design

Tales from the torch: Nov. 13/07

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Custom orders sample 

This bead is a first try at a custom order.  It’s HUGE – approx. 2.5″ – I like it but the colours aren’t working for me.  I used three different shades of red frit for some colour gradations in the leaves and they all came out looking exactly the same.  WAY annoying.

Sample beads 

These are my test beads from last week.  They may not remain tests for long though, as their remakes were NOT an improvement. dammit.

On the good side that bead on the far right is my first bead to ever come out exactly the way i wanted (better even!) – i love it and it’s MINE. 

Aaah well, back to the torch!

Random thoughts

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Photo:  The Teenager enjoying a boat cruise at a luxury resort (c. 2004)

1. Child-free days off:  Gotta love ’em.  I’m off work today but The Teenager had to go to school.  Significance? I am totally and completely free! I can guiltlessly do whatever i want for the next 8+ hours!!! Plus! no demands, whining, backtalk or moodiness will interfere with my good mood until approx. 430pm today.  Could a dedicated mommy ask for more? 

 2. I often think in glass rod colours: Doesn’t matter where I am, if anything (usually some passerby’s colourful outfit) catches my eye, i’ll start to calculate how i can recreate that design and which colour rods i should use: oooooo… that lovely abstract blouse? Hmmm…i think a clear base, with a Moretti white and Lauscha blue latticino and an assortment of Gaffer pastel frits, perhaps as a focal, in a barrel shape – or should i use a press…?

3. Bad piercings:  On friday’s bus ride home, there was a young woman standing directly in front of me with a lip piercing.  Now normally i don’t have an issue with piercings (some are quite attractive) but this one just looked painful.  It was in the corner of her bottom lip, with the metal weaving three times in and out through her skin.  I kept trying not to stare but really?  i wanted to lean over and ask her:  “Sweetie, would you like me to help you take that out?” 

4. Karaoke madness:  Saturday night I found myself in a cheesy piano bar with some friends enthusiastically belting out Barry Manilow’s Copacabana to a room full of dancing strangers.  Once the adrenalin wore off it occurred to me that a piano player, a mike, a binder full of lyrics and a cheering audience can delude you into thinking (just for  a moment) that you can actually sing.

Tales from the torch: Nov. 8th/07

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This is a quick pic of the results of yesterday’s torch session and the bits and pieces that went into making these two beads.

At the top is my marver with the three types of frit ( tiny glass chips) i used.  (you can ignore the red powder, that’s the enamel i used for this morning’s torch session.)  Then the two little strips of pure 99.9% fine silver foil – that’s what gives the beads their luscious sparkle.

In front are the two rods used for the base glass.   Yup, that light blue rod made that awesome rusty red colour in the back bead as well – cool, huh?  It’s called reducing, which means bringing to the surface the metals used to colour the glass.   This time i did it kinda by accident but I’m gradually learning how to do it on purpose – it’s really quite a neat effect.

Goodbye beautiful!… and THANKS.

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This goddess bead started off simply as an experiment in testing a new colour and a more subtle female shape.  Then, over the past couple days I was introduced to the many different ways her shape can be interpreted – some of them, to be frank, quite traumatizing to my creative ego…

As of today though, my bruised ego has almost fully recovered and I am once again superbly proud of her.  Once I calmed down, I realized it’s actually kinda fun to hear what each person sees in each of my creations.  Sure, it may not be what i intended but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s a bad thing.

Once i really thought about it, I realized I never intended to create anything very literal – my own personal tastes run to art that can be interpreted in many different ways.  This is, however, my first time being on the receiving end of those interpretations.  So shocking yes, but i guess i better get used to it.  And pronto.

I’ve also come to the realization of just how very personal each of my creations have become to me.  With hot glass, even as a relative newb, what i create comes straight from my soul.  When i sit in front of the torch i can start off with the intention of creating something specific but by the time i’m done the result is usually quite different.  Part of it is the inherent lack of limits in hot glass, another part is due to my current level of experience, a significant part is my own personal taste and the final part is… i dunno – i suppose you could call it creative energy?

It’s that indescribable “creative energy” that determines the final look of each of my pieces.  It’s that same creative energy that ensures if you handed 50 lampwork artists the same glass rod, the same frit and sat them in front of the same torch you’d end up with 50 unique items.  And then of course, each piece would be interpreted in 1001 different ways…

Soooo, all this to say this beautiful goddess now represents a major step in my development as a lampwork artist.  I’ve become so very attached to her she’s not leaving my house.  And not just because she developed a crack across her butt.