Well, I was going to test whether Vetrofond can be sculpted into forms as easily as Bullseye, and got distracted. Really like these beads, and will do more sets in different colors. The trick is to get them the same size.

I woke up yesterday morning thinking about how to do a necklace bead along the same lines, and got this in my head. Happy that the execution worked, even while chatting simultaneously to my roomie Robin.

The colors for both actually do match, but they were edited in different programs

Earth Air Fire Water.
Earth and Fire will be wheels.
Air and Water will be floaty forms like this:

Seaform III

Last couple of outings have not been so great. No plan. Wait, I knew that.

One thing I did learn: Even though I’m practicing encasing, it is counterproductive to encase a perfectly good bead just for its own sake.

Made three “subtle stripe” beads last night, and each one is wonky-shaped. Bad.

Made a poor excuse for a “goddess bead” night before last. Finally took a good look at it this morning, and it’s not horrible. Just nothing new.

I need to give my next torch session more thought. Have a, you know, creative process instead of just grabbing stuff.

My random week continued with a couple more bullseye beads that I’m not really bothering to post. However, yesterday I brought out my 104 again and decided to work on encasing.

One encasing exercise was a globby bead with lots of silvered ivory and some deep transparent purple (I thought it was Helix Psyche, but I was mistaken, or else it just didn’t react). I encased it and pressed it in the lentil mold. It turned out quite nicely, as the encasing was even on both sides.

The second encased bead was blueberry-white Moretti with purple free-form stringer, swirled with a dragging tool and encased. The bubble action is very nice. The shape — sorta iffy, but good enough for something or the other I’m sure.

Next I turned to the silvered ivory stringer pages in Passing the Flame and decided to try the nebula bead. I’m very happy with the way it turned out for a number of reasons. Foremost is that the shape of the bead turned out quite nice. Second, the colors that came out were unexpected. There is some gold in there, and midnight blue. I wonder if this is because my silver palladium is old and a little tarnished. If so, I will always keep some back to age thusly.

The Miami River, that is.

The ISGB Gathering will be at the Hyatt Regency in Miami FL this year, right on the River and the Bay.

I’ve never been to Miami, so this is kind of exciting. I want to take whatever tour goes around to all the classic Art Deco and Mid-Century Modern architecture.

I’m excited on so many levels. Last year, I was the biggest wallflower of all. I did not feel like I had accomplished much as far as creative glass work. I felt awkward and unsociable. Although I did learn a lot, I don’t feel like I got nearly as much out of the experience as was available. Between the death of my dad late the previous year, and then having surgery and being laid up and not working at the torch — well, I just wasn’t in my skin properly at all.

Everything has shifted this year. I’m quite happy with my recent work, and with the work I’m putting into technique and creative expression. I feel better mentally and physically than I have for a long time. It will be a tight squeeze financially, but with the flight taken care of by Frequent Flyer miles, it’s much more do-able. Also, they feed us twice a day at the event!

Upon reading the contributing artists and the sessions they are giving, I’m almost jumping out of my skin! There’s someone doing a stringer demo using a hothead!! Hardly anyone addressed hothead issues last year, and it looks like I’ll be using one for the foreseeable future. So yay! Another demo is on encasing for 3D effects, for which I’ve wanted to learn better technique for a long time. Lots and lots of soft glass demos, as opposed to last year when about half were boro. So: YAAAAAY!

One free day in Miami: woo hoo! Gotta figure out what to do with my free time and not spend too much money. But I may have to do something underwater oriented, maybe snorkeling in the Keys? Well, we’ll see.

Oh, and: I had enough FF miles with American to do this trip first class. I’m pretty psyched about that as well, since the flight is sooooo looooong.

Another factor is vacation time. We probably aren’t going to Burning Man (in favor of a polar bear excursion to Churchill in November), so taking a couple of days off won’t be that big a deal.

So I’ll pack my summer dresses and bathing suit, and bon voyage July 23, returning July 27. Missing Of Montreal and King Tut at the de Young, but so it goes!

Beads turned out just fiyunnn!

Rrrrockit

But…still…I didn’t have a plan and just started grabbing stuff. Now, that’s all fine and good, but I think I do bettr beads when I have a design in mind.

A couple of possibilities for this week:
1. The rocket was a total accident, but I could make one with more intent.
2. Used the lentil and kalera molds for the first “real” time (orange lentils, tricolor kalera). With the kalera mold I need to work on the amount of glass on my mandrel…

I really really like the bullseye orange marmalade. There are a couple other swirlie colors I will use if I take the lentil route.

Need to work a little on simplicity. I sure do have a tendency to get fussy, and it can detract from a good bead. More discernment is needed, until I have a better grasp on some of the technical stuff.

