Baby it’s COLD outside!

One of the biggest issues I have with beadmaking is temperature. The last couple of summers it’s been up into the high 90’s and low 100’s, at times for several weeks straight. That means no torching. You see, by the time I fire up both oxy concentrators, turn on the kiln and light the torch, it’s become over 100 in the studio. Hard on the concentrators and definitely hard on ME.

And then comes Winter with its icy breath. It’s usually not too bad unless the jet stream heads South and then drags Arctic air down over Wyoming. Which is where we are now. First it snowed a little and blew a LOT which buried my little propane bottle completely. I couldn’t even get the slider open to get out and dig it out.

Ok, then for one day the sun was shining and things were melting a little so I managed to dig it out thinking hot-diggety-dog I can torch tomorrow! Unhuh. We had a high temp today of I think 1°F or maybe it was 0°F. brrrrrrrrrrrrrr

So what’s the problem? Besides the propane having about zip pressure because of the cold? Weeeell. My little primitive venting system requires that I crack the slider open about 4 inches so I can aim the vent pipe at the fresh air. And honestly, I can’t find ANY way to seal up that opening enough that I don’t have frigid air creeping across the floor and climbing my backside.

So what’s a girl to do? Besides sit around and get cranky because her creativity is being plugged up. And honestly I’m getting sick of playing computer games, surfing the net and reading email. Sometimes retirement is a drag or maybe it’s just a case of cabin fever. Whatever.

To ease that jones I have I’ve been digging through my bead making books, gazing longingly at all my beading magazines and watching the latest dvd from Sharilyn Miller — Bohemian Bangles.

Now mind you I have been building up to this for a long time. When I was “doing” stained glass some 15-18 years ago I got into making seed bead earrings. Taught myself how to do it and got pretty good at it. Since I started making beads I’ve been leaning towards making jewelry out of them so have been collecting all the necessary accoutrements. Seriously, in actual fact I am what is known as a “tool whore.” Never met a tool I didn’t like

Be that as it may, frigid though the studio is I’m trying to making myself work. See:

So what’s the real problem here? I could whine about lack of space for working (nah, seen smaller setups that that where people produce aMAzing work). The temperature (well, turn up the heat or go into the house!). I certainly have lots of free time right now.

No, the problem is the same old one I find myself constantly fighting. Fear of trying something new because (gasp!) I might not be any good at it. Even though a couple of years ago I made several bracelets and sold them all. Here’s one of them:

It’s a constant struggle for me, fighting the voices that tell me I’m not any good and trying to expand my creative horizons. And sometimes, like now, I lose the battle. The trick is to remind myself to keep on. One foot in front of the other. Eventually (unless the weather warms up) I’ll find a rhythm that lets me move out of the doldrums and back into my creative mode which is where I’m happiest.

Darleen Michael-Baker is a glass beadmaker who blogs out of her home studio in Sheridan, WY.

I’ve lost that beadin’ feeling…

It’s been almost two months since I’ve had a torch session… That explains why I haven’t written an entry in awhile. I don’t think I’ve ever gone so long without making beads. I’ve sometimes gone a week or two, when I’ve been busy with other things, but this time has been different…

I think it has to do with finishing up a year that was much less profitable than in the past. Living in Michigan and dealing with a population that has already been touched with inflation is a challenge. I keep having to reinvent myself.

When I first began making beads and jewelry I created Beads-Me! ~ home parties where I would teach beginning jewelry projects. That morphed into teaching community education classes. Once I felt confident in my style, I approached a gallery in town and started selling my jewelry pieces. And since then have added several other galleries to my resume. Unfortunately, I’ve had several galleries close recently and the others had a pretty rough 2007.

I love to create beads and jewelry, it’s a large part of the person I’ve become. I DON’T like having to constantly reinvent the wheel. I love to design big, elaborate pieces. I DON’T like having to come up with less expensive jewelry that might have a better chance of selling here…

Do you ever hit bumps like this? If so, what have you done to get through it? I know I’m not alone! I’ll keep you posted on my progress…

Nancy Sells Puffer is a lampwork bead/jewelry artist from Grand Rapids, MI. Check out her very own blog here and visit her website at www.nancysellsglass.com

New Year, New Direction…maybe

I’ve decided that this is the year to take another class. I haven’t taken one since I was brand new to lampworking. Ok, so, now I have to decide what kind of class I want to take! The way I see it, I can either take a class to further my skills in the style of beadmaking I currently do or I can branch out and take a class to learn how to do something totally new.

I’ve got a few classes to pick from in my general area. I live within driving distance to Arrow Springs although I will have to stay in a hotel while I’m there, it doesn’t add too much to the cost of the class. I could also opt for taking a class at the Gathering, since it will be in my proverbial back yard this year.

