December/November 2024 - Vol. 38, No. 4.
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In This Issue
Unicorn Head Bead by Marcy Lamberson
I chose this unicorn for a couple of reasons. First, with a simple snip of the shears, it’s possible for what looks like a difficult shaping exercise to turn into a much easier bead. Second, this tutorial also can be adapted to make a favorite horse, or even change it a little more for other animals. And who doesn’t like a touch of whimsy in their lives?
Ever since I started creating, I have wanted to make works that would make people smile. Using both soft glass and borosilicate glass, I make beads and accessories in the shapes of animals that stir my heart.
The overall image of the work is a gentle, soft Japanese atmosphere, but since I used two types of glass with different characteristics. I always try to make the most of the characteristics of each.
This project is a ring made from borosilicate glass. Since 2010, I have been making rings in the shape of various animals, such as polar bears, tigers, and dogs, using easy-to-make colored tubes made with frit.
The motif of this piece is a maneki-neko (beckoning cat). The maneki-neko is a lucky charm unique to Japan. Unlike my other animal rings, I try to make the maneki-neko motif as minimally three-dimensional as possible...
As artists, I encourage you to embrace the things that set you apart. Don’t worry about being able to do what someone else can. The world is constantly crying out for something new, and if you want to bring something new to the world, you have to realize that you can only do that by accepting what makes you unique.
If we don’t love and nurture ourselves and our art, then what does it matter if our bills are paid, if we have a million creative ideas, or if we can master every technique? How we feel truly makes a difference. The most important value you can gain from challenging yourself in your work is your own self-improvement and the growth of your self-esteem.
I encourage you not to compare yourself to anyone but the person you used to be. If you’re growing and improving, don’t discourage yourself by wondering why you’re not doing the same thing as someone else.
Your journey is meant to be exactly as it is, so never take that for granted, or you’ll take the joy out of the process.
Speaking of joy, throw on some Joy to the World, grab your cocoa, and check out this ornament tutorial I whipped up...
I live in Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia. I started lampworking in 2013 after I’d left my office job as an English translator. As a child, I was always attracted to anything handmade and tried different hobbies and activities, but I always believed that I was too clumsy to make something beautiful with my hands and I envied people who could do that.
Then I came to know lampworking. That completely blew my mind and changed my life. Finally, I found a material suitable for my creativity! I was inspired, with thousands of ideas that I wanted to realize. Sometimes I couldn’t even sleep because of that.
I started making glass beads and jewelry. Of course, many people thought I was crazy to leave my office job to do that — but here I am today, 10 years later, still making glass beads. This tutorial is to share my passion for glass, show one of my designs, and show how to make blown-glass beads without needing specific (and often expensive) tools...
I’ve spent a bit of time looking at objects that convey stories such as the work of fellow glass artists Carman Lozar and Tom Moore, or the 18th-century lampworked dioramas of Nevers, France. I’m also interested in art objects that tell religious stories, such as installations in churches and Hindu temples. To me, stories are part of the life-blood of being human and art itself can be seen as a kind of open-ended religion.
My glass clouds are mostly meant to symbolize the gift of moisture, which feeds crops and nurtures all life, rather than clouds of depression or pollution, or those generated by exploding bombs.
Note: All my glass clouds are fully functional — they can be hung from a tree or suspended above a desk as a reminder to sometimes allow the mind to drift into the realm of free improvisation, instead of focusing too hard on the task at hand...
Flower beads are one of my favorite styles to create. There is something enchanting about the intricate designs and vibrant colors that come together to form these beautiful pieces. However, crafting flower beads takes practice. This style can be quite challenging due to the multiple layers and steps required to achieve a perfect balance with clear flowers.
Each flower bead starts with a solid foundation, often made from a base color that enhances the floral design. This is where you can have fun with shimmering gold aventurine, gold mica, pieces of frit, or winding green vines. The process involves carefully and precisely layering different hues to form the petals and stamen. Achieving crisp, clear shapes is crucial, because this detail brings the entire bead to life. Each flower must be balanced in size and proportion to ensure harmony. This meticulous process often involves trial and error as adjustments are made to achieve the desired outcome...
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October/November 2024 - Vol. 38, No. 3.
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In This Issue
Compression Flower by Christian Yannone
Let’s talk about flowers, but more specifically, let’s talk about the colors in the petals and how we achieve them. The first step to playing with color would be to be familiarized with the colors to be blended together independently. The next step is to decide which colors will be used in which order. For this project, the colors will be Cherry, Canary, and OJ. These are three temperamental colors, so be cautious to avoid any boiling during the process...
I strive to expand my horizons, discover new glasses and techniques, and improve my skills by attending workshops with renowned glass artists and networking with like-minded glass enthusiasts. With a lot of practice and patience, my creations have become increasingly diverse. I love simple shapes and harmonic colour combinations, which I incorporate into my jewelry creations.
