Go with the flow

It's been a busy month because of being at the Gallery for three days - I've enjoyed meeting the customer and the other artists.

As well as making some smaller items I've also spent a while on this peace called 'Flow'.  It's made mostly with things I've found on the beach with a few other sparkly bits thrown in!  I hope it will be on display at the Gallery this week.

Installed

Some of my work was displayed in the gallery last Thursday and by Monday three small things had been sold!  That's a great start and has inspired me to quickly get on with producing some more things to put in before Christmas.

I have to work for a couple of days 'shadowing' other members to be shown  the ropes then I'll be  running the shop myself for one day every three weeks after that.

It's great to have an outlet for selling as otherwise it's hard to justify making even more but my home is looking rather bare now  so I have two excuses to get busy again!   I had started laying out a design on a massive semi-circular piece of wood but as this  would probably fill one whole wall at the gallery and I don't think that would be allowed, I've dismantled it and am using the materials on a much more manageable sized base.

Shoreham Gallery

I've been given a space at the Shoreham Gallery to display and hopefully sell my mosaics, beach art and cards.  It's a really nice shop run by a co-operative of artists and makers who share the costs and work in running it.  I'm looking forward to joining them and getting to know some other local crafty people and feel quite excited about it.  The standard of work is very high so I hope I can make my display match!

You can see their web site at http://www.shorehamgallery.co.uk

The house number mosaic is on the wall and each time I've been free to go and photograph it it's been raining.  Hopefully soon...

Delivered At Last!

At last I have done the grouting in black which is very messy, finished cutting and sticking the numbers and delivered the finished work to Juliet yesterday.  She is very happy with it and her husband even admitted to liking it!  I'll take some photo's once it's up on the wall for all to see.

On Sunday I went to my friend Sarah's armed with boxes full of cards to sell at her McMillan Coffee morning.  It was a bit risky setting up in the garden in very overcast weather but the forecast was right, the sun shone throughout the event and almost everyone who came bought several cards from me.  I was very flattered to hear that some had been hoping I'd be there so that they could stock up again.  Must remember order lots more of the new Brighton & Hove Albion one showing the Amex Stadium which sold out fast.

Preview of house number and table finished!

Juliet is home from holiday and I had to go to the beach today for my first training session at the coast watch tower (I'm going to start volunteering there).  I'd arranged to call round to the house for her to decide on the final things and to see it in place. Unfortunately it was a very wet and windy day (force 6 I'd measured earlier)! and so not ideal for viewing outside.

Juliet was clearly happy with it and seemed very excited that it's nearly finished.  The children gave it a cursory glance but her husband inspected it very carefully peering closely from all angles and not saying a thing.  We asked why he didn't like it and he pointed out that he hadn't said anything (not realising that we girls knew it all from the body language)!  We laughed at the time but I really hope he grows to like it as it will be shining out to welcome him every time he goes home....  Can't wait to see it up in place.

Back to the table - it turned out that my favourite supplier can't get the tiles I was using as singles any more either and had nothing suitable in his bin (only big much thicker tiles).  Why is nothing ever straight forward?!  I tried another shop very half-heartedly wondering how on earth I'd finish the job and was amazed to be shown two shades of blue in a range of discontinued tiles which they still had some samples for and which were exactly the same thickness of those I'd been using.  I was very surprised and pleased and was finally able to finish cutting and sticking then grouted the table yesterday.  Ta Dah!

before grouting .finished.

Shoreham Photo's

I

I I had to go to my hairdressers' house on Shoreham Beach this morning as I'd left my camera there.  It was a cloudy, windy morning but I thought I'd just nip down quickly to look at the sea.  The waves were pounding onto the pebbles and the sun started to peep through.  It looked fantastic so I got snapping and the resultse will be ideal for adding some new designs to my range of local greetings cards.

Before going home I stopped to see the new bridge which must be nearly ready to open now, it's already late and I can't wait to be able to cycle over to the beach from the town.  Again the light was perfect - I feel very lucky to be living in lovely Shoreham!

Waiting

I've come to a halt on both projects as I'm waiting to find out Juliet's choice for the last few pieces of glass (gold coloured or mirror) and how she wants the numbers to look...









I think the table top needs an a deeper shade of blue for the last part of the spiral as the tiles I have are too close to white but the range I'm using doesn't include one.

Perhaps I'll go and root around in the throwaway bin of my friendly tile supplier in Worthing - it's surprising what goodies I've found in there over the years!

 

Progress

I picked up the perspex base last Friday and have been enjoying gluing the design to it.  Now I just have to decide what to fill in the last gaps with and cut the numbers to go in vertically down the centre.

The spiral on the garden table is also progressing slowly.  To make the pieces fit together well takes ages but I've loved doing it sitting on my sunny balcony in
between visits to the beach....  The blue spiral will fade from dark to light as it flows out to the edge.

