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    Glass Bead Inspirations: Ideas and Techniques for Lampworkers
    Glass Bead Inspirations: Ideas and Techniques for Lampworkers
    Glass Bead Inspirations: Ideas and Techniques for Lampworkers
    Ebook270 pages54 minutes

    Glass Bead Inspirations: Ideas and Techniques for Lampworkers

    By Louise Mehaffey

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    About this ebook

    • Creative ideas for making glass beads
    • 8 skilled beadmakers are given the challenge to create beads based on an inspiration--a color, a season, a painting, an emotion--to see what they will create
    • Resulting beads show the variety of creative responses
    • Includes step-by-step techniques for using other materials with the glass to create unique beads
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStackpole Books
    Release dateJan 11, 2012
    ISBN9780811745703
    Glass Bead Inspirations: Ideas and Techniques for Lampworkers

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      Book preview

      Glass Bead Inspirations - Louise Mehaffey

      Introduction

      Creativity

      Your Own Personal Style

      Punching through a Block

      The Challenges

      Four Colors

      Crawling, a Detail Photograph

      Italy

      Entangled, a Portrait

      Knots, a Textural Photograph

      The ’60s

      Fragility, a Photograph of a Butterfly’s Wing

      Anger

      Blue

      Fall Foliage, a Pressed Flower Design

      Rock ’n’ Roll

      Abstract #3, a Painting

      Paisley

      Projects for Learning Special Techniques

      Pixie Dust Flower Bead

      Goldstone Stringer

      Multicolored Vine Cane

      Stamen Cane

      Making the Bead

      Shard Bead

      Shards

      Making the Bead

      Ancient Bead

      Faux Turquoise Bead

      101 More Inspirations

      The Bead Makers

      Supplies and Resources

      Acknowledgments

      Every artist at some time has trouble finding inspiration for new work. This book focuses on finding ideas for lampworked glass beads. It is not a how-to book, although I do include some techniques. It is my hope this book will point you in new directions to explore and that it may help new glass bead artists find their own style.

      Lichen bead with metal leaf, enamels, and frit.

      Silver glass experiment.

      This book assumes that you know how to set up your studio and work safely, can consistently make basic bead shapes, and can properly anneal your beads. Beginners may want to refer to my book Glass Beads: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Learning the Craft for the basics. The methodology in this book is to present a group of eight glass bead makers, including myself, with the same challenge and then document the resulting beads. When gathering participants for my book, I tried to choose bead makers with different styles and levels of expertise. Some of them are well known and some are not. Some have been lampworking for many years, and some are newer to the torch. (For more about the beadmakers, see page 115.) I wanted my book to explore some of the many different directions the same inspiration can suggest. Because there were eight bead makers, I hoped there would be eight different directions, and I was not disappointed. The resulting beads are very different, although you can see the connection. They clearly illustrate that one inspiration can have many different interpretations. Because some of the challenges are so different from the bead makers’ normal styles, the designs are not all totally resolved, and that is fine. The beads represent different directions that they may choose to explore or not, and I hope the challenges have stretched their imagination. Their journey will hopefully inspire new directions for you, too.

      The last section includes four step-by-step projects to demonstrate some special techniques, including making goldstone stringer, vine cane, and stamen cane; using pixie dust; blowing and using shards; and using metal leaf to create faux stone beads. To create your own vision of a glass bead, it helps to have mastered a variety of techniques, so read, take classes, and most of all, experiment. I have shown how I do these techniques, but it is certainly not the only way, so don’t be afraid to try something new.

      At the back of the book is a resource list of more ideas that can be used as inspirations for beads. Use these suggestions as a springboard to new ideas and new beads.

      In my own career of glass bead making, I have been very fortunate to have a group of friends who supported me, worked with me, and made me stretch my abilities. This is my glass tribe, which has developed over the years. In 1998, when I took my first lamp working workshop, I became friends with some of the other students. We kept in touch and took more workshops together. At each workshop, we made more friends, and our circle kept growing. Soon we started getting together every few months to work and share our discoveries. We came from many different backgrounds, which meant we each brought different skills and knowledge to the group.

      After a workshop with Gil Reynolds, we set up Murphy fire buckets (small glory holes) to create pattern canes and other components, and began experimenting with making molds and casting glass. Today when we get together, we typically have a few people working on torches, a few people working with a fire bucket, and others casting glass. Someone coined the phrase glass tribe, and it seemed appropriate. Every one has always freely shared any information or techniques they learned, and as a result, we have all grown in our knowledge and skill level, and become very good friends along the way. I hope everyone is fortunate enough to have their own glass tribe.

      Creativity

      Creativity to me means being able to see new possibilities, new combinations, and new directions to explore. In other words, thinking outside the box. Creative people are willing to take chances and don’t have a fear of failure. They are problem solvers. They have a great curiosity and because of this, they have a wide range of knowledge.

      We can learn to be creative by practicing being creative. It becomes a habit.

      When presented with a new challenge, think about it for a while and then forget it. Your subconscious will continue to work on the problem. Sometimes when you aren’t thinking about it at all, a solution suddenly pops into your head. These aha moments are to be treasured.

      There are many things that can help along the way. Think about your work environment and plan it carefully. Set up your work area in a way that pleases you. Have a comfortable chair in place, tools handy, kiln accessible, glass rods within reach, and good lighting available. For me, a variety of music, or sometimes a good audio book, is essential. I also have posters and photographs that inspire me on the walls.

      Learn to recognize when you work best. Some of us are more creative when we are fresh in the morning, and others, like me, come alive in the evenings. Don’t tackle difficult projects when you are tired.

      Art is not created out of nothing, with no references. Follow your interests in many subjects and you will have a wealth of material to use for inspiration. Every project has parameters, imposed by ourselves,

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