The Science of Color

So I took on this custom bead order for a ton of time-consuming-layers-upon-layers-beads. Luckily I really do love this style. I thought I would be bored by now but I'm not but what I am is fruuustrAAted!

In my enthusiasm on getting such a big order I didn't think enough about the color combinations I was asked to do.... so now I find myself trying to come up with alternatives/variations on some of these. I should have been done with these but now I find myself trying to figure out how to layer certain colors without having them bleed onto each other. That is the science part of lampworking. I haven't explained this to my customer about layering certain colors and how they will react. I was trying to see this as a puzzle that I would somehow solve. Now many of these colors would be stunning together in a different design but I was trying to have multiple layers and keep nice crisp lines. it just doesn't always happen the way you picture. urrrr

This is what happens when you combine green and blue-

Some of the blue and green came out better then others. When combined with a white layer to seperate the two it was easy to make a consistently good bead with this pattern.

I didn't know black and grey would prove to be this difficult:

This color combination, no matter what order the colors were in, they just didn't want to behave. They play nice when they aren't layered or you don't need crisp lines like I was trying to do.

Now these blue and white just looove making crisp lines when layered-they really get along splendidly!

here are a few more that just sing when they are together....

I certainly learned a lot from doing these - there are many more examples you can see up on my flickr page, anyway I'm off , its lunch.

Feedback Anxiety

I know I know , I just need to have confidence in my abilitites. If I feel good about what I'm making and someone decides to buy it by looking at the pictures and description then what do I have to worry about? I DON"T KNOW! I worry though. I hope over time as I get more feedback that I will be less anxious. I have very few sells and if I was to get even 1 negative feedback against me I think it would ruin my business on Etsy. I know I will make beads no matter if my mother is the only person that wants them but I still need want recognition from fellow beaders .
Why is this coming up ? Well, I'm waiting on some feedback from a few buyers and everyday and every time I sit in front of the computer I have to check for feedback. I hate waiting. I would rather be in my studio aka the garage but as of late, turning on the kiln in 90 degree weather only turns my garage into a furnace. So I wait. Cooler weather, time alone, guilt to subside, ( yes guilt I'm a mom/wife and when I want to be alone I sometimes have to get past the guilt)
So on my wish list for my studio this year would be an air conditioner and heat in the winter. This is a very expensive habit.

Hello?!.....hello......hello......hello

So I'm finally back in my studio! Yippee! Whoo! hoo! It really does feel good. Not so much physically though. I need to figure out a better working position. My neck tends to get sore on the left, hmmmm. Anyway, I've been working on making bead sets and I am happy to say I've reached a marking point in my abilities. I can finally make duplicates! OH! I also made a cute little frog today, which I really had no interest in doing until recent. Its much harder then it looks. Fish are much easier. At least the goofy ones I make. They all have pouty red lips. I just thought of something, putting hair on my fish! ha! I'll try it tomorrow.
I finally put some beads and jewelry pieces on Etsy. Different from what I had up before- we'll see how they do. I love them and hopefully someone else will too.

A process, a pattern or how I operate in stages

I don't know how to balance my time - I find that I'm holed up in my garage, focused on making beads for a good part of my day- but at the same time I don't feel like I get enough time where I'm actually sitting and making beads. I also can't sit longer then a couple of hours, which is probably a healthy habit but I do envy those that sit for 6-8 hrs at a time- does that include bathroom breaks? Lunch?
(This is after I get the kids off to school) Usually I start my morning ritual with taking out yesterdays beads from the kiln and soaking those. Then starts the process of turning on the concentrator, starting the kiln again, turning on the propane and setting the pressure and then back into the house for coffee and breakfast. By this time it's 10am and I start to feel a twinge of panic; I only have a few more hours before the kids are home from school. If there is anything else going on that day, grocery shopping, appointments, school functions, meeting friend, the gym, which there is always something, then that takes away from my torch time. I find myself repeating "its ok, there is always tomorrow" I try to remind myself it isn't just what I did today but the accumulation of my efforts that will give the true picture.

Let me start this by saying...

