking - I found that the transparent FIMO was starting to “toast” on the top – I am using a mini oven which radiates heat down from a filament at the top. I think that this may mean that my oven is too hot or having temperature spikes so I need to get my hands on a thermometer to check out exactly what is going on there. Top tips that I have found for another time are to protect the clay from radiant heat with a parchment tent or to immerse my work in cornflower before baking – a technique used by doll makers in particular. I also found out that some white and translucent clay are prone to a bit of yellowing upon baking and so I will need to experiment a bit.
Translucent does not mean Transparent – With a background in crafting with glass – I read translucent and imagined transparent. Not so! The slices of cane that I cut were way too thick so once baked it is possible to see the impression of colour underneath but none of the actual detail of jelly roll cane or leaf cane.
Painting on Glaze – I used Sculpy sating glaze on these beads, applied quite thickly with a thin soft brush. It worked quite well but there are lines where I apply the glaze evenly enough and it was too viscose to *smooth out* by itself before setting. It is possible to lightly sand and buff polymer clay to a gloss by hand – this will help too in removing some of the tell tale fingerprints marks in the clay which are a dead giveaway sign that I am a PC newbie.

FIMO beads with flower and leaf cane

Many thanks to Cindy Lietz and Sue Heaser for publishing the invaluble articles on line for the newbiw PC crafter that I have linked to from this post.

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Sunday Finds - A cog in the wheel

2010-12-19T16:20:00.000-08:00

This stunning little pendant was created by Loretta Wallace of Hipster Designs. I love the rainbow shimmer on the cogs - it brings back a nostalgic remembrance of the kind of holographic art and visual alchemy that was all the rage in the 80's. Loretta's shop is choc a block with handmade scrabble tile pendants in all sorts of cool and chic designs.

The first thing that drew me to click in and take a closer look at this piece was the lovely detailing on the dragonfly's wings. What led me to pick this piece to feature though was the happy feeling I felt when I spotted the slow/fast dial. The whole balance (no pun intended) of this piece strikes (no pun intended) a chord with me, fancifully bonkers like Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter or Wlly Wonka and yet would be equally at home in the hand of Arwen Evenstar. You can check out more beautiful steampunkery at penny farthing designs.

These are the coolest little lampwork beads that I have seen in ages - they have had my finger hovering over the buy button off and on all week, and if Christmas wasn't just right around the corner I'd have pushed that button in a flash - they call out to the part of me that since I was a kid has found clockwork things so so pretty - Becky Fairclough is a wonderful talent. You can find her on Etsy and also on her own website http://www.chameleondesigns.co.uk

Jolene x

My first FIMO flower canes

2010-12-12T14:11:00.000-08:00

It is too cold to venture out in to my unheated studio in the evenings at the moment and my hands are too full during the day with my beautiful 2 year old daughter and gorgeous newborn baby boy.... in a way I have been going a little stir crazy lately without my usual creative outlet at my finger tips.

I saw a second hand starter set for polymer clay advertised and thought I would give it a whirl, head filled with fanciful ideas of miniature food and kitsch earrings.

Flower Cane

It turns out that what I love about glass, making canes and intricate preparatory work, is absolutely mirrored in the skill set for working with clay - only it is possible to create much more intricate detail.

I have been searching around on the web this for resources and free tutorials and have found a lot of great information. Anyway enough chattering on - here are my first ever polymer clay canes, based loosely on (but nothing near as good as) free tutorials on flickr.

Slices of rose cane

My 5 petal flower cane uses ideas about cutting and fusing for repetition of fine detail that I saw in this fabulous tutorial by ayeletbeads

My rose cane is a much simplified version of the 3D rose cane that I saw created in this wonderful tutorial by Sigal Simovitch

They are by no means perfect, but I am so happy with them as first attempts with a new medium.

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Sunday Finds - Crystal Beadwork

2010-12-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

This rainbow crystal Swarovski bracelet by candybead is beyond cute! It is cheerfully exuberant in a way that makes me smile and also strangely reminisce about my childhood love of rainbow sherbet.

Last Rose of Summer Crystal Collar Necklace by Lynn Davy - I love the balance, symmetry and the asymmetrical use of colour in this little work of art. You can see more of Lynn's work on Etsy at nemeton. Lynn describes herself as an eccentric English seed bead artist who loves to create colourful, original jewellery with lots of texture and attention to detail. She is a unique talent and a multi award winning jewellery designer.

