As I was searching for some images to support a previous blog idea I was going to write about - I was aware of how my glass designs have slowly gone through a metamorphosis over the past few years. You just see the finished product of my time at the torch, and I thought it might be fun to share some of the thought and inspiration that helped them come to be.
This design for a wafer thin bead that gently droops down came about in a design banter session with a friend of mine who is an architect - we were what-iffing and through his urging and my delivery of solutions the 'Freefall' bead was born, of course in skydiving lingo - two may be called Tandem... and so. What I liked most about the tandem is that with light not only do you have the two separate colors - but when light passes through, it created a new color by the subtle mixing.
Taking the Freefall bead to another realm, was to take advantage of its delicate shape and implied volume... so a very organic flowing necklace could be given a presence with very little weight.
The cabochon shown below is actually encased in clear - just so if there is some issue with silver polish - the gorgeous patina of the silvered glass won't be lost. This raking technique allowed the silvered glass to combine with the more organic silvered ivory to create a wonderful mix. I will often fall into an abyss when I hit on a new look - and make nothing other than that in every which way possible until I move on to something else.
Below are a pair of borosilicate spirals... I think at times I was put on this earth to force glass to do what it likes least! Slow spiraling of a stringer of boro will eventually *hopefully* yield these disks. Coming up with what to do with them was the next hurdle. LOL
Again - glass struggles - being what they are - always want to be round from surface tension and gravity. I love the tile shape and when in the mood can make set after set of these hand shaped beads. The thinness allows the light to penetrate much more easily and "allow" the color. Some of my very favorites!
The original Portal bead was round and had viewing portals or clear lenses that allowed me to direct and limit the view. If something of beauty is taken in all at once, do you slow to savor it as you should?
Here I could limit the view - through etching the field of glass while masking the raised lenses. I like playful in my pieces and feel that they should not just lay there.
About a decade ago - my Sacramento friend Jiley Romney gave me a baggie of borosilicate glass shorts, saying they were her favorites and that it may jumpstart my venture into playing with this mystical glass. It took me YEARS to finally go there - but what I discovered was that because it had a different COE - it flowed differently and allowed me more time to manipulate the glass OUT of the flame without bursting into a million of little shards. I also love the etherial feel to some of the glass colors - and while I am surprised, I even enjoy sometimes NOT knowing what the eventual color of the glass will be UNTIL it comes out of the kiln the next morning! The toggle on the left is a bead - meaning there is a hole through the middle... but it's unconventional in the fact it was a two day process - and the rings move freely on the spindle - while having ends that are melted firmly in place.
While I don't work with dichroic glass much, I love the effect - and so - go there every so often. This was the precursor to the Portal bead - pretty - but somewhat ordinary.
I think it's important to always be moving forward and at times find it frustrating waiting for the next new thing... hope you will be patient - knowing it's on the horizon!
smiles, Jill
