What do you draw?

Recently another lampworker posted a request that each person share a tip. There are so many good ones and I plan to share them on a blog in another time. It reminded me I wanted to share my drawing ideas.

On wonderful days when I have so many new ideas I write them down on 3x5 index cards. I will play around with shapes and drawings. My Nannie would draw faces for me when I was little. Most of the women were made using squiggles and lines and somehow they emerged look fabulous. Once the face was finished Nannie would draw in a arm holding a cigarette and the smoke floating above. They were very elegant. I had been thinking about her a lot lately and thought maybe I could do that in glass. My drawing didn't quite make it completely into the glass but the general idea has. I plan to make a larger bead and lay the glass to show my complete drawing.

 

Since making the first face bead I have really exploded with design. This one has the basic idea and a little bit of decoration. I've taken the bangs, those squiggle lines, and have added a lot more to give a full hair look on other beads. The back of the newer beads are much more detailed.

I keep my index card on the base of my glass shield and held up on the folger's coffee container that holds my dipped mandrels. The key is to put your drawings were you can see them and where they won't catch fire if a hot piece of glass hits it.

It's always good to remember you are still learning each time you sit down to create. Even if you are doing repetitive work you might find a way to make things more efficient or it begins a new idea. Play, practice, play and more practice will always help maintain skills. Practice keeps your skills sharp. Play keeps your mind working and stimulates so many ideas. If I ever get into a slump I resort back to making ruffles or spacers. Those are easy for me to make and most times just getting started will fuel my creative process.

Problem Solving by Moving Dots and Lines

Many folks who are starting out in glass are learning to add dots and stripes to decorate your beads. You can do so many things with dots and stripes to create amazing designs. But what happens when you didn't get that dot or line just so?

I have problem placing my dots and lines evenly over a bead most of the time. I'm right-handed so I tend to work from left to right. If I place a line I think is in the middle most often it looks like it's leaning to the left. If I'm placing dots at the edge of the left side my right side dots look uneven. I actively try to make them even but usually I have to result to using heat to move my dots and lines.

Let's start with dot placement. Have you placed dots to far to one side or another? You can move it with a marver into position fairly well. If you need that dot to expand don't mash it into the bead completely - just move the dot. If you need a small dot go ahead and smash it with a tool. Just don't overheat your bead. Heat only the area around the dot you need to smash. If you need to go over it several times it won't hurt the design. It's better to work slowly in this situation especially if you've worked on the design for a while.

The other method I like is to turn your bead at a 45 degree angle from the flame and let your dots move to the correct side. Remember the glass wants to move to the flame. Therefore if you just heat the area next to you dots or lines the glass will move in that direction. Practice this method to see if it will work for you.

Do you ever add a stripe of glass and it's becoming too fat melted? Take your bead out of the flame before the line completely melts into the glass. You can heat a part of the line and use tweezers or another tool to smash the line smaller. Melt it in gradually so it doesn't expand or just heat and push into the bead.

Do you add dots that are too big and need them smaller? Pull your work out of the flame and let the bead cool a bit. Reheat the large dot and pull the appropriate amount of glass off the dot with tweezers, pliers or whatever tool you have. I use the same glass rod or stringer to take away excess glass. You heat the dot while making sure your stringer or rod is warm enough for contact and pull away the excess glass.

Several times I've added stringer and need to remove it. If you work cooler you can pull your bead out of the flame and use pliers to take off the glass if it isn't melted into the bead. Just be sure not to pull too much and break your bead release. If the glass is opaque enough just add a little more glass, melt in and start all over.

I usually heat and smash dots and lines with my marver when I'm working with white and black. The black tends to bleed into the white and spiderweb. To counteract the problem I will heat the black and smash it into the white or the white into black. If you want this effect ignore the advice.

New Year 2016

It's a brand new year and I have been more productive in 2015 than the last three years. It's gratifying to have my beads selling again and receiving wonderful feedback from customers. I've worked really hard on some new designs and having my own signature style. I guess every artist gets there eventually. I am the type of person who gets bored with too much repetition therefore I usually jet from one style to another. In the last 10 years I've been fortunate to have my own space to develop my skills daily if I so chose.

If you aren't finding your heart's desire with beads the market has moved to Facebook. There are so many selling and auction pages with many styles of beads, jewelry, art and more. I use it now to sell my beads on a page called  Artisan Lampwork Beads for Sale. Please take a look at the daily offerings and auctions.

One of my favorite style of new beads I've created is called a Kostka. It means square in Russian. The beads are built with a base of two separate beads and then four columns open on all sides. Here is a photo of a set I sold this week.