If you would like your purchase to be a gift and be posted to a recipient, just let me know! I always package my products in pretty turquoise tissue paper, so they look like a lovely gift. I can add a hand written note too.

Due to the increase in postage rates, I will be sending orders via 2nd class postage. If you need anything sent urgently, please contact me and we can arrange a postage upgrade.

***Local customers, you're welcome to collect from me and I'll refund the postage. Just pop a note on your order***

-Bex

Lovingly handmade kiln fused glass and textile art.

Hi, I’m Bex. I'm a full time artist making kiln fused glass and textile art. I work from my blue shed which is based about halfway down my garden in a village in Cambridgeshire. When I'm not creating in the shed, you can find me pottering in the garden, walking around the lakes and river near my house, or off being energetic somewhere.

I graduated in 1999 from the University of Hertfordshire with a 2:1 BA (Hons) Applied Arts Practice. I then went on to do a PGDip in Arts Management. I worked in publishing for a few years, then taught glass, woodwork and ceramics to adults with learning disabilities. I set up Blue Design Shed Ltd in 2014 and have enjoyed working from my shed ever since! I sell my work at craft fairs, in sellected galleries and online.

My main aim in my art is to bring joy and colour into people’s lives. If one person sees a piece of mine and it makes them smile, then I am happy. The main influences in my work are flowers, animals and the surrounding countryside. I infuse my designs with a 1960s/1970s influenced aesthetic, whilst adding influences from favourite artists and designers.

I have always sewn and embroidered, from a very young age, having been taught by my Grandma Gladys, herself an amazing and award-winning embroiderer. Many wonky-eyed teddy bears and odd looking cuddly animals were created by my young hands! Glass came into my life later and an obsession was born. I am fascinated by the vibrant colours and luminous effects that can be achieved. I am always experimenting and finding new techniques to include in my work. Each morning, as I open the kilns, it feels like a childhood Christmas day!

The Processes:
Textiles:
The applique pictures start as a pile of carefully chosen fabrics. I choose high quality and vibrantly patterned cotton fabric. I then use an iron-on fusing material, which enables me to compose the picture and rearrange it, before ironing it to stick the layers of fabric down. I then use my trusty Janome DC3050, with a freehand embroidery foot, to creates stitches and lines to build up the picture.

I also love working with wool and I make cute needlefelted Christmas decorations. There is something very satisfying and therapeutic about turning a huge mount of wool fluff into a penguin, or a snowman, with just a special needle and many hours of repetitive stabbing!

Glass:
I use specialist Bullseye fusing glass which comes in a rainbow of colours. Special glass is needed as, when heated and cooled, glass expands and contracts. Different glass expands at different rates, so pieces put together with different types of glass would shatter in the kiln. I buy fusing glass in sheets and in powdered form, called frit. I cut the sheets by hand with a glass cutter, shape them by using a diamond glass grinder and then layer up the image. Sometimes, multiple firings are required to create the desired effect. I use other techniques in my work, glass paint, enamels and glass bubble paint which on firing, turns into tiny bubbles trapped within the glass. I also use very thin copper foil, hand-cut with a scalpel which changes to an attractive red colour during the fusing process.

I am always happy to make commissions and work to order, do get in contact if you would like to discuss an idea.

I hope you enjoy my work and it makes you smile!

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