Flowers

I have been looking at the flowers that remain in the garden as Autumn draws in. When I view my work it is obvious that I have constantly used flowers as a source of inspiration over the years.



I love both the structure and the colours in this honeysuckle, as well as it's wonderful perfume.



Here are some of the ways in which I have used flowers in my work. For more information on these pieces see my website www.lynne-glazzard.com
or www.lynne-glazzard.co.uk where you can find information about my courses in jewellery making, metal clay, art clay silver and enamelling.

Time out

I don't know where the past few weeks have gone but they have simply flown by. Last week I ran a couple of interesting workshops in my own studio; the first for a couple who spent the day making their wedding rings In sterling silver and gold using traditional techniques and the second for a couple who made some beautiful pieces in their first foray into art clay silver. I have a couple of commissions half done on the bench and am making samples for a 1960s inspired rings class that I will be running at the Castle Museum in York on the 1st October. I will try and post some pictures of them in the next few days!

Art clay certification projects

At the recent conference of the Art Clay Guild a selection of new projects for the certification programme in the UK were launched.  All of the projects were on display and had been made by a few of the committee and other  'willing volunteers'.  I had a preview of these projects during my trip to Japan earlier in the year.  This means that there is now a wider range of projects available to students who wish to take the certification programme, although due to the varying sizes of the finished items these are likely to vary considerably in costs.  I am happy to be able to offer a bit more variety although will not be teaching any of the projects I have not actually made myself.  Here are some of my samples so far......

Thursday's class

I have just spent a few days at the Art Clay UK Guild Conference.  It has been lovely to catch up with old friends and to make a few new ones.  The best part was of course another opportunity to learn from Ryota Mitsuhashi with the aid of Daisuke Minagawa, both from the Aida Corporation in Japan.  On Thursday we were taught techniques for making texture using cuttlefish bone and applying a layer of copper to the surface of silver.

This picture shows the work of the whole class.  I am really looking forward to practising this so that I can teach the technique myself in the future.

Enamelling again

When I first started this blog I thought the main focus of my work was enamelling.  Over the past year, (ironically while I have been Chair of the Guild of Enamellers) I hardly seem to have done any enamelling at all.  I have recently done some testing and made samples ready for the Introduction to Enamelling workshop at the Flame Off 2010 at Towcester Racecourse.  Today I enamelled a piece I have been working on sporadically for a couple of weeks.  Having finished it I am not sure I like it.  It does look better on the finger and the oxidisation has produced more variety and subtlety of colours than the photograph shows.  I used textures embossed into watercolour paper to make the background textures on the art clay silver.  Added fine silver wires and tiny balls using overlay silver paste, soldered the two shells to the sterling ring band, enamelled it and then riveted the dyed pearls into place.

That big faux bone ring

Here is another view of one of the rings I posted yesterday.  I don't really like the finished thing but it has been  an interesting exercise in working out how to construct and assemble it.  First I roughly cut the circle in the faux bone.  I then measured it on a ring mandrel and used that as my 'size' for the art clay silver ring.  I rolled out the strip for the ring band and made the ring with the texture on the inside (it has text inside the band) and set it aside to dry.  I then rolled out a sheet of clay and textured it to match, cut the side plate, dried it and assembled and fired the art clay silver.   I had also made a little art clay silver stamp - this is my initials in reverse done with a photo polymer plate and it had a short post with a knob on it.  After firing I added a pin to the back of the plate using osp and re-firing the ring part with the post supported in a bit of kiln fibre, so that I could use the pin as a rivet (it shows on the previous picture).  I cut the texture on the top surface where the 'signet' is using a graving tool, the other marks are made using a file I have forgotten the name of (bought it from Robert Dancik).  I drilled a hole to take the peg of the signet and warmed the faux bone up so that I could push it in and it is held securely.  Filed the end of the peg smooth then inserted the silver ring into the faux bone.  I have used a bit of expoxy resin to stick the two sections together as didn't think the one rivet would really be enough - may have been if the fit had been really tight!  I then coloured the faux bone using alcohol inks and sanded then back to re-expose some of the white surface and sealed it with renaissance wax.

