Hearts of Glass

Hearts of Glass Studio Show, Saturday December 3!

2011-11-30T14:26:00.000-08:00

For the holidays this year, we're opening our studio and our living room, and transforming our space into a sparking holiday feast for the eyes! We've been busy creating new work and snazzy new displays so there will be a lot to explore. As a special bonus, visitors can watch Heather create a glass calla lily out of liquid, molten glass on the torch!

We are located just south of Beechwood - see the flyer for the full address!
Refreshments will be served.

We invite you to spread the word, bring a friend, meet the artists and make it an experience.

Ottawa Glass Bead Artists Show, Nov 11-12!

2011-11-10T18:45:00.000-08:00

We're excited to announce our next art show is coming up this Friday and Saturday! We will be in Booth #8 in the far left corner as you enter the hall (far right on the map since the doors are on top). Hope to see you there. Please spread the word!

Ottawa Glass Bead Artists

Bead & Jewellery Show 2011
Friday November 11th, 4-9pm
& Saturday November 12th, 10-6pm 2011

* A Showcase of ‘Hand Made’ Glass Beads , Jewellery & Bead Work *

Venue: Hellenic Centre, 1315 Prince of Wales Drive
Ottawa, Ontario

Salon annuel de perles et bijoux 2011
Vendredi le 11 Novembre, 16-21hr
& Samedi le 12 Novembre, 10-18hr 2011

* Une 'vitrine' de perles de verres faites à la main, bijoux et travaux de perles *

For more information on artists and classes, please visit:

http://www.ottawaglassbeadartists.com

Last year's booth (OGBA 2010).

We've been working on our booth design and have a few innovations to unveil, including a new tablecovering system and some new and repainted displays! And I have a great selection of brand-new florals to share.

New Floral Stamen!

2011-09-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

Hearts of Glass, Booth #40 at the Art in the City Festival

2011-08-27T06:12:00.001-07:00

We're having a lovely sunny weekend at the Art in the City handmade show in beautiful downtown Confederation Park!

Saturday August 27 10am – 6pm 2011
Sunday August 28 10am – 4pm 2011

Happy Pride Weekend everyone! Huge respect and appreciation to our elders who were involved in human rights activism in the 60s, 70s and 80s. I just watched an amazing documentary on the story of the struggle from decriminalization in Canada in '69 to the addition of sexual orientation to the Human Rights Code in Ontario in 1987, thereby ending the era of needing to hide your love in order to keep your job. Thank you!!!

Also, huge thank you to our friend Jill who brought over her truck and helped us set up on Friday morning! :)

A Flight of Dragonflies!

2011-08-14T17:02:00.001-07:00

Despite the warm humid weather, I took advantage of this rare, unbooked weekend to gear up and bust out the borosilicate glass that has been in storage since we packed up our Winnipeg studio last May! As you may remember from my last post, my mission was dragonflies. The goal this round was to make smaller, more wearable pendants while retaining all the detail and vitality of the older stickpin style.

I'm really happy with my first batch! This "flight" has a lot of diversity because I was experimenting with a variety of proportions and approaches, trying to find the best balance between durability and visual delicacy. The scale is around 1.5", so they are still "life sized", but more like the smaller species rather than the larger ones!

I just read about the smallest species of dragonfly. They are only 3/4" long! I think that's about as tiny as I can make one in glass. I made one nearly that tiny once but I didn't realize there were species that small. The "smallest dragonfly" title is a tie between the Elfin Skimmer (Nannothemis bella) of centre North America and the Scarlet Dwarf (Nannophya pygmaea) of Malaysia. I continue to be delighted by the ridiculously poetic common names of dragonflies!

Mission: Dragonflies

2011-07-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

I have been avoiding the torch lately! It's been too beautiful out and I've been away from home. However the urge is growing. I've seen some gorgeous dragonflies this summer, including a gorgeous Blue Dasher with green eyes:

And when we attended Andrea's father's burial in Alberta, the old rural graveyard was awash in dragonflies, giving us a perfect, peaceful and mosquito-free day to say goodbye.

So now I have an urge to try glass dragonflies again. They're challenging and exhausting to make and I have to be in the right mood, but I'm feeling ready to initiate the new studio into pyrex glass - if I can find an evening that isn't too sweltering already!

I'd like to make some smaller, sturdier and more wearable pendants, as well as a few splashy, life-sized stickpins! It will soon be time for the Art in the City festival, the last weekend of August!

Stay tuned...

More Earring And Pendant Photos From The New Art Festival

2011-06-19T10:32:00.001-07:00

Here's an image-heavy compilation of some of our work at the New Art Festival two weeks ago! Of course I had some new clear-encased flower pendants to reveal, including this blue one with a cool swirly background:

And a wind-blown white flower with an all-black stamen:

I've been trying spotted flowers lately, so here is a dramatic red speckled lily on a muted green base:

Here's another take on my new Dream Egg bead series, which is a more abstract version of my floral technique. This is a dark neutral worked into an asymettrical necklace.

And for something a little more whimsical, a new big red fish from our fish series!

We updated our earring collection with more simple dangle-hook styles, especially in our yummy-looking sugar-bead series.

And our most popular style, the locking, handforged Captive Drop earrings! These were a huge hit at the festival, which is great because I am addicted to coming up with new, tiny, intricate glass beads for them, and Andrea just keeps improving the process and outcome for handforging the sterling silver wire components!

We also made a lot of bracelet and earring pairs that can work as sets. The sets are always fluid - there are many of combinations that work beautifully, and everything is available individually. The blue bracelet is part of a more simple, classic series that we developed for the festival.

Watch this space for more new work (and new displays) for the Art In The City show
coming on in Confederation Park the last weekend of August!

We loved the New Art Festival!

2011-06-07T18:16:00.002-07:00

What a busy and fabulous weekend - the tents went on and on! The map shows 52 artists and artisans but it felt so much bigger. Maybe because all the displays were so fascinating! I snagged a new office mug and two dessert bowls from Dale Mark with the lovely flowy red/blue/green glazes I adore so much. And I coveted about a million things.

This was the first show for which we needed to supply our own tent, and it turned out quite well! Huge thanks to my father and our friend Jill for helping with loading and unloading (yay for trucks!). We had the same Costco Caravan tent as 75% of the other vendors and we're satisfied that it does the job and is good value for the money. I'm very happy with the new banner, too. Now I want more and more...

The display layout was effective and people seemed to be able to see everything. We were very lucky to have a corner booth. In fact the vendor next to us was a no-show so we were able to partially open the other side as well.

Most of all I was pleased that some of our new designs were well-received. We've been inspired to try some asymmetrical necklaces - in fact we made about half a dozen bold showpiece designs! But half of the big new necklaces were purchased at this show, and I have a feeling that more will go at the next show! It's very encouraging, especially since Andrea and I are inspired to make even more elaborate neckpieces now.

This long, ornate piece went to a new home:

This iridescent piece will be available at the Art in the City Show, August 26-28 in Confederation Park!

I'll share more about the earrings and pendants in my next post...

New Bracelets for New Art Festival

2011-05-31T20:24:00.000-07:00

In Creation Mode for the New Art Festival, June 4-5!

2011-05-29T14:08:00.000-07:00

We've been very busy at Hearts of Glass studios over the past several weeks, getting our ducks in a row for the New Art Festival show next weekend. Time is flying by. We're very excited about some of the new pieces we've got on the go and I'd like to share a sneak peek.

Here's Andrea working on our handforged Captive Drop locking earrings. The natural light is much better in the living room so she's working at the dining set she refinished this winter.

Here's a snapshot of some of the delicious-looking (if I do say so myself) Captive Drop pieces made in this weekend's batch. We've got over two dozen new pairs for the show!

I've also been working on a set called Dream Eggs. I've made one in every colour of the rainbow, plus a few neutrals.

A lovely metallic disk using silver-infused glass.

And of course, a floral - this one is HUGE and is in a double-sided disk shape. It will be made into a necklace with silver chain.

We also designed a new banner! I created text out of the Hearts of Glass logo that Andrea hand-designed a few years ago. It's times like these that I wish I knew how to make proper vector art, but I managed to make this on a Gnu-based freeware called GIMP. Hopefully it will look nice in 12" by 48" format in our shiny new vendor tent.

In today's final news, we have been accepted into the Art in the City show the last weekend of August. It will be near City Hall and sounds like a great show. More details to come!

I hope to see you at the New Art Festival at Central Park near Bank and Clemow, Saturday June 4th and Sunday June 5th (next weekend)! Bank Street is undergoing some street work in that area but it's still open for business and it's possible to park on side streets, so don't be alarmed. :) There will be dozens of artists showing work in media from watercolour, photography, wood, ceramics, metal, and more. We'll be at booth #44 on the South Parkway. Here is a handy map to help you come and visit us:

Accepted! New Art Festival June 2011

2011-04-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

Andrea and I just got some great news - we've been accepted into the New Art Festival!This is an outdoor festival held in a Central Park in the Glebe, a sophisticated and funky neighbourhood in central Ottawa. It features a blend of fine visual art and handcrafted artisanry in media such as jewellery, glass, ceramics, wood, metal, textiles and more! Check out the artist directory from 2010 to see what I mean. We're very excited to participate and have a million ideas. More updates coming soon!

The End of a Hard Month

2011-03-31T09:54:00.000-07:00

March was a hard and sad month. Andrea's father passed away on March 6th. We both went to Edmonton for his final days and his very moving funeral. Andrea stayed for several more weeks to be with family and work on a project for a friend. It was hard to be apart as we were both going through so many emotions and thoughts about life and death and family.
Now we're finally reunited and trying to get our heads back into daily life and our plans for the future. Needless to say glass hasn't been forefront in our minds this month but we have submitted a few applications for later this year. And I'd like to share a little idea-sketch I made (at the hospital, actually, during part of the four-day bedside vigil) of a flat-backed orchid design. I hope to be able to post a finished version of it sometime next month. It's good to have projects!

Triton glass, camera death and show planning!

2011-02-28T12:13:00.000-08:00

My camera died recently, which is sad. It was only around three years old, which seesm to be how long technology lasts these days. We've since gotten a new-to-us version (on our beloved kijiji) and we're still learning the ropes! But in the meantime, I made and sold a very cool piece that I'd like to share, even though it was only ever documented on my grainy cellphone camera.

This flattened-bicone piece features gravity-stretched coppered-opal-yellow and silvered-ivory stripes on silvered effetre black. (I've moved away from the CiM black I'd been trying as it tends to spread and eat detailed designs). As a crowning touch, I added trails of razor-cut Triton silver glass under clear. The result was very iridescent, mostly blue-green with hints of pinky-purple. I added simple polished disc beadcaps and wire-wrapped it horizontally on 26ga sterling wire to a nice thick sterling chain with an adjustable lobster clasp and two 4mm coordinating teal-veined jasper accent beads. After I took it out of the tumble polisher, I was really happy with the sleek result and plan to make more in this general design!

Andrea and I also made a nice batch of Captive Drop earrings for upcoming shows. What shows, you ask? Well, we're still figuring that out... Andrea's been researching some of the many spring and summer art shows in Ottawa. It's a whole new environment for us so we're trying to pick the best fit for our work. Any suggestions are appreciated! Stay tuned for the first batch of confirmed shows in the enar future!

I'd also like to apologise to anyone who got an error message from this site in the past week. It took me forever to figure out what the problem was and I finally had to remove the links to my blog list. I'll test them again in a while and will add them back to my site if the problem is gone.

Many ways to make Murrine cane!

2011-01-31T09:06:00.000-08:00

I recently got to attend a free demo by Lucie Kornakova and it was so inspiring!
(photo from Lunacy on Etsy)

I've been making my gathers football-shaped, Japanese-style and trying to stretch my graduated stripes evenly on the narrowing ends. It works fine for basic twist and ribbon cames but the more stripes and details, the more distorted the ends become. I also used small 1/8" metal punties, which again work fine for small simple things but are too flimsy for larger pattern canes.

Lucy builds hers in a narrow cylinder, even diameter so you can just stripe on even lines. She then builds up waste clear glass in either end to make the "egg" for pulling down with 10mm boro punties. I'd heard of that before but always thought that it would be so wasteful. Now I see how much sense it makes. No worries about boro contamination because it's only embedded in the waste glass, which is then discarded. She also talked about making murrine components and combining them together, which I'd only done an uber-tiny bit before.