My last find for today is this sweet handmade Sterling silver and crystal ring by nayali. It looks modern with clean lines, it is stylish and pretty...ticks all the boxes for me.

I hope you enjoyed my little window shopping selection of pretty sparkles.

Jolene x

Terracotta button necklace

2010-12-09T14:25:00.001-08:00

Tan button necklace, originally uploaded by kitzbitz art glass by Jolene.

Just a quickie post to show off this beautiful necklace featuring a stunning terracotta flower button by Tan Gray of tanofcourse with a gorgeous hand dyed silk ribbon by Diane Turton
sowzeredesigns - I think they are utterly gorgeous together.

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Phoenix, Ginger, Copper, Silk and Terracotta

2010-12-07T02:38:00.000-08:00

These pictures show simple spacers made from Phoenix, some I have struck and some I have left unstruck for comparison. For the beads that I struck, I allowed them to cool outside of the flame until they lost their glow and introduced them to the top flame again to bathe them in gentle heat. The colour of the struck beads is a rich soft orange opaque which was easy to achieve with a single strike. I am intrigued by the large variation in colour that can be seen in these images though comparing the struck and unstruck beads. I think that Phoenix would be an exciting glass to use for sculptural creations.

I made these sweet and simple little spacer beads from CiM Ginger. One of the larger beads has dots of silvered ivory stringer (sis) too. The fine silver leaf used to create the organic patterns and striations in the Effetre ivory stringer have not fumed or reacted with the base of Ginger at all which tells me that it would be a great glass to use if you were looking for a light and neutral non reactive base glass for your bead design.

This lovely necklace uses both struck and unstruck Phoenix with Ginger spacers to show a progression in both colour and tone. I have etched the surface of my spacers to compliment the wonderful hand crafted terracotta feature button by Tan Grey of tanofcourse. The bead and button elements have been tied together with a sumptuous sugar pink hand dyed silk ribbon by Diane Turton of SowZerE Designs. This necklace is a gift for a good mate of mine for Christmas, hope she likes it.

The last of my Ginger, Phoenix and terracotta Tan button creations is this bracelet in three parts. The gorgeous copper toggle and findings were made by George Harper of designedbygeorge who kindly put an all copper bracelet findings kit together for me. I had never tried chain maille techniques before and so spent an informative afternoon browsing the fantastic M.A.I.L. (maille artisans international league) database for inspiration.

Jolene
Kitzbitz

Pretty Poi and little sis

2010-12-07T02:06:00.000-08:00

Poi is a beautiful muted dark lilac. Either which way, this colour is lush.

My Poi test beads are made with silvered ivory stringer which is a widely used effect in lampwork bead making. Every lampworker has their own favourite recipe for making sis - mine is Effetre light ivory with silver leaf (as opposed to dark ivory with silver foil) the organic effects are quite subtle with this combination of metal and glass.

This bicone is made from Poi with Plum (opal) at its ends. The light spacers at the front are also Poi (worked quickly in the flame and without any fuming effects from the sis) the dark spacers behind are Evil Queen. It is nice to see a few of the CiM Purples together in one image, it shows how well all of these glasses work together.

These two diddy cone beads are just made from Poi and sis. You can clearly see in the pic some effects of silver fuming on Poi. The bead on the left shows a reaction line between the sis and Poi The bead on the right (made with stringer saturated with a greater amount of fine silver) shows that the whole face of the bead has been fumed and have a darker caramelised look.

My first necklace shows how soft and beautifully complimentary that Evil Queen, Poi and Ginger look when they have been acid etched. In the second necklace I have framed my Poi, Plum and sis bicone with some sunbaked beads by Julie Fountain of Lush Lampwork. In my third necklace I have left my Poi cone bead unetched as I really am a fan of that heavily fumed effect on this bead. All three of my necklaces feature hand crafted Sterling silver swan claps by George Harper of designed by george and very special silk ribbons, hand dyed in small batches by Diane Turton of SowZerE designs.

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Sunday Finds - Fantasy Christmas

2010-12-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my first Suday Browsing post. I spend a lot of time browsing around on Etsy and already create a weekly blog post for the fabulous FHFteam on the team blog. I thought it would be fun to do a little Suday evening Etsy wide themed pick of the week post for my own blog too. This evening I am feeling full of festive fun and am on a fantasy Christmas hunt.

