Reactive Glass.....

July 4th, 2006....today's beads are made with a "reactive" glass. The maker of the glass - Doublehelix glassworks - creates a glass that has alot of metals in it so that when you melt it in the flame, the metals create crystals that create colors. You can get shading in the reactive glass that can be very difficult to create with the regular glass rods. When I put a layer of clear over the reactive glass, it created a slight orangey-yellow line around the dots in some places. Silver will turn glass yellow - I'm assuming that's what caused the line.

I'm also playing with different ways to photograph the beads. I played with this concept a couple of years ago - not sure why I stopped because I really like it! Also have made some large holed beads - the hole is 1/4 inch in diameter. I see the large holed beads called "charms." An apt name - I do find them charming!

Knotting and musings....

I've posted pictures of the Chinese knotting necklaces that I've been making over the past 2 years. I'm playing with this knot to make something a little bit different with it. Hope to finish it by the end of the weekend and post next week. This one is done in pink and handformed hearts on the lampworked beads. I call it My Heart is in Knots (or something like that - I can't remember exactly - but it's on the picture). I have this particular necklace up for sale at CindyGimbronebeads.com. Click on the title and it will take you the website.
It's going to be hot today. I woke up at 5:30 am and it was almost 70 degrees. So, my post will be quick as I have to get out and do my morning walk before 7 am. I know I know! What am I crazy for getting up that early and walking? I am a morning person - I do all my best work before 12:00 noon. Just how I am. So, I have to cut it short this morning - I want to be in the studio by 8 am and work before it gets unbearable!

New glass color!

A new glass color! The glass factory in Italy has come up with a new shade of green - parrot green! Sitting at the torch with the color, the glass wanted to be a mask bead. I've been trying faces on and off for a few years. Usually, I'm not completely satisfied with the result. This one is cute - the green is just perfect with the other contrasting colors.

I'll be working in the studio today. It's a good day to work - temperature won't go above 75 degrees Farenheit so it won't be too hot. After my morning walk, I'll be at the torch. Yipppee!

Circles, circles, circles

I'm staying with the circle theme as I said yesterday! There is little or no texture left in these off mandrel pendants. One of them has tiny dots of accent red and the other has a shiny iridescent raised heart. These are between 25mm - 27mm (1 inch) in diameter. What do you think of the accent red on the circle? What about the shiny raised heart?

Besides Beads....

June 27, 2006....what else do I do? Today, I'm going to digress for a bit and show you another craft I work in...crochet.

During the past few years, I've re-learned how to crochet. I say re-learned because I crocheted during the '70's when I was a teenager and crocheted garments were "groovy." I stopped crocheting when I went to college because I never seemed to have any time! I carried my yarn stash around with me for years before I finally got rid of it.

Then beading came very popular again and along with it - crochet! All of a sudden I was seeing these lovely crocheted beaded ropes! I wanted to do that! Made several attempts on my own (boy were they AWFUL!) with no luck. So, I signed up to take a basic class with larger yarn (not thread) to see if I could get my skills back. I took the beginner class, the intermediate class, the summer poncho class (I posted a picture of the poncho last year along with the beads I made to go with it), the fall poncho class and was off making my own garments again. I've designed my own very basic shrug and am working on a pair of socks. The beaded rope? Well, I still haven't master that yet. But I've moved onto thread.

Today's picture is one of the 3 crochet projects I have going. It's cotton thread in a size 3. All different sizes but the same shape, a circle - circles, very bead-like don't you think? My initial plan was to make a scarf that would go from large circles down to small ones with tiny circles as fringe. I may still do that but making the circles is addictive. I can make one or two circles every evening and feel like I've accomplished something! Pairing the colored circle with the black outline makes the color pop.

Circles have been my theme lately. I'm making the flameworked glass circles and at the same time have been making the crocheted circles. Somehow, they'll come together but you and I will have to stay tuned to see where the circles lead me!

June 26, 2006 Results of the weekend's experiements!