(photo from Lunacy blog)

Lucy also had the most heat-efficient approach I've ever seen on a torch - it took her no time to melt huge gathers. I think this was partly because of the sweet Nortel Max torch and the world-class set-up at The Glass Shoppe Studio, but partly because she was able to absorb heat into her working pieces efficiently while keeping the finished base layers hard.

There was a class afterwards but we don't have the budget for it right now, sadly. Still just from the demo I've got a lot more ideas now!

I also got a link from my jewellery-designer friend Susan in Winnipeg showing U.S. artist Jim Jones' completely different approach to murrine cane building using sheet glass and a kiln. Very unique!

(photo from Glass2wear.com)

So far my most complex canes are my floral stamens. That's probably where I'll focus my new ideas. Now I just need some more fuel... ;)

Thanks For a Great First Show, Ottawa!

2010-11-22T20:14:00.000-08:00

It's been over a week since the OGBA show! We were pretty tired by the end (not too tired to go straight out to a party afterwards, of course!) but it was a big success for us and Andrea and I both feel pretty great about the experience.

There were some pretty amazing artists involved in the show and I was really nervous! But everyone was so nice, and we had a good response from visitors. We even re-imagined out display a little, using the bronze-coloured drapery instead of the yellow-gold damask. I like the subdued colour better.

Our approach to display is always evolving but there are a few elements that I highly recommend: light, height and levels. To raise the table to hip height, we use 4 pieces of black ABS pipe about 18 inches long, and just fit one over each of the folding buffet table legs. It's dead simple and makes it so much easier to see our tiny work. For our levels, we use two of our transport containers (plastic suitcases) and lay a melamine shelf across them, before draping everything in fabric. It not only adds visibility and visual interest, but it gives us a hidden "cave" under the middle of the shelf where we can store packaging materials for easy access!

We bought some new glass and frit from Nortel and the Glass Shoppe that I'm looking forward to playing with. We don't have any more shows planned for the rest of the year, but we look forward to our next one, whenever it may be!

Post 100 - OGBA Show This Friday & Saturday!

2010-11-12T06:03:00.001-08:00

My 100th blog post!!!

(Fireworks, fireworks, flag raised on castle)

Today, the OGBA show begins! (Ottawa Glass Bead Artists, not the Ontario Goat Breeders Association).

OGBA Bead & Jewellery Show 2010
Friday November 12th, 4-9pm
& Saturday November 13th, 10-6pm 2010
* A Showcase of ‘Hand Made’ Glass Beads , Jewellery & Bead Work *
Venue: Hellenic Centre, 1315 Prince of Wales Drive
Ottawa, Ontario

Andrea and I have been working hard and are proud of the new work that we have for this event. We moved the kiln onto the giant metal work table so that it would be easier to make off-mandrel work, and I made a great series of leaves and calla lilies. I really like the new workbench layout! It's ridiculously convenient.

Andrea has created a fresh batch of Captive Drop earrings and I'm very excited to see how they're received by the Ottawa community.

Other than the earrings, all of our new work is being offered as loose beads or pendants because many show attendees will be jewellery designers. However we're bringing a kit of wire-wrapping tools and sterling components so we can create custom finished jewellery for buyers as requested.

Wish us luck!

99th post: Florals Galore!

2010-11-09T12:57:00.000-08:00

We have five brand new, Ottawa-made florals that will be available at the OGBA show this Friday and Saturday!

This one has a twist: I added some small cane-florals around the main stamened florals. It added a lot of time to the creation but I like the effect! I'm also happy with the enamelled base.

This one is sweet, little and bright. I accidentally made it on a 1/16" mandrel, which was nervewracking at the time (it's very delicate mandrel for a focal!) but luckily it worked out. It's a benefit now, as a smaller hole diminishes the hideous spectre of bead-wobble. The vivid green, coral and pale pink palette isn't one of my typical colour combinations but I'd like to explore it more! I actually did make a matching earring pair that Andrea is making into Captive Drop earrings.

This one was the first floral I made in the new studio! It features my trusty black base and handpulled reactive cane base, with stamened flowers in white.

I love the background on this one! So rich and vivid. Blue does such wonderful things in glass. I'll never get tired of playing with blues.

This was the most recent one I've made, and also the biggest of the batch! I'm really happy with it. It has a rich background with frit, silver foil, reactive cane and goldstone, two huge violet florals with nicely flared stamens, and four smaller complex cane-flowers. It's something that one can gaze into and enjoy the depths and detail.

I can't believe I'm almost at post #100! Thanks to everyone who has been reading my blog. :) It's nice to have a place to talk through projects, track progress and generally nerd out on glass. :)

Show preparations!

2010-11-08T13:21:00.000-08:00

We're getting geared up for the Ottawa Glass Bead Artist show coming up Friday November 12th, 4-9pm & Saturday November 13th, 10-6pm 2010 at the Hellenic Centre (1315 Prince of Wales Drive). Since we got behind in preparing our studio we've been at the torch pretty much constantly all week!

At first it felt weird and I was mostly making "safe", process beads, just getting used to the feel of glass and fire again. It has been six months since we packed up our studio! But over the course of the week the groove started to come back and by the middle of the weekend I was feeling the love!

I've been having fun in a few designs with "threading" - heating the tip of a rod, then, outside of the flame, making a tiny anchor on the bead and quickly stretching and spinning a tiny thread of glass around the bead until the glass cools and snaps off. Repeat as necessary.

We also realized that we were out of business cards! I've attempted to design interesting business cards for us in the past but it's always ended up over-crowded and boxy. This time Andrea had some concrete examples of business cards from other artists that she'd been collecting. I worked from there and experimented with a split and angled design. I'm pretty excited about it - I think it's a breakthrough.

I'll have to write a phone number for people who don't have internet (raise your hand if that's you!) but that's what the plain back is for.

Stay tuned for photos of my first batch of Ottawa-made florals coming up next!!!

New Studio, first incarnation...

2010-11-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

In real life, it took a lot longer to get the studio going than it did when I imagined it in my head. Stupid real life!

It has been a productive month-and-a-bit since my last post. I was interviewed about Alaska's story (which hopefully was helpful to people going through the same situation, and/or to the Humane Society in terms of recruiting new donors and volunteers!). I also had to take her back to the vet for antibiotics for a nasty kennel cough she picked up (another side-effect of the overcrowded situation in the current shelter, which the new shelter will be designed to help prevent). I'm happy to report that she's fully recovered now and back to her old self 100%!

We also painted most of the first and second floor, which took forever, and unpacked and organized most of our stuff. Finally, once all that was under control, we were able to turn our attention to the studio.

I found a huge steel worktable on Kijiji near our house and spent an evening with Andrea trekking it home down the sidewalk on a dolly. (Clangy!) After that, my first goal was ventilation. I found a 715 CFM kitchen vent on Kijiji and after an epic quest to far Nepean, returned home with it. It was huge but covered in a thin film of sticky grease that took two hours of scrubbing to remove. It cleaned up nicely though and I'm kind of in love with it! It's a Japanese model called Sakura and the centres of the two fan grilles are shaped like cherry blossoms (which is what sakura means). Cutest fan ever.

My father spent a Sunday with me finding parts at Home Depot and installing it. It's wonderful to have a father who, at a moment's notice, can drop by with exactly the right kind of machine screws and driver bit for a job! The window was a slider and the vent duct and cover fit perfectly. We fed it through blue styrofoam sandwiched between two layers of plywood, which we custom-fit to the window hole. I painted the outer layer for protection. It's snug as a bug and looks sleek. And of course it really sucks.

We've decided to take a break on pursuing a natural gas line for now, as the red tape for that in Ontario is unbelievable. At first I thought I'd try the disposable tank and Hot Head approach, just until the show (two weeks away at the time). I bought a new Hot Head as my old FireWerks QuietTorch was dying. We made it work for a week but it was way too frustrating. The flame is so much more bushy, reducing and weak than the oxy-fuel torch. It was like trying to paint with a plastic brush when you're used to a fine-tipped sable! Of course a true artist can adapt to any tool but we were on a timeline, and I'm out of practice being an artist of any kind!

So Andrea took up the challenge and spent two days tracking down parts and connectors to get our big torch running. It's SO much nicer. Thankfully the oxygen concentrators seem to have survived the move - keep on trucking, little guys!

I also want to point out that most of my tools are hanging off rare-earth magnets from the vent! It's working out well so far.

We have the kiln and controlled going again and our old glass storage back in action. (Still being unpacked from their bubble-wrappy shrouds in the photo).

So many things we want to upgrade... (Including, you guessed it, insulating and drywalling the gloomy walls!) But for now, we are making glass again!

Reunited: A Heartwarming Tale!

2010-09-30T05:47:00.000-07:00

I usually try to keep this blog glass-focused, but this is a really amazing story that happened to Andrea and I. It starts off really sad, though!

When we moved in to our summer sublet in June, we reclaimed our cat Alaska who had been living with my parents while we settled in. She HATED the noisy downtown apartment and cried constantly. Her restlessness led us to choose to take off her collar because the constant jangling was preventing us from sleeping, and the info was all for Winnipeg anyway. We'd tried to get her a new ID tag at the pet store and had been told we needed to go to City Hall for a license, which we intended to do the next week. After Alaska's first week with us, though, we woke up to find that she was missing, and that a corner of the decrepit screen in our second floor window had been pushed open. She must have squeezed onto the ledge, jumped to another ledge, and leaped down onto the dumpster and away into the night.

We immediately combed the bushes and alleyways looking for her, put up posters, and checked the shelters. No luck. The next day was the Ottawa earthquake, which didn't help, but we kept looking. After that they ripped up the pavement in front of the apartment. But we kept looking. We posted ads online, and enlisted everyone we knew to keep an eye out for her. We called for her in the streets and went to the shelter every three days, hoping that someone would bring her in.

Weeks passed, then months with no news, good or bad. We stopped calling in the streets but kept up our visits to the shelter, although we started to suspect that some sweet but internet-illiterate old lady had adopted her and was spoiling her with cat treats in a highrise somewhere. We hoped that was the case, because our baby was not a great hunter (she killed mice, but only by *accident*, and I don't think eating them even occured to her) and certainly not a great fighter. She had even been declawed on the front before we adopted her. We didn't think she would survive more than two weeks on the street.

At the end of August our sublet expired and we moved in with a friend for the next two and a half weeks until our house was ready. The route from work to her house took us past the shelter, so we kept checking. On Sept 10 we got possession of our house and spent a week refinishing the floors. After that we'd be in Vanier, and the shelter would be hard to get to (a 40-minute bike ride...).

On Monday the 13th I got an email from someone who had seen a white female cat at the shelter. I was able to make it in on Tuesday and there was indeed a female cat that looked painfully like our Alaska. Something about her face wasn't quite right though, and her eyes were the wrong shade. Still, I had the shelter staff check her front toes to be sure. She had claws, so she wasn't Alaska. Heartbroken, I left - around 5:45 or 6pm.

You need to check the shelter every three days to find your lost animal. That's how long they'll hold lost beasts before evaluating them for adoption, fostering, or euthanasia. You're supposed to post a lost notice at the shelter but the staff really don't have the resources to check, because so many cats come in every day. We'd tried very hard to be diligent, but we'd have a few gaps of 5 days during the transitions. Still, between Andrea, my mother and I we'd gone approximately 25 times to the shelter from June 22nd to September. Friday September 17th was my last bike ride from work to my friend's house, and it was going to be my last check in at the shelter.

It felt like a regular Humane Society shelter visit - the smell of disinfectant, the staff in scrubs, the usual police offers bringing in stray beasts, other teary-eyed petowners looking for their lost ones, and the squeaks of lonely animals. I signed into our lost cat report visit page (in the margins, because we'd already filled all the lines), checked the DOA list, checked the first wall of new arrival cages in the entryway. Each cage has a kitty litter box, food bowls, a floor mat and a little cardboard cat-cave. Usually one cat alone, sometimes siblings snuggled together or a mass of peeping kittens. You're not allowed to touch the cats because it might spread kennel cough.

There are two holding rooms of cages at the shelter, plus the entry-way and the overflow cages in the hallway. I checked the far room first, and found a flatter-faced white cat, definitely not Alaska. The hallway kitties weren't her. At least it's easy to check for a white cat...

