Corning Made the Best of It - New tools and pens!

As I was telling you yesterday, the trip to Corning was a comedy of errors and I missed out on the trip to Stueben and seeing the early morning demo but I made it to the vendors tent.

There are certain techniques I've taken classes on like marble making, that haven't become part of my studio because I don't have to proper tools. So, ya know what I did don'tcha? Seeing the Infinite Rim Marble Molds developed by Drew Fritts sitting on the Artco table, I made a beeline for it.


Look at that baby! What struck me was how light it really is! I mean light! It looks like it'd be heavy but it's absolutely not. Malcolm was very helpful - thanks, Malcolm.

So now I have the right tool to work on those marbles. It's gonna take some practice, ok, alot of practice but I can't say I don't have the right tool.

I wandered the tent - and came upon the Glassline pen display. I'm always looking for another way to draw onto glass and here it is! I like the idea of water base rather than oil base enamels, easier clean up and if they dry out, easier to re-wet and fire. I loved the option of choosing a custom color set of 14! The guys manning the booth were awesome and very knowledgeable about their product and how it applied to glass.


All in all, I came back with a select group of tools and materials to use. I'm looking forward to putting them to use.

How do you think I did? Have you had to salvage a trip like I did? What did you do?

Corning and Glass Art Conference - Not quite what I planned

I got a late start yesterday. Frankly, when I got the email from GAS conference organizers that they were starting the line-up to watch Thursday's demos at 7am, I knew I was in trouble. Money being tight, I planned to drive down in the morning, very early and get there by 8am. With line up starting at 7 am, I knew I'd end up in the overflow and watching any demo on the big screen in the auditorium.

But the whole day was not what I planned. It started when I left late and hit a detour on the way down - taking much longer to get there. Ugh, but I tried to be relaxed about it - nothing I could do about it, right? Ooohhmmmmm.



I finally got into town. Corning is all about glass - if you're a glassy, how can you not love Corning Glassworks, a company that has a large white chimney with a glassblower on it?

I went straight to the museum because Mickelson was half way through his demonstration. Sure enough, the Magic of Glass Theater was full and I was directed to the auditorium. I couldn't ask any questions or hear the questions asked but it the videocam was tight on him so I got a good look at what he was doing. One of the reasons I wanted to watch Mickelson is he does goblets - I soooooo want to do goblets! After watching him, I want to do photo resist AND goblets! I twittered about the demo but not sure my tweets got out.

When the demo was over, I went out to an info table only to find that I had to walk downtown to visit the registration table. The representative I asked didn't give me very good directions on how to walk downtown quickly because I ended up walking the farthest distance possible!

Arghhhh.....OOOHHHmmmm, right?



Got to see downtown Corning but missed the bus for the PAID tour to the Stueben Glass Factory. Since the tours were all sold out, I wasn't able to hop onto another tour.

#%$#!#%&*!! (Insert your favorite curse words here)

I made the best of it by walking back to the vendors tent. I wanted to buy a new torch - I had settled on a GTT Phantom.

After a little bit of shuffling to get the attention of the GTT people, I found that my generator probably doesn't have enough oxygen purity or PSI to run the phantom - although it's supposed to. Annoys me, I put alot of $$$ into the generator.

Ugh, argh - but I saved $1200 because I didn't buy one.

The Glassline people were really nice - very helpful and no shuffling to get attention. I bought a set of Glassline pens I'll talk about tomorrow. Gotta play with them a bit today.

I walked through the museum and snapped a shot of the Chihuly in the front foyer.



Sighhh...I love glass - don't you?

Day Trip to Corning - Go Blogging and Twittering all the way

I'm up and getting ready to drive to Corning to go the GAS conference. I'll be twittering my trip and sending pictures from my blog today. So stop by a couple times today or check out my twitters at http://twittter.com/CindyNG

Gotta get going if I'm going to catch the demo by master flamework glass artist Robert Mickelson!

