5.2.2018 - hmmm.... happily

Lampwork is a state of mind....


                                                                                                .....most definitely, yes.....

I've always wanted to make it less associated with "craft", to more aligned with "fine art".
I think a lot of this characterization can be color based - as there are popping colors, and also those that just exist quietly but add sophistication.  I'm always in the process of adding colors to what I consider a rather neutral club of colors.

Ginger, Cocoa, Latte, Ivory, Sediment, ...Black (of course)... and most recently my heart throb colors - Ochre and Pistachio (I know this seems a stretch, but when you think of it - it pairs beautifully with grey, black, navy, brown etc).
 

The building blocks of elegant design starts with color, form, then embellishment - and an intrinsic sense of knowing when to stop.  Sigh...sometimes, for me, it's a steep learning curve - if it turns out to be a good thing, I add more - often finding the fine line between 'just enough' and 'too much' is learned through a process of overstepping - maybe it's more learning the process of awareness of this "limitation line"? 

The Pod shaped earring of late has been a process of evolution.  I'd be silly to say that I have gotten it out of my system, but this shape addiction just lingers on - presenting itself in many forms - each one just a slight modification of those prior.  

I found a new color to play with this week... the Lauscha cocoa... and it just sung... so much so that I gave those beads an elongated tip to emphasize the elegance of simplicity and LESS being TRULY more.  I am smugly satisfied.   

Over the years I've been aware of the importance of simple design, it's reflected in the clothing designers I admire, and MORESO, of late than ever before, in the work that come from my torch.  I have to eagerly wonder what's next.  Funny - usually by this time of the year I'm knee deep in transparent glass and bright light... but I have just wanted to continue to be engrossed with earring pairs of rich color & beautiful design.  happily, Jill

4.25.2018 - Evolution of an Idea....

I've been smitten by the shape goddess.... again.

I started out working in transparent glass - but realize that they make for dressier earrings... and with summer on the horizon (oh, if you sneeze, you miss springtime here in TX)... yes. so....
I started looking at the opaque colors -  They say so much on their own... and with a small wrap of silver - get a little dressier...

With an OCD wrap of 28ga fine silver - that's tacked down in the torch, they become sleek and elegant.... plus the streaky glass color adds visual interest... but the shape remains constant.  So - we have shape, color, and elegance...

...then I migrated back over to - how 'bout scrollwork to make them fun?  leave the kitten-whisker stringers slightly raised to add visual interest... adding just enough - but not too much... to skirt visual fatigue....
 

... then living in Austin Texas = LONGHORN country - let's make the color relevant!!

... and add a pendant option... I'm in heaven. : )  smiles - Jill

4.18.2018 - So much... S.T.U.F.F

The flowers in the garden are blooming, they're gorgeous, - but - I wanted to talk about something else.  I've set up a camera at my torch... and am filming through a filter - so you can actually see the detail...  I have to (ahem) clean up my worksurface though - as last time I posted, - seemed everyone commented on the surface clutter - rather than the item being created. 

But this came as a result of a person writing to me - regarding my tile beads - saying that she was sure I was actually slicing them with a wet saw and then drilling the mandrel hole.  Really??   I only hope that I maybe missed the tone, and that was a joke??  Anyway - it was suggested that maybe I show some of these goodies being made to quell the doubt. hmmm?

So - that being said - I'm willing to take suggestions as to what you'd like to see - maybe I'll actually make a tutorial... any comments welcome.  When I sat down the other day - I filmed some quick trials of things that I thought pretty basic... disks, pulling stringer, making a round bead... etc.  While they're simple - they're building blocks - and the basics for any beadmaker.  I had revisited a set of beads I'd made probably 18 years ago - and realized that skills certainly DO improve with practice... and time - and while I DO work faster than most - I aim for perfection.  Does perfection make them look machine made?? hmmm???

oh, by the way - I have cleaned up the worksurface, and it no longer looks crazy like the image above.  That's not saying it won't get that way again - just that occasionally I can actually see the metal sheet underneath! SMH...  smiles, Jill


OK, I can't resist... 
the flowers.  OMG - they started out white - then went pink streaked, then gorgeous pink.  I'm floored!!

3.14.2018 - Easter Bunny?

