About
My favorite style is a hybrid that crosses conventional glassblowing with the use of lampworking torchs. I begin by gathering glass on a pipe, then marver, block and shape it at on gaffers bench. Next I'll take it over to the table burner for doing my actual detail work, before finishing up -once again- back over at the glory hole. I got into glasswork one day after stumbling upon some YouTube videos of folks making cool little glass beads. Soon I had my first torch after a visit to a local shop Studio 34 Beads, where Marilynn set me up with enough noobie gear to get started. Of course, cracked beads necessitated the purchase of a small annealling kiln, (opening the door for slumping & fusing), followed later by a bigger torch, then a bigger kiln, then an even bigger torch, so on and so forth... and you get the idea. |
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| I
read, watch and experiment, thankful to have my day job in
IT to finance the
equipment and supplies used to create a variety of items. I'm lucky
to be able to do so without being subject to shop rental, other
people's schedules or the pressures of having to turn some kind of
profit. Perhaps upon retirement, all this stuff can move into a
dedicated
studio space and then I can go at it
full-time. As for training: I've mastered how to do everything the wrong way and really hope to get in on some classes. Sad for me though, all the ones calling out to my interests, all seem to be on the West Coast. <sigh> so in the meantime, I just strive to improve with more lessons-by-book, mail-order DVDs and of course... loads of YouTube! I've even managed to return the favor of sorts, in helping others learn some new ideas & techniques by posting up a few videos of my own - check the Tutorials section for links. |
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