Back on the Torch this week..

Fired up the torch today. Grabbed some black rods... and floral frits and just experiemented with sculptural shapes.. just to see what comes up. These little guys where just fun to make.. might have to make a few and make into earrings... just too cute. Will have to come up with a name ...

Here is the whole batch I worked on.. flattened barrel beads... regular barrels with neatened ends.. some disc beads.. one even pushed to the side for a different look.. Just a little design element i'm working on.. love this frits, colors are so vibrant against the black...Over all this was just to get my fingers working and getting the glass to behave for me.. since it had been several weeks... until next time.. :-)

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 :-)