|
Back-issues: Volume 22 Index |
April/May, 2009 - Vol. 22, No. 6.
(This issue will be available online after the printed copies are sold.)
<Click Here> To purchase this issue.
<Click Here> To start your subscription.
In This Issue
- The Right Tool for the (Graphite) Task - by Amy Sutton – So many tools, so little time. Everyone knows there is a tool that does just about anything available for lampworkers. In the category of shaping alone, there are hundreds. But one tool that you may not have explored is the graphite mold.
Most everyone owns, or at least has used, a graphite marver when making beads. There are definite differences between using this type of marver versus a brass stump shaper. These differences define which of these two tools you will want to use...
- Layering Creative Virtues onto an Object, Part 2: Survey - by Paul Stankard – In Part 1 of this series, published in the February/March issue, I discussed my attitudes about quality and what distinguishes an object as “significant.” Over the years, these attitudes have been defined and reinforced by my challenges and experiences. With an interest in expanding this exploration, I’ve invited seven jurors to select five flameworked objects that represent quality as they define it. Our distinguished jurors include three curators, Tina Oldknow, Jutta Page, Gwynne Rukenbrod, and four artists, Shane Fero, Christina Logan, Gateson Recko, and Yoko Yagi.
It’s rewarding for me to experience these 35 objects, selected for their merit, knowing that, when I began my creative journey, the idea of viewing glass objects outside their function was unusual. This survey represents not only flameworking’s movement into the fine art world, but also the technical and esthetic advancements made in the past few decades. Based on this accelerated activity flameworking is experiencing, it’s easy to predict higher visibility for the material and this process on the international art scene...
- Two artists create studio and offer tips on making a flower - by John Wesley Roberts – For the last 12 years, John has focused on the skills and techniques of boro hollow work and sculpting solid form. He says his lampwork consists of sculpting realistic natural forms. His hollow work is a mix of traditional shaping and the cutting edge...
- Copper Storm- Marble - by Elias Schwegler-Juen – The production time for this marble was about three hours, including the preparation work. The Copper Storm Marble has a diameter of 2 inches and weighs about 150 gr. I chose the color deliberately to relay the sense of mystique, storm, magic, water, wind, and so on. You can experiment as you like, depending on your taste—instead of Copper Mesh, you can try take Silver Mesh or Brass Mesh....
- Making A Glass Frog - by Joe Peters – I set up a small glass studio, Joe Peters Glass, where I began working at integrating the patterns and colors of nature into my pieces. Glass is a fast-paced medium that gives me great opportunities for creativity. Over the past few years, I have studied with Sally Prasch, Milon Townsend, Robert Mickelsen, and Emilio Santini. In addition to operating my studio, I am a part-time instructor at Snow Farm.
This demo will walk you through the steps involved in creating a glass frog. ...
- Miki Yoshida’s Bead - by Hideko Yoshida – This demonstration was given at Ruri Glass Studio (where she works) during a tombodama workshop in September, 2008.
This was her first time demonstrating an encased flower bead. Some of you might be struggling with making encased flower beads, but this is “a super easy encased flower bead Miki Yoshida’s way” according to Miki. She says anyone with basic skills can make this bead easily...
- Tranquility: A Collaboration - by Angelina Tambasco – This work represents a combination of a Tadashi Torii furnace-worked piece and one of Lance McRorie’s lampworked sculptures. It is an exercise in combining traditional furnace and lampwork techniques to explore a new type of finished product that exhibits both the meticulous definition of sculpting with a small flame, and the impressive shape, size, and coloration that can be achieved when working at the furnace. This contrast is demonstrated by a furnace-blown crackle bowl with a decorative sculptural topper...
- A Rose for a Personal Hero - by James Mills – This rose makes a great gift for any of those special occasions such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, birthdays, and anniversaries. Let’s get started...
- Glassified Ads - April/May, 2009 - Vol. 21 No. 6.
- Workshop Calendar
(This issue will be available online after the printed copies are sold.)
<Click Here> To purchase this issue.
<Click Here> To start your subscription.
