New Featured Artist

Written by dorsethillbeads

This may be our last Featured Artist as LEST team...I know you will enjoy my interview with Lynne...Her Etsy Shop is Islandgirl...

Tell me a little background about yourself… I live on an Island that is about 25 square miles... I've lived here for almost 8 years although when I moved to NB I still had a seasonal gallery on a salt water lake in Saskatchewan so I commuted back to SK summers for 3 years (2600 miles each way). I moved the gallery to NB the fall of 2004 so now I'm stuck at home from mid June to mid Sept as I don't have any employees and my gallery is open 7 days a week! I have been a full time glass artists for over 20 years I have two University degrees, the first one was a BSc in Geology and I worked in exploration geology for 5 years before going back to University and getting a combined commerce Comp Sci degree. The comp sci part of the degree was obsolete by the time a graduated as we were the last class that went through using the main frame! I started doing glass full time about the time a graduated with my second degree.

What made you want to become an artist… I owned a commercial glass studio in Saskatchewan and the wholesale catalogue had a hot head. Being a tool junkie I bought one (this was in '94). Not long after I got it I broke my left hand and I discovered that I could make beads stuffing the glass down inside my cast. I still work left handed 14 years later I cannot turn the mandrel with my left hand! I dabbled with beads prior to moving to NB. Back in the 90's there was very little info available so I made very wonky funny little beads for the first 5 or 6 years. After moving to NB my flat glass studio got moved into the house dungeon. Comes complete with a river when it rains and it has no heat so I make beads where I am nice and warm and toasty!

How long have you been lampworking and/or sharing your work with the public… I started in '94 I sold a few pairs of earrings prior to moving to NB. My interest and abilities have really taken off since 2001!

Where do you find your inspiration… Right now I’m doing focals, which seem to have some basis in nature, jellyfish and flowers. One of my favorite instructors is Leah Fairbanks. I think my florals are definitely inspired by her work, and my new love Jellyfish beads are based on Mary Lockwood’s tutorial (If you don't own this tutorial you should!)

What other interests or hobbies do you enjoy… I also knit. Between jobs back in the mid 80's I actually designed hand knit sweaters for over a year. I think I averaged about 20 cents an hour doing that! I still knit. I've started doing a lot of felted hats and mitts but I now have to do my felting on the driveway as I have a new front loading washer! It's amazing how many winter hats and mitts you can sell when it's +80 out in the summer! I also have a fairly good silver smithing set up and I'm trying to take my finished jewelry to the next level!

Do you have a favorite movie, book or TV show…Movie might be Thelma & Louise, not sure why I like that movie but I do! Books, I like who dunnits. I have all Agatha Christie's books and I reread some of them every year! I find TV annoying as I don't really like commercials.

Where can people find your creations… I have a seasonal Gallery on Deer Island where I live called Fireball Gallery. I sell work by about 40 Canadian Women (I call my beads fireballs) & have also been trying to sell on Etsy for the last year. Most of what I sell on Etsy is loose focals and in the Gallery I sell finished jewelry!

my flickr site
http://www.flickr.com/photos/islandgirl-le/

my website lots of touisty type info here too!
www.fireballbeeds.com

my etsy site
www.islandgirl.etsy.com

my blog
http://islandgirlsinsights.blogspot.com/

In 10 years I see myself…
a. sitting on a beach under a palm tree making beads on a hot head for tourists!
b. my husband sees me hauling sheets on his sailboat doing beads on the foredeck
c. realistically doing more of the same running a gallery in the summer and making beads, felted accessories and leaded glass panels in between!

New Featured Artist

I'd like to introduce our newest featured artist, Holly of Holly's Folly! Be sure to check out her links at the end of the interview for some fun and whimsical beads!