I woke up at 4:15 this morning and I just can't go back to sleep. So, I thought I'd just get up and post to the blog! Crazy, isn't it?! Most would roll over and go back to sleep - I just couldn't. Laid there for about an hour and then just had to get up and do something!

I worked all weekend on "new" techniques for me. It takes awhile to come up with something that is worth showing, though. Sometimes, I come up with a bead that looks fabulous and when you photograph it close up, you see little teeny things you didn't see before! Geez, now I know why models are so obsessive about their physical appearance! When you get photographed you see things that you just don't see in real life! So anyways, it can take several weeks of practice on a technique before I come up with something presentable. I do have a bead that I really like to show you today!

Today's bead I'm calling, Enameled Kronos. No, it's not very creative but that's what it is! I rolled a base bead of whatever transparent glass I had lying on the bench in white enamel (powdered glass). Dotted on the Kronos - let me tell you, it was difficult to strike because if I used my usual reducing flame, it caused the white enamel to go gray-black. So, I had to wave the bead in and out of the flame, let it cool almost to cracking and then re-heat. Making this bead took alot longer than it normally does. I like the look of it and it's a nice barrel shape. I've been carrying it around in my pocket all weekend. Definitely "pocket worthy."

Who is Lampwork Diva and why is she a Diva?

I probably should have explained "Lampwork Diva" in the very beginning when I started the blog but I didn't. The longer I have the blog, the more I realize I should explain "the Diva."

The lampwork part of the Diva, comes from the art/craft I have chosen, flameworked glass. The word "lampwork" is a traditional term used to describe the torches or "lamps" that the ancient and traditional flameworkers used - therefore the word "lampwork."

The Diva comes from wanting to create an online persona that would jump out of the computer at you - a woman, full of confidence and able to create beautiful flameworked glass. She's loosely based on my paternal grandmother and my father's sister. My grandmother, according to my parents, was a full fledged DIVA - she only wanted the BEST of everything. My father's sister was a bootlegger in the 1930's. She loved risk and could hold her own with the men. She was a DAME.

My own personality is a little quieter than either of the women in my father's family. But I do admire the confidence that they both carried - a little like Matahari in the picture I posted today. The confidence these women exude is the confidence that I have in my flameworked glass. I express that confidence through Lampwork Diva - she loves glass and she's confident that you will appreciate her art.

Experiments Continue.....

More experiments with the faux boro beads. This time the beads were made with an opague or pastel base and then the stringer laid over top of that and encased in clear. Someone on the boards had suggested that using a pastel base made the beads brighter and I agree.

If you've been reading regularly, I've been experimenting with this faux boro technique for a few weeks. I don't know what it says about my personality but I really like to go through most all of the possible combinations of a bead before I move on to another techique. I like to explore the technique fully. I like to understand everything about the process. It will come in handy later.

Memberships and Indecision

June 17, 2006.....I realize that I don't have my memberships listed anywhere on my sites. I haven't figured out how to add pictures to my templates so I haven't added the logos. Soooo, thought I'd mentioned them here. I'm a member of the International Society of Glassbeadmakers (ISGB) and the Glass Art Society. I haven't gone to either of their conferences - in fact the Glass Art Society is meeting in St. Louis this weekend - mostly because of the locations. A little too far away and not enough $$. I'm shooting next year for the ISGB if it's on the East Coast.

I am undecided about this frit from Val Cox, "Bora Bora." I think it's too dark - I was light on the frit but still it looks very dark to me. This was a test bead to see how the frit looked against the background. It's encased to give it depth. It does have that kind of boro hazy feel to it. Wondering what you think?

The Flow Magazine, "Thoughtful" and new work....

