Well isn't it amazing how time flies by and whilst I've been checking other peoples blogs I haven't really spent much time on my own, just updating my everyday one now and again but not really looked at my Honeycomb Crafts one so here I am just to give you a little update.

Linda and I went off to Shrewsbury last week and spent the day with other like minded enamellers enjoying a workshop by Bonnie Macintosh. We were doing 'grisaille' which means 'grey' in French and it turned out to be a really good day.

Bonnie showed us some of the work she had done and explained the different techniques to us. We tried them all but the only piece I managed to take a pic of is the one below. It's meant to be viewed at a slight angle but I didn't quite get the pic right.

Bonnie had set up stations which held 4 different meshes of enamel powder and the idea was to sift the first coat then fire it and then add the second and fire and so on. I decided to do something simple and cut a stencil out of sun rays coming down onto a field. I was pleased with the result and will give it a try at the studio when I get some free time.

I could spend all day enamelling, I just love the way the colours emerge when I add small pieces of crushed enamel to a design and then swirl it while it's in the kiln. I made this pendant and liked it so much that I was going to keep it to go with an outfit I had.
I sifted transparent shades of copper brown and light brown onto the copper shape then added and swirled glass pieces while it was still in the kiln and added a small millefiori (means millions of flowers in Italian). The different tones of brown gave a warmth and depth to the pendant and I had no sooner finished it than someone bought it so I didn't get to keep it to go with my outfit after all. This pendant, was created using shades of blue and mauve with small chips of glass being swirled into the design.

These next 3 pieces were made after someone gave me the inspiration of taking a small window of Gustav Klimts artwork then transferring it to my designs. This one had square pieces of copper wire put onto the pendant and I then inlaid them with mauve and white enamel. The background was a dove grey and the rest of the design was painted with gold before firing.

This piece was sifted with orange enamel powder and then I painted a flower and leaf design before firing. I didn't like this one as much as I thought I would as I really enjoyed painting it but the design didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped.

I loved this design with the ivory background and touches of blue, a sort of reddish brown and then gold highlights.

I loved the simple design of this next piece. I had used shades of blue opaque and transparent enamels and the colours had started to burst through giving a lovely depth to the background. A simple blue millefiori just finished it off.

Conference

Easter saw Linda and I going to the Guild of enamellers annual conference. This year held in Nottingham so not so far to travel. We were on the University Campus which was very nice but I have to say there was a lot of walking uphill and down and my feet were aching by the end of our stay but it was great fun and fabulous to see everyone's work.
The theme this year was 'Pearl'. My efforts were not brilliant but I did manage to make a type of book out of silver art clay which I then enamelled in an ivory colour and painted a verse on about the pearl of great price.

Linda and I both put some work on display. Mine was an enamel box that I hade made out of copper foil. I made a small flower to put on the side and was quite pleased with the result - I also displayed a brooch I had made from foil too.

Linda put some of the jewellery she had made on display. I especially like the one top right but can't for the life of me remember how she said she got the pattern on but it looked fab. We did a workshop with Dorothy Cockerill on cloisonne. It was a fabulous day. Dorothy had to work with people who ranged from beginners to the more experienced but no one felt left out or not able to achieve something. My attempt is pictured below and I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out so well. Dorothy does some amazing work and if I can get some more pictures uploaded I will show you the cloisonne work she had on display.

Linda and I were surprised to see our workshop pieces pictured in the Guild's magazine along with several others. My little flower box was also pictured which was a huge surprise.

Saturday

It's Saturday morning and I'm getting ready to go up to the studio so I can spend the day enamelling. I'm in the middle of doing a couple of items I may take to conference this year but I will wait and see how they turn out. I must get a better camera so that I can load pics straight to the computer. I'm sure I can do that off my phone but I've not worked out how yet. Maybe get Marc to help.
I've 7 children coming this afternoon to have an enamel party, friend of my daughter in law. One of them is my grandson Ben and he is so enthusiastic. I'm sure everyone else will be too. I'll try and get some pics posted later.

Daisy bowl

A little enamel bowl I made and then painted with small daisies.

Shrewsbury

A regional meeting of the Guild of Enamellers saw Linda and I in Shrewsbury again. This time we got there without having to go twice round the roundabout.

Jane Moore was demonstrating transfers on enamel. Jane told us about herself and how she started out as an enameller and she showed us the different types of transfers she used and some of her own designs that she had created.

Jane showed us how to lay the enamel onto the silver pieces and went through the process of firing and then rubbing the enamel down smooth and refiring ready for laying the transfer on.

The enamel had to be very finley ground and this had been expertly done by the Guild's Chairman, Lynne Glazzard, who had come along to meet us all and it was lovely to see her at our meeting. She was wearing a beautiful bracelet that she had made, I think it was faux bone, I know it wasn't enamel, but non the less it was gorgeous.
















After Jane had shown us what to do we had lunch and then set about creating our own pieces. I thought I was doing ever so well until I'd smoothed the enamel but I forgot to fire it before putting on the transfer and I got little holes appearing on the transfer. Someone said it looked like raindrops on the flower so I'll go along with that.





We were shown how to oxidise the silver and then to polish it up.

It really was a great and relaxing day. Everyone is so friendly and helpful and it is such fun too.

Encaustic Art

A couple of encaustic art pics that I created - the first one I wanted it to look like an underground cavern. I visited caves some years ago on Gibralta and the way the cave was lit up with coloured lights was beautiful, I hoped I'd be able to recreate something like it and this is as good as it got when I put the coloured wax blocks on the iron and spread it on the paper. I liked the effect I got. This scene turned out better than I thought - it was one of those happy happenings. I had wanted to create something that looked like a winter tree scene and I got the added image of what looks like a snowy owl flying from the forest. I took these photoraphs through glass so they are not as clear as the real thing.

I do enjoy doing encaustic art although I don't seem to have much time these days to do any.