1- How long have you been lampworking?/ Why did you start?
I took my first class in 2002. I first became aware of lampwork beads while working as a producer on The Carol Duvall Show. One of my guests, Orna Willis, would come into the studio dripping in lampwork. I thought they were the most amazing beads I'd ever seen. I had been a beader for decades but was never aware of glass beads. Bindy Lambell tried to talk me into a class right after I left the show in 2001. Within months, Bindy was a full time bead maker and to this day, I kick myself for not taking that class with her.
I ended up studying fusing which lead to teaching fusing. So even after I finally took that lampworking class, the things I learned applied more to what I was doing in the kiln. Seeing glass in the flame taught me why it does certain things in the kiln...it makes me wish I could take a torch into my fusing classes! It took me a few more years to really commit to lampworking. What brought that about was needing solid white wedding cake shaped beads for the food shows I do. I would sell little cake charms as not-so-cheap impulse items at my register. A cake decorator would not put green leaves on a wedding cake. Yet the lampworker I commissioned beads from just didn't get that I needed solid white wedding cakes so I decided I had to make my own.

2- What inspires your creations?

The food beads are inspired by my years as a cake decorator and my day job. I make food safe rubber stamps and am forever making cookie bouquets. Food inspires the glass - the glass inspires the food.
But I really love organics and can just get mesmerized looking at all the nuances in a piece of glass. I used to be an avid gardener back when I had good feet and florals are a great interest in glass. I have to say, my ultimate inspiration is my dreams. Sometimes I wake up "seeing" a bead and know that's what I have to work on. Sometimes, they come out exactly as I saw them - others need a few torch sessions to make them work and still others aren't even functional but teach me something about the glass.

3- How would you best describe your artistic style?

Still developing. I will say I love single beads, maybe because I prefer to wear just one great bead at a time.

4- What is your favorite piece that you have created so far?

Gosh that's hard. It's often whatever I'm working on at the moment... I have a new cake design this is blowing me away but I'm really struggling to recreate it and the challenge is consuming. I guess my favorite stand alone bead is the gigantic pastries I made some time ago. They were all the these cupcakes and cakes but most were over an inch big. My favorite beads for jewelry was this great lariat design I worked out. A customer phoned "needing" it while I was away at Bead & Button last summer and then commissioned the same necklace with silvered ivory beads. It was a great design and the necklace called for several bead styles I'm obsessed with: the super long and super skinny bead and the big fat round.
http://hollysfolly.com/images/jewelry/galaxy/galaxy.html

5- If you could take a class with just one person who would it be and why?

Kim Neely - IF she taught. I would want to study photography as much as bead making. I admire her so much.
As far as people who actually teach, Cynthia Tilker for her amazing sculptural beads. She's coming to the Mandrel this year and I hope to be in that class!

6- Who is your biggest supporter?

My best friend Barb who sees every bead good or bad and Kristine Dery a/k/a Krissybeads, who is so generous and pitches bead ideas back and forth with me.

7- What is your proudest accomplishment in the glass world?

It was realizing I AM a glass worker. I was at Bead & Button in a Doug Remschneider ornament class last year. The demo was over and we were sent to our torches. I happened to be sitting next to teacher, Frank Scott. We both sat down and started working when I realized the whole class was watching us and not working. I realized I really couldn't call myself a beginner anymore.

8- Where else can we see your work?

www.HollysFolly.com
www.hollysfollybeads.blogspot.com
My stamps and cookie bouquets:
www.SweetStampen.com

Our Newest Featured Artist

This month's Featured Artist is one that I absolutely love! I'm fortunate to own a piece of hers...and after checking out her Etsy shop for this article, I think I may be owning a few more soon :-) Meet Aimee of Lakeside Lampwork!!

1. How long have you been lampworking? Since October of 2002. I started in
soft glass but have been working boro for almost a year now (after a class with
Brent Graber).

2. What inspires your creations? There are lots of different factors that
inspire me. Sometimes it's my mood, maybe what the weather is doing outside.
Or if I've traveled somewhere, after I went to the ocean for the first time a
few years ago, I couldn't stop making shell and ocean related beads for
months.

