Woburn safari

Yesterday Nick took me to Woburn safari park. Here are some of the better photos.

Zoo sketching

Last week I went to Marwell zoo to sketch the animals. It was a lovely hot day, which, as well as making me very happy, meant that there were a lot of animals out and about that I hadn't seen the last few times I'd been. There were also some animals that had retreated into their houses to escape the sun, so I didn't get to draw them. Most noticeably, the meerkats, which I really like sketching. Weird, as you would expect them to like the heat!
Sorry for the very light scans, I haven't quite got the hang of how to get them to scan in properly, this was the best I could do!

Fused Glass

A few weeks ago I did a day of fused glass. It's not something I'd ever done before, or even really thought about, so when I arrived I wasn't really sure what I was going to make. The first thing I made was a bit of an experiment, using some nice shimmery glass with little metal stars and glass paint trapped in the middle. These produce bubbles when they are put in the kiln, but the shimmery glass I used was  a bit too shimmery and you can only see the bubbles in really bright light, and I haven't managed to get a decent photo. Here it is anyway.

Next I decided to make something really simple, some little coasters, using little slices of different coloured rods of glass. These were really quick to do, but I think they were quite effective, if I have another go,I need to make sure the slices are a bit thinner, as the surface has come out a bit bumpy in places.

Finally I wanted to have a go on the saw, so I designed some little birds to hang in the garden. I really like the shimmery purple one, the orange one has a white back, and it came out a bit less shiny than I was hoping, but I think they will look nice hanging outside anyway. They might even scare the real birds off my strawberries!