For some time now, I have also been involved in the “mutperlen.ch” project. We make glass beads for children with cancer. This is where many of my ideas for small figures and animals come from. Some of them are also perfect for seasonal earrings...
In 1992, I went to the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington, for a summer class with glass artist James Minson. I also attended a class at the Niijima glass Art school in Tokyo with Lucio Bubacco. I took a neon art class in Los Angeles. These classes gave me many wonderful opportunities to try varioous glass techniques.
In the last few years, I gave workshops in Ottawa, Vancouver, and Red Deer College in Alberta. I have also enjoyed writing and selling my own tutorials, which is a sort of teaching.
After more than 45 years I still enjoy creating with glass as much as I did in the beginning. I see myself continuing to make beads and develop my art, because glass still offers me limitless possibilities for creating...
Shank Buttons by Jessica Veda Jones
I’m Jessica Veda Jones of VedasBeads. This tutorial is about how I make these cute and popular glass shank buttons...
The Appeal of Perfume Bottles by Sohrab Fakhar
This guide is aimed toward anyone who might want to make their perfume bottles more efficiently. It isn’t exactly a beginner guide — you’ll need to know how to make proper cold seals and how to flare feet...
During the 2020 pandemic, I asked many glassblowers to teach me, and finally, after months of searching, found someone to help me. This pivotal moment marked the beginning of my love of the art of glassblowing.
With the help of several friends and teachers, I’ve expanded my skills and developed a unique style that sets my work apart. Mastery of the lathe has been a recent focus, with more than 100 hours of training with a local artist. The lathe has allowed me to explore new dimensions in crafting cups, marbles, and jars. In the future, I’d love to continue teaching everyone how to make a leaf!
In every creation, my deep love for glass and sculpting shines through, reflecting my dedication to craftsmanship and creativity...
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August/September 2024 - Vol. 38, No. 2.
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In This Issue
Stud Earrings — Flat Circles by Yvonne Dieckmeyer
I discovered glass in 1997. I had taken a Tiffany course with Eva-Marie Volkmann and was fascinated by stained glass. One of the Volkmanns’ employees came to me one evening and told me about the possibility of melting glass with a burner and then shaping it into a ball on a mandrel.
I wasn’t very keen about making glass beads. I didn’t know anything about making round marbles. There were no pictures, no other artists, no web; I had no visual templates. Then Marlies started the burner and formed a glass ball on a spike, and since then, I’ve been infected and always on the lookout for my own ideas. The better you know the techniques of glass processing, the easier it is to go your own way, and that’s what I do...
In addition to working as a flameworker, I also studied art history. The combination of craftsmanship and historical backgrounds is particularly gratifying. Historic ornaments or works of art often inspire my own creations. My other, and perhaps even greater, source of inspiration is nature. Natural light effects are particularly fascinating, and that is why I often try to capture them in my glass works.
I am pleased to be writing a third tutorial for Glass Line in addition to two previous ones, which have been about a Lattice Technique Elephant (April/May 2022) and a Twisted Bead (February/March 2023). This tutorial is about an object in which many of my sources of inspiration merge. The traditional heart-shaped ornament, which plays an important role in both Alpine culture and Venetian glass bead production, is highlighted by its colorlessness. The pattern allows a view right through the bead, as well as an internal view in a different color than the surface. The incidence of light, which is possible from all sides, makes the bead shine from within. Depending on the color chosen, it comes quite close to sunlight...
Having always being attracted by sculpture, I attended a course with Maestro Mauro Vianello in Venice. That was a further and significant step forward — sculpting allows absolute freedom and the possibility of expressing fantasy and imagination, experimenting, and refining new techniques. My idea, my artistic intent, is being able to abstract, conceptualize the subjects of my works.
This tutorial captures the elegance, wisdom, and peacefulness that a tree transmits through one made with soft glass, trying to crystallize these sensations, through an expressionist conception of shape and color...
I have since then been lucky enough to build up a little studio in my garage. I consider myself a glass hobbyist. There are so many glass artists who I hope to one day be close to as good as; while I am not there yet, I keep playing and having fun with the flame and glass and learning. That, in itself, makes me very happy. Most of what I make has been for fun and for myself, with the occasional Etsy listing because I’ve made more items than I know what to do with. Lately, I have been trying to sell more, doing makers’ markets and trying to get myself more out there. I always look forward to learning more glass skills and love to share the joy glass brings me with others.
This tutorial is about how to make a glass goddess (female body figure) pendant. This project is so much fun. Something I love about it is that every body is different, so every piece can be a little different from any others. Since it’s an organic figure, it also doesn’t have to be perfectly symmetrical. You don’t have to worry about perfection and can just have fun, and know that if your piece turns out perfectly imperfect, that is ... perfect...
Glass ... can be so diverse ... It can be brutal and tender, monumental and sophisticated. And what can be prettier than flowers? We celebrate love, new life, achievements, and memorable moments in life with flowers. I wish I could give flowers to every one of my customers for every occasion in their lives, because by observing nice things, we water the flowers growing within ourselves and the job of art is to create such feelings.
