Lori Greenberg Glass Bead Blog

I’m guessing that many of you reading here know what lampwork is and have seen how glass beads are made. If not, this weekend and next are great opportunities to see me in action at my torch. Starting tomorrow, Friday, through this weekend and next Friday, Saturday and Sunday is the huge studio tour going on in the Cave Creek/Carefree area. About 45 of us open our studios in the area, and hosting other artists, so each studio is like a mini show in itself and you get to see us working. I’m studio number 40.

One thing I love about this tour is it’s not a ‘hard sell.’ Not that I’ve ever done that anyway. It’s based on the foundation that this is something for people to learn about the arts. To feel comfortable seeing behind the scenes and hey, while you’re there, maybe pick up some holiday gifts or pieces to add to your own collection.

Speaking of holiday gifts…this tour has always been a great one for people since it’s right around the holidays. I promise to have something in a wide range of prices, gift boxes, and little cards to explain that each piece is a work of art and how it’s created. We’ll even help you to design and put together your own bead into a pendant with a matching neck cord, wire or ribbon.

Stop on by and start your holiday shopping early. Better yet, finish your holiday shoping early!

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Yesterday I talked about the rings and where I’m going with them.  I could have sworn that I wrote part two but I cannot find it anywhere!  In the meantime, this post pushed itself to the front so part two will have to wait a bit since this post feels very important to me today  and I’m working on flowing with what comes up at any given moment…and not just in creativity but life in general.

Lately I have been having this inner conflict about the ‘new’ work I’ve been creating.  It has been looking scarily like artists that I admire so I’ve been fighting it.  I have been telling myself:  NO!  But it hasn’t been working.  It is tortuous.

So I’ve decided to go easy on myself.  I once had someone tell me that I didn’t need ‘punishment’ or ‘reprimand’ because I do it to myself just fine.  I know what my intentions are and they are not to produce work like others.  That is good enough for me.  However, there is something going on that won’t leave me alone and I have to go with it.  If I don’t, and I continue to fight it, I will continue to be in turmoil.

On some level I know that if I give into it, it will dissipate and I’ll be on to the next thing.  The reverse of the whole ‘what you resist, persists’ concept.  I am no longer resisting.  I am letting go of the struggle.  If my work needs to look like others for a few sets of beads, so be it.  It’s a stepping stone.

The second link above is one example of my unintentional copy-cat beads.  Those beads led to these further experiments:

The funny thing is, I’m enjoying the process of layering these dots more than I am the actual beads.  It’s relaxing.  So, that’s where I am with that.  Out there in the open, admitting that it is what it is.

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I’ve been busy and probably not focusing as well on the things that I should be, with my studio tour show starting this weekend. Remember I wrote about the rings I was making for the show? Here are a handful more that I’ve created:

I like the earthy tones but I think I got Kerry Bogert stuck in my head last week. And when that happens, you just gotta let her out. She’s relentless.

They’re then epoxied onto a base of a Burgard Studio sterling silver adjustable ring band. The disks are silver cored and it’s not necessary, but it’s in there.

Here are more, waiting to be made into rings:

And here’s one that would have been really cool. I used a Lauscha Tri-Colored rod and I’m wondering if the layers of glass weren’t compatible? I’ll have to look into that.

Check out part two tomorrow about how this has spurred me forward in many ways…

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If you haven’t already seen it, check out Watch Me Create for the story behind how this bead series came about:

Not impressed?  You would be if you saw it in person.  There are LOTS of layers in that bead to get that really cool color!

Trust me.

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While I’m loving the glass rings, the adjustable bands need to be re-thought.  I like them for what they are (a lower price point item) but I want something that says GALLERY.  One thing I’ve learned is that, the more seriously you want to be taken, the more seriously you have to think and plan what you’re doing.

Libby L. wrote a post on Lampwork Etc about why her work was rejected by a jury.  Beautiful work but one important thing was that there were ‘mass produced’ components in the work like clasps and a couple charms.  The bottom line that I took away from that was…make everything yourself.  That has stuck with me and I’m working towards that goal.

So….

I was motivated to finally hook up this little baby:

It’s a Smith Little Torch that runs on propane and an extra oxygen concentrator I have. Yay!  I didn’t have to buy new equipment and I can’t believe I had all the parts I needed to hook it up with quick connects to my plumbed gas line.  It all seemed too easy.

But what does that have to do with the rings I’ve been making?  I also ordered some tubing and thicker ring bands so I can make my own ring bases with prongs.  The ‘grown up kind’.  No offense there to you all using adjustable ones but I think those won’t fare as well when going to a gallery or jury.  Tell me if I’m wrong.

I find it strange that as this economy is tanking that I’m taking it up a notch.  I know it has to be a part of this whole intention for 2009 thing.  The only way I’m going to reach my goal is to think bigger and better.  It’s all falling into place.  More custom components, as opposed to buying them.  More craftsmanship instead of assembling pre-made pieces.  More thought and designing instead of stringing and simple solutions.

I’m excited about doing more silver work and hopefully the PMC component will kick in too.  One thing at a time!

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