The room closer to the entry had the door closed and a sign up about special hygiene measures to be taken. I asked the staff whether I was allowed to go in, and I must have gotten a volunteer first because she said she didn't think so, and I almost left. Luckily another staff member came along and said I could go in. I opened the door, stepped in the room and looked to my right - straight into Alaska's eyes.

I recognized her instantly, even though she was filthy, skinny and matted. I'm not sure whether I stepped forward or back - maybe both - but I know I started to cry. It had been 87 days since she ran away. I think I chirped at her and called to her through the cage door and she responded weakly. I knew it was her but I could hardly believe it. My eyes ran across her chart - "white female DMH, declawed (front), found downtown Sept 14". Finally I got the room door open again and called semi-coherently to a staff member "It's my cat...".

A staff person opened the cage door and said "Touch her.". I patted her skinny side and felt all her ribs through her long, greasy fur. She pushed her body against my hand. Then I had to leave her and do the paperwork to take her home. I paid for the vet treatment she received, the days at the shelter, a license and a microchip. They loaned me a carrier and gave me the number for the pet taxi (I left my bike there). I got some more of the story, too. Alaska had been brought in by someone who found her trapped in an underground garage at Cooper and Lyon - only a few blocks from where we'd been staying. She was brought in on Tuesday, just a half-hour after I'd left from my previous visit.

We were staying two more nights at our friend's house while the floor varnish cured. I called Andrea (who was in Vanier, in the middle of varnishing) and, still in tears, told her the unbelievable good news. The poor girl had to finish varnishing before she could do the 45 minute bike back to our friend's.

Our friend Lisa was incredible. She said of course I could bring my cat to her place. She fosters cats regularly for the Humane Society and had some tins of special recovery food which she gave to us. We spent most of Friday night snuggling with Alaska and most of Saturday trying to clean her up. On Sunday Lisa drive us home, all together.

It's been so amazing to have Alaska back. We'd dreamed about reuniting in time to move into our new house and it actually happened. It's hard to see her so weak and skinny, but she cleaned up nicely and has been recovering like a champ. She eats constantly and has been using her litter with no problems. I took her to our local vet for a follow-up and, other than mild anemia and a slightly raised white-blood cell count (within tolerances and completely expected considering her ordeal), she was given a clean bill of health - no parasites, no viruses, no organ damage, no injuries. She probably weighed under 5 pounds when she was brought in and she's 7 pounds now, which is at the low end of normal. She had to have the mats shaved off of her belly so she's still a bit naked but she's looking more normal every day. She's still resting a lot and not interested in playing yet but we're hoping that will come in time. She is snuggling, though!

She is only eight years old so we hope to have another 8 years with her. Not sure how many lives she lost this summer, but we'll appreciate every year we do have because every moment we have with her is a gift.

The lessons I take away from this experience are:

-never underestimate a stressed cat's ability to escape.
-even wussy cats are amazing survivors (maybe even better survivors than aggressive cats!)
-it may take 3 months for your lost cat to look crappy enough for someone to bring it in. I have heard this from many people. Don't give up!!!
-If you see a lost cat, at least call the shelter. They can check the lost listings. Also check Craigslist, Kijiji, UsedOttawa and other online listings.
-the Humane Society really does need more space. You can donate to their capital fund for the new space here: HS "Breaking Ground" fund
-the shelter desperately needs more animal fosterers like my awesome friend Lisa. It is a really sweet deal where you get to play with kittens, save them from weeks in a cage, and everything is paid for!

Moving week!!!

2010-09-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

We've been to the lawyers and possession day is so close we can taste it! It's almost time to move into our new home. We're SO looking forward to having our own space after "camping out' in a furnished sublet for three months and crashing with kind friends for the extra weeks before and after.
Part of our preparation for moving has included looking into the requirements for setting up a natural gas line to run our glassmaking and soldering torches. So far the news has been a bit daunting - according to TSSA we need to get a full industrial inspection (at nearly $600) in addition to the lost for gasfitting. Also, so far the insurance brokers we've spoken to have said that we'd have to get commercial coverage for our studio at around $700/yr, whereas we were able to include it in our home insurance for just a small cost in Winnipeg.
It's not impossible to arrange but it's significantly more costly than expected, and might affect our timeline. Still, we're committed to safety first and to being above-board with all our work so we'll jump through the hoops as best we can.
"BEFORE"Our bench will be here between two windows, with intake air and vented exhaust.

I've also been looking into limewashing application as it sounds like a gorgeous treatment for the rustic basement walls, and one that will be compatible with a semi-permeable surface. It depends on what the existing white surface is, as you shouldn't limewash over acrylic paint. The long-term plan is to frame in some proper insulation but that may be a few years away!
Step one is, of course, to move all our stuff out of storage and refinish the main floor hardwood so we can set up our lives and put our exciting but challenging vagabond summer behind us.
Wish us luck!

Bead History with Tom Holland

2010-08-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended a presentation by internationally-renowned pioneer beadmaker and bead history enthusiast Tom Holland, organized by the Glass Shoppe Studio and the OGBA. First of all, I still can't believe how big and active the beadmaking community is here! There were at least 50 people at this lecture. Secondly, I was blown away by how much I still didn't know about glass beads. Thirdly, Tom Holland is fabulous and adorable.

I missed the first part of the lecture because of slow buses and me being slow in figuring out the exact location. But I was there in time to hear Tom talk about ancient beads with the eye of a beadmaker, reverse-engineering them and explaining the techniques and tools that would have been used, and his theories on trade and influence between beadmaking cultures.

For example, it took him 5 years to figure out how to make this Islamic Folded Bead! Without thinking about it, I would have guessed that this bead was made with twisted cane, but no - it was folded from a thin disk.

His enthusiasm about ground murrine chevron beads and chevron-esque beads was cool, but then when we got to see his own work (and the work of his equally reknowned partner, Sage) it really hit home. His work, and especially the lapidary-faceted work, was just stunning. And we were only seeing what was left over after several days of teaching and visiting in Toronto and Ottawa!

It was also really humbling to hear the story of this cool pioneer who built his own torch and struggled to develop brand-new techniques with no teachers or resources other than his collection of ancient beads. These are techniques that we all take for granted now as beadmakers, but only because artists and teachers like Tom and Sage and a handful of others in the 80s and 90s opened the doors.

For more on Tom Holland's local classes (which I sadly can't even consider taking during our big move as money is too tight) check out Lise's blog PERLES DE VERRE (in French, translated through Google Translate - I love how they translated the name Sage into Wise!)

Summer Texture & Pattern Inspiration Part 3 - Birds

2010-08-12T09:47:00.001-07:00

I've been lucky to see a lot of gorgeous birds so far this summer. I'm very priviledged to have a family with a fabulously cottagy log cabin on a lake with a healthy loon population. I won't lie, it was a MAJOR incentive for moving back to Ottawa! I also get to go boating regularly with my father and see wetland flora and fauna. Even though bright colours are associated more with tropical wildlife, it's amazing to think that these vivid and inspiring colours and patterns can be found in our own Ottawa-Valley backyard.

Summer Texture & Pattern Inspiration Part 2 - Plants

2010-08-09T12:27:00.000-07:00

Our demonstration a few weeks ago helped "take the edge off" of my ache to create things in glass. But I'm still dreaming away and looking forward to pouring out some new ideas once the studio is ready. Only 6 weeks to possession day, and around month after that 'til we're set up enough to start playing. It's been a busy summer, though, rediscovering the Ottawa Valley!

Summer Texture & Pattern Inspiration Part 1 - Insects

2010-08-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

Some things I saw this summer in the Ottawa Valley and surrounding area that I'm keeping in mind as texture and pattern inspirations...

Demonstrating at the Glass Shoppe Studio

2010-07-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

CIM colour choices for Saturday's Fish & Calla Demo!

2010-07-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

Since all our glass is carefully mummified in bubble-wrap burritos, I've decided to use some of the luscious CIM colours available at the Glass Shoppe Studio for my demo! PURE PRACTICALITY, I promise! ;)
My fish and callas are fantasy lifeforms so there's no end to colour options. I'm leaning towards translucent purples and greens, though, like Crocus and Kryptonite.

Glassworking Demo
"How To Shape Hot Glass Fantasy Fish Beads and Calla Lily Pendants"
by Heather Stewart and Andrea Steinwand of Hearts of Glass Flameworked Talismans
Saturday, June 24th
1pm to 4pm
Glass Shoppe Studio
210 Colonnade Rd, Unit 12A
It is a free event and everyone is welcome!

See you soon!

ALSO: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREA!!! We're going out for pupusas with family tonight and mojitos with friends later on. Feliz cumpleanos mi amor!

The Very First Hearts of Glass Ottawa Demo & Show!

2010-07-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we visited Grace Edward's Glass Shoppe to watch Evelyn "Shebamakeda" Duberry's Goddess bead demonstration. It was such a cool demonstration and such a wonderful studio space that we immediately began dreaming of one day doing a demonstration of our own there!

That day has some sooner than we expected! Grace was kind enough to offer us a demonstration event next Saturday, June 24th from 1 to 4pm at the Glass Shoppe Studio, 210 Colonnade Rd, Unit 12A. It is a free event and everyone is welcome!

I'm going to demonstrate a glass fish bead and an off-mandrel calla lily pendant.

These designs are both excellent for showing a wide variety of shaping techniques that beginner lampworkers can apply to their own work. I'll cover studio safety and tools, glass colour reaction theory, pulling cane, frit application, loops, dots, trapped bubbles, and more!

Andrea will talk about some of her jewellery finishing techniques, share booth display tips and tricks and show off the current Hearts of Glass collection. We'll be having a trunk show of some of our favorite work as well, and we'll be placing some pieces on consignment at the Studio afterwards.

We're both so excited about this fun opportunity. I look forward to seeing curious "glass virgins" and experienced lampworkers who are into gathering with other glass-obsessives. Maybe my family will come by too! Any time I get to torch and nerd out on glass (especially with fellow glass nerds) is a great time in my books!

A New Home for Hearts of Glass

2010-06-29T10:36:00.001-07:00

We did it!

Andrea and I bought a house in East Ottawa (Vanier-Beechwood) this week. It's waking distance to the Bytown Market, biking distance to my office downtown, and on three bus routes, so we should be able to continue to manage without a car. It's in good shape with just a short list of projects to work on (mostly roof ventilation and drainage, but definitely DIY stuff) and great layout, kitchen, bathroom, and yard.

Most importantly for the glass side of our life, it's got a tall, bright and spacious unfinished basement and a classy garage with a huge window overlooking the garden - so much studio potential!

We look forward to building our dream bench over the next year, step-by-step! The first steps will be gas hookup and ventilation, and some sort of basic bench surface. Eventually as we can afford it we'll upgrade to something in stainless steel or slate (my Dad has offered us a large salvaged slab - he's the king of "good junk"!). We also want to build a silversmithing bench with a dedicated line for our soldering torch.

Of course, we don't get possession until September 10. But now we can enjoy the summer and know that we have something very special to look forward to!

Demonstration by Evelyn "Shebamakeda" Duberry last Saturday

2010-06-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was so much fun! We went househunting and canoeing with my Dad and sister, which was awesome, but our more glass-related adventure was our first in-person encounter with the OGBA folk and with the Glass Shoppe Studio.

Evelyn Duberry of Shebamakeda was at the torch demoing her curvy goddess sculpted beads. She was using Cirrus, an milky opal-like glass from CiM. For us, it has always gone regular opaque white in the kiln, but Evelyn explained that it needs to be re-struck to translucent *and* the annealing should be done closer to 980, instead of 968 as we'd always been doing it. Good to know! I look forward to trying that.

Evelyn was on one of about 10 Nortel torches (hers was a red Mega Minor which looks really slick!). They were all individually piped with propane from a huge tank outside (I assume - I just saw the black pipe marked "Propane") and an oxygen concentrator for each that looked just like our Devilbiss Solarises. Each station had front exhuast grilles and ducts leading down and out to a central exterior blower. It was all beautiful stainless steel and I want our new studio to be like that.

It was really cool to watch Evelyn work and speak with Grace about her supplies, her new shop and the OGBA. We were able to compare the CiM and Moretti colours side by side which was so much more revealing than online shopping! I really wanted to stock up on new tools (mama needs a new masher) but since all our gear is still in boxes it would be a bit premature. The bead store right next door was a huge temptation also but we resisted. Must save money for buying an actual house!