3. How would you best describe your artistic style? Earthy for the most part
but not really organic, if that makes any sense. Whether I'm working soft or
hard glass, my beads always seem to have a nature feel to them.

4. Why did you start lampworking? I had been making jewelry for years and my
fiance bought me a starter kit after I had a surgery (kind of a get well
present). I couldn't wait to make my first bead so I just set up the hot head,
read the little brochure that came with the kit, and went to town. I was
instantly hooked.

5. If you could take a class with one teacher, who would that teacher be and
why? That changes all the time. I've already been lucky enough to take
classes with some amazing artists and as my style and interests change, so does
my teacher wish list. Right now, I would love to take a class with John
Kobuki, his floral implosions are so realistic.

6. Who is your biggest supporter? That's the easiest question to answer, my
fiance Matt. He looks at everything thing I make and never acts un-interested.
If I'm trying something new and am having trouble with it, he encourages me to
keep trying.

7. What was/is your favorite piece you've created so far...include a picture if
possible? That changes after almost every torch session, haha. Currently it's
probably a wine bottle stopper that I made that's about 6 inches long, it came
out bigger then I thought it was going to.

8. What is your proudest accomplishment in the glass world? I got to be in an
episode of Stained Glass with Vicki Payne. I was testing tools for Jeff at
Inspiration Toolworks and helping with a new design for his button mandrel
about a year and a half ago. Vicki saw some pictures of it on his website and
after a few emails and phone calls, I got to fly out to North Carolina. She
was doing a series on different glass work besides stained glass. I was a nervous
wreck during the whole taping but I wouldn't trade the experience for
anything.

Here’s a few of my favorites that are available in Aimee’s Etsy shop, Lakeside Lampwork http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5346138 ….
Freckles
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16975538

Hibiscus
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16452254

New Featured Artist

Written on 21-Jan-2009 by dorsethillbeads

My interview with Kris from creationsbykris ...

Tell me a little background about Kris…

I'm a second-grade teacher by day and a lampwork artist any time I can fit it into my schedule! I'm 45 years old and have been married for 20 years. I have two sons, Eric 14 and Adam 11, along with 3 cats Will, Grace & Jack. I live in Santee, in east San Diego county. My son Eric was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in May of last year and I'm pleased to say his chemo treatments are over and he is in remission today! His cancer diagnosis turned our lives upside-down but life is getting back to normal and we appreciate every day.

What made you want to become a lampwork artist...

I had started making jewelry as a hobby about 8 years ago. I always gravitated toward lampwork beads for my pieces but couldn’t always find just the right color combinations for my designs. As a birthday present to myself I took a 2-day lampworking class with Heather Trimlett. I instantly fell in love with the process of melting glass and turning it into something beautiful and wearable. That class turned into a year and a half of classes with Heather. I finally broke down and purchased a torch and supplies to start my own little studio in my garage. I never intended to make glass beads myself, as I already had enough hobbies (famous last words!).

How long have you been lampworking and/or sharing your work with the public…

I have been lampworking for about 6 years. I started accumulating so many beads that I started selling them to support my glass habit. I sold beads on Ebay for a couple of years until my brother told me about Etsy. I have been selling on Etsy for about two years and love it.

Where do you find your inspiration…

Everywhere! I'm always on the lookout for interesting color combinations and patterns - I suppose that comes from the graphics background. I keep a spiral notebook where I cut out pictures from magazines that have great colors, patterns, and textures. My favorite source of inspiration, and probably my best selling beads, are the animal prints. When I was taking classes with Heather she gave us a challenge to find 1 in. square pictures from magazines and to re-create those images in glass. This is how my animal print beads were born and it's still a technique I use today.

