Someone has contacted me and asked if I could make her a heart shaped pendant which includes, wait for it..........horse (and / or dog) HAIR :o
My initial reaction was to say that whilst it is sometimes possible to include 'extras' in limited quantities in glass, the melting temperature of glass would vapourise hair in a nanosecond.
...........unless I'm missing something obvious? LOL
hmmmm unless there are new rare breeds of flame retardant horses and dogs your right the hair would burn instantly ;D
Yup ;D But that's no reason not to include it... it just won't be seen ;D ;D
Or you could add it on afterwards. If you look at Pipyr's beast tutorial for example, the beasts have a hole poked in for hair glued in afterwards as a tail. Could be adapted??
i've seen someone on one of the US forums doing beads with hair in . Maybe it is a hollow bead with hair poked in the holes and then capped as made up into a pendant. I didn't pay much attention as i thought they were a bit yukky. Will see if i can find a link for you.
Yes I was right, a hollow stuffed with hair.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/47346706/keepsake-pandora-troll-biagia-bhb-bead
Takes all sorts ::)
Check out this website that I came across a while ago www.equihearts.co.uk they do a heart including hair for £69! And look at the 'how they're made' page - it does say that the hair vapourises, "capturing the spirit" of the horse!
I'm astonished!! I had wondered about including them in hollow, but thought it might look too gross for words!
Thanks for the links.....I might need to have a practice, just don't tell my dogs why I'm chopping chunks off them :o ;D ;D
Or a vessel? There is no real need to have the hair visible, if you used opaques or a dark colour, unless that's what your customer wants. I have heard of vessels holding locks of baby hair, or a few ashes, just a keepsake that nobody knows what it is unless you tell them.
I feel sick :-X
not at all like the "interesting" requests i seem to get!.. RFLMAO over here... ;D
Quote from: glassworks on June 23, 2010, 10:35:25 PM
not at all like the "interesting" requests i seem to get!.. RFLMAO over here... ;D
oh, do tell ;D
i have a book "knitting with dog hair"....am sure it would work with horse hair ;)
Plenty of horse hair in old sofas and even mixed into the lime plaster in old walls. Why not in beads too!? ;)
Quote from: flowerjasper on June 23, 2010, 10:59:17 PM
i have a book "knitting with dog hair"
Now I feel sick :-X
Me too!! could be body parts next :o
I've just made some beads following a request to put horse hair in them. I tried burning some of the hair to make ash, but that failed, and stank!
So I made some hollows, stuffed them with the hair, and capped them.
I didn't take any photo's though, they were a last minute thing, but I was really chuffed with them.
Kirsty
ew hair, ew hair. EWWWWWW
Kirsty, thank got their sealed!! I'm glad you're pleased with them
LOL at you lot!
I remember the book, 'knitting with dog hair', wondered who would ever buy it, now I know ;D
Horse hair in sofas, yes I remember that too; we had an old sofa in our sixth form common room and used to pull the bits out. (One of our friends had his appendix out so we made him a 'wig' from the hair :o :o ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D).
Whatever I end up doing, i will make sure I don't actually have to touch the stuff!
Oh dear, I think I'm going to wet myself I'm laughing so much.
I have sealed horse hair in tubing but made sure there was enough space so as not to burn the hair. I have done this with baby's first curls, dog hair and human hair from all areas. For small items make two seperate pieces of glass and use clear adhesive to fix the two parts together sealing the hair inside, using no heat, one gets good effect. I was reminded of this as I look back on last 20 years glassblowing form my studio. In fact I mentioned it in letter to local newspaper this week, which I hope no one minds me re-producing here. Maybe wrong place but hey ho
"""Dear Sir, May I, through your newspaper thank everyone who has supported "Glass Creations", based on Riverside Road Thurso during the last twenty years and I look forward to "blowing" for the next twenty and more. It was in fact June 26th 1990 that I first lit the flame in the Thurso Glass Studio. A building that was previously known as "Wood Goods and Chattels", and before that, the Highland Omnibus Parcel Office. Like me the building fabric could benefit with a make over and maybe during the next few years will see my flame flicker in a shiny new studio!!!!
