Glass Fish

One of my favorite glass items is fish. They are great fun to make because I can play with so many different combinations of colors.



Here is Sammy, a pendant made by Smokeylady54, using one of my glass fish in her creation. She has added her opwn lovely lampwork beads and leaves, as well as pearls and Swarovski crystals. The toggle on this piece is Sterling silver and the necklace is just under 22" long.



Sammy is for sale at Smokeylady's Etsy store . I also have some glass fish in my Etsy store too. Below are "Sid and Nancy", two punky fish waiting for a home.

Inspiration is all around

My two previous blogs about Sources of Inspiration looked at becoming "ideas-rich" and ways of presenting ideas for design (sketch books, design boards, scrap books etc).

Even the most mundane items can become a source of inspiration, you don't need to search the net for good design ideas, you are living with them. Here I have taken my camera to record a few ideas from around the home, focussing on color, texture and pattern. Textiles and tableware are both a great source for ideas and take a look in the fruit bowl too!

Any of these images will be useful to the glass artist, textile designer or graphic illustrator.

I am also addicted to glossy magazines and catalogues from shops such as The Pier which are packed full of color, texture and pattern. I keep a small note book with themed pages and, when I am stuck for inspiration, I take a few minutes to look through this book. Below are some example pages.

Colors of Provence, France

Natural color and texture

Black, cream and white

Why not browse Etsy and buy yourself a note book to keep your ideas? To view more pages from this notebook visit my Flickr.

A Walk to Bronte Falls

Last Bank Holiday Monday 5 May we took the dog for a walk to Bronte Falls. Here he is, keen to get moving.

We walked from Penistone Hill in Haworth to the Falls, a short walk of roughly 4 miles there and back, no strenuous climbing, just a gentle path. We could see across the valley to Stanbury and Oldfield. Below is Stanbury village.

The weather was hot and hazy, therefore the light quality was quite poor. This image is looking across the valley toward Lancashire, the Falls are below.

Once there we stopped to sit and paddle our feet in the beck. The original bridge was washed away in a flood so the Bronte Society paid to have a new one made. I don't know if the Falls had a name in the 19th century (someone enlighten me) but they are now named the Bronte Falls because the sisters lived at Haworth.

We intended to walk up to Top Withens, a ruin of a farmouse, said to be the inspiration for Wuthering Heights, but I had forgotten to bring a drink and, as my tongue was dragging on the ground from thirst, we walked back into Haworth and adjourned to the pub.

Here is Jackson, entertaining himself and anyone who was passing, by digging for stones in the beck.

Spaghetti Glass

More experiments with float glass products. This time I have been messing about with a tub of mixed glass "tangles".



After some disappointing results with bubble powder I have had success with the tangles. They are in assorted colors and are different thicknesses of hollowed glass, similar to stringers. These tangles are all 82 coe, making them compatible with float (picture) glass.



Noodles is a fused glass dish, now for sale on Etsy. I would, ideally, like a wider color range but I am quite pleased with the outcome.