April/May, 2019 - Vol. 32, No. 6.
|
In This Issue
Boro Geode by Orion Whitwell
I’ve been blowing glass since 2015 and am known in glass art circles as OhDub Glass. I own Fahrenheit 1510. I grew up in Boise, Idaho, and have been surrounded by amazing artists my entire life. My father is a writer, my mother is a craftswoman/artist, and my stepmother is a contemporary dancer. All throughout my childhood, though, I never had an artistic outlet until I found glass.
When I started blowing glass, I only wanted to make functional glass art, but after a while, the glass bug took hold and I realized I wanted to be an all-around glass craftsperson. Now I make a little of everything — pipes, drinkware, jewelry, marbles, and more.
Recently, I bought a lap-wheel and started learning how to cold-work, which opened up a whole new range of possibilities for my glass art. I started cutting my pieces into interesting shapes, lapping bottoms of paperweights, and started making boro geodes
...
My love of bold designs and colors probably started the day I came home from kindergarten and my mother had tie-dyed all of our clothes. My childhood was an immersion in creativity; my mother is an amazing artist who did everything — pottery, batik, weaving, oil painting, silk painting, macramé, etc. My father had a full studio for gem carving and jewelry design. Their joint creativity was showcased in every room in our house, from mosaics to murals and custom-built furniture.
In the early years, I bought every book and tutorial I could get my hands on, practicing and learning as much as I could on my own. Since then, my journey with glass has led me to meet amazing artists and new friends. It’s exciting to be part of such an inspiring and supportive community. I have been fortunate to take classes from some master glass artists from all over who generously share their knowledge and techniques.
I love all things glassy, and tend to be a bit of a squirrel: soft glass beads, fusing, and boro (tried the hot shop, but that’s not for me). I am most comfortable with and spend the most time on a Mega Minor with 104 soft glass, creating beads. A few years ago, I joined Terminal City Glass Co-Op, where I am able to work on larger torches, with borosilicate, learning to make marbles
...
I live in Finland and have been making beads since 2004. My mother was a lover of elephants and collected a variety of items with elephants as the main theme. She had big ones, small ones, pillowcases, posters, and jewelry in her collection. I made this bead in memory of my mother’s love of elephants. (Pink was not one of her favorite colors, but it’s one of mine.) I like to imagine that she is sitting on the edge of a pink morning cloud and sees me create and grow as an artist
...
My background is in fine arts, painting, and printmaking, with a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. My first glass class was with Kristina Logan in 1997. Since then, I have shown and sold across Canada, taught classes in Ottawa, and demonstrated at festivals and the Maker Faire in Toronto, Ontario. I currently sell online and at shows.
I am a longtime member of the Toronto Bead Society and served for several years as secretary, then web minder
...
.sm.jpg)
I was born close to Paris in 1986. When I was a child, I visited a glass factory in the south of France and fell in love with hot glass work. In 2008, after two years of studying materials science at university, I decidde to change my focus to working in glass. I graduated as a scientific glassblower in 2009 and started working for the Sciences University of Montpellier for 18 months. Then, I went back to university to obtain a graduate degree in materials science. At the same time, I worked at a technical metal-glass seals company.
For my jewelery pieces, I love to work with opal inclusions and spirals in dichroic glass. For the sculptures, I make animals and characters. I like fantasy, so I make dragons, fairies, and other fantastic animals. I also make a little blown stuff, such as this perfume flask. Because glass art has unlimited potential, I try to be able to make everything and anything
...
I am from Turkey — I was born in Ankara in 1986 — and have loved glass since my childhood. One of my most vivid memories is of my grandmother offering me two pendants. One was glass, the other one was wood. I chose the glass one, and ever since, I made the same selection whenever there was a choice between something in glass and something in another material.
Nature inspires me. That is why I love making murrini and reflecting the colors and themes of nature in my works. With my murrini, I design flower gardens, colorful landscapes, vivarium, and galaxy beads
...
I have been working with different forms of art glass for years. I started out taking stained glass classes and then got into fusing glass. At an open house at a local stained glass studio, I was introduced to the flame. The instructor used a Hothead torch and did a bead demonstration.
