Category: Recycled Glass

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Banrock Station Jewellery

One of the first recycled glass bottles that I started using was a Banrock Station Sparkling White Shiraz!  Yes, the drink is quite nice, but the environmental messages from Banrock Station are also very important.  They are extremely eco-conscious in their company, and I love that.  It matches with my philosophy on recycling and being aware of the impact we are having on the environment.

This jewellery set shows off the beautiful colour of the Banrock Station wine bottle perfectly.  It’s an ice blue tone that looks great on a lot of skin colours.

Banrock Station recycled glass jewellery
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Penny Lane Market

I haven’t been able to do this market for a while now, so I am really looking forward to heading to Mount Barker to be part of the Penny Lane Market.  The Christmas Pageant is also on Saturday, so this makes a good option for those people who don’t want to watch the pageant…or want something to do after the pageant ends.

penny lane market

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Recycled glass jewellery

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed…but I love making beads from recycled glass!  It’s quite a process going from the empty bottle to the finished necklace, so I thought I would list all of the steps for making recycled glass bead jewellery here:

  1. Empty the bottle!  My husband quite likes a bottle of beer, so he takes care of my beer bottle needs.  I’m quite partial to wine, so I am happy to take care of those wine bottles.  I have a few friends who drink gin, and donate their empty bottles to me (thanks everyone)!
  2. Clean the bottle.  This includes removing the labels, and making sure the inside is clean too.
  3. Smash the bottle.  I carefully wrap the bottle in a pillow case, and then I smash it with a hammer.  All of the shards are collected and stored in containers.
  4. Make the beads.  To do this I need to heat the glass on a hotplate, so that when I put it in the flame it doesn’t explode!  I then pick up the warm glass with tweezers and using the flame and all sorts of techniques I am able to make the glass beads.
  5. Anneal the beads.  Once I have made the beads, they are placed in my kiln to go through an annealing process.  Glass is temperamental, and it like to be heated up and cooled down slowly.  Letting it slowly cool down in a kiln is essential when making strong, resilient beads.
  6. Clean the beads.  After the beads have cooled down (usually overnight), I then take the beads off the mandrels, and clean the core of the beads with a diamond drill bit.

And voila!  This photo summarises the process:

Bombay Sapphire Gin recycled glass jewellery

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Murray Bridge Show

This year we decided that we would go to the Murray Bridge Show.  Last year we were a bit too busy looking for houses, but this year, because our house is very close to the showgrounds, we thought we would venture over and check it out.

I was excited to see how my entries had done in the show, and was so pleased to see they had come 1st, 2nd and 3rd!

We had fun looking at our kid’s art work in the show.  Finn had made a nest picture for the Learning Together display.  Ciara was part of the colouring in competition, and she also had her work chosen for the Murray Bridge South Primary School display.

It reminded me that going to the show should mostly be about the competition entries, the animals, and being part of a rural community.  It didn’t need to be about rides and show bags!  We spent most of the rest of the night doing the $2 Bunyip Trail, where the kids got all sorts of free things (including potatoes, carrots and onions)!

I think we’ll be back next year!

First prize - red necklace with handmade glass beads by Julie Frahm

Handmade glass beads by Julie Frahm

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Kirra Galleries – Flame On 2016

Tomorrow night the annual Flame On exhibition at Kirra Galleries opens.  If you are in Melbourne at any time over the next month, it’s definitely worth popping in and having a look.

This year my work was done around the theme of coral and the environmental issues that the Great Barrier Reef is going through.  All of my beads were made from recycled glass.  I made 3 series of work, all slightly different.

This is the first series.  The beads were made from a clear wine bottle, and decorated with green/blue frit (smashed up glass).

FlameOn-Green