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Welcome New Members!
Welcome to all the ISGB members who joined in January:
Alberta
Meghan Holland
California
Rachel Schutt-Mesrahi
Maryland
Minnette Miller
Michigan
Deborah Harowitz
Terry Nugent
Missouri
Andrew Mulina
New York
Shari Craft
Texas
Rae Dollard
United Kingdom
Mindy Macgregor
Virginia
Jan Osborne
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The Melting Point
Sedona, Arizona
ph.928-554-4754
The Melting Point is hosting two, 2-day Boro Compression Technique classes with John Kobuki in May 2016. Please check our website for more information to be announced soon and to sign up!
Upcoming classes include:
- Astrid Riedel - February 18-21 and 25-28, 2016
- Holly Cooper -
March 17-21, 2016
- Sara Sally LaGrand - April 20-24, 2016
- Amy Waldman - May 5-8, 2016
Beginning beadmaking and glass blowing classes available.
Paid Advertisement
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Rakow Research Library
A world of glass knowledge is at your fingertips. Check out the Rakow Research Library at Corning Museum of Glass!
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Bead Release Archives
Looking for a back issue of the Bead Release electronic newsletter?
Click Here!
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Contact Us ISGB Sarah Riggle, Administrator 85 East Gay Street Suite 707 Columbus, OH 43215 614.222.2243 admin@isgb.org :: |
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by Jeri Warhaftig, President
Does anyone remember the song from the sixties that began "What's it all about....?" (The answer is at the bottom of this column.) This month, my perspective on the meaning of what the ISGB is all about has been shaped by several singular moments:
- A brand new member told me that finding beads and the ISGB had "changed her life" because it gave her a community she could feel connected to.
- A longtime member told me that paying membership this year was a hardship. When I shared this anonymous member's predicament with six other members in an effort to solve the problem, all six of them privately offered to pay that unknown member's dues.
- One member underwent surgery, another lost a spouse, another had a big birthday. In each instance, clusters of members gathered together to send flowers, offer support, send cards.
- Finally, most personally, in early January a fire caused the evacuation of my son's apartment house for at least a week. Thankfully, no one was hurt. But he lives over 500 miles away and has just arrived in town. "Don't worry," I told him. "I will look over the ISGB membership list. We must have some member close to you who can offer a couch or sleeping bag. That is what we do for each other."
This month I have MY answer to what the ISGB is all about. Not beads, not glass, not art.....the ISGB is all about relationships. And because that is what we are all about, we are different from many other groups.
Gathering registration is about to begin and the Gathering will be here before we know it! Our booklet is SO beautiful and it describes the stunning array of events and educational opportunities offered this year in New Orleans. If you are coming, remember to pack BEADS and plan to attend the Bead Swap on Sunday evening. After the swap, you will return home with little treasures that are your link to ISGB members worldwide. The swap isn't just about the swapped beads, it is about that feeling of connection to another person that happens when you smile over their beads, when they admire yours, when you commiserate about not enough time to torch, and when you exchange emails, or addresses. This year, for the first time, members who cannot come to the Gathering will have a chance to swap beads, and form connections with other ISGB members.
Relationships are more valuable than beads. This year, the first 100 members who are NOT attending the Gathering, and who sign up in the thread on the ISGB Gathering Facebook page will participate in the ISGB bead swap. It is open to members worldwide, and the only expense is your beads and the cost of postage. This is a chance to have some fun, get some beads, and maybe forge some new relationships. It a chance for members who can't physically attend to "virtually" participate in a memorable and rewarding aspect of our annual Gathering.
I hope to see you at the Gathering. But if that isn't in your plans this year, consider signing up for the ISGB Bead Swap. Sign ups will begin on February 24, 2016 in a special SWAP thread that I will begin. All of the little details of the mechanics will also be on the ISGB Gathering Facebook page, so be sure to join the page soon! It's a new venture, there will likely be a few glitches along the way. Focus on your fellow members, even more than on their beads or those "glitches", and then see what happens!
P.S. - In 1966 the title song for the movie "Alfie" began, "What's it all about, Alfie?" It was sung by many including Cilla Black, Cher, Dionne Warwick and Barbra Streisand. In a movie about the struggle to commit, it ends, "When you walk let your heart lead the way, and you'll find love any day, Alfie."
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Glasshopper Chronicles - Part 1
Signature Style
by Ann Scherm Baldwin, Director of Education
This is the first in a series of articles I'd like to write to share my thoughts about the journey we all make as we develop our skills as beadmakers.
As a beginning beadmaking teacher of many years, it's not unusual to hear a student tell me, "I'm trying to develop my own signature style!" We probably all remember the enthusiasm, passion and obsession we felt when we first started melting glass into what we thought were beautiful, shimmering jewels. (Even if they did, in retrospect, look a bit more like lopsided blobs.)