In This Issue
- Something New from Something Old - by James Mills – I had made several different sizes and styles of Vortex marbles in the past, but nothing quite like this. How was I going to get the vortex to fit in a rectangular spot without distorting the vortex itself? I finally sat there, making a few really small marbles, smashing them in the right shape, and nothing seemed to fit just right. Then I had the bright idea of forcing the glass into the metal fitting while the glass was hot enough to take the shape of the inside of the ring. I figured that, since it wasn’t gold and it wasn’t silver, the ring may be able to take the heat of the glass for a short period of time without distorting, discoloring, or in any way disfiguring his ring. I told him what I wanted to do and the potential damage that could happen to his ring, and he agreed to let me experiment with the idea anyway. I am happy to say that no damage occurred to the ring during the creation of the new gem.
Now, there are a lot of different things that could be done to the piece once it has been fitted into the slot and annealed. You could electroform a design into the top lens, you could etch it, sandblast it, or even use wet sanding to give it the look of a cut gem. All are good; use your imagination if you ever get a chance to do this yourself. Bring new life back to something old, and remember to have fun while you’re doing it.
Let’s begin with how I went about doing this myself...
- Layering Creative Virtues onto an Object - by Paul Stankard – One of the main ingredients to making significant objects is having a working knowledge of art history and the happenings in contemporary glass. This will allow you to connect with your authentic interests and pursue a personal esthetic. Without such knowledge, both historical and personal, you’re left out of a lively dialog with other interested people, mostly artists. I’m not trying to put craftspeople on the defensive, but, as a glass artist, if you want to create work that participates in the dialog of our field, you should seek work that evidences good design in as many contexts as possible. Visiting art museums and galleries, along with perusing art history books and having conversations with other creative people, will become an interesting platform for viewing your work in a wider perspective...
- Turtle Haven - by Mike Nelson – Designs such as the sea turtle combine well with sandblasting. Being able to sandblast blown glass changes many aspects that would not be obtainable only with fire. Carving into the glass allows me to create a variety of textures and depths within a design. With these additional techniques, the opportunities to create new designs are unlimited. The curiosity and the challenge behind glassblowing motivates me to keep creating...
- “Sea Shell” Wrap-&-Rake Implosion - by Bashi Alé – The wrap-and-rake is a fairly common pattern that can be easily mastered with a few hours of practice. However, it is almost always used for decorating the surface of the glass. A few years back, I started combining the wrap-and-rake with the implosion technique, and found that the pattern tends to be much more striking when used in this way.
The following demonstrates my method for creating a “Sea Shell” Wrap and rake implosion...
- Ballerific Sparklitis - by Aymie McKesson – I had no idea what I was going to do for this step-by-step. I racked my brain and kept coming up with nothing. I make pretty mean retticello, but I wanted to make something that hadn’t been done—that was a compete piece, not just a technique, and something that evoked a rainbow. My friend Tim Stanley was kind enough to give me this great idea that pushed my limits and skill level a bit: He made this super-cute little sculpture and showed me how to seal it in some tube to make an encapsulated ornament. My welds are bad at best, but he is always encouraging me to push myself to get outside and well above and beyond my box. So I made it my own, which, of course, meant making it rainbow and a little off-center. Now I give it to you—a rainbow dichro suncatcher. I hope you enjoy making it...
- Hambone 101 - by Holly Cruise – The first time I ever worked with glass, my instructor had us make solid-glass fish. I was all in! The cool thing was that it didn’t just give us a feel for the material; it also let us work as a team, which is an important aspect of hot glass that I miss in flameworking. Flameworking is such a solo endeavor that I try to make fun things to keep me entertained while I work. Hence, hambone.
Hambone is actually part of a greater meat-themed glass project—a series of shadow box diorama scenes depicting various shops. A bakery was the first one, and now, the butcher shop. I wanted to put it into a “Piggy necklace” at one point: A giant pig is the centerpiece, with an apple in its mouth, and it is surrounded by other pork products—hambones, bacon, sausage, etc. This is a long-term project, because I never have time to work on it long enough to finish it...
