My first International Glass Conference in New Mexico!

Preparations are now well underway for the July 2015 Glass Conference in New Mexico.  "The Gathering" is an annual conference organised by The International Society of Glass Bead Makers (ISGB) which brings together glass bead artists from around the Globe.

I'm a bit nervous as you can imagine but at the same time, I'm excited to be able to meet and learn from the best in the business including Heather Trimlett, Kristina Logan and Stephanie Sersich.

This year's conference theme is "Forging Connections" which, as the title implies, celebrates and encourages connections amongst flame workers.  On a practical level, the theme of the conference this year is also strongly centred around jewellery making and specifically, how to set handmade beads into silver and other metals.

Another really great aspect of this year's conference are the workshops on teaching glass bead making.  These workshops offer the best possibilities for working artists to gain a greater understanding of how to teach people at different levels.

Last but not least, I am excited about being able to present my beads to international buyers.  Whilst New Zealand is a fantastic creative environment, art appreciation is still very much developing, particularly in the fine crafts area.  It is not uncommon for individual art glass beads to sell upwards of $150 each at an international juried show.

The work I am planning to present will celebrate the uniqueness of New Zealand which includes the more obvious things such as our native plants (the bead in the picture features Manuka and Kowhai flowers) but also our lifestyle and how we live in New Zealand which is quite unique from other countries.

So stay tuned to see the work I develop for the conference!

Upcycled work space

 

 

Well, it has been a very long time indeed since I last posted a blog!  I could put this down to being consistently busy but then again, aren't we all? 

 

This past year in particular has been a massive learning curve for me.  Taking my hobby to a fully fledged business has not been an easy undertaking.  I think perhaps I underestimated just how many areas I would have to be across to make, assemble, market & sell my glass goodies as well as teaching my craft.

 

Thankfully, I have some really great people involved in the business, people who are committed to making this work, people who realise what the dream is and are hanging out with me as my little boutique business goes from strength to strength.

 

One of the biggest challenges of late has been how to continue working from my existing space.  Now that I'm teaching more often, I need a really user friendly and happy place for people to come and do my workshops.  I think people really like to get away from it all and enjoy and experience, where they can return to something "handmade" in our over-processed and over-engineered way of life today.  Being in a country village certainly adds to the ambience but my little "playhouse" is now increasingly becoming far too small to cater to my workshop participants.

 

I've looked at retail space, had plans drawn up for a studio extension so it's now a matter of making a choice about which direction to take to expand the space. 

 

George Clarke's small spaces has been a great show to watch lately, it's amazing to me what people do with their tiny spaces and how they make them so functional!

 

Numerous trips to places like Junk & Disorderly (love that place!) and other vintage shops have given me some really good ideas about up-cycling and creating a unique, quirky space.  Yes, it takes a bit of effort but I really like the idea of taking found objects and giving them a new purpose vs creating something new.  It plays further on the handmade theme too.

 

One thing I purchased recently were these wine boxes.  $60 for the lot!  These will be mounted on the wall to create a clever glass rod storage area.

 

I'd be keen to have you share your experiences with me in terms of how you have created your studio & retail spaces.  What were the challenges?  How did you make the decisions you did?  What were the key considerations?

 

I wonder what the final result will be once I up-cycle my happy little place...