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Murray Bridge Artist of the Month – Purple

NewPurpleDrip

It all started with a request from an artist for some purple or pink or red beads in this style, made from recycled glass.  When it finally clicked on how I might possibly do that, I was hooked!  I have really enjoyed making these beads (these ones were made from a wine bottle), and I am really loving how the jewellery has turned out.  The hoops are something new for me, and I love that you can take the little bead off and possibly change it for different beads down the track.

I have loved putting this collection of recycled glass bead jewellery together, and I can’t wait to deliver it to Murray Bridge Regional Gallery on Tuesday 12 January!

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Murray Bridge Artist of the Month – the Gold Set

NewGoldDrip

The second set I am sharing for the exhibition.  The beads were made from Beer Bottles!  I then dripped the glass to form the shape, and finally added the gold leaf.  I love the colours in this set of jewellery. I am not a brown or a gold person, but even I would wear this jewellery.  I tried the more simple necklace with some of my black/grey clothes, and it looked right at home.  I wasn’t expecting to like this quite so much!  I’m glad I tried it!

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Murray Bridge – Artist of the Month

NewGreenDrip

I have made 3 different sets of work for Murray Bridge Regional Gallery.  This is the first set.  I used a wine bottle as the base of the beads, and then decorated the beads with a beautiful green/blue frit, and then dripped the glass to get the cool shape.

The earrings are super nice to wear.  I have made myself some little hoops with a red bead on it (the prototype).  But, I seriously love the necklaces too.  I’ll share the next couple of sets over the next couple of days.  The work will be at the Gallery on Tuesday!

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Moving

MovingStudio

Oh how I have loved this HUGE studio in our house in Mount Gambier.  It has been amazing to have so much space!  I am so grateful for the wonderful 2 years we have had here.  Things will be different in Murray Bridge, that’s for sure, but we are all looking forward to the move for many different reasons.  I am looking forward to:

  • a forced clean/tidy up of my studio!  (Moving will do that for you).
  • being a lot closer to Adelaide.  (Adelaide for morning tea, why not)!
  • living somewhere that is a bit warmer.  (Yes, Murray Bridge is warmer than Adelaide most days).
  • exploring our new town and surrounding area/s.  (We’ll get all the tourist information when we get there and go from there)!
  • possibly doing more markets in Adelaide.  (This is definitely on my mind)!

I’ll try to keep posting as much as I can over the next week, as I’ve got some really cool new jewellery to share with you, but don’t be surprised if I miss a day here and there.

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Beer Bottle Beads with Gold Leaf

GoldBeer

Once you try one new thing, more new ideas pop into your head that need to be tried!  I used to make these beads just by melting and dripping the glass (no decoration).  A couple of weeks ago I started rolling the glass in frit before I melted and dripped them, and I loved the result.  This week, I have been dripping the glass and then rolling them in gold leaf.  Love this too, and can’t wait to put all of this jewellery together.

I am making this new range for Murray Bridge Regional Art Gallery where I will be Artist of the Month for January and February.

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Farewell 2014

I’ve been trying to work out if 2014 has been a good year or a not-so-good year, and I think it has actually been a bit of both.

Some really good things have happened:

  • Some of my recycled glass jewellery was exhibited in Kirra Galleries “Flame On” exhibition
  • I had jewellery selected as finalists in MAGE Contemporary Glass Jewellery Award (both pieces sold)
  • Featured in The Advertiser “Four of the Best” section twice
  • Feature article in Creative Beading Magazine
  • 2nd Prize in South East Art Society “Remembrance” exhibition (necklace sold)
  • Flinders Street Market in Adelaide – first market in Adelaide for 2 years

And some not-so-good things too.  But these things are all related to my own expectations!  Now that I think about them, they are not so terrible, it’s just that they fell way below what I had hoped for!  I did 2 SALA exhibitions, and neither of them sold very well.  But the upside was that I had lots of jewellery made for the rest of the year.  I generally try to see the positive in a negative situation, but at the time, these exhibitions left me reeling!  Now, a few months later, I can see so many lessons learned, and I am grateful for the experience, even if it didn’t feel so good at the time.  Soon, I’ll start planning my 2015 SALA exhibition!

I’m looking forward to 2015.  Here are some of the things I am already looking forward to:

  • Moving to Murray Bridge.  We have loved our time in Mount Gambier, but I am looking forward to being closer to Adelaide again (without being too close).
  • I will be Artist of the Month at Murray Bridge Regional Art Gallery during January and February
  • I will be having an exhibition with 3 other glass artists at Gallery M in February (more details on that next year)
  • I will be sharing some glass bead and jewellery related projects on the blog.    This will start in February.

Thank you for all the support you have given me this year.  Whether it be just a comment on a social media thing, or that you bought a piece of my work, it all means a lot to me, and I’m so thankful that I get to do all of this.

See you next year!

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New Beads, New Jewellery, New Year!

NewDripBeads

I am making some new beads and jewellery!  I am Artist of the Month at the Murray Bridge Regional Art Gallery in January and February!  It is quite cool that this coincides with me moving to Murray Bridge.  We didn’t know that at the time we were organising it all.  Now it seems like it was meant to be.

I love the new drip beads that I have made using wine bottles.  I made some for another artist who is using them for a very different type of exhibition (1000 Cups of Cranes).  When I made some for her, I got a bit excited about the possibilities for my own jewellery, and couldn’t wait to get back on the torch to make some more.  I think they are shaping up quite nicely.

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Sale Time

I spent the day at T’Arts yesterday, and set up my work up on the Sale Table.  It was exciting to watch people look through the work, and pick items from there.  Mostly people were treating themselves, which was really nice to see.

The items that I have on the Sale Table are a mixture of:

  • exhibition work
  • older work coming out of galleries after I have refreshed their stock (I do this at least annually for most galleries)
  • prototypes/samples of work made during the year

Sale1

Sale2 Sale3

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Merry Christmas!

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Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, however you celebrate it…I hope you have an amazing Christmas Day!  Yes, it’s only one day of the year, but what  nice day it is!  A day for family, and for letting people know how much you care about them, a day for eating lots of yummy food, and drinking lots of yummy sparkling wine!  Stay safe, be merry, and thank you for all the support you have given me this year.