It took me 11 hours to set up the studio and gazebo for Art Weeks and two hours to put it all away, hey ho.

The two hours gave me time to think about what to make next. Last week I was asked about a Ruby Wedding Anniversary present / card / gift. It reminded me of the Valentine’s ‘card’ I made for my husband this year. It consists of hearts die cut from copper foil, sandwiched between two pieces of clear glass, fused flat and then slumped to make an S shape. The piece stands up by itself and looks rather lovely.  I will be developing a few ideas that will make pleasing gifts for weddings, anniversaries or other events where a personalised gift is preferred.

Watch this space!

Well, for me it’s all over but the exhibition it goes on all week so plenty of time to explore the county’s artists. I met lots of people who kindly admired my work. I am hoping that there will be a few folk inspired enough to come back for a workshop or two. I would like to thank my husband for making lots of cups of tea and two of my friends for keeping me company for two days and supporting my efforts.

Moving on, the next event is a craft fair next Sunday in Great Bourton during their Art Group’s exhibition. Then a bit of a break until August when I have a couple of new venues so we’ll see how they go.

My next glass projects are Christmas decorations. I know it’s early but I will get ahead and then be prepared for the end of the year.

 

A lovely sunny accompanied a variety of visitors with very different ideas.

One lady came to pick my brain about having a kiln. She already makes jewellery and would like to work with glass. Another pair of ladies do many different crafts but would like to have a go at glass. One couple were on the local arts trail and another couple were visiting all of the glass artists in the county. I had a pleasing set of sales and enjoyed meeting some lovely ladies (all women today).

A wet day in store tomorrow but the promise of brightly coloured glass might just bring out folk who don’t work on a Monday. Tomorrow I have a companion –  one of my crafting friends, so lots of talking and knitting to do in between guests.

Roll on tomorrow

After a week of  hard work I was finally ready for my Opening Day. Ably assisted by one of my crafting friends – so my husband and I didn’t have to eat all of the cake ourselves, we set to welcome our first visitors.

First thing to do was to make some flower arrangements for the coffee tables.

Then with the place all decorated visitors started to arrive. It was a very pleasant day  with conversations with friends, catching up with times past and finding a bit more about other people’s crafts.

Here’s a view of my beach inspired goodies

I also created some new butterflies (which have proved very popular already) and a bud vase which was perfect for the spare buds from our arrangements

   

And finally a fun fridge magnet increasing my insect lines

So, it’s supposed to be sunny today so that might bring folk out, we wait and see.

Today was another busy one, slightly hampered by the electricity board turning the power off as they felled two trees nearby…we’re still on overground cables. So, ironing and half hoovered the house achieved before the turn off then looked for jobs to do after that. Window cleaning…….why, oh why do I decide to clean the windows now – or even at all? Hey ho, I’ve done a few, including the ones in the studio which makes that look better so that’s fine.

Then off to the shops. Extra guy ropes, a new coir door mat, long cable ties and a few more green garden stakes later (you can work out what they’re all for) I then set off for the supermarket. On return to home, the power was restored a few minutes after I got in so was then able to do some baking. I’ve already made two lemon drizzle cakes but now have flapjack and gluten free chocolate buns to add to the menu.

I also made 8 notices that will direct folks to Longridge. I don’t think it’ll be a problem though as I had my first visitor today – 5 days early so I had to turn them away. I hope they come back over the weekend when I am open.

Tomorrow – grass cutting, gazebo building to complete and then I can start to furnish the gazebo giving me space in the studio to start cleaning that before setting everything out on Friday. I’ll also have photographs of the glass I hinted at yesterday.

See you soon.

Preparations are well underway at Longridge for Saturday, my opening day for Art Weeks. The gazebo is up, the conservatory is swept and laid out with tables and chairs(aka coffee room if the outdoors is inclement or just plain cold), the tubs and troughs are planted up with flowers and our guest bathroom is nearly finished.  All we need are visitors and some nice weather, similar to yesterday would be wonderful.