We've got our eyes on one that would be perfect (two, actually: Choice A and Choice B) so we'll let you know...

Ottawa Glass Bead Artists

2010-06-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

Last week I contacted the Ottawa Glass Bead Artists to see about getting involved in upcoming events. I got an immediate reply from Grace Edwards of Laucha Lady fame. Apparently she has just opened a new teaching studio on Colonnade (near my old high school!) which hosts special events, meetings and demonstrations!

Sounds very interesting. I look forward to attending an event in the near future!

...on the other side: Ottawa

2010-05-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

Ottawa!

Andrea and I are halfway through the process of moving here from Winnipeg. I've been here for nearly two weeks now, starting my new job, and our stuff arrived safely last Wednesday in a shared truck. But Andrea's still in Winnipeg tying up loose ends, and we don't have a place of our own set up yet. I've been staying with some very generous friends downtown and helping them with some projects in return. It's a weird time! All the hard work of moving away from Winnipeg is dealt with but there are still emotions of loss and displacement. Even though this was my choice and it's my long-lost hometown, it is disorienting to be the "new kid" in town! Ottawa has nearly twice the population and a much higher average family income than Winnipeg, so everything here seems bustling and shiny.

For example, a pillar at the corner of the block where I work has a base of shiny black rock. But not just any rock! It's beautiful Larvikite, a semi-precious stone with lots of dramatic blue flash:

I've made lovely jewellery using this very same stone!

Some would call it "flashy", and some would call it "fabulous". I don't know what to think of the downtown streetscaping so far, but I do know that I'm being very well taken care of by my friends and family. And I know that there is an amazing arts and cultural scene that belies Ottawa's rather buttoned-down reputation. And I know that there's an active and creative glass beadmaking scene that I'm very excited to join!

For now, we're still working on settling in. The rest will come in time.

...And our Winnipeg shows are all done!

2010-05-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

Considering that we've only ever done shows in Winnipeg and nowhere else for five years this is a pretty momentous ending! Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us. We do hope to be back for a show here again one day.

This was our first piece to sell at the Elm Street show this past weekend. Andrea was all "Turquoise and purple? Will anyone like that?" but it didn't even last five minutes so I am vindicated. ;) And it's a pretty sweet image to mark the end of our Winnipeg artisan market involvement.

New Captive Drop lockable earrings and Amanita bracelet set

2010-05-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Andrea made the latest batch of Captive Drop earrings. It was cool, I showed her how I made them a couple of times, and I hand-wrote a step-by-step process in our ideas and special orders book. She has a way higher aptitude for metalwork than I do so she was able to get it perfect right off the bat and after one practice pair she took on a big batch of around 15 pairs. Hmph! The first 6 or 8 prototypes I made while trying to design this style were terrible, and here she is being brilliant from the get-go? Cheeky, I call it.

Actually Andrea did all the benchwork for this show, and I did all the torchwork. It's turning into our typical division of labour! Andrea's designs with my glass were really gorgeous this week - I'm especially impressed with some of the cluster pendants she made with "extra" beads that weren't planned to match but just *did* - beautifully - when she put them together. Amazing eye.

Oh, I did design one piece - Amanita, inspired by the classic red-topped fairy mushroom but heavily abstracted. I made that one from a sketch and it turned out pretty true to my idea. Andrea did the pendant and the actual assembly, though, because I got distracted on the torch.

Ruby Granite Captive Drop EarringsElation Captive Drop EarringsAmanita Bracelet
Amanita pendant

Now we're all ready for tonight's show opening night! I look forward to seeing some familiar and new faces at our final Winnipeg show.

Elm Street Artisan Open Studio
395 Elm Street
Fri May 7 5-10pm
Sat May 8 10am-5pm
Sun May 9 10am-5pm

Hearts of Glass's last show, Sumak Designs gemstone and silver, Formations in Metal designs, Pauls' Exotic Pens (lathe-turned), and Donna's Handmade Soap.

Refreshments provided, new visitors & familiar faces welcome!

New Dragonflies for Elm Street Show!

2010-05-06T14:42:00.000-07:00

Lumina Dragonfly stickpin brooch

Aeshna Dragonfly stickpin brooch

The New Floral Stamen

2010-05-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

So I finally got to use my new floral stamen stringer in a new bead. Here is the result! I get a sprightly, vaguely Eastern European feeling from this one. :) It will be unveiled at our final Winnipeg show this weekend.
This look is so different from my past ones. Definitely the most successful petaled stamen I've ever made, but it's so vivid that I'm it sure whether it would work with less flame-coloured flowers! I think it might work best as a separate mini-flower cane on its own. What do you think?

Our tidy jewellery studio!

2010-05-03T09:23:00.001-07:00

So our house is currently on the market in preparation for our move to Ottawa. Everything's gotten a bit condensed because I just got a great Ottawa-based job in my field! It's looking like we'll be able to get a little house in the fall once my job probation period ends. We won't be ready for the Winter 2010 season but we should be up and running for Spring/Summer 2011!
We've been completely spoiled this spring with *three* studios - paint, glass and jewellery. It wasn't always like this - we've had renovations most of the time taking up space and making messes. Everything always looks the most amazing right after you've decluttered and tidied everything up for selling. We're trying to think of this as "our *first* house" now, rather than "our house" because otherwise it would be too heartbreaking. It really helps to know that we'll be in a fairly solid position in Ottawa, and we'll be gardening with friends this summer so we should make it through! Hopefully we'll make some glassworking friends and can get some hits of glassmelting in until our own studio comes out of storage.
For now, this is our last week of glass and jewellery work before our final big show at 395 Elm Street, May 7-9! We're having fun and managing to make a surprising amount of new work considering how busy things have become. And I must admit, it's pretty awesome working in a tidy and decluttered studio!

Florals with New Stamen Cane

2010-04-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

As promised in my last post, here are the latest photos of my recent batch of floral beads! They all feature the newer 27-element stamen that I made a few weeks ago.

Landini Lily
The fattest of the batch! Named after a deep red Asiatic lily, this one has some pleasant swirliness to it and a fabulous background with my handmade reactive blue cane.

Green Dragon Amaryllis
This is the smallest of the batch - cute yet intense. I really like the colour combination using reactive cane, rubino and silver. Stay tuned for a bigger version in this same colour scheme because I love it so.

Asterid
This one is the tallest and most tapered of the batch. The background was made with red and orange enamel that turned yellow. It was unexpected but the result reminds me of veins of quartz granite and gold in a prospector's mine!

I actually made an even newer stamen cane on Monday with a super-miniaturized black inner layer, yellow, orange and dark green mid-layers and outer layer of pink petals. I haven't tested it in a bead and I'm super-curious to see how it'll look. Stay tuned for the results, PLUS some info on how I make my stamen canes!

Abstracts and Show Poster

2010-04-12T09:29:00.001-07:00

A small selection of my recent abstract beads. I'm making them into pendants for the Spring Artisan Open House on Elm Street (except for Heat Wave, which is a special order).

I also have three exciting florals to share in my next post! I can't resist so I'm going to leave you with a small preview of "Green Dragon Amaryllis":

Post #75 Reviews: Phillips Visor & CIM Clear Stringers

2010-04-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

Wow, post 75! I'm definitely still not an "expert blogger" but I've definitely learned a thing or two since post #1. In honour of this auspicious occasion I will post a very silly self-portrait that I took first thing this morning without brushing my hair, apparently. :)

Which is also a good segueway into some reviews of Hearts of Glass 2010 purchases. Once again I chose Artistry in Glass as our supplier this year, with equally satisfying results. We have a very annoying process of completely inventorying our supplies and then ordering based on gaps, with a few treats thrown in. This year our treat was a fancy visor. A mundane order that turned out to be a treat was CIM Clear Stringers.

Andrea (my lovely and talented wife) wears glasses and wanted more comfortable layerable eye protection than the oversized economy safety glasses. I wanted something that would do a better job of filtering UV and IR radiation from boro glass as I was noticing the eye strain with my basic shade-3 flip-ups. Also I wanted something that would make me look like a mad scientist. The Phillips Boro Visor is working well for us in all these key areas.

I wear it over my regular economy safety didys. It's very comfortable and easy to move up and down. There's enough airflow that fogging up isn't too much of a problem. And I find that my vision of the work is very crisp and clear even though it's a little darker than I'm used to. Still, I find I'm wearing it flipped down 75-80% of the time, even when I'm working soft glass. It's essentially the same visor body used for magnifying or whatever but with a didy and a shade 3 lens in the visor area. I wonder whether it would be possible to squeeze a magnifying lens in there too? My eyes are feeling much better lately which is great.

I only ordered the CIM clear stringers because the regular effetre stringers were out of stock. At first I was annoyed because they're a fair bit pricier. But what a pleasant surprise when I first melted it! It was significantly stiffer than effetre (I worried for a second that I'd grabbed a boro stringer!) and about a zillion times less scummy that effetre stringers. The size is perfect for the final steps of my stamen florals, which is a very scum-sensitive stage, so I'm very pleased to have a smooth & cooperative clear to work with on small-scale applications. Part of the clarity probably comes from the way it's handled in shipping: neatly paper-wrapped in little packets of a dozen or so to prevent scratching. Not sure if that's AiG or CiM but either way I'm a happy lampworker!

Now I'm off to the torch to make some new work for our final Winnipeg show coming up the weekend of May 7th, just four weeks away!

Dragonfly Brooches and Upcoming Show

2010-03-30T14:32:00.001-07:00

I made three dragonflies in the past few weeks. Two of them were lovely! One of them you will never see. >;)

Selika

Imperatrix

Also I am happy to announce an upcoming show!

Elm Street Spring Open Studio
Glass, Silver & Gemstones by three artisans
May 7, 8 & 9 (Friday, Saturday & Sunday)
395 Elm Street
5-10pm Friday May 7
10am-5pm Saturday & Sunday
Snacks and Door Prize!

More info and pictures to follow!

Poppy with NEW Stamen Cane!

2010-03-25T17:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been silent for a while. I've been distracted by the move plans. I slacked off on photographing and blogging but I *have* been making things here and there, mostly custom orders. I'll talk about those in an upcoming post but I want to share my latest floral with you right now!

It took me over two hours to build the stamen from scratch but it was worth it! This has twice as many elements as my last one and finally has the bushy, bristly look I've been craving for so long. My only regret is that the pea green, yellow and orange ended up looking more or less the same colour. Remember, kids, always use more vivid colours than you think you'll need in a stamen cane!

What do you think? :)

Custom Dragonfly

2010-02-05T09:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got a custom order on Etsy for a special dragonfly stickpin. It asked for blue "dragonfly-style" eyes and a green tail dot, which I'd never done before. I was so excited that I went on the torch as soon as I could and made this!

Insignis Dragonfly

"Captive Drop" Earrings

2010-01-30T12:39:00.001-08:00

Andrea and I have finally come up with a name for our "handforged locking earrings": Captive Drops! What do you think? Also, I'm really happy with how the earring construction has continued to evolve from the first few sets!

The top two orange-coral swirl "Solar Flair" earrings are special orders. They look the same size in those photos but they really aren't! The earhooks and beadcaps as the same but one has tiny 7mm beads, and the other has 11mm beads. The photo below shows the real proportions:

The next two are freshly listed on Etsy!

Mountain Thaw (my favorite!)

Cresyl Violet (a tiny pair for purple lovers!)

First bead of 2010

2010-01-25T08:17:00.001-08:00

I got the new compressor filter installed in my 2nd oxygen concentrator, so I'm back up to full power! On Thursday I made this floral. I'm happy with the striping (it's better in real life than in the photo - I seem to have captured the one area where it faded out!). And the pink floral is actually the pinkest and least mooshy I've made, though still rather scummy. Rubino Oro, you are a harsh mistress. (Yes, I used an oxidizing flame and worked slowly and far out... any other suggestions?) Luckily, in real life it is only about the size of a big marble, so you only see the micro-scum if you look very closely.

I also made a batch of forged earrings that I'm very happy with. I don't have any shows coming up so I think I'll actually post them on Etsy! My poor shop has been so neglected and I look forward to sprucing it up.