- A Flared Bowl Technique - by Jacob Lee – The steps of this demo can be altered in many ways to achieve a variety of color patterns and shapes. I have made flowers, shells, vases, bowls, bells, candleholders, and pieces for fountains by tweaking this technique in different ways. After creating many functional things using these freeform shapes, the way that I think they look best is when they have no function and are just laid on their sides on a table or a shelf. This way, they can be picked up and examined, and appreciated for what they are … flowing, liquid bubbles of glass, frozen in time...
- Dragonfly on a stick - by Florin Voicu – The dragonfly on a stick was inspired by a picture I found on the Web and a fossilized dragonfly I found under a tree. I was also inspired by other artists’ work, but I’m always trying new designs to develop my own personal style.
Placing the dragonfly on a stick, holding onto its legs, makes it look so real, as if she just landed there to take a look around. ...
- Glassified Ads - February/March, 2009 - Vol. 22 No. 5.
- Workshop Calendar
(This issue will be available online after the printed copies are sold.)
<Click Here> To purchase this issue.
<Click Here> To start your subscription.
In This Issue
- Aquatic Life - by Rosanne Palumbo – Corydoras catfish are popular with hobbyists and were requested by a client. I have been working on their construction and am glad to share what I have come up with so far. The photos show them in borosilicate, but they could also be sculpted in soda-lime glass, with its better selection of colors. The only difference in the work would be to pay closer attention to maintaining a base heat in the body, to prevent thermal shock as you add the details. The photos show a mix of three different catfish to get the best photo of each step of construction.
This tutorial assumes you have a torch, kiln, and proper safety equipment and ventilation...
- Dot on Dot and Draw - by Hideko Yoshida – Japanese Flower Bead Tutorial. Materials: Satake Glass. Step-by-step with 39 photos...
- An Appreciation of Robert Mickelsen - by Paul Stankard – Six of Mickelsen’s recent lampworked sculptures, representing a new approach in hand-constructed, hot-glass art-making techniques, measured in feet instead of inches. These ambitious, large-scale efforts take advantage of new attitudes and approaches in the lampworking technique developed by sculptor Anna Skibska. Witnessing this exciting new direction suggests to me that major change is coming to the contemporary glass scene. I’ve been lampworking (or “flameworking,” as I prefer to call the process) for more than 45 years, and it’s poetic, knowing that the potential for this large-scale work has been dormant for centuries in thin glass rods. A creative mind is a powerful facility when linked to hand skill...
- Framed opal encasement pendant - by Charlie Sanford – We first begin with the encasement of the opal. You can use any size or shape, but I find the faceted ones encase with fewer bubbles. Using a 12 mm tube, blow a thin bubble on the end and then drop in the opal. Now, tag the opal to the bottom of the bubble, flat side up. Condense your bubble around the opal, slowly and evenly, trying to leave as few air bubbles as possible...
- Think Outside the Glass Box—and start learning from other disciplines - by Judy Carlson – The beads I most enjoy making are sculptural, usually involving fish of every color, shape, and species. So you know I’d take classes from glass artists such as Deb Crowley and Sharon Peters. But why would I take a button class from Heather Trimlett? Or floral and organics classes from Leah, Andrea, and Jennifer? Well, my glass-loving friends, here’s what I’ve learned about...
- The New FlameTree Glass Studio - by Lance McRorie and Susan Parry – FlameTree Glass Studio has moved from Florida to nestle amongst the lovely rolling hills of bustling art district of beautiful, historic Roswell, Georgia, hometown of studio founders Lance and Maureen McRorie. Widely known as one of the most comprehensive flameworking facilities in the southeast, FlameTree Glass Studio has 20 Glass Torch Technologies torches under its roof and a huge, handmade stainless steel table that can safely and comfortably accommodate up to 10 students at one time, as well as a showroom complete with a myriad of glass-working supplies, literature, and collectible art pieces...
- A single-section Ornament - by Andrew Moch – Every year around the Christmas holiday, I get asked to make ornaments for local shops and markets. In the spirit of the season, I thought I would share a one-piece ornament that mimics an older, classic look. The glass community has always been extremely helpful and open to me, and I hope that, with this tutorial, I can give a little something back to it...