Got my proofs today for the special women's section of The Flow magazine. I hadn't heard from the editor for so long that I thought I wasn't going to make it into the women's issue. Seems that there was such an overwhelming response that things have just taken a lot longer. They have included one of the painted beads focal - Thoughtful in Red. It is one of only two that I made and is the only one with a red background. I sold it a couple of years ago to a private collector. I made a second one with an aqua background that I sold just recently at the Urban Glass Show in NYC. Thoughtful is part of the Every Woman series of painted beads - I'd like every woman to see themselves in one of the beads - so I make a wide variety of faces to reflect the wide variety of women.
I've posted pictures of the new off mandrel work I've created in the past few weeks. I'm experimenting with texture in the off mandrel pieces. The one above is a floating eye - the eye is such a powerful symbol and the basis of understanding American Sign Language (remember I'm a free lance sign language interpreter in my other life!). Not sure how I'm feeling about leaving the ridges in the piece, though. In person, it feels like texture but in a photo, I'm not sure it looks that way. Any comments?

The disks were made to be sewn onto a felted wool bag I made - just a different way to use and show off the beads!.

Glass Disks and To Bead and Button or not?......

I've got a couple of things I'm thinking about today, the eye candy for the day, the glass disks and the 2007 Bead and Button show.... first the eye candy!
I've been working more and more off hand or "off mandrel", today's eye candy is just that - glass disks inspired by Kandinsky's color study done in circles - but all done without a bead hole. I like this kind of glass art but I can't tell you more than that about why I am moving in that direction. It's an intuitive process for me so I can't verbalize it or explain it very well yet but I like creating things that aren't beads. I still like the beads but I want the glass that I create to stand on it's own and not necessarily be a part of a finished composition. I want it to be THE composition.
On to the next topic....the 2007 Bead and Button show....The Bead and Button Show is the most well known venue for selling beads. I haven't ever tried to go in an capacity, as a buyer or as a seller or as an instructor. I played with the idea last year but missed the deadline to submit. My bad. So, right now, I am shooting to submit for 2007 as an instructor and as a vendor. As an instructor, they suggest that you submit proposals for 6 classes or 4 workshops! That's alot of classes and workshops! Not sure what that means other than I have to get busy and develop more proposals! I have 3 but better work on more!

June 11, 2006....Reactions and colors

As I said in an earlier post, my glass hasn't been about the reactions and colors I could get in the beads, it's been about what I could create in the medium....but in the interest of expanding and growing, I've been working on color and reactions. This set of beads is more a study in color with a little emphasis on the reactions. The copper green will behave in a particular way when layered onto the purple/orchid and opal yellow. I've had the opal yellow and the copper green for about 2 years now. I wasn't crazy about the colors or the fact that the copper green had to be "cleaned" of its rusty devitrification each time I made a bead. I've gotten a better handle on the copper green now and know how to work it in the flame. The copper green will absorb into the base color and create a fine line of concentrated color....a nice effect!

Research: Roses in Frederick Law Olmstead Park

Yesterday around lunchtime, I found myself with about an hour to kill. I took a walk in the city's park to do a little glass research. Wow, what gem! Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead (the same person who designed Central Park in NYC), the park is really a horticultural sanctuary in the middle of a city. I took pictures of the roses in the rose garden and wandered along a few of the park paths. You can click on the title and it will take you to a site on Olmstead - the first American landscape architect - click on the "works" and it will take you to the various sites that show his actual parks and park systems.

I was in the rose garden taking pictures to understand better how to create the roses and flowers in glass. Glass is a perfect medium for sculpting flowers because of the vibrancy of the colors, the ability of the glass to reflect light and the fluidity of the glass which allows it to be formed into detailed representations. I don't always do enough of this kind of research - to figure out how the living thing is "built" before I try to "build" a representation in glass. It was a good day of research - look how beautiful these flowers are!

June 4, 2006....Cindy Gimbrone Beads Website

Ok, so I have the blog about flamework glass beads and DUH! I haven't linked to the site! I've finally fixed that with tonight's title: Cindy Gimbrone Beads....you can click on the title and it will take you to my glass bead website. Originally, I intended to develp two lines of glass products, one a line of auction beads that would be low priced (lampwork diva) and the other a high end. Well, I've decided after about a year, that I can't separate the two lines from myself the artist. It seemed like a good idea in theory but in practice, it hasn't worked very well to try to separate the lines. So, I'm going to stop trying! First step has been to add a linked title!

