News & Information Sharing

Butterflies in the stomach, irrepressible, uncontainable excitement and the inability to sleep - yup, when Astrid Riedel fell for glass, she fell deep, and for life...

Jewellery had always been a part of Astrids life. Even before she touched her first lentil press or glass bead, she had completed schooling and a four year apprenticeship to become a qualified goldsmith. But she still remembers the excitement of discovering her true passion in August of 2003.

"Glass blowing was something elusive for me, and when I stumbled upon glass bead making I was so excited I could hardly sleep. I still suffer from the same things, really!" she says.

There was just something about the way glass was so fragile and yet so rigid and then suddenly, under a flame, could become soft and flowing - but only for a few rare moments. It was fascinating.

Astrid had always had a creative streak, and a long - and impressive - list of hobbies: sewing, cooking, baking, oil and watercolour painting and decoupage (on ostrich eggs), so it's little wonder that when she did find glass, the results were impressive. 

However getting to where she is today wasn't all raw natural ability.

 "Just like anything you want to excel in, it takes 10% talent and 90% time, effort and practice, practice, practice," she says as she recalls the hours she spent learning her craft.

"I am basically self-taught," she explains, "there was just nobody in South Africa to teach me...at least no one I was aware of, and I only became aware of forums later."

However she does pay homage to the indispensible works of Bandam Dunham and Cindy Jenkins which were ever by her side, and the artistry of Jayne LeRette, whose "pleated" beads designs had an instant and everlasting effect, and Manuela Wutschke whose fantastic colour sense and use of enamel continue to inspire.

By studying these artists and spending time with glass, she began to experiment and combine transparents with opaques to achieve the depth and texture that each of her beads is so well known for.

"I learned patience," she laughs, "[beadmaking] is all about heat control and understanding what the possibilities are with glass."

Now when she creates her beads, she allows her creativity and her knowledge to mix.

"Because my beads are a lot about texture, depth and colour, I don't design them on paper. I have a feeling of what I want to create, I choose my colours, but often I allow the bead to lead me too," she explains.

"It takes a lot of experience to understand what will or won't work together, I allow myself to experiment, even if it is not a success I will have learned something. I find this very important if you don't allow yourself to make "mistakes" you will not grow and develop your own style or create new and exciting textures."

However she tells aspiring beadmakers that it's equally important to focus, "you need to look for this within yourself, don't blow in the wind with each new style, it only confuses you!"

"I am talking from my own experience of course," she adds with a smile.

In terms of glass and favourite tools, Astrid names Double Helix and Moretti (all COE 104) and says she couldn't get by without her Tungsten tweezers and pick or her lentil or crunchy press.

You can find her masterpieces on Etsy and Ebay, and you can find Astrid herself in South Africa with her husband, two children and Sherlock (the dog)...although she does take time out to travel and teach her skills in other countries.  Why not join Astrid's blog and keep in touch with her work.  Be inspired by Astrid work on her Flickriver Photostream.

TAMMY'S TAKE ON THE TIGER BEAD

Ira Glass in this You Tube Video by Public Radio International talks about the process of creativity.  He is talking about storytelling but his words apply to any creative endeavour, including our craft. Truly inspiring words and definitely worth the time of a listen.  

Ira Glass: ... "Nobody tells people who are beginners, and I really wish somebody had told this to me, is that if you're watching this video you're somebody who wants to make videos, right? And all of us who do creative work like, you know, we get into it and we get into it because we have good taste. Do you know what I mean?

 So you've got really good taste and you get into this thing that I don't even know how to describe but its like there's a gap. That for the first couple of years that you're making stuff, what you're making isn't so good, OK?  It's not hat great. It's really not that great.  It's trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, bit it's not quite that good".....  

Watch the Ira Glass Video on YouTube here and see the transcript of his words on "You Transcript" here    

MOMKA COLOURED BOROSILICATE 

Don't you just love hot pinks and soft glass so often disappoints. Momka's Violet Hue delivers! Jenny Friskie-Bauer has some amazing examples of Violet Hue on the Momka Site.  Take a look here.  No wonder people love boro so much!   

See more Momka eye candy on the Momka website here.   

Lampwork etc has a thread on some Momka colour here  and Wet Canvas has a thread on some Momka colour testing here.  

See the range of Momka on our store here 

Firstly let me say that I may not be the best person to write this tutorial. There are many more experienced marble makers out there. I guess I was just the foolish one that said yes. I have been working glass for 2½ years now and making marbles that whole time. It is a wonderfully challenging form to work and always a pleasure when it works well. Most people that make marbles work in borosilicate glass. There are some very good reasons for this. It is less prone to thermal shock, stiff to work, easily rounded and takes gold and silver fume well. With this in mind I chose to work soft glass (foolish again?) and that is what I would like to share with you.

This tutorial will be delivered over 3 weeks in order for those of you that have never felt safe without a mandrel to develop your skills. I am aiming these tutorials at bead makers that have decided that they might like to branch out into sculptural work, but they might also be useful to sculptural artists that have not tried to make marbles before. This week we will make a basic clear marble of about 1" diameter.

Tools:

Torch (Propane/Oxygen)

 Tweezers

 Marble mould(s)

 Kiln

Glass:

1 x 8-9mm Effetre Special Clear rod

 2 x 5-6mm Effetre Special Clear rod

Preparation:

Melt the ends of both of the 5-6mm rods and place onto a rod rack to cool.

Gathering the glass:

This marble is simply a gather of glass, but gathering glass on the end of a rod is a skill that you will need to master for all marbles you might want to make.   Start with a 8-9mm rod of clear glass and melt the tip.  Be prepared for the larger rods to spit a bit until they get hot.  If the glass was cut to length to begin with it is always a good idea to remove the end of the glass with tweezers to avoid the scummy mark that cut ends often leave.