- Rose Implosion Pendants - by Malissa Kuznicki – In this tutorial, I make a rose implosion pendant. The only real difference between this and many other types of implosions is the pattern in which the stringer is applied. Figure 1 shows the difference in pattern between a dot implosion, five-petal flower and a rose...
- Making a Snowman Ornament - by Jenny Treviño-Blanquet – Friends asked about these snowmen, so we knew we had done well. This continues to be one of our favorite pieces, and I don’t think we’ll ever stop making them. We hope you enjoy this tutorial...
- Taming cubic zirconias - by Kim Miles – This Moon & Star Bead is pretty basic, and will give beginners some practice with dots, spacing, and masking, as well as an intro to the simplest way of using CZs in beads, which is to set them into the surface of the glass. (Note: This tutorial is intended for beadmakers who are familiar with basic safety precautions and annealing procedures. If you’re not, please take a beginning beadmaking class before attempting to make beads on your own!)
For this bead, I use Moretti/Effetre glass. A black rod and a white stringer are all it takes, along with a small tray of 2mm CZs and some pointed tweezers (photos 1 and 2)...
- Glassified Ads - December/January, 2008/09 - Vol. 22, No. 4.
- Workshop Calendar
(This issue will be available online after the printed copies are sold.)
<Click Here> To purchase this issue.
<Click Here> To start your subscription.
In This Issue
- Tubing Techniques - by Steve Scherer – I have developed both theory and practice on blowing symmetrical spheres from borosilicate points on the torch. Following are some of the tricks I’ve learned for working with hollow glass on the torch.
A “point” is a section of glass tubing that has a thinner section pulled at each end, which the lampworker uses as a handles. The handles are typically cut off and discarded when the piece is finished. In this article, I also use the word “point” to refer to the handles at either end of the tube.
It is easier to form a symmetrical sphere if you start with a point that is concentric. If the handles of the point are not concentric or not in alignment, you’re already in trouble. The most important factor in pulling a point...
- Sea Turtle Pendant - by Chad Trent – The piece I’m demonstrating for this article is my representation of a sea turtle. I didn’t invent this design. I drew inspiration from other glass turtles I have seen and tried to tweak it into a design that represents my own personal style. I don’t try to make them 100-percent realistic. In fact, I hardly ever give them eyes or a mouth. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do that, though—if you think your turtle needs eyes, by all means, give it eyes....
- New Colors from Momka’s Glass - by Denise Koyama – Momka has always worked hard to bring us interesting new borosilicate colors. Just this year, she released Aurora Trails, an exceptionally beautiful addition to her multicolor line; Forget Me Not and Palitra Orange, which add to her Challenge Series line; and Orchard Plum, Encased Carmen Red and Encased Sunshine, which kick off her new cored-color line. The Challenge Series Floral canes were also made available in precut Murrini slices...
- Crackle Beads - by D Lynne Bowland – This is a really simple tutorial. I always figured that making crackle beads was probably as simple as rolling the bead in a tray of water... it is almost that simple, but, instead of rolling the bead in water, you plunge it into a jar of clean water...
- 38th Annual GAS Conference is a gas - by Bandhu Dunham – In the spring of 2008, I taught classes at the Pilchuck Glass School and the Pratt Fine Art Center, both in Washington state. Since the Glass Art Society (GAS).Conference was occurring in Portland, Oregon, around that time, I decided to make a long road trip out of the affair, with a layover of a week at the studio of my old friend Brian Kerkvliet in Bellingham, Washington. I wanted to take some specialized equipment to Pilchuck in any case, so driving seemed the logical option. It would be a grand tour of what locals call “The Great Northwet.” ...
- 18th-Century Lampworking Challenges Our Future - by Paul Stankard – The reason for this article, beyond my recent fascination with historical lampworked glass, is to draw attention to this little-known sculptural school of work, referred to as Nevers figurines. It would be exciting to witness a revival of these lost processes in the hands of today’s innovative flameworkers. I tell my students that there’s no free lunch, but that, with interest, creative hard work and experimentation, rediscovering the wire techniques found in the Nevers objects could allow present efforts to match the best of the past and bring a new look to the contemporary glass landscape. I believe what was admired and collected in the 17th and 18th centuries could be successful today, with contemporary themes, among glass enthusiasts...
