My Struggles With the Concept of a “Fresh New Year”.

“2008″. . .I still cringe when I say it. I have been struck with that same state of melancholy that blankets my soul immediately after the Christmas holiday has passed. Partly, that is because I tend to reflect on the collection of the 365 days that just passed me by while trying to figure out how I can improve the next round of 365 days that are ahead of me.

I have always heard that women handle change much better than men. I wish that I were one of those women. If I am going to change, it has to be SO drastic that it spins me off of my axis and into a whole new universe. Drastic change seems to create a mental numbness that puts me into survival mode. As the numbness begins to wear off, I am left wondering if I need to spin off of my axis again to find yet another universe to blindly explore.

The reason that I use this analogy is because I was very recently presented with a job opportunity that would not only provide the benefits that I so desperately need, but also a handsome salary and rather large office. Initially, I thought that this so called “opportunity” couldn’t have arrived at a better time as I have been ramping up for a that proverbial big spin that would launch me right off of my current path and into something shockingly new.

I attended the formal job interview yesterday, dressed in that same stuffy business attire that I so happily pushed to the back of my closet a year and a half ago. The suit that I wore is still in fashion but fit a bit more snug than I remember, which reminded me of yet another thing that I need to change in 2008.

As my would-be boss explained his expectations of my would-be job performance, all I could think about was my journey as a glass artist. It was a layoff from a job much like this one that launched my career as a lampworker. The journey has been like a roller coaster. . .So many ups, downs, loops, and curves. You never really know what might be around the bend. . .All you can do is hold your breath and hope that the track doesn’t fall out from under you as your round the next corner.

I barely remember the moments as I departed the stuffy office building, wearing my snug and stuffy suit. My mind’s mental flash player presented slide shows of the beads that I had made over the past year as I made the drive home. They served as a reminder of what I would be leaving behind if I went back to the cold corporate world that I at one time wanted so badly to get away from.

The first three photos above are of some of the beads that I thought about on my ride home from the interview. They were created in early 2007 and were sort of a launching pad for the work that would follow over the next year.

This next grouping of photos are of beads that I made in late 2007/early 2008. They remind me of my progress over the past year. They also help me to know that my happiness and peace can only be found within the four walls of my basement studio.

Fear and Texture Part II: No Expectations

When last we left my studio, I was struggling with myself whether to keep a bead from shattering in a cold water bath or let it live, free and wild. Well I allowed it to live and there it sits, in a large pile of non distinct, boring beads. I knew I should have given it a plunge into the water and put it out of my misery. Yet, still with every bead there is something to learn. Sometimes I learn something I want to try again, other times the lesson is what NOT to do.

I said I would be talking about ways I break through artistic fear, self imposed barriers I erect so I wont “color outside the lines”. Well I sat down and had to think hard on that one. Yes I do certain things that help me but I didn’t realize it was something I would have a hard time explaining.

I believe these steps I take to break through where I am currently at, may have become ingrained habits. Somewhere in the back of my mind, that thought is a bit unsettling, the fact that what I do for breakthroughs has become habit. I think I need to fix this but I will address that another time.

I used to draw and paint quite a bit. I would spend hours drawing or painting the finest detail in everything I created. I used to draw with the finest, smallest graphite or charcoal I could find. I used to paint with the smallest paintbrushes I could get away with and still finish a painting this century. I only took one drawing class in my life and the exercises I use to break out of my rut are inspired by the man who taught that class. He did everything he could to make me feel like I was drawing with boxing gloves on. Instead of the fine control I was used to, he would make me draw with the largest permanent markers he could find and other similar bulky items.

I remember the absolute and total frustration I would feel every day in class. I couldn’t understand why he thought this type of exercise was going to help me. Although it had always been my goal to work “looser” as an artist, this was totally ridiculous. He would constantly harp on me, telling me to stop trying to control the minute details and I would be able to draw what I saw instead of drawing what I thought something should look like. The only reason I stayed in the class was because I found him to be interesting and we ended up becoming friends. Otherwise I would have left after the first few classes.

One day after dinner I sat there absentmindedly sketching the items on the table. I remember being relatively distracted by problems of the day and I wanted to sketch as a way of de-stressing. The only thing I had close by was a ball point pen and I figured if I could draw with a bulky permanent marker I could draw with a ball point pen. When I was done with the sketch, much to my amazement it was one of the better drawings I had ever done. I instantly realized that due to the distractions and the fact that I was using a cheap ball point pen, I had no expectations of this sketch and that was the very reason it turned out so well.

How does all this translate into glass? I want to cover an exercise in creativity that help me. The one I will deal with in this post is to make a bead limited to only two pieces of random glass I pick up from my work surface. The trick is, I am not supposed to look at my work surface as I pick my two pieces of glass. It may be anything from a striking red color to a reactive twistie I have made and just dropped on my work surface after I applied most of it.

