After re-homing the Bikes and Tools into the now redundant wooden shed, and moving the tumble drier back into the house, we set to work lining the old brick coalhouse walls, putting new electrics in and some good windows and door.
Our Studio
It was myself (Sooz) who first got interested in Lampworking, having had the 'Magpie' Effect for many years concerning Beads, then moving on to being a Bead Peddler, the next step was of course to make my own.
The problem being in the UK, it is a hard hobby to start, you don't know where to look for help on the craft, or where to go to buy your supplies, so we cheated and bought a Hot Head torch and all the rest of the kit, except the gas, on our holiday in Florida - how we got that heavy case back through the check-in still amuses me!
Only when we got back home we quickly realised that it wasn't going to be one of those table top crafts that you could do whilst watching TV, so we set up a small workbench in a wooden shed.
Problems with this were the fact we had to have the door open for ventilation, so insects would quite happily fly into the flame and get brutally frazzled, and the wind would blow the flame so you had to dance around trying to dodge it, another big issue we found was with the small cans of Mapp Gas running cold after two or three beads. And most of all, the whole family wanted to make Beads !
We needed a bigger set up, and so the plan was formed to convert the old brick coalhouse.
Stage 1
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After re-homing the Bikes and Tools into the now redundant wooden shed, and moving the tumble drier back into the house, we set to work lining the old brick coalhouse walls, putting new electrics in and some good windows and door. |
Stage 2
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A nice lick of paint in fabulous shades of 'leftovers'. (hand picked by Shona) and we were ready to put in the extractor fan and gas tanks. (Oxygen & Propane) After about 2 weeks of getting the correct gear together, we were ready to melt glass ! |
Stage 3
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So we bought a nice selection and off we went....... |
Other Pics
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This is Andrew demonstrating just how much Men love Molten Glass & Fire ! He is currently trying to perfect our signature piece, the Shed Slug ! |
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Even my teenagers like to play, this is Shona concentrating hard at her designs, my two boys also enjoy making beads - sometimes its a fight to get to the torch first ! |
