April/May 2024 - Vol. 37, No. 6.
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In This Issue
Hollow Bead by Hal Watrous
The hollow bead was one of the first things I learned. It taught me so much about lampworking, such as keeping things on center and working clean. What I like about the hollow bead is that you can use all sorts of leftover prep to make one.
Working with glass on a small scale always helps in learning how to execute certain techniques. I learned cold seals by applying color to accent the hollow bead. I learned to have patience with glass, and to use that in every step, waiting for the glass to do its thing.
I enjoy making glass art people can live with. I’m very thankful for publications like Glass Line — I’ve learned a lot of skill-building techniques and gotten a lot of inspiration from so many amazing artists through the years...
We’re the founders of a small family brand: Palala Beads, Olia, and Nemo. I’m a full-time lampworker from Ukraine. I started making beads nine years ago, and Nemo learned lampworking soon after. My husband and I have a family studio where we both make beads.
This tutorial is about making a nest bead...
How to Make Conch Shell Sculptures by Greg Losco
My conch shells are great for standalone sculptural décor, or make great homes for sandy succulents and air plants. I began making these in the beginning of 2023, and they have become an eye-catching addition to my body of work at various art festivals throughout the year....
I’m a Minneapolis-based glass artist known as GNAR. I like to think that everything I’ve made and will make has always already existed in some dimension somewhere, and I am merely conjuring them forth through my subconscious, guided by my analytical mind. I find inspiration from a wide variety of things, from nature and music to architecture and people, and everything in between. I also draw a lot of inspiration from science fiction — Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith have guided many an art piece I’ve made. I desire to create something worthwhile, which pushes me to make bigger and better things. I try to have pieces for every budget, so I aim to balance art and affordability. Even if your budget is only $20, I will find a way to make something cool that you’d show off to your friends...
Since I started keeping a budgerigar as a pet myself, I have been making more bird-themed pieces. The growing popularity of bird-related products in Japan has also influenced my creations. Birds have almost no whites in their eyes and no lines for the mouth — the beak serves as the mouth, making it challenging to express emotions. Nevertheless, I am delighted when people who see my work can perceive emotions such as “It looks like it’s smiling” or “It seems troubled.”
This tutorial presents a piece that I have been making for the past two to three years. With its flat back side, it can be attached to a metal part. While the tutorial demonstrates a simple design of a single baby emperor penguin, more complex designs can be created by detaching it from the stainless steel spatula...
Lately, I’ve been focusing more and more on creating videos of me blowing glass to educate and for entertainment. The process of blowing glass is absolutely mesmerizing and I want to share that with the world — once again, making people smile.
I’m so very much looking forward to my future in glassblowing and the art scene. Glassblowing is nearly limitless in what can be made. You are never done learning, so I’m extremely excited about the journey I’m on...
I have shaped various materials — felt, clay, wood — but glass was different. While fire is often a destructive force, it was helping glass take on a new form. This has always been a reality that captivates me. Watching glass dance before your eyes as it melts, only to cool and regain its clarity and smoothness, was truly amazing.
“Heuristic” is what’s intuitive; doing things experientially.
I work with Heuristic Design, and we operate workshops in Hatay, Turkey, and Budva, Montenegro, especially with women affected by earthquakes. The impact of an earthquake, like fire, may stay with us, but now we are trying to cool without breaking. I believe that creating together will be beneficial for all of us...
I started by making simple glass beads. Over time, I tried to make more and more complicated patterns, but I felt that something was still missing: the glassblowing part! The process itself is fairly simple, although it might take a few tries to get it right. It still requires solid glass rods, all the equipment to create standard glass beads, and few additional tools, including a blowpipe, which looks more like a metallic straw. I’ve been doing this for last two years, creating all sorts of jewelry. This is how to make an injected dots glass-blown sphere or bead...
When most people first see my “sparkling” beads, they ask, “How did you get all those silver bubbles/dots in there?” They seem to think it is “magic” or I am a detail-oriented person who puts tiny, evenly spaced silver bubbles into the bead. Well, I am a detailed person, but not that obsessive. I have a relatively straightforward technique that I have worked on for years — encasing with fine silver mesh.
