Refreshed, and ready to go

After a short Brittany break, I am now refreshed and ready to go with lots of ideas about what I want to make next.  The kiln has been on most days this week, filled with suncatchers for most of the week, and with lampwork on Friday.
I have two favourites this week - A hoot of Owls that were made on Friday, and a pair of seahorse suncatchers made earlier in the week.
The suncatchers were great to make, I traced the outline of a seahorse onto some very thin copper that I often use to make inclusions in the glass.  Then cut it out (the only thing I could lay my hands on at the time were my trusty lampworking scissors and added details with whatever was on the bench at the time.  Off cuts of copper were used to make seaweed shapes, and the whole lot layered an placed in the kiln, and run through a full fuse programme.  I was really pleased with how they worked out - but they were really difficult to photograph!

Placing them in the window to photograph meant that there was no detail on the seahorses, but you get to see the lovely colour of the glass.

Placing them on a neutral background meant you got to see the lovely patina on the copper produced by the kiln process, and more of the detail on the seahorses themselves.
I the end, I think the two photos below are the best reflection of how they appear -

I love the small bubbles that have been formed, and think they add to the pieces ( I checked with filters, and the bubbles are OK, and no stresses remain, so they are annealed correctly)


Suncatchers, ready for Father's Day, and Lampwork as Teacher's end of term presents,  ready to make into handbag charms, key rings and necklaces have also come out of the workshop this week all ready for the Market at the Statistics Office on Tuesday 10th, and Nantgarw China works on Saturday 21st plenty of things to do and see!

Back soon!