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[Lazy Lightning]

These amber and ivory beads were made after an afternoon hike in the sunny autumn woods.

Edited by Jim, 08 March 2010 - 07:12 PM.
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[In A Silent Way]

Nice

[Lazy Lightning]

Thanks IASW! I'm going to keep this thread updated with some of my work, so feel free to check back every now and again.

These barrel beads are made of colour shifting glass encased in clear with metallic glass end caps.

[TEO]

Love the color shifting beads!

[Lazy Lightning]

These earrings feature my handmade glass beads, tiger ebony wood frames, sterling silver and a little round bead of petrified wood dangling at the bottom.

[-anna]

love the wood and glass together

[kramer]

wow, your stuff is awesome!

[Mr.BBG]

Beutiful! Wish I still had dreads.... I'd have ya make me a dread bead out of that color shifting glass. (maybe we colab on some stuff in the future)

[Lazy Lightning]

I'd love to collaborate - it'd be cool to see some of my glass worked into your cool wire-wraps!

[Mr.BBG]

For Sure! I wanna progess a bit more.... but ya, think up some ideas and we'll work on a project... Maybe a few

[sarah b.]

pretty!

[Jojo]

Very pretty! I love those earrings!

[Lazy Lightning]

Cross-posted from the Family Forum:

So, that week at The Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass was amazing - I loved it!!! If I could have stayed there and studied forever I would have been a happy camper... But the life I have already established calls and so I return... Thankfully, I have a whole new bag of tricks to play with and have ordered in some borosilicate glass as I really enjoyed working with it!

The following are some samples of the work I completed during the week long session. These are my favourite pieces of the bunch, and I am looking forward to building upon what I learned. Please bear in mind that this is my hobby and that I was totally brand-spankin' new to working with boro as well as the type/size of torch we were using *plus* I was totally new to working off mandrel. Up until that first week in February, I had only ever worked in soda-lime glass and on mandrels.

First up, some implosions.

Pansy marble and pendant. I'm real proud of these, folks who have seen the pieces in-person have asked me how I got the flower into the glass thinking that it was a REAL flower in there... I can't really think of a better compliment than that!



There are some chill marks on the marble which I will flame polish out next time I am working at my torch. We made these on the second day of class, so I was still getting the hang of things.



As I am very much into creating wearable works of art, making pendants really appeals to me! This is a large pendant, 2 inches across. I would prefer if you couldn't see the backing colour thru the middle of the flower, but this is something I will be aware of going forwards.



I absolutely nailed the implosions and it wasn't long before I went off on my own and started figuring out designs that we hadn't covered in class. This is the first design that I came up with, I really love the silver saturated glass colours and this pendant uses that to great effect:



I really wanted to try and capture calla lilies as they are some of my favourite flowers. It took one trial run and then I had a system for creating fairly realistic renditions of this elegant flower:



The torches we were using were internal mix and had a habit of boiling some of the crayon colours, so there are some inclusions around the white petals even tho I worked the glass very slowly and in a cooler flame. Fortunately for me, my torch at home is a surface-mix torch and I have been able to work with the crayon colours much more reliably.

I donated this marble to the annual art glass auction the CMoG holds every year to raise funds for their scholarship programs. I was really happy with it and it kind of hurt to give away, but I really could not think of a better way to give back from my heart and in the true spirit and sharing nature of the glass world:



The calla lilly pendant turned out lovely tho, and I kept that for myself. I think it will look glamourous with a slinky black dress!



On the third day we moved on to vortex marbles. My last marble right before class ended on Saturday was the best of my vortex marbles (I was determined to nail the vortex so I was working right up until the final minutes of class time!) but I don't have a picture of it to share with you, so I'll go with my next best which was this marble. While I am fairly happy with the form and vortex effect given that this was one of my "beginner" takes on the subject, the colour choices could really use some work... Learning the colours of boro and how they effect one another is a whole new ball-game that will take some time and experimenting:



The backside of the marble came out pretty nice and is a good example of those tricky boro colours - you would never lay a transparent blue over a transparent red in soft glass, but in boro you get a beautiful effect from doing just that!



The last image is a cabochon that I am going to have a friend set in silver for me. The colours didn't develop as nicely as they would have with a surface-mix torch, but I'm still rather keen on this one and should be able to produce some more saturated colours with my GTT torch as compared to the internal-mix torches that we used at Corning:



So yeah, I've been bitten by the boro bug and am contemplating selling off all of my soft glass to make way (and $) for some boro! I love the colours and the effects you can get with the hard glass, but most of all I enjoy the fact that I can take my time in working it thanks to it's lower COE and resistance to thermal shock. It was so relaxing to not have to rush from torch to kiln, to not have to keep wafting the glass thru the flame to keep it all hot so that it doesn't crack, to just TAKE MY TIME and be meticulous with my designs and construction... I mean, I do this as a hobby and a way to unwind, and working with the boro I felt so RELAXED... Yes, as I say, I have been bitten by the boro bug and bitten HARD.

I am proud of the work and level of accuracy that I achieved during the course and I really do believe my accomplishments during the week should stand as a testament my teachers, Chris and Jackie Rice of CNY Glass. They were completely giving with their time and knowledge and I am happy to count them as my friends.

If you made it all the way thru, thanks for reading... As you can probably tell, my glasswork is going to be heading in an exciting new direction and I look forward to getting some of my work posted and offered for purchase. If you are willing, I sure would appreciate your feedback!

[Mr_Pat]

Wow those are beautiful Lola!