My first torch was a Hothead and I worked at that time with soft glass 104. I upgraded to the Nortel Minor and then the Nortel Major. Of course, to work with the boro glass, I needed to upgrade my torch, so now I use a Bethlehem Bravo and an oxygen concentrator. I love making marbles, pendants, rings, and small sculptures in my home studio in northern Wisconsin
...
|
February/March, 2019 - Vol. 32, No. 5.
|
In This Issue
Sculpting a Face by Evan Cals
There are many different techniques in glass that I enjoy, but the techniques I use most often are free-form sculpting and fuming with gold and silver. Fume work has always been a favorite technique, from encasements and implosions in marbles and pendants to the endless surface patterns that can be achieved by different layers and combinations. It is truly fascinating to be able to create a full spectrum of colors just from two basic metals and clear glass.
In my sculpting, faces and organic forms are always a reoccurring theme. Creating characters and being able to portray emotions or tell stories through them is something I never get tired of.
This project involves sculpting a face out of glass in my own style. Sculpting glass is an individualistic technique: Everyone is going to have a personal preference for achieving certain results. I apply glass frits in my sculpting work to create organic forms and add texture...
It is extremely gratifying to make a bead from a stick of glass, and then see the end product when my customers make their own jewelry with my beads. Sometimes they send me pictures, and that is always thrilling.
In the beading world, there is a kind and inviting energy that I love. I could talk glass with my other bead peeps forever! I believe in an open exchange of ideas, techniques, and wisdom that can be shared freely. It is interesting that every beader I speak to has pretty much the exact same passion for this medium. Amazing!
Enough about me. This article explains how to make a wave focal bead...
I use a press for most of my work, but also do freeform pendants and other styles. I love adding metallic and multi-colored glass to my work. Working with foils and frits is a must for me. I love the texture and sparkle the foil adds, and frits add an array of beautiful color, especially those with Raku. I work with 104 COE glass; my favorites are CIM and Double Helix, but I also have a large collection of Moretti, Vetrofond, Kugler, TAG, and even still some old ASK104 hanging around. CIM has a wide range of color choices and I try to pick at least one new color to try out every time I order my supplies. I also often work with Double Helix’s reactive silver glasses.
Since that first year, I have been creating and selling all my work on eBay, Etsy, and now almost exclusively through several Facebook groups. I have several repeat clients and take orders for just about anything from my website. I really enjoy the Facebook groups and seeing what other artists are up to, answering questions for beginners, or just viewing other artists’ beautiful creations.
When time allows, I like to slow down and explore new designs and techniques. There is always more to learn, and so much (even after 13 years) that I haven’t even touched on...
I am based in Switzerland near Zürich and a member of GlasperlenSpektrum e. V. I`ve practiced glass art since 2002 in many ways, switching between soft and hard glass, using traditional techniques (Murano, Italy) and mixing them with new techniques from Europe, America, and Japan. I teach techniques in soft/hard glass internationally.
Implosions and compressions in soft glass are individual for glass artists, thanks to different colors and creative shapes. It is a high-level art of its own. We have new ways to transfer these techniques from the usual round marble shape and the ordinary loop into interchangeable pendants. The best part of doing this is that it works in both soft and hard glass...
.sm.jpg)
Armed with glass magazines, books, YouTube videos, and Facebook communities, I continued my journey in glass on my own. I can’t say I have gone very far, but in three years, I learned something. This is my way of doing quick production of vials with dry-ground joint plug and minimal tool use...
When I created this bead, I was looking for a dragonfly design that would fit on an earring-size palette. I wanted to use an 18 mm lentil, so I did all of the requisite time-wasting with Google and Pinterest searches, saving photos of real and artistically rendered dragonflies while I thought about how I might represent them in glass. Then I experimented with making dragonflies on a small scale. I started with a simple dragonfly on an ivory background. Once I mastered that, I began to create variations, modifying backgrounds, adding layers, changing the silver glass used in the wings.
So far, I have four variations, and I’m slowly working my way up to 30 (okay, maybe five?).
I like using this process with beads. I can’t help myself. Whenever I create a design I love, I immediately start thinking about other possibilities. What if I added enamels? What if I used silver foil? What if I added some vines to the background, or used a different silver glass? How about using red for the eyes? (Uh, no. Save the red eyes for bats.)