- The world of glass in the most unlikely of places - by Danny L Sullivan – The Project—Floral Tabletop Centerpiece
The rest of this article focuses on tips that may help others learn new skills and work already created components together to create larger sculptural pieces.
A few months ago, I got the idea that I wanted to branch out into areas that no one else was working on. I thought creating floral tabletop centerpieces would be a great idea.
I took a lot of bead-making classes, not so I could learn to make beads, but so I could acquire the skills I needed and incorporate them into creating things like flowers, stems, leaves, etc., and combine all of those parts into one large structural element. My idea was to create a tabletop centerpiece that could be used in lieu of traditional live flowers...
- Opal Dreams – Electroformed Skeleton Key - by Kim Vredenburg – What do electroforming, skeleton keys, and glass cabs have in common (hint: It has nothing to do with Halloween)? Although beads on keys really aren’t a new idea, I have chosen to write this to show how easy it is to let your imagination run free and create something different and beautiful. After purchasing several lots of keys and decorating the round ones with my beads, I was left with some flat keys. I wouldn’t be able to make what I call Worrkeys (worry beads on keys … so you can fiddle with the bead). Hmmm, what to do, what to do? After playing around a bit, I decided to make some cabs and incorporate them onto an electroformed key...
- Neon: A Phoenix Rising —An Interview with David Svenson of MONA - by Denise Koyama – The secrets to using neon were closely guarded and few schools taught the craft. The main American training program developed by the Egani Institute influenced and guided the neon movement for decades. It emphasized strict adherence to the technical aspects of sign-making and discouraged experimentation and self-expression. Though many of the first signs were well-made and beautiful, with growing demand came faster production and less attention to good design. This subsequently flooded the market with esthetically unappealing images. At the same time, less-expensive Plexiglas signs backed with fluorescent tubing became popular, and it seemed as though neon would lose its relevance...
- Glassified Ads - October/November, 2008 - Vol. 22 No. 3.
- Workshop Calendar
(This issue will be available online after the printed copies are sold.)
<Click Here> To purchase this issue.
<Click Here> To start your subscription.
In This Issue
- Appreciation for Carmen Lozar - by Paul Stankard – The birth of the Studio Glass Movement in the early ’60s gave growing numbers of creative people access to hot glass in an art school environment. Over the last 40-plus years, these graduates, energized with BFA and MFA degrees, have collided with the history of glass in an unparalleled way. One result of this studio glass experience has been to nurture growth in the novelty craft of flameworking. When I travel in glass art circles and witness this growth, it’s easy to understand how flameworking has the opportunity to influence the future of glass art.
It was fun to hear Bill Gudenrath, artist adviser of the Corning Museum Studio School, when I was teaching there a few years ago, suggest that flameworking is responsible for both the smallest and largest examples of hand-worked hot glass. It wasn’t too long ago that flameworking was considered the bastard stepchild of glassblowing, and the brunt of jokes by blowers, because they considered the resulting work kitsch. Now, when discussing flameworking’s once negative reputation with students, we show that one shouldn’t blame a process for producing insignificant work...
- Step by Step Tombodama Making - by Shuji Goto – This is a tutorial for my encased flower bead which I created in 2004 to 2005. I used my original tool but you don't necessarily need it. What I wanted to show you the most is how to create an almost foolproof method for making canes, which lessens the likelihood of common mistakes such as cracking and trapping air bubbles.
This is a method which worked for me and is not necessarily one that works for everyone, but I would be happy if this article helps anyone who had difficulties in making flower canes.
You can make various flower canes by changing the number or shape of petals, colors, or the shape of stamen and pistil. I don't have enough space here to mention other variations but I would like you to use this article as a springboard to make your own original flower canes...
- “Autumn Leaves in Glass” – Murrine Art Captures Nature’s Design - by Ken Schneidereit – I have a favorite wolf murrine cane of mine that is still delivering beautiful slices after using two thirds of the 36 inch cane. Currently, I’ve been working on a four-season marble theme with the wolf. When Jim asked me about my latest project, I was just beginning the autumn marble by planning three different autumn leaf murrine canes.