Today's bead posting are more of the faux borosilicate beads in a transparent green. I like the light, summery look to these beads. I've got some more faux boro beads sitting on the desk as I type. I'll take some pictures tomorrow morning when I'm fresh - I'm just not a night person! I know - you're going to look at the time I posted the blog and say, "Jeeesh! Cindy, it's only 8:30!" Yep, I know! My engine starts to slow down around now. I wake up early, 5:30 am or so and get my best work done! Godd pictures in the morning!

June 2, 2006......

I woke up waaaayyyyyyy too early this morning! 4 am. Not sure why just woke up and was awake. Been noodling around with the cindygimbronebeads website and was able to customize it a little more. I've been able to add my logo/business card to the header. It repeats itself but I'd rather have just one big card as the header - I'll keep working on it.

Weekend coming up so I'll be able to work at the torch this weekend. I really need to clean and re-organize. I posted a picture a few days ago of my workbench and you can see I really need to do something! I just love to try to have EVERYTHING at my fingertips!
Posted a couple of pictures of beads I've made in the fairly recent past. I really love the flower ring. The finding was made by Catherine Ondrey and unfortunately, she isn't making them anymore. The ring is mine - I made it especially for me - so sorry to those who'd like to purchase it. It's a great ring!

The red flower is a one of a kind. Unfortunately, it met with an early demise - the customer who bought it contacted me days after she bought it to tell me it had lost one of its petals (yes it was properly annealed). Having guaranteed it for the first 7 days, I remade one for her free of charge and it is in her possession as I write this. It was a one of a kind - a test the market - do people like this flower? Would they buy it? It was the first thing sold off my table at Urban Glass. I may make a few more during the summer. If you like it, then keep your eyes out for the possibility that a few will appear on my website.

Cooler weather allows me to work at the torch and with fusing glass at the same time. I feel so productive when I can do that! It's making me want another kiln, though. A small one to use for jewelry pieces. I have a large one (15" across) for plates and cutting boards, but it does take quite awhile to ramp up and fuse and then anneal. I'll be perusing the websites for small "test" kilns - I'm feeling the need. I think that the new torch idea is out for this year. To upgrade, I want to buy a generator and that is around $2K. Yikes! Don't feel I can justify that at this point. I need to generate more $$ before I can invest in the whole upgrade - I really really really want to do goblets, though and I'll need more fire-power!

Wednesday, May 31, 2006 Musings.......

Lots of eye candy today of the "reactive glass" that I've been experimenting with....my glass hasn't been about reactive metals and frit to create different colors and effects. Other artists create beautiful beads using these materials and glass and I've been a great admirer of them - my glass has been about understand each color of glass in it's unaltered state and understanding how it flows in the flame and how it "holds" its form. Understanding the glass has allowed me to choose the right glass for whatever I was trying to create. So, for example, ivory can be very difficult to use in sculpture - a few years ago when I started to make my glass hands, I found ivory glass wasn't the color to use - it was too "floppy" in the flame. Black, Ink blue, cobalt glass held it's shape much better and I could sculpt with these colors much easier than ivory. As I've increased in skill, I am able to use whatever color I want but I keep in mind the properties of each color and construct any piece based on that. What attracts me to the glass isn't the color but its sculptural properties.
But lately, I've been interested in combining the reactive glass with the sculptural characteristics of glass. So, here are my experiments - faux borosilicate beads and a reactive glass form Doublehelix Glassworks. You see a familiar motif here, the hand, I always have to sculpt a hand out of whatever I'm doing. As a sign language interpreter and an artist, I make a living from my hands. Therefore, it's an appropriate motif for me.