Most of my beads are very bold and graphic in nature. I'm trying to branch out and work on more organic pieces which are definitely out of my comfort zone. I recently took a class with Jen Geldard and have fallen in love with making shards. I'm hoping to play more this year with designs that incorporate techniques and materials I'm not familiar with.

What other interests or hobbies do you enjoy…

I love scrapbooking, photography, and traveling. I've recently taken up knitting and playing with polymer clay, but I'm afraid if I bring home any more hobbies I'm going to need to add on to my house!

Where can people find your creations…

http://www.creationsbykris.etsy.com

http://www.creationsbykris.blogspot.com

In 10 years I see myself…

a. Making beads in a lovely studio made just for lampworking (a girl can dream).

b. Starting a "Beads of Courage" program at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego for children going through chemo.

c. As an empty nester spending a lot more time making beads and a lot less time being a chauffeur.

d. Doing anything creative.

Absolutely Worthless Facts about what I can do in a Minute

Have you ever timed yourself to see what you can do in a minute? I did that tonight. Here are some absolutely worthless facts about what I did in a minute. Oh, and here's a picture of my lava lamp.

I did these things in one minute.

1) I clapped 163 times in one minute.

2) I rubbed Spike's ears 107 times in one minute.

3) I wiggled my toes 115 times in one minute.

4) I took 12 deep breaths in one minute.

5) I counted 104 bubbles in my lava lamp in one minute.

Featured Artist - Julie Christie

Our newest featured artist is Julie Christie from Alberta, Canada. Who knew that besides beautiful beads she also creates wonderful mosaics! Congrats Julie!




1) How long have you been lampworking?/ How/Why did you start?

I began my glass journey many years ago by learning stained glass. That led to fusing and sparked my interest in pursuing more of the mesmerising world of hot glass. Lampworking became my passion in 2004.



2) What inspires your creations?

I wish I had a wonderful, profound answer for this one! Unfortunately, I do not. But I do get some of my ideas for color combos from my real job. I am a window covering specialist and when I can't seem to get my brain working, I look to my drapery fabrics for some inspiration. A lot of my work is organic in nature. I credit this to my love of the beautiful outdoors. Wildlife, water (from the river that runs below my house to the exciting times I've spent on the ocean), mountains (that I can also see from where I live) and just scenery in general.



3) How would you best describe your artistic style?

I really hate to put it this way, but for the most part, I describe my style as really being 'off the wall'. I rarely have anything constructive in my mind when I sit down to torch. On the other hand, when I do feel like I have it all together, I tend to work in series. If I stumble on to a particular shape or design combo, I will often make a dozen or so of that similar style. I really got wrapped up in Mary Lockwood's jellyfish tutorial and had a real session of several weeks playing with that one.



4) Do you create any other art glass?

Yes, I still do a small amount of stained glass, but I still get rather passionate about stained glass mosaics. Again, I am not very structured in my designs. I love the relaxing, puzzle-like aspect of finding and fitting just the right shape; reminding of a lost hobby of mine, jigsaw puzzles. I created two table tops this month. One as a gift and one to sell. I've added pictures of them.



5) If you could take a class with just one person who would it be and why?

Although I really don't want to get into boro yet, I would love to take a class from Lewis Wilson. He just looks like a real character and I think he'd be a blast!



6) Who is your biggest supporter?

I have several extremely important people in my life that are my greatest fans; my family and my sweetheart. My son Travis, is very proud of my accomplishments and I can always count on glass supplies when I receive gifts from him. He just knows what I like! My granddaughters also love grandma's work and often pick out very successful color combos for me to try. And John, the gentleman in my life, is always encouraging me and urging me to take the incredible classes that are offered near my home.



7) What is your proudest accomplishment in the glass world?

In 2007, one of my beads placed third in the amateur catagory of a competition at the Glass Craft and Bead Expo in Las Vegas. I had read a free tutorial on mandrel wound implosions and I incorporated two of them into the center of a clear goddess bead. I also included fine silver wire in the implosions. I was absolutely thrilled to be recognised is this manner. I have added a picture of this bead named "Inner Beauty".