I appreciate the opportunity to share my cane-building process with you. Join me as I look to fall for inspiring my Autumn Tapestry marble...
- The Glass Apprentice: Cultivating a strong studio team - by Starleen Colo’n – I believe that success leaves a series of clues for others to follow. When studying some of the world’s most successful artisan studios, one common clue seems to always be present: A strong apprentice team supports the artist’s vision.
When fortunate enough to draw on the knowledge of other shopowners, discussing apprentice staff always proves to be one of the most interesting topics touched upon. Unfortunately, the dominant knee-jerk response is almost never positive. After the word “apprentice” leaves my mouth, I look at my colleagues and notice that someone’s eye begins to twitch a bit, followed by a strange look of disappointment washing across their countenances. Then some sort of groan seems to be uttered, and the stories of humor and horror commence...
- Marble Weekend 2008 at Historical WheatonArts - by Ken Schneidereit – WheatonArts in Millville, NJ, is one of the historical centers of American glass manufacturing and home to the Museum of American Glass; the Glass Studio; the Arthur Gorham Paperweight Shop; and many other galleries, shops and studios. It is a must-see for all American glassworkers, and visitors are well-rewarded by seeing our glassworking culture displayed in a beautiful park setting. Marble Weekend is one of the special events put on by WheatonArts, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to give a brief account of the 2008 event, held June 20-22.
The weekend got going on Thursday night as artisans from across the country started arriving at the Country Inn—a charming “country inn” adjacent to the grounds of WheatonArts. There are several local motels, hotels and inns, but the Inn is the best for spending the night, since it’s only a few minutes’ walk to the Event Center. A breakfast bar and dining room and the front porch serve as the social centers, where one could really get to know, and develop friendships with, artists and collectors alike...
- Eagle with Borofloat Wings - by Phillip LeJeune – Eagles were among the more challenging pieces my father, John Paul LeJeune, taught me to make. Much has changed in design, and especially technique, over time. In the old days, we cut sections of 250–350 mm and sliced the wing stock. Very labor-intensive, and difficult to maintain consistent widths, not to mention they all had to be treated with 70-percent hydrofluoric acid (49 percent is plenty strong), resulting in a few painful trips to the ER!
Thank goodness for the introduction of Borofloat. I buy from S.I. Howard on the East Coast. You can specify dimensions and thicknesses at a very reasonable cost. No more acid, very consistent dimensions, and a huge amount of time saved. ...
- Spring Floral - by Spring Floral – Leah Fairbanks began her career in glass in 1981. She specialized in commissioned installations for galleries and the home. She also designed one-of-a-kind light fixtures, bowls, plates and jewelry, which she sold and displayed in several art shows. In 1992, Leah started to work with molten glass, making glass beads, and was instantly hooked.
From the onset of her lampworking career, Leah decided that she wanted to focus on floral designs. Her original inspirations were old Venetian-style beads decorated with roses, flowers and vines. Her goal has always been to create realistic impressions of nature designs on her beads. To achieve a life-like rendering of flowers and leaves, she frequently mixes her own colors for her glass canes...
- Salem Community College’s new Glass Education Center will be environmentally friendly - by Bill Clark – When Salem Community College’s Glass Education Center opens in September, it will stand out as one of the few U.S. facilities of its kind that uses methane gas to fire equipment to create glass art and scientific glass apparatus.
Called the “Gas to Glass Initiative,” the project is a collaborative venture with the Salem County Utilities Authority (SCUA) and industry to build a facility on the grounds of the SCUA to recover landfill methane as an energy source...
- Gold Bar Open Style Press and Design - by Nancy Gant – A few years ago, I was lucky enough to stumble across a beginning lampworking class. Nervous as I was with the fire, it was amazing. I melted glass into runny honey, controlled the drip and ended up with a malformed bead ... and I was hooked! The teacher was great. She gave me the spirit to try again and again, and to be happy and excited with the “wonky” shapes that I ended up with. So I begin this article with much thanks and gratitude, and now friendship, to Sue Hunnel; you are awesome.