Once you’ve mastered the technical steps, you’re all set to compose your own Variations on a Theme by Jane Harter (You can call me Jane Sebastian Bach, if you prefer.) ...
I had always enjoyed creating something with my own hands. Since I was 4, when my mother’s friend taught me to knit, I learned several crafts like sewing, crocheting, and decoupage. Around 2006, I started to make beaded jewelry. When I saw photos of jewelry with lampwork beads in 2009, I loved them, started to search for information, found it, and decided to try to make that kind of beads. I succeeded, and that’s how it started.
At that time, lampwork was something new in Russia. There were no courses yet, no studios, the first Internet shop with a minimal choice of glass and tools had just appeared. I was learning by video tutorials from the Internet. When I got my first glass rods, I didn’t have a lampwork torch yet, so I used my husband’s welding torch; my workspace was in the kitchen. I think many of us have had such funny moments in the beginning.
Since gardening is also my passion, flower beads were among the first ones I tried to make. Since then, that’s my favorite theme for the beads...
I love it when an effect appears complex, but is easy to achieve. I stumbled on the outline effect in these beads while experimenting with some silver glass. The reaction between the two main colors creates a double outline around the decorative designs.
These beads are about 19 mm in diameter, but the size and shape can be changed to suit your taste. Encasement magnifies the outlines, but this technique also works well without encasement. I used most of my tiny stash of Double Helix Nyx in the pictured beads. Although this glass is no longer in production, I've had success with other silver glass as well...
|
December/January, 2018/19 - Vol. 32, No. 4.
|
In This Issue
Mandala beads by Ksenija Djurica
Mandalas are coursing through every segment of our lives, in the Earth, sun, and moon. In some way, they symbolize the circle of our lives, which is made of family, friends, and the society that we live in. Mandalas have a circular design that is symbolic of the never-ending circle of life.
In creating your mandala, you can use every color of glass to make different designs and patterns
...
Implosion Flowers by Olga Burtseva
Being a biologist, I love nature and beautiful flowers in particular. When I had mastered the technique of making glass flowers, at first I was annoyed when I broke their symmetry. When my flowers became fully symmetrical, though, I realized that the life left them — they looked like they were made of plastic. There is a lot of symmetry in real life, of course, but it exists only at certain limits. That is why you don’t have to worry if the flowers you make are not a “perfect” shape — this means that they look real
...
I was born and raised in Texas and have always been about the country life. My inspiration for doing this tutorial is from growing up around and being in the presence of peacocks as a child. I first started my creative journey by making jewelry, which is when I was introduced to the world of lampwork beads. I would purchase lampwork beads from other Artists and incorporate them in my jewelry designs. One year, during a visit to my Aunt, who is a glass artist in her own right, she suggested that I make my own lampwork beads to use in my jewelry designs.
After a short time, I decided to focus on my business full-time and leave the W2 world. This let me focus 100% of my time on doing what I love to do — create not only standard shapes but animal beads as well. I am inspired by everything I see in my day-to-day life, whether it is different color combinations or shapes, and I try to incorporate it into my beads. For example, this tutorial on the peacock bead is inspired by the peacocks I grew up seeing on the ranch as a child.
You can take this technique and make it your own by changing the color combinations for your own variations
...
I am from Turkey; I was born in Ankara in 1984. My father is a glass artist who creates designs with cold glass techniques. Due to all the time that I spent in his workshop throughout my childhood, I learned the particulars of working in cold glass techniques. Since then, one way or the other, my life has always been intertwined with glass. In 2013, I left my full-time job and following my personal interest by starting a lampwork studio. I started making decorative products using the glassblowing technique within a couple months
...
I was born in Boskovice and grew up in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. I pursued studies in animation and graduated with a master’s degree from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. I moved to Toronto in 2001 and established the Lunacy Glass Studio in 2002. I currently live and work in Tweed, Ontario.
Creative process and form awareness is always at the forefront of my work focus. The glass pieces I create surprise viewers by my attention to detail and meticulous craftsmanship. Inspiration for my work often comes from folk art, my garden, and daily life in a small town. Coming from an animation background, I tell a story with a sense of humor and lightness of spirit. I create all of my work with love and high-quality materials in hopes to delight viewers for years to come
...