8) Where else can we see your work?

I sell at two galleries here in Alberta, Canada and other than local shows that I do throughout the year, my work can be bought online at www.juliechristie.etsy.com

Featured Artist - Loriola

With the upcoming holidays, our committee wanted to feature a lampworker who is also known for their jewelry. Immediately, we thought of Lori, aka Loriola. Her style is so incredibly unique! We're sure that anyone on your gift list would LOVE to own one of Lori's pieces.

1 - How long have you been lampworking? Why did you start lampworking?

Years ago I painted glassware as a full time job. While I painted alone all day in my studio I would watch all sorts of craft shows on basic cable and one day on Lynette Jennings she demonstrated how to make glass beads with a hothead torch. This was probably in 2000 and I had never even heard the term "lampworking" but I was fascinated! I need to melt glass now!!
Unfortunately it took me almost 2 years to find a class, but in that time I started researching lampworking, the process, the artists, and became more and more obsessed.

When I finally got into my class I was so mesmerized by the melting glass I refused to stop to listen to the instructor or watch demos. I even skipped lunch! That is unheard of! Needless to say, and this is unbelievably corny, but my life changed after that 2-day intro class. Most of the major decisions I have made over the past 6 years have involved my lampworking in some way, from the car I drive (a Honda Element to fit my show displays) to the house I bought (had to have room for a studio, right??!).

2 - In general, what inspires your creations?

Most of my designs have been inspired by songs, movies or events.
The "stitched hearts" came from the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas" http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=5694076
"undead, undead" the Vampire heart came from a great Bauhaus
song from the 80's. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16392997
The cupcakes, well...I have a 3 year old who is obsessed with
cupcakes so of course I needed to start making them. Oh and the "birdy birds" ( http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15446626) are loosely based on a tiny little bird in her favorite cartoon, Wow Wow Wubzy.

My other inspiration is the glass itself. Every type of glass I use has different qualities and I try my hardest to watch the glass and see what it wants to be. My "classic" acorns can only be made with Reichenbach glass, and my "Victoria" hearts and "Skullies" wouldn't look right if they weren't made with System 96.

3 - How would you best describe your artistic style?

I like to think my style is edgy and a little surprising. About 95% of my business is finished jewelry but I do not consider myself a jewelry, more of a sculptor. I hope people think of my work more as art instead of just adornment.

4. What was/is your favorite piece you've created so far?

My absolute favorite necklace was called "when the walls came down". It's a full necklace of my "bottle up and explode" beads. There is a very long, complicated, and depressing story behind the shape, but in a nut-shell the shape happened because of a song from a now dead musician, a photograph from an unknown artist taken in New York the week after 9/11, and the actual glass I use for these beads.

5. If you could take a class with one teacher, who would that teacher be and why? OK, two if you really can't decide on only one.

Kate Fowle was the one lampwork artist I really really had to take a class from and I was lucky to get to finally do it last year. Just watching her work changed my line. I would also love to hang out and torch with Pipyr. I've been trying to push past what I think of as the "bead wall" and incorporate my lampwork into fine or folk art, and I have a feeling being around her might be the spark I need.

6. Who is your biggest supporter?

My family is amazing and they all work around my show schedule as much as they can. Honestly though, my biggest supporters are my customers. I have the most amazing, fiercely loyal customers ever! They push me to work at developing new designs and to constantly reinvent my work.

7. What is your proudest accomplishment in the glass world?

Over the past few years I have been very lucky with the amount of press I've received, including USAToday, Alternative Press, Tattoos for Women, and many blogs. The thing I am most proud of is being able to support my family with my lampwork.

8. Where else can people find your creations?
http://www.isabelsrose.com/
http://www.loriola.etsy.com/
http://www.therealloriola.blogspot.com/