Reflections and Resolutions

2010-01-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope everyone had as wonderful a celebration this year as we did. We couldn't manage to get home to either of our families this year because of a costly, unexpected and of course unavoidable furnace replacement. However, we were very blessed to be invited to join our good friends' family events (we're friends with the whole family, starting with our dear friend Rebecca whom we met in Guatemala). We got to spend time with kiddos and elders, out in the country, with lots of games and traditions and fun. For New Years we set off a ton of fireworks from Red Bomb on a frozen creek in perfect, clear windless -25 degree weather under a bright full moon. I'm not sure who was more excited - the kidlets or the "grownups!". Anyway, we all looked fabulous in our parkas and snowpants. :)
"Molten Fury" fireworks (one of our favorites)

2009 was a great year for Hearts of Glass. We've been growing and improving every year and this year we set new new personal benchmarks for quality and design. We're still a relatively small hobby-business but when I think back to how far we've come over the past six years that we've been lampworking, it's really amazing! We didn't know anything when we started. We've still got a lot that we look forward to learning, but I am very proud of what we've accomplished together.
Speaking of which, Andrea and I celebrated our 7th anniversary (of dating) on Dec. 30th 2009! We're supposed to mostly celebrate our wedding anniversary now (2.5 years) but I can't help celebrating both. That way we get one every 6 months!
For 2010 we're planning to do more silversmithing and more online marketing. I'm getting the hang of striking double-amber-purple in boro and look forward to playing with more elaborate dragonfly designs. Andrea has challenged me to break out of my five-pointed floral "rut" and explore new petal shapes, which I've been meaning to do anyway, but now it's a matter of honour! ;)
Our biggest change and challenge in 2010 will be our big move... We've decided to move away from Winnipeg to Ottawa, to be closer to my family.

View Larger Map
It'll be a bittersweet and slightly scary move as we love Winnipeg so much and have been so well treated here. There are many decisions to make and many things up in the air! I'll continue to post News as it develops. However we'll be here until at least May 2010, possibly well into the summer, and we'll be working and selling here until then and hopefully returning for big shows and friend visits. So stay tuned!
Best wishes - Heather and Andrea

What a Rush!

2009-12-16T19:52:00.001-08:00

Phew - the show season is over, and we did a good job, I think! Part of me would have liked to have done more and more (more dragonflies! more forged earrings! more metalsmithed work!) but the more reasonable part of me is glad that we limited it to four shows this year. They were really *good* shows for us, and left us some time to deal with our non-glass world as well! And it left both myself and (hopefully) our customers "wanting more" for the future...

Now it's time for us to focus on our Christmas. We still don't have very clear plans yet but our tree is up and sparkly, and that feels like a very good start!

I'll leave you with a photo of my latest floral (still available, by the way) to tide you over until I post again. :) Merry Christmas! Happy Solstice! It is coming soon and I can't wait for the days to get longer!

Our Last Show of 2009 is This Weekend!

2009-12-10T09:13:00.000-08:00

Elm Street Holiday Artisan Sale
December 11 - 13
Friday 5-10 pm, Saturday & Sunday 10 am-5 pm
395 Elm Street (the corner of Elm and Grosvenor)

Featuring the creations of 4 talented artisans:

Sumak Designs - Gemstone, Pearl and Silver Adornments
Formations in Metal - Metalsmithed Wearable Art
Hearts of Glass - Flameworked Glass Jewellery
& Donna Schultz's irresistable all-natural handmade soaps

PLUS - BONSAI from the president of the Winnipeg Bonsai Association!

Come with a friend or two to browse and visit in a comfortable and relaxed setting, while you enjoy complimentary coffee, tea and snacks. An annual tradition at Elm Street and Grosvenor!

Here's a recent pic of some of our leaf pendants on our tree display. At $10 (etched pierced leaves) to $12 (veined elm leaves) to $14 (oak leaves) to $18 (our sculpted maple leaf pendants) they make great gifts and stocking stuffers!

Custom Dragonfly Stickpins on Etsy!

2009-12-09T08:40:00.000-08:00

I am in love with our new dragonfly stickpin design! And we've had a great response to them at our recent shows. I've finally made an update to HeartsofGlass.Etsy.com in order to make them available. It's in there as a custom order, so you can select your colours and shapes and I'll make a dragonfly just for you!

New Purple Floral Bead

2009-12-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

As promised, here`s a shot of my latest encased floral! I`m using a new technoque to apply the stamen now: pre-nipping-off a point-pulled stamen section, and attaching it to a clear rod. Then I can just plunge it in as deep as I want, and melt off the clear rod leaving an automatic "expansion dot" of clear on top.
Before this, I was plunging a point attached to the full stamen rod, then cooling that and nipping it off the bead itself. This worked fine when the stamen rod was skinny, but now that I'm working in a thicker section it was giving me more trouble. I was either breaking the stamen off too stubby in the plunge-dent, or breaking the whole darn bead off the bead release. The new approach is much less disaster-prone!

Front shot, showing the stamen cane. I like how the stamen went a bit spirally this time! Finally, distortion working in my favour! >:)

Side shot of the floral showing the reactive base. I love how the reactive cane recipe turned out! It`s a bit less yellow and more blue in real life.

My Mom should be landing in Winnipeg for a visit right about... now! She's here for work and knows we're working too getting ready for the Velocity show on Niagara this weekend. She`s agreed to help us come up with names for our work (such as this bead - suggestions, anyone?), and maybe do a little tagging duty too! What a trooper! :)

December Has Arrived!

2009-12-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

And we've finally got some photos of a few of this week's creations! There's lots that's waiting to be wired as well. But here's the sneak peek!

Strawberry Ice opalino calla lily pendant.

Mauve Dragonfly pendant.

Stay tuned for a new floral bead photo coming soon!

Studio Shows for the Next Two Weekends!

2009-11-30T11:08:00.000-08:00

Andrea and I are getting ready for our Velocity Studio show this weekend! After the bustle and bright lights of the huge Signatures show a week-and-a-half ago, we're looking forward to capping the season with laid-back, cozy studio shows. It was exciting to meet so many new people at Signatures, though! I really came out of my shell and felt like I was "in the zone" with greeting and answering questions. Sometimes I can be so shy at shows! Luckily Andrea is so outgoing.

Speaking of reaching new people, I was on the radio this morning! CKUW's "People of Interest" show at 8:20am. I went on a bit of a ramble about Coefficiency of Expansion and different glass families that probably bored people, and I forgot to bring up our recycled leather bracelets when asked about recycled elements, but overall I think I got the message across about the durability and soulfulness of artisan-made flameworked beads. And of course I mentioned the studio shows! Since they are held in private studios/homes word of mouth is crucial.

So I hope to see you this weekend or next! We'll have lots of new leather cuffs (we almost sold out at Signatures!) forged earrings and dragonflies.

Booth Photos from Signatures

2009-11-22T21:13:00.000-08:00

What a busy weekend at Signatures! We met lots of new people (with some lovely visits from friends and repeat customers as well) and had a great reception to our designs, including some new ones like the hammered silver locking earrings and the brand-new dragonfly stickpins!

Here are some photos of our booth set-up, from Saturday. Not the best quality photos but enough to give you an idea.

We have more lights, better risers and more versatile displays, organized by theme.

Our current banner is lovely and hand-painted by Andrea, but it's on its last legs and is a bit too large in scale to work in a regular booth. Next time I'd like to have some vinyl banners done up with our current logo and photos of the torch.

Andrea and I are off to sleep (and sleep in tomorrow!). We've got next weekend off and then it's time for the Velocity Studio Open House at 664 Niagara Street, December 5&6, 11-6! We'll also be working on a few custom orders. If you have a special request, the next few weeks would be the best time to get in touch with us! We enjoy working with people directly to create the perfect blending of visions.

Signatures Directions

2009-11-19T10:31:00.000-08:00

Signatures is on! Our booth looks its best ever. Andrea made several embellishments to our displays. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures soon!

Thursday & Friday Nov. 19 & 20: 11am to 9pm
Saturday Nov. 21: 9am to 6pm
& Sunday Nov. 22: 9am to 5pm

How to find Signatures at the Convention Centre:

How to find us at Signatures - Booth 105 right by the entrance:

ps - our friend Sumak Designs is booth 226! Check it out for pearl, gemstone and fine silver creations.

Signatures! November 19-22

2009-11-18T12:07:00.000-08:00

One more sleep until Signatures!!!
Our booth will look something like this set up from a year and a half ago - only better!

Come check us out at Booth 105!

SIGNATURES handmade craft sale
Winnipeg Convention Centre
November 19-22
Thursday & Friday from 11am to 9pm
Saturday from 9am to 6pm
Sunday from 9am to 5pm

Free admission!

And a sneak peek at Andrea's latest metalworking designs: the Norse Shield Series...

Torch Slideshow: Calla Pendant (& blogaversary!)

2009-11-17T08:54:00.000-08:00

Hi folks! It's my blogaversary! Actually I missed it, it was on the 14th of November. I've really been enjoying sharing Hearts of Glass news and I'm happy to see that people are reading about our work. To celebrate, here's a brand-new slide show of the process of creating a glass calla lily pendant on the torch:

And here's the link to the Calla Pendant Flickr Set for more details!

Leather Cuff Bracelets

2009-11-16T08:55:00.000-08:00

We use recycled leather belts to make funky cuff bracelets with button-style borosilicate ("pyrex") glass toggle-focals. This style has been evolving for us over the past several years and has become one of our most popular designs!

I just made a new batch of toggles (including some as-yet-unphotographed vortex styles that I'm excited about) during a marathon boro session on Saturday. It was one of those magical sessions where the stars were in alignment and everything seems to flow naturally. So much fun!

I also recently made some great old leather belt finds at the tiny local second-hand stores that dot our inner-city neighbourhood (hot pink leather, anyone?)The new toggles and leather selections are lying on the workbench waiting for assembly, but here's a few of our second-newest batch to get your mouth watering a bit...

Three more sleeps until Signatures!!!

Hyper-Striped Floral and Matching Forged Earrings

2009-11-15T14:13:00.001-08:00

I'm very pleased with these ones! I had a mini-session at the torch a week or so ago - not eough time to justify running the kiln all night. So I made complex twistie canes and this was my favorite:

Front view

Side View

And matching handforged locking earrings!

New Jewellery for Signatures

2009-11-13T07:47:00.001-08:00

Some recent work that will be available at Signatures!

Smoke Tiger bracelet

A relatively simple bracelet with wild impact. Grey frit-swirled beads, encased tiger beads, rutilated quartz and sterling silver accents with an adjustable-length lobster clasp closure.

Tyndall bracelet

Reminds me of the fossil-rich mottled limestone used in many historic Winnipeg buildings. Ivory disks with silvered ivory spirals, black labradorite and sterling silver accents with an attractive adjustable-length lobster clasp closure.

Arctic Tiger necklace

An icy new riff on my ongoing Laza Tiger series. Striped and reactive encased "Artic Tiger" disks with reactive blue encased beads, moonstone wheels, tiny peacock pearls and sterling silver on sterling silver ornate chain with an adjustable oversized oval spring clasp closure.

Glass Goddesses and New Earring Design

2009-11-05T12:46:00.000-08:00

We've been busy creating new work for our swiftly-upcoming Signatures show, Nov. 19-22 at the Convention Centre here in Winnipeg.

Here are our latest goddess designs. I actually make these lathe-style, instead of adding the various appendages with individual blobs of glass. This allows me to maintain a uniform swirly texture and pattern. I build a decorated barrel shape, then spin and press with a handmade graphite tool to create the waist and neck indentations. Them I dent the upper torse into four sections, which I heat and spin to build the breasts and arms using centrifugal force. I add details with a graphite "knife" tool and lately I've been finishing off with a gentle sifting of golden mica dust for a subtle shimmer!

I've also developed a new spin on our locking forged earring design, inspired by a special request for a version using disks. Since the vertically-designed disks wouldn't work in the horizontal rivet-style design of our original forged earrings, I designed a way to hang any bead vertically from the locking forged earwires. I'll probably continue to tweak it, but I really like the result!
The disks themselved were a fun project. They started with a small black disk, wrapped in silver leaf. I added a red wrap on one "shoulder", then heated that and rolled in in transparent red frit for subtle texture. Once that was melted mostly in, I added a wrap of handmade black and white twisted cane to the other "shoulder" of the base bead, making sure that the joint matched as smoothly as possible. Everything was melted back into a round donut bead, then encased in clear, rolled into a barrel shape, and finally pressed into a lentil using the Osibin Lentil Shaper. The real trick was getting two that matched! I ended up with a graduated set of three extras that will become a dramatic long pendant very soon.

