So this past weekend I went over to Atlanta for a glass class. This time it was Marcy Lamberson who makes whimsical sculptural beads. She is a super sweet lady who is also a great teacher. My goal for this class was to “learn stuff and have fun,” and I accomplished that goal.
I started getting sick on Friday so I ate plenty of pineapple and a few potato chips as well. I felt fine except that I kept sneezing, my eyes were watering, my nose was running… It made it a little difficult to focus on the beads, but I persevered. I was tired when I came back on Monday though. And, I am still a bit under the weather.
The beads we made included a little bird, a seashell, cactus, face, Viking, and a cat. My cat cracked while I was making it and ended up in the water. But the bead I’m most pleased with is the baby seal pictured here. This exercise came on day two and it was a 2-D or 3-D assignment. Marcy had some items we could pick from – both 2-D and 3-D. I picked a little seal replica and set about making the bead.
I have to admit that the seal looked kind of easy to make. It didn’t take long to realize that making a graceful shape with a vertical orientation is more difficult than I originally thought. I kept at it though, and I think I came up with a fairly close approximation to the model. This is significant because the bead wasn’t demoed. That is to say, Marcy didn’t make this bead and explain how to do it. It was up to me to figure out – and I did. Or at least I came real close.
This bead, like a couple of others I made, did crack though. It’s real hard to keep a bead warm without melting everything back into a blob and loosing all the details. It is very nerve-wracking for me – I get all tense while making the sculptural beads trying to keep them warm. This is definitely something I need to practice. And I will. I just found the little seal model online at The Big Zoo and I plan to make many more of them as well as some of the other animals.
I have to say that my confidence has definitely improved after taking this class. I can’t wait to feel better so I can get back on the torch and try some of these beads again. It feels a little bit like a whole new world of bead making has been opened up to me because now I can look at something and begin to pick out how to replicate it in glass. That’s super cool!
Sunday night I had dinner with Sarah – a super cool chick that I worked with a while ago. She regaled me with stories and said nice things about my beads. It was fun catching up with her and hopefully we will stay in closer touch. I can’t possibly describe her in a way that would do justice to her – stop by her blog for a glimpse into a truly unique life.
6 Comments
Oh, that cute baby seal! I don’t care what’s “wrong” with it, it’s adorable. And I’m glad of the sense of “play” you’re finding.
I checked out your friend’s blog, happened on the heart-breaking entry about having to accept that she wouldn’t have kids. I wished I had something helpful to say, but this didn’t happen to me, so I haven’t been there. It always surprises me, the depth of grief that inspires. A friend who ended up getting her daughter from China told me (just before they left to get her) that she was sorry to miss being pregnant, and her eyes filled with tears. In vain I tried to tell her it was nothing to miss, etc., etc… At about 3 months of age, the baby becomes truly a separate person, and you’re dealing with that for the rest of your life. If I hadn’t had children of my own, I’ve have adopted in a heartbeat…except, of course, They (the Powers That Be) have now made that really really difficult. Well, I feel for your friend; she does sound awesome.
Whenever I’m doing something & find myself holding my breath with tension, whatever I’m doing instantly becomes not-fun. I avoid sketching because of this; I hold myself to a ridiculous standard. Maybe I’ll learn to get past it sometime in my life.
Thanks for the compliment on the seal – I am happy with it for a first try.
Yeah, it’s sad that Sarah is giving up on the parenting thing – I think she would have made an incredible parent.
As far as the tension goes – I’m happy enough with the end result that I’m game to try it again. And, I know that the tension will ease as I practice this type of bead – I was very tense with the first bead I ever made, and that tension has gone away.
I love your drawings!
Robin, I didn’t know you were doing a seal! It came out very well even with the cracking (I agree, dealing with that is a bugger). I’m picking up my Sunday beads this afternoon after work and I can’t wait to see what they turned out like.
Thanks! Your beads looked great – big beads! (I got a chance to look at all the Sunday beads when I picked mine up Monday morning.) I think everybody did real well.
I THINK YOU DID AN EXCELLANT JOB ON THE BABY SEAL. I hope that you always enjoy your hobby so much.
I love the baby seal. I know that sculpting in glass, especially soft glass is frustrating. I still haven’t managed to make a decent looking frog on a bead yet. That is one of my goals of the year. You should try boro for sculpting sometime, it doesn’t flow as well as soft glass but it doesn’t crack like soft glass if you leave it out of the flame too long. Last night I went back to soft glass after working with boro for a few days and I managed to shatter some ivory glass all over the place.
Your friend seems cool. I would love to have an interesting friend like that but they are hard to come by around here. I read her blog about the not having a child subject. It seems a shame that there is a wacky woman out there that has 14 kids through artificial means but a wonderful person like your friend is unable to have one. Life seems so unfair sometimes. Maybe now that she has given up, she will become pregnant. It seems to always happen that way.