The Blue Brick

Oh, the Pretty Things…

April 18, 2012

It’s official, I’m obsessed with glass working. The tipping point came when I realized I’d finally started making beads nice enough to create jewellery from them. It is so satisfying to wear something where even the actual beads are made by you!

This isn’t my bead – it’s Tito’s. I stole it from him as soon as I saw it. He’s been quite gracious about the theft – especially after he saw the cute overlong necklace that I made ;) It’s my colour anyways – doesn’t that mean that it’s mine?

This one is mine – I love the pendant on an overlong chain, but I’m also pleased with my budding abilities at decorating the actual bead. This one had dots that were melted in, then I poked holes in it with a pick, and covered it with a layer of clear to form little bubbles in the glass. The entire thing was melted smooth afterwards. For extra shiny the base bead is created with a hematite finish glass for that metallic look.

I love this one! after created nested dots in blue and white and melting them smooth I took the pick and lightly swirled my design. Love the results!

And of course my obsession with etching continues – I love the effect I got on these two beads – still working out what to do with the rectangular one.

Best of all… I took all the beads that were a reasonable match from this round and finally did something with them. Add a few bead caps and some pretty spacers and I got this, which I am proudly wearing even as I type:

I’m finally getting confidence with the torch, and it shows. I’ve got another round coming out of the kiln today, can’t wait for my goodies!
The Band in the Belfry

April 17, 2012

A little while ago I posted about our friends, the Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra. While they were in Toronto we had the opportunity to do another shoot, and for this one we chose a place that’s very special to us; the carillon tower of the Metropolitan United Church here in downtown Toronto.

Tito and I were first up in this church 4 years ago. The church is a large neo-gothic style building at Queen and Church streets. The first construction was in 1872 but a fire in 1928 destroyed almost the entire building. The tower however, dates from the original structure. There are a total of 54 bells in the carillon, the earliest dating to 1922. The tower, though it predates the bells, was specifically designed to accommodate the weight of the carillon; over 44 thousand pounds.

We became good friends with the Rev. John Joseph and the administrator at the time, Anna. They generously opened their church to us for shooting, allowing us a peek into the beautiful carillon itself. It’s a tough, dirty climb, but worth it at the top. We scratched our names into the wall, in 2008, alongside other names, some of which date back to the early 1900’s.

This was a challenging shoot – my favourite kind ;) I shot in natural light only – I didn’t want to compromise that beautiful light coming in from the windows. We’re all balanced more precariously than we look – I’ve got my tripod balanced across 2 rafters and I’m standing on a third.

The guys managed to look quite natural, considering they had to hold still for longer shutter speeds than one would normally use.

I love this shot of Kurt – had to show it off here!

We completed the climb to the roof – a great climb inside of a tight, twisting staircase. It was a really overcast day at that point so I went to monochrome.

The last room was the practice carillon – I love the distortion that my wide angle gave me here!

Before they left TMO did something really special. One of their new songs includes a choir of voices in the background. They invited 20 of their closest friends over to a recording studio and we all got to sing our hearts out for an hour. 20 folks standing in a small, colourful room, in a circle around a mic. It was beautiful and uplifting. As a bonus, Tito and I now get to say that we’ve sung on an actual recorded album ;) Off the bucket list!
Kiln goodies and the dangers of pre-conception.

April 16, 2012

I’ve been too busy to blog, and that’s saying something. I also had a major resin disaster that took out my entire store of carefully preserved gerber daisies and silver plated bezels. We won’t talk about that anymore – on to things that actual worked out.

Speaking of things that worked out – my first surprise was this weekend when I went to the studio. The bowl-o-saurus lives! I thought for sure those walls had give way, but no. I even trimmed it. I covered it in slip and left it to dry; it’s so big it doesn’t fit in a glaze bucket so I’ll likely just glaze it clear, assuming it continues to survive it’s bisque firing.

More goodies out of the kiln – a froggie bowl! Dibs on this bowl belong to a nun in Boston – if she still wants it. I took forever to get it done due to studio/life complications. It’s cute though, and I was willing to break my decision not to ship things just because she was so sweet.

More things included an experiment with ceradye and the clear glaze treatment. The result seems to be that the ceradye disappears. Most unsatisfactory. I now have a pitcher I don’t know what to do with.

Pre-conception is the enemy of my art. I had an idea in my head of how it would look and now, though other folks might find it lovely, its hard to get past the picture in my head that I was going for.