What is encasing? Encasing is using transparent glass (usually clear) to entrap, surround, or encase the bead, rod, etc. Encasing has so many benefits. It gives depth, protects the layer it is covering (foils, mesh, gold leaf, etc.), can be used to protect colors from bleeding, and — if using a non-clear transparent color — give a wealth of new colors from overlaying over other colors, etc. Can you tell that I love encasing...
I consider myself lucky to have access to excellent workshops, and even more fortunate to have been teaching at the studio where I received my training for the past two years. My works include small objects, bead decoration, glassblowing with a pipe, and pulling murrinis. I enjoy creating small sculptures, figurines, and beadwork.
Sharing my knowledge with my students is a wonderful feeling, and I am constantly thrilled to learn new techniques, improve myself, and explore new avenues. Shaping molten glass is a profound passion for me, like any glass enthusiast. I continue to work in my home studio, and I love sharing my creations.
This tutorial describes what I call “The Frog in the Pond.” I created this piece using Effetre/soft glass (COE 103-104). The murrini in this project are handmade by me. You can also create them using ready-made Effetre murrini...
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February/March 2024 - Vol. 37, No. 5.
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In This Issue
Twisted Implosion Pendant by Kristen Stifflemire
I started glassblowing this year and I love it so far. I am a registered nurse, but art has always been a passion for me, even as a child. I have a great mentor who has given me all of the tips, tricks, and tools I need to create beautiful art. We are focusing on implosions, vortex, and fume work at the moment. I’m excited to learn many new techniques to grow as a glass artist. Since I am still in the beginning stages of learning, this will be more of a beginner tutorial that provides the basic steps needed to make a twisted implosion pendant...
My trips to Murano, Lauscha, and the glass beads symposium in Wertheim add to my view of the diversity of glass. They open up more new techniques for making glass beads. I always return to my glass bead burner with new ideas. In my small studio, I then have the peace and time to refine my newly learned techniques. Through customer requests and other ideas, the glass world gives my artistic life a colorful and satisfying meaning, which is complemented by my painting and photography.
In 2012, I started going to my first craft markets and Christmas markets with “Hauptsache-Kunst” (www.hauptsache-kunst.de), where I am accompanied and supported by my girlfriend while I demonstrate glass bead-turning at the burner. I also offer individual glass bead courses in my studio, as well as individual event glass bead demonstrations by customer request. I also work with companies for which I develop and produce glass bead models. For many years, I made small Cologne Cathedral pendants in a fixed design for a company in Cologne.
This article shows my technique for implementing a customer’s request for an item for a wedding. The customer wanted a heart-shaped single pearl that matched the color of her scarf. A free-floating implosion flower that combined the lightness of the cloth with perfectly coordinated colors seemed to be exactly the right idea.
I chose an autumnal color combination...
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I continue to expand my knowledge of soft and hard glass work by taking workshops with other glass artists. I took workshops at the glass school in Murano, Italy, to improve my knowledge of glass with Italian experts. All the colors and the range of working glass in hot and cold conditions are still things I find remarkably interesting and often challenging as well.
However, you can hardly make a living on glass art in Switzerland, so I supplement my income by teaching German. Over the past seven years, I also ran a small store in Weggis (Switzerland) with other artisans. I sell my glass creations at exhibitions, markets, and online.
My fascination with hollow beads is mainly based on the fact that these beads are much lighter to wear as jewelry. The technique I use for the soft glass hollow beads was invented originally by Astrid Riedel (South Africa) and is slightly different from the Murano technique. In this tutorial, I show how I make my hollow beads and decorate them with enamel and stringers —a simple but highly effective method of decorating hollow beads...
Ever since I started working with glass, the theme of holiday ornaments was and is always present.