So, do I take a class in the same style or a class in a completely different style? I haven’t decided yet. I think I am leaning toward different. One of the possibilities I am considering is switching to boro. I have the equipment laying around and heaven knows I have the glass since I never seem to be able to leave well enough alone when it comes to buying glass. I’ve even dabbled in boro now and again.

So, why is it time to take a class? Well, mostly because I am suffering from a rather acute case of bead block. I feel like I’ve been making the same things over and over. There are some days when I look at other beadmaker’s work and think, “That is what I want my work to look like!” Usually, it is in a style very different from my own; organic, ornate, swirly, large and earth-toned.

I find myself listening to the voice inside my head that says “You should branch out and try to make large, organic, swirly, ornate, earth-toned focals.” I make a few. I find them lovely, mildly interesting and think they might make good jewelry. I make a few more. I lose interest and move on.

I never seem to know where to take it from there. I have thought a lot about this and think I have finally figured out why. I didn’t get to those beads from a progression, I just decided that now was the time to make them and, once they were made, I was done. I didn’t have a trail of creativity I was following, I just listened to a voice that started nagging me, “shoulding” me.

I find the voice gets louder when I get new Double Helix silver glass delivered. It is very easy to take all the great advice from the forums and make beads just like everyone else is making since they are all so beautiful. I want to create those lovely silver reactions in my beads and so I go out to the torch and follow the advice and make a few beads and then I’m pretty much done. I’m not sure where to take it from there. Usually, I use the techniques learned and use them to make Kidlet bodies.

I want to take a class to, hopefully, inspire me in a new direction. I hope that it will show me a trail of creativity to follow and give me some new skills to use so I can make that trail my own.

Lori Peterson has been making beads since 2002 and isn’t sure what to do next. Check out what she’s doing now at her website and her etsy store.

Picture Books, A Great Tool for Breaking Through A Creative Block

I had spent the past two weeks soul searching, trying to figure out what I need to do in order to break through the creative block that I had been suffering as a result of my New Year’s blues. I felt so in need of inspiration. Tired of the same ole color combinations that I had been doing over and over again, I went on a fishing expedition for ideas to take to the torch.

For Christmas, my husband gave me several books filled with pictorial info about the different regions of Italy. Not only are they filled with color, but they offer many wonderful examples of the classic architecture that I have always admired. One of the books provided beautiful illustrations of several ancient villas in Pompeii. As I sat looking at the hand painted ornate designs that surrounded some of the door casings, I wondered how I would communicate the look in a set of beads.

First, I thought much about color. One of the villas that I liked the most had walls that were a sort of a warm sunset red. Since red is one of the most difficult colors for me to work with, I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to do something different. I wanted a very warm red-orange, so I began mixing colors until I found a combination that really appealed to me. I chose Raku to use as a base glass and for the ornate motif that would decorate the surface of the beads. I was excited, because the beads looked fantastic as I put them in the kiln. The next day when I went to retrieve them, all had nearly lost their color with the exception of two. I was so disappointed, but at least I had a nice starting point. I spent the rest of the evening thinking about what changes could be made to the glass mix in efforts of keeping the beads from losing so much of their color. These were the only two that made it. . .

I decided to try DaVinci for the base glass and motif rather than Raku, and changed the mix that I was using for the red-orange tones. I wanted a warmer version of the color with a bit of translucency so that the plunges would show up. I am very pleased with my end result because they really do speak of the beautiful pictures that inspired them.

Lydia Muell blogs from her home studio in Lexington, NC. More of her work can be seen at Ashtonjewels.com .

Breaking Out of the Comfort Zone

While I am excited about trying new things, I still make a lot of jewelry in my normal style. But I don’t like how “normal” sounds, so I’ve been trying to stop my hand from reaching for the same old standbys and start mixing up things a bit.

For instance:

I love lampwork glass — I love it, love it, love it. But I have fallen into a rut, if you will, of using the same basic materials with it; namely, Swarovski crystal and Bali silver. Don’t get me wrong, it makes for gorgeous things……

But I want to do some NEW things with materials I already have on hand. And I realized, I have drawers full to exploding of gemstones — why haven’t I used those with lampwork?

So I tried it.

I used large nuggets of rose quartz, 4mm garnets, and a boro lampwork bead with coordinating clasp. Not only did I mix up my materials a bit, but I changed my design style as well. I like it. I’ll try that more often!

Lesson learned — when everything starts looking the same, or you start feeling stale, step back and look for things you’ve never combined before. Mix it up. Keep it fresh!