May 30, 2006....The Guggenheim

When I was at the Urban Glass Bead Show in March, I wanted to do one thing and that was to go to the Guggenheim Museum to see their collection of Kandinskys! I was excited to see the paintings but wasn't prepared for the artwork that is the Guggenheim building! You are allowed to take pictures of the lobby and that's what I've done here. At the very top is a beautiful stained glass window that looks like lacework in the sky. What an amazing structure - its form just makes you want to explore what's in it. I'm really at a loss for words - it was the best part of the trip! Driving from Chelsea to the Guggenheim, we had all green lights! I didn't think that was possible in NYC! Everyone should visit the Guggenheim once in their lives!

Memorial Day in Glass.....May 29, 2006

I've created non-wearable poppies and then a poppy necklace - both made in the style I remember as a kid. I hadn't realized the symbolism of the poppies.

For the past several weeks, I've been thinking about Memorial Day - how my mother called it "Decoration Day" and that we would always always always visit the cemetary and plant flowers.

Did you know that "Decoration Day" began during the Civil War? People were doing it informally because they felt the need to honor their loved ones who had died in war. Decoration Day was formally recognized in 1868.

I'm in awe when I think of how long the tradition that I learned from my mother has been observed. I'm saddened when I realize my teenage son doesn't know why we observe Memorial Day.

I also remember in the late 1960's - early '70's when as a kid I would dig out my change and buy a poppy from the VFW veterans (they must have been WW1 veterans because they were old to me :-) who were on every corner selling poppies.

My Mom would recite the poem that inspired the poppies, "In Flanders Field" (which I've posted below). Flanders Field is an actual place in Belgium. There is an U.S. soldiers cemetary there for US soldiers killed in WW1. It seems that after the destruction, the only plant that would grow were wild poppies. I've included the only known picture of poppies growing on the former battle site and a painting by the Canadian painter, Mary Riter Hamilton entitled "Trenches on the Somme."

I've been thinking about those poppies and how they have come to symbolize Memorial Day for me. I haven't always been so aware of what the poppies symbolize. Read the poem and you'll see.




In Flander's Field
by John McCrae


In Flanders Fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead.
Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved and now we lie,
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw,
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us, who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow,
In Flanders Fields.

May 28, 2006....Work to do!

Look at my workbench! I've got work to do! I've got to dip mandrels to make beads and I've got to clean up the bench! Problem is, I like to have EVERYTHING right at my fingertips...problem is, you can't have everything set up within reach.....sometimes you just have to plan to use something!

You can see what I'll be working on today, I've got some 8mm soft glass tubing out that I've wanted to play with for awhile. I was lucky enough to get a pretty large supply for the cost of shipping - thanks, Jiley! I'm pretty sure this is Lauscha glass because none of the American glass companies make tubing. I know that Lausha carries an 8mm tubing so, that's my educated guess. I'll mix it with some other soft glass and see if I get any cracking. If it cracks, then it'll mean it's not 104 COE (not that it means anything to the average person - but is very important in glass!)

I'm behind in my picture taking. I'll take some pictures tomorrow morning and post something new. Got lots of new things I've been working!

May 21, 2006....Painted Beads and Websites

Been having alot of trouble lately with my website. Take my advice and avoid your domain name renewal lapsing! My renewal notices went to an old email and I didn't receive them. I found out by trying to log onto my website and a site for scrap metal appearing! I've since had to get a new domain name and a new website that will end up being much better than the old but what a pain!
Today's eye candy are painted beads. This might be a misleading name as the "paint" is finely ground glass mixed with an oil - slightly different than oil paints - the ground glass painting will melt into the glass of the bead - regular oil paints won't do this. I "draw" with enamel paint pens and use brushes to create a small painting on a small sheet of glass. The painting must be fired in the kiln to melt the painting into the glass. I then make a base glass bead at the torch (see picture). The small sheet glass painting is held with tweezers and warmed in the flame then rolled onto the hot glass base bead. The bead is shaped and placed in a kiln to anneal.
I have two examples of painted beads, one is called "Thoughtful" and is in a private collection and the other is a drawing by my son that I painted onto the bead - this one is mine!