I like small forms, miniatures. I like to make sculptured beads (flowers, animals, and insects). I like to blow out beads of different colors. I like to combine various materials in assembling my beads, so my decorations become unique
...
Chains by Christian Neeriemer
This was an amazing opportunity, not only because I was a starving artist, but because I saw Hondo’s work as an inspiration. Now I was in his studio, picking his mind for tips and tricks, from silver fuming and color work to hollow working and shaping.
After a year of bouncing between the Rage Cage and Hondo’s studio, life had new plans for me and I ended up moving to Denver, Colorado, where I live now. The techniques that I learned from Hondo are ones that I carried with me to Denver, and continue to use to this day
...
I have been lampworking for the past three and a half years now, and I love every part of this journey. I mainly make solid items — marbles, milli, pendants, paperweights, ornaments, sculptures, etc. — as well as some hollow work. One of my favorite things to make is my Dragon Eye marbles. Making the milli is as much fun as making the actual marble for me. There is something enticing about the flame that just can’t be explained and continually draws me in...
|
October/November, 2018 - Vol. 32, No. 3.
|
In This Issue
It was a long journey from my first bead to the lampwork beads that I love to create now. There were virtually no sources of information in my native language, and I had to search through the Internet. I discovered foreign forums where peer lampworkers readily shared their achievements and knowledge. The fact that English is not my native language made my journey to know-how markedly complicated. In addition to technical knowledge, I had to gradually acquire the English lampworker’s jargon. YouTube tutorials were a great source of information and inspiration; I tried to follow them step by step, and I began to improve. The masters in the field were great role models, and their work I considered an unreachable goal.
I have been creating lampwork beads for 11 years now, and I am still sitting at my torch with the same excitement I had at the beginning. During those years, I have achieved some highlights I could not have imagined at the start. One of those is having customers all over the world who keep returning to my beads. Another one is having my own studio that I built last year after many years in a confined space
...
I am from Northern Lower Michigan, about 30 miles south of the Mackinaw Bridge. I have been a lampwork artist full-time for about 12 years. I live with my husband of 16 years and my three fur babies, Zeus, Diesel, and Tiger Lilly. Since my last tutorial (“How to Make a Sparkling Cherry Blossom Tree,” www.hotglass.com/vol28.html#n1), we have become empty nesters. My, what a change that is!
Having so much time on my hands these days has pushed me to try to do some different things. I joined a community of wire-weavers on Facebook called Wire Wrap Tips and Tutorials, created by the incomparable Nicole Hanna. Nicole is a wire-weaving genius and creates tutorials and challenges for up-and-coming wire-weavers. These artists are amazing! Although the patience to do the weaving myself has eluded me, I am still in awe of their artistry. After two years of selling beads to the wire-weaving community, I was asked to create handmade lampwork cabochons. I have been trying to hone that skill for several months now.
This tutorial is a basic one from which thousands of variations can be made. Many mashups will allow for cool results (see photos of different variations) ...
I finally found a lampwork studio in Paris and then worked for several glass studios in France, including a borosilicate glass studio, old glass studio focusing on haute couture, and the Homely glass studio near the sea, among others.
Now I show my glasswork around the world with exhibitions in France, England, Germany, the USA (Asian Art Museum), and Japan. I have taught glass techniques in glass school culture centers in France, Germany, England, Ireland, Finland, Spain, Poland, and Japan.
My work is diverse with many aspects, such as making glass beads, accessories, sculpture, and installations, among others. Recently, I have collaborated with other artists, including a French artist who makes jewelry. To make the pieces more valuable, we released works of expensive jewelry featuring glass, gold, and jewels. I have also made collaborations using glass and silicon with accessories and textiles with Israeli artists who live in Paris and make large-scale works. Glass and silicon are made of the same material: silica. I have also worked with a French artist on a large-scale sculpture and installation that used a variety of materials and glass
...