Download the .pdf of this tutorial here 

Jeannie Cox demonstrates how to do a soft glass implosion in this YouTube video.  

The photography is clear and she includes text so you understand exactly what she is doing.

A worthwhile video to watch for those that would like to extend their skills.   Watch the video here 

STASHMASTER GLASS DATABASE

Deb Dunkerton is an Australian lamporker that has given a wonderful and very valuable tool to the lamporking community.  In case you missed it when I featured it before or have not heard about it yet, here is a rundown of what Deb has developed and how you can get this fantastic tool.  Oh, and its FREE for the moment but in a couple of weeks Deb is going to be selling it for $20 on Etsy.  So get in quick. That said, Deb is accepting donations, if you are inclined. All the details are in the thread.    

StashMaster is a Microsoft Access database application that lets you organise your glass, it evolved from a need to be able top print labels for my glass rods.

• StashMaster comes pre loaded with every available glass I could find, every manufacturer, colour and Coe
• It lets you keep track of all your glass - rods, frit, powders, sheet, etc - so you can simply have a list of all the glass you have without listing quantities or weights etc
• Additionally, it lets you track quantities by any unit of measure you choose and you can mix the UOM, so you can keep glass from one manufacture in pounds, while you keep another by rod or oz or bag etc
• You can create a list of labels; export the information to a spreadsheet (Excel), using that you can then print labels in any format or label size you choose. (see separate instructions for label printing)
• You can create and print wish lists to help you place orders with suppliers
• You can keep track of issues, problems, techniques and experiments via the comments and torch notes sections
• You can tag any glass with an unlimited number of attributes - i.e. silver, striking, opalino etc. The database already contains more than twenty different attributes but you can create more as you come across new ones.
• You can upload up to 12 images - these can be anything you choose, pictures downloaded from suppliers, images of your own beads or paddle shots
• You can add new glass colours as they become available, you can also add new manufacturers, COEs, glass types, attributes, UOM.
• You can delete colours you don't use or you've duplicated
• You can export lists to Microsoft Excel of all the information in the database so you can then use the data for costing or other programs
• Best of all, even if you are totally disorganised like me, you can give the impression that you truly have it all together because goddammit - you have a database!  

There is a lot of folk lore about annealing circulating in the lampworking world and I think a little explanation of the process might help clear the air.  Annealing is the process of removing strain from the glass which manifests in the glass as stress which can cause it to break.  You might have heard terms like "strain point" and  "annealing point". These are two important temperatures in glass.  Annealing takes place when the glass is hot enough for free electron movement but not hot enough to deform under its own weight. When glass deforms under its own weight this is called "the softening temperature".  Annealing will occur when the piece of glass being annealed is at the same temperature all the way through. In this state there is no strain or stress. The problem is to cool the glass to room temperature without introducing new stress. In theory the glass must cool without producing a temperature gradient within its self, something almost impossible to do.

The strain point is important here as it is the temperature below which no new stress can be induced into the glass. Only temporary stress can occour below this temperature and as long as the temperature gradient is not too steep the glass will survive. New stress can be introduced after annealing only during the drop in temperature between annealing temperature and strain point, this is where most care needs to be taken.

Establishing these temperatures can be quite difficult as everyone you ask will give you a different temperature for annealing a particular glass. You can find some of them however if you search the glass company web sites

For example:

Bullseye states 516 DegC

Spectrum-------510 DegC

Effetre----------470 DegC (in its catalogue, however 480 is ok)

 Others can be found if you search hard enough. If not then this is where your trusty Polariscope comes in. This is a device which consists of two linear polarising filters and a light source. To use you place one filter on the light source (assume a light box here) and hold the other above it and rotate it until you cut off as much light as possible. Glass placed between the two filters at this point will show zones of colour if stressed. This is a very important tool if you wish to work glass, both for checking annealing and for checking compatibility.

Beads placed in a kiln for batch annealing can withstand a rise in temperature of 300-400 degrees per hour. Soaking at annealing temperature need only be a few minutes, 10-15. Cooling to below strain point needs to be only a few minutes with beads and most kilns cool slowly enough to room temperature not to cause breaking due to thermal shock. If not, then a kiln shelf placed in the bottom of the kiln will slow it down.

Kilns are not all the same and you should test your kiln by making a very large bead from clear glass and cooling it in the air. When it is cold, check it with your Polariscope and you will see the lines of stress. Place it in the kiln and run your annealing cycle. When cool again check with the polariscope and if annealed your bead will now be clear with no lines of stress. Check your kiln for 'softening temp' as well. Place several rods of glass in your kiln supported on something at each end so they are above the floor and all the same length. Run the kiln up to your annealing temperature and look in. The rods should still be straight. Take the temperature up another 20 DegC and have another look. Do this until the glass bends and  note the temperature. This is obviously the softening temperature and too high for annealing.

 It is a good idea not to make beads from one type of glass on the same day you work with another glass because the annealing temperature for Bullseye for example is in the softening range for Effetre and way above the softening range of Satake. The other cute little piece of folk lore is "flame annealing". Forget it! It doesn't exist!  Think about the annealing process and you will see why. You can also place your beads into the kiln at any temperature between softening and strain point with impunity as once in the kiln they will assume the temperature of the kiln and be annealed. Often that last quick flash in the flame will crack your bead. If you follow a tried and true annealing schedule and one day a bead breaks then that is just one of those things. Nothing is perfect. You have some sort of incompatability in the bits of glass you used. Impurities don't always show.   See Bernie's website here