A Wandering Elf
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More and more and more glass

2/21/2017

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I have jumped into another research project that I am very excited about.  Hopefully I will have some bits of info to post along the way for that one.  In the meantime, I am going to keep playing with glass and start some new garb (that is actually part of the research project).  Cheer!

This weekend was a long weekend, so I had a good bit of time at the torch.  I am still working on getting consistent shape and getting an idea of how to put the right amount of glass on the mandrel for certain sized beads.  I also got to anneal two batches of beads in my mini-annealer.  Yay!


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I realized this weekend I need to use better light for taking pics, rather than doing it in my kitchen (like this one). I am really happy with the green with the dots and the amber one. The little green one has marks that run along the surface and it matches some period examples for Norse beads. I will be making a great many more of these.
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The blue has a decoration on it, but it did not show in this photo as it was not an opaque white after it cooled. HOWEVER, annealing it brought that out and the decoration is now a stark opaque white! The amber with the swirled dots was one I loved, but it cracked in half. The yellow and cobalt at the bottom was done in the same manner as the red/yellow above right.
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The yellow and red one at the top was a happy accident. I was trying to feather some lines of stringer, but I dug in too deep and pulled the glass out. I opted to do it on another bead in a later session because I liked the effect so much. The light blue fish eye one was my favorite, but it cracked while annealing :-(
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On Saturday, Lady Rosamund du Grasse brought her glass over and we both dabbled around an made these beads.
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Final batches of beads. Several more of the green with the lines pressed in. The light blue I am VERY happy with the shaping on. The blue barrle was more of my playing with stringer and moving it on the glass. And the red fish eye one makes me happy, even those the spacing is off. I like the effect!
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Joyful Weekend

2/13/2017

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This weekend I got to go to the Tournament of Love and Beauty in Atlantia.  A member of my household was accepting a belt as a Protege and I wanted to be there for the ceremony.  The event itself was a bit on the cold side, but it was a great day.  I got to geek out with people over garb and glass and watch several performers in the bardic competition.  I even did the dancing in the afternoon which was a blast!

As soon as I got back home from the event, I fired up my rod warmer to play with glass (and make some awesome mistakes, which will be detailed below).  I have a long weekend this weekend, and am planning to hook up a 20lb tank of propane rather than continuing to use the small tanks for lampworking.  I hope to really make some improvements with lots of time to work!


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Above: Master Flaithri O'Cearnaigh takes Lady Karin Taylor de Cameron as a Protege. Below: Some of my favorite A&S entries from this weekend.
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For my glass work - I got to go out and play twice.  The first time out I had some issues that I had not yet encountered.  I overheated the glass to the point of burning it on the bead in the center between the two blow ones in the left hand photo.  That glass was a clear bright blue and it ended up with crazy opaque orange streaks.  It looks cool, but I either got it way to hot or just heated it for way too long.

The red one in the same photo was also over heated to some extent.  It was a clear amber rod (I have several) and it came out a rich red, that was not so clear.  I realized after the fact, when I looked at the rod it self, that it was not one of my normal amber ones, as the tip had changed to a bright clear red.  I tested that one again in the next batch, and you can see the clear red bead there (with an orange twisty stringer applied to the surface rather badly).  So many things to learn!

Still working on shapes and dots and hope to make a great deal of progress this weekend.  :-)
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More Glass :-)

2/6/2017

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I did three sessions (about an hour each) with my glass this weekend.  I am starting to get a better grasp on how to shape and am learning more and more how each color of glass works differently in the torch.  I am currently using Devardi glass, which is considered a more stiff 104COE glass.  A lot of people dislike it, but many also say that if you can learn to work with this, you can work with anything.  The clear cobalt, bright blue and spring green flow amazingly, especially the cobalt.  The clear lavender bubbles like crazy, so next time I use that I need to try to work further from the flame.

Previously, I was mostly using my assortment of marvers to shape my beads, but I did several this weekend just using the hot glass and gravity.  I am also starting to work on dots.  I now can make dots without stringing hair thin strands of glass every where.  Now I need to just work more on spacing and size!

And because I LOVE getting ahead of myself, I tried to make flowers on a colored base, encased with clear.  They are a mess because the bead was too hot when I applied the clear and trying to get the clear smoothed out smeared them, but they were definitely fun to try!

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More Glass and Events!

2/1/2017

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Been exceedingly busy with mundane work lately, but managed to finish a draft of the current research project, play with glass twice, and attend a wonderful event in Lochmere in Atlantia.

The event had two fantastic groups of singers performing medieval music, and the Spanish feast was absolutely amazing.  Mistress Lisette posted her documentation on her site and it can be found here:  https://lisettelarouxblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/02/torquemadas-trans-%c2%ad%e2%80%90iberian-winter-tour-feast/

I am hoping to make it to another Atlantian event on Feb 11 to be there for a household member who will have something special happening.  :-)

I am hoping to soon start some new hand sewing projects, in an effort to step-up my garb game, and plan to photograph some Norse headwear concepts that I will be adding to this blog once finished.

Below are is the photos of my continued glass puttering.  I was an idiot last weekend when I did not put my beads into the blanket, but instead laid them on the rod rest in a cold room.  Three of of them have cracked (and that is sad because I was actually happy with the shape on a few).  I will know better for next time!
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Puttering

1/11/2017

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I am still working on the research project that I am doing to help out someone else, but I have had two opportunities to fiddle with my new glass supplies!  (I will start researching in more depth later, of course.)  For now, I am just trying to get a feel for the movement of the glass and the things that it can do.  Also am just dabbling with the variety of tools and cool things like frit that came with the kit I was given.  Hopefully in a few weeks I will get a chance to really sit down and focus on getting good shape to basic beads and then will work on things like dots from there.

One thing I LOVE having is the rod warmer (http://www.devardiglass.com/supplies.htm).  I took a class at Pennsic several years ago and made one bead.  It was fun, but the talk about shocking rods (shattering them when I cold rod gets put into the heat too quichly) scared the life out of me.  The rod warmer has totally alleviated that fear and I can really just enjoy playing.  (I will note, however, that if it is exceptionally cold, you can still break a warmed rod just because the ambient temperature just sucks for working glass.  lol) 
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My workspace. I added some fireshield along the wall near the rod warmer and annealer, as well as some stone blocks as a back rest and under the equipment. On the left hand side, I have most of the marvers hanging on the wall.
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Beads from the first day. I am actually happy with the purple round one enough though it was just a tester! The little misshapen bead on the safety pin is the one that I made in the Pennsic class some years ago.
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Second try: The left was done in a leaf press. I did not have enough glass to fully form the design. The next is not actually shaped as well as the pic shows, but I loved the applied frit! The lime one I am happy with and will use. The last was just playing with technique with an opaque core bead, on which was applied a couple of bad dots, which was then encased in clear glass and I poked in the dots and swirled it. (I LOVE the look of the clear overlays on beads. I want to get good at this!)
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    Blogroll of SCA & Costume Bloggers

    Below is a collection of some of my favorite places online to look for SCA and historic costuming information.

    More Amie Sparrow - 16th Century German Costuming


    Gianetta Veronese - SCA and Costuming Blog

    Grazia Morgano - 16th Century A&S

    Mistress Sahra -Dress From Medieval Turku 

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