Steve and I went to Open Torch Time at the glass school on Thursday and we got the new beads in the mail today. We’re getting closer to having our torch area set up so then we’ll be able to work right in our basement.
Tag: Jewelry
Our first beads
We got our first beads in the mail today! I can’t remember which are Steve’s and which are mine, so I’ll have to ask him when he gets home. Our instructor, Starleen, also sent the beads she made in class, but I don’t think any of those are in this bunch.
The thing about making my own lampwork is it’s like making candy – I want to keep it all!
Spring Cleaning
In changing over to my laptop from my desktop computer, I am also forcing myself to tackle the piles of paper that were surrounding my monitor so I can dust my desk surface. I can actually make out geologic layers, and I estimate that the core (desk surface) last saw daylight in October. My file-pile on top of the file cabinet is waiting to be put away, as well as the permanent contents of a stack of file shelves, which I understand are meant to be empty at least some of the time.
People ask me what I do all day now that Christmas is over and Spring has not yet sprung. Special orders. Teaching. Projects. Dusting. Paperwork. Lunching. Organizing. Bettering. Purchasing supplies. Reading magazines & catalogs. Looking at all those websites that I bookmarked in the fall when didn’t have time to look. Getting my lampworking studio set up. Absorbing the vast amount of knowledge on the WetCanvas glass art forum. Moving files from one computer to the other while learning all at once to use a laptop keyboard, Windows XP, and Office 2003. Previously I was well-aquainted with Windows 98 and Office 97, but I realize that change is good and useful, so now I’m retraining myself. One thing I already miss about my old keyboard is the number pad over to the right. I could enter my credit card number in about 3 seconds without looking (not always a good thing), but now I either have to hunt & peck with the numbers at the top of my laptop keyboard or the alternate-function keys where the numbers share buttons with the letters and are therefore staggered from row to row.
Talk about rambling… I’m going to stop now and tackle the impending avalanche on top of the file cabinet.
Unplugged
I’m typing on my new laptop, unplugged except for a power cord. Yay! Do I sound any different?
One of my goals is to make certain designs fuller and more embellished, but sometimes I just get bored with a piece and end early. In that case I can usually pick up that piece at a later date and work on it some more with renewed interest. Last night in between Super Bowl commercials, I decided to fill out my red charm bracelet by adding more dangles (compare to photo from Jan. 31).
Love is in the air…
I usually don’t get excited about holidays like Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Halloween, but I a couple of fine silver heart charms and my red & pink “bead soup” were the inspiration for this charm bracelet. Bead soup is the remnants of strands of beads, which I separate by color family for projects like this. It’s hard to tell, but the one on the left is a patchwork design, so each square has a different pattern. If you want to learn how to make a bracelet like this, feel free to sign up for this class at Sparkles.
Stringers & plunging & mandrels… Oh my!
Yesterday Steve and I had our first lampworking class at Carlisle School of Glass Art in Millville, NJ. Their facility is large and well-equipped and I highly recommend CSGA if you’re interested in melting some glass. Our instructor, Starleen, was so patient and very good at explaining how to do different things. My only complaint is that our beads have to be annealed and didn’t get to come home with us, but we did get to keep some of Starleen’s beauties like this big honkin’ bubble bead. I’ll post pictures of our beads when they come in the mail. Steve did really great and I’m still stoked that he wants to lampwork with me.
We purposefully didn’t buy any equipment before the class, so now we begin studio set-up. We need good ventilation because of the fumes that are produced in melting glass in a torch flame, so I’m looking into vent hoods as the fan-in-the-window may not be enough. Being that we’re not planning to be in this house forever, I’m trying to keep the setup as portable as possible, so I’ll probably get a pre-fab workbench. I ordered the Carlisle Mini CC torch, and now we need to get propane tanks and an oxygen concentrator and figure out where to store them safely. We also get to shop for glass rods and fun tools now. So, even though we took a class on Saturday and don’t stink at it, I realize it may be a while until we’re making glass beads at home. Trying to be patient…
I think I’m in love
…with melting glass. My friend Claire has a hothead torch, so today we made some glass beads. I wanted to see what lampwork was like before Steve and I have our class on Saturday. The photo is of my first bead. It hasn’t been kiln annealed yet, so I wanted to get a photo in case it breaks from thermal shock like my second bead did.
Brimming with beads
Despite the rainy weather I had a great trip to New York yesterday. A couple of my bead pals went along and I think I wore them out. They did spring for cabs, which was luxurious. We ate lunch at Grand Central Station, which is a great spot to grab a bite to eat and test the Whispering Gallery. I found all kinds of fun beads for spring & summer and restocked a few of my fall favorites like “Tibetan agate” (pictured). And I’m a firm believer that one can never have enough freshwater pearls, especially when the price is right. Our final stop was to support the Penn Station Krispy Kreme, as we are mourning the loss of our local Krispy Kreme stores. 🙂