Ottawa Glass Bead Artists Show, Nov 11-12!

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!

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

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!

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

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

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!

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...