Every now and then - I am smitten by the toggle bug. Since it's a multi day/step product - often I have a day of making just rings - then time is spent pairing them up - and then comes the final torch day... yesterday was just that!
These are little sculptures that have movement - and color - plus a sweet clink sound as the rings tap each other. There is a bead hole through the main part of the spindle, and can be worn - I see these as more of a collectors' piece.
I had two kilns going at once, and this made things much easier - as one held soft glass beads and the other had the borosilicate components for these toggles. There is always a ramp up *in my psyching myself up* to get 'em done... and finally by day's end - I was there. Happily pleasing results!! smiles, Jill
8.20.2014 - Making it your own
We all start somewhere.
Like dry sponges, we soak up everything that's put before us. We wrestle with techniques and diligently practice, practice, practice.
Starting anything is a journey where we are inspired by someone or something. We emulate someone while learning the basics... while the world watches.
Back in late 1998 I saw lampwork beads on eBay that piqued my curiosity. I searched online for resources about lampworking. I eventually ended up on Sundance's site - making lists of what I'd need to get started.
“...because you’ve been so diligent and read so thoroughly, we are offering a beginner’s set - free...”
After devouring Sundance's site - I found a hidden reward link they'd posted that went something like this:
I ordered the kit and was soon on my way. It consisted of a small fiber blanket, release, mandrels and a few shorts of glass. I added a plumbers' torch from the local hardware and I was on my way. The oxygen deprived flame scorched and muddied most of the opaque colors - but even so, I knew I was hooked! I kept a blog for awhile where I posted images of my work's progression... take a look here: JillSymons.blogspot.com
I also found an article in an early issue of Bead and Button magazine (circa 1996) that interviewed Andrea Guarino (Slemmons) (Please forgive my memory - as I can't find that issue anymore - but loosely - this is what it said to me.) I strongly agree with what was said, that while we all need to start somewhere - copying is ok, but it's always good manners to credit your teacher/source.
It went on to say that when you master a technique, move on and modify it to make a design that's your own. In other words - Find Your Own Voice, this helps to define who you are as an artist. While coming up with a design that is your own is great - it's usually not very long before people are copying it *in some form or another*... so - always be moving forward on to new things AND if you're still making that signature bead , you'd better make sure that YOU are the one who still does it best!
My Weekly Wednesday Update each week has helped me always move my designs forward. This is paramount in my work, as people come here looking for things that delight, new things each week, or they don't come back.
I think many factors go into the making of an artist - these are just some of the things that shaped me into who I am and how I think... what and/or whom inspired you?
Smiles, Jill
8.6.2014 - It's all about choices... (I have an idea!!)
Each morning - we paint the way our day will eventually unfold. Whether it's the care we take with our appearance, the colors we select to wear OR even the music we absorb during the course of our day.
There are times - such as today - when I ditched the idea of wearing black and opted for a wonderful fuchsia linen top, I feel ALIVE in color - even if it's just to put together tonight's Weekly Wednesday Update (I never get to actually leave the house on Wednesdays!) but I choose to feel good - I get to set the stage to encourage this emotional lift.
I listen to music or talk radio each day and recognize the influence that my audio choices have on my work. I absorb what I listen to in my environment and often see it 'float' to the surface of my work. Change the music and see a different style bead!!
I just joined Spotify recently - and love the endless selection of music. It's easy to compile playlists AND share them. I am planning to put together some playlists of music that I love to listen to while I torch, and IF I'm not mistaken, they can be easily shared! So - stay tuned and I'll let you know when I've got one (or more) for you!
These were made during the Presidential election - I was deep in concentration, listening to the news. I find that this fine stringer work (on 1/2"d beads) is relaxing as well as mindless after awhile - that day I filled the kiln to capacity!
This style of bead came about when the US invaded Afghanistan in search of Osama Bin Laden. I was so creeped out upon realizing this - I remember quickly shutting down work for the day.
The emergence of these Urban Chic Tile sets usually indicate a sense of personal joy or mark a shift of season, or just my listening to acoustic music. Transparent glass usually dominates my work in the Spring, as I think its weightless appearance is especially appealing after a long dreary winter.
So, whether it's intentional or not - we do wear our emotions and are influenced easily by outside forces... what do you see in your work, can you remember if significant events appeared in some way in what you produced?
smiles,
Jill
7.25.2014 - Progression of an idea...
I have always enjoyed making raked/feathered beads and felt a distinct tug this morning in that direction. I'd been reading about what has caused Terra 2 to be unlike the original Terra... so - set out to make a focal to see if I could get it to strike in all those wonderful ways.
I realized that I don't like the results from my experiment - as the green just has tinges of plummy/purples at the ends... but what I did like was the "fluke" design - its crispness... and although somewhat organic, the encasing makes it too dressy. IMHO
Next try is 'ditch' the Terra 2 - go for more drama... DH Psyche... While my results of late seem all over the place with this color - I am liking the "Kronos/Picasso blue/green OPAQUE color" I'm getting, and know if I hit it with a nice reducing flame - I can get some metallic effects. YES!
So then we're off to the races... hmmm - how does one make a directional rake on a round cab. I am taking the liberty of assuming that this will be set with this direction in mind. I've raked up and down - while they do look like whale flukes, I now remember a focal I'd previously made - called Sea Grasses (yes, Louise - yours) - that had a similar look. BUT.THIS.IS.A.CABOCHON. (so it's ok).
This is the final result - *below* - I love it - and proceed to make two more! : )
4.23.2014 - Spirals & Stringers
I got to thinking about the wound spirals I make, and thought oh - it's because I use boro stringers - that all have a nice consistent diameter. Well, that's true for the clear - but the colored ones are made from rods - I like to pull from 7-8mm dia. rods. As I pull the stringer, it's spiraled up on the other side of the torch. Feed boro in from the front of the torch - mandrel in back, catching the stringer and winding it up. Does that makes sense to you?
That got me to thinking about how new lampworkers are taught to pull stringers. I've heard about heating a rod in the middle and pulling out each end with the stringer in the middle. Or puntying on with a stainless steel chopstick. I think Corina was just talking about how not to use tweezers, because the stringer retains the tweezer shape for a couple of inches in initial pull stages - and how that can get to be expen$ive if it's silvered glass your'e tossing away!
When I need a length of stringer, I pull using needle nose pliers...
I fix my eyes about 1 1/2" to the right of the flame. I slowly feed a thick rod from the left and pull to the right... always watching that same check spot 1 " to the right of the flame. I pull about an inch, then let the glass slightly chill and set the diameter to what I need... once that's been established, I can control the speed at which the glass is fed into the flame from the left and simultaneously control the speed & temperature of the glass I'm pulling from the right.
Do I have a stringer stash? Sheesh... I wish, but cataloging yet another thing is not in my mental makeup. There is a sense of freedom pulling fresh ones each time!
4.2.2014 - just bouncing around.
Lately I've been thinking about the way light enters my beads and releases the colors. It seems that if you have a hard edge or a flat surface, the light spills out of the flat surface and with it comes a concentration of vivid color.
If you have a rounded edge the light gets trapped and is redirected back into the bead.
A round bead has multiple opportunities for bouncing light, adding indentations or raised dots allow the light to bounce in so many different directions - you naturally end up with a lot of sparkle. THEN... I get to thinking about what I can bury deep inside the bead to perhaps catch some more light and bounce it in a different direction! My favorite things to add to glass are copper, silver, palladium and mica.
Although sometimes the simplest things are the most beautiful...
3.9.2014 - my mom's work
It's funny, with a non-traditional career no one ever really took it seriously besides me. That is - until my second son came along. This way of life and my work was all he had ever known, and I often overheard snippets of conversations about why he couldn't have me drive friends on Wednesday evenings - "because my mom has work". Having 'work' and having to work, are two very different things.
While being validated by customers is always fantastic, the same coming from your son is SO important.
I have just crested sixteen years since I melted my first rod of glass and my son is halfway to his eighteenth birthday. I can honestly say that my eagerness to light the torch and let the ideas spill out has never waned. Here's to the next sixteen!