First up, heavily influenced by the fact I have a toddler princess, are these adorable maryjane shoes with hand painted snowmen and sparkles. You can find these and many other too cute to be true shoe pods at JLPerillo on Etsy and online at snanimals where 5 % of online sales, and 20 % of a special range of goods, go to the Pulmonary Hypertension Association in memory of their daughter Emma.

My second find is this stunning cobalt blue blown glass ornament. I wish I could have a barrel load of exquisite glass like this for my Christmas tree! This beautiful has been crafted by Cliff Curtis of Curtis Glass Factory

My last find is this entrancing snow pixie doll ornament. Her maker Cynthia Toy has been making dolls for 20 years. You can get your fairy doll fix in Cynthia's Etsy shop fairiesnest and on Deviant Art.

Jolene x

A Blue and Siver Collection

2010-12-05T01:52:00.000-08:00

A blue and silver collection by Michelle Madonna.

I have been working very hard to improve my photography and product presentation over the last few months and it is such a lovely treat to find yourself (or rather, your work) chosen and featured in an Etsy treasury by a fellow Etsian. A big thank you to Michelle Madonna of plantology for putting my seaglass beads front and center in her beautiful treasury.

Michelle's shop is jam packed full of incredibly beautiful images of her eco-chic plant arrangements. Here is a little teaser of what plantology has to offer.

Zen Xerographica Arrangement In Glass Bowl

Jolene
Kitzbitz

Soylent powder beads

2010-12-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

I really like Soylent, it melts smoothly and has the most wonderful dark striations, much like a grass green version of the effect that you get from Effetre dark ivory. I found that Soylent is happy to be worked in quite a hot flame without shocking, devitting or pitting. It is a wonderfully unfussy glass. Soylent makes a nice dark base for enamels and furnace glass powders to sit on top of.

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Flutterby Sky - Fremen

2010-11-30T15:24:00.000-08:00

The question is - Have I ever experienced Fremen pitting? The answer, for me at least is no. In the course of experimenting though I did fall in love with how soft and beautiful Fremen looks when encased with Messy Clear and then acid etched.

This bead is etched encased Freeman tab with butterfly Murrini by Ryan Turner.

I found that I had to treat Fremen very harshly by superheating for a prolonged period of time to get any sign of the surface sparkles and fizz that tells me the glass is boiling. Unlike with Pulsar though, there is no sign of surface pitting on my beads once they have cooled. Fremen is a wonderfully well behaved glass when I work it in a cool flame.

Tab focal with moth murrini by Charlotte Dakin-Norris.

Fremen is described as an opaque sky blue - perhaps this is why I couldn't resist teaming it with fluterby murrini. The dreamy look of these beads means that encasing and etching Fremen is a combination I am sure to come back to over and over again.

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

A few bit-some thoughts on Pulsar

2010-11-30T12:59:00.000-08:00

My daughter Ruby says bit-some a lot at the minute, a bit-some Peppa Pig, a bit-some cuppee tea.....here are my bit-some thoughts on Pulsar.

Pulsar has a reputation for pitting. I have tested glass from two different batches and found that both did pit when I worked with them.

I tend to work fairly hot and it seems that Pulsar cannot stand up to prolonged heating in an intense flame without it boiling and bubbling up. This is what causes the pitting and tiny holes on the surface of some of my beads. To get the best from this beautiful transparent blue glass I found that I needed to melt Pulsar more slowly, turning my torch down a bit and working in the cooler tip of the flame. I think that Pulsar looks beautiful with blue highlight mica.

Pulsar also seems to be sensitive to a slightly reducing (propane rich) flame. This little spacer bead has a rusty/terracotta surface discoloration. I normally associate this sort of reaction to the chemistry of the flame to opaque rather than transparent colours.

Mostly though I think that Pulsar is made to be etched - it puts me in mind of tumbled seaglass and the ground surface of antique cobalt glass apothecary jar stoppers.

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Blue Sangre

2010-11-30T04:16:00.000-08:00

I have tested glass from three different batches of CiM Sangre, making a series of rough spacer beads in various different flame chemistry conditions, oxygen rich, neutral, slightly reducing and a strong orange reduction flame. The spacers formed in the reduction flame are the only ones to show any signs of turning blue at all – and then only in small patches.