In 2010, we relocated to the East Coast, to Delaware. There was not much pressure for me to return to a full-time corporate career, so I set up a studio in my house instead. It didn’t last long, because along came a few kids and my studio became a nursery. Finally, about three years ago, in 2015, I set up my studio in the basement and finally started to make beads full time. It took me about a year to get comfortable with the basics, and to figure out where I fall in this amazing world of color. I have always loved color. I find working with color very therapeutic, and once I entered the world of bright colors in glass, the fun really began.
I chose Sugar Skulls for this tutorial because I find them to be a super-fun canvas. I am not a planner, and I keep my studio a mess, which drives me creatively. I love being able to grab whatever I see and work with it. Every time I open the kiln, it’s a surprise of goodies. Typically, that is how I make my skulls and other beads. I have found that planning limits me creatively to what I have on my work bench, and that is not for me
...
I love all the aspects of working in glass: working with fire, finishing my jewelry, meeting customers, and the lampworker social network. I am grateful for all the amazing people I have had the chance to meet thanks to this work and all the beautiful experiences I lived through. I look forward to my next glass path.
Sometimes I make beads for a necklace, but I prefer to focus on unique pieces that are a “jewel” as such, and I especially like to make beads for interchangeable rings.
Here is how I make my dolls. For wearing comfort, I make them flat
...
A Bouncing Bear by Irina Vertikova
Irina Vertikova lives in Tomsk, Russia. This is how she makes her Bear in his winter coat
...
A Base Octopus by Anthony Fasano
I make items such as pendants and marbles, but most recently I’ve been experimenting with creating sea life and creatures of various shapes. This demonstration shows how I make my base octopus. I love to experiment with these creatures because you can always make it look different with each leg and the final body shape. It’s almost like there is no right or wrong. Happy melting...
When I first started out, I would have classified my style of bead as simple and classic. I wanted to make beads that someone would be able to wear every day, not just for special occasions. I was able to achieve that goal. Now I’m taking my love of painting and my passion of lampworking, and putting them together in a bead.
It was one of those “cowabunga” moments when I mixed a frit with cobalt glass and thought it looked like part of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” painting. That’s when I had the epiphany to make the starry night bead described here. It’s a very simple bead to make and I hope you will be as thrilled as I was with the outcome.
I am currently working on a Monet-inspired water lily bead and a Klimt-inspired bead
...
|
August/September, 2018 - Vol. 32, No. 2.
|
In This Issue
Checkerboard dichroic vortex by Colton Baker
After I talked to one of the artists in the store about it, wondering how it was made, he offered to give me a lesson at my house. Since that day, I have been addicted to making.
I have only worked with 104 COE, also known as soft glass, since that was the only glass they sold at the Moon, but the more I got into glassworking, the more I realized how much I loved all of the techniques you could use in 33 COE or borosilicate glass. I started trying boro techniques in my soft glass work to see if I could find an in-between that I could work with
...
I was born in South Africa and immigrated to Germany in 2009. I started doing lampwork in 2005 and have loved it ever since. I’ve taken a few courses with amazing teachers, but most of my work is self-taught. I’ve always had an interest in handmade things and I believe that anything handmade doesn’t have to be perfect.
I like to be creative and therefore experiment with my own ideas
...
My creative passion started when I was 9 or 10 years old and in school. Colors fascinated me, and that has never ended. As I got older, I started with jewelry and Swarovski beads, but that was not perfect for me yet. I wanted to be unique. I never took any courses to learn from a teacher; I wanted to learn from my mistakes. That was the beginning of a fantastic era — a dream coming to life.
Finally, in 2013, I started with my first handmade beads and it was a phenomenal feeling that has ever let go of me.
This tutorial presents my mystical shards beads, which remind me of small windows that let us look into another (glass) world
...
I’ve been making handmade items from an early age, including embroidery and cross-stitch pictures, as well as drawing, painting in oils and watercolors, and dressmaking. I turned to jewelry-making in 2006 and discovered beautiful lampwork beads made by various talented glass artists all over the world. In 2009, I set up a workshop with everything I’d need to make my own lampworked beads and I’ve never looked back — it is such a passion of mine!
Thankfully, my family is extremely patient and supportive when I disappear into the workshop or wave new bead creations or jewelry in front of them. I also work part-time as Microsoft SQL Server software developer, and juggling everything can be entertaining.