Glass is such a perfect medium for creating traditional blown-glass ornaments. My original ornament, made with thin, silvered, colorful glass, was born in Lauscha, Germany. It continued with myriad shapes and many decorating techniques, starting with orbs. I built on this by adding glass beads and bead garlands. As a bead artist, I thought it seemed logical to take a swing at making an ornament using lampwork glass bead techniques, with the main piece being a hollow glass bead.
Many other shapes can be used to create these ornaments. I used pointed filigrana spikes, ruffled discs, hollow orbs, and smaller accent beads. Adding crystal beads, shiny gold and silver spacers, and other sparkly findings completes the ornament...
I’ve been blowing glass full-time for a little over 10 years and one of my passions in the craft is sculpting — I love sculpting the human form, especially faces and hands.
This hollow pendant tutorial provides a general idea of how to get started in sculpting hollow human heads and faces...
After three years on the island, life took me to Las Vegas, where I currently reside. A few years after settling in, I put together a small studio in my garage and started to make beads again as a hobby. I worked on new pieces every day, and was selling sets and focals regularly at auction sites, but at one point, my full-time career took over. There was no time for glass, and I stepped away for a while. That small pause turned into a 10-year intermission.
Fast-forward to about a year ago. My husband inspired me to bring my studio and passion for glass back to life. He equipped the garage with a brand-new workbench (that he built), a workspace complete with AC and ventilation, and a new oxygen concentrator. My journey was entering a new phase. It was a little scary — it had been so long! Looking for something different, I focused on creating glass flowers. I tried a few techniques, and eventually found a formula that works for me.
My relationship with glass has been hot and cold over the years (mind the pun), but my love for it has never diminished. Even when life pulls you away for a season (or 10), creativity allows endless reinvention...
Do you want to play with millefiori (millie)? Here is a way to have plenty to play with without spending a lot of money or taking a lot of time, and still achieve a really cool look.
My introduction to millie started with making small marbles that would magnify the image, and has grown into stacking sheets of them, rolling them up, and double-layering them to create different effects. Lots of images are being produced, ranging in price from affordable to expensive, depending on the detail, size, and maker. Collecting millies is a lot of fun and doesn’t take up very much space. They incorporate so many techniques...
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December/January 2023/24 - Vol. 37, No. 4.
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In This Issue
Compression Flower Marble by Holly Jenson
My first several marbles were in soft glass because that’s what I was comfortable with, but I transitioned to borosilicate because I learned it was much more forgiving. After well over 1,000 marbles, I was finally happy with how they looked and thought they might be good enough to sell.
As nervous as it made me, I did my first auction about a year and a half ago on Facebook’s Black Market Marble page and since then, several of my marbles have found their way into the marble-hunting community, as well as some private marble collections. I have also sold several through my own FB page, Arctic Glassworks.
I’ve never thought of myself as creative, and I thought it would be impossible to make something that was my own since everything was already being done so well by other glass artists. What I’ve learned is that if you find something you love to make and you keep at it, eventually your own style will come through...
I have a long-standing obsession with octopuses — their great intelligence, extraordinary physiology, and fluidity of movement. This fluidity makes them a joy to make in glass.
This tutorial needs only two glass colors (three, if including the black for the eyes, but the reactive Reichenbach glass gives an attractive color variation)
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Ladybug by Donald Good
I’ve been a glass artist for more than 20 years, but I still remember what it was like to be a beginner. Working with glass the first time can be a bit intimidating. Most of my students are beginners and when they step into my shop, it is the first time they are picking up raw glass. The first lesson I teach them is the Ladybug. It is technical, yet easy enough for a beginner to handle. “Spin, spin, spin” is so often repeated in my classes that I had a T-shirt made with that on it. The ladybug is a very important part of Armada Glass Company...
My torch time is my peaceful time. If I’m lucky, I get to spend about once a week on my torch. I have a dedicated little space in the back corner of the garage that is all mine.