None of these spacers have been struck, you can clearly see the transparent yellow areas on many of these beads which is what Sangre looks like before you reheat it to strike to red. I find though that Sangre does strike for me fully and evenly the first time that I bring it back to the flame. The picture to the left was taken indoors under artificial lighting and the glass looks darker, like toffee apple caramel rather than the vibrant and juicy red that it's true transparent shade. The image below was taken indoors also but is lit with a daylight lamp (10,000 lux) and looks much closer to true colour.

Next I made a large focal sized bead, using just Sangre, in a strong reduction flame. The results were very interesting; streaks of light grey/blue are clearly visible on the bead after kiln annealing. This bead is also totally opaque, the longer working and repeated striking has taken Sangre from unstruck two tone transparent and on to fully opaque which personally I like. It gives Sangre working properties unique in the 104 palette and is a very versatile glass

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Stone Ground Vs. Opal Yellow

2010-09-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

Using EDP, Copper Green, Turquoise and Gold Pink together is a classic and well known combination for zingy glass reactions. I want to see if Messy Color Stone Ground will play well with these colours too.

I decided to make simple dotty beads using Effetre handpulled Copper Green, Effetre Dark Turquoise with Cranberry Pink, Effetre Opal Yellow and Stone Ground

Dots, dots, dots

Each pair of beads in the picture above have been made to the same pattern. The only difference is that the beads in the left row use CiM Stone Ground; the beads in the right hand row use Effetre Opal Yellow.

It is easy to draw some direct comparisons between the working properties of these two glasses, having used them side by side in this way. It is very difficult to gauge the difference between the relative reactiveness of the two by simply looking at the beads side by side after annealing. Once I had mixed the two sets of beads together I couldn't tell which were which anymore at all.

* I found that Opal Yellow is softer and slightly quicker to melt than CiM Stone Ground. This for me means that when used a as a base bead, it is slightly less easy to control and gravity shape.
* My particular batch of Opal Yellow was fairly shocky whilst the Stone Ground was very well behaved when introduced to the flame.
* The batch of Opal Yellow that I am using is a fairly dark one (some batches of this handpulled glass can be considerably paler) but it is still notably lighter in shade than CiM Stone Ground.
* Stone Ground appeared to be a striking colour, moving from pale creamy to caramel/tan when I heated the beads from cool to melt in raised dots.
* The Opal Yellow remained consistently pale without any signs of being a striking colour at all.

I find it very difficult to get a regular supply of Effetre Handpulled Opal Yellow from any UK stockist. Encouraged by the results from my dot bead tests I wanted to see if Stone Ground would solve my supply problems for finding a reliable, neutral, reactive base glass for use with powdered glass.

The powder beads on the left are ones that I made over a base of Effetre Opal Yellow earlier in the year. The beads on the right are the result of last evening’s playtime - powdered glass over Stone ground. I am very pleased with the results over Stone Ground so far, the reactions I got are every bit as dark, rich and as intense as those with Opal Yellow.


Stone Ground

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Striking Canyon

2010-09-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

This focal is made from pure Canyon de Chelly, pressed with a wood grain effect texture plate and then burnished with fine silver leaf.

Wood grain effect focal with fine silver detail

This is a quite a large focal bead and I thought I might have trouble striking it to a constant colour all over but found that the only colour variations I can see are remnants of the silver leaf on the bead surface. The spacer beads have not been struck and make a surprisingly consistent match to the Effetre Opal Yellow twistie which wraps the complimenting Canyon/Maple tyre beads.

Wood grain effect focal with fine silver detail

I found that by warming this bead gently in the back of the flame after letting it become cool enough to be covered with the silver leaf allowed me to easily strike the Canyon de Chelly to its deeper shade.


Canyon de Chelly

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Tuxedo Shimmer Stringer

2010-09-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

Tuxedo can do such magical things when you throw silver and propane in the mix!

To create this shimmering iridescent effect I burnished some silver leaf on to a gather of Tuxedo and pulled stringer. Khaki was a fab choice as the base to decorate with my silvered Tuxedo stringer as I wanted to see how the silver would fume the Khaki and create a secondary reactive effect. Each bead has been wafted quickly through a reduction (propane rich) flame before just garaging to bring out the shimmering effects. The spacers are there as a comparison so that it easy to see the fumed areas on the Khaki glass caused by silver vapour fuming from the tiny fine silver droplets coating the tuxedo stringer.