What I pick up is what I will use, no ifs ands or buts. I may be mixing a lot of silver with copper or sulfur or any other combination of glass chemistry that may or may not work. If it works, great, if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter. I have no expectations of what I am going to make so I cannot be disappointed in the outcome and I find I learn a lot from doing this. The photo in this post is a bead I made by picking up two random pieces of glass. I hope you try this one. Just sit down at the torch, grab some glass and have fun….and have no expectations.

Otter is a bead maker who blogs from the Pacific Northwest

Breaking Blocks with the Back Catalog

Every beadmaker gets bead block once in a while. Many times, I will sit down at the torch and just draw a blank. Sometimes making a few spacers is enough to spur my imagination into action but other times, the ideas refuse to come.

When suffering from a particularly stubborn case of bead block, I will often leaf through the pages of my back catalog. I have obsessively photographed nearly everything I’ve ever produced at the torch so I have a complete record of all my past beads. I find it inspiring to go back and revisit a design I did a couple years back and apply my current skills to it. I am usually thrilled with how much better the beads look and how much easier they were for me to make.

In the process of copying myself, I often find myself spring-boarded in a new direction and excited by the process of making beads again.

Sometimes, I will take an idea from one set, a color scheme from another and the bead shapes from a third to combine and make a whole new set of beads. Those sets will inevitably be so different from the originals that it would be difficult to see how they are derivatives of them.

Ideas come from all over and when your brain is inundated with too many of them, creativity gets blocked. Copying myself allows me a place to start. It eliminates the dreaded “blank paper” syndrome that artists fear. One bead leads to another and another and suddenly a new pathway is revealed and a new voyage begins.

Working Large Can Inspire New Ideas

Linda Morrison’s post about “working big” was quite inspiring to me to because it served as a reminder of how I began to evolve my skill as a bead artist. Last year I started making wine stoppers for several of the wine festivals in which I had scheduled to be a vendor. Making those large scale beads not only opened my mind to new ideas, but it served as a much large canvas for me to work on. I was able to achieve techniques that frustrated me when trying to apply them to small bead bases.

Not long after I made the wine stoppers, I began making focals beads. Again, another large canvas, but a bit smaller and easier to manage than a wine stopper sized bead. After months of making focals, I was finally able to apply what I had learned to much smaller beads without the level of frustration that I was experiencing before.

This year, I won’t be vending at any of the wine related events. . .Wine stoppers are not a great seller on my site either and lord knows I have no time to try and market anything other than loose beads. Still yet, I wanted to explore the idea of the super sized bead all over again. I needed the creative stimulation as I feel that I have been stuck in a rut lately.

I was more than ready for a fresh, new concept and I think that my idea served me well because it provided me with other things to think about. I had been hording a bunch of brass hardware that my husband picked up for me a year ago at a trade show. My intention was to use them to dress up my wine stoppers and maybe make a few drawer knobs, but to my surprise I was able to put together an unique assembly that would serve as a fan pull, once a large bead was added. In the end, it also gave me a gentle nudge towards the design evolution that I was so wishing for.

The fan pull in the first picture has a Moroccan flare. When I was assembling it, I remembered how much I love Moroccan design. There is something magical and even, sensual about the style. When I made smaller beads this past Sunday, the inspiration from the Moroccan fan pull was still with me as I explored the design concept further. I made a bead trio, a vessel and large tube bead.

Thank Linda for the inspirational post!!

Lydia Muell is a glass bead maker who blogs in her studio from Lexington, NC. For more information please visit here website at ashtonjewels.com.

Lesson learned. . . Next time I’ll take notes!

It’s times like these, when I wish that I was proactive enough to keep a pen and paper available for note taking while I’m at the torch. Last week, at the end of a studio session, I decided to make a small bead trio that would later be used in a bracelet that I wanted to make. I didn’t put a great deal of thought into them. I guess I must have been in that “zone” or something because I can’t remember for the life of me which colors I used to decorate the beads. The base was obviously encased dichroic over copper green, but the rest remains a mystery to me still.

Upon taking this little beads out of the kiln, I immediately fell in love with them. I assembled them into a bracelet and named the finished piece “Surf Gems”. I HAD to make another full set as soon as I had time! On Monday of this week, I headed down to my torch with a huge smile on my face, ready to make a full set of “Surf Gems”. At the time, I thought I knew how I made them. For some strange reason, violet and ink blue came to mind as being used in some of the layers. I made an entire set and slept well, thinking that I had successfully completed my goal for the day.

Sadly, I was wrong. . .my set really looked nothing like the trio that I had originally made. I named them “Mermaid Jewels” and went back to the torch for another try. This morning I am disappointed again. . .The small set that I made yesterday doesn’t look like the originals either, so I’m off to the torch for another attempt.