Upcoming Classes

I have really been a lousy blogger lately.  I am still here, still making beads.

Lots of changes have been happening in my life, but teaching and sharing my passion for glass remains the same.  

I will be teaching a two day class on Raking and Masking at the Third Degree Glass Factor on Saturday and Sunday, March 20 and 21 in St. Louis, Missouri - there are still a few spots left

You can register for this class here

Round Ottoman bead by Amy Waldman

Fall Catching Up

Time flies by.
August included a trip to visit family on the east coast, then teaching a five day class at Snow Farm in Massachusetts. 

One of my favourite places.  Marblehead, MA.  Low tide.  Couldn't find any hermit crabs this time. 

The lampworking studio is in a wee building - it was a very hot week

We torched and torched

There are dancers in the woods - and a kind of creepy dude too. 

I loved him!  I think  it would be amazing to spend a week playing with soldering hunks of metal

This is for Judy - could not resist

After Snow Farm I was thrilled to be able to attend the opening of Bear Paw Studios  Glass Stock East will be held here in mid October.  The studio is really fantastic.  I wrote a wee article for the ISGB newsletter which gave me a chance to sit down one on one with Brett.  Was amazing to get to know him a little better.

Eight Torch Stations

Sheet Glass!  and frit and rods and more!

The lobby/gallery is a wonderful warm space

Otto-Birdies

I made the first real Otto-Birdie at Snow Farm this summer.  These are a real melding of my work to date.  I am loving making them.  Selling these guys on Facebook for now.  (just in case you might be interested) 

ISGB Gathering

I am back from a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the annual ISGB Gathering.  ISGB stands for the International Society of Glass Beadmakers.  We are a fun loving bunch of glass melting (mostly) girls who gather once a year for education, laughs, glass melting, networking and selling our work.

I took all these guys with me and most of them found new homes.  They have flown the nest.  I must get to work on more. 

I was able to take a trip to the Acoma Pueblo, Sky City.  This pueblo is located on the top of a mesa and many of the people who live there are ceramic artists.  I was able to purchase a couple pieces of pottery and to connect with many of the artists. 

View from Sky City

It is a magical place. 

Old Town, Albuquerque

Words of Wisdom from my friend, Kim Edwards

Hands of the Maker exhibit (this is my work)

me having a good time selling at the Bead Fair

Gathering was amazing - it always is.  I am already looking forward to 2016 in New Orleans.

The Heart Bead Tutorial is finally done

Done.  Really done.  Well, I am sure I could keep on tweaking it.

But it is now available for purchase over on Etsy: 

Heart Bead Tutorial

A beginner’s guide to making beads in general and specifically about making Heart Beads.

I have been teaching introductory lampwork since 2003.  I have had the pleasure of introducing hundreds of women and a few men to the art of lampworking.  Playing with glass for the first time is a stressful and exciting time.  This Heart Bead reinforces many of the introductory techniques that a new beadmaker has just learned.  This Heart Bead Tutorial has grown out of my weekend introductory class.  This is often our first multi step bead and we usually do it on the morning of our second day together.

This tutorial is geared towards the beginning glass artist and contains instructions for many techniques including: pulling a stringer, starting your bead, heat control, dot and stripe application, working with silver wire and silver leaf, squashing, using heat to shape and more. 

This tutorial is a 6.0MB PDF file available for instant download.  

You ever have one of those days?

Weirdness.

Things that just don't add up.

I opened an email the other day.  It said you should send all your class requirements to your ex husband????

Really?  Why would I want to do that?

I look again.  Nope - that is what it says.  Getting ready for your upcoming class.  Send the ex what you need - again ?????  Why would he want to know that?  How does the studio even know his name.  None of this is making any sense to me.  But of course, I am having a small mind fart.  There could, possibly, be more than one man with that name.

Indeed, I was not married to the dreadlocked fellow that works at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. 

You can see all the details for my class on their website (or by clicking right here).  I am very excited to be teaching in Pittsburgh from the 8-12th of June, 2015. 

I guess I will get to meet the dreadlocked dude when I get there :)

Time is flying again - Arizona - January 2015

Goodness my last post was early December of last year.  Where does the time go?

It is a very cold winter in the Toronto area so far.  But I escaped for 10 days to Arizona recently.

Had the great pleasure of teaching four classes at The Melting Point in beautiful Sedona, Arizona.  The weather was perfect, The studio set up is gorgeous.  Wonderful hosts, Erin and Mike McMillen.  Mike took me out really early one morning in his big red jeep to do some off roading in the beautiful red hills.  I think I was pretty brave about the whole thing - it really is beautiful out there in the hills. 

I also had the best students!  We playing with Tiny Beads, Trees and then two days of Raking and Masking. 

Then I headed south for a few days with family and friends and fossils at the Gem Shows in Tucson.
I LOVE those fossils.

I am already looking forward to teaching at The Melting Point again - I will be returning in May of 2016. 

Birds - more birds - really having too much fun here

I have been experimenting with the birdies.
I thought well, what if I try to make a fancy Ottoman bead and turn it into a birdie.
I tried and this is the result.

