Finally! It has been a long road to get here but I am thrilled to say that I am finally making glass beads in my own home studio!
I was a newbie four years ago when I took my first classes in lampworking and then life happened. We moved away and I needed to put this dream on the backburner for awhile... But believe me, once "kissed by the flame" you never forget. Well, with much thanks to my DH (darling husband) Tim, I have been given the opportunity to pursue the dream of making my own lampwork glass for my jewelry designs. In many ways I'm starting from scratch. At the studio where I learned, they handled hooking up all the equipment, torch cleaning, ensuring the kiln was at the right temperature to anneal and refilling the propane and oxygen tanks, even cleaning the beads sometimes when you were in the studio for torch time... Ahhhhh, those were the days! Here's a brief recap of my first week along with pictures.Day One - I consider this day to be a comical disaster! It is the day where I learned many of the lessons about what NOT to do and spent alot of time getting to know my torch. When you're melting glass around a mandrel it really needs to be in the right part of the flame so the glass can flow easily. The flame, glass, mandrel and your movement all become one and when it's right you can just feel it! I set out with a lofty goal to make 20 beads on my first day, hahahahahaha! Here is a picture of what I got! I know it's not perfectly round but I will cherish this one bead forever! I've nicknamed it Persistence as a reminder to just keep going and push through the mistakes. This was a lessons learned day that I had to go through to get to the next step. Glad it's over...
Day Two and Onward - After day one, I was over my fear of lighting the torch and stressing that my hoses were hooked up properly and was really ready to start practicing making beads. Now remember, I have had three hands - on classes and practice torch time, but that was four years ago and not my own equipment but a good basic foundation to work from. Here are some pics of my progress -
I've got alot of work to do but I'm pretty pleased with the results from my first week.
On a final note, I want to thank Corina Tettinger for writing the book Passing the Flame, I have read it cover to cover twice and have used it countless times as a reference for what I'm doing wrong, not to mention all of the inside tips and tricks she shares, and that's just in the first week! This book has been invaluable in helping me to ramp up quickly and will never be far from my side in the studio! Thanks again Corina and I hope that one day I will get the opportunity to thank you in person. Gotta run now, off for more torch time and practice, practice, practice!
Cheri aka, Coco Black
