Friday Friends - DUSTy Divas - FireSong Creations



Welcome to Friday once again lovely readers! What a busy week it has been. I have finally got the DUST Team Awards Collage prize packaged to send out to the gorgeous Erin at Inner Earth Soaps and I received my amazing prize pack from the sweet Samone at Red Letter Studio yesterday !

This week I am very pleased to introduce a new DUSTy Diva and Friday Friend - meet Robyn from FireSong Creations !

Robyn makes beautiful things from glass. And I really do mean beautiful ! Each bead seems to hold a kaleidoscope of colour and a beautiful sparkly shine. I really do admire lamp work glass artisans as it is such a labour intensive craft. Now for my favourite bit - here are a few of my favourites... I love the earthy colours and the ocean colours and the pinks - they are all simply divine !

Dear readers, time for you to take some time out now and be captivated by all the pretty things that are are born from the FireSong Creations Creative Flame. Have a fantastic weekend xo

The FireSong Creations Creative Flame

Who is FireSong Creations ?
FireSong Creations is the name I picked for my lampworking once I had decided to sell my work. I did not want to use my real name for a couple of reasons, but the main one is that there is another glass artist locally with the same name, besides which, I wanted a name that captured the fire that shines in my creations.

In reality, I am a very down to earth, mother of two who just loves to create beautiful things.

What exactly is Lampworking?
Lampworking is the art of using the flame of a gas fuelled torch to melt rods of glass and then forming the glass into different shapes. Lampworking can be used to create beads, figurines etc.

How and When did your handmade/artistic journey begin ?
Although my conventional artistic skills like drawing are right up there with pre-schoolers (I can't draw to save my life!), I have always been crafty and I did a lot of mixed media for many years until I discovered jewellery making in 2009.

From there it was only a matter of time until I was sucked in to a lampworking class and I was soon completely hooked - so much so that, even though I have had a dedicated workshop for over a year (nicknamed Mum's playroom by my husband & kids), the end of the workshop that is put aside for my mixed media and paper craft has still not been sorted out because I spend as much time as possible in front of the torch.

What inspires you ?

Colour is probably my biggest inspiration, I love to try and replicate the colours of nature from the things around me, but I also like to mix it up a bit with the more dramatic and vibrant hues. I also listen to a lot of music while I work and while it does not give direct inspiration it definitely affects my creative moods.

What mediums do you work with - do you have a favourite ?
My early creative focus was scrapbooking and I made a lot of story pages with sequences of connected photographs, so I started with a lot of cards and papers and so on, but even back then I wanted my work to have depth and dimension, so I often ended up with three dimensional pages that could not really go in an album.

Now with my focus on lampworking, I would have to pick glass as my favourite medium - especially Double Helix silver glass (maybe that is a homage to the years I spent studying genetics at college?). Having said that, I have just started experimenting with Precious Metal Clay, so maybe that will be my favourite soon. That is what I love about the whole creative process - there is always something new to try.

What kind of things do you make/create ?

I get easily bored, so I might make several beads with a similar style or look, but never for long - I am always wanting to try something new, especially new colours. I love making stunning one off focal beads the most, but I do also make sets of smaller beads for bracelets or earrings or to complement my focal beads in a necklace.

I do make my beads up into finished jewellery, but I tend to get sidetracked at the torch sometimes and end up with a backlog of pieces to finish off. For that reason, I love it when someone buys a set of beads from me - partly because I love to see how they put their own interpretation onto the finished item, but also because it means more time for lampworking.

Do you have a favourite piece that you have made/created ?

By far the best thing I have created would be my 14 y/o twin sons, but if we are sticking to my jewellery it would be a purple/burgundy one and a quarter inch straight sided lentil bead that I made about 6 months ago and fell in love with. Several of my customers have wanted it, but it is not for sale.

The sad thing is that although I have tried several times using the same glass combinations, I have never managed to come close to replicating it. That is both frustrating and pleasing - I love the fact that even when they are made with the same glass, each piece is unique.

Dear readers, want to see some more beautiful glassy creations ?
Here is how you can connect with FireSong Creations

You can follow Fire Song Creations on Facebook here : https://www.facebook.com/FireSongCreations

or buy beautiful things on Etsy here :

http://www.etsy.com/shop/FireSongCreations