Cat Exchange for Lampworkers Ect.

Here is my group shot of kitties being sent off to the Cat club Exchange On LE.. This was the best of my best.. Of course I wish they where better, and with time I will improve on them.

For now, I'm just having fun trying different thing, and working on the designing of them.. These guys pretty much hang the right way.. I also made a hollow faced kitty.. right hand corner and a oval body kitty opposite corner.

Here is a real experiment.. I'm actually happy with it.. but could not reproduce the efford during that torch session.. So gave up for the day.. after a few hours sometimes you just don't have it in you to do anything.. lol... but this little guy is a hollow kittie , and has been mashed a little bit.. and it hangs perfectly!!! No talking it into hanging its feet where they need to go! Next torch session, will give it another try.

Ok not a kitty.. just something I was happy with. Its on its way with the kitty's to the hostess of the kitty exchange as a little thankyou. She is going to be spending a lot of time sorting all the beads.. and mailing them all out within the next couple of week. Bless her heart. Alot of work for sure... not to mention torching too!

I promise I will post the beads I receive in this exchange as well as the wet canvas "raining cats and dogs"... So much fun! Such a treat to receive beads in return from other wonderful glass artist. Have a great weekend! Sincerely Diane :-)

My second batch of Cats...

Ok , armed with the information from my last batch of creating cat beads.. I jumped back on the torch.. I received some wonderful advice from friends on Lampwork Ect...

I liked the head being above the body not part of the body.. so had to distribute the glass a little differently.. and go at the making differently. When doing the detail work.. that had to wait till the very very end... Body shape was first and foremost.

All these cats have the glass distributed well enough that they do not just flip over feet up.. yeah! success!

BUT.. they are almost too perfectly distributed.. i'm finding..(when You test on a mandrel they turn evenly and do not have any heavy sides..) so they can flip over so they can end up upside down.. but will hang either way.. happily..

There is one in this bunch here that normally will hang feet down because it is heavy at the feet.. Purffecttt.... lol... now I just need to get that on my future kitties.. So when on a necklace.. they will ONLY hang the right way.. Then I'll be good to go, and hopefully can then concentrate on the designing...of the body and faces..

So for joy of just looking at glass beads.. here is a group shot of my last batch(litter)... I think the one that hangs good is one of the blue cats .

Same kitties... fronts and backs on mandrel...

Hope you enjoyed looking at my kitty cats.. and learning alittle bit of the process.. I think I will continue to work on these little guy's they measure about 40 mm x 20 mm tall... approx..

Backs of these kitties

Have a great weekend... Sincerely diane... :-)

Designing cats in Lampworking...

This week in the studio, its raining cats.. signed up for an exchange on wet canvas... this is always a great way to try something new.. and who knows start off on a new vein of glass art.
I tried several different kinds of cats.. to the left here is the sculptural affect of having the cat shape.. I am still wanting to perfect that.. I want a slick smooth line. I think if I try to do these again.. I will stick to just one color and just work on the smooth lines of what a cat looks like.. the shape not so much the detail of the face and eyes.. so not very successful but still have the "vision" in my head i'm working towards..which is the essence of cat..





I call these maggie kitties.. lol.. She has perfected this type of sculptural cats.. and there are other lampwork artist who do amazing work.. Just thought I'd give it a try... they are fun and lets face it you can do so much design wise with these kitties... check out Yoda Kitties by Maggie...

The face only.. was fun to do! But I need to do more to add more detail.. I think I will post a link to a couple of lampwork artist who have this down pat! Like Paula at Island top Glass, check out some of her kitty's... so cute..she does great puppies too! check them all out..



Ok this next bunch.. I had a vision in my head.. of what I wanted.. these two where the first
attempts... not what I was thinking.. it was a start..














Each of these had a slightly different design to it... which involved how to add the head, how to create the feet, make that curved look underneat between the feet...
out of all 4 My favorite was the bottom one with the orange spots.. the face... the body tail placement ..














Alas... cute as he maybe he had issues.. see picture below.. when hung on a mandrel... he flips upside down... lol.. so putting such a big head on top, messes up the glass distribution. Its ok maybe I can use that as a design element... make the feet meet and the cat can be hanging on the chain...
The dark brown spots one well that one is a little crooked... the orange kitty upside down.. the blue... stays perfect.. so design wise... the blue one wins out..

The winner is ... blue kitty... Soooo..
next torch visit.. I will add the face /head to the body have
the hole coming out of the side of the head... and yup

the other hole.. :-00 the other end.. but I want to shape the bottom more to have more of a cresent shape... also separating the feet... like the orange kitty... I like that scuptural element.. Plenty of body space for design... colors and themes.. so this is a bit of the thinking process.. you go through in designing.. I'm sure the next litter will be more to my likeing. Well have a great day... Diane :-)

My little Fur Buddy!

Hi just trying something new..
I took a little video with my digital camera this morning. Max my kitty was just being his cute little self. The reason for doing this besides showing how cute max is.. is to maybe video tape beads in progress... during the process in the flame.. I will probably have to bribe one of my family members to do it.. anyhow until then... this is max .. He is a pound kitty, and when I brought him home.. my husband made the comment you know he's gonna grow into those ears and feet.. and he was oh so right! (turns out he is part maine coon) So here goes.. little video of maxie doing his thing.. and in the process I've learned something new and exciting to do on the web..

ok that took a while but it looks like it worked.. now just need to see if it actually works.. enjoy.. and I am off to the Artfire shop and Etsy shop to post some beads..have a great day! Diane

Ok I just viewed the video... I realized! that my camera was set at a lower setting for detail.. so I've learned something here.. next time it will be a better quality of video.. sorry about the fuzziness of this one.. but it was still fun to do! and thanks for taking a look... ok got to get this day goin..

What's Happening this week?

I want to share a few pictures of fun stuff this week.. I'm working on a cat and dog exchange.. I've made a bead for a special coworker who has worked hard for many years to get his PHD.. so proud of him! I made a little reminder of how special he is! I also have pictures of one of my bits of glass beads.. oh and that one is quite funky..looking..

Think I'd like to start with the "DR Jeff " Bead.. Mr.. jeff has gotten himself a cool teaching job, so he is starting a new job but will be working here and there to help us out. So he's not gone yet. I wanted to see if I could create a bead for him to maybe hang on his backpack or as a key chain... took me 3 times but finally got this one.. and it survived the kiln Its 42 mm long.. I had to stamp DR On one side and Jeff on the other side.. getting it all on one side was not an option.. it didn't work.. I love using those special scrapbooking letters made of metal . and this was a good chance to practice and try something with them! I hope jeff likes his bead.. I sure had fun making it!

My Little bits o glass bead..Its very sculptural.. this is just playing.. and trying different things.. not sure what to call this. its a bit odd but fun.

Ok stop laughing so loudly.. lol.. these are my "cat and dog" exchange. These are my first attempts, and i've figured out what works what doesn't sort of. I have visions of what I want them to be! But it doesn't always translate to what is pictured.. but this is how we learn and and improve. PPP... practice practice , practice.

I have a bunch of beads to post.. thanks for stopping by today was mostly to just show the "playing " aspect of torching...