Christmas Ornament & Bead Class at Blue Moon Glassworks in November!

I wanted to let you, my blog readers know first, that my 2 day Christmas Class in Austin, TX at Blue Moon Glassworks will be the weekend of November 19th & 20th.  This is going to be a blast, because I love Christmas and so do owners Jim and Rose Berry.  So we're going to do it up BIG!

We'll be making really fun glass beads and ornaments in which you will be able to put your own special twists on.  Elves, angels, dogs dressed up with hats and antlers are not only a blast, but you'll be working with a variety of sculpting techniques that will give you the skills to make lots of wonderfully unique miniature ornaments, focal beads and special treasures either for others or to keep for yourself.

Of course heat control is one of the most important techniques, but we'll also be working with some silver, reactive glass, setting a CZ or two, canes and other ways to add sparkle and magic to your beads whether wearing them yourself or making them into tree ornaments.

You can email or call Blue Moon Glassworks to register  -  512-380-0770.  I hope you can join me for the fun and holiday magic.

Social Media Propaganda Posters

Aaron Woods and his fabulous Social Media posters crack me up.  Here is a link to his "JustOneScarf" Etsy shop, for your amusement.

Sculpture Mini Class

I want to make better faces in glass.  There,  I said it publicly, so now I have to work on my performance.  Recently, I took an intro to sculpture one and a half hour class at our local arts center and loved it.  Our teacher, Tom Williams (check out that link to his website), was a delight.  He made our quick intro fun, and interesting, while he demonstrated how he teaches and sculpts.  And he gave us each a small chunk of Georgia clay to try a little of what he was showing us.

Bummed that it's only offered on Wednesday nights and that's our Southern Flames night, I will need to wait until summer, when my Flames Board position ends.  But believe me, I'll be in line, once I am free to try it.  I posted a close up of the lips on the bust that he showed as an example.  I have the hardest time forming lips and think this tactile craft form, will be a big help to gaining a better understanding of how to translate it into glass and perhaps into my watercolors as well.  And who knows, maybe I'll be adding clay to my list of top 5 favorite mediums, who knows?

Exquisite Enchanted Doll Website

I am totally blown away by artist Marina Bychkova's Enchanted Dolls.  Beautiful and artistic are understatements.  (fyi: there are also nude doll categories in case that is not your thing)  But to me, they are treasure.  Plan on taking a while to check out Marina's website.  And she has a blog too.

Enjoy!

Sign at an Art Studio

This is a sign in the Metals Jewelry room at our Atlanta Spruill Center for the Arts.  It sure made me smile and thought you might enjoy it too.

Spiderman...Artists on Call for Beads of Courage

Spiderman was one little boy's request through Beads of Courage's Artist on Call program.  Where children ask for a special bead to be made just for them and glass artists choose from what has been requested and craft it for them.  Our Atlanta Southern Flames group did a test for this program, at the time called it Dream Beads.  

I have a feeling with the new Spiderman movie coming out, that there might be more requests over the next year too.  So I wanted to show you how I interpreted it, in case you'd like to volunteer with the program as well.  (contact BOC- or me- to put you in touch)

I first found a photo of a spiderman that I thought could be interpreted on a bead in glass. Knowing the child is young, I wanted to do a raised picture on a strong background, to be safe and sturdy.   This is the photo I found to use.

It's a child's Halloween costume.  It simplifies the outfit, yet gives the major details. Just what I wanted.

From there, I transferred the idea onto glass with some changes.  Mine obviously is not perfect, but a child would know immediately by the costume colors and design who it is, which is the result I wanted.

If you think this is fun, I'm hoping you'll volunteer with Beads of Courage too.  And if you think you need a little more practice, this type of interpretation is in my Creative Forces class that I teach.  How to take a 2-D or 3-D (or even words) description, and make a bead from it.  Which, combined with teaching, are two of my favorite things to do!  

See you tomorrow!

Recent Itsy Bitsy Commission Work

I make a lot of commission work.  I love doing it.  So when I received an email from someone who asked me, "can you make me 20 Christmas bulb lights that are 1/4" long?"  I decided to give it a whirl.

If you are a flameworker, you know that is a pretty tiny scale to be working in.  But always loving new challenges, I got out my tape measure and turned on my torch.

I found that I could reasonably get to 3/8" of an inch using a 1/16th mandrel. (non- glass folk, I know you secretly love tech talk).  And made an assortment of colors for her.

So in case you're wondering what she is doing with them, here's the answer.  She is needlepointing Christmas stockings for her grandchildren with a house that has lights hung from its roof.  She tried the plastic miniature ones for embellishment, but decided that glass would be better.

And I couldn't resist taking a photo of them, so I added my little trailer that I got years ago on Etsy, and one of my new Santa design beads and made a little vignette.  Might just be my Christmas card this year too.

Stay tuned for my next commission blogpost . I'll give you a hint.  It has to do with a Spirit Animal.
See you tomorrow!