It has a small area cut out on the other flat surface where I put bits of gold leaf embedded in UV resin - the whole thing is really too messy for my taste but I have learned a lot in making it.

More experiments in ring making

I have spent the past few days experimenting with rings in a variety of materials.  Here are a selection of the finished rings.  The top left hand ring is resin with little pieces of cut thread embedded into it.  The top right hand ring is faux bone, art clay silver and alcohol inks. The bottom right hand ring is faux bone but before I textured it I made a mould and then poured a resin version with red thread embedded in it.  I am really enjoying my time experimenting like this, it is always good to take a break from the 'bread and butter' work and play for a while, letting new ideas bounce around the studio.

Bird inspired things

Here are a couple of bird inspired bits, relating to my residency at Whitby Museum.  The museum has a large collection of Victorian stuffed birds (I am sure there is another name for them!).  When I first began my residency I spent quite a lot of time sketching and doodling in that section of the museum, partly as I had always ignored them (a kind of dislike of old stuffed creatures I suppose).  Anyway, over the year I have become quite fond of them and developed an obsession with the way in which birds have been used as motifs and patterns on objects everywhere.  I made a few glass bird shaped beads which have been in my box of bits since last spring.  Anyway, I have now made these.  The left hand piece is actually a clasp for a bracelet I am planning.  The charm is based upon various ceramic jars and pots in the museum that are long-legged birds.  I think they are possibly from Africa originally - but I did also sketch some bird shaped ceramic vessels in the Etruscan museum in Rome while I was on holiday.

The glass bead is my first successful attempt as making a lamp worked glass bead over a silver core.

Snow, ice and precious bones

Here is my bracelet inspired by the Scoresby collection in Whitby Museum.  The bracelet is call Snow, Ice and Precious Bones.  The glass beads are inspired by Captain Scoresby Junior's detailed drawings of snowflakes and the silver beads are based upon a number of pieces of whale bone that were on display in the recent exhibition on whaling.

Paper textures

At the recent Art Clay Conference I ran a very relaxed workshop showing how I use thick watercolour paper to create re-usable textures for rolling out clay. I will post more details when I get a bit of free time but in the meantime here are the three pieces of work made by my students.

I love the simplicity of this low-tech technique and although when I took these pictures the pieces were not fully burnished and finished hope you can see the fine detailed unique patterns that are possible.

Enamelling

I seem to have had a really busy couple of weeks, which must be a good thing but haven't really had much time for reflection. Monday I ran a class introducing a couple of students to the medium of enamel on art clay silver and here are the results. I think these are pretty amazing especially as I know that neither of them had done any enamelling before and one of them hadn't even used art clay silver. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and lovely to see them leave happily clutching their finished pieces of work.

Saturday workshop

Sorry about the bit of a delay in posting! On Saturday I had a workshop in my studio for a couple who were interested in using beach glass. It was a really interesting day, I always enjoy trying to structure a workshop to fit in with someone else's work. We used a few bits of beach glass I had in a jar and pre-fired them in the kiln, then wrapped them in bits of damp tissue paper and built thin rolled pieces of art clay silver around them, firing them in the kiln at 650 degrees centigrade. Interesting to me as the two bits of glass looked the same before we fired them and the reaction with the silver changed the colour of one of the pieces. We also used some larger glass pieces and built rings with the main part of the shank in sterling silver and art clay silver prongs added on. These were fired without the glass and then the pieces assembled after firing. Impressive results for a first attempt I think?

