Life under the sea...

So I've been meaning to post this for ages. In the last term of my first year of uni, I did glass. And it was AMAZING!!!! I fell in love with this material, its colours, its texture and the possibilities.

So I began by looking at octopus'. I'm not sure why, I think it's because I'm missing my time of being a fishmonger! If only I could have my own shop and wouldn't smell of fish.... anyway back to the real world!

So I began by experimenting with sandblasting on glasses;

I loved these, and it was such an easy technique. The only tricky bit was cutting out the vinyl by hand however, it can easily be done on the computer. Something I'd like to try next year.

I then started to experiment with Bullseye coloured glass. And this is when I fell in love. We began by making small jewellery which look amazing when fixings are added. 

These are a few of the items that are for sale in my etsy shop. I really enjoyed making the jewellery and I had to make sure that I didn't keep all of it, as I so wanted to!! But I have made lots and will be making some more next year. So please have a browse of my shop, I'm adding more and more each day.

I then moved on to making images with the glass, I wanted to stay with my octopus theme and made this little guy.

 

I then experimented with making moulds to slump glass into. Again sticking with the octopus theme I made three octopus moulds to create three octopus formed pieces. I originally wanted to create bowls, however I was a little bit unsure as to how the mould detail would be once the mould had been slumped into a bowl shape. I decided to try it on a clear piece of glass and made a square bowl.

I love the bowl but it did lose a lot of the definition of the mould. So I decided to keep the colour bowls as flat wall pieces. The colours are amazing and so bright and bold. And the octopus image is really strong.

The backs of them had the indent of the mould and were a little unsightly so I decided to cover the backs in a matching felt to make them more presentable.

I was so pleased with the outcome of this project. I just wish that I had had more time and a lot more money for more glass. 

Norwich Craft fair

So I held a craft stall in Norwich on the 10th July with my friend Chloe. It was a great day except for the downpour at 4pm. The stall took a while to get going, a lot of people were browsing. I made about £55 which wasn't a great deal but I had a great time so that's what counts. However, I had already made £85 from selling my jewellery to a few friends before hand. 

So here are a few pictures of the day.....

So this is my side of the stall, we went 50/50 on it. I decided that I wanted to make my stall reflect my business cards and business image which is white with blue, purple and green glass gems. I wanted my stall to look classy and elegant.

I think that the contrast between the black and the white worked really well. It was great to have definition between the two sellers. We had a marque which were were able to display my teeth and Chloe's cards along the edge. We also made a 'washing line' to display more of our products.

The day was great, it was a great experience to find out what would sell and at what prices. I also found out that I needed to spread my items out so that people would see them as people didn't tend to want to fish around in the bowls I had put items in. The teeth went down a hit, but I think they need more focus and more of an explanation. We were also asked to do another fair in August because the fair organiser really like the quirky nature of my teeth. However I cannot go but I have applied to hold a stall in West Brigford here in Nottingham in September. 

The selling of my items has made me more enthusiastic about opening my own shop/business so to start I have open in etsy shop. Click here.

Where have I been.....

So I've finished my first year at uni and have enjoyed it so so much! I have been so busy with getting all my work finished and handed in. Since finishing the year I went on holiday to Egypt with my boyfriend and had an amazing time. I've then been on a placement at Djanogly City Academy in Nottingham helping in the textiles department which was such a great experience. And I've now been getting myself ready for a craft stall at the Norwich Lanes Fayre this weekend. So hopefully that will go really well. And I'll post soon :) any way I guess I'd better show what I've been up to....