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.

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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

7.30.2014 - ISGB membership & the reasons...

Bear with me, as this is a convoluted means to an end...

Back in 2004, I fell in love with my new golden retriever, Sam.  He was a pup from an unknown KY backyard litter - he was awesome, then quickly he wasn't.  He ended up with two blown knees,  two expensive TPLO surgeries & eventually bone cancer - and we lost him before he was 9.

So...

When it came to getting another golden, (enter Charlie) I bought one from a reputable breeder - what I learned there was amazing.  Debra Keen, of Brio Goldens shared her vast knowledge about the breed, & how the intent of breeders is to maintain the integrity of the line.  Breeding the best with only the best (hopefully) only helps to strengthen the line and keep hip, cancer, elbow, eyes, heart etc. issues to a minimum.

So - yes - here's my point.

Yesterday I was reading the ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers)  page/forum on FB - where Libby Leuchtman was talking about the importance of supporting the ISGB.  I, for many reasons, agree.  I have been making beads for over 16 years and learned in, what was essentially, a vacuum.  How would my experience have been different if I'd had people to bounce things off?

There was one post from a woman who questioned the $65 membership fee - why it was so important to join - going on to say how she was struggling to have money for glass, let alone this additional fee.  Within minutes there was an incredible outpouring of reasons supporting membership AND many, MANY offers to send her supplies!  What an incredible outpouring of support! I was totally floored.  This is more the norm than the exception... how cool is that?

I can tell you that over the years I've gone to the forum on the official ISGB site to look up technical questions, find resources, teachers & answers.  So - much like the breeder - the goal of this professional organization is to educate and promote this craft.  To help glass artists produce art that is in the upper echelons when it comes to quality.  It's very easy for this to be an incredibly solitary sport... and it's just so much nicer to have peers to encourage a direction or answer a nagging question.    



 

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! : )

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7.23.2014 - What if?

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I've always said that lampworkers all cook with the same ingredients, but have different recipes.
I became inspired to make cabochons a few months back when fellow lampworker Stacy Hilton Glaze fell hopelessly into the cab abyss. 


Back in 2004 I took a silversmithing class - and set my first few cabs... they are tiny.  


The challenge for me involves working in a totally different way - as instead of wrapping around a bead, it's rotated 90 degrees - and the design is built on the end.  Your work faces you - straight on!  Just imagine how much heat a red hot disk 1 1/2"dia can give off.  


After a few years of making cabs at the end of glass rods, nipping them off, then grinding them - I bought some cabochon mandrels from Zooziis - as it seemed easier to get uniformly larger cabs - and it IS.

My work is evolving, and it's fun to see which of my favorite designs can easily translate to this form of 'bead'... just know that I am having fun!  (yes, we crested 100 degrees here yesterday!)

smiles,
Jill

7.16.2014 - The Tesla Project & glassy friends

A few weeks back I saw that there was an event called the Tesla Project at an east side studio... so we loaded into the car one Saturday and went.  The cars on display were privately owned and were fun to look at but not touch.  Also there were artist studios, FUN... we went in and out of several - then I spotted her - Karen Woodward - a fellow glassie that  I'd met about 10 years ago in Missouri!  We had crossed paths here about 3 or 4 years ago as well... but this was cool.

Glassdaddy  & Karen Woodward

Karen lives rather close by, and has stopped in to buy glass from Glassdaddy - so this was cool us both being there to say hello to her.  I LOVE what she does with glass - I mean, how much emotion can you pack into a little lump of glass?

 

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Karen has a way with whimsical.  She sculpts.

​She.is.COOL.

I also admire sculpture, and the amazing use of bright eye-popping color!  Who knows where this type of inspiration will lead me... but at least you now know who to "blame"!

smiles,
Jill

7.9.2014 - Montage

Close up Peek of where I've been... wonder where I'm going??

7.2.2014 - Late night purchase on Facebook....

I was burning the midnight oil late one night on Facebook, when up popped a post telling of an oxygen generator for sale.  I jumped on it, and after a few quick notes back & forth - it was mine.  I had figured I could ask a good friend of mine to intercept it in a nearby (Arizona) town and bring it with them on their return trip to TX.  Things worked out differently than I'd hoped and I found myself planning a cross country trip with my son.  We left last Friday and made it to the Phoenix area AND back by Monday.

It was an amazing time shared with my youngest son - who had just learned to drive a stick shift...  A bit mind numbing - zipping along at 75mph on I10.  It allowed us to see a big part of the country we'd never before seen... and gave me time to impart some of those stored 'pearls of wisdom'.  This photo was taken at a rest stop area called Texas Canyon - where there were these amazing rocks HUGE teetering rocks. 

I went to pick up an oxygen generator, and that we did.  It filled the car and was crazy cargo to be hauling while going onto a military base in El Paso... don't you think this would cause some raised eyebrows by security at the gate??? They didn't bat an eye... 

Needless to say, the installation and learning curve that will follow are next to come - and I look forward to the extra boost it will allow my torch!  Staying put for a good while... over 2k miles driven is quite enough!!! smiles, Jill

PS - update tonight at 9pm EST

6.254.2014 - Not Glass Related...

The other morning I quietly laughed as I looked at my coffee table... normally there are beads and catalogs... but it was strewn with instruction manuals for tools.  A reciprocating saw, and a trimmer... and it was nice. I love tools... but I don't like having to buy them to get my life back in order.

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Almost two weeks ago parts of Austin were hit with the scariest storm I've ever experienced.  (next day reports were of 70-90mph winds) Terrifying doesn't even begin to describe the terror I felt as I stood in the living room, watching my beautiful oak tree sway like it were a weeping willow - not an OAK!  
I took this photo with my iPhone at 11:30PM by a lightning strike - nearly two hours into the storm - which shows the beginning of the many downed fence panels and the loss of the center portion of my oak.  The past days have been full of hard work digging out huge chunks of concrete as many fencing panel posts simply snapped at their bases!  We rebuilt a good 70' of fencing solely on my property and repaired the common panels of adjacent neighbors.  Sheesh... makes one feel really small....

...and incredibly lucky.

6.18.2014 - Kingpins

this gang of beefy focals marching down the center of the street...

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6.18.2014 - Routine or renegade?

"If you always do what you've always done - you'll always get what you've always gotten"

I view myself as a pretty solid person - face value and steady.   I make steady progress in a predictable sort of way.  You visit here perhaps weekly on Wednesdays and see I've made some small steps forward as once I find a new technique I have to try everything possible to find what it's best suited for.

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Perhaps discovering a new look or technique (or having received new colors of glass) I am launched forward into a world of "what if?".  Do I need to step way out of the box?

What if the stringer were thinner, what if the encasing were thicker, what if the color were lighter/darker, how does the light permeate the glass, does a lack of surface decoration draw you closer to the beauty of the glass color?  I'm always looking for the beam of light that shows me the way to the next wonderful discovery, but at times am impatient!  

I LOVE the silvered glass I've been playing with now for quite awhile, and would be somewhat content to keep making the same until every woman on Earth were wearing a pair of my carved silvered glass earrings I've not fulfilled the need. LOL  But seriously...

This was the previous version of carved beads, I called it glass-braiding, same technique - different end result.  Still very cool.

I'm looking for the next inspirational item that helps launch me forward towards something new to showcase.  Maybe next week?

If you've recently joined my mailing list - and want to see more of my work from earlier times - one place is http://jillsymons.blogspot.com.

smiles, 
Jill

6.11.2014 - Finding balance, finished items or raw materials?

I've been making lampwork beads for right at sixteen years.  At times that totally dumbfounds me, and yet my enthusiasm and ideas never wane.  When I first started I found it very hard to imagine what to do with the beads, how to make them into finished pieces.  I also was mystified as how to pricing my work.

I sold on eBay for eight years, then decided to launch my own website and handle sales personally.  I've been back and forth with making finished pieces versus offering raw materials... but bottom line - I am a maker of lampwork beads - that's where the joy is for me.

But it's still very hard four me to keep my hands off of the earring pairs - as it seems to fill a need to make completed items.  Next week I will be adding a collection page that features solely earrings! 

Back in 2004-5 I took a silversmithing course and found a passion for making my own findings, then later on maybe in 2011 there were silver bracelets and bangles, earrings etc.  but I began to feel distance from my glass passion.  How to combine the two without stealing the thunder from the glass?

Components... To this day I make all my own headpins, ear wires, focal headpins and clasps.  It gives my work a touch of personal uniqueness and fills the need to dabble hammer and melt silver.  If you're one of my customers who isn't savvy on assembly - and would like me to - I can give you a price for finished pieces as well! 

6.4.2014 - Sue's Necklace

I'm borrowing Sue's necklace for a bit to talk about control.  No, not self control, but heat.

I have dabbled in borosilicate (aka Boro) going on about 5 years.  Not seriously for most of it, as my torch couldn't melt it with gusto... but, that's OK, as I've never really EVER been a big bead kinda gal.  

I started slowly.  Winding the glass in pre-pulled stringers of clear boro - I think they were 3mm, maybe 2?  I'd feed them through the flame, and catch them on the mandrel as they came out the other side.  S L O W L Y... it made for very precise and beautifully uniform beads.  Then I stepped out of my comfort zone and started using a gorgeous boro glass called Blue Moon.

Working from the standard size rod (diameter of around maybe (8-9mm) I'd feed and pull to the smaller diameter as I went - watching as the color struck and the bead diameter grew.  I love this look, and toyed for quite awhile trying to figure out how to showcase the sides of a bead - and not the visible edge you would see if strung conventionally right through the hole.  This is what came about.  I am thrilled.  There is no hardware to tarnish, and not cold metal - heck, no sensitivity to allergies even!  I remember selling it with the added bonus that one could even put it through the dishwasher, although I secretly hope one doesn't.

I absolutely love what I do, I'm going on 16 1/2 years now and I confess to gleefully skipping to my torch sessions as if it were perhaps a newly acquired love.....   smiles, Jill