These beads can be a bit tricky to make, since you need to keep them warm at all times so they don’t crack.
This tutorial is aimed at someone with intermediate lampworker experience
...
After my first year of working with glass, we visited Venice and Murano. What a great feeling that was. Wherever you looked, you would see Venetian glass in the shops where the owners greeted you as an old friend. As we wandered through the streets, there was an indescribable feeling of magic. Sometimes I had to take a quick look behind me to see if a prince was following me or sitting in a nearby gondola!
Most of the glassblowers are situated on the island of Murano, along with Roberto Donna, the son of Carlo Donna, the instrument maker. He makes his own blowpipes, diamond shears, and tweezers, just as they’ve been made for centuries. They’re not the cheapest, but are worth more than their price. They are sturdy, easy to use, and practically unbreakable. I secretly hope that they, along with the magic, help me blow the hollow beads well.
Mauro Vianello has also become a good friend. His glass objects of everything in the ocean world are so realistic that I keep looking to see whether a real shell or Nemo fish has secretly been placed in the shop window. Despite his great talent, he is very modest, helpful, and full of tips. He also has a wonderful sense of humor.
These trips to Italy have inspired me to continue blowing hollow beads using the same methods that have been used for so long. It’s difficult at first, but once you have mastered the technique, it’s fantastic and full of possibilities. At each session, you feel the magic that every lampworker in Murano and Venice experiences
...
This tutorial assumes that you have sufficient experience of working with glass to take safety precautions and add insurance heat to your work.
When I first tried making these, I used whatever half-rods of glass and wire I had to hand while I worked out the sizes needed to create something that looked realistic enough to use. Needless to say, I have lots of strange-looking daffodils in my glass cabinet ... I quickly realized that while a real daffodil has two layers of three petals very close together, that didn’t look right in glass and I needed to make adjustments. I’ve settled for five petals, which provides a resemblance I’m happy with.
I’ve worked off the end of a 2.4 mm dipped mandrel to glue into brooch pins or add poppers to use with my other love — fabric. You can use a smaller mandrel or work off the end of a wire, which would allow you to create headpins or components for other pieces of jewelry. You also can make this as a bead if you prefer
...
I’m moving to the north of Israel in the next year and hope to set up my dream studio there, and to host glass artists from around the world. I recently was elected to the Board of Governors of the ISGB and hope to be able to contribute significantly in this manner to the glass world, and help other artists in their work.
My work is mostly blowing hollows on a mini blowpipe; I’m particularly fond of making Battuto blown beads. I’ve been fascinated with murrini, and worked in the hot shop for about five years and studied with Davide Salvadore.
When I asked my glass colleagues what they thought, they uniformly replied that writing about Battuto blown beads was a great idea, but it would be even better to include how to blow a basic hollow because they were still struggling with that. I’ve had the honor and privilege to study some of the greats in the glass world (Igor Balbi, Astrid Riedel, Emilio Santini, and Davide Penso, amongst others), who were generous with their time and attention in teaching me how to blow hollow beads on a blowpipe. As my friends pointed out, though, not everyone is as fortunate logistically and financially to be able to study with the great artists
...
I think I developed a personal character for my beads over the years. Although I admire beads and art with a focus on simplicity and a clear line, my work can now be characterized as being brightly colored, “bring a smile to your face” beads.
I just can’t stop working on a bead without making dots and lines here and there, or using some of my self-made murrini. And I love to make critters, too — setting those two eye-dots and thus creating their own character fills me with happiness.
Who knows what the future will bring? I keep an open mind about my further development. One thing I am sure of is that the joy of working with glass will last for many years more!
...
Glass is a wonderful material; although rigid and cold, it can be soft, velvety, colorful, shiny, and a beautiful way to express and trigger emotions.
