At the Gathering Vicariously - Surface Exhibit

I was unable to go to the Gathering this year, but a little bit of me was there, this bead! The Gathering is the annual convention of the International Society of Glass Beadmaker (ISGB) and this year was held in Louisville Kentucky. I have been twice before (Portland and Oakland) and am super super super excited that in one year (almost to the day) the Gathering will be here in the Seattle area. I can not wait! Seeing people that I haven't seen in several years, learning new techniques, selling at the Bazaar, volunteering with my local chapter, seeing great demos and hopefully taking some classes. Can you tell I'm excited??? I'm so stoked that I have my vacation request filled out at work ready to turn in the first day we can turn in for next summer (pathetic I know).

Back to this bead........

This bead was included in a juried exhibit called: Surface. The instructions for this exhibit boiled down to make something under the surface or on top of the surface of a bead. Sounded like a open call to me. I have this cased bead with a murrini on top. This is the first bead I have made specially for an exhibit. In the past I had submitted beads I already had on hand. I made this bead and this bead only and it turned out great!

My beading buddy Donna was so sweet, so took some photos of the exhibit for me. My bead is the second from the left on the right sided podium.

The venue looks really nice. Someplace I would love to look around in.

Lampworking Retreat

Racks of Glass at Frantz

This weekend was the annual NW region ISGB retreat at Frantz Art Glass. It was a lot of fun. We had mini workshops and demos, and of course shopping! I did really well controlling my budget and only spent about $100 on glass. The mini workshops were on viking knit (I did double for the first time) and pearl knotting (we used our lampwork beads of course).

I used some random silver glass bead for my bracelet and they look really good together. I did have problems with the end of thread knots, they stuck way outside of the beads. Not sure what I did wrong, but I'm thinking I need to tighten the knots more, no one else had this problem.

Here is Felicia Wartnik in her blinged up kevlar gloves showing how to apply enamel with the enamel sifter. I'm telling you I need to have one of these!

Jed of Double Helix Glassworks showed which flames and how to work the flame to get the best reducting and striking in his glass. Check out how far out his glass is! He explained if you use the outer flame the slower the glass is to strike/reduce, this giving you time to do it correctly and not over strike/reduce.

This Judith Billing showing us how to use shards. In the first photo on the left I have drawn around the shard to see it.

This is Kathy Johnson making a Westie dog. Super cute, picked up some good sculpture tips from this master glass sculpture.

New Beads, Great Show, Exciting News

I have been making new beads and have some great new ones to show. The one with the Peace Sign is made with the super awesome glass: Fire Lotus from TAG. It changes all these rainbow colors and can strike further red/pink/purple in the kiln. The second bead is Clio over Opal Yellow and transparent Topaz with goldstone stringer and cased in clear. Gotta love that Double Helix glass, it is my favorite.
Great day today for two reasons.

First, super big deal and so exciting. The ISGB Perspectives exhibition, which I have the bead above in, is currently showing at the Kobe Lampwork Glass Museum in Kobe, Japan (my second bead to be in the museum). They are going to feature the exhibit in the January 2011 issue of their magazine, LAMMAGA (I have no idea what that stands for, if anyone knows, let me know). Each of the exhibition pieces will be shown in a quarter page photograph, I can't wait to see my bead in print. I'm so honored.

Second: I had a great show at work. Show at work you ask? My work puts on an holiday crafts show so that it's employees can sell arts, crafts, commercial items (not exactly in the theme of craft show, but I'm not the organizer). I had an awesome show, my best ever. Many thanks to my co-workers for buying my jewelry and beads (and a couple patients too). I'm just so thankful.

YAY, good day for me.

FUN WEEKEND - Bead Retreat

Kerri Fuhr demostrating her raven bead.

Two weekends ago the ISGB NW chapter held their third annual retreat at Frantz Art Glass. We had demos on bead making, making your own bronze press plate (very cool), tool examples. I even gave my first demo to a large group.

A HUGE THANKS to Leslie Thiel for organizing the retreat and for Frantz for allowing us to use their facility.




Scott demonstrating blowing a vessel with his EMS. Very cool idea.




Some glass in the warehouse at Frantz (old photo).

Fire and Rain - Bead and Jewelry Exhibition

My local chapter of ISGB is having ane show at Seattle Glassblowing Studio/Hot Glass Color. I sent several items for the sale.

Check it out.

Fire and Rain Bead and Jewelry Exhibition April 2010

Location:
Seattle Glassblowing Studio / Hot Glass Color
2227 5th Avenue Seattle, WA

Dates of exhibition: April 1-30 2010
Opening night reception: Thursday April 1st 5-8pm

I can't make it opening night, but recommend you go check out the exhibit and meet the artist. I have family coming into town that night, so can't go. Bummer.

I'M HONORED

The International Society of Glass Beadmakers (ISGB) placed a call for artists for an exhibit in connection with the Glass Art Society’s convention in Corning NY (June 11-13, 2009). This bead was accepted. I’m so honored to be included in this exhibit and it is one of the first I have been accepted in.

Here is the blurb from GAS:

Perspectives: Traditions and Innovations in Glass Beads. An international juried exhibition of contemporary glass beads, organized and presented by the International Society of Glass Beadmakers, and juried by Tina Oldknow (Curator of Modern Glass, Corning Museum of Glass)

If you are in NY in June, check out the
Glass Art Society 39th Annual Conference: Local Inspiration, Global Innovation

The collection can be viewed from June 5 to September 7 at the Radisson Hotel, Corning. In addition to the exhibition the top three beads with the highest jury scores will share the cover of the summer issue of The Glass Bead magazine, the quarterly publication from ISGB.

Radisson Hotel Corning
125 Denison Parkway
East Corning, NY www.isgb.org


Edit to add this link to a slide show of the other accepted beads.
http://www.isgb.org/info/article_256.shtml