At the Studio - next batch in

Finished cleaning last nights batch and a seahorse

and another batch of 5 are in the ferric tonight 

4" x 3" Etched sheet

Un finished raw waiting for someone to punch, cut bend and patina into their own jewelry
First one of a batch of 5 tonight  - will be putting up on etsy tomorrow night  (going to set up for better pictures)
24g  copper Etched with my Zentangle Pattern -

Back to the Studio

Been sick with the flu all week - laryngitis as well - hate it when you swallow and it feels like razor blades - hard to sleep - today or rather tonight it feels a bit better - maybe a hot tea before bed

I actually dragged my butt up to the studio tonight with my big reel of copper and decided to cut up small sheets for etching - I am going to put on etsy this week

I noted most are 4 x 3 that others sell - so I thought that would be a good size that people could cut up or punch  and to ship would be reasonable - I am going to ship as raw copper so people can patina them whatever color they want-

Its not easy cutting 24 g into pieces from a 12" wide roll - I think if \i got it 4" wide \I could use my shear  \

then I flattened them with my rawhide mallet and cleaned one side with steel wool

put the zentangle pattern on with the staz-on  and then put them in the ferric chloride

I put two pieces together - used the file to keep them flat - I can fit 5 in at a time and 1 seahorse 

they are due to come out by about 10:30 pm  a bit late (not sure I'll get a pick tonight maybe in the morning before I clean them) but then they will be done for tomorrow to clean up and package 

what a lovely sunset at about 9pm 

Playing

Well the heat wave is over and going into the studio is a pleasure
after a busy weekend of cleaning the property and getting ready for a 4 year olds birthday (with mostly adults) and busy at work I took Monday and Tuesday nights as relax nights .  Last night I decided to visit the studio - sat down in front of the torch and sat staring at the glass - what to do - what to do - no plan  and realy not in the mood but I figured if I started maybe I would get in the mood

I made a turtle, a heart and a funky fish -  the fish was an experiment just to see if I could make it look like a real fish since most of mine live in the fantasy world -

I grabbed whatever colours were on my table - the yellow is not bad - maybe some enamels for back color and if I actually spent the time it might come out like a real fish  - maybe a guppy -  its not very big  and the position of the mandrel is not right as I'm not sure how I would mount a belly button fish -    maybe make them off the mandrel - poke a hole at the mouth for a wire bail -  all kinds of possibilities - I'll have to give it a go again tonight  and see what come out till I am happy with the positioning 

Fusing Decal Paper- going to be working with it shortly

I've have a few requests to have my Zentangle patterns on Decal Fusing Paper to be sold on Etsy

I just placed my order with Fusion Headquarters
http://www.fusionheadquarters.com/product_p/decpap.htm

and behold I opened up the product tab and it took me a moment to realize - its my decal being applied
woo hoo - more free advertising ! Gotta Love it

Here is the link to the step by step putting the decal on and firing from my blog
http://deborahreadcom.blogspot.ca/2011/10/fused-glass-blanks-step-3-adding-decal.html

I print a full page and then cut them out to fit the pieces I want to make


Of course I had to order because I cant find my package  so I can make any  - I needed some anyway as I need to make up some of the other ones I like - Faces etc..


I also like to use them on ceramics as well



Once I get them in I'll go over again step by step

HOT HOT HOT Show Weekend

Last year I bet it was about 105 degrees  this year maybe only 104 but with a slight breeze every 1/2 hour or so.........  so melted - but was a fun weekend

Out of 7 turtles only 2 remain -  got a gallery offer on my big fish and  a couple of finished necklaces to hold till they come back from vacation  -

Its not a huge show - there were 36 vendors a variety of goodies, , jewellery - wood carvings, art work  a reall mix - was great to see

We set up in record time  (although the ez-up tent gave us abit of trouble - again) and of course had to dismantle each day - we even cleared out in under 15 min

Lots of goodies 

Only two days to Outdoor show

Last year was my first time for an outdoor show - I loved the space but not the heat - I think it was about 100 degrees out and humid - but was fun - we had ice and food and shade and I loved being outside

I finished wiring up my "school" of fish  and have my  "bale" of turtles cleaned and just have to put on cards

I was playing with enamels  last night  and as much as these are just samplers I know what I want to do with using brass stencils and enamels for the future  - havnt played in a while with my enamels 

using the brass stencils to lay out your enamels on your marver is great and then roll the design onto your bead - I grabbed only a few colours just to test and was happy with the results - the checkerboard  as a background would be great - as well as the seahorse - and I have a ton of those brass stencils - I bought  when Michaels had sales 

wish I could find my white enamels - might be with my regular enamels - I love using white on a lot of the beads -  again what I used to make a long time ago is now back in fashion 

Last time I used enamels was to make a black and white set bracelet with a naked body bead (havnt made any of those in years) 

(as you can see from the image date) 

but I used to love using enamels on the beads 

Sunday Results

I did get another two turtles done and about 11 small fish (wearable)  - the fish I have to add findings to so they become pendants - but at least I got that done .  Tonight its make some more small fish - maybe 10   and maybe a turtle - by the time the show comes I want about 10 turtles at least and I need lots of fish for this show as well as the one in august.

Turtles

At least this batch look like turtles  - so on to make about 5 more and some small fish \

So Far this weekend

I've baby sat and got to only do a couple of things up at the studio (other than the studio is over 90 degrees with fans and vents going)
I wanted to make turtles so with a very short attention span I got my granddaughter to play with some polly pockets and experimented with some lampwork turtles

I only just realized the show is next weekend - so only a week to get a few things done for the show and no real time to experiment

\yucky  but a start

the bodies are too round  so I need to elongate - which is not a problem - the fins on one place to centrally and too big 

I like the bodies 

the colors are ok - but again fins and body need to be changed 

I got to sit tonight and make another 5 turtles with longer bodies and smaller fins so I'll see how they turn out in the morning 

I would like at least 10 good turtles and about 10 hearts 

I need to start on some small fish as well 

The Plan

I have a plan in my head for the weekend to get more items completed
one project is to make a matching bracelet and pendant set from the copper etched and dichro pendants I made
as I always say I never usually draw something out but sometimes I need to get it on paper before I forget

Once I make the bracelet (and using one of my toggles)  I'll work on the pendant - it may get more pieces added to it other than the one dangly - but we will see what I do 

I have to get some glass donethis weekend - I want turtles for the purple turtle festival - so I need to get going on pendants and earring sets and some small fish as I have antoher show that is about fish at almost same venue its called the  Painted Perch Event at Jackson's Point

Parkette on August 17th, looks interesting its only 1 day   from noon till 8pm 

June Give-A-Way Winner is .......................

 Congratulations to the winner Karen B Ferrantelli

If you can email me at dread@deborahread.com  with your mailing address I will get this out to you asap