Two days of teaching

I have had two really busy days running courses in my workshop here in North Yorkshire. I love the challenges some of my students set me by asking questions that really make me stop and think. Yesterday I had a student who was also studying for a degree in visual arts and had been doing a lot of work with ceramics. Anyone who knows me well will know I don't really have any affinity to clay (mud kind of stuff) as I don't like getting dirty! Julie had brought along a selection of bisque fired earthenware textured beads and wanted to know whether she could add art clay silver and torch fire them, the main problem being that she didn't have her own kiln just access to a very large version at the university where she is studying. I admit that my initial reaction was a very large NO thinking I didn't want flying shards of hot ceramic bits in my studio - especially while someone else was in there. Anyway, after a bit of thought (and lunch) I suggested we try by adding art clay silver overlay paste, drying the bead on my scientific hotplate set at about 60 degrees C and then turning it up to 200 degrees C to pre-heat the bead. I then set up a few fire bricks on my hearth to surround the bead from three sides and got Julie to slowly introduced the flame of the propane torch. I used long handled tweezers to turn the bead occassionally while she was firing and at the end quickly removed it putting the hot bead between layers of kiln blanket to slow down the cooling process. Success...... a bit of burnishing and one happy student with a silvered ceramic bead!

Introduction to Art Clay Silver

I have had a very busy few days since I returned from Edinburgh.  Of course I had all the usual catching up with paperwork and a day in Whitby Museum but I also had two days of classes introducing new students to the magic of art clay silver.  I am always amazed at the variety of lovely work that is produced.  Everyone starts with the same information and tools and by the end of each day has produced pieces that reflect their own personality and way of working.   Here are the first pieces produced by my students on Saturday.  We all had an enjoyable and as you can see, a very productive day.

Enamelling weekend in Edinburgh

I have had a fantastic weekend in Edinburgh.  I was invited by Emma Baird to run a weekend workshop on behalf of the Art Clay Guild Scottish region, together with Dorothy Cockrell.  We split into two groups and I began by leading those who had some experience of enamelling but had never used art clay silver, while Dorothy worked with those who were experienced in art clay silver but had little or no experience in enamelling.  I will post some of the images in a slide show but am sure you will agree that the group managed to produce some lovely pieces of work.  Emma has put some more pictures on her blog and so has Lesley Messam

Thank you all for your enthusiasm, I hope a few more will be joining the Guild of Enamellers and continue to explore this lovely medium.

Art clay silver

I had a lovely day yesterday in the studio with Jo.  She was over from New Zealand visiting family and wanted to learn something about art clay silver.  She was very focussed about what she wanted to learn, worked hard all day and here are her lovely pieces.   

Thank you Jo for letting me post these on my blog for everyone to see!

I love to teach enthusiastic people to use art clay silver, it is such an interesting material to work in and everyone produces something unique and beautiful.

Blue necklace

Here is another necklace I showed at the exhibition at Guild of Enamellers annual conference a few days ago.  This one is hand made lamp worked glass beads combined with a large bead made in art clay silver and enamelled.  The tiny spacer beads are also hand made using art clay silver. Some of the glass beads have been included on the website of Beads and Beyond magazine, although I didn't get anywhere in the competition as the standard of entries was fantastic.  It is nice to have the picture on their website though.

The Guild of Enamellers is a fantastic organisation run by an enthusiastic group of people and it is a real honour to be their Chair (person) for the year.

Enamelling and beads

I have just spent a very hectic but enjoyable weekend at the annual conference of the Guild of Enamellers.  We always have a themed exhibition and this year the theme was textures, chosen by Carol Griffin when she was Chair.  

This was my entry.  It is a combination of lava beads with silver overlay paste and then enamelled onto; two beads made in art clay silver and enamelled and a whole variety of hand made lamp worked glass beads.  

Enamelling on art clay silver

I have been working on my enamelled beads again today and here are the results.  In the front is a small test sample together with a small silver bead.  The larger beads are enamelled to match up and tone with some glass beads I am also working on.  They are not perfect but I am quite pleased.

Work in progress

I had another lovely day in Whitby Museum.  I have done a few more sketches, taken more photographs and am beginning to sort out some of my ideas.  When I arrived home I was straight into the studio to do a few tests in enamel trying to match enamel to some glass beads I am working on.  Here is one of my test samples together with the first of my enamelled beads made in art clay silver.  It is not finished yet as it still needs stoning back, polishing and re-firing.