It's all moving to Faborto Glass Art

From the 1st December 2010 this blog is moving to my new blogger location - "fabortoglassart"

Please also follow me on facebook to keep up with all the daily happenings...

I look forward to seeing you there.. :)

September Specials

September Specials

In line with regular quarterley specials the September Special is here.

Confirm your booking and payment before 31/8/10 and receive 20% discount. (Conditions apply contact me for details).

For beginners, 1 ,2 or 3 day courses designed with the beginner in mind,bring along a friend or a couple of friends for a day out of relaxation and creativity. You can learn how to work with silver and make a fabulous solid sterling silver ring ... for the more adventurous you can have a go at making your own glass beads or be totally creative and spend a day making fused glass pendants ,small suncatchers and glass windchimes.

The choice is yours, relaxing and stress free days are our prime aim.

For Intermediates / Improvers - Take the next step in creative design. 2 days spent looking at the various aspects of design and also looking at colour. Practical exercises culminating in turning your design into reality. Choose silversmithing / lampworking or fused glass.To release more of your creative flair. 2 day course, contact me for full details.

Remember when comparing to other courses... there is no comparison. Chosen as one of the Daily Telegraphs Top UK courses for 2010 for a very good reason.

This and a whole lot more coming in September.

Kind Regards

Carl

Wibbly Wobbly Glass New Range of Lampwork Jewellery

Having taught solidly for the past 15 months I have decided to dedicate some time on some designs I have been working on for the previous 8 months. It's along time, seems to be forever, since I have released a range of jewellery that is not only sought after but also affordable.

Here's an insight into whats coming :



Turquoise Hand sculpture Heart with ivory and fine silve inclusions And accompanying beads.




Borosilcate All Glass Pendant with implosion design.




I hope you enjoy :)

New Collection on the Way

I really cannot believe that a month has passed without me writing something. Well It's been a busy month thats for sure. I've spent a lot of time in front of the torch and at the the silversmiths bench getting a new collection together.
For the next month the tuition has been restricted by me to mainly monday, Friday and Satruday, although I do have pre booked lessons midweek and complete weekends.
The regulars now amounting to 12 who come on a weekly basis are really making some nice pieces. Superb designs and phenominal standards of workmanship.

So whats the new collection about ~ well it's about a collaboration of silver and glass, emphasis to glass but without the years of silversmithing skills, lampwork and fused glass I'd be in no position to actually put this collection together. I'm pretty excited and i'm looking forward to tomorrow to get things moving.

I'm going to be posting up some pictures over the next few days to show how it's coming along with the final unveilling being made early September.

Bye for now

Lampworking Demonstrations Goes Mobile

It's been a hectic week. This week has some movement in future events and exhibitions. Some of you may be aware that I have been asked now to run my courses at other establishments around the UK. Next week see's me in Essex for most of the week and next Month I'm down in the West Country.

What has also transpired this week is the need for some more equipment in order to cope with the demand of the lampworking courses and the fact that from August I'm piloting a brand new approach by taking the demonstrations to you. !! I can provide full lampworking demonstration at your venue I'm already talking to certain establishments to get my passion and knowledge out there into the wider audience so look out for Wibbly Wobbly Glass at a venue near you soon.

So in the furture you will see extra lampworking stations being installed to cope with the demand.

You can book the mobile service in advance and I will come along with all the gear and show you how it's done in the comfort of your venue. Contact me for full details.

Something else in the pipeline is bringing handcrafted works again the the forefront of British small businesses and putting handcrafted items further up in the ranks of "Things you must do or try" I'm planning on a massive launch of a new studio concept, This studio will be in addition to existing one, sorry it's a bit cryptic at the moment but there are certain things at this moment in time I just cannot divulge but it's going to be a whole new experience and I mean something that has never been done before. What it will mean is great new courses and workshops taught so that you can actually make whatever you wish, again, please contact me for details.

With the wedding season well under way I have been inundated with request for couples to come along and make their own wedding rings. With this and other courses I'm booked right up to the end of the year, there are obviously still some places available but I'm fully booked well into July and half of August has already gone.

Today was the usual monthly studio open day with some great people turning up to enquire about the courses and of course the regulars who come down nearly everymonth to just socialise with like minded people, those that wanted to have a go made some beads in front of the torch, very impressed to as a first attempt by everyone. I look forward to spending much more time in the coming weeks with those that not only booked the lampworking courses but those who booked for silversmithing courses too.The next open day is 9th July , which is a Friday so come along for a few hours and enjoy the atmosphere.

Bye for now regards

~Carl

Sculptural Glass Courses Now Offered

As things are moving along quite nicely as we now are mid way through the year i've added a new course to the line up .

I've been doing small scale sculptural work in an open flame for some time. I've now offered to incorporate an introduction to this and also for those who would like to take their lampworking to another level can learn how to create complex encased twisties and ribbon stringers.

Here's a sample of what you can learn. Check out http://www.wibblywobblyglass.com/ for further info.

Hope you enjoy them.












"Hand Sculptured Cobalt Blue Fish created by Carl Martin of Wibbly Wobbly Glass"


"A selection of encased twisties by Carl Martin of Wibbly Wobbly Glass"

Lastly some beautuful tourqoise beads with the addition of an encased twisite through the middle.



Bye for now .

Glass Takes Over !!!

Well , April came and went and already we are half way through May. In the last year my focus has steered into the world of glass more and more, Experimenting with lampworking and flameworked glass has suddenly developed into an obsession with texture,sculture and most of all colour. For the past 15 yrs i have devoted my skills and creativity to silver and other precious metals - It's now all about glass, sure i still love teaching silversmithing and silver jewellery making from the studio in Hampshire but colour has just added a whole new dimension. For the past month i have been trying to put a collection together of unique lampworked pieces and fused glass art.

At this rate I'm going to be moving to a bigger studio . I think this will last for the rest of the year but 2011 I'll be looking at moving along the corridor.

This months studio open day was fantastic for those that don't know ~I hold a monthly meet for lampworkers,fused glass artisans and silversmiths, all free to come along but of course you must bring cake.After last Saturday I now have a cake mountain. There were a total of 27 came along throughout the day the furthest travelled was a little under 300 mile round trip, and thats the second time she's made the trip in the last 6 months.

The lampworking tutoring has now been taken over fully by me as my very good freind Denise has been very poorly of late and will have to give the torch a miss for a few months. I have to say teaching lampworking is incredibly rewarding and the people who are now queing up to come along certainly appreciate a decent commercial studio with all the facilities that it has to offer.
I have found there is a huge increase in those wishing to learn this great art. My studio is fully equipped and beginners can learn all the basics, I can even supply a decent starter kit for those that wish to proceed at a far greater pace. For those unsure or wish to rent torch time I can accomodate that too.
If you have the basics why not come along and learn how to make some encased twisties these can make the difference from a nice bead into a truly stunning one.

I've also been asked to produce 200 Pandora style silver cored beads for a retailer so I'm going to be extremely busy in front of the torch for the next few weeks completing that order.

The silver jewellery courses are really in full swing and over the last 8 months I have seen some great developement in some of the students, they are now really producing some fine pieces.

The fused glass is almost as popular as the silversmithing and the lampworking, I've recently added some stunning Dichroic work to my portfolio and there are soon to be some glass art on sale.

Anyway appologies for not blogging for a while and don't forget you can add me to twitter as well http://twitter.com/CarlMartinGlass