new year, new focus

Happy New Year to everyone!  With school holidays dragging on, it's hard to sneak away to the studio and play with glass.  However, I have managed to get some pieces entered into the "Bead Archeology" exhibition.  I chose Blaschka as a focus area and, being a relative newbie to lampworking (1 year part time so far), this was hugely ambitious in hindsight.  Glass sculpture could be considered the holy grail of lampworking - so much to think about but particularly controlling the heat and understanding which part of the flame you're working under.  In any case, exhibitions are an important part of establishing oneself in the art field and time and experience will no doubt prove to be an asset.

So as to the program for this year.  I've been thinking long and hard about this.  There are a few glass bead & jewellery makers out there (I won't name names of course!)  who seem content copying what everyone else is doing and has done.  They may be technically skilled, have sleek looking websites but their work is well, boring!  Go on to Etsy and see hundreds of other people doing the same thing.  The disconcerting thing too is that the prices being charged by some of these bead and jewellery makers is absurdly cheap.  When you consider the cost of sterling silver findings, time spent making the beads and assembling the final piece, these people can't be making any money.  Seriously, what is the point?  Also, it drags down the glass bead category as a whole which is still gaining momentum in NZ.

Someone told me recently that Lisa Walker is NZ's most highly regarded jewellery designer.  I hopped on her website and well, I can see why.  Her work is highly original, stimulating and provocative.  Surely that is the meaning of being an artist (as opposed to a maker) - looking to do new and exciting things with your medium, challenging the boundaries and thinking all the time about how it can be done differently.

So, my focus this year is all about doing just that.  I've started out producing some rings as my customers keep asking me for rings.  Most glass rings are either made completely out of glass (and always break from my experience of buying & wearing them) or are made from fused glass.  Fused glass can be great but there are real limitations to what effects you can create given the size of glass you are working with so they tend to be a bit singular dimensional.  So, I've developed an innovative way of making ring cabachons on the torch and attaching them to a ring setting.  I have attached a few pictures so you can see the first samples.  I like the organic shapes of these rings (chelsea bun and purple doughnut respectively as they are called).  Anyway, more will be forthcoming after school holidays so stay tuned!

Cheerio
Inge