[-anna]

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love love love this!

[Lazy Lightning]

I think that's my fave, too!

The silver glass develops these really cool blue halos... I'm gonna have to play with that particular colour some more!

[RedSquirrel]

Lola, you rock!! All of it is amazing!!

I took a day class on how to make beads. Out of 5 of us, I think we brought home 2 full beads. lol

I am loving the new stuff...just awesome!!

[Lazy Lightning]

Thanks RS - it's a lot trickier than it looks and takes soooo much practice - sometimes it can be tough to persevere when you're not happy with the results, but you have to keep on going to get better at it and so I do. When it all clicks, I am a very happy camper indeed!

[freerange]

fantastic stuff Lola

[stealiejade]

BEAUTIL BEADS DO U HAVE A STORE??

[Misha]

I just love all of them!!

[Lazy Lightning]

Thanks all!

I'm moving my studio this Sunday and will be working in glass full-time once I wrap my current gig the week before Vibes - I'll be sure to post a link to any shop that I set-up and will update this thread as I add new work throughout the next several months starting in August.

Stay tuned!

[kramer]

yea!!! i want to see more!!

[Lazy Lightning]

Well, we got my studio moved last night, now i just have to set-up and get rolling on this once again... Should be good to go in two weeks time tops, then I'll have some fun new stuff to share with y'all!

[Sunshower]

I cannot wait to see your work, Lollercoaster!

[Lazy Lightning]

Made awesome progress on setting up my new studio space last night, just have to install the ventilation next week (the biggest part of the job, really) and I'll be all set to go!

I'll take pics of the space next time I am out there to share with y'all here.

[Philips53]

Love your beads! Do you have an online store? Bringing them to Vibes to sell?

I'm new to this board - first time going to vibes. I'm really looking forward to a fun weekend! I'm doing the VIP thing cause I can afford it, and after reading the thread about the shower thing, which I wasted almost an hour on, I thought it was so funny that I sent back my ticket today to exchange for a VIP pass. Going for some shade, nice tent, easy in, and I shower in the morning anyway. Plus I can go visit various friends wherever. Hope to meet you up there!

StSteven

[Lazy Lightning]

Hi StStephen!

I'm just re-building my studio after moving and will be working again after Vibes... I'll be putting up a store at that point and will be sure to post it here and PM those who have asked about it. Unfortunately, I won't be bringing any glass with me to vibes this year, but I can do custom work and ship it to you once I am back from the fest.

Thanks for the compliments and stay tuned - I'll be posting new work in August!

Oh - and see ya in VIP!

[shadeelady]

Lola! i don't know how i hadn't seen this thread before!! your work is so amazing! i love the flowers. just gorgeous. calla lilies are my favorite flower, too and that pendant is stunning!!

[Lazy Lightning]

Thanks!

I'm really into the flowers and will be making some deep red calla lilies pretty soon... I'll be sure to keep this thread updated with new goodies, so be sure to check back!

[Sunshower]

Cannot wait to see your new creations! Sure hope you are feeling better soon too, Lovie!

[Lazy Lightning]

(cross-posted from the Family boards to include here)

I'm going to be offering this necklace in WPKN's fund-drive this weekend... it's some of my newest work and doesn't even have a name as of yet... Definitely fits into the "Cosmic Event" theme tho, so I am trying to think of something along those lines. Suitable suggestions are more than welcome!!!

Handmade glass pendant measuring 1.5" across suspended on a 16" sterling silver chain. Signed and dated by the artist - that's me!!!







I'll be posting more photos of my work next week, gonna make a little light box to snap pics with, these were just snapped quickly tonight so they aren't the best images...

[TEO]

I'd like a glass pendant with the Stones tongue in it. Thoughts, possibilities, custom order?

[Mr.BBG]

Wuuuuut! these beads look sick! Soooo I think we need to get down on a collaboration... Your glass + my wire work+ some pretty gems= some ill jewelry . Are you on FB>?

[Lazy Lightning]

Hey TEO, I can give it a try... It's tough to draw patterns like that in the glass tho... And it make it exact would be a real trick.

I'd love to collaborate with you BBG! I will send you a PM.

[Lazy Lightning]

First time trying out my new photo set-up and camera - works pretty good, altho the first image here is a little out of focus so I posted the picture a bit smaller to sharpen the edges... I want to re-shoot these ones on a black background since they themselves are white.

Double eighth note cufflinks:

[Lazy Lightning]

And for you retro video game fans, there is Pac-Man, Blinky, Clyde, Inky and Pinky as well as a ghost that is ready to be eaten:

[TEO]

Hey TEO, I can give it a try... It's tough to draw patterns like that in the glass tho... And it make it exact would be a real trick.

I'd love to collaborate with you BBG! I will send you a PM.

Wouldn't need to be exact, close enough to be distinguished would be wonderful.

[jen s]

you might want to try using a ring light...its a light that goes around your lens to eliminate shadow...often used when shooting products

[Lazy Lightning]

TEO, I'll give it a try in the near future... I have some other projects on my plate right now, but it is in the queue!

Jen - never heard of that before, I admit that I am a newb at shooting items like this... I use a little point-and-shoot Canon camera, so they make ring lights for cameras that small?

These were the first pics I have ever taken using my homemade light-box.

[jen s]

most photographer make homemade stuff. I think they look great.

perhaps you want two lights, both at 45 degrees facing the object.....that is a common set up for photographers when using strobes, but hot lights are just as good. hot lights being lights that are hot/on all the time. Strobes are only fired off when the shutter is released.