Cabochons - Day 11

Yesterday's batch which came out of the kiln this morning:

Day 11 - overview

Quite a few nice ones in this lot again - closeups of my favourites below :)

Day 11 - Blue with orange and white dotties :)

This was a full bead before it was slumped but a couple of the raised dots had broken off (I dropped it on a tiled floor - tch!).

Day 11 - another donut

Another damaged donut made into a lovely flat-backed piece ready to be hung from a fancy donut bail or straight onto a leather or satin cord :)

Day 11 - that\'s a nice pair of cabs, missus ;)

I really like these - I'll have to have a hunt through my bead photo diary to see if I can remember exactly which glass I used here! You know... at this rate I'm going to start wishing for broken beads :D

Day 11 - interesting rainbow cab-type-thing

I have to do more with this bead - it definitely needs something in that big white blank middle! Maybe a dot of glass and another fire... maybe a bit of enamel painting... will ponder this some more...

Day 11 - teeny tiny cab pair

These are really delicate as they're quite small - just a little over 1cm tall. They'll make a lovely pair of earrings :)


And that's it for today :) If you want to see closer pics of any of the others, let me know...

Yet more cabochons...

They didn't stick together after all so there are even more crammed into the kiln today! :D

Far too many for me to put them all in one blog post, so here's an overview of today's crop:

Day 10 - overview

Can you guess which were my favourites before you scroll down? :)

Day 10, first pic

I'm sure you did guess :) Oh, and the one on the right isn't nearly as wonky-looking IRL! I had to double-check when I was editing this photo!

Day 10, second pic

I remember cleaning this bead when I first made it and being heartbroken that it split in two! It's nice to have been able to resurrect it :)

Day 10, third pic

I had a few of these that broke at the same time, hence there were two of these cabs in this batch and I've slumped at least one other. I'm fairly sure I have the other ones in my broken beads pot too...

Day 10, fourth pic

Ah, meet "Gemini" :) Not very original, I know, but as the silver looks like a constellation and they're twin cabs (not identical, I know), I couldn't really call them anything else :)

Day 10, fifth pic

I love the fab, bright orange, vibrant colour of this one! The other one like it has turned out with a bit of a sharp point at the top so it'll have to go in the kiln again...

Day 10, sixth pic

I love, love, *love* this one! It's friend also came out with a pointy end so given that I've never double-slumped any of these yet, I hope it survives a second go. It'll be a while before that happens... I'm too excited about the ones that haven't been in at all yet to wait!

And finally... Day 10, seventh pic

Really like the woody-fossily look to this one. some of the black has come out with a texture to it which I think only adds to the overall organic effect.
OK, so I've still used quite a lot of pictures today but just think how many there'd have been if I'd photo'd them all individually ;)

More tomorrow. (was that a groan I heard? ;) ).

Today's cabochon crop from my kiln

Here's the batch of cabs that I had in the kiln overnight; there were too many for one photo, so I've taken several...

Day Nine, part one

This was an experiment with a tab bead that had broken unevenly down the middle (I'd squished it too thin with my mashers). These are the left and right halves of the bead - the hole would have run right up the middle in between them. The fine silver wire is a bit sharp and pointy at the top of the left one - I'll either clip or file this then I think I'll re-slump it to see if I can get a rounder shape. The other one I don't mind not being perfectly oval :)

Day Nine, part two

These are lovely but unfortunately you can see where the hole was at the back of each cab. It seems that no matter how well I clean any remaining bead release from the back of the cabs, I still get a mark, which doesn't matter on opaque beads but spoils the look of clear ones. Ah well, that's what etching fluid is for ;)

Day Nine, part three

Nothing wrong with these ones :) They even already have a name - Constantine - as this had been a bead destined to be one of my ☛Constantine Bay pendants☚.

Day Nine, part four

Another pair with which I'm pleased :) The ivory glass has become a beautifully rich, creamy yellow... it was a bit like that before it went into the kiln yesterday but the colour has become much richer.

Day Nine, part five

And here are the rest :) I like the odd-shaped green and red one; there's a spiky bit on one of the two at the bottom right of the picture and as you can see, the green transparent pair have the same mark from where the hole was. Remind me to put more etching fluid on my next shopping list...


Some of these cabs will end up in my jewellery but most will probably find their way into ☛My Etsy shop☚, it's only a matter of time - I just have to take proper pics then measure, price and describe the things! If you're interested in any of them and can't wait, contact me :)

And there are even more in the kiln this evening! This time I've crammed in as many as I dare - so far anyway :D I know, I know one day I'll push it too far and I'll end up with a single amalgamated cabochon awaiting me the next morning ;)

More pics tomorrow, all being well :)

When life throws you broken beads, make cabochons!

It's still far too cold here in chilly Chorley for me to spend a decent amount of time in the workshop making beads, so this past week or so I've been trying something I've been working up to for ages.

When I first started making beads, I batch annealed rather than garaged them. That is to say I put them in vermiculite to cool and annealed a whole bunch of them together rather than popping them in the kiln straight from the flame.

There's nothing wrong with batch annealing but the risk is that beads will crack before they get anywhere near the kiln, so I was left with plenty of sad-looking broken beads which I refused to throw away, swearing that one day I'd find a use for them!

So I've been experimenting with the kiln, altering temperatures and timing and making my poor, nearly forgotten half-beads into cabochons :) I thought I'd share the results...

Day One

The back of the beads still have a little ridge where the bead hole ran. This isn't really a problem as most jewellery in which they would be used would hide the back of the cab. However, some of the raised dots on one of the beads didn't slump fully into the main body of the cab and so the next day, I raised the temperature by 5ºC...

Day Two

These ones made me smile when I opened the kiln the next morning :) There's not a single one I wouldn't use in my own jewellery designs! These were definitely more "relaxed" than the previous batch but the backs still had a bit of a ridge where the hole was. So, I raised the temperature again the next day...

Day Three

Definitely getting there... the perfectionist in me still wanted to get the ridge on the back even flatter, so the temperature went up again... :)

Day Four

You've guessed it... up went the temperature again... but I was getting a bit impatient (a habit I really must kick) so I risked a whole 10ºC this time...

Day Five

Nearly there! a final raise of 5ºC...

Day Six

By George, I think I have it! ;D

This meant I could start playing with some of the larger and even nicer half-beads I had :)

Day Seven

Day Eight

I'm really happy with the results of my "experiments"! I have more cooking in the kiln as I write - there's a good few hours left on the kiln's schedule and I can't wait to see what comes out of it tomorrow morning (have I just jinxed myself?).

I think some of these will make their way onto my shop soon, once I've decided which ones I can let myself part with ;) I'd love to hear what you think!

The bead is mine but someone else made it prettier :)

I was mentioned in a Tweet by one of my customers, Anne Tweed today - my first ever customer Tweet!

Anne has made my Hue lampwork glass bead into a lovely bracelet. Here's the original bead:



And you can see the bracelet Anne made with it on ☛ her blog ☚

Thanks for spreading the word, Anne!