Ottoman Style Birdie

and here she is from above

You can see the patterning better from above.  She is a cute birdie, but it took forever to make the layered and raked portion for the plumage.  Then I lose and/or distort most of it leaving only a small portion showing.  In the end I really think this little gal may really truly be one of a kind, as I think I am unlikely to try this again.

I have also been thinking about different patterning for the plumage.  This time I made really plain plumage and decorated it with a layered flower.  I like how this little gal turned out.

I am certainly still having fun with the birdies, but I am missing my beads too.  Planning to work out getting two torches available in the studio - the big debate it a Y connection or quick connects.  I am sure either will suffice in the end.  Then I can have my Minor back and still use the Bobcat to make birdies.       

The Birdie Saga Continues

So it seems I am still addicted to making birdies.
I have been tossing around some other ideas, but mostly I am making birdies.
Truthfully, life has been pretty busy and there has not been  much time for my torch lately.

There members of the flock were created in the last few weeks.
I am really enjoying the evolution of my birdies.  There have gotten so much better and now I am able to play with some embellishments.

First up are the blue birds of happiness.

Blue Birds of Happiness - October 2014

After these were created I had a small epiphany - what if I could separate the wings?  Flying birdies.

The results are not the prettiest of my birdies - but there are certainly possibilities if the wings can be separated from the body.

The Flyers - October 2014

And the last bunch - Birdies with hats.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  The long necked one is not quite as steady on her feet as I would wish her to be - she will have a wee leg adjustment next time I am on the torch - that should fix her up.

Birdies with hats - October 2014

Earlier this week I made a wee birdie with a flower on her back - she needs legs and annealing before getting her picture taken.

Stevi Belle and her wonderful lady beads

When I first started making beads there were many beadmakers out there whose work I thought was "all that".   Stevi Belle's work was top of my list.  She hails from the western part of the USA - not someplace I was going to very often almost 15 years ago.  I have always drooled over her beads and recently began a quest for one.  Recently my quest has paid off.

Stevi has not made beads in many years.  She moved onto other creative pursuits.  But I think that this lady bead has really stood the test of time. 

Stevi Belle Beads

 I did not realize until recently that she created her beads on a copper core that became part of the bead.  This allowed the glass to be quite thin. 

Top view of the Stevi Belle lady bead

I am fascinated by this process as I am by the lady beads.

In fact I found another one online - a beautiful red lady called Isadora who is on her way to me now.

How can a girl resist. 

Catching my Breath

Life has been a whirlwind lately.

I taught two back to back classes in Calgary, at Tiffany House. 

Wow!  I cannot say enough nice things about Irina Laird, Tiffany House, her family, the hospitality and all my students.  Well, I could complain about the weather.  It was September 10th - really too early for snow don't you think?  Well, it had been snowing for about three days at that point, the poor trees still had all their leaves.  The snow had frozen and then more snow arrived.  There were leaves and branches all over the place.  I don't seem to have any pictures of the snow or damage but this is my friend Angie's back yard the morning I arrived. 

Angie and Irina managed to make it to the airport to pick me up.  The snow ended as I arrived that afternoon.

All of my students were amazing.  I had a great time teaching. 

I arrived home and began getting ready for my next adventure - this time Glass Stock East.

Now Glass Stock is unlike anything I have ever participated in, except maybe summer camp.  It really felt like a really short, grown up sort of summer camp.

We had a hat contest.

We had a pajama contest.
These home made Canadian jammies won me a first prize!  Whoo Hoo for me - I received a Flow magazine and about half a pound of silver glass (Tag and Double Helix).  I think I was pretty brave to put these on, then torch in them and  now to share this picture with the world! 







I loved Glass Stock - I taught three classes.  I took three classes.  I played all the games and even snuck off to the ocean!  The ocean! 

Jodie McDougall teaching at Glass Stock.

Horse with No Name came to Glass Stock East

Horseshoe crab on the beach

Deb Crowley making the most amazing dichro fishie!

 Glass Stock was a total blast.  I am already planning on attending next year.  I so enjoyed meeting all the folks at Carlisle Glass and all the attendees. 

I am home for just a couple of weeks then heading off to Ottawa for their annual glass bead show.  The adventures continue.

I have been so busy that there was not official September photo - perhaps this week I can get one taken of some of the month's birdies.  Not too many beads were created in September.  Birds - oh so many birds.  I am still rather obsessed but having fun with them. 

The Official August Photo

August has mostly been about birds.  But at the start of the month, I was plodding along mostly as I had done before.

I found this cool site Design Seeds

I printed out the image and chose glass colours that went with it.

I made a few beads. 
But there seems to have been a turning point this month.
I began to make birds.
At first I thought I would go back to my August colours, but then one day I grabbed them and made a bird.  This is one of those Uglies - she is really not so pretty.  But here she is posing with the rest of her family. 

I am heading to Calgary next week to teach at Tiffany House.  Really excited!  Two 2-day classes.  We will have tons of fun.