After the initial excitement of actually getting the glass to start to behave, many new beadmakers start to think about how to create beads that will showcase their own talents, interests and unique style. A novice beadmaker's pursuit of that elusive "Signature Style" becomes the focus of their journey, but that road is a dead end. Well, maybe not a dead end, because you can learn much along the way on any road you travel, but maybe I should say that to try to purposely pursue a signature style is counterproductive.
I like to use the following metaphor to explain how I see the journey to developing your own signature style:
We all start out in Kindergarten learning how to print our alphabet in block letters. The goal is to make them look as close as possible to the ones the teacher shows us.
A couple years later, we are taught to write in cursive. (This would be before the age of computers and keyboards. I may have to change my metaphor eventually.) The fancy swoops and swirls of script are a nice change from the block letters, but again, we are encouraged to make our letters uniform, legible and just like the examples shown us.
But once we reach the pre-teen years, all bets are off, as far as following the rules! We write our letters without even thinking about them, except for when we're doodling around and purposely trying out different looks. At this point, we are experimenting with different styles, trying hard to make our handwriting express our individuality. Sometimes these experiments look rather contrived, and often a little over the top; other times while our mind is somewhere else, and our handwriting becomes almost illegible.
Sometime during high school, our handwriting is looking less like everyone else's, and starting to become more recognizable as our own. By the time we're in our twenties, our handwriting finally settles into a pattern that is completely unique, and easily distinguished by a handwriting expert as different than anyone else's. The act of writing, how we form letters, the slant of our penmanship, all these things become second nature after so many years of practice, and finally, we have our own, individual and unique "signature".
The good news is, it (probably) won't take you 20 years to develop your signature style in beads. But it won't happen in six months either - it is the result of the 3 P's (practice, practice, practice) and not trying to make it happen. It isn't something that you can announce to the world that you've decided on: "This is my signature style!". After all, it's not a signature style if you're the only one who "recognizes" it, is it? As long as you continue to work on your form, hone your techniques, and try everything that comes to mind, your signature will develop quite naturally, along with your beadmaking skills.
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Exhibition Overview: Eunsuh Choi at Nazareth College Arts Center
by Heather Behrendt, Northeast Regional Director
I've admired Eunsuh Choi's work ever since she was a presenter at the 2010 Rochester Gathering. I was thrilled to find out her work would be on display, free to the public, just a short drive away from home.
With the promise of lunch afterwards, I even got my husband to come with me. The exhibit was held in the Nazareth College Arts Center. After some directions, we entered the glass doors to the quiet room where the Eunsuh's sculptures awaited us.
We walked in to see the artist's statement printed on the wall. Eunsuh explains how her work symbolizes the spiritual essence of human ambition using recurring symbols such as ladders, trees, clouds boxes and houses. In her work, she is trying to create a physical representations of having a personal moment of revelation.
For those of you unfamiliar with Eunsuh Choi's work, it is made entirely from clear borosilicate. The only variation in color I find is the sandblasted portions of the glass. Many of us in the beadmaking world are drawn towards color as evidenced by the Katwise sweater coats and bright dyed fabrics I often see in my Facebook feed. So it is very different from the artwork I usually see. The first thing I always notice about Eunsuh's work is the scale of it. Her work ranges from the size of your head to an installation in Corning with dimensions of about 11 feet. The sculptures in this exhibit were all between two and four feet.
Beyond the first few pieces of glass, there was a projector with a short video of how these works of art were created. She uses a small handheld torch to join rods of clear glass together in grid patterns, working piece by piece, building each sculpture a little at a time.
One of my favorite things about this way of working is how the whole of the sculpture is more than the sum of its parts. I feel that we beadmakers can often relate: when we are building a piece of jewelry we might use a lot of really simple spacers or dot beads in such a way that it comes together to create something fabulous.
In each of the ten or so sculptures in the room, I find myself staring at the flawless grid of glass. "How are these so perfect?" I keep asking myself. There really is something meditative about the repetition of the patterns in  clear glass. I found many repeating symbols of ladders and trees like the artist statement described.
Finally we reached the largest piece in the center of the room that stood alone. This one was the tallest in the room, towering at least a foot over me. I can't imagine how many hours must go into making each joint in these complex grids, ladders and trees.
One of the fun parts about this mini expedition was watching my husband go from indifference to fascination when we entered the room. He ended up taking all the pictures and asked me if I had any clear boro at home that he could play with.