In need of a little break but....

Ok, so I've been less than bloggiful lately. My backyard has been dug up for 3 weeks, not a little dug up but completely dug up with a backhoe sitting there and everything.



All right, so maybe it's not as big as THIS backhoe but after three weeks it FEELS like it! Every morning when I open the curtains in the dining room, there it is, looming larger and larger. I think it had designs on the house!

I'm feeling burned out. Time for a little mental refreshment. So even though the economy is bad, I'm going to spend a little of that money I've been saving for the past year and go to the Glass Art Society Conference in Corning, NY.

Originally, I wanted to go for the full conference but cut it down to one day to save on cash. I've got the day packed full though. I'll watch some demonstrations in the morning, go on a tour of Steuben Glass then to the vendors section to take a look at a new torch. Corning is about a 2.5 hour drive from my home so the day will be packed in between a longer than normal drive - but I've been planning to go since 2007 - can't miss it!

Dreaming of Corning....

I really really really really really really want to go to the Glass Art Conference in Corning this year. So I'm dreaming of Corning and trying to figure out the way to get the funds. I took this picture of a display of ancient beads at the Corning Museum of Glass while I was there a few years ago.

Is there a place you want to visit this year that you're dreaming of?

Sunday's Photo

Taken at the Corning Museum of Glass. The Teen is in the background.

I Need a Plan and the Corning Road Trip Pix.....

I need a plan. Getting the word out on your work takes alot of time and if you're easily distracted like I am, it takes longer. Lately, I've been spending more time online with myspace, blogger, yahoo groups, facebook, bloglines, blogger, Lampworketc, website, etsy, twitter, blogger....I mention blogger three times because that's how many blogs I have. I understand why there are people who do this full time as a job - it can take days to update all the sites and make sure you have a presence. I need a plan, I need to minimize and I need to stop talking and do it.

I'll work on it off line....after vacation.

Remember, I'll be off line August 10 to August 19, 2007. You may order during that time but orders won't be shipped until August 20th, 2007.

If you've been following my saga on the lost USB cord, I found it. I have pictures from the Art Noveau collection at the Corning Museum of Glass. The design on each one is classic Art Noveau and very trendy right now. Enjoy!

Where's my USB cord....

I've been looking around my office for the USB cord to my camera. I've been promising some pictures of Corning and I have new glass soap dishes to show off. Admittedly, I'm messy in my office and studio. I want to have everything out and at my fingertips - that translates into a mess. So, every so often, I "lose" something that I really need to have and it's that event that forces me to re-organize. This time around, it's my USB cord for my camera.

While I'm at it, I've uploaded pictures I took 2 weeks ago of the Niagara Skies series. I'm featuring them this month on ArtBeadScene. The August ABS Challenge Theme is "Midsummer Night's Dream." Go to Cindy Gimbrone Beads and click on the Featured on ABS for special pricing.

Reminder: I'll be on vacation August 10-19th, 2007. Orders may be placed but will not be shipped until August 20th, 2007.

Road Trip: Corning Museum of Glass

Road Trip! I've just printed mapquest directions from my house to the Corning Museum of Glass (CMOG). I love the Glass Flowers that are usually housed at Harvard University but the flowers are on the road and at CMOG this summer. Whoo Hoo! Ok, yeah, I've got to get a life but as a flamework glass artist - those flowers are a masterpiece!

I was downloading info for the museum when I clicked on the link for Flamework Live!. CMOG has re-created the torch of the Czech glass artists who made the flowers in the 1800's. Cool. Take a look at that - how'd you like to have that mounted on your bench at home? The museum acquired an 1800's era flameworking table from the Czech Republic. The oxygen comes from that bellows underneath the bench. Can't wait to see that in person!

Lots of glass to see today - I'll post about it when I get back. Can't wait to see the Harvard Glass Flowers!



(All photos from the CMOG website)