Last week I had made a few pair of these very stylish and colorful earrings - and in keeping with my personality type... this week, I've made a few more.  If you like them and want to claim a pair , they're $50 and just a click away on the PayPal button below - where you can choose your color.  I am willing to do MTO... let's see which are the favorites!

Springtime Silver Colorfest Earrings - $50pr

these earrings are 1/2" rounds of glass with a nice wrap of silver fused to the middle of each bead.  they're a single hole item - so a bail has been expoxied in at the top - and they are suspended from my handmade sterling silver ear wires.

Select Earring Color

Coral 

Lt Blue

Camero

Turquoise

Green

Yellow

Butternut

3.7.2018 - Skipping... to the awaited JUMP forward.

In an all out effort to beg you to allow me to morph into the "cool maker of cool earrings"... I bring you these beauties.  I had lamented on Facebook "OH WORLD... be it that I could solely make earrings... that would be my wish!"  help me make it so?!!

While sitting at Central Market one evening... we noted that there was this joyous woman who was literally skipping through the restaurant.  NO... I didn't say child.  Woman... and with gusto...

That's how I feel about these earrings.  They are an adaptation of some I've done before - but I don't think I've ever wanted to skip over the others... as usually my designs are usually much more sedate.

But - springtime is here in central Texa, and it has awakened my joy, (sorry New York, your snow won't last too long...) but here it's happening.  My peach tree is in blossom, and I hear the bluebonnets are already bursting forth in Marble Falls.  So - with all this "bursting forth" of color - I thought I should participate as well. : )
smiles, Jill

2.28.2018 - Mulling Evolution

There's an article coming out in the Glass Bead Evolution next month (which might be tomorrow...)  This got me to thinking about my years (ahem, decades...) at the torch - and how my work has evolved.
As an artist, initially we learn... we try different things and develop a 'voice'.  We 'speak' and hope that just from the sound of our voice/work we gain recognition.  I found that there were so many styles I enjoyed - and with that, I developed many different voices... *wonders to self, if that's a bad thing*.  Will my work be recognized if I don't hone in on one and speak in a singular voice??

What I have found is that my passions lie mainly with transparent glass... for its beauty and the simplicity that's needed when working with it - as it gets cluttered quite easily.  I'm pleased that I have a certain recognition for this.  I've been told often that if presented with many artists' work -  mine would be easily identified.  Good.  Check that box.  That's not to say that I strive to be heard through the other styles as well...  Funny, when you've been online as long as I have, and have established regular customers - they follow the evolution of work style.  Often recognizing a set that's out of chronological order that I've included in an update. LOL.
I often feel I shouldn't sneak any of my older work in to these updates because you know it so well.  : )  I realize that's an incredible compliment, and am very flattered. Those of you who know my work know just what I mean... Noel, Louise, Sue, Elizabeth... and others.  

When I load an update page, it's with the mindset - I will backfill the site with what doesn't immediately sell.  I think of it as building inventory... so this "timeline of work" sometimes works against me.

So.  If I look in the bead coffers here - I'm stunned that so many of my early earrings were rounds, it was my way of gaining comfort with the glass - letting color speak for itself.  But, then after about 10 years - I noticed that I was adding carving & cutting regularly to add visual interest.  What else is possible, eh?

That was for transparent glass... now - IMHO opaques are a totally different story.  I find I am drawn to opaque glass in the cooler months of the year - and that for the most part it falls flat.  It 'needs' something and what I love it the addition of surface scrollwork.  I love a good challenge and am regularly found pushing my limits on how detailed I can go.  Years ago - I made my office manager a bead for her granddaughter.  I said I would write here name in glass on the bead... keep in mind it was 1/2" dia.  She very matter of factly said - "...her name is Sarah Elizabeth" OMG.  I managed it - actually in some beautifully tiny script... crazy, huh?

So - do I think an artist can have a voice in many different styles?  I think so... but - we all start somewhere.  Imagine if none of the artists were ever exposed to any other artist's work? I wonder what we would come up with?  I also wonder where others draw their inspiration...