Silvered Tuxedo stringer over Khaki

I wanted to try out silvered Tuxedo stringer on some other warm hued honey like colours next and so made these half & half Stone Ground/Maple rounds.

Silvered Tuxedo stringer over Stone Ground and Maple

As you can see neither the Maple nor Stone Ground has been affected by the silver content of the stringer in any significant way. As before, each bead has been wafted quickly through a reduction flame before just garaging to bring out the shimmering effects.

Fumed Tuxedo/Silvered Tuxedo stringer

The small disc beads in the pic below have been fumed with fine silver in a fairly propane rich reduction flame - nothing happened until I turned the oxygen right down. I found that the results are a little flat, dull and inconstant for me after seeing the beautiful shimmers, silver droplets and hints of iridescence that I have been able to achieve with the silvered Tuxedo stringer.

The large oval bead in this picture is a Tuxedo base, with silvered Tuxedo stringer, wafted quickly through a reduction flame.

I am a little bit disappointed with the results of pure fuming over a plain base of Tuxedo, perhaps this is simply due to my inexperience with the fuming technique as there is definitely an evident reaction between fine silver and this glass. For me less is more when it comes to throwing silver at Tuxedo and so although I won't try fuming it again, I will definitely be making more silvered stringer.

Tuxedo

Maple

Khaki

Stone Ground

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

Twistie eye candy

2010-08-11T18:48:00.001-07:00

twists-blue, originally uploaded by kitzbitz art glass by Jolene.

I am getting the hang of blogging directly from Flickr - very handy, especially as I like my blog to be picture rich and not so very wordy. Here are some yum-scrum pics of my hand pulled twistie cane - bright and full of potential for lampwork bead beautifulness.

Kitzbitz

Lady Garden Beads

2010-08-10T17:18:00.001-07:00

Lady Garden Beads, originally uploaded by kitzbitz art glass by Jolene.

It might seem just a little bit naughty – or perhaps even out and out attention seeking, to be taking a perfectly pretty handmade glass bead and giving it a vadge badge.
I love making these, exactly because they are cheeky and to some tasteless, but to me they empower. Wear a Yoni with pride I say. I think that being 7 months pregnant has some part to play in this outspokenness – so whatever you call yours here are some of mine.

Kitzbitz

Lost in Space

2010-08-10T08:20:00.001-07:00

Lost-in-space-3
Originally uploaded by kitzbitz art glass by Jolene

The kiln fairy left me this a couple of weeks ago - Lost in Space featuring a rocket murrini by Charlotte Dakin-Norris of Big Bang Beads

I gave it as a gift to my neighbours sisters son (who is 6) as he had big big eyes when he saw it. I have had it on good authority since that he sleeps with it under his pillow. I don't think a bead gets to be more treasured than that!

A couple of shiny ones

2010-06-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

I have had a bit of a break from bead making, and come back to it with all the more passion because of the rest. These are the first beads I have made in over two months - using techniques that I learnt in my master class with Andrea Guarino in April this year.

CiM Simply Berry with Double Helix Aurae and some complex twistie made with Effetre Opal Yellow. I have also made the Murrini with these three glasses.

I cannot be sure as to the name of this lush, green silver rich reduction glass, tho I suspect it is GT Glassworks Green Envy. This class turned up in my studio as part of job lot and I have been hoarding it because I love it so much.

I thought I would feel rusty - but the love of melting glass made me forget I had ever been away!

Kitzbitz

New Fritz on the Block

2010-02-18T05:05:00.000-08:00

Showing my age here with the title of this post!

Anyhoo here they are, my newest frit blends, Smokestack and Orange Grove, just listed on Etsy today Frit N Chips

You can also find the full range of frit and Kitzbitz fritblends Kitzbitz Art Glass

Thanks for looking, Jo x

Frit N Chips - Murrini Blends new on Etsy

2010-02-18T04:03:00.000-08:00

I have begun to add some "chips" to my lampwork supplies store on Etsy today.
These chips are cut my very own handpulled starburst murrini cane.

Princess is a quirky blend of pinks and red, very delicate and graphic.

