Friday July 27 Demo and FINAL HoG sale at the Glass Shoppe Studio

Sorry for not blogging for a while! Things have been quiet on the glass front this winter - but no longer!

Speckled Poppy floral bead with Green Stamen

A few weeks ago I received a message from Grace Edwards of the wonderful Glass Shoppe Studio with a fantastic request. Glass students had asked if I would teach a class on my complex stamened floral beads. I was deeply honoured by the invitation to teach and of course I leaped at the opportunity! I love teaching and I am SO passionate about my stamen florals! This will be my final Big Glass Event in Ottawa and I'm taking full advantage.

July 27, 7pm at the Glass Shoppe Studio
FREE Lampworked Glass Demo and FINAL Hearts of Glass jewellery sale!
Making Complex Floral-Stamen Cane ...and Our Final Public Glass Sale!
Your very last chance to purchase our work before we move to Edmonton.

Note: My latest, as-yet-displayed floral beads will be on display and for sale, but will be for pick-up after the July 28th class as I will need them as exemplars. I also have a large set of NEW Captive Drop earrings to display and sell. This is my favorite batch of the series! I feel like I've hit a new pinnacle of having-things-turn-out-the-way-I-imagine. (Artists will know exactly what I mean here!).

July 28th - FULLY RESERVED
Heather Stewart's Complex Stamened Floral Glass Bead Class
All my hard-won secrets will be revealed! Students will learn all the steps in making my unique style of stamened floral beads and will make their own canes and florals in-class.

Components of new multi-step Black-Fringe-Edged Red Stamen

Brand-new yellow floral with new black-fringe-edged red stamen

The reason that these events will be our last in Ottawa is that we are preparing to move out-of-province... again! An irresistible opportunity knocked and so we're packing up and heading to Edmonton for a few years. I'll be taking full-time graduate studies and Andrea will be the Head of the Scenic Art Department at the Citadel Theatre.

After we made this decision in December 2011, I had hoped to have a few farewell events over the winter and spring. Unfortunately since the Art Glass Bead Show in November 2011 and our home studio show in December, all our artisan show applications have been declined. This is probably a combination of our lack of reputation in the local scene (outside of the tight-knit glass community), and the highly competitive artisan market community in Ottawa, especially in the Jewellery arena. It was a discouraging season and I was saddened to be leaving Ottawa's artisan scene with a whisper rather than a bang. But the BANG has appeared and I'm thrilled!

As you may imagine I've been practicing my stamen-making and have made two brand-new canes, and three brand new florals. As soon as I finish this blog I'm getting back on the torch to make at least two more. I've made some new innovations and breakthroughs that I'm excited to share.

Next post I'll be showing the creation of my latest stamen cane! Here's a sneak peek of the component canes I made. That's right people, it's a PINK stamen! With a star centre! I would say it's whimsical but I'm willing to bet there's a real flower out there with a stamen like that. Flowers are crazy that way.

Components of new Pink Stamen - cane-pulling pics to follow!

I have a floral made with this stamen in the kiln right now, and if it turns out the way I think it did, it will be my BEST FLORAL EVER!  I'm posting pics tomorrow.

Stay tuned...

End-of-Year Show Photos and Commentary!

Well, December and January went flying by madly and nary a blog post was made! Lots of news, but before we get to that, I want to finally share a recap of the two big shows we did at the end of 2011!

The first and biggest event was the Ottawa Glass Bead Artists show!


Andrea and I have worked to streamline and simplify our display for our smoothest setup ever. Andrea also made two collapsable spinning displays, on which we hung many sets of loose beads. They were a huge hit at this show, which had a high proportion of artists and designers.



We had some neat new focal pieces for this show, including some more abstract layered encased pieces.


Our final show of the year was our first self-hosted home studio show, inspired by our wonderful Winnipeg traditions of home shows hosted by Sumak Studios.




Home studio shows have a very different feel and flow from public events - very relaxed and comfortable.



I found it very low-stress and was delighted at how well our home performed as a showcase for our work!



As with all home studio shows, it was intimate, without huge crowds. Those who came knew our work and were excited to choose something special! We made a select group of invited shoppers and the lucky recipients of their gifts very happy. I even did a studio demonstration or two! (I should have photographed the studio - it was so tidy!)



Andrea and I were both really happy with the outcomes of the show and we look forward to hosting a second home studio sale in spring 2012! Hope to see you there.

Hearts of Glass Studio Show, Saturday December 3!

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!

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!