I Heart Macro -" A Thousand Flowers"

Hello dear friends,

Today is a gorgeous Spring day.. I am keen to get out for a touch of sun on my skin. The wind is a bit fresh and strong.. so I may not go to my little green shed today... open windows are required for glasswork and if the wind is too gusty it can play havoc with the flame... way too dangerous!

Today I am linking up to I Heart Macro. Theses little flowers you see below are actually made from glass and the name "Millefiore" is the Italian name for a "thousand flowers". These little pieces of cane are traditionally seen in glass paperweights. The ones you see below are in a pendant which my two daughters gave me one year for my birthday. I love it. Each of these tiny slices of glass would have been carefully applied with tweezers to make the pattern you see here. Making these individual little pieces of art is complicated and another story in itself!

Millefiore pattern.

The last few days I have continued my fun with glass frit. I have also been trying to make the bicone beads you see here below, longer. So far I am only up to 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 inches long. Eventually I would like to do almost double that. Now that is a challenge!

On the reddish brown bead, that little round 'spiral' is a reactive piece of murrini (Raku Mojo by Jet Age Studio) melted in fully. You can just see another peeping out from the next bead. Murrini, in essence is the same sort of thing as Millefiore, except of course the millefiore were /are flower shaped. Murrini can be any shape including flowers! 

Bicone shaped beads withglass frit application.

I also couldn't help but play around with frit and encasing... such fun... and SO much to learn! Glass is such a wonderful and addictive medium!

Please click on the above logo to take you to see a little more "photos for macro makers and the cameralogically challenged"

Until next time, I am off to enjoy that Spring day...

Fire Lotus

Hello dear readers,

I have been playing around this weekend with Fire Lotus glass , made by Tag.
I am thrilled with the colour I have been able to coax from it this time.
In the past I have not always been successful with some of the silver-laden glass varieties.

This last Friday at a lampworking group get together, ( The Flaming Matildas), we were shown by Georgie how to coax the colour from fire lotus.
The trick was to initially heat it until almost white and to then allow it quite a longish cool, followed by deep, gentle re-heating high in the flame to bring out that next layer of colour.

I am happy to have coaxed out the lovely purple and magenta colours that have eluded me in the past.
(unfortunately there is a little pitting on the tab bead, must have heated it a little too much!)

The murrini are made by Jet Age Studio and the gorgeous greenish/yellow one is a reduction murrini called Goldrush. It gives a super metallic shine when reduced.
On the bead on the left I also included a small amount of a silvered ivory shard.

Here in Australia both the glass rods, murrini and shards are available at Affordable Inspiration.
In Melbourne the rods (on sale at the moment) and murrini are also available at Hot Bead Box

(Actually there is a murrini sale also at Affordable Inspiration  right now, so a good time to buy and try them all out!)

I know I will be topping up!.

Enjoy your day,

Jenni.