Hearts of Glass Winter Shows 2009

2009-10-22T08:38:00.001-07:00

The show season has begun! We're so excited about our schedule this year. We'll be at four great shows that we know will be perfect fits for our work and our customers. And, unlike past years, we've managed to leave ourselves some breaks so we can keep creating new work and also enjoy the holidays ourselves a bit. So we'll be rested, creatively pumped and "in the spirit" for all our shows!

Sumak Fall Artisan Open House
October 23- 25
Friday 5-10 pm, Saturday & Sunday 10 am-5 pm
395 Elm Street (the corner of Elm and Grosvenor)
Cozy, boutique-like ambiance with handcrafted work from 4 artisans

Signatures Craft Show & Sale
November 19 -22
Thursday & Friday 11 am- 9 pm,
Saturday 10 am – 6 pm, Sunday 10 am - 5 pm
Winnipeg Convention Centre, 375 York Avenue
Handmade treasures from over 100 artisans
Come visit us at booth # 105

Art Jewellery and Artisanry Show
December 5 - 6
Saturday and Sunday 11 – 5 both days
664 Niagra Street
Featuring a wide variety of handcrafted
sterling designs from Krista Reid, new HoG creations,
unique felted handbags, photography and more

Sumak Winter Artisan Open House
December 11 - 13
Friday 5-10 pm, Saturday & Sunday 10 am-5 pm
395 Elm Street (the corner of Elm and Grosvenor)
Last chance for handcrafted christmas gifts from HoG!

We also have several pieces that recently went on display at the Wolseley Wellness Centre gift shop. Check it out!

Heather will also be teaching Introduction to Glass Beadmaking at Prairie Stained Glass on Saturday November 7th. If you've always wanted to try it out, this is a great introduction!

Broken & Whole Florals PLUS New Earring Design!

2009-10-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

Here's the sad result of my broken floral from last week. Wasn't it lovely? I'm going to recreate this background for certain! Turquoise with blue goldstone is hot. We have never set a cabochon before but this piece would make a wonderful cab, eh?
Here's a more recent successful floral, using a new stamen cane. It's very much like my previous stamen cane (using my same handmade filigrano components) but I added some white petals around the outside as well. Unfortunately they got pulled too thin and ended up very translucent. However I love the scale of it!
And presenting:

My new earring design! I've been working on this for a few weeks now, and I'm still tweaking it but I couldn't wait any longer to announce it. I'm IN LOVE. Until now we'd been using mostly French hooks but I prefer to wear something that locks closed, that I can keep on 24/7. These are perfect! However I still have to be a lot faster at making them. I'm starting to break down the steps so I can be more efficient. Forging the wire is so much fun!
I have so many beads sets that I can't wait to turn into earrings! I've been using 1/16" mandrels for the first time in ages and I'm diggin' the challenge of making tiny but bold and deeply encased pairs.
By the way, these are TINY. The bead is only 4mm x 7mm and the entire earring is only 12mm x 22mm. Some of these will be bigger. It'll all be scaled according to the size of bead.
I can't wait to unveil these in person at the Fall Artisan Show at 395 Elm street, which is coming up very soon: Friday Oct 23 - Sunday Oct 25!!!

50 posts!

2009-10-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

Hey, I just realized that my last post was #50! Go, Hearts of Glass blog!

Studio and Florals

2009-09-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

I'm back on the floral wagon, but not without casualties. This pretty thing I created a few days ago in my first floral foray in several weeks. The petals are a TAD less punchy than I prefer, but I love the background and the colours.
Today, not so successful. Although it seemed like it would be at first! I was working on a floral and because of the way I sorely abuse the glass as I make stamen beads, it thermal shocked and cracked an early stage. I managed to re-heat it and heal the crack... no problems, right? I thought everything was fine and put the lovely into the kiln after over an hour of shaping and layering. Well, boo! Halfway through the session I was adding another mandrel when I saw my beautiful floral bead cracked in half, broken in the kiln. That hasn't happened to me in a long time but the loss doesn't lose its sting, it seems. :P
I spent the rest of the session making simple frit-swirl beads.
On a cheerier note, if you have a dingy corner of your home and you're wondering whether a coat of fresh paint will *really* make a difference or not, check out this action:

Studio Before - - - - - Studio After

I'm LOVING working in the bright "new" space!

Happy Autumn!

2009-09-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

Hello again! Sorry for the long break in posting. Since we moved into our house in 2005, August has been dedicated to intense renovations and this year was far from an exception. We needed to tackle the exterior, and let me tell you that after 4 weeks of hard work with myself, Andrea and my father, it was transformed.

We still have lots of painting to do but we're finally able to focus on glass again in the evenings. Which is great, because we have some major shows coming up!

Artisan Fall Open House
Hosted at Sumak Designs Studio
395 Elm St.
October 23, 24, 25
Friday 23rd 5 PM to 10 PM
Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

and...

Signatures Holiday Sale!
Winnipeg Convention Centre, 3rd floor, Hall B
Visitors please use Southwest elevator or escalator
November 19 - 22, 2009
Thursday and Friday from 11am to 9pm
Saturday from 9am to 6pm
Sunday from 9am to 5pm
Free Admission for all visitors!

We did some studio re-organizing and my wonderful Andrea painted the back wall of our torch studio which made it look 100 times brighter and nicer! This was in preparation for a video interview we did with the Manitoba Crafts Museum and Library. Excepts will eventually be available on their website.

We've also been working on some sweet custom orders, like these lovely matching heart pendants. I think the patterning looks like silk scarves!

Stay tuned, we're back and ready for regular blog action again!

Old Market Square noon concerts and craft fair

2009-07-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

Old Market Square in Historic Downtown Winnipeg has recently undergone some extensive construction and renovation this summer. To celebrate there have been free noon hour concerts and accompanying artisan fair in the new space. We will be there August 7th, 8th and 9th (Wednesday through Friday) selling our wares at the noon hour, during and just after the concerts.

I'm glad to be able to check out these diverse acts:
August 5 - Mihirangi from Australia
August 6 - Royal Wood from Ontario
August 7- Egospank from Manitoba and Tennessee

All concerts start at noon- I'm hoping for beautiful days for our outdoor sale!

View Larger Map

New Dragonflies!

2009-07-19T12:11:00.001-07:00

All our dragonfly pendants sold out at Folk Fest so we were given a special order to make one as a gift for a young lady. I used the opportunity to experiment a little with a design I had in my head for a three-part dragonfly: two wings and a body, connected with jumprings and custom-hung on a sterling chain.
It turns out that it was more complicated to make than I'd anticipated. The wings were too delicate to pierce without breaking or distorting, so I had to add super-dainty loops instead. I was also determined to add two pairs of wings instead of my customary single pair. It ended up taking forever but I'm really happy with the result! It snuggles comfortably into the wearer's neck and dances as the wearer moves.
However it would probably be too dainty a piece for an active young lady to wear safely. I decided to try something on a completely different scale:
Here they are together so you can see how tiny the tiny ones are! I was in LOVE with the chubby-winged blue one, and that was ultimately what our client chose for her gift.
I snapped some quick pics before it left us. Unfortunately I mixed up which ISO setting was best, and set it at "HI", which is why there's so much speckly noise in the shots. Ah well, this is how I learn! Keep on checking out blog for our latest designs and innovations!

Winnipeg Folk Festival Report!

2009-07-13T20:57:00.001-07:00

Another wonderful Folk Festival has come and gone. It always goes by so quickly! A BIG thank you to all the wonderful people who came by our booth to visit us and look at our most recent work. We felt very spoiled with all the kind praise! As Andrea says, it's hard to know whether we're on the right track at all when we're working in our subterranean studio, and it means so much to get feedback.
I always get such bad, high-contrast photos of our booth at Folk Fest and this year is no exception, but I'll share it anyway. We improved our look with our revamped Tree of Leaves,Andrea repainted all our displays to be black and bronze instead of black and red, and we had improved bracelet displays. Andrea handmade all our displays, mostly out of copper pipe and discarded theatre set scrap! I think our curtains looked tidier this year as well.As you can see, we had a ton of simple leaf pendants this year to offer some very cute but affordable options. They're always popular but this year I felt like we had a more complete offering, and beautifully displayed. I was also very happy with our butterfly selection this year, especially our new pierced-wing butterflies. I find them kind of retro, in a good way, and a little more graphic and funky the way they hang diagonally.
Of course we stocked up on goodies from other vendors, too! I got a new hat from Oldhat, and Andrea got a second Wanda June cap. I got us some yummy bath stuff from Heartsease. I wanted many more lovely things but we're trying to save up a cushion for a big upcoming project. I also got to see some great performers! The Punch Brothers had an amazing triple rainbow appear over the mainstage during their performance, which was magical.
So now I'm retreating from the bright and busy world again to work on some very cool special commissions, including a pair of wedding pendants! Back to my cozy underground lair... :)

Floral Stamen Breakthrough!

2009-07-06T15:55:00.000-07:00

Yes!!! I've figured out just the right order of steps to make crisp stamens in my florals! I've been struggling with this for YEARS so I'm kind of giddy about finally succeeding. They're pretty hot, eh? And just in time for our Folk Fest show starting on Friday!

One week to Folk Fest!

2009-06-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

As you might well imagine, Hearts of Glass studios is working at a fever pitch to prepare our most recent batch of glass goodies for the Show of the Year: Winnipeg Folk Festival!

Handmade Village at Folk Fest is simply an amazing experience. I loved it as a browser and buyer and I ADORE it as a vendor! The venue is electric with energy and excitement, the people are amazing and really care about local, handmade treasures, and Hospitality volunteers come by with fresh fruit and coffee. Of course, I still like to take a few moments to look around at all the handmade loveliness, and I inevitably pick several treasures to take home with me too!
Hearts of Glass will be in a corner booth this year (yay!) in the tent furthest from Mainstage and closest to Burr Oak. We're in the inner corridor of Handmade Village facing north-east. Here's a close-up of the Folk Fest map showing Handmae Village, with our little logo showing where you can come to see us!

New bracelets and fish for Edmonton!

2009-06-18T23:08:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving soon for a quick trip to visit family in Edmonton. It's momentous times - my sister-in-law is turning 50, it's father's day, my niece is getting possession of her first house... So we didn't want to show up empty handed!
This bracelet it probably for my sister-in law, who likes neutrals and greens. Unless of course we give her this one instead:And my father-in-law's partner has been hinting about wanting a Laza Tiger-style bracelet for ages now, so we made her this:And finally another fish just because our fish are appreciated out West! :)

Attempted Orchids

2009-06-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

I try to make orchids in glass.

Dragonflies

2009-06-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

I have some new florals and tiger sets but I haven't had time to photograph them, so I'd like to share a dragonfly pendant I made earlier this Spring. It's life-sized and hangs from a clear loop behind the head. It looks like a dragonfly has landed on your neck! I make these in borosilicate as they'd be too delicate to wear in soft glass. I'm sold out for now but I plan to make a series for the Folk Festival, as dragonflies are plentiful and beloved there!

Blue Fish, Yellow Floral

2009-05-28T21:19:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week I sneaked in an end-of-the-day torch session and made a floral. Andrea said I had to make it in colours I hadn't just used (red flowers, mystic background) so I went with a yellow on blue with goldstone and black and white stripes.
Then I made another fish because fish are fun!

What do you think of these photos? I bought different "daylight" bulbs and new light fixtures for the photobooth, and a very subtle grey gradient background. I like it but I think it could still be tweaked. Also I'm sad because I broke my gorillapod tripod trying to bend the top joint too far... :(

Off-topic: Andrea co-painting a replica streetcar!

2009-05-26T11:46:00.000-07:00

My lovely and talented partner Andrea Steinwand is, in addition to being a glass artist, a theatre production technician specializing in scenic painting. This is a cool video clip (She's the short, curvy blonde with the 2-tone pixie cut) promoting last Saturday's abridged outdoor production of "Strike: The Musical" about the historic 1919 General Strike in Winnipeg. Andrea co-painted a replica of "streetcar 596" which became the spark for this photograph which represents the General Strike in Canadian history.
Although it may sound like an unlikely theme for a musical it's actually very well-done (Andrea painted the set for the 2005 full-scale Winnipeg production) and a fun way to learn about our dramatic past! It's being staged again this summer at the Forks in Winnipeg if anyone is interested in checking it out.