Oranges and Lemons blend contains rare Vetrofond odd lot glass,
the now sought after Pineapple and Tangerine Sparkles.

Slice of Lime is my personal fave of all three blends just listed, so fresh and juicy!

You can find these pretty chips and more at Frit N Chips
ad my handmade glass beads at Kitzbitz

Artist's Spotlight - Larissa Symbouras

2010-02-15T13:27:00.000-08:00

Wow........I have never, ever wanted to smell beer in the morning before, but this soap appeals to the beer snob in me too.

Larissa's Blog is eloquent, humorous, beautiful and has some of the most enticing product photography I think I have ever seen. Can you tell that I have a serious handmade soap fetish!

Check this out! Now this is the kind of wakeup call that I like the look of! Cafe Mocha Scrub...yumyumyumyummy

Larissa makes great stuff for guys too, check out this superb Clean Cut Saving soap in the Reef Botanicals artfire shop.

You can find more about what is hot and new from Reef Botanicals on twitter and Facebook

Yummy Double Helix Shards!

2010-02-07T02:30:00.000-08:00

I have just launched my new lampwork supplies shop on Etsy, Frit N Chips where I will be selling my handmade CoE 104 glasswork for bead making and CoE 96 furnace glass frit.

Yesterday I loaded up the shop with delicious Double Helix reduction glass shards. They are very easy to use, apply to the warm surface of you glass bead in a neutral flame, and simply waft your bead through a reduction flame to get the beautiful simmer and shine and magic from these spectacular glasses.

Psyche Shards

Aurae Shards

Trition Shards

Jo x

Artists spotlight - Nancy Rawlison

2010-02-04T08:01:00.000-08:00

Nancy Rawlison is creative butterfly; with every style of craft she touches down upon, a pretty something comes to life. Nancy is a great blogger and looking around 'Twas Brillig Whiffling through the Tulgey Wood... brings to me a sense of wonder that I remember from childhood. And here is a little example of why....

As a child I loved the dark and whimsical writings of Lewis Carroll and this elegant print is one of three in an Alice in Wonderland triptych created by Nancy.
Below is an image of Nancy hard at work, creating art outside her real life brick and mortar store.

Nancy says her three main creative loves are handcrafted jewelry, silk floral design and photography. I'll try almost any craft once to see if I like it! Here a just a few more pics of her work.

You can find more stunning designs by Nancy at Shop Handmade and Etsy.

Mini Mo' Colour club in Febuary

2010-01-31T12:26:00.000-08:00

I run a lampwork glass colour club for 14 ladies and each month I send out the little glasswork packages of twistie, shards and murrini that I call Mini Mo's (Mini Mojo's). There are three strands of the Mini Mo Club, Amethyst and Beryl and Chalcedony and so I make three colourways each month, one for each strand.

I love putting these collections together each month; picking my colour inspiration from all sorts of places......this month my colour sets are inspired by the frit blends I have been mixing lately and a very special colourway of ivory and green organics.

Amethyst strand - Brights

This month’s Amethyst Mini Mo' contains red, yellow and bright green ribbon twisties and some fine striped black and green twistie which would make excellent vine cane. The murrini are complex starburst with 7 layers and red over yellow stripes to finish. The shard element is purple red laced with Nero Insenso. The colours are inspired by a frit blend that I am sending out for testing this month.

My test beads are encased cores, with Orange Grove frit, decorated with thin stringer work and Brights murrini.

Beryl strand - Cottontail

This month’s Beryl Mini Mo' contains soft blues, baby pinks, a touch of purple and lots of scrummy Rubino Oro. Rubino Oro likes and oxygen rich flame and so I have encased the ribbon twistie so that it will be more friendly to the Mini Mo' Club members working on Hot Head torches. I have made some ultra fine baby blue Rubino striped twistie and rose cane too. The murrini are complex starburst with 7 layers and purple over white stripes to finish. The shard element is baby blue glass laced with Nero Insenso.

My beads have been made using the Rubino ribbons and ultra fine baby blue twistie with Cottontails murrini.

These are encased beads with a core of baby pink and Cottontails frit blend

Chalcedony strand - Seaside organics

This month’s Chalcedony Mini Mo' is a sea side inspired colourway, with green twistie for vines and fauna and ribbon twistie to give the impression of seaweed. The Barnacle murrini are striped with a striated earthy brown colour glass that I have hand mixed. The Barnacle murrini do not like to be reduced at all. The shard element of this Mini Mo' is silver infused Belgian Lace, a Vetrofond odd lot. It has turned golden with organic effects when kisses with silver in the flame.

