Flame March 2015
Find us at www.gbuk.org
Contact us: Chairman (Scarlet) Secretary (Colette) Treasurer () Membership (Karin) Events (Debbie) Webmaster (Heather)
@gbuk.org
Torchlight on …
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Members’ beads from last month’s challenge:
Page 8-9 Colour testing …. Opaque green … by
Page 10 CIM colour testing …. purples… by
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No pressure, no prizes, just fun Make a bead, set of beads, focal, mixed media, on or off mandrel piece using the theme of
or ‘ Post your photos on www.frit-happens.co.uk and/or www.craftpimp.co.uk and/or our Facebook page by All members' photos will be included in the December issue of the GBUK
Lynn Cook Finishing work in teaching and academic research in 2004, I concentrated my time on art. Starting with a degree in fine art, I painted pictures, sculpted in clay, learnt to use silver and discovered the joys of working in glass.
An inspiring week end workshop on lampworking with the brilliant Diana East gave me the starting points – stringers feathered with a knife, stringers raked with a pick, stringers and dots raked or using gravity to twist and shift. Dots applied, melted, zoned and scrolled. We went on to find out about making beads of different shapes, sizes, cylinders ‌. and that was day one.
My shed is where I now make beads. There is enough ventilation, lighting and space for the gas tank and for me to work. I acquired a torch and the necessary tools. Basic but they allow me to make beads creatively which is what I want.
Inspiration comes from the places I’ve been. Recently I have been to Iceland, taking some photographs and making beads on my return home.
Trips to India and China inspired more beads while pictures I’ve seen and gifts for people, especially children, encourages me to make some different beads.
Each year we bring hundreds of glass beadmakers together in 2 halls to play with glass and fire. Upstairs in the top hall we have the best worldwide lampwork artists demonstrating in front of a camera in a the hall which seats 150 people with the images beamed onto large screens and LCD TVs making it very easy to watch the artists without missing any important details. Downstairs there is a sales area with traders , a "lampworkers village" with the leading artists selling their creations and a huge free taster area. The taster area will have benches set out were anybody can sit down and play with the glass , make beads , pendants or just melt and blob.
Weekend Ticket - ÂŁ30 Allows you full entry to the show on both days (Friday & Saturday) - "have a go" benches, live demonstrations, sellers & traders area. Friday OR Saturday - ÂŁ20 Allows you full entry to the show on that specific day (Friday or Saturday) - "have a go" benches, live demonstrations, sellers & traders area. Limited Entry - ÂŁ5 Allows you access to sellers & traders area only. Ticket holders will not have access to the live demonstrations room or on the "have-a-go" benches. This ticket is ideal for people who are only visiting Flame Off to browse the trader and seller stands.
The committee are responsible for the day to day running of GBUK. We do it voluntarily, in our own time, and meet regularly by Skype. Being on the committee is a commitment and the current committee are very happy to make that commitment to ensure GBUK is around for many years to come. But (there's always a but) we can't do it by ourselves. We need people to step up, join in and contribute to help us - time to cover the stand at Flame Off, send photos and articles/tutorials in for Flame or the journal and the most important of all, time to stand on the committee to help determine what we do and how we do it. So ... we have several committee roles to fill and we'd like fresh input too. If you are interested, please send any nominations (and you can nominate yourself) for committee positions to secretary@gbuk.org;
Before you nominate somebody else, please confirm with them that they're willing to undertake the commitments necessary. Voting will be from 1st to 3rd April Committee posts: Chairman Secretary Treasurer Membership secretary Events coordinator Webmaster Journal editor
You need to be a member to nominate and be nominated.
If you would like to know what any of the posts entail, please get in touch. We would love to have some new faces. Being an experienced bead maker isn’t part of the job description - your enthusiasm and commitment are far more important.
‘Easter’
Why not suggest a theme you would like? Email
‘Purple’
Colour testing
by
Ilsa Fatt
Opaque green Effetre Grass Green Effetre Petrol Green Effetre Lime Green CIM Dirty Martini CIM Kryptonite is a classic mid-green. I find it more beautiful in a bead than in the rod, as it develops interesting striations when heated. It reacts very strongly with ivory and orange/yellow, forming a dark halo where the two meet, and some odd dark blots inside the grass green area. behaves in the same way as grass green, forming striations when heated, and reacting with ivory, although interestingly, the reaction is slightly less intense than with the grass green. It is one of my favourite opaque colours, being a rich blue-green. is a zingy, acidic, bright yellow-green. It's one of those colours that is just indefatigably jolly. It doesn't make a dark reaction line where it meets ivory, but does develop a subtle line inside the green area when placed on ivory.
is a very pale greeny-grey. It reminds me of what comes out of the washing machine when someone's khaki t-shirt has accidentally got in with the whites. It's not a very exciting colour in itself, but is a useful base for transparent cool colours. It has the same reaction with ivory as the lime green. This seems more pronounced with the Dirty Martini, and gives a rather elegant effect. is a gorgeous, semi-translucent pale minty green. It's not really an opaque at all, but then it isn't transparent, either. It really needs to be used in a solid, thick layer for its beauty to shine out. It's no good for surface decoration, as it just ends up either looking washed out or disappearing entirely. There was no noticeable reaction with ivory. Opaque greens are notorious for being spreading colours. If using them as stringers, twisties or murrini, it is a good idea to make sure they are encased, in a transparent colour, to prevent them from taking over your design. It's fine to encase them in a transparent green, as only the opaques behave like this.
CiM colour testing: Aladdin
by Heather Kelly
http://kalorlo.wordpress.com
Two purples here – both a similar colour but with different saturations. They’re both described by CiM as moonstones, so have a little bit of mistiness and aren’t entirely transparent.
I made a gremlin – the body has a core of clear, so lightening it up a bit. This gremlin has been experimenting with cosmetics! I added some Gaffer purpur frit on the lips to prevent the teeth showing through, because this colour isn’t dark enough to block that.
Boysenberry The more saturated moonstone. I had a thicker rod of this, which may have had something to do with it, but I found this one pretty shocky and kept losing chunks when I was carefully re-warming it. It seems to lose heat relatively quickly too, so make sure you’re keeping your bead warm.
Boysenberry doesn’t etch well, and is really dark when used as spacers. You can still tell they’re purple rather than black, but only just. It’s a good berry colour.
The deadline has now passed and all the entries have been received. They will be on display on the GBUK stand at Flame Off so please drop by and have a look. This year we are awarding a certificate for the ‘People’s Choice’ - your chance to vote for the bead(s) you like best of all. You can vote at the GBUK stand during Flame Off. Next year’s themes will be announced at Flame Off.
Issue 7 has now been compiled and we are waiting delivery from the publishers. This means that it will be available for collection from Flame Off at the GBUK stand, so don#t forget to pick up your copy.
GBUK will have a stand at Flame Off manned by the committee and kind volunteers. There is always room for more volunteers. Members can also have a space on the table to sell beads - the space is available as slots @ £2.50 per slot. A great way to have your beads for sale without a table fee. Volunteers get this space free of charge for the duration of their time on the stand.
Thank you for your entries. The winners are:
Do you have a tutorial or article you would like to see in Contact secretary@gbuk.org.
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