Shells and Fish

2009-05-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

Rickie Voges's recent ocean-themed posts, and my rediscovery of a sculpted glass shell bead that I made a year or two ago, reminded me to revist some of my watery lampwork designs. First I made a very, very purple fish with enormous eyes, for my niece Christina who has been patiently waiting for one for ages. She'll have to wait a few more weeks until we visit Edmonton to give it to her in person!

I really enjoy making my hollow conch shells but I haven't made any in ages! The first one I made yesterday was wide with a translucent carnelian glass core and inner-layer, coated in opal yellow and decorated with silvered ivory shards and dots:

The second one was longer and more tapered, made of amethyst and silver-fumed white glass with a frilled lip:

This type of hollow glass conch shell *may* even be a unique design... at least, I came up with it on my own and haven't seen any quite like it. Not much is new under the sun but it's fun to explore nonetheless!

Monet Earrings

2009-05-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

Here are the matching earrings to the bracelet I posted earlier this week!Now I'm off to coordinate our community clean-up... The weather's great and all the equipment arrived, but I still can't wait until tomorrow when I'll have time to torch and play with my new Bail Biter... The Peter's Tweezers just weren't cutting it for piercing boro! ;)

Entry for ABS's Monet theme!

2009-05-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

This is our first Art Bead Scene entry! I created the lampworked glass beads using a 6-step process for this month's theme - Monet's Waterlilies. I used copper leaf, our own blue frit mix, coppered opal yellow, goldstone and orchid enamel. Each bead is shaped into a disk using a graphite Osibin lentil shaper, which allows more variation and control than a bead press. (I have several Osibin shapers and love them - they're so versatile!)

The bracelet uses pale, understated elements to keep the focus on the art beads. 4mm rutilated quartz and 8mm rose quarts round are spaced with bright sterling silver Bali daisies. The bracelet is finished with a bridge shaped bright sterling silver clasp. It is a sweetly wearable piece that, though abstract, bears a striking resemblance to Monet's Waterlilies series!

I've added the bracelet and matching earrings to our Flickr and also created new Etsy listings for them. We're trying to update our Etsy with more of our current work so stay tuned!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

Greetings and thank-yous to all you mothers out there. Specifically my own mother, if she reads this! Hi Mom! I tried to call my mom and grandmother this morning but struck out both times - they were out on the town or already on the phone. Sometimes it's sad to live so far from family! We did have a lovely breakfast with some friends of ours and their little girl, at the fabulous Black Sheep Cafe. MMm, Choose-Your-Own-Adventure breakfast!

Andrea and I had a pretty productive weekend. I taught Beadmaking II at Prairie Stained Glass, with Sean, Jenny, Sandy, Krista and Kat. In Winnipeg that class rarely fills up so every time I get to teach it is a treat! It's so much fun to be able to explore beyond the basics and watch people making fish, gravity swirls, encased harlequins, basic florals and off-mandrel leaves for the first time. You guys did great - keep it up! :)

I also made a weird boro pendant in a style I'd like to explore further. It's a riff on our Gorget pendants, crossed with our Tilde toggles, but it doesn't have a name yet... though I guess Tilde Gorget would do! The photograph was taken while Andrea was planting some of our seedlings into bigger containers, and starting some new batches.

Now it's games night time! Hooray!

May!

2009-05-04T16:26:00.001-07:00

The show at Susan's was a rousing success! We met lots of old and new friends and customers. Susan is such a wonderful hostess and her home is so lovely. We said goodbye to some of our favorite pieces from late 2008 and early 2009. It can be hard to let certain pieces go! Goodbye, Danube floral! Goodbye, brand-new reactive stripy bead that I just made that Susan liked, so I gave it to her as a hostess gift! It didn't even have a name yet... *melodramatic sigh!* ;) But they all went to such good homes that I am comforted. :)

I taught a Beadmaking 1 class on Saturday at Prairie Stained Glass and two of my students came to the show the next day to check us out, which was sweet! I'm teaching again next week, a Beadmaking 2 class! There are still a few spaces but I don't mind a small class.

I can't believe it's May - last year our garden was really blooming by this time, but this year we only have a few early bulbs up. However, this weekend it really started to feel like summer. Beautiful warm sun... The world is starting to get green again after our grueling late spring and I'm so grateful!

Our next big project is the Winnipeg Folk Festival. It's only two months away! We need to increase our stock by 50-100% by then, so we'll definitely be keeping busy. :)

Elm Street Open House - The Spring Edition!

2009-04-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

Andrea and I will be displaying our glass talismans on the first weekend of May (Friday, May 1st, Saturday May 2nd and Sunday May 3rd) with a small group of artisans at the Spring Artisan Open House at 395 Elm Street in River Heights. It's at the corner of Grosvenor, right by Grosvenor School. Whether you're an "in the know" Elm Street regular, have heard the buzz and have always wanted to check it out, or are getting it on your radar for the first time, we warmly invite you to come have a peek at some very hot metalsmithing, gemwork, firesculpted glass, and handmade soap. Friday night is wine and cheese night, and there will be great snacks and a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere all weekend.

Elm Street Artisan Open House - the Spring edition
395 Elm Street
Friday, May 1, 5pm-10pm (wine night!)
Saturday May 2 and Sunday May 3, 10am-5pm
Admission is free of charge. All are welcome!

Heather will also be teaching Intro to Beadmaking and Intermediate Beadmaking at Prairie Stained Glass May 2nd and 9th. If you've always wanted to learn the basics of lampworking give Brian a call at 783-1117 to see if there are spots left in these classes (there were still a few left as of Saturday but space is limited). Heather focuses on a clear and encouraging approach to teaching and is proud to say that several of her former students have made waves for themselves as glass beadmakers!

Visits and Bookmarks

2009-04-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

This weekend my mother flew in from Ottawa to visit us for three days, and we had a great time. We went to a slam poetry and folk-blues performance, a backyard bonfire party, an shamanic-themed Inuit art exhibit, antique shops,a pedicure salon, restaurants, and the local casino (where we all won $10-20 each). We also had some great games of Ticket to Ride at home, with Andrea's fabulous margaritas! It was *so* fun. I miss her already.

We did get to spend a bit of time on the torch, too, and I finally convinced Mom to try her hand at melting glass. She did great! I only got a bad photo of that, unfortunately, but it was a very cute lapis-fritted periwinkle barrel. Go Mom!

Now to leave you with some better-photographed eyecandy, here are some of our recent bookmarks made of hammered copper and lampwork:

Dot Matrix ----------------------------------- Kissing Fedoras

Calla Lilies

2009-04-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

Our show at Fort Whyte was lovely, though the weather was cool and grey. Our booth was right overlooking the lake and we had Canada Geese peeking in at us most of the time. They didn't show up when I was taking pictures, of course!

We met some great new customers and also spoke with a few shop owners with whom Andrea and I hope to sell our work in the future. One design of ours that I think would be great for a storefront location is our Calla Lily series. People always respond to them, and I've been having so much fun making them lately! I could go on forever and never make two the same. :)

Directions to Fort Whyte

2009-04-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Hi folks! For those planning to come see us at our show this Saturday and Sunday at Fort Whyte, take the Wilkes entry onto McCreary (the northern entrance). Fort Whyet is at 1961 McCreary. The southern entrance is closed right now due to some overland flooding on the road - nothing too serious but I don't want anyone to have to turn around! The northern route is fine and Centre itself is dry and very much open and ready for you to come out this weekend. :)

From their website:

"Manitoba Crafts Market Days

April 18,19, 10am–4pm

Bring your totes and fill up with beautiful and functional creations created by some of Manitoba’s finest artists. This juried craft sale offers a beautiful array of jewelry, clothing, accessories, decorative items and more. Presented by the Manitoba Crafts Museum & Library.

Enjoy FREE admission both days!

Sod House Pioneers
Sunday April

Visit our pioneer couple to learn about the unique challenges of spring on the prairies in the late 1800’s."

ps - apparently this is a great time of year for bald eagle sightings!
See you there!

Two styles of bracelets

2009-04-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

Our Fort Whyte show is coming up in just two sleeps! We're happily finishing up our preparations - stay tuned for some new earrings and some calla and butterfly pendants I'm very proud of. Today, though, I'd going to showcase our two main bracelet styles.

We've been recycling old leather belts into leather cuff bracelets with borosilicate glass buttons. These are *really* fun to make!

Our ornate silver and gemstone accented lampwork bracelets are also really rewarding to create. I'm really happy with my latest two designs: Devonian and Retro Futuristic.

We have so much more than we can possibly blog about, so if you want to see more the best way is to come out to the Crafts Museum and Library Artisan Sale at the Fort Whyte nature centre this weekend at 1961 McCreary Rd!

It's a nature and historic interpretive centre in south Winnipeg. Saturday will have the best selection of handmade goods, while Sunday will have the most gorgeous weather and a special Sod Hut Pioneers event! See you there...

Easter Lampwork Weekend

2009-04-13T11:32:00.000-07:00

Andrea and I don't have family in Winnipeg so we just enjoyed a few phone visits to Edmonton and Ottawa and then spent the rest of the long weekend getting ready for our show next weekend at Fort Whyte! Our one nod to the season was making these adorable boiled eggs dyed with onionskins for our breakfast. It was so easy and fun!

We've been moving our jewellery assembly studio from the guest room to take over our whole former bedroom now that we're sleeping in the lovely renovated attic loft. Andrea got a great tall desk that they were getting rid of at her work, and it makes a great workbench! She painted it from red to grey so it wouldn't interfere with our colour perception.

Between our recent gem and silver orders and our marathon bead making of the past few weeks, we've got a lot of components to assemble! Here's a sneak preview of our work in progress...

And here's one of the outcomes!

It's called Laza Tigress - a gorgeous (if I do say so myself!) bracelet in our Laza Tiger colour theme.. beads made by me, constructed into its finished form by Andrea.

Canadian Suppliers

2009-04-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

The lampworking world, like most other international pursuits, is not Canada-centric. I purchased all my glass at my local glass store, Prairie Stained Glass, in my first year of learning but eventually my glass rod needs required bigger orders. I ordered from the USA for four years. My main suppliers were Arrow Springs for glass and tools and Metalliferous for silver findings. They both have great selection and prices, but the downfall for Andrea and I was cross-border duty and especially brokerage fees from UPS. After waiting 4-6 weeks for shipping, we would get hit with $70-$100 in fees for big orders, plus another $40 for shipping. Finally we figured we were being DUMB and needed to look harder for good Canadian suppliers already!

And find some we did! This season's big restocks came from Artistry in Glass, based in London Ontario nearish to Toronto, and Bamiyan Silver in Montreal. Canadian dollar prices (which are a better deal for us and will be way easier to deal with for tax time next year), FAST shipping (bliss!) and best of all, NO duties or brokerage, just GST! What took us so long to switch??? Well, I guess that in past years I couldn't find an online supplier with prices or selection that compared to the big US suppliers. That seems to have changed now - either more suppliers are finally getting online or my search skillz are improving.

Artistry in Glass carries a huge selection of glass for cold, warm and hot glass art. For lampworking, they have a good selection of tools (not quite as big as Arrow Springs, but growing) and a fabulous selection of glass rods, including Precision, Color is Messy, fancy silvered glass, and lots of boro too! They were also really nice to deal with during the order process, and the glass came beautifully packaged in rod-sized clear storage bags with labels. No irritating cling film or melty elastics or flammable rod-ends tags. They also have a "Flame and Foil" blog introducing all their new products as they come. My only disappointment was the clear which as I mentioned before was far from "Ultra" but that's really a manufacturer beef. I will definitely order from AIG again.

Bamiyan Silver was a bit of a surprise for us. You have to sign up for an account, which I did one day when I was searching for new silver and gemstone suppliers. Then I forgot about it for months and when I finally checked back I was really impressed! The prices for their silver beads and findings were even better than Metalliferous! And the selection is almost as good for silver findings - way better in the case of gemstone beads. The main weakness is metalworking tools, which they don't really carry, and a somewhat hard-to-navigate online store. You also have to be a business and order at least $150. The silver findings are really nice though, and I finally got my hands on some moonstone. :) I'm a happy girl!

I hope these review are helpful! Are there any other Canuck suppliers I should know about?