Yes! I am a beginner lampworker. I've sold a few beads. I even have a little online shop that has been ignored lately by me and buyers. I'm hoping its just because I haven't been listing beads in a long while. hmmm.... time to relist? mark down?
!! So today I got a copy of Passing The Flame By Corina Tettinger!! Finally !! I've been wanting this book for a few years now but I kept spending all my money on glass.... anyway I immediately begin reading it as fast as I could - (I even started from the beginning) but as I'm going through the techniques I soon realize that alot of what is gone over (not all of it) I figured out on my own or picked up from forums. I have to say Corina has a wicked sense of humor, her style and technique is impeccable and I highly respect her.
I am still extremely happy I got the book but what I realized was that; 1) I love figuring things out for myself ! There is a real excitement and satisfaction of saying Aha! That's how you do that! I enjoy the process of discovery. Like a child figuring out something on there own rather then having mommy or daddy do it for them. Not to say that some direction is useful but I try when I can to get it on my own. 2) I'm glad I didn't get this book sooner but I know I have a lot of practicing to do!- I am far from having technical effortlessness. I think I would consider that bead making nirvana. ommmmmnnn

When inspiration doesn't come

Well I have been fortunate enough to have a handy husband to help me realize my dream. I now have a lampwork studio with the best ventilation I could ask for. Its not pretty and its in my garage but hey! I've got music and a torch and glass whoo! whoo! excitement! or so I thought. So after a seemingly long and arduous hiatus from torching I finally sat at my new work station feeling anxious to start. Well I sat there waiting for inspiration , far too long I thought, after weeks of bead ideas floating through my head and even dreaming of it and not being ableto find relief, I just sat there and stared at all the glass rods hoping for a color to jump out at me but they all just starred blankly at me. So when that didn't happen I decided that maybe I needed to get warmed up so instead of waiting and starring back I decided I needed to practice and I gave myself a few assignments to complete. Just the basics; dots, encasing, florals and then something clicked, inspiration started seeping back in and I felt like I was getting back into the swing of things.
It amazes me how quickly I got out of the rhythm of making beads, cleaning them, photographing them, posting them. It was a bit effortless. Now I have a bunch of beads that need to be inspected and cleaned and possibly photographed. Well I guess for now I'll just do what inspires me! Eventually I'll clean and photograph my little beauties till then you'll just have to wonder what I'm making...

Wednesday is here and my studio isn't

Well I said Wednesday would be the day for getting my studio up and running well unfortunately I didn't look at the weather report when I wrote that and it stormed all day -hail, thunder, lightning, rain! ERRRR....
On a brighter note, I had my first international sale on Etsy.
Well I wrote the above paragraph on Wednesday and left it in my draft folder. So now its Saturday night. My sweetie is sprawled out on the couch watching the Sharks (hockey). Being on the East coast now he records all his west coast hockey games. So here we are its late, the kids are in bed and asleep and I'm spent! Emotionally and physically drained. I should be ecstatic or the very least relieved. Why? My ventilation is finally together and complete ! I haven't tested it yet and I suspect that is why I'm holding back the champagne. My sweet sweet husband spent a good part of the day on the roof putting up a vent cap - no he's never done this before and even though he did a very thorough job he will worry about it leaking until the day we move out. What was I doing? I was hunched over, balancing myself on the rafters in the attic so as not to go through the ceiling. And at the same time I was trying my damnest to connect ducting from the cap to the blower and I just couldn't get it to work. After cutting up my hands and getting snappy with Scott I finally had to just cry. Being the sweetie that Scott is he came to my rescue and finished the job for me. So now he's watching the hockey game and he's got the whole coach to himself and he doesn't even have to feel bad for it. Well I've eaten way to many cherry cream filled hershey kisses and a too big glass of wine.
Sleep is needed and a fresh perspective. I may even finally light my torch tomorrow.

What to do when you are in a lampwork Limbo

I have a new mantra for today "By Wednesday" I will repeat this every time an idea for a bead pops into my head or when I start to feel a bit cantankerous because my studio is in pieces and I can't make the beads that are bouncing around in my head.
I will also visualize myself sitting under my new hood with its perfect dimensions and my new exhaust fan sucking all the horrible fumes away from my face and me making perfect beads with a perfect flame that isn't being blown around by the fan at my back or the wind coming through the open garage. I will finally be able to sit for hours without getting fed up by the number of flies, mosquitoes, you name it, whatever is attracted to my blood and light. I will no longer have crazy June bugs dive bombing into my flame and knocking into everything. I will finally have my studio in my own nirvana.