Got Waylaid!

May 20, 2009 at 5:20 pm (glass, jewelry, lampwork, Vetrofond)
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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.

droopy form

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.

Venerable Bead

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

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Elemental Forms Set Plan Pt. 1

May 18, 2009 at 7:25 pm (glass, jewelry, lampwork)
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Earth Air Fire Water.
Earth and Fire will be wheels.
Air and Water will be floaty forms like this:

Seaform III

Seaform III


Browns and greens for earth.
White and blue for air.
Red, yellow, w/hints of white and blue for fire.
Blue and green for water.
um, duh! pretty predictable, but I hope to have some inclusions to liven up the mix, silver gold copper & maybe reduction frits and enamels.
I’d like to make several sets, but first: what am I making them for?
Do I make the beads first and see what jewelry calls out to me?
Or decide on the piece first and make beads to order?
I’ll decide soon, because I’d like to get started!

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Let us Gather at the River

May 5, 2009 at 4:02 am (ISGB Gathering)
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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!

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Seaforms

May 2, 2009 at 8:01 pm (Bullseye, glass, lampwork, twisted cane)
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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.
Seaforms
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.)

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Thinking About Process

March 6, 2008 at 7:48 pm (lampwork, Uncategorized)
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My wise partner pointed out something very important to me. Sometimes we substitute buying for doing.

I am first to admit, I become very caught up in my catalogs and web sites offering fabulous glass and tools and books and beautiful ideas and incredible glass art. I have a marked habit for acquiring many more glass rods than I possibly have time to use at this point. I get mesmerized by the pretty colors and possibilities. And yes, I have made some nice beads of late.

But but but

I need to remind myself that acquiring pretty things to make pretty things with is not the same as making the pretty things. It is not productive. It is consumptive.

The only glass I should need to purchase over the coming 6 months is black, white, clear and ivories. I have hundreds of rods waiting to be transformed, by me, into beautiful things. Setting goals and creating projects are necessary parts of the process, but I must remember that the only proof of creativity is the bead on the mandrel.

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