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News & Information Sharing |
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Greetings!
Firstly, my apologies for the newsletter delay. I attend the very successful Flame On over the weekend and have been playing catch up since. See more about the Flame On below.
The Inspirations Club $100 winner for this month is Debra S from NT.
We have had a restock from a number of suppliers late last week and this week, We are working hard to get the products on the store as quickly as possible and I am hoping we will achieve this by the end of the week. There is a number of new tools including "Beadshapers." Beadshapers are similar to Beadrollers, but at a substantially cheaper price. You can see the new products as they go up on the "What's New Page."
One of the Charities we support is Kenya Aid. They are having a major fund raising dinner in November to raise much needed funds so they can continue their amazing work in Shikunga, Kenya.
Kenya Aid has made a huge difference to this community by providing medical services, a new hospital and a variety of health programs and education. Their SHARE program is the flagship of their women's health projects which is making it possible for young women to stay in school and complete their education. Read about their other projects here
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They would be very appreciative of any Lampwork/Flamework pieces for one of their fund raising events, a Silent Auction, at the dinner. It's a great chance to not only give to a worthy cause but to also raise your profile. Your cards will be put alongside your donation for people to take. From my personal experience of donating in the past it was definitely worthwhile.
If anyone is interested in donating to this worthy organisation, please send me an email and I will let you know the details.
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INTERNATIONAL FLAME ON
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|  I had the privilege of attending the first International Flame On down under last weekend and what an awesome time it was!
It was fantastic to personally meet people, many of whom had been voices on the phone or personalities behind emails prior to the weekend. Flameworkers from New Zealand were represented by Alistair and the North of Australia by Craig (Dr Sawfish). How good was it for these guys to travel so far and add so much to the event. Every state in Australia was well represented with everyone to meet and learn from their peers. Gail from GoGlass Studio was the driving force behind this event with a team of amazing helpers in Nat, Caroline and Margot just to name a few. Gail tells me that although the final amount is to be tallied substantial funds were raised for Spinal Cord Injuries Australia. Great work everyone! The big drawcard to Flameworkers was the chance to see Robert Mickelson, Loren Stump and a host of Australia's leading flameworks in action. The international artists Robert and Loren were generous with their time and knowledge and we were all very lucky to have the chance to see such t  alent in action. It was also great to appreciate the talent we have here in Australia with the likes of Christian Arnold, Alan Ussher and Mark Elliot. On arrival the venue was ablaze with colour decorated in a Hawaiian theme (with Loren Stump endowing everyone with leis) and the array of stalls selling creations by talented Australian lampworkers.
(Loren Stump making Murrini left)
The public attendance and interest was very pleasing with many walking away with some of the creations for sale and definitely a new appreciation for the skills that go into our craft.
There was constant demonstrations by the Masters for us to sit and watch, lots of give-aways for the flameworkers from generous international sponsors such as GTT, CBS, Glass Alchemy, CiM, Momka, Paragon, Nothstar and TAG.
(Robert Mickelson working right)
There was also auctions of peoples work and very lively bidding on some giving artists who donated their time as a way of raising funds for the charity. The highlight of this auction was the spirited bidding for 90 minutes of Robert and Loren's time both reaching $600 plus.
A highlight for me was to see the stunning creations that lampworkers from all over Australia donated to help with fund-raising. These were raffled off and some lucky people are going to be wearing some beautiful jewellery as a consequence.
I asked many who attended what this event meant for them and the resounding consensus was ..... to be here with all the other flameworkers. 
And it has not ended yet! There will be an online auction commencing in the next few days. You will have a chance to bid on some pieces by Loren, Robert, Christian Arnold, Alan Ussher, Justin Rossi and more. Make sure you check it out!
You can see pictures of the event on the official website here and here and on Flicker here. Keep an eye out for the Online Auction details here.
Congratulations and thank you to Gail and all those that supported her for giving everyone such a fantastic opportunity to talk, watch, learn and feel part of the wonderful community that is Australian glass artists. |
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MURRINI MAKING TIPS
| Natalie Monkivich
| Another great tip below from the Queen of Murrin, Nat.