This is my technique for creating flower murrini and a spherical bead...
After a few years of enjoying — but not entirely loving — furnace working, I found out about the Corning Museum of Glass and their studio, where I signed up for an introduction to borosilicate glass class, and I’ve been having fun with it ever since.
I have always been captivated by ocean waves, and I view their constant state of flow and movement as a metaphor for life. Much like the sea, our lives will become stormy and turbulent at times, and giant waves may even knock us down for a while, but they eventually recede, which in turn gives way to calmer tides. This philosophy is what I intend to convey with these wave pendants. Much like real ocean waves, no two ever turn out the same. You don’t have to worry about being too technical; feel free to play around with color and style — I sure do! Thank you for taking the time to read my story and I hope you enjoy making these as much as I do...
I’ve made sparkle, patterned, and glow-in-the-dark bead caps recently. I rivet the caps in place by hand, without using any special coring tools, and I find the process very relaxing. I think most glass is so pretty that it speaks for itself. Touches of dichroic or glow glass can add extra interest and dimension to the beads.
One of my favorite styles of beads is a textured wave made with an Effetre color of choice, a silvered glass, and clear. It’s a simple bead to make and uses just a couple tools that many people would have lying around the house. Taking notes of the different color combinations helps so the prettiest outcomes can be somewhat duplicated. I experiment a lot, so opening the kiln after annealing is always a surprise. There can be some really gorgeous beads and some disgustingly ugly beads as well, but that’s the fun of it...
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June/July 2024 - Vol. 38, No. 1.
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In This Issue
How to Make Core Glass by Akiko Furuki
I live in Japan.
“Core glass” is the world’s oldest glassware-forming technique. It is an ancient technique that evolved during the ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian dynasties. It is believed to be between approximately 3,500 and 1,500 years old.
By 2,000 years later (1st century BC), when the technique of blown glass was established, it was a forgotten technique in history—but the technique has been reconstructed by a very great contemporary artist, Mr. Iwao Matushima. I believe that he and this technique connect the ancients with us today...
I live in Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia. I started lampworking in 2013 after I’d left my office job as an English translator. As a child, I was always attracted to anything handmade and tried different hobbies and activities, but I always believed that I was too clumsy to make something beautiful with my hands and I envied people who could do that.
Then I came to know lampworking. That completely blew my mind and changed my life. Finally, I found a material suitable for my creativity! I was inspired, with thousands of ideas that I wanted to realize. Sometimes I couldn’t even sleep because of that.
I left my office job after a complete burnout and started making glass beads and jewelry. Of course, many people thought I was crazy to do that — but here I am today, 10 years later, still making glass beads. This tutorial is to share my passion for glass and show one of my designs...
I usually think up a design first and then try to find the right way to create it. Sometimes I realize I came up with something that just can’t be made, but usually I just keep trying until I make it. It fascinates me that unlike other material, glass allows you to work with layers to create a motif within. That’s what I focus on: layers, progression, building a theme step by step.
In my mind, this piece what an autumn storm looks like. The idea was born when I was listening to Vivaldi’s interpretation of a storm, which is actually the final movement, Presto (in G minor), of summer in “The Four Seasons.” However, I wanted to make a colorful bead, so I set the scene in the fall.
Note: In this Tutorial I use hard glass to explain...
In this article I want to share the elegance of copper electroforming. I will touch on the varied and numerous ways I use electroforming to create unique pieces of art and I will explain the process and science of electroforming to help you get started. If you are interested in exploring these techniques in more depth, I am offering a series of electroforming classes through Zurich Glass Schoo...
Landscape Bead by Blake Mazzei
I love making landscape beads that explore different ideas. It’s always an experiment.
I have developed these general rules for my work: I use the same number of opaque colored rods as transparent colored rods, working from the darkest colors to the lightest ones, making it as irregular as possible; I alternate opaque and transparent colors, while doubling the amount of transparent colors. Then I encase the bead with clear glass to give more depth.
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I was born in a small town in the south of Russia and never thought that one day, I would work with glass. I live in Moscow now. I graduated from the Moscow State University of Prints and am a graphic designer (book illustrator) by education.
It’s a bit of a funny story. I tried so hard to get there — I took exams three times and was finally successful only after three years of attempts, but in the last year of university, I figured out that I didn’t want to be a book illustrator. However, this experience showed me that I can be really stubborn in reaching my goals. The thing is to choose the right goal!
For a few years, I rented a studio with friends, but the year 2020 changed all that, of course. QR codes in Moscow allowed us to go outside only twice a week, which meant that I could not work in my rented workshop anymore, so I decided to move to my home studio. The pandemic made me want to fill my life with beauty and love even more than before.
I live in a small apartment and my studio is tiny but comfortable. It lets me work on the torch at any time...
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April/May, 2024 - Vol. 37, No. 6.
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