I’ve had the opportunity to see some amazing glass artist demos, but have not taken many in-person classes. I have benefited from artists who could not travel the past few years and provided online video classes, which I hope they continue to do, as well as teach in person. I sell my creations as a drop-in vendor at our local farmers market. I dabble online as well, but prefer to spend my spare time watching videos or torching, as opposed to social media marketing and the work it takes to keep an online store up and running.
When seeking inspiration, I like to look for clip art and coloring books online. This page of birds was the inspiration for my penguin that has become my mascot and logo (image a). The color options are endless — you only need to look outside at the birds in your area or grab a bird-watching reference book...
I’m a glass artist living in Southern Oregon, where I was born and raised. I’ve had a passion for and loved glass as long as I can remember. Ever since I was young, I knew that I wanted to be a glassblower. In 2014, when I was 20, I began my journey into the glass world, and I never looked back. Glass is my job, hobby, life, and passion...
After finishing my apprenticeship and journeyman experience in the Evil Eye Bead Workshop at the Istanbul Paşabahçe Şişecam factory, which was established in 1935, I developed my skills and mastery level in Turkey’s first glass school, the Glass Quarry Foundation. My glass journey continued in my personal workshop. I also made presentations and glass art show projects about the days of the presidency of the republic of Turkey.
I am currently doing special design work for boutique shops in Istanbul. I live in the neighborhood of the Istanbul Paşabahçe factory —the glass city of Turkey...
Creating a Flower Implosion by Tomomi Handa
I create my work based on my sensibilities and interests — I am interested in flowers and animals. I continue to put my heart into creating works that bring everyone joy. This flower implosion is an example of that kind of glass artwork...
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October/November 2023 - Vol. 37, No. 3.
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In This Issue
Blown Sea Shell with Murano Glass by Vahide Kaya
My interest in glass art started while I was studying traditional handicrafts at university. I went to a hot glass festival in my city and was immediately fascinated by the art. Later, I was tempted by the glass artists I followed and the glass department at Anadolu University’s department of fine arts, and I decided to change departments. Then I was accepted to the first and only glass-focused department in Türkiye (Turkey). I studied glass art for four years and specialized in flameworking and hot-glass blowing. After graduation, I started working as an instructor and workshop manager at the Glass Furnace. I worked there for about five and a half years. With the Covid pandemic, I continued my career by establishing my own studio.
I made a live demo show of this lesson at the last International Denizli glass biennial and received great feedback. I hope you will also benefit from this tutorial, and enjoy trying it ...
In the early stages, I primarily used the technique of silver and gold fuming, often creating implosion pendants or marbles. Then, in 2020, I began exploring line work, enjoying the sensation of painting on glass. Since then, I have focused on studying reticello and fillacello. After years of practice, I have developed a certain level of technical proficiency. Combining my passion for glass and pursuit of creativity, I do not limit myself to specific types of artwork — in addition to pendants and marbles, I also create pipes, glass pens, and sculpture works. In the future, I plan to further expand my skills by creating goblets.
A fillacello pendant can be made with any number of lines and any size of tubing. I use 16 mm–32 mm glass tubes for pendant, depending on the design. For the thickness of the glass tube, I only use the medium wall for making pendants because it is very easy for the thin wall to deform during line drawing and the heavy wall is too clear so the finished product will become too thick ...
Around a decade ago, I was introduced to the world of borosilicate glass. I moved out of my house and went on the road. The first campground I stopped at was also a music venue and was where I came across glassblowers. I spent six months watching them work every night until one day, Phillip Moon invited me to try it myself. I sat down at the torch next to him and I have been hooked ever since.
For the next two years, I made scrap marbles and mushroom pendants, and began to learn the vortex technique. However, life got in the way and I had to move back into a house to raise my two young girls. Nearly eight years later, I hit the road again and gave myself a year to think about what I wanted to do.
I had almost forgotten about my glassblowing knowledge when I saw Phillip streaming his work on Twitch. I suggested to my fiancée that she learn how to blow glass with me, and she was excited about joining in. In that first year, I taught her everything I knew while learning how to sculpt and make pipes. With the encouragement of our loved ones, we launched an LLC and began selling our work at shows and fairs. This spring, we became full-time artists and are now exhibiting at fairs, craft shows, farmers’ markets, and the occasional music festival. I love making a variety of things, but marbles are my favorite ...
