I'm all rather excited right now!

I have had confirmation through that I've been accepted onto the Silversmithing course at college I've been after, which means that I'll be learning how to create beautiful silver jewellery using traditional techniques and can hopefully combine this with my glass art to create some stunning (eventually) and individual pieces. This is the plan! It's going to take some hard work to get there, but I have no doubt that I can do it. Yipeee!

Rather more importantly at the moment, I also received my SRA Membership today so at last I am an official SRA member! This will mean nothing to some people and everything to those in the know ;-) It means that I have passed certain criteria and undertaken certain commitments to ensure that I only sell my own crafted glass items and nothing mass produced. This is core to my beliefs about British Glass Artists, we are capable of producing some of the world's most stunning creations in glass and we need to support each other to ensure that this tradition thrives. We also need to educate the public so that they are able to spot handmade and quality items easily and can therefore choose good art - not just mass produced items.

The other day, I was speaking to a seller of glass beads. He was showing me some beads and telling me how far in advance Australian bead artists are and unusual their beads were. Now I have nothing against Australian bead artists - far from it! There are some incredible Australian lampworkers out there, but I had to tell him that he needs to fully explore the vast talent that we have in the UK before he can convince me of his claim. Looking at the beads he was selling, I could have pointed him to at least a dozen artists in the UK who have created beads at least as good as those he showed me - and they were indeed nice beads.

So - rant, rant, rant.....my message of the day is never underestimate British lampworkers and other UK glass artists, always look for quality handmade glass art and buy directly from the artist where possible :-)  Just in my humble opinion of course! :-)

Hazel

I have a love-hate relationship with Farnham. The bead show today in Farnham was OK really, three or four excellent stalls and the rest were mildly interesting. Worth going to see Tillerman Beads (Mike Poole), Martin Tuffnell (sorry Mr Bank Manager, I tried my best to avoid the temptation but failed miserably) and to meet up with my friend and very talented glass artist Becky Fairclough of Chameleon Designs.

Mike's very intricate and accomplished bead designs are a joy. I am going to have to practice, practice, practice to get anywhere near the quality of those...possibly for several years!! It's good to have something to aspire to anyway.

Martin sells glass to beadmakers. Glass, glass and more glass in my case - plus tools and many additions. I could have spent hours there - a couple of them chatting to Martin :-)

The hate part was trying to escape Farnham and having to navigate that awful one way system. After several very dizzy minutes, I finally found the right road out...time to come home, play with my new light cube setup and get some new pieces listed for sale. I've only just finished listing them. Hopefully I'll have some time to play with that new glass soon!

Goodnight all :-)

Hazel

A big thanks to Dijana of www.DVision-Images.com for taking some wonderful shots of my work, however as I've sold most of the pieces from that photoshoot, I've decided to invest in a mini-lightcube from eBay so that I can bring you some more jewellery to buy online fresh out of the kiln! I've had an email to say that it's on it's way, so allowing for some practice time I'd say I should have more listed by the weekend. How exciting!

Either on Saturday or Sunday coming up I plan to visit the Farnham Gem and Bead Fair for a good mooch around. It's generally a well attended event and I'm hoping to spot some well known Lampwork artists there if I'm lucky. If you're in the area, I would certainly recommend it...especially if it's tipping down, as it's in the nice, dry setting of the Maltings. I won't be selling there on that day (I don't have enough left for a stall right now) - just wandering about and possibly buying a little lampworking glass from Martin at www.tuffnellglass.com.

If only I didn't have a full time day job too and I could be in the workshop right now!!!! Don't you just love that Monday-stuck-in-the-office feeling?!

Bye for now,

Hazel

Well, it's a bit later than I'd hoped but better late than never I say! I have made my first few listings in my Shop page and hope that it all works properly. Any suggestions for improvement gratefully received.

I've listed these with the intention of selling via paypal - however if you would like to buy something you see here and don't have a paypal account, please contact me by email for other arrangements - just bear in mind that if someone buys it before I read your email I won't be able to remove it from sale for you in time.

More tomorrow, as it's way past my bedtime now. :-)

Hazel

Just a quick update for you all...I will be listing some pieces for sale via the website this coming weekend. I would expect to have some items listed by Saturday night, so if you're interested in purchasing something special, please pop back then!

Thanks and have a wonderful evening.

Hazel

It's early on Sunday morning as I write and my head is spinning! Thank you to all the wonderful people who came to see my glass at the fair. I had a lot of positive feedback, made a few sales and met some wonderful people. 

I also had a few enquiries regarding the possibility of jewellery parties. Well, I don't see why not! It's not going to be easy, making anything from glass takes time, and I would have to limit the number of parties I can do to allow me enough time to make some really good pieces, but I think it will be such fun how can I turn down such an opportunity!

More information to follow, as I'll put some pricing together (the one part of this that I really hate doing!!) and get plans underway. I also have some plans in the making for teens & tweens parties...more about that as soon as I can.

Please feel free to email me with any enquires or suggestions. I'd love to hear from you.

Right, I'm off now to celebrate my first public outing...with a nice relaxing Sunday morning breakfast before the kids get up and the fun begins again!!

Hazel