Delay and Table

There's been a bit of a delay because it's been difficult to find a suitable base for the mosaic.  I've gone through many possible options but none fit all of the requirements.  It's finally been decided to go for thick perspex which will hopefully be totally weatherproof, won't expand or contract in different temperatures, won't bend and can have holes drilled in the corners for hanging on the wall.  All I have to decide now is black or white?  I'm hoping to have it ready for when Juliet gets back from holiday.


Meanwhile a friend has asked me to mosaic this table top.  She uses it on her balcony and wants a spiral design in white and several shades of teal / turquoise.  Great! Now how does one draw a spiral? This is just a quick pencil sketch I drew to show her but it will need to be more accurate and bigger for the table.

The internet is amazing I put in a search and have been experimenting with drawing spirals using the Pythagorean method which uses a series of ever increasing triangles and the Fibronnaccii method which uses a series of ever increasing squares - good thing I liked geometry at school!   Neither look right though so I have another little challenge on my hands...  maybe I'll end up using the Binks method which uses a random swirl and hope approach.

More Cutting

Another couple of happy hours cutting glass (and not my fingers today)!

I'm going to try to find some smoked glass mirror to fit in the last spaces.  I love the iridised glass - hard to do it justice in a photo' though.

Client Lesson!

Juliet is creative herself and would love to have the time to make things but with two young children there's not much of that available.  She said she would like to watch me working so I invited her round today.

I showed her how to score and break the glass and then gave her some to practice on and by the time she'd done that and we'd chatted over tea and cake it was time  for her to go and get the kids tea.  We had a chance to discuss what colour to use for the last few gaps in the design, how to make the numbers and the backing to stick it on. Now I'm looking forward to carrying on with cutting the new glass.

Shiny black stuff

Today I nipped over to Poynings again (lovely journey just underneath the north side of the South Downs) and collected the rest of the glass I need, some black and some gorgeous iridescent black which changes colour as you move around it with tinges of gold, pink, and green.  It should blend in well with the other colours.

Shoreham Gallery

Today I went to visit Wendy and Jose at the Shoreham Gallery just around the corner to where I live.

It's a little shop run by a co-operative of about 22 artists and makers.  They have some lovely work on display and I have often wondered if I should join them.  Unfortunately the costs to exhibit there are quite high as they have to split the expenses between them and I was fairly certain I wouldn't be able to make a profit (or even cover the costs)!  After having a chat I decided it's definitely worth a try as they seemed sure I would be able to sell my things - they have nothing similar and the price range is quite wide so could appeal to a cross section of potential buyers.  There's also the possibility of getting commissions and meeting customers whilst working in the shop one day every three weeks.  On top of that a customer bought five of my cards as I was showing them which was encouraging!  So my name is down to give it a go once a space becomes available.

Cutting the glass has begun

The design needed another bit of tweaking so I made a final version on white paper then couldn't wait to get started, so today I got out my trusty glass cutter and using templates I'd made from tracing paper set to work.  A couple of hours had gone by before I knew it!  It's a great way to forget everything else and become absorbed in my own puzzle of pieces.  I numbered them so they can be put back together more easily (once I have found the backing to stick them to)!   

The orange glass was smaller than A4 it had a piece missing from it and there was a slight pattern I needed to keep in line.  Opus glass couldn't get another sheet the same so with no room for mistakes I was determined to eek out my four shapes from this one.  Yippee!  Just made it with one tiny join.

Choosing the Glass

Yesterday when  Juliet came round I was pleased that she seemed to really like the design with the fans coming in from the side and preferred my numbers to the ones I'd printed from the computer.  She is much more decisive than me which is good!

We set off for Poynings just the other side of the Downs to go to Opus glass where they have a massive stock of sheets of glass in many colours, types and textures.  We spent a happy hour pulling out all the hot colour range that Juliet wanted, trying to find ones that worked well together.  We both loved the iridescent glass (obviously the most expensive)!  Rita and David were very patient - It took a while but eventually we came up with a combination which I think will look stunning and Juliet seemed very excited about.  Unfortunately the pieces were mostly too small so they will need to order more but the most important colour - bright orange - might be difficult to obtain so we wait with baited breath....  It's great to collaborate with someone with similar taste and we have come up with something I'm looking forward to working on.  

The problem now is finding a good base to make the mosaic on.  Originally I planned to make it on mesh and press it into tile adhesive on the wall.  That would have been permanent and secure but  technically difficult for several reasons so I am pleased that Juliet wants to be able to take it with her if the family move house.  This means I have to make it on some kind of board that can be screwed to the wall.  Wood is not good outside - even marine ply wouldn't cope with the conditions a few yards from the sea so after lots of online searching I'm going to see if tile backer board is suitable - I understand it is a thin sheet of concrete which can be cut to size.  Then the next problem will be working out a way to securely fix the numbers whilst making them removable.  What are the chances they'd move to another 123?!