This is my version of a pressed floral focal bead that I teach in my design class. My kids call my florals “Old Lady beads,” so I guess that makes me an old lady. I designed this press to use as a teaching tool. I wanted something that would work for any level of beadmaker, to sort of, well ... level the field and get everyone to a base bead quickly. That way, we could all focus on playing with color and design. I call the tool used in this demo the Gold Bar...
- Kurt Wallstab: Glass Montage - by James Minson – This article is dedicated to the memory of someone who enthusiastically and wholeheartedly dedicated his life to art.
In the early 1990s, I taught and assisted with several classes at the Pilchuck Glass School, and was offered a scholarship to study with the German artist Kurt Wallstab on his first and only trip to the school. I had never heard of Kurt before, nor had I seen his work. I had dabbled with colored soda glass since my uncle had a stash at the family scientific factory in Sydney, but that could never have prepared me for what Kurt had in store with his glass montage technique. Looking at his work baffles the mind, since it is close to impossible to fathom his methods and techniques simply from seeing the pieces themselves. In the two weeks I spent with Kurt at Pilchuck, I was only able to produce about six pieces, but he was nevertheless impressed...
- Goddess Tutorial - by Rachelle Goldreich – I’m a lampwork artist living in Israel. I’ve been playing with glass since 1992; at first, I learned how to make small figurines—swans, elephants, poodles, etc.—using clear borosilicate glass. I loved this, and my husband and I started doing the craft-fair circuit; I’d demonstrate and he’d sell!
I started working with soft glass about six years ago. Originally, I wanted to learn the techniques associated with soft glass, to make miniature sculptures, but got hooked on glass beads, and am completely addicted! In my work, I’m inspired by nature; the colors of flowers, seascapes, our garden, or the color and translucency of a certain glass rod that “calls” to me. My favorite beads to make are sculptural; flowers, fairies and of course, the goddesses, mermaids, angels, etc. I love the fact that I can create sculptural works that can be used in jewelry and, apart from selling my beads, I also design finished “show-stopper” jewelry. (My love for “kitsch” has found an outlet!)
I have four necklaces in a current exhibition, “Fragile Reality,” in the Erez Yisrael Museum. This is an exhibition of Israeli glass, and, amongst the 61 exhibiting artists, there are six lampwork beadmakers. Quite an achievement for the bead community...
- Glassified Ads - August/September, 2008 - Vol. 22, No. 2.
- Workshop Calendar
(This issue will be available online after the printed copies are sold.)
<Click Here> To purchase this issue.
<Click Here> To start your subscription.
In This Issue
- Goblet Basics - by Christian Luginger – Before I knew anything about glass, I would wonder how goblets and decanters were made. There are many colors and possibilities when making goblets. Here is a demo of one way they can be made. I hope this can help or inspire you in some way to learn more about their history and function, as well as ways to express yourself through glass...
- Oriental Beads - by Philipp Buck & Elias Schwegler-Juen – The glasswork artist Anita Schwegler-Juen started her artistic career with soda-lime glass in 2003. After she worked with fire and glass, she was all for it and a really deep relationship began. Since then, she has fabricated lampworking exclusively with glass from European, Chinese and American producers. In 2006, she founded, together with her husband Elias, the studio Atelier im Wöschhuus/UNIKAL Glasperlendesign in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, near Zurich. On the first floor, there’s a workshop, where she offers seminars...
- Switchback Pendant - by Bashi Alé – The Switchback pattern is an extremely versatile and eye-catching design. Many variations can be achieved by experimenting with color usage, spacing/frequency of line work, and the size of tubing or rods you choose to work with. In the following tutorial, I will demonstrate my chosen method for creating a switchback pendant...
- Frit: A beginner beadmaker’s best friend - by Ania Kyte – Let’s start with a typical scenario: You have just completed your first beadmaking experience, and have been practicing like crazy to get that basic round bead just right—trying to get it nicely shaped, with dimpled ends and good balance. And now, you have a serious desire to decorate the next beads you make, but here’s the problem: You don’t yet have the necessary skills and technical knowledge to make the decorations look as good as you would like. But you don’t want all your beads to look like basic spacers, either. Here’s the answer...
