First, an introduction. I am Vicki, and I am a Newbie Lampworker. And I am addicted, does that make me a lampaholic? A glassaholic? A flameaholic? I’ll leave you to decide that one. In fact, leave your suggestion in the comments and I will give a prize for my favourite!
There are rules to follow when you are a Newb, apart from the obvious safety aspects of the hobby/job of course.
Rule number one is: You will always try and run before you can walk. Not that I am saying I run around my flat with a rod of molten glass you understand, it’s just that thing, when you realise that you can wind the glass onto the mandrel without big blobs of glass falling on the work surface or without burning your home down or without burning yourself, but a simple single colour wonky spacer bead is never enough. Lets face it, you’ve spent weeks looking at all the amazing and beautiful things that everyone here has produced, and you want to do the same. And it is with a certain amount of arrogance that you think to yourself “ It doesn’t look like that should be too hard to do.......” So you try it. This inevitably leads to rule number two:
There will be “faliures”.
Now, this is where it gets harder. Nothing that you produce with your own fair hands is ever really a faliure, but that can be difficult to believe when you are staring down at an enormous gob of yucky, mis-shapen, ugly glass and saying to yourself “That’s definitely not an angel, it’s more like a piece of dog p**” Well, take it from someone who has produced their fair share of p** looking beads, everything you produce is part of the journey, you learn something every time you wind that glass onto that mandrel, even if it’s what not to do next time. It’s all part of the journey. Try putting your first bead onto a piece of string, then add your second and third and so on. Your first few are bound to be entirely experimental (because of course you will be obeying the first rule), but you will see some progress, even at this early stage. Then every time you try a new technique, add the first bead to the string as a milestone marker for your journey. You will start to see just how quickly you do progress!
I have more rules to follow soon, (with pictures!) thanks for reading and happy lampworking!
You can find me on Etsy :)
www.veebeads.etsy.com
3 comments:
Congrats on your first article Vicki, I really enjoyed reading it and know exactly where you are coming from ;D It takes me back to my first chewing gum on a stick experiments too.
great post Vicky, you must have been reading my mind...... and lampaholic? Glassaholic? I would just say.....entirely useless when it comes to normality and everyday chores for the forseeable future and beyond!! I seem to live, breathe and sleep the glassy stuff. Not quite got to eating it yet, but......... ;-p
Don't give up your enthusiasm! I still have "wonky" beads I purchased over 10 years ago from newbie lampworkers, just to inspire them! Do you have Corina Tettinger's Book, passing the Flame? I highly recommend it, you can find it on her site at www.corinabeads.com. Best wishes & Happy Christmas, Diane of Spirit Artworks, pro jewelry designer & lover of all things glass. on fb at http://www.facebook.com/spiritartworks, or under diane crockett :)
Blessings from a Beadaholic!
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