I chose to demonstrate an interchangeable ring for a glass cabochon because it is a type of jewelry that I like to wear and make the most. I like the big, striking pieces, too. In my work, I like to follow a modern clean line — with some exceptions
...
|
June/July, 2018 - Vol. 32, No. 1.
|
In This Issue
Bunnies by Jocelyn Brown
Terrapin Glassblowing Studio is a mother-daughter–owned small business right off Rt. 202 in Jaffrey, NH. Situated in the home of Mt. Monadnock, this is an-open door studio with the mission of making glassblowing available to local communities and beyond. The public is always invited into this special space, where there are two glassblowing studios — a “hot shop” and a “flame shop”— and a large gallery/gift shop. Free tours are always offered and free demonstrations are available if scheduled in advance. Classes of all levels are available in both studios for a special hands-on experience. We also respectfully make glass memorials to give grieving families a locally made keepsake to hold their loved ones’ ashes
...
I’ve been on the torch making Octospoons for a few years now. I was taught glassworking mostly by my mother, Marilyn Ure.
Start by make a basic spoon shape; I use 32 mm heavy wall Schott tubing. Start with about 6 inches of the tube and attach a blowtube. I typically use 12–14 mm by about 10 inches long
...
I discovered this bead technique by mistake, when I started making beads in 2005. I was trying to encase a colorful bead that I had made, but I didn’t wait until the core was cool and stable enough. When I took at the bead out of the kiln, I saw an amazing colorful vortex inside the bead and I was amazed by it. Over the years, I have made many beads in different shapes, sizes, and colors using this technique, and it always makes me happy to look at them.
For this tutorial, I chose colors I like, but you can use any colors in any order that makes you happy. The important thing to remember is how to create the effect inside the bead
...
I have been doing lampwork for the past six years. If it weren´t for my husband, I probably would never started this journey. One day, my husband found a video on the Internet of a woman presenting the basics of this technique. He was telling me: “Look! This is exactly something for you!”
I had watched the video with no interest whatsover and turned my nose up at the concept ... some beads ... who would be interested in them? However, I watched another video and than another and another, and the following month, I was staying up until around 3 a.m., watching them. I bought all essentials needed for this technique and started to torment myself, because I never wanted to sign up for any courses. I was discovering what others had discovered long ago ... and … today, it is my job.
I spend most of the time making jewelery that I create from my glass flowers. I also love murrini. This job enchants me. I just love my work!
...
I began fashioning the visions I discovered that were deeply embedded in my heart, and I melted them into glass. I stopped trying to please the stores and focused on putting the vision of my heart and my soul into my art. I have not ever felt more accomplished in my life than I do this day.
I do not consider glassblowing work. It is not work when you can do what you love, and I absolutely love what I am doing each and every new day...
I have vivid memories from childhood of being lost in the escapism of gazing into a paperweight or at the miniature animals on my nana’s kitchen shelf. These seem to connect with the thrill it gives me to freeze a bit of time in a marble.
I began collecting paperweights, which led me to notice the occasional photograph or video of the stunning marbles that were being made in the vibrant American scene. Sometime later, I became aware that a marble-making day was available to the public at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, UK, which is a couple of miles from where I live. I signed up for the one-day course as a birthday present to myself, and was amazed at how much I enjoyed it. They taught me to make a clear marble and a surface swirl.
I was also amazed that this was something I could probably set up in my garage — there was no need for a furnace. I had been bitten by a hot, spherical bug and I soon ordered the equipment for my garage workshop. Armed with my one-day class experience and a YouTube video of a guy making a compression flower, I set the marble rolling. With trial and error and a lot of obsessive thinking, here I am six months later, starting out on a journey I didn’t know could be so fun. I hope that one day, I will be able to make that perfect marble I can always see glittering in the distance...
I’m a Russian glass artist, although currently I live in Spain. When I was growing up, I thought I was hopeless in terms of creativity. I never thought of becoming a designer or handmade creator, but I always envied people who could make something beautiful with their own hands.
I have two higher education degrees. One is in law and the other is in translation of English and Spanish. I’ve never worked as a lawyer, but I worked as an English/Spanish translator for several years. I used to have a standard full-time job at an office. My life was full of foreign business trips and interesting meetings, but I still felt that I was missing something. Then I realized that that was life. In the hectic life that I had, there was no feeling of pure life, beauty, or creativity. No life magiс. I think I just got tired of using my brain. It was time to work with my heart and hands to express my soul...
|
April/May, 2018 - Vol. 31, No. 6.
|
.jpg)
.jpg)
