Lesson #1

Saturday Moria and I went to her stepmother's studio for my first lesson. Sharon has a great little studio overlooking a beautiful lake. What a setup! Imagine doing something you enjoy in such a great setting.

Anyway, first she showed me all the different types of glass she had. She has been doing this for several years and had quite a stash. It is incredible how the colors in the glass change depending on the angle and light. Then she showed me the different tools and equipment used: the glass cutters, glass snappers (pliers), cutting grid, grinders, saws, and the kiln.

They had me practice each step in the process with some inexpensive glass. I then chose some pieces I thought would look good fused, and went through the process for real this time, while Moria took photos (to prove I was really doing it.) The next step is to fire the glass in the kiln, which takes several days, so I'll be doing that in the next lesson.

Then Sharon showed me all her finished pieces, which were absolutely amazing. I took a lot of photos of the jewelry, her studio, and equipment and I now have a lot of material to work with for my website. (We also saw the biggest spider I have ever seen in my entire life, which I also took a picture of.)

For starters, I'm thinking that my website layout will have the following pages:
-Background on the craft of glass fusing
- Types of Materials, where to buy, how to select,
- The Process: cutting, cleaning, firing, shaping
- How to finish
- Links for related websites
- About the site

Stay tuned.

Misnomer

Well, it appears that I have misled everyone. Moria gave me a brief lecture on the technique before we got together Saturday. This is not beadmaking, as I said earlier. This is a process known as glass fusing, which is stacking two or more layers of dichroic glass and heating it in a kiln until it blends into one unit, or cabochon.

Dichroic is a special coating placed on glass which was originally produced for the aerospace industry, and there are very few suppliers of this glass. It was discovered for use in jewelry because it has a transmitted color, and a completely different reflective color. Different effects are achieved depending on the temperature and length of time the glass is in the kiln.

Fusing glass comes in two types of COEs (coefficients of expansion): COE 90 and COE 96. These two types can never be mixed. It comes in standard thickness (1/8"), or thin (1/16") and can be purchased in 12" square "hobby sheets". There are a vast amount of colors and textures to choose from, and can be transparent, opalescent, or iridescent.

So, there is some background on the material. Here is a website that gives you an idea of what the glass looks like.

http://www.coe90.com/glass-packs-dichromagic-dichroic-glass-packs-c-130_147.html

The pictures don't really do justice to it. I will bring some in on the last class, as well as some of the finished jewelry.

Learning on Saturday

My co-worker, Moria and I planned to meet at her house for my bead-making lesson on Saturday. She owns a kiln, and has most of the supplies I will need to get started. Moria learned this art from her stepmother, who has an entire studio devoted to jewelry making. So, Moria talked to her, and instead we are going to her studio for my lessons. She will have much more in the way of supplies, and the lighting for photographing the jewelry will be much better. If I really get the hang of this, it might be a hobby I'll want to develop once I'm finished at Drexel. Imagine...time for a hobby.

Planning my Website

Thank you all for your comments, especially to Lore for her reference to the Book Arts website. I hadn't seen it, but it is exactly what I had in mind. I thought I would start out with a page on how I became interested in beading and some background on the craft. Then some information on how to select and where to purchase the materials. Then some photos and description of the actual process of creating the beads. I won't know what color schemes I want for the website until I take some pictures of the finished product...something that will nicely offset the jewelry. At first I dreaded this project, but now I am really looking forward to it.

I Have a Topic!

I had initially decided to do my website on making glass beads for jewelry. A co-worker of mine has been making the most beautiful jewelry, and she promised to teach me how. However, on Tuesday, my idea seemed to go down the tubes when Emily said we had to do our website on something we were very experienced with, not something "we always wanted to learn about."

I ran the idea past her today, and she said as long as I learned how to do it, and could provide documentation before I developed the website, I could go ahead with it. So, next weekend my co-worker and I will be getting together so she can teach me everything there is to know about making glass beads and turning them into jewelry. I'll be taking lots of photographs to include in the website, and documenting every step in the process.

I see why Emily said our website should be about something we really have an interest in. It gets you much more exciting about doing it.

Web Page 652

Hi Everyone -

In my former life (before Drexel), I took up needlepoint. My first project was a small pillow that only took me a few months. Then my mom decided she wanted one, and I took on something that was so ambitious it took me over two years to finish. It was beautiful, but I wouldn't call myself an expert by any means.

I exercise a lot, and am really interested in fitness, but there's no way I'm publishