A blog dedicated to the creativity and the challenges of making and designing with handmade art glass (lampwork) beads.
About This Blog
This blog reflects the thoughts, passions and struggles of a glass bead artist whose day job is manufacturing food safe rubber stamps. I share the joys and challenges of making lampwork glass beads and rubber stamping. ALL images here are copyrighted unless otherwise stated and may not be used without permission!Contact Holly
Several amazing sales venues have popped up on Facebook expressly for artisan lampwork! I always share my current sales on my fan page there. But you can usually find me on any of the following groups:
I haven't posted here in a while and felt I should. My muse, my co-worker, my love is gone. My beloved pup, Mabel Lou, passed away last week. My heart is broken.
She was always at my side as I made beads. Mabel had two beds in the studio, one beside the torch and one in front to the left (no flying hot glass there!) It hasn't felt right to be there - or anywhere - without her!
Add in that one of her favorite restaurants burned to the ground right after she passed...our neighborhood hangout... and it just feels like too much loss!
I took a job teaching grade school as a sub to guarantee I would have an income and yet not be gone til all hours like my work in the film industry. I just wanted to make sure I got my girl to her creek every single day while still keeping a roof over our heads. I hate this job and now, I'm free to look for something else.
But I've been getting calls almost daily...which I'm grateful for. I spent a fortune trying to save Mabel, then have her cremated. And had some car issues this week...all not cheap. Just very happy, I will have a little pay toward bills. And so very happy to not be home much!
In my efforts to avoid home, I'm also taking some glass classes this weekend. Very thrilled to get some skills from a master, see some glassy friends and get away from our 100+ temps!
So that's where I've been and what's going on... Keep me in your prayers if you will. I know some big changes are coming and it's all a bit much to contemplate!
The SoCal Flame Surfers sponsored a Flame Day last Saturday for volunteers to come and make large glass beads for Beads of Courage. Donna Conklin, owner of The Mandrel, provided the space, gas and torches.
Notice all the toys on the table??? They are there for inspiration! We also had pages of coloring books taped on the walls. Kid stuff is great inspiration as the drawings and toys are usually in the simplest form!!
I'm having a really strange week and running behind prepping for class this Thursday. Let's see...this week it's stolen credit cards, a humongous stamp order that requires access to some files I no longer have the software for and and "almost" broken printer which turned out to be a power outage in the shop! And that was just MONDAY!
Thank goodness I can laugh! I actually force laughter breaks sometimes and last night I was enjoying a favorite website that had me laughing so HARD, I thought I was going to pass out! And all night long, everytime I woke up all I had to do was say the key phrase from the funny post which was "Horse Whisperer" and I would get wide awake with laughter! And all this led to a funny dream. I was teaching a cookie bouquet class and I was saying to my student, "You know what would go perfectly with this??" (I was pointing to a cookie in my dream.)
The student looked to me waiting for an answer. And I said, "PANTS!" Like... what do pants and cookies have in common??? So half the time I woke up saying "pants" and laughing and the other times it was "horse whisperer." Either way, I'm in need of some sleep!
Laughter puts me in a great mood and gives me ideas... and I have no time to torch. UGH!
And I don't have time to blog so, I dug through my bead bowl for something interesting and decided to show off the most perfect hollow I've ever made... DON'T LAUGH, ok???!!!
I made this in a Heather Trimlett class at the Mandrel. I LOVE this bead because it is SO perfect... the ends are puckered beautifully, it's perfectly round and hollow... but... How would you know??? It's NOT made of transparent glass. You want to make hollows from transparent to show off their hollowness... and this is black and orange and opaque gray!
I have an excuse. It was the end of the day and I was hot and tired and on total mental overload from all that Heather had inspired. I watched her demo and I sat there... debating going outside to cool off. But Heather walked by and told me to "Make a bead, try the hollow technique!" Feeling lazy and drained, I decided to make one but... the only glass that I had long rods of in front of me were the ones you see.
At the time, I thought, "I don't care about the color... I just want to try Heather's method..." and her method turned out to be the best ever! And so... I'm the very proud owner of one opaque hollow!
With the Kramer Bead I showed off last week, I'm now on my third bead for display! I love wearing big heavy beads so... this is a totally new concept to me.
I know I mentioned artist Michelle Plumb of Pocketsful before...she commissioned my first display bead. Well, she purchased another bead and turned it into a display. Meet Empyrea's Egg:
I know I'm not going to relay the story totally well because, I've never been wired for video games and Michelle takes AMAZING inspiration from them. But here's my screwy version... Empyrea the bird can save the world and keep darkness at bay but she sacrifices her own egg and offspring. In Michelle's version, Empyrea gets to save the world and keep her egg! So cool!!!
Don't you just LOVE nest made of wire???
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What's on your weekend agenda??? I've got a huge order to pull off, still cleaning like a mad woman, lots of hiking and swimming and pup cuddling around here!
But enough with all this spring green! I always need a little pink and purple to boost my spirits! I can always count on the super elegant Lara Lutrick for that! Check this baby out:
If that's not good motivation for some spring jewelry making...nothing is!
I will be back tomorrow with a GIVEAWAY and... maybe a secret sale item ;-)
My saga continues...yada yada yada. But I'm too darn tired to talk about it! Let chat about something FUN!
The Art Bead Scene picked a painting by one of my favorite artists for inspiration on this month's contest! YAY! I haven't been rocking on their choices this year at all! So it felt great to look at the painting and just "see" the bead I wanted to make and then go make it!
HUGE lentil!!
The inspiration painting is Tree of Life by Gustav Klimpt:
Now let's just see if my jewelry making muse shows up in time to meet the contest deadline!
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Just a couple of reminders as we head into the weekend:
The Fire Divas will start voting on the holiday bead challenge any day now, so I hope you will check in over the weekend and vote.
Boy, I don't mean to be a grump fest this week but yes, I have another gripe. I'm partially responsible but I also feel the boutique glass I used is mostly responsible.
First a little background. I'm a firm believer in seeking inspiration ELSEWHERE... i.e. not from other beadmakers. And I was majorly impressed with this set of sheets from Crate and Barrel.
I just knew they would make the perfect bead... and they did!
It was big and fantastic and opaque yet transparent. It was amazing! WAS???? Yes, WAS!
It's full of cracks:
Why? Not because of heat control. No, as I mentioned earlier, the fault lies in the way I make large beads and the fact that I used boutique glass.
A bead this large uses just over a whole rod of glass! And, to save money and not waste pricey glass, I make a smaller core using "trash clear" - the ugly, cheap, not-clear-enough-to-case-with clear. I then reverse case with the pricier stuff. I get the same effect but I don't waste money... generally. With the prices of beads dropping lower every day, it makes sense. Also, I like using a clear core because it holds the heat of a large design well! Softer cores can get limp under that much heat.
But to get that shade of purple... translucent and opaque at the same time... I foolishly chose a boutique glass color. This particular glass (And please, beadmakers... if you out them in your comments, they will be deleted!) is known for it's spotty annealing schedule with temps ranging from 940 - 1070!
That is the very reason I buy so little of the boutique glass. We have a fellow Fire Diva who makes gorgeous stuff with boutique glasses mixed with other 104 glasses. But when I try... I get cracks! Between the higher price and the fact that I feel many of the colors produced by boutique companies are near identical to the Italian glass that has been produced for generations, I just can't justify it.
And as a fickle artist, I often don't know what I'm going to make when I sit down at the torch. How DO you plan for quirky annealing temps?? Make a plan and work from high to low? But how do you keep track of the temps??? A schedule in your shop, over the kiln? I just can't wrap my brain around it.
Save for the fact I love this color purple, I've not invested in much of the stuff... thank goodness. And even this color really gets my dander up... sometimes it's rich and lovely. Other batches I've seen are pale and icky! And I'm expected to pay more for this... something I can't just call up and order. I have to see it to make sure it's the version I love? No thank you!
But all is not lost. I made a matching set of SMALL lentils using only the purple rod...no clear core.
My sister is visiting here for the first time in years. Her birthday is approaching and we will be out seeing the sites. Orders are still shipping but... I won't be blogging for a week or so...
Do you have a friend you are certain you drive them batty??? My glass bud Janel is like that for me... I'm always bugging her about something. She heads up the Fire Divas Marketing committee, is a very active member of that team AND she simply ROCKS the unusual, high-silver glasses that freak me out (cause they are so $pensive!).
Hardly a couple of days goes by before I have something else to ask her!
I immediately thought BEADS. But this is where this story goes awry...
Here is the set I made:
While it's cute, it's a long way from perfect. But as set are a challenge for me, this was a real learning experience. I finally see the use for a tile mold, because the repetition of size / scale would clearly be important. And the flat sides would make the stringer work neater.
But I learned I can take inspiration from something and actually make a set. And I'm most proud of that little dotted bead... That's been a difficult one for me.
So even though, I don't find this "sellable," I learned a lot... and giggled the whole time making them. And that's always a good thing!
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I finally got a ring kit up on my lampwork glass bead website... go check it out! More to come over the weekend... I swear!!! I will also have another eye bead over the weekend!
Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you Monday on the Bead blog.
The other week, I wrote this post about sculptural beads. The post started a chat on Facebook about skills from one art form being useful in another. I agree wholeheartedly.
I never really thought of myself as an artist. I viewed myself as more the crafty type. I could make just about anything I set my mind to. It was rubber stamping of all things that awakened an artist. When I got into stamping... I REALLY got into it. I was taking classes from renown teachers and yes, artists. And I was being exposed to better quality materials with each new project. Suddenly, I was not afraid to go into an art supply store to look around (as opposed to a Michael's).
But I still wouldn't call myself the A word. Not until I was working on a t.v. show...another craft show and it was my job to design many of the projects and do the step outs on all the projects, including those designed by others. (Step outs = "the magic of television" where something is magically completed and ready for another step.)
That much-needed job arrived in my lap when my childhood best friend and her family were coming for a month long visit. I was working on my back porch on both a sewing and a glass etching project when my friend said, "You were always an artist."
I balked at the comment. "I'm not an artist - I can't draw."
"What's THAT got to do with being an artist?"
"Uh... Everything!"
"NO, it doesn't... you sound just like old woman _________ (our childhood art teacher). She thought anyone who couldn't draw like Steve was hopeless. (Steve was a kid in school so talented he once got placed in all remedial high school classes because he was so bored taking yet another achievement test, he filled in all the boxes on his scantron to form a galloping horse!)
My friend continued...."Drawing is just one of many skills... skills come naturally to some but they can also be learned."
I realized she was right... I always had good ideas and never shied away from any project... as long as there was no drawing involved.
Not long after that, I found myself owning a rubber stamp company and my friend Becky twisted my arm to go along with her to become a certified PMC teacher. Immediately, I knew I hated the rubber stamps they were using to texturize the silver. By this point I had written and photographed a book, developing some crazy photoshop skills along the way. I still didn't think I could draw...but I could manipulate lines in photoshop. I came home from that class and within a month, had drawn 24 images and then sold the resulting rubber stamps to the PMC manufacturer! So much for the theory that I can't draw!
There is no question I am comfortable drawing digitally. I know I can clean anything up and make it look good in the computer. But I knew I wanted to know more about the principles of drawing. So I enrolled in a beginning class at night at my community college.
It was a challenge but it taught me more about "seeing" than I thought possible. Seeing it is the first part of doing.
I'm not exceptionally proud of these things...I would never hang them on my wall but I keep them to remind me of lessons learned.
Still life drawings teach us to see relationships in perspective and size.
An experiment in shading teaches value - seeing light and darkness.
The next two are both spatial studies... drawing the negative space around an object. By seeing the space between, you actually draw the object with a bit more accuracy because you're not all in your own head, concentrating on making the object perfect. Drawing nothing or nothingness...the space between, takes the pressure off.
So, no, I'm not going to find myself selling my sketches and paintings to gallery. But by being open to the process, I've overcome my fear of the one thing that held me back. And the skills learned in that class carry over into the art forms I do practice on a daily basis: photography and glass.
January's inspiration painting was cold, wintry scene called The Magpie by Claude Monet. I knew right away I would attempt one of those fantastic tree beads... but I wanted a cold, translucent feeling.
I made the bead and etched it. I found some of the new colored beading wires in shades of blue and some delicate blue opals. I had always wanted to try a design that allowed some of the beads to float and move around on the beading wire. I used crimps and crimp covers to act as "stops" for the opals. A Bali silver clasp and 10mm sterling balls balance out the design.
I wire wrapped the focal art bead in 18 gauge sterling with a rosette bottom.
This was also my entry into the January Challenge for the Fire Divas. I came in 2nd place. Congrats to Lauren of Maybeads on her first place win!
As a special, limited time offer, I am going to place a check out button here on the blog for $30 dollars OFF the list price of this necklace, provided you check out through Revolution Money Exchange. This is the only free way for vendors like myself to receive money. Other online payment systems and credit card processors take a nice chunk of artisans hard earned money and this is my way of educating the public and other artisans about this fantastic service!
So there are two buttons there: One for RME ($65.00) and one for PP at full retail (95.00)! Let's see what happens!
Where does creativity begin? Where do the seeds of a new ideas grow from? I have students tell me all the time that they are not creative. And I'm pretty quick to tell them that's just not true. Creativity, like that seed in the garden, needs to be nurtured in order to grow. Every artist I know sees the world a little bit differently...but really, isn't it just that they take the time to really SEE it???
I spent an hour this afternoon on the shores of the flooded creek near my house. I was absolutely fascinated by the fast moving water and how it would get ahead of itself causing up to 20 swells to grow two - three feet high before the water on top of those swells would actually start to flow backwards and then spill over and cause a wake out into the shallower parts. Once some of that water was released into the wake, all those swells would simply disappear. I have no idea where that bit of knowledge and understanding will appear again. A painting? A bead? A short story? I'm not certain, but I know it will come out somewhere... The truth is, we are all creative beings and the seeds of new ideas are born all the time, often subconsciously. You see a beautiful flower on a walk and you end up trying to sculpt it. You realize that new bead you made is a dead ringer for the pattern on a pretty dress you saw last week.
This was an interesting group of months. The paintings were not as well known to me...which can be inspiring in the sense of not having pre-conceived notions.
July - The Cave Paintings of Lascaux
I really struggled with this. While I can see the merit of cave paintings as a way to communicate, I can't say I think of them as "art" and it took me weeks to find any kind of inspiration.
I knew the bead had to be silvered ivory for its ancient feel but... what would be on that bead? I couldn't see myself drawing a bull? In the end I used a spiral, an ancient symbol appearing in artwork of all kinds. And a man. Structurally, I think this is the most interesting piece I made all year.
August - Katsushiki's The Great Wave Off of Kanagawa
August hit with a vengeance! The mountain in my backyard and the national forest just beyond it were burning. For nights, townspeople gather on the mountain that wasn't burning and watch the fires. We are still being affected by the ash and soot and I'm sure that's why I never blogged about these next two... that and I still consider them unfinished as there are things I want to change.
With the fires raging outside my studio, it was actually kind of pleasant to be working in a cool palette. I used my favorite blue: Bullseye Steel Blue.
And while I love the concept of the clasp here... In theory, you could have a variety of bracelet bottoms to go with the one focal if this were created in a more neutral palette... There needs to be a more secure way to hold the little silver bead in place.
Here is the description from the submission: The art bead is my depiction of the great wave in glass.
The bracelet is made of 18 gauge sterling wire, Bali spacers, Swarovski crystals and seed beads. The sterling wire also serves as a clasp.
September - Kandinsky's Improvisation No. 23
Another Kandinsky...always an exciting color exploration. But I don't really find this to be soothing painting. I finally made a focal by taking a print out of this to the torch, squinting and pulling rods. I limited myself to those colors only.
I really like this necklace... my favorite of summer...however still unfinished as I feel the large bead caps near the clasp need to be moved further into the garnet section to allow for easier opening.
I was still reeling from the fires so here's the write up from the actual entry: The focal and spacer beads were made by me, Holly Dare. I love the swirls and dots and bold black lines in the painting and tried to play off of that in making the bead. The focal is irregularly shaped with lots of swirls and dots and twisted bumps. The spacers, while perfectly round, pick up the bold color scheme.
The necklace is made with copper findings, faceted garnet and bone-shaped Scenic Jasper.
Continuing my trip down memory lane with look at my Art Bead Scene Entries for April, May and June of 2009.
April - Botticelli's Birth of Venus
This painting is the favorite of a very close and well-traveled friend of mine. She has traveled just to see this painting. She has books devoted to this painting. Because of our friendship, it meant a lot to me to get this piece right. I spent a lot of time making Venus toros (all on sale in my shop)... I was using an irid glass and it just didn't work for what I saw in my head and in the end, I panicked and went in a totally differed (i.e. quick) direction!
It was pretty obvious what to do with the beads. I tried to pick colors with good contrast. In the end, I felt the beads were lacking the "square" element so I made hammered squares for the bracelet. This piece won the monthly drawing for the Art Bead Scene. Here is the original post about the bracelet.
Inspiration can strike anywhere, anytime. For this reason, I "try" to have some semblance of a sketch pad with me most of the time. But when I don't, I've been k nown to sketch on napkins, scratch paper and even my arm!
A few weeks ago, I had to be the substitute host for my friend's karaoke business because her regular host was sick. And suddenly, I "saw" a necklace in my head (two variations even!) and HAD to sketch it out. So there amongst song titles is my would-be necklace.
So what to you do when inspiration strikes? What's the strangest place you've written down those visions???
Well, it's been an interesting 2009 ( the most polite thing I can say about this year!) and I for one can't wait til 2010. Check back next year - er - week for a recap on the ABS projects I did all year long!
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