Art Deco Fan design

I'm glad Juliet prefers the Art Deco fan design as I do too - also because it will need large pieces which she had said she preferred.   I enlarged the two versions and played with the numbers ready to show her on Saturday.

Feedback

Juliet likes the fan designs and the circles one so I played a bit more refining both of those...

The Shard

I had already given it quite a lot of thought but a train journey to London yesterday to whiz up the Shard gave me time to do some scribbling.  I took lots of strips of paper in the right proportion and came up with several options to show Julia so I emailed her this.

The House

It was good to meet Juliet and see the house as it meant I could get an idea of her taste in design and colour and measure the space available.  She is obviously a big retro fan and has lots of stylish furniture and flooring to fit the era of the house.

I gave her a box of photo's of mosaics I'd made in the past so that she could pick out her favourites which helped a bit more.  I'm sure we'd have chatted for hours had we not got other commitments as we seem to have a lot in common including both liking art deco design and sparkly things.

The conclusions we came to were that the mosaic should measure 130cm x 20cm to fit on the wall where the numbers are now, be made from large pieces of glass including some iridescent in the hot colour range with a dark background and with large quirky numbers.

That should keep me quiet for a while!

Possible Commission

Last year I had listed some of my work onto Etsy which is a great site for selling hand made items.  It has a massive audience but my buyer lived only a mile or so away on Shoreham Beach.  She likes to buy from local artists and found an oak key hook rack with glass beach huts decorating it that I had made.

She said at the time that she might want to commission a mosaic for her doorstep so I cycled round to have a look at the house and came to the conclusion that a mosaic on the doorstep would be wasted as it would hardly be seen!  I suggested having one incorporating the house number next to the porch and Juliet agreed that was a good idea.  Nothing more happened for several months but today I had an email saying she'd like to go ahead so I arranged to visit her on Saturday to discuss it together.

Silver Clay Workshop

I had a great day yesterday learning how to use silver clay.  I went with my friend Kate and her friend Carrie to the venue in Newick about 30 miles away.

It was a large shed in a lovely garden and I couldn't believe how well equipped it was.  Paula running the workshop had set it up with everything five people could possibly need to learn to use the stuff.  She has been using it for years so had hundreds of samples to show us and is a very good teacher.  If you want to try it go to www.learnsilverclay.co.uk

We were given a tiny 16g packet of the clay worth £40 but it's surprising how much you can squeeze out of that... It's like a fine porcelain which you can mould, emboss, cut and shape as you like before firing in a kiln or with a torch.  That eliminates the clay and you are left with 99% silver (a lot more pure than sterling silver).  You can polish the resulting piece or give it a matte finish using a wire brush.   Hours of fun!

       
       and there's still a little bit left.

Collected the fused glass

I picked up my fused glass this morning.  It's exciting to see how the dichroic glass colours look when melted into the base and the light catcher looks good with the light shining through from the window.  There are some dichroic pieces in it which only show with reflected light so it could be used as a table mat instead.

Glass Fusing Workshop

Yesterday I went on a one day workshop to learn how to fuse glass.  I had a great day making ten small pendant pieces, one circular light catcher and one curved glass rainbow shape to stand on the window sill.

It was a bit of a shame because I already know how to cut glass and wanted to learn about the fusing but we had to leave everything we'd made to be fused at a later date when there was space in the kiln.  So apart from the answers to the questions I asked I didn't really learn anything new.  Apparently the kiln has to be programmed to heat up at a certain speed, maintain the correct temperature for the correct time and cool down at the correct speed.  The position in the kiln and the length of firing time affects how much the glass will melt and how smooth the end result will be.

I'm looking forward to picking up the finished pieces in a couple of weeks.

Beaded Brooch

There are a couple of bead shops in Brighton full of shiny things and findings to make them into jewellery.  I went there today for a one hour class in how to make a brooch with beads wired together.  It was quite fiddly but not too difficult once you got the hang of it.  This is what I made

Another Key Rack

I have a friend who seems to like the things I make and now has several of my works of art(!) around her home.

She asked me to make a key hook rack to go in her porch and there wasn't a lot of space to make a horizontal one so I made a long thin one to hang vertically.  I used paint mixed with glitter and covered it with glass tiles, beads, bits of wood, shells and other bits and bobs.

I delivered it today and was very pleased that she really liked it.

Copperfoiling

I love working with glass in my mosaics and I did a course when I lived in Hove to learn several different methods of using it but that was ages ago and I wanted a refresher on copper foiling.  I know a lady who lives nearby who opens her house during the Adur Festival and shows really lovely stained glass work.  She said she'd be happy to give me some lessons, so I went three times to her little workshop in the garden right on the river and made this light catcher.  You have to be quite precise with cutting so that the pieces
will fit properly but I really enjoyed putting the copper foil round the edge of each piece and soldering it all together.  The finished light catcher goes well in my kitchen window.