Three glassy things

This little lady leapt into my life yesterday with the postman. I bought her from a lovely lady called Rachel Elliot of flyingcheesetoastie a fellow British Sellers on Etsy team member. Last weekend the team had a buy and replace (BNR). The organisers create a Treasury made up of team member items from their shops. If you buy something from one of the shops featured, one of the items from your own shop replaces the one you bought. It sounds complicated but it's a lot of fun. I sold some Harveys Bristol Cream sherry beads and I'm looking forward to seeing what my purchaser makes of them (cue future blog post!)

Anyway, my little glass leveret is called Warwick. She's adorable, keeps me company in my studio and eats surprisingly little so she's cheap to keep too! When she arrived, I instantly called to mind some Reichenbach glass (from the top of my head it's called Antique something-or-other). I made some very simple beads, today I etched them and I'm really pleased with the colour match!

She also called to mind a vintage bottle that I dug up from my garden nearly 20 years ago. It has the name "Warwicks and Richardson" (hence my leveret's new name) on it and also "Stoke on Trent". This is one bottle I wouldn't ever melt to make beads as it has sentimental value.

 

I don't think the brewery is still in business.  A quick search on the internet revealed their premises on Northgate in Newark that are still standing - impressive looking and converted into apartments from what I can gather.

The beads' shape I'm calling curvy cubes. When the glass was still molten, I roughly mashed them into cubes and then a couple of the corners have been flattened on each one. After fire polishing to a smooth finish, they're popped into the kiln to anneal. Acid etching after they've been cleaned takes off the shine and gives it a similar finish as my vintage bottle.