I have made this first set of beads using CiM Creamsicle glass as the base, for a parched desert feel. The Barnacle murrini look almost fossilized against this backdrop. This bead set also contains my EZ Tiger frit blend

These pretty lentils were created for my first ever Etsy commission and use the ribbon twistie for a seaweed effect, Barnacle murrini and Gaffer Chalcedony frit.

I really wanted to show off the versatility of these simple looking organic murrini and here is an example of how they look both melted flat and left raised under a deep encasement.

You can find out more about my glass work and frit blends on my UK shop Kitzbitz Art Glass

Jo x

Kitzbitz Art Glass

Mini Mo' January 2012 - Underwater World and Kiss Me Quick

Mini Mo' December 2011 - Big Top and Bejeweled

Free Kitzbitz Frit Blend Recipies

Floral lampwork bead gallery

The anatomy of a Lampwork Mojo Box and a little about Mini Mo's too

Mini Mo' November 2011 - Point Break and Secret Garden

Lampwork bead giveaway

Mini Mo' October 2011 - She's a Rainbow and Back to Black

Zephyr, 006 and making florals...

Treasury round up in October

Mini Mo Sept 2011 - Tealy Dan and Pierrot

Beads of Courage UK - Every bead tells a story of strength, honor and hope.

Rainbow lampwork bead giveaway

Treasury round up

Mini Mo' Aug 2011 - Sedona Park and Parma Violets

Midnight Chameloen..........

Pixie Tear lampy bead giveaway

Wonderweb - Unique Hades 511820-2

Team treasury treasure..........

For Betsy

Etsy Listing Polishing Project....

Mini Mo' July 2011 - Lemongrass and Little Black Dress

Style File no.2

Gaffer Frit Colour Chart

Feeling Blu?

Abstract UK landscape

Artists Spotlight - Claire of Clasibags

Mini Mo' Club June 2011 - Sea Heather

A treasure trove for Frit 'n' Chips

Artists Spotlight - Mel Harding

Artists Spotlight - HazelB Handweaver

Artists Spotlight - Dianne Sandland

A Perfect Circle

Flutterby Butterflies

Denim and Blue Plaid Soft Sole Crib Shoes

Artists Spotlight - Gemma

Artists Spotlight - Delicate Sparkles

Style File #One

Artists Spotlight - Ruthies Ramblings

Fairground Attraction

Rainbow Doodle Wall Hanging

Colors of Sunrise

Cheeky Bead Gallery 3 - Tattoo beads

Artists Spotlight - Curious Cat Creative

Artists spotlight - Smitten Kitten

WIN! WIN! WIN! with Brand New *All about FIMO® Competition* on Craft Pimp with monthly prizes donated by STAEDTLER (UK) Ltd

Sunday Finds - Miniature Marvels

Artists Spotlight - Dizzy Kitten

Pimp my Widget!

Sunday Finds - Treasure from the scrap heap

Craft Pimp

Sunday finds - Preloved Glass

Cheeky FIMO Bead Gallery 2

Sunday Finds - Colour = Happy

Love and wounded hearts

Hemophiliac Heart (print reproduction of original watercolor painting)

Girls only. Do not enter.

Friendship Stationery Set

Color me Happy

Delicate

My first FIMO butterfly canes

Bold, Bright, Blue

A Cheeky FIMO Bead Gallery........

Sunday Finds - Found Objects

Sunday finds - Pretty Butterfly

Sunday Finds - Polymer Clay Sculpture

FIMO Classic Colour Mixing Resource

Glitter on New Years Eve

My first FIMO beads

Sunday Finds - A cog in the wheel

My first FIMO flower canes

Sunday Finds - Crystal Beadwork

Terracotta button necklace

Phoenix, Ginger, Copper, Silk and Terracotta

Pretty Poi and little sis

Sunday Finds - Fantasy Christmas

A Blue and Siver Collection

Soylent powder beads

Flutterby Sky - Fremen

WIN! WIN! WIN! with Brand New All about FIMO® Competition on Craft Pimp with monthly prizes donated by STAEDTLER (UK) Ltd