Brightwells Craft Market

 

Back in May I put my hand up and said I'd like to join the Farnham Creatives' Network Craft Market as part of Farnham Craft Month.

I've never done a craft market before, although I have been to many.  I love to look round at everyone's work - so many talented people out there! 

So for the past 6 months I've been working towards the market - not just making things to sell, but also thinking about what my table might look like and how I want to present my glass.

 

Once I knew the size of the table I bought one of those stretchy white table cloths.  You just hook it round the legs of the table and it does the rest.  I liked this and it worked well, however it does make it hard to hide things under the table as you get a gap at the bottom.

I also bought a table runner with my logo on.  I love this so much!  However, although I ironed it, it still got a crease in it from rolling it up to transport it.  I'm going to have to work out how to stop this happening, although I imagine most other people didn't notice.

 

On top of my table I wanted a little height, so 'im outdoors built me a cabinet with moveable shelves and LED lighting round the edge so it lights the glass up.  It was great - the lights really made it!  I used it mainly for vases, but I think you could put anything in it.

He also made me some stands for my bubble earring studs.  The stands worked really well, however, I think it was hard for people to see the details so the earrings didn't really sell.

I feel like I need lights on all parts of my table to show the glass off at its best.

 

I had a selection of vases, necklaces, earrings, paperweights, coasters, bangles and loose beads.  I have to say my berry beads were best sellers with the bee beads not far behind.  I must remember this for the future.

The market went well, I sold some things and got some lovely comments from people about my items.  It was so nice to hear, as selling online you don't often get this sort of feedback.

 

I also surprised a few people when admitting it was my first market as everyone said my table looked really professional, so that was another positive. 

All in all the weekend was a success I think.  I'm not sure I'd want to do it too often, but I wouldn't say no, if I found a market that felt like a good fit. 

If you missed it you can find many of my items on my website. 

Bubbles in Glass

 

Recently I've been getting ready for my first craft market (24-25 Oct 2026 in Farnham) which has given me an excuse to play with some new techniques.

One of the things I've been playing with is creating bubbles in glass.

My favourite reaction is with Copper Oxide which created lovely blue bubbles.  Adding more makes the colour deeper but also makes the bubbles more unpredictable.  Using less powder might mean a lighter colour but also makes the bubbles more uniform.

This stuff is strong.  It's suggested that you mix it with clear glass powder before using.

 

But what if I don't want blue bubbles?  

I got given a whole bunch of glass supplies when I bought a tool off someone who was giving up.  In this mix was a bottle of Bubble Powder.  No instructions so I had to do a little investigation.  And I found that I could mix this with different coloured powders to create bubbles like the Copper Oxide but in the colour of my choice.

So I gave this a go too.

 

I started by making some glass blocks to make into earrings.  You take two pieces of clear glass the same size.  Sprinkle the powder mix on one sheet of glass, and put the second on top.

Now do a full fuse.  You will have a sheet of glass full of bubbles.

Next cut the sheet up into earring sized chunks.  This is easier said than done.  Also within my sheets I had a few bigger bubbles, so I cut these to make pendants.  Lay them all out so they aren't touching and run them through another full fuse.

 

Now you have lots of blobs full of bubbles which you can add earring backs to and voila, you have yourself a set of funky earrings.

I spent a lot of time matching size and colour to make matching sets.  But there were a few were the colours didn't match but the size did.  I'll be interested to see if anyone buys them. 

 

Of course I couldn't stop there.

I really wanted to make a dish.  So I bought 2 pre cut circle sheets (big circles are hard to cut) and added some Copper Oxide.  A full fuse later and I had a sheet of very bubbly glass!  I then slumped it into a bowl shape.  I'm still amazed at what you can do with glass! 

 

Once the market is done I'll have a bit more time for some other projects that have been on my list all summer!  Looking forward to it. 

Blown Hollow Glass Beads with Olga Alianova

The one bead I'm happy with

 

I am totally obsessed with hollow glass beads and have tried many techniques to try and make the perfect hollow beads.

Hollow beads are much harder to create than solid glass beads and there is much less room for error.

Last year I did make a couple of necklaces with hollow beads but while they look great and they are the best I can do with my skills right now (and I am happy with them) they are heavy.  So far all the techniques I've tried have ended up being quite heavy.

I continue on my quest....

Last year I saw this class come up at Tuffnell Glass, but by the time I got myself organised it had sold out!  I was gutted.  So when I saw they were running it again I booked it straight away.

Olga is a very talented bead maker and her hollow beads are amazing - and importantly very light.

The end of Day One

 

So I last weekend I drove all the way up to Yorkshire again and spent two days learning Olga's technique.

As with many things, it looks very simple until you try it yourself and then you find it is much much harder than it looks.  And I wasn't the only one!

So for much of Saturday all I managed to make were bubbles that were much too thin to keep and so went into the glass bin.  It was a very frustrating day.  I am used to having something to show for my efforts by lunch on the first day, but not this time.