Michael R. Weaver (aka KOBB) was born in 1985 in the Ottawa valley, Canada’s capital city. From a young age, he began to show signs of interest in the arts, but it wasn’t until shortly after high school that he was introduced to glassblowing while seeking a new channel of artistic expression. He discovered a glass studio in Ottawa run by the glass artist Charlynne LaFontaine and was mesmerized by the way the glass danced around the flame. She was kind enough to teach him the beautiful, magical world that lampworking had to offer and its endless possibilities. At that moment, he knew that’s what he wanted to do.
Over the next few years, he rented torch time at different studios, practicing methods in soft glass lampworking while trying to work a day job and hoping to save enough money to set up his first torch. After setting up his first torch, he was able to work with glass more frequently, which allowed him to understand the medium better. After working with soft glass for many years, he wanted to use bigger torches, do bigger projects, and take bigger challenges. He took to the road and did events showcasing his glass, which helped him grow his passion into a career, finally taking the plunge into working with borosilicate glass full-time. Eventually, his hard work led him to building the shop that he works in now, which helps him support his wife and three kids.
This tutorial demonstrates how to make an 18 mm bong bowl in dichroic glass tubing. Everything in this project is made with borosilicate glass ...
In 2015, I was awarded the title “Glass Artist Affiliated with Turkish Ministry of Culture” by a special commission that evaluated my work. In 2016, I married Deniz Divleli Özdemir, who is a glass-bead artist, and we began working together in a bigger workshop. After we met, I started making glass beads as well as glass marbles. It was a great honor for my wife and I to be demo artists for the International Denizli Glass Biennial of Turkey in 2017 and 2019 along with world-renowned glass artists. Our articles have been published many times in Glass Line and The Flow magazines.
In October 2017, we moved to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. We have built ourselves a new life and a workshop. We organize workshops and courses at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels for people who are eager to learn glass art and create projects such as this blown-glass pendant ...
Over the years, my work has gone in many directions: large-volume production work, goblets/cups, pendants/jewelry, sculptural, lighting projects, and everything in between. The heart of my dedication has been grounded in the American glass pipe movement, with a focus on gold/silver fume work in many forms. Although my work has not been strictly limited to the glass pipe movement and has seen many avenues, the American glass pipe movement has been some of the most exciting work being done, with a large community dedicated to collaboration and advancing borosilicate lampworking techniques ...
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August/September 2023 - Vol. 37, No. 2.
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In This Issue
A Glass Pen by Tsuyoshi Kawaguchi
To create a straight and beautiful pen, it is important to rotate the glass consistently. To this end, I often rotate a stick to strengthen my grip. My dominant hand — the right — moves very well, but my left hand does not, so I am focused on training it.
I sometimes rotate a pen in progress on a bench roller to check its straightness. The nib must be not only beautiful, but also functional. I ensure that the nib groove is deep and the nib convex is rounded to achieve the perfect balance. I also polish the tip of the nib so it is smooth and easy to write with.
I am always striving to improve my skills. I believe that with hard work and dedication, I can create truly beautiful and functional works of art...
I believe that the learning process in glass is never-ending. I do my best to learn something new every day and enjoy sharing what I learn. My husband and I had the great honor to be demo artists for the International Denizli Glass Biennial of Turkey in 2017 and 2019 with world-renowned glass artists. We were invited to and participated in the glass festival held in Wertheim, Germany, in September of last year. We also performed here as a demonstration artist. In May of this year, we gave four-day workshop in Langen, Germany.
Nature inspires me. That is why I love making murrini and reflect 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 attracted to the points for the last two years. I have been making beads and marbles with colored dots and the implosion technique in my new collection, called Cocoon.
I usually make the ladybug murrini in red, but this tutorial is in blue, because red and black glass appear the same color in the flame when heated, so red might not give good results in tutorial photography. For a first try, I recommend working with a blue or similar glass. For the red ladybug, it is sufficient to use red glass instead of blue. Other steps are exactly the same...