Last Saturday I was at a Craft Fair in Banbury where we had a good number of visitors and there was a lot of interest in the Art Weeks information I had available, as well as selling some glass. In particular I sold a curved piece that was a piece of music. When you see these in the shops the music is often unplayable or unrecognisable but mine was a ‘proper’ tune – Auld Lang Syne. A couple of people recognised it and one paused and ummed and ahhed and then bought it. I so wanted to have one for next week that I had to untidy my tidyish studio and make another one. Of course, I can never just make one piece because it’s a waste of kiln firing. So, I have made two pieces of music, a red toadstool with white spots. I also have a few new pieces – four butterflies, two caterpillers and four long sea scenes. I am still firing them so no photographs as yet – come along and see them for yourself. I’m really looking forward to seeing them myself as some are experiments.

Tomorrow’s jobs – cleaning of kitchen and utility room and food shopping. Hey ho, might throw in a bit of ironing as well. I know how to live!

Today I helped to make a display of artwork in an empty shop front on the High Street in Banbury. Of course, it would be lovely to see all of the shops operating but if one has to be empty it’s great that the District Council allow people to use the space. About a dozen of us turned up with window cleaning equipment, hammers and nails along with our artwork to help to make the fantastic display. It was a very lively morning and the results are certainly highly visible. Let’s hope that passers-by are encouraged to come and see more works of art.

My glass is on the floor along with leaflets about where to find me (Longridge, Spring Lane, Little Bourton, Banbury, OX17 1RB) and when I am open (13th – 15th May, 11am – 6pm). I also displayed a leaflet about the courses I run, enabling others to experience glass making.

As far as preparations for next week go, I’ve cleaned the Studio, bought some flowering plants to decorate the garden, made the lemon drizzle cake and made the direction signs to help visitors find me. Roll on the 13th.

In preparation for Art Weeks I am fortunate to exhibit some of my glass at Banbury Museum Shop. They showcase local artists’ work so I feel very priveleged to have some of my work in their display.

 

I had a couple of admirers even before I finished putting everything in the cabinet which is very pleasing.

We are setting up the display in the shop window that was Moss Bros on Wednesday so that will be another opportunity to bring art to the High Street.

I’m looking forward to seeing lots of people in two weeks’ time.

Venue 191.

Longridge, Spring Lane, Little Bourton, Banbury. OX17 1RB

 

 

Does Alum Bay mean anything to you? In my childhood if you went to Alum Bay on the Isle of Wight and you could buy or make your own glass ornament filled with different coloured sand. I haven’t been to the Isle of Wight for many years so I don’t know whether you can still buy them. However, I decided to have a go and make and equivalent piece from powdered glass.

First I made a clear glass envelope which had just a 3mm gap inside to put the powdered glass in. Then I loaded the envelope with as many different colours of powdered glass as I have.

Here is the process

The first picture shows the envelope half full along with the bottles of glass powder. The second picture shows the finished unfired piece. The vertical section was created by pushing a skewer down through the powders. This mixed some of the glass together and caused the glass to flow downwards in an interesting way.

Then it was fired

 

The colours are now brighter and more gorgeous. This was not the finished project though. As a square piece it wasn’t that useful, pretty but not really useful. So, I then cut it up, trimmed off the clear edges and made the best of the shapes I cut. As it is thicker than most glass that I cut it was difficult to control the cuts.

The final pieces were fired once more to round the edges and add hooks for hanging the pieces.

They are brighter than in the photo but the shapes are lovely. The pieces in the second photo will be keyrings, the ones in the first are decorative hangers and two sails that will be put onto wooden bases.

All in all a lovely end result to a great project.

My good crafting friend had a birthday recently and, as she lives on her own I thought it would be nice to have a crafting day. The problem is that we’ve experienced many different crafts so to find something new that could actually take place on her birthday was quite a challenge. After some research I booked Cathy Penrose – The Flower Shop, Chalgrove, to come and hold a flower arranging workshop in my studio. We decided to go small and make the arrangements in tea cups. Then the fun began.

We were joined by another crafting friend, hence six arrangements, so it was a morning full of fun and laughter, and concentrating faces. Cathy was very patient and encouraging as our arrangements took shape.

The colours that Cathy chose are so lovely and all six arrangements are different.

So now Lynn and I are going to make some for my Art Weeks exhibition. I am going to offer coffee and tea to my guests so I thought we could adorn the tables with some flowers. I’m just hoping that we can produce arrangements as good as these.