Cold Weather, Hot Glass

Winter is definitely here, oh my gosh! In Ōtautahi Christchurch we get some pretty low temperatures and frosty mornings, but the beautiful blue skies and still air make up for it!

I've been super busy adding products to our Hot Glass category on our Toolshop website. Thompsons enamels and glass rods for Lampworking, yay!

We also have a bunch of enamel tools going up soon ;)

There are some Enamel and Lampworking classes coming up to show you how to use these colourful materials, as always click on your city, then Short Workshops.

Our students have (as always) been busy in the studios too! Check out these lovely settings for pendants. What an improvement between the copper practice setting and the silver one. Sometimes you may want the "fold over" look of this copper one, it makes more of a feature of the bezel, but a more traditionally "perfect" setting is the silver one. I know, I know, I hate that word perfect too. It's NOT what we are striving for in our classes!

However, the lower silver bezel definitely makes more of the stone, plus this student achieved a really great smooth finish on it.

Cabochon stone setting like this is taught in our 8 week block classes. It is a tricky technique that needs the time afforded by the longer block classes.

Monday Night Beginners learn this over their 8 weeks, they start in Wellington on 26 August and Christchurch 9 September.

On my bench:

Matariki is over for another year, but I'm trying to carry the attitude of rest, recovery and abundance into July ;)

These are some of my Matariki Earrings, roll printed with feathers and star cut outs in the shape of the constellation. The stars are cut with a super sharp graver towards a drilled hole, always got to watch out for my fingers!

Annie