For over 10 years, I have been working with soft glass, creating lampwork beads, pulling canes and murrinis, glassblowing with a pipe, and being passionate about creating glass dip pen, which I can use to apply many techniques I have developed.
This sea urchin figure is made with soda-lime (COE 104) glass. The technique can be adapted to different kinds of glass...
You never know where your glass art will take you. For me, it was the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington, D.C., where I was chosen the sole artist to represent the state of Tennessee (I was asked to make 26 glass ornaments for the Tennessee tree). I also made three glass ornaments for the Tennessee governor’s mansion in Nashville as part of a special event called Tennessee Home for the Holidays; was an invited artist who sold work and did public demonstrations for eight years at Dollywood during their Harvest Festivals; and last but definitely not least, installed the Beads of Courage Program at Chattanooga’s T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital.
Recently, I was asked to make several wearable blown-glass vessels and vessel-shaped earrings for the Houston Museum of Decorative Arts (www.thehoustonmuseum.org) that captured the spirit of the museum’s huge and rare collection of glass vessels.
Here’s how I make a blown-glass vessel and turn it into a “pitcher” ...
I delved into the history of glass, and ancient glass art. I discovered that many ancient glass artifacts that have survived in good condition were beads, which were used as currency in many regions during ancient times. In fact, glass beads were more precious than gold in ancient Egypt. I also came across a statement from the president of a famous glass bead-maker in Japan, “As long as women exist, glass beads won’t go away.”
Now, in 2023, I have returned to the torch with a renewed passion. Armed with this knowledge and inspiration, I have embarked on creating mini-beads with unique designs and borosilicate glass techniques. This is the process of creating inside-out reversed switchback mini-beads using borosilicate glass. Lamp-working or flame-working is the technique used to melt and shape the glass to create these beads.
Here is a step-by-step breakdown of the process...
Throughout college and well into my working career as a full-time nurse, I’ve always hustled in making glass beads and jewelry, selling them on eBay (yes, I’m that old), as well as at art shows across the country. My lampwork bead designs reflect my style of finished jewelry, which I have in mind when I decide on a glass bead design.
This brings us back full circle to that first bead store; during my early years as a jewelry maker on campus, I discovered a young girl who was selling her lost wax casting designs. That girl is Cynthia Thornton of Green Girl Studios. She makes pendants and beads, and I’ve incorporated these into many of my finished pieces over the years. It was at that time that I made my very first glass bird. I paired the bird with Cynthia’s feather pendant on a charm necklace design and I have been making these in different variations ever since. These birds still make all my customers smile, and they are very fun to make and sell...
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June/July 2023 - Vol. 37, No. 1.
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In This Issue
Larger focal beads are one of my favorite styles of beads to make. I love the randomness — no two beads ever look exactly alike. Often you end up with a theme for style or the same colors, but each bead is unique.
Adding bead rollers was one way to improve the balance of the bead. Adding random elements or layers can mean ending up with less glass on one side of the bead. The roller is a visual aid to see where to add more glass to even it out. The bead will press more evenly, allowing for consistent sizing.
Making this bead uses some techniques from Hillary Lawson (Soleil Beads). Many artists do not like to “copy” other artists, but it can help to use their techniques to learn first and then make them your own.
This bead has iridescent silver glass, silver foil, gold aventurine, and gold mica elements. It can be flattened or left it as a bicone. Some beads with many layers show more dimension, leaving them round or in a bicone shape ...
The challenges of working glass have taught me and continue to teach me patience, humility, and perseverance. Glass has brought so many positive new aspects to my life that I desperately needed. This medium has brought me into a community of great like-minded individuals who have been some of the most genuine people that I am grateful and proud to call my friends today.
Never in my life have I put in so many hours and worked this hard — and felt so good about what I was doing.