This little mug also did not turn out the way I expected. It’s ceradye, clear and turquoise, with shellac relief treatment. I decided to just shoot the angles I liked.

And… sneak preview of tomorrow’s post: I used it to hold up one of the first things I’ve made with my own lampwork beads. I’m so happy! Can’t wait for studio time tonight :)
Photo-Take-Outter Friday #9 – Custom Bokeh Effects

April 13, 2012

Today I wanted to share a technique I learned from the fantastic blog at Kevin & Amanda, on how to create custom bokeh effects.

For the actual technique I defer to their tutorial; they do a fantastic job explaining this cute, easy technique for creating unique photos.

The photos in this post are some of my experiments with this technique, from having fun with my Christmas tree….

… to using it in photography of my jewellery. This photo, and the one below it were created using cut-up ropes of mardi gras beads in place of lights, to allow me to place them around my jewellery more precisely.

It’s fun, easy and cheap to try. I used construction paper and my 50mm f1.8 Canon lens. You can extend it to fun portrait photography as well – imagine the sunlight through the trees, or the lights of the city at night… the possibilities are endless!
Go big, or go home.

April 11, 2012

I’ve got this sink, you can see it in this shot from before I actually owned my condo – it’s a big round porcelain bowl and I thought ‘a thrown piece would be awesome there’. Ambitious, and totally unfeasible in the first round, but worth a try.

I have never ever thrown more that 7lbs in one go. Now, you might think 7lbs isn’t much, but between wedging and centring it’s quote a handful (see what I did there?). For this sink I decided on a whopping 13.5 lbs of clay.

I centred and threw using the same techniques I use for 7lbs. So, as you might imagine, the piece didn’t do too well. The walls flare too much and were losing structural integrity in a big way. It was also lopsided. I was very proud that I managed to get even this far though, centred perfectly to start and finishing at an impressive 16″ diameter, and I’ll be trying again.

I could hear my teacher’s voice in my head telling me everything I was doing wrong, but I honestly needed to just do this as a horrible, necessary exercise. I’ll be taking time off clay to focus on glass for the summer and be back in the studio this autumn.

There’s always an important lesson to be learned in pushing your limits, and I certainly did here!
Glass etching

April 9, 2012

Sorry about missing Photo-take-outter Friday last week – sometimes you just need a break ;)

This weekend I tried glass etching for the first time, and lo, it turns out to be incredibly easy. I picked up a bottle of etching cream from the craft store called ‘Armour Etch’.

Then I picked up some stencilled stickers from the dollar store, along with a few paint brushes and little mason jars.

Brush on a thick layer of the etching cream, and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Voila! If you scoop the cream off your piece and back into the jar it’s still good, and can be reused. If you’re like me, you’re way too disorganized for this and just wash it off in the sink.

Of course I tried it on my beads, the right one is the original finish, etched version on the left.

I re-purposed some of my blocking gear to get an even coat on my beads – using t-pins and a bit of my blocking mat to hold the beads up.

Here’s another before and after – I’m lampworking again tonight, can’t wait to take this a bit further! The idea machine is on fire – I can think of all kinds of fun ways to expand on this – from decorating mirrors and vases to seeing if it affects the glass in pottery glaze, or using a resist to form patterns on the glass. Can’t wait!
The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra

April 5, 2012

A few years ago Tito began a series of paintings inspired by musical instruments. He was constantly on the lookout for new things to paint; thinking about instruments day and night. One day were were walking outside of Union station and there was this band. Unlike any band we’d ever seen, they had a fiddle, a drummer, a guitarist, a stand up base and an accordion. They were dressed like gypsies. They were rockin’. And we looked at each other and said ‘jackpot’.

We walked up to them just as they were putting their things away and practically begged them for a shot. Tito said something very flattering then that I’ve always felt nice about; he said “If there is one person you want taking your photo, it’s Shireen”. They agreed, and I grabbed my camera, and a wide angle lens, lay down on the sidewalk and asked them all to crowd over me. I took one shot. Here it is:

They told us they were called the Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra, and that they’d be in Kensington market that night, so we got 2 prints made and went down. One of the prints was a gift, the other one was signed by all of them and is a treasured photo in our home.

They went on to rock the house and we really got to appreciate how talented they are and how unique, funky and dancey their music is. They, and their manager Chandler, are amazing, warm, friendly people. That was the beginning of a great friendship :)

We went to see them every time they passed through Toronto (they’re from BC). When Tito and I spent a week in BC we got to spend some amazing time with them. 90% of what we did and saw on that trip were things they recommended to us.

They came to Toronto to record their new album, and Tito and I were asked if we’d take a few shots of them in studio – of course we were honoured. The shots in this post are all from that night. How amazing, to see the hard work, focus, dedication and talent of both the musicians and the technician, to really see how an album happens.

We did a second photo shoot a few weeks later; one that I can’t wait to share. It was taken in a very special place, the almost century-old carillon of a church here in Toronto – can’t wait to show it off!

Check them out – if you’re looking for amazing music that defies categories, something that makes you feel good and want to dance, then you’ll love these guys :)
A beautiful weekend with wonderful people

April 3, 2012

This weekend Tito and I drove up to Coboconk Ontario to see a friend. We were looking forward to seeing him but didn’t expect the incredible weekend that was in store for us!

Heaven

It turns out that his family lives in a winterized cottage, right on the lake. Their home is filled with art, pianos and pottery. They are also the most loving people imaginable, fascinating to talk to and, to boot, great cooks. We celebrated Earth hour with a feast by candlelight in a glassed-in patio facing the lake. They’ve got a dog – and everyone knows nothing was ever so perfect that it wasn’t made ten times better by the presence of a dog! Absolute heaven.

In the morning we discovered that something very special had happened.

So after an entire snow-free winter I got to take some of the pics I had been waiting for – serene mornings with a white coating on every single tree branch.

Thank you Annie, Jane and Ben for a wonderful weekend!
New FO – the Citizen Shawl

April 2, 2012

I was looking for something cuddly to make out of some of the alpaca skeins I bought last autumn at Alpaca Acres in Stratford. Alpaca is so soft and luxurious – I knew it would make a great wrap!

I selected the Citizen Shawl by Liz Abinante. I have knitted her Travelling Woman shawl a few times and thought this would be perfect.

For anyone trying this pattern out, a few warnings! The pattern has got a few holes in it – the most important one being that you should end up with 251 stitches before the lace pattern, instead of 248, so make sure you download the latest version.

Here is my Ravelry project page where I list all the changes I made to the pattern. It’s easy enough, and some of the changes are obvious, but I think they might be tricky for someone new to lace knitting.

The shawl was a gift for my lovely friend Annie. Her and her partner Jane have created the most beautiful home, filled with art and warmth and music. In fact, their home is so lovely it deserves it’s own post later on this week!

I still have 3 precious skeins of Alpaca left in the “Sandy” colourway – I’m looking for a fabulous summer wrap pattern! Any ideas?
Photo-Take-Outter Friday #8 – Macro Photography 101

March 30, 2012
Macro photography is a great love of mine, and a very fun hobby. The best part is that whether it’s spring buds, yarn fibres, glaze details or critters – there is always something to shoot. Bored? Go on out and do some macro. There’s a great shot waiting right in your backyard.

Some of my favourite shots are up there because they capture something that you don’t normally get to see; the tilt of the stars, a birds wings frozen in motion etc. The cool thing about macro is that you’ll always get something that people normally wouldn’t get to see. So, at the least, it’s a fascinating shot every time.

For macro, I use Canon’s 100mm prime f2.8 macro lens. It’s also a fantastic long-range lens and I’ve done a lot of wildlife work with it. It’s not a cheap lens; but it’s worth every penny. It is, without question, the sharpest lens in my kit.

On top of that I use Kenko extension tubes. I bought mine at Henrys, used, for $100. Extension tubes have no glass, but lengthen the distance between your lens and your camera. This enables a lens to focus closer than it’s normal set minimum focusing distance. Kenko tubes come in sets of 3, which you can use together, or individually, depending on the effect you’re going for.

Here is an example of my 100mm lens, with just one Kenko tube on:

Here it is with 2 Kenkos:

And finally, with all 3:

Quite a dramatic change, right? Here it is again:

My tiger lilies with only one extension tube.

With 2 extension tubes

… and with the whole kit n kaboodle.

I’ve done some great critter photography with this set up:

Tips for the actual shooting part:
- This lens set up weighs a lot, so a tripod is a good option.
- The extension tubes compromise your exposure and you’ll need a longer shutter speed than normal – so bright light is essential if your subject is a moving one.
- It can also be difficult to focus when you’re trying to get as close as possible, so what I do is lock my focus as tight as I can get it and then physically move the camera toward and away from my subject until I find that sweet spot for the shot.
- Be ready to be patient – shooting outdoors means wind and that means your subject may not stay where you want them, even in a gentle breeze – but when you do get that perfect shot it’s that much more rewarding :)