OR perhaps - because of this isolation, (and I do find that lampworking is a very solitary sport), you come up with a technique that you think you discovered all on your own...  only to be grabbed by the ankles and grounded... as glass has been around for thousands of years.  Someone has probably done it before, huh? : )

I eagerly anticipate my next creative jump - never knowing when it'll happen or how it will be received... but the important things is that I'm constantly moving forward!  smiles,  Jill

2.21.2018 - Honk, honk... I'm back... I hope you missed me. : )

.. SO sorry I missed you last week - I was on the tail end of returning from my visit to meet my new... granddaughter!
Can you believe it - I'm a granny? OMG... still toying around with names as that certainly won't do!!  But she's a doll - and I'm thrilled.  World, meet Merritt.  Isn't she lovely?  Word on the street from grateful parents was that she slept a full 8 hours last night!!  woot woot!!
She was a tiny little distraction - as have been other things... : )  BUT - I did manage to get my torching in this week, and am very pleased with the results.
 

I am honored to say that there will be an interview coming out in ISGB's online publication as the Spotlight Artist.  How cool is that?? OF COURSE I will provide a link for you when it's available.

AND - the news just continues...doesn't it?  I will endeavor to add a place on my website to allow you access to buy Lauscha glass.  Many of you may know that my father, Frank, AKA Glassdaddy, sold German Lauscha glass rods for a decade or more... and he closed up shop a little over a year ago. I could tell you that I got tired of rolling around in the endless supply of glass - but it honestly is more than I will ever use.  SO - what I'll do is try to add a few colors every so often for your perusal.  Maybe sometimes you see me using a color that you want - and it'll be there!  

This leaf had dropped off my plant in the middle of a hot summer - and when I spotted it was in survival mode... repopulating. 

I am hand-shaping these pendants - and rarely get two that are alike... doesn't this remind you of the succulent leaf from summer?  It's made on a mandrel - so there's a hole, but in my never ending quest to delete the hole... I've succeeded by reducing it by half (well 50% in length)!  There's one hole at the top - into which I've epoxied a sterling silver bail... problem solved and the sleek profile-preserved! YAY

I have taken the tapering earrings to a different level of elegance... hmmm.
Admittedly, lampwork can get 'crafty'... I've always leaned towards trying to make it elegant.  Sometimes that means less.  Less glass, less decoration, less "stuff"... you know... Less is ALWAYS more.

The effort to create elegance means rich saturated colors and an understated flash of silver.  Remember... my mantra about truth in materials? If it looks like silver - it's REAL silver.  Hence - why I don't work in gold... at least not yet. : )  I remember a feel I got in Santa Fe... I felt the style of color/nailheads was perfectly suited there.... So.  New colors, shapes and nailheads.

The silver work comes and goes... I have made a wonderful series of post earring findings - as shown below... and am bringing them out here and there... what do you think?  The earring profile is simple - and gives me a little leeway on going a tiny bit crazy on the findings! miles of smiles, Jill

2.7.2018 - Tenacious.

I've been on a mission for quite awhile to eliminate the bead hole.  I guess that wouldn't make them beads anymore... but, in certain circumstances - it seems a distraction.  When the glass is used solely for form - it IS a distraction. (for me.) 
Last week I made a series of crosses - most had only a top hole - into which I placed (epoxied) a well fashioned, very sleek sterling bail assembly.  This week, I am pleased to say that I was inspired by this very cool picture on Instagram...  I made this montage - but her name is Lyn Slater or  iconaccidental on Instagram... what a PISTOL.  I love the haircut her sense of self - and that she can carry off those earrings!!

So - while LOVING the look, I felt that they need to be adapted for those of us (me) who couldn't quite carry those earrings off! I'm sure you can, I just can't! ; )  I couldn't help but call these particular earrings Chanel.  Seeing as they mimic the styling of a patent tip to pumps that are lovingly called "Chanel Cap Toe".  Yes - there is a hole - it stops a bit above the transparent segment of the earring structure.  I thought about directly epoxying the earwire into the hole - but decided that the swing afforded by this finding would be more fun.  PLUS... for years these earwires were deemed to be so wonderful.  

I had thought about etching just the transparent tip... but that may be coming in the next version I make... I played with these seemingly hole'less earring pairs in the way I approach most of my endeavors. IN.ALL.MY.FAVORITE.COLORS... eyeroll.   I have several pair in the works... parchment & gray, but these were most finished. SOOOOO.... what do you think?  smiles, Jill