Heating Murrini:
The most important fact when preparing to pull a murrini is to have the gather and scrap glass at the ends evenly heated all the way through. If you have the scrap glass heated adequately you will avoid the dogbone effect which can waste a large volume of your murrini pull. The best way to check if your murrini is heated enough to pull is to gently move your punty's together then pull back out (only about 1/2cm) to check the elasticity of the gather. Any hard lumps or non-moving glass indicates that more heating is required. If some extra heat is applied, always remember to continue to heating the rest of the gather as well.
I find that following a pattern of heating side to side around the entire murrini twice followed by directing the flame onto each end cap (facing into the centre of the gather) before repeating all over again to be the best and most effective way of evenly heating. Obviously periodically check to see if the gather is evenly heated so you do not overheat your murrini. If you do get the gather out of control then carefully balance the murrini out of the flame to allow to settle and start to reheat evenly again before pulling. If you pull out your murrini and discover a significant lump of cooler glass, you can apply some heat to this area and pull further if careful.
** Heating 3D murrini require you to starve some areas of heat (the raised parts) and directing the heat into the larger areas more intensely.
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| HOLLOWS | Liz De Luca
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Hollow beads add something special to a design by the letting through of light and they are so easy to wear! If you like big chunky beads, but not the weight, why not give hollows a try. These yummy beads are created by Liz Deluca and below you will find some great tips on making hollows by Liz. Thanks Liz!
My tips for successful hollow bead making -
· Start by making two thin disc beads on the same 2mm mandrel - these should be the same in height
and thickness
· The distance between them will give you an idea of how big the finished hollow bead will be · If the discs are too tall, you will get a "donut" shaped bead rather than a "round" one.
· Use a marver to gently shape the tips of the discs towards each other... keep the bead warm but out of
the flame!  · Once the discs meet - they will form a hollow shape - this is a good
time to check for gaps or holes.
· Heat will generate from within the hollow and the bead shape will
enlarge slightly - taking care not to apply too much heat as this will
cause the walls of the beads to collapse.
· Use a marble mold or graphite bead shaper if you need consistent
sizes and shapes.
· Hollow beads can be hand shaped or "pressed" to create a new
shape such as hearts, cubes etc.
· Once the bead has been formed it is a blank canvas and can be decorated you would a regular bead -
apply gold leaf, stringer, surface decoration, frit etc. Hollow beads can also be sand blasted and or
etched for a different look!
Read more on Hollows here. See a video demonstration on Hollows here and another here.
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| TWO NEW CiM COLOURS |
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Two new CiM Limited run colours are available this week.
To the left is Mint Lozenge. This little beauty is a Opal Blue Green.
To the right is Indigo. Indigo is a real surprise package and what you see is definately not what you get! It looks black in the rod but its actually an extremely dark transparent blue. Place it over clear or white for a vibrant and very appealing blue.See Mint Lozenge here and Indigo here. |
| ORGANIC REACTIONS | Jennifer Findlay
| Jennifer shares the tips below with us about organic reactions.
Faux Ocean Jasper - Powder pink or Opal yellow base, wrapped in silver foil and rolled in Iris Gold frit. Melt in and press bead. Reheat and press several times to achieve the desired effect.
Reactive Colours:
The copper/sulfur reaction is the one that causes the black lines. If you mix any color from group A with any color from Group B, you get a black line between the two colors:
Group A: light sky blue dark sky blue light turquoise dark turquoise petroleum green
Group B:
ivory dark ivory yellow coral purple (edp 254) opal yellow Tongue pink powder pink
Example Below: Petroleum Green on Ivory
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| TUNGSTEN TIP TWEEZERS |
|  When I first tried these Tunsten Tip Tweezers I could not believe that I had not tried them before and how good they were. They made removing glass sooo easy! I recently recommended these to Gitte from Brisbane and she emailed me with the below.
"I recently purchased a pair of tungsten tweezers (as I was also placing an order for more of the normal tweezers, to replace the ones that I had burnt and broken). I cannot believe that I waited this long to get them. These tweezers are fabulous. The angle and grip make them so easy to use. The points are shaped by four flat sides like mini pyramids. They can hold very small pieces of glass as well as fragile shards without any trouble, and best of all, I can pick up small pieces of murrini and control its placing with ease. Better yet, I can't cook the tips." See the tweezers here
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Thanks for your time and have a great week!
Warm Regards,
Kerry
Affordable Inspiration
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