The end of Day Two

 

However, by the end of the day I managed to make a couple of beads that weren't too thin and didn't crack when I put them in the cooling beads.  Maybe I was finally getting the hang of it?

On Sunday I went back without much hope.  However, I did manage to make some reasonable beads at last.  My main struggle had been working out when the first bubble of air was coming into the glass.  If you don't stop at the right time it just turns into shards.  So I was given a flexible hose to try so I could see the end of the blow pipe.  Finally I could see what was happening and stop at the right point.

 

I finished Sunday with a couple of beads I'm actually proud of.

And while I might not have the handful of beads I'd normally expect, Olga was very generous sharing her different techniques for decoration, so that's given me lots of ideas too.

Having two days to do this while frustrating was actually really good as it let me work on my techniques without having to worry about taking the dog for a walk or cooking dinner etc.  And by the end of it I could see an improvement.  But if I want to get anywhere like as good as Olga (yeah right!) it will take a lot more practice!  I mean days rather than hours. 

 

So a good weekend even if it was frustrating in places.  It was great to learn a new technique and it's always lovely to spend time with other lampworkers.

Stripy Fused Glass Dish

 

Instagram has a lot to answer for!

I saw a stripy glass dish on there ages ago and really wanted to have a go at making my own.

So when I was having a tidy in the studio and found some stringers (very thin 'strings' of glass) that someone had given me when I bought something else second hand from them, I decided to have a go. 

 

It's quite a simple idea; take a clear glass circle.  Lay lots of glass stringers across the circle.  Fuse everything together.  Lastly slump your glass circle in a mould.

I haven't done that much fusing and this is only my second go at slumping, but it all worked a treat! 

And I leant some helpful lessons - yes you can use broken stringers to make a full line, but they will separate at the break.  I think melting them together first would stop this happening. 

 

I also found out that cutting a big circle is quite hard.  I didn't have anything quite the right shape to draw round, so it's not quite a proper circle.  I do have a circle cutter, but it max's out at maybe 10cm.  So if I want to do more I either need to buy a circle cutter that will do bigger circles, or buy pre cut circles!

I also amended my firing schedule as it was set for a 6mm thickness of glass and mine is more like 4mm.  Reducing the time it sat at the top temperature seemed to work fine. 

So now I have a lovely stripy dish.  I love it, and I love how it changes in different lights.  Love when a glass project works out first time! 

Making Marbles With Martin

 

 I've just spent the week in Scarborough with 'im outdoors, the dog and my in-laws.

It was a nice week away, but I think I bemused the in-laws by disappearing for a couple of hours on Monday afternoon so I could take a marble making class.

I've been wanting to try marble making for ages, but didn't have the confidence to do it by myself.  

 

I knew that Martin at Tuffnells Glass does a marble making 1:2:1 but at 2hrs it doesn't really justify the 6hr drive!  However, when I realised we'd be staying a 30min drive away I booked a session. 

Although the rest of the week was quite cool, I still found myself sweating away in a glass studio again!

 

Over the course of the 2hrs I learnt how to make a vortex marble and one with dichroic glass (a glass that changes colour in different light).  Two different techniques but with lovely results. I think my recent classes with Laura helped too.

 Then I had to wait before I could have a proper look as they had to anneal in the kiln.  We went back a couple of days later on the way to Bempton Cliffs (we saw puffins!!) to pick them up. 

 

So they are not round, and one has a dent where I dropped it while melting in the punty mark.  Oops!  But as first go marbles I'm very pleased.  I understand the concept and I'm pretty sure I could do this again at home, although they will probably be smaller with my little torch.  And I think if I had more time I could get the shaping better, but I didn't want to keep 'im outdoors waiting as he came to pick me up.

I can really see how each thing I learn builds on previous skills and improves my skill set as a whole.  And while it can still sometimes be frustrating when things don't work, over all I'm very satisfied with the skills I'm building. 

(They are really hard to photograph.  You can find a video of them on my Instagram.) 

A Lampworking 1:2:1 With Laura Quinn

 What do you do on the hottest day of the year so far?

Spend it with Laura Quinn doing a 1:2:1 lampworking session of course! 

We were due to start at 10:00 but moved it forward to try and miss some of the later heat.  I'm not sure how well that worked.  I was very sweaty - it's hard to do your best work with sweat rolling into your eyes and making your hands slippery.  By the time I left at 4pm it said 38c in the studio!

 

But it was a great day.  I'd asked for a 1:2:1 because I felt like I was really starting to get somewhere with blowing little vases but I really needed someone to just help me fine tune what I was doing.

We started by making 4 tiny vases.  You can see the improvement if you look at them in order.  So much better than what I'd been able to make by myself.  I'm really starting to see how hot I need to get the glass and the angles I need to hold things to get gravity to help me out.

 

After lunch we went up a tube size and I made a tiny glass.

I don't intent to make many glasses, but it was great for improving my technical skill.  Again how hot the glass needs to be.  The angle to hold the reamer.  How to use my diamond shears so I don't twist the glass.