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by Amy Waldman, ISGB Member
Hi, let me introduce myself. I am Amy Waldman. Long time ISGB member. I have been making beads since 2001 and teaching others to work with glass since 2003. If you have any tips you would like to see shared here or any topics you would like to see covered please let me know. I can be reached by email at amy.waldman.glass@gmail.comMarvering:
Have a light touch. This is my best advice. It is so very easy to make a bead off-centre by marvering. I usually have a really hard time getting it back on center after this happens. I have found that it is better to marver in small increments. This way if I mess up I only mess up a little bit and, hopefully, it is correctable.
Here are my suggestions:
Hold your marver lightly in your non dominant hand about level with your chin. This way you can watch what is going on and by not resting the marver on anything you can feel how hard you are pressing onto the marver as you will push down the hand that is holding up the marver.
Marver in small increments. I am often marvering to flatten an image or pattern on a bead. I want the bead to stay centered on the mandrel, but I need the design to be melted in. My bead (hopefully) starts out round; I add my decorations and then only heat the outside of the bead. Then, when I marver, the solid core of the bead is unmovable and it is next to impossible to make the bead off center.
To marver back and forth or to skid in one place? I marver in one direction along the length of my marver. I use a 3" by 5" marver and often marver diagonally from one corner to the other in order to get just that little bit of extra marvering room. By rolling gently in one direction (like a plane taking off I often tell students) and then back again instead of skidding in place my design does not change with the marvering.
Dots:
Instructions often say make a series of dots all the same size - really - sounds good, but how? Here are some tips to help with that.
Only heat the very tip of your rod of glass, so that the entire hot gather becomes your dot. If more glass than you need gets hot, take that rod out of the flame and let it cool down. You can marver it to speed up that process.
Keep that base bead nice and sold - no glow - out of the flame. Apply the wee gather of hot glass onto the solid bead. I like to keep the bead really, really close to the flame, but not in it.
Let your dots cool slightly and then reheat so they just begin to melt. Now assess these dots - I find that before melting slightly they are all different shapes and it is difficult for me to assess if they are the same size.
Add glass - let dot cool (no glow) add a dollop of glass onto dot.
Removing glass - heat dot and warm the rod of glass you just used to make the dots, then touch rod to dot, lift up rod and you will take away glass from your dot. I have found that this is a cleaner way to remove glass over using my tweezers.
Remember to give that bead some love (heat it up) every few dots, as its core will be cooling as you are adding dots.
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Industry News & Opportunities
by Kendra Bruno, Executive Director
Check out Style Slam, the new program that pairs professional local stylists with talented clothing, accessories, and jewelry artists. Bead Dreams A juried competition of exceptional bead artistry from around the world. The outstanding piece among category winners receives a Best in Show trophy and a $1,000 gift certificate from Fire Mountain Gems and Beads.
Bead&Button Show The largest consumer bead show in the world offering a myriad of educational opportunities. 2016 registration is now open. Beads of Courage An Opportunity to have your beads travel the Iditarod and support Beads of Courage
Frenchman Art Market New Orleans' only weekly nighttime art market featuring original art, jewelry and crafts by local and regional artists. Glass Craft & Bead Expo Annual event in Las Vegas featuring specialty classes in hot, warm and cold glass as well as a show floor offering the latest glass, kilns, tools and specialty items. Heidi Lowe Gallery Earrings Galore 2016. The objective of this exhibition is to show rich and diverse examples of earrings by studio jewelers. ISGB Hands of the Maker II: Collaboration In this exhibition, the artistic focus will be on the exploration of the cooperative hands that contribute to a successful collaboration Museum of Glass In an experiment to harness the power of social media, visitors and online fans selected works of art for this exhibition. Peters Valley School of Craft Maker Moxie: The Impact of the Craft School Experience. Craft schools provide experiences that are thought provoking, inspiring, and often transformative. Rakow Library A reminder of the amazing resources available at this world class facility. The Toledo Museum of Glass When founder Edward Drummond Libbey moved his family's New England Glass Works in 1888 from Massachusetts to Ohio, he set the stage for Toledo to become the Glass City. Toolbox Initiative A volunteer effort created by jewelers Matthieu Cheminée and Tim McCreight to assist jewelers with limited resources through the collective strength of the arts community and to create new connections worldwide.
AmazonSmile benefits ISGB and as an Amazon customer, you can select our organization. Support ISGB while you shop!
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The ISGB is the leading organization for the promotion, education, and appreciation of the art of glass beadmaking for wearable, sculptural, and functional art.
Our mission is to preserve the rich and diverse traditions of the art of glass beadmaking and glassworking techniques; promote educational initiatives and professional development; and encourage innovative use of complementary mediums among artists and craftspeople.
We invite you to join us on our journey through collaborative creativity in the worlds of glass and complementary mediums.
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