- Exploding Anemone Vortex - by James Mills – Like most glass students, I follow tutorials and videos to see how something is done, and then I go play with the technique and see how I can twist it and make it different. When I think of an implosion-style marble, I really can’t say who comes to mind, but when I think of surface work on a marble, the late Daniel Trilli is at the top of the list. When I think of flowers, I think of John Kobuki. When I see a hot-air balloon outside, I automatically think of Travis Weber. Every one of these great artists has a style that they created, and the rest of us seem to work and feed off of them in some form or another. So, I hope that, when you’re out on the 4th of July, watching fireworks with your family, and you see one of those really big anemone-style explosions, you will think of this tutorial...
- Marbles with Artetude - by Jan Clay – Unfortunately, there was no one able to teach marble-making in Australia, so the first few months were spent reading Drew Fritts’ book and tutorials in Glass Line magazine. Meanwhile, I was using the shopfront as my painting studio/gallery, called “Art Etude,” and my collection of marbles sat in the window on display, deliberately left there so I could see whether there was any interest in them. Sure enough, people were constantly coming in and wanting to buy the marbles. Renovations were undertaken and Art Etude became “Art Etude and The World of Marbles.” ...
- Lirio Llevado Fuego - by Marta Bernbaum – I start this lily by making the eight petals out of a 18 mm, heavy wall tube. (I’m definitely of the school of working with what you have available!)
I make at least eight, so I always have extras and can make creative choices and have backups.
After pulling a point about two inches long, I stripe the tube with Glass Alchemy’s persimmon stripe. Applying color...
- Prep and Production - by Aymie Mckesson – Here I am, the girl who never planned even one piece, cranking out scores of pretty little flat-rod rings, in all kinds of crazy colors ... but I won’t lie ... most of them are still rainbows. Now, in an effort to give back to the glassblowing community and help those who need it most, I bring you a lesson in Borosticks for beginners. These flat rod rings are great practice for getting used to the way Borosticks heat up and move. They sell really well, so please feel free to make these your own. I want to give my knowledge freely and help all those who need it. As long as we resist sharing and hold onto the fear of competition, we hold ourselves back from all that we could be. We all learned somewhere. Pay it forward, folks...
- Thinking Outside the Box with Your Molds. - by Janet Prentice – Like many of you, I am self-taught. I have been torching for nearly three years. However, I have been a working artist for decades, working mainly in raku pottery. I have collected beads longer than I care to say, and made and fired raku clay beads for years. When, due to heavy-metal poisoning, I was unable to fire raku pottery any longer, I bought Cindy Jenkins’ book, “How to Make Glass Beads,” and never looked back...
- Trautman Art Glass— An Independent Colored-Borosilicate Review - by Nathan Miers – I’m here to tell you that Trautman Art Glass (TAG) is the exception to that rule. I bought a sample pack of 17 different full-length colored TAG glass rods from Vapor Glass, one of the company’s distributors, and, when the package arrived, I couldn’t wait to throw these crazy-looking colors into some of my glasswork. Since I had never worked with them before, I decided I would try them in a series of reliability tests: tubing, surface working and deep encasement. My shopmate Dave did some inside/out stringer work as well...
- “Carlee’s flame”—discovering the joy and inspiration of working in glass - by Carla Di Francesco – When I did the flame-beads, I wanted to make a bead as a lucky charm for my torching friends, using propane and oxygen—the reduced flame and the oxidizing flame. That was my idea, but I almost went nuts—sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t work; sometimes they were beauties, other times, they were just ugly. I didn’t know why. When it worked, it was more by accident. It really drove me crazy! I don’t know how many of them I tried—maybe 300? Until I finally got the look and colors the way I do them now...
- Glassified Ads - June/July, 2008 - Vol. 22, No. 1.
- Workshop Calendar
Back Issues
HOME
BACK ISSUES
ONLINE EDITION
SUBSCRIBE
USER CENTER
CONTACT US
PRIVACY POLICY
CONTACT US
Copyright © 1995-2020 GLASS LINE. All Rights Reserved.
All trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.Last Modified: Wednesday, 18-Dec-2019 15:50:24 MST