Reticello means “a small net” in Italian. Reticello is a type of blown glass made with organized canes in a criss-cross pattern, originally stemming from Venetian glassworkers. Lino Tagliapietra, one of my favorite Venetian artists, uses this technique often. I have always been attracted by the elegance a reticello adds to a piece. Many lines crossing in an even symmetric pattern have always been appealing to my eye ...
This full-size dragon has 14 pieces. I usually make all the pieces first and remake any that are not to my liking. At the end, I connect all the pieces using as many support bridges as needed; heat the pieces to 1,050º Fahrenheit to connect them; and connect them one by one.
Try to be happy and concentrate to get a really nice piece. Glassblowing can make you feel stressed when the glass breaks, but don’t get angry. This is a sign that there is something to improve. The best advice is to love what you are doing ...
We were entered into a drawing for a torch for attending, and my mother’s name was called. She graciously told everyone that the torch was going to be for me. Now that I had a torch, there was no reason I should not focus on making glass a part of my daily life again. I gave myself a deadline to have a studio setup in my garage by Christmas 2022 and was able to get it done by that year’s Thanksgiving.
There are some unique struggles due to my location, such as no local shops for supplies and extremely expensive shipping costs, but working on the torch has become a daily moment of peace for me. I still make functional glass but have shifted my focus to making glass art.
I have only been back on a torch consistently for about five months. I am still learning every day. I am so very thankful for all the people who have helped me get to where I am now. Currently, I find the most pleasure in making floral compression marbles ...
I have been working with glass for four years. I always have been infatuated with glass culture — I was a big collector before I started to work with this medium myself. When I lived out in California, I met a glass artist who let me come to the studio and watch them work.
Watching someone make glass ignited the flame in me, and I decided I wanted to make it instead of collect it. I saved up for a couple years to buy some equipment and took some classes locally to learn how to make basic pendants. From there, I went to a glass summer camp where I met a bunch of cool people who were more than willing to show me what I wanted to know.
While my favorite things to make at the moment are turtles, flower marbles, and flower pendants, I also like making this fumed hammer ...
I was born in Brasília, Brazil, where I live with my wife Andreia. My glassmaking adventures started in 2019. Initially, I looked for borosilicate lampwork classes in Brazil, but only a few ateliers are dedicated to teaching this art.
I sought information on the internet (YouTube), in books, and in other publications, such as Contemporary Lampworking: A Practical Guide to Shaping Glass in the Flame by Bandhu Duhan, as well as in tutorials from Glass Line magazine, among other technical works on the subject. When I became more comfortable with handling glass with a blowtorch, I took a course with the artist Ryan Chrispim of Gecko Glass in São Paulo, Brazil, to solve some challenges in manipulating hot glass, especially with tubes.
I don’t consider myself a glasswork artist, but I still manage to get interesting results as I learn new techniques. I have also ventured into creating my borosilicate glass colors, following the teachings available in specialized literature and videos by glasswork artist Suellen Fowler.
This article shows how to make a spoon pipe using the blowout technique ...
Today, five years later, I find myself expressing the importance of Mother Nature through my artwork. I feel that wildlife and nature is something that everyone can connect with. Some of my favorite parts of the natural world to create are mushrooms, rainbows, rain clouds, moons, nature scenes, galaxies, the human anatomy, and insects. I incorporate Gilson Opal into almost all of my pieces — the rainbow spectrum of refraction that Gilson Opals offer can catch almost any potential customer’s eye, especially those who are just being introduced to the art of glass.
My work consists mostly of solid pieces using rod techniques such as compression, encasing, sculpting, and sandblasting.
One of my most meaningful pieces is the butterfly. The butterfly is a key to the natural environment — much like the honeybee, butterflies are one of our top pollinators that keep crops flourishing. The butterfly also has an important role in Indigenous Native American culture — represents transformation, metamorphosis, beauty, balance, and grace. This tutorial features an array of techniques that I use to sculpt one of my favorite pieces: the Purple Swallowtail Butterfly in pendant form ...
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April/May, 2023 - Vol. 36, No. 6.
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