May Flowers

2009-04-04T10:08:00.001-07:00

I spent a good chunk of time on this big round floral. :) It has three layers of encasing to give extra depth to the layered petals. I had fun layering transparents on each of the petals, too.
May Flowers
(...I'm desperately looking forward to spring flowers! This winter has gone on far too long in Winnipeg!)

Warm Welcome to KEBO, Laura, Meagan and Lise!

2009-04-03T10:36:00.000-07:00

As a new blogger, I am tickled pink to see that four people have become the first to follow the Hearts of Glass Blog!

The first two ladies are both from the U.K. I seem to be following quite a few blogs from there. I must like the way they spell "jewellery". I'm Canadian, eh?

KEBO Jewellery Designs is Kelly Boulter. I love name contraction business names - my friend Susan's jewellery business, Sumak, did that too and it works on many levels. Anyway, I follow the KEBO blog and highly recommend it!

Laura Sparling has a blog called Beads By Laura (which I also follow), famous for its adorable glass cupcake beads! She also posts knitting patterns and beautifully decorated real cupcakes.

Meagan is from sunny Florida, where there is *not* still two feet of snow on the ground. Not that I'm bitter! ;) She has a website called The Jeweled Lizard where she sells and discusses her own lampworked creations.

Lise is more mysterious, [edit - she's introduced herself in the comments, along with a link to her blog! Hi Lise!] but I do know that she is a fellow lampworker and I believe that she's also a fellow Canadian, since she's following several other Canadian blogs and is a French speaker. I adore French - "perles de verre fabriquées au chalumeau" has such a lovely ring to it!

So thank you, ladies, for reading our first few months of stories about our glass adventures!

Gorgets!

2009-04-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

I've been practicing my boro and trying to figure out this whole "striking" concept. (In boro, I've just learned that the best way to get bright red/purple colours is to keep the whole piece glowing hot while you're shaping it, then let the glow disappear only at the very end, then reheat gently in an oxygen-rich flame. Before I was heating and cooling repeatedly, which isn't as effective.) These aren't the best examples of my colour progress but I wanted to share this design since I really love it!

It's based on a variety of inspiration from making "glasswing" flutter beads in soft glass, then making a similar toggle in boro for a lady who decorates purses. I then forgot about it for about a year until I saw a singer with a crescent of contrasting undershirt showing at her neckline and thought how awesome that would look as a necklace. It reminded me of some kind of historical neckwear but I couldn't remember what until I did an internet search. Eventually I found it: a gorget, (from the French for "throat", pronounced "gor-JHEY") a piece of medieval plate armour for the neck that gradually became more of a decorative rank marking and eventually a trade item in the New World.

I thought that glass would be an interesting medium for "armour", and these are some of the results thus far! They're between 2.75 and 3.5 inches wide.

Aurora Gorget

Blue Gorget

Amber Gorget

Currents Gorget

This one is actually quite purple and reflective in places, but the photo picked up the amber transmitted light instead of the purple reflected light... Darn uncooperative light! I re-used some shards from a failed blown piece to make the blue background.

New Florals!

2009-03-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

I spent some time photographing my new work yesterday and wanted to share some glam shots of my latest florals!

This was my first floral test of the new "Effetre Ultra Clear", Peace White and Bordello Red. The flower is *okay* but I wasn't thrilled with any of the new colours. Ultra clear is not really ultra anything, just regular. Lots of visible bubbles in the rods itself, and you do have to work it quite cold. Manageable, but not amazing. Still, the next step up is way too expensive for me, so I'll just work far back in the flame and I'll be fine. :)
Peace White actually looked a lot less opaque than my old white in rod form and didn't seem to resist translucency any better. Bordello looks okay in this photo but in real life it's actually a lot darker and duller. Layering it over yellow was a mistake, since it's more of a purple red! A little goes a long way. The "starry" silver background was also unexpected. I thought I was using silver leaf but it was actually silver foil that I'd managed to slip into a leaf envelope. Insanity!
This was my second go with Bordello, matched with Effetre Ink Blue. Again, it's darker and browner in read life. Still, it was a pretty bead with my reactive cane background!
...So much so that I made an almost identical bead my second time at the torch. Without really planning to! This one has regular red, Effetre Amethyst centre petals and Leaky Pen accent flowers. I *am* thrilled with Leaky Pen!
Here you can see how close they look. Even the same size! Weird.
This one is very cute and tiny and pretty close to perfect! Ink blue on Leaky Pen with a lapis and cane background. It's one of the smaller florals I've made! Not sure why I went so small. I guess it'll make it more wearable, at least.

And here's a family portrait to show the different sizes and shapes. I haven't measured them yet but the biggest one is around 30mm, the middle one around 25, and the smallest just 20ish. Yay, I'm making florals again!

Now I just need to think of names! Any suggestions?!

Florals

2009-03-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

I love to make encased floral focal beads. Now that I've gotten my glass order I've been back to it again. I've made a few I'm happy with but haven't had a chance to photograph anything yet... so to give me something to post about I'll share of few favorites from the past!

Our art display at Girls Girls Girls!

2009-03-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been two weeks since our last post. This art show last week really threw me for a loop! We created a thematic piece for Girls Girls Girls! 5, an annual all-women art and performance fundraiser for the local Gas Station Theatre in Winnipeg. It's exciting for us to stretch our decorative artisanry into a more "Fine Art" context.

The theme this year was confessionals. After much deliberation, we decided to create a series of linked chains out of hollow tubing, with confessions sealed inside the link-vessels. The confessions were real, though anonymous, and even we didn't read them before we cut them into pieces and sealed them in the links. So there is a sense of mystery. It symbolizes the weight and vulnerability of carrying other people's confessions, which is something we all do to greater and lesser degrees. The piece is called "Bottled Up".
It was technically trickier than we'd anticipated to create this piece - glass tubing is hard to work with! And fragile! We broke about 20 links trying to create a 13-link piece. We also had a false start with our display (the first one was too shiny, it made the links disappear) and had to try another approach at the last minute. I think it turned out well in the end, though! The other art was fabulous as well and the performances were amazing, from stand-up comedy to dance to vocal performance to aerial gymnastics, all on the theme of Confessionals.

Here's to another sold-out show next year, for Girls Girls Girls! 6: Rapture!

127 Days Until Folk Fest!

2009-03-03T12:52:00.000-08:00

Hooray! Andrea and I received our acceptance letter from the Winnipeg Folk Festival last night. We're so pumped!If you know Folk Fest, you`ll know why we're excited. 40-50,000 people over 4 days in a prairie-woodland park 45 minutes outside of Winnipeg, watching folk, funk, bluegrass, world traditional and contemporary reinterpretations on 6 daytime stages and one big evening mainstage. That's the nuts and bolts but the really amazing part is the great energy and community spirit that people share during the Fest - everyone is smiling, thousands of people are volunteering, there is very little conflict and the environmental impact is minimal for the size of the festival! (I've heard horror stories about other festivals being littered with a thick crust of discarded water bottles by day 2... At Folk Fest all food is served on reusable plates and you have to pay a deposit to get them back!)Their artisan area is called Handmade Village and as you may imagine, it is a pleasure to display there and an honour to be selected (they re-jury every year). Hospitality volunteers even come around to feed you coffee and fresh fruit! And the attendees really respond to labour-intensive, one-of-a-kind handmade work in a way that I wish was more universal.It isn't without its challenges - last year instead of the usual hot sun it gusted and rained and was around 10 degrees C for most of Friday and Saturday - but it's always an adventure and definitely our most anticipated show of the year. See you there!!!

HoG Spring Events!

2009-03-02T11:10:00.000-08:00

Amazingly, it is now MARCH! Although there is still two feet of snow on the ground and it was -30 C this morning, I know that in a few weeks we'll start to feel the beginnings of Spring. (The flower is from last spring in our garden... I can't wait!) Andrea and I got some great news last week - we were accepted into the Manitoba Craft Museum and Library artisan sale at the Fort Whyte Centre, a beautiful prairie habitat interpretive park located at the edge of Winnipeg. We'll be there April 17th and 18th.

We're also gearing up for an annual art fundraiser for the Gas Station Theatre on Osborne Street: Girls Girls Girls 5 - Confessionals. It's coming up on Sunday March 15th at 6pm.
I'm also looking forward to the Glass Beadmaking classes I'll be teaching at Prairie Stained Glass in May. Check out their Class listings for more details on how to register!

Logan's Run

2009-02-27T17:47:00.000-08:00

It's my birthday today. I'm 30!!! This is how I'm dealing with it:

(Also Andrea is spoiling me rotten! ;) )

New Nerodita pendant on Etsy

2009-02-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

I've just posted a new pendant in our Etsy store. It's a lovely, substantial organic disc with 5 ornate dangles.I really like the look of the silvered ivory twisty cane meandering over the surface, with lots of richness and reactions.

Ghost Towns and Las Vegas

2009-02-22T17:41:00.001-08:00

We're back, and now I can reveal where we were for the past week - taking a geological road trip through the Mojave and Grand Canyon region, and then winding up with two days in Vegas!

We went along with some friends and two youngsters, exploring lava, caves, dunes, canyons, craters, ghost towns, a distant nebula and Andromeda galaxy (through a telescope at Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was discovered) and Vegas' overwhelming neon overconsumption dreamscapes. I knew it would be an adventure, but I didn't realize how inspiring it would be for our glass work. Now I'm more excited than ever to get back into the "creating" part of the year!
We saw so many things, so I'll just stick to the glass-related stuff here. We explored two ghost towns, Two Guns (stone ruins, late 1800s to 1960s) and Chloride (wooden mining town, abandoned and then repopulated by an eccentric community). Andrea and I were fascinated by the shards of purple glass scattered everywhere in Two Guns. I collected a small handful, along with some cobalt blue and milk white glass. In Chloride I saw lots of purple bottle-necks but couldn't find anyone who could tell me what they were from. Now that I'm home I've googled it and have learned that the purple comes from a reaction between manganese in some pre-1915 glass and UV radiation from the sun. Which makes sense and is pretty cool. I'm slightly disappointed because it sounds like the purple colour will disappear if I melt it - which of course was my goal! I'm going to try it anyway and see what happens.
In Vegas proper we saw lots of bizarre and amazing design, which will be a source of inspiration of a different kind than the natural wonders we experienced. We all went to Ka, which was worth every penny, even from the back row. There was a Dale Chihuly ceiling and gift shop at the Bellagio, so I finally got to see the controversial and influential designer's work up-close. Amazing colours. We also saw a Warhol, Lichtenstein and Friends pop-art/minimalist art exhibition (rather dark, actually - I got to apply my Cultural Studies courses and teach Andrea the term "anomie"). The visual theme of Vegas seems to be "vibration" - colours and patterns humming together. It became hard for me to process after a while, and will take me weeks to decompress...

So much I want to do, but for now I think a good rest is in order. Let me end by suggesting that if you can, book a trip to camp at Hole-In-The-Wall at the Mojave National Preserve in April-May, when the cacti and wildflowers flowers put on their show. We saw it when things were just barely waking up and it was gorgeous then, so I can only imagine how beautiful if would be in full living colour.

Indulging Ourselves

2009-02-13T19:56:00.000-08:00

Andrea and I have been working very hard this week and I'm pleased to say we'll be doing something fun next week and neglecting other tasks, including posting for the next seven days. :) I've been enjoying posting in the blog, so I look forward to sharing an update in a week or so, hopefully with a few great pictures of our exploits!

New HoG Earrings on Etsy

2009-02-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

Here are some earrings that I made and photographed in December and have finally listed on Etsy. I'm so glad I did, because I really like these ones!
Carnelian Drops is lush and fun. I really love working with that colour of glass! Your eyes are not deceiving you; they ARE ever-so-slightly different shades of deep coral-rose. Carnelian is a very unpredictable flame-striking colour and it turns out slightly different every time, even though I made these two together on one mandrel. I think the harmonious tones add depth and personality to the earrings.River rocks is a similar chain-dangle style with a completely different mood. This one is earthy and serene. I love how silvered ivory looks under drops of clear. The tiny fritted ivory accent beads are threaded onto the delicate silver chain, so they can move freely while the main beads dangle below. The best part is that these earrings will go with almost any outfit!
Finally, I just finished listing Bubblegum Gelato, which I describe as "sweet and geometric, like cupcakes made by a math prof grandma." Maybe I am overdoing it with the similes... Or maybe I am overdoing it just enough? You tell me. :)