I learnt so much I'm desperate to get into my studio to put it into practice and start to really memorise the different steps.  But it's still a little too hot.  Maybe later in the week. 

 

While a sweaty one, I was a great day.  Laura's a great teacher and so happy to share her knowledge.   

Note: I did manage to get into the studio and I made 5 more vases.  I still need to improve my necks but very happy with what I managed to create. 

But it's made me wonder if I need to upgrade my torch.  While I could work with this size tube, it was a little slow and I think I would struggle with anything bigger.  Something to think about. 

Casting Glass Half Sphere Paperweights

 

As you might have noticed I love playing with glass.  One of the techniques I've tried but not really mastered is casting.  So I was quite excited to see Warm Glass offering a casting class in their Glass School.

 

Casting glass half spheres with Silvia Levenson, took us through the whole process of making a mould, filling it with glass, adding designs and finishing it off. 

During 3 live calls over 3 weeks she shared her knowledge, inspiration and answered all our questions.  And with a week between each call we could, in theory, join in.

 

I did try, but work kept getting in the way.  But while I didn't keep up, I have now completed my first attempt and I really want to have another go as I have lots of ideas going forward.

 

I ended up making 6 half spheres as I had enough materials and a kiln big enough to take them.

Making the moulds and doing the first fire with glass billet was quite straight forward.  But then I had to cut some glass circles and it took me a little while to get the courage up to try that.  In the end it was pretty straight forward, helped by the fact I bought myself a circle cutter. 

Next step was to decorate some of the circles for each half sphere.  I would have loved to try a stencil, but I didn't have any and didn't have time to find any.

 

So in two I added one of my glass leaves.  In one I tried to make a landscape. In a couple I used decals.  I did add some gold stars but they burnt off which was disappointing.  (something to remember for next time).

 

I wasn't sure what to do with the last one, so I used some bubble powder.  I had no idea what it would do or how much to use (I think I over did it).  But I do love the result!

I have so many other ideas that I want to try now! 

 

I really enjoyed this project.  It stretched my but in a good way and I definitive want to have another go.  The only problem is how long you have to wait before being able to open the kiln.  With such large chunks of glass they have to cool very very slowly so they don't crack.  I hated waiting!

Copper Foiled Leaf Box

 When I first came across copper foiling I was excited by the idea of being able to create boxes in glass.

However, that was before I realised quite how hard it is to get things to sit at the right angles as you solder them, and how hard it is to make changes.  It's quite a challenging process.

 

Last year I cut all my glass to size for a simple glass box.  I used a 'coaster' blank and fused one of my glass leaves to it, and used that sizing for the rest of the box.

Then I foiled it and solder it and it ended up with a terrible mess - the lid wouldn't open and when I forced it, it ripped all the foil off!

 

I pulled all the rest of the foil off, then left it in a sad little pile in the studio.

Following on from Lauras class last week, I wanted to get back into the studio, but to do that it needed a good tidy.  And I had to decide what to do with my 'box'.

I decided to have another go.  I cleaned all the glass and stuck on new foil.  I'd read a bit about how to make boxes over Christmas, so had another go at putting it together.

Success!

 

It's not great, but it shows the concept does work, and it's a cute box.  With a bit of practice I think I could improve my technique and be more confident with the end result.

Intro to Borosilicate Glass with Laura Quinn

 

Just before Christmas last year I spent a morning with Laura Quinn and my mate to have a go at making blown baubles.  It was a lovely morning, and as we were leaving Laura started telling us how she was going to offer an intro to borosilicate glass class in the spring.  So of course I signed up.

I have done a little with boroilicate before, but I'd been having a few issues at home (like the petals falling off my flowers) so I was keen to get a little more tuition on this.

 

Laura has transformed her garage into a lampworking studio with room for 4 students.  It's a really nice space and the group size was just right, enough people to talk to but not so many that you didn't get personal attention.

 

The class was over two days.  We started by learning how to make chains.  I made some rectangles and some circles.  I was surprised how easy it was to join them up!

Next up we started making components for flowers - petals and leaves.  We had several techniques to play with here, and I think this is something I want to practice more at home.  My petals were quite fat!

 

On day two we learnt how to put our flowers together.  This was in a slightly different way than I've learnt before, so I think I can now play and take the best from both.

After flowers we learnt how to blow little vases out of glass tube.  I think this was my favourite thing!  I only had time for 2 and I could see the improvement just in that time.

 

Laura also showed us how to make glass rings.  Different from how I make my soft glass rings!

 

And lastly some glass knitting.  Much harder than it looks, but I think I started to get the hang of it towards the end.  

 

So by the end of the weekend I had quite an impressive haul.  And I'd learnt so much!  It was a great environment for learning - very friendly.  I'll be keeping an eye out to see what other classes she offers in the future.

I haven't really been in my studio this year as it's been quite cold and I've not been feeling very inspired.  This was the shove I needed, and now I'm excited to get out there again.  Yay!