It was a dream of mine to manage my own glass studio which turned into a nightmare in 2005 when my wife Maureen, the instigator of "Glass Creations" passed away. Life is like glass that cracks, it can be healed and sealed. The flame never did die just altered direction whilst defending itself from the wind of change.
My gratitude and appreciation is directed especially to all my customers who I acknowledge may not have exactly got what they ordered. One lady asked me to make a sculpture of her baby girl and rejected the finished piece as it was not ugly enough! I have made all sorts of transport in glass from the Royal Yacht, Britannia and fork lift trucks to chocolate covered lorries and a haggis on a raft; I have made the human form in all positions and body parts galore, (yes even the most intimate); Glass buildings from churches and shops to nuclear reactors and castles and every animal ever imagined including a cow giving birth to a sheep have been created in my studio. I have sealed many items in glass tubes including a lobster, pearls, playing cards, pills and even horse hair. One of the strangest requests was for a pair of pigs holding hands for the top of a wedding cake.
My favourite glass item made was a commission for David Gilmour, (of Pink Floyd fame), for a guitar playing "stick man", the photograph of which graced one of his DVD productions. The largest piece I created can be seen in St Anne's Church, Thurso and is an interpretation of the Crucifix rising at over two metres tall.
Celebrating anniversaries are as diverse as memories are clouded but I will raise a glass, (what else would a glass artist do?), and drink to a healthy future.""""
Ian
Ian that's brilliant!! (now I have to ask, did they come and 'pose' for their bits to be immortalised in glass? ??? ;D)
No, I expect he just stood in front of a mirror. Sorry Ian, couldn't resist.
That list of things preserved in glass puts Damien Hurst to shame!! :D
Aye and the mirror being those that you see at a fun fair!!!!!!!!!!!!! Distorts everything !!
Ian
Convex then, not concave?!
Ian, that is a brilliant and (as usual) inspiring letter - here's to many more years at the old Wood Goods and Chattels.
Did they publish it?
Quote from: lampworklover on June 23, 2010, 10:38:46 PM
Quote from: glassworks on June 23, 2010, 10:35:25 PM
not at all like the "interesting" requests i seem to get!.. RFLMAO over here... ;D
oh, do tell ;D
I know! I know! I know! Ok, off to hide now... :-[ ;D
Yes in last Fridays, John O'Groats Journal. Available from your local news agent!
They tend to print anything and this made a change from windmill campaigners, pro and con.
Ian
Quote from: lampworklover on June 24, 2010, 07:55:40 AM
LOL at you lot!
I remember the book, 'knitting with dog hair', wondered who would ever buy it, now I know ;D
as a dog groomer i had to didnt i ?
its very detailed on how to spin wool from different dogs hair,.... was always worried about the smell if i got rained on wearing a retriever cardi.....and that urge to shake myself dry....ok im going now :)
Nothing to do with the original question, but I am just wondering why do you think knitting with dog hair is so yuk? Wool is hair of sheep anyway, isn´t it? The dog hair just not felt as well as sheep´s - depends of dog of course.
Quote from: Maikki on June 29, 2010, 06:52:33 PM
Nothing to do with the original question, but I am just wondering why do you think knitting with dog hair is so yuk? Wool is hair of sheep anyway, isn´t it? The dog hair just not felt as well as sheep´s - depends of dog of course.
Well. from my owen personal point of view, I am owned by two springer spaniels, one of whom has a penchant for rolling in fox poo :o :o ;D ;D ;D
EWWWW!!!!!!
You know people who treat their pets like their children and are totally and inappropriately obsessed with them, it's a bit like taking that one step further... "look I'm wearing a Mr Snuffles jumper, It's almost like we're never apart..."
Quote from: Krysia on June 30, 2010, 09:51:26 AM
EWWWW!!!!!!
You know people who treat their pets like their children and are totally and inappropriately obsessed with them, it's a bit like taking that one step further... "look I'm wearing a Mr Snuffles jumper, It's almost like we're never apart..."
If you put it that way... yuck!
I was going to say that the sheep arent that clean either.
I've seen jumpers knitted with dog hair and didn't know it until the person told told me, and the wool was beautiful and soft. A bit like cashmere!
um....how does one feel about incorporating ashes in the glass work? A family member of my other half died a year or two back and it was something that was offered, a paperweight or vessel with the ashes incoprporated (not all of them!) I couldn't decide, my brain thought it a rather nice idea, but my heart screamed NO! And I was eternally grateful to the OH when he declined the offer of such a memento. :o
At the risk of being ridiculed for life here, I've actually spun and knitted dog hair - it was for an exhibition, I made a jacket which I then gave to my FiL. Yes it was clean, no it didn't smell of wet dog and despite his jokes he was not followed by every bitch in the town. On the plus side it never shrunk or matted in the wash, was very warm (he had Reynaud's disease) and it outlasted most other jumpers he had even though he wore it alot. Yes it was a one-off.
As for animal body parts, there was a seller on Etsy ages back (might still be there) who was gold plating squirrel hearts. Apparently no animals were harmed in the making of her items but it still freaked me out. There was also someone on there selling earrings made from butterfly wings - allegedly from dead ones before the wings were removed.
Ok well I really could not resist this so pardon the pun....
Hair today gone tomorrow.......um sorry! ::)
Quote from: Krysia on June 30, 2010, 09:51:26 AM
EWWWW!!!!!!
You know people who treat their pets like their children and are totally and inappropriately obsessed with them, it's a bit like taking that one step further... "look I'm wearing a Mr Snuffles jumper, It's almost like we're never apart..."
PMSL so funny xx
I've met someone who has a jumper made from his dogs hair. Yuck
lol i thought u might have a request like the ones i get! i get some doooozies!
penis shaped beads are one. (when asked if i make life size ones i say that i dont blow. heehee)
i have also done some beads with a friend's mother's ashes in them. (bothered me a bit bc i knew the lady)
seems people always think we can just stick anything into glass, scraps of lace from a wedding dress was one request. no matter how many times i tried to explain to her that i could not place lace in a hot flame, she just kept insisting that since i could put flowers in them, why couldnt i put lace in the beads. ::)
There is a seller on esty or misi that makes womb and kidney badges out of glass, is that anyone on here??
We have a westie and when we brush her we end up with a carrier bag of fur so if anyone wants a go at spinning fur I can save you some???
Laura x
I can give you the contents of the vacuum.... No? oh well it wouldn't have been fun bagging it up.
I am not very good with hair that isn't attached. You might have guessed. Bad experience in a supposedly cleaned room at university. I guess that I'm not bothered about sheep as by the time it gets to me it isn't very sheep like.
"um....how does one feel about incorporating ashes in the glass work?"
I did them once for a friend. Her mom had passed away. I felt honored that she wanted me to do it. But...once I opened the urn i felt sick. It really bothered me. I wore gloves and treated the ashes with reverance. i had to keep telling myself that this was a for a friend. I don't think that I would do it again, maybe...but doubtful.
My best friends dad is very poorly and I have been asked to use the ashes to make a bead for each of his children. He is such a dear dear man to me I am pleased I can make them all a bead but not sure how I am going to feel when the ashes are given to me. I'm just going to pretend it is enamel!!
Penis beads? I made one once and got the potatoes back to front with the meat part. :-) and me with two sons a husband two bothers and five nephews! There was a thread ages ago with a link to someone who makes life size ones. A real coffee table ornament conversation starter! :-)
lol dangerous!!! :D
It's always seemed a little odd to me using just a fraction of the ashes to put in a bead. I wouldn't have a problem if the whole amount were used in a blown container of glass, provided it was suitably sealed. I still have my dear cat Nick's ashes in it's original container in one of the bedrooms and I wouldn't want to part with them. Mother in law's ashes are a totally different matter. I'd cheerfully throw them in the local landfill.
:-) :-) :-) poor mil