Worry Stones

When I was little I was a real worrier.  My innocent, over active imagination would worry up ridiculously impossible scenarios. So, one day I bought some 'worry dolls'.  Every night I would whisper my worries to them and tuck those fears tightly away under my pillow.  Admittedly,  I did worry that I had missed out some crucial information when passing on my worries but I liked having a quirky little way to settle my childhood anxieties before bed time.  It was this memory that led me to create worry stones.  I created five different coloured fused glass stones, each one for something different.  Green for health, yellow for happiness, pink for love, blue for protection and purple for harmony.  I got my mum to pen a cute little poem to go with them and they come in a little velvet pouch.  They have proved popular with kids or as a quirky little gift for a worrisome adults.  Check them out on my etsy page >here<

An update on the kerplunk! bowl

So I fused the strips together.  They fused nicely  and the thickness of the strips was just right but it looked a bit sparse.  I could have done with a few more strips of glass.

 I knew it wouldn't  look great after I saw the full fuse because it'd need more pieces to fill it out and make it look more bowl like but I slumped it anyway.  That's the thing with glass and kiln work, it's always a bit of an experiment and you never know for sure how things will turn out. 

I'm not completely disappointed with the outcome but its not as nice as I'd pictured it in my head.  I thought it'd be a bit larger and really edgy looking.  It's a nice bowl though with it's own little quirks.  It'd make a nice candleholder for a big church candle.  I've put it up on my etsy page so if you do fancy a charming little display bowl or candle holder, click here.  It could do with a loving home ;-)

Kerplunk!

I've just started a new bowl.  I made a similar design last year and wasn't too sure what I thought about it at first but I had a lot of positive comments on it and after a while became quite attached to it.....then it sold! So I've decided to make another one.  I'm doing it in clear this time cos I think it could have a bit of an icicle look about it which could be pretty cool (pun intended!)  I cut out some thin strips of Bullseye clear irid 3mm glass and arranged them in some kind of random fashion.  I like how it looks before it's fired, it reminds me of the old game kerplunk.  It's gone in the kiln on full fuse now so I'll let you know how it turns out.

New year, new blog post.

Well happy new year everybody! Here's hoping 2014 holds lots of fun and fortune for everyone.  I'm a bit rusty on the old blogging front but I have started the year as I mean to go on...as a super blogger.  2014 is gonna be a big year for Designs by Neelie and I want to share it all with my lovely followers.  So keep following my journey and tell all your friends too!

World's Worst Blogger...

Yep, that award goes to me!
So I've been a bit absent on the blog front lately.  I aplogise to anyone on here who actually follows my blog.  I've been ill for about a month and so I've not got round to doing much and have neglected my poor little blog.  I promise to make more of an effort from now on!  An update for all you lovely people tho; with the help of my dad and boyfriend, I have managed to make progress with that damn mould that was proving rather difficult to make.  Pics coming soon! Yay!

A poor workman...

I'm well aware of the phrase 'a poor workman blames his tools' (or something to that effect), but I'm gonna go ahead and do that right now.  Today I  had to chuck out my shabby old wallpaper table I've been working on for months. It was in a terrible state. It was wonky and leaning backwards and the water from my bandsaw had ran down all the back of it, causing it to rot. It was gonna give way at any moment. I have today learnt the importance of the correct tools, especially in business.  I don't quite know how I have been working on it for so long after seeing the state of it today.  I now have the tedious task of sorting out my mountain of glass in my studio tomorrow.  Hmm, should be fun....

Checkout my new super (hero) shoes!

I've found another use for my glass fusing skills.  Jazzing up shoes! My mum was gonna get rid of a pair of simple blue shoes she'd never worn. Seeing them, my creativity kicked in and I snapped them up.  So, my mum's a size four and I'm only a three but no big deal, I'll pad them out or wear extra thick tights, they will fit me damn it!  I instantly had plans to turn them into Wonder Woman shoes.  I lovingly stuck each rhinestone on and created the stars like on Wonder Womans knickers.  I then set to the fiddly task of cutting out the logo. I cut it out on my diamond bandsaw and tack fused the yellow on to the red to keep the lines nice and sharp and voila! There you have some super revived shoes!