Speaking of technical stuff…going to the ISGB Gathering in July. Just decided today, and booked everything. See next post for details!

Made some random beads tonight that may or may not work. I made a caterpillar, but I fear it will crack. I don’t think I kept it backed into the flame enough as I was working (endlessly it seemed) on the dots. Also, very bad stringer control, a little shaky and maybe just a little tired after last night’s successes.

Tried to make a butterfly sort of thing, and a really funny thing happened. As I was adding glass to the sides for “wings,” I suddenly noticed 3 rows of glass I had added were just…gone. I looked around my work area, and never did find them. This is generally something you don’t want to happen, because duh glass is hot. It will burn ya! And your clothes. And your carpet.

Then tested out my lentil and pillow molds, with dubious results. Need to figure out exactly how much glass to melt for a perfect fit. Did discover that the Bullseye Orange Marmalade is a really pretty glass.

Will post pix tomorrow.

I think I beat my previous record for a torch session: 12 beads in two sittings.

I feel…sorta possessed. Working with the Bullseye glass had given me new energy. It seems to be very forgiving. Having the kiln going for immediate annealing also helps, especially for the thin, scalloped discs. I had not one single casualty!

Seaform III

My last bead of the night:

Crayzee Dayzee

Something has happened in this past couple of months, but especially in the last few days since pulling out the Bullseye rods from the corner. I feel more in control. Though I’ve been more than willing to take chances this last two months and not mind failing, upping my chances of success with the tools I use has been a phenomenal experience.

So the question is, how — or indeed WHETHER — to transition from COE104 (Moretti/Effrete/Vetrofond) to COE90 (Bullseye, most likely). I will use up my current stock of about 15-20 rods before making a commitment: Bullseye can be a bit pricey, and there’s no need to hurry the process. On top of price, there are space constraints, if a new collection of rods is to be as organized and handy as my current set-up — a necessity, not a choice.

Now I think I know why I was able to purchase collections of cheap glass from eBay when I first started lampworking! I think I will not do a complete turn-around, as I have lots of COE104 that I really, really like, especially my Vetrofond oddlots (of which I will be getting another bundle soon). There’s plenty of room for all of it under my tent!

I decided to mess about with some Bullseye glass that I’ve had forever and have barely used. The last time I tried, I was not happy…but I was also not quite as adept at the torch as I am now.

I didn’t really have a plan. I made a twistie, but it was really hard to pull. Bullseye is a bit stiffer, and I also didn’t have my punties ready for action (forgot to snip off the sharp ends, duh!). So that didn’t turn out well at all. I figured I’d choose some colors, pull some stringers, and just see how it felt.

I made a base bead out of swirly, transparent dark orange, then used dark orange opaque stringer (which barely showed up) and green sparkly stringer (which most emphatically did!). Then grabbed my poking/dragging tool and inadvertently pushed some of the glass up, and it didn’t just flop back into place. I pushed the next bit down, and then saw that the glass is stiffer, and takes/holds a shape very nicely.* I repeated the pattern a couple more times to make a scallop or clamshell shape. I added a few light purple dots around the scalloped edge, and that was that.

It was so easy to repeat, I made three. And two smaller spacer beads.

I am so happy with these beads, I am going to make a whole bunch of sets using different color palettes. If I am happy with them (and why wouldn’t I be?), I think I’ll make the leap and get the Bullseye sampler. I’ll try the same design, of course, using the Moretti/Efrete/Vetrofond that I’ve got, too, just to see if there is a marked difference.

This is fun, this is exactly what I want to do right now! Experiment and document, and hopefully find my own voice at the torch.

*The stiffness is what I didn’t like when working with Bullseye in my first few months of flameworking. Now that I am doing more complex stuff, I think it will be an advantage. From what I have been reading, stacked dots are easier to control, as they don’t spread so quickly. It will be easier to “sculptural” beads, too. If I decide to do that. (Many artists who do sculptural glass use boro because it has low COE and thus higher melting point, making it easier to shape and manipulate. It is also used for blown glass.)

Made a complex twistie that I was really happy with, two larger rods (electric blue and cobalt) and two white stringers between. Then I decided I wanted to use it on a bead, but didn’t make a plan. This is what happened.

Totally silly. I made a pretty nicely shaped cylinder, then used a shaping tool to make a “neck”. Then started applying the blue twistie to the top and twirling and dragging almost compulsively. I can’t leave anything alone for a second! This is why I don’t have two beads alike. When I encased the whole mess, I got a big glob of clear on one side, so made some grooves in the glass and applied light blue dots.

The bottom part I just used some of the twisted cane stringers, melted them in and dragged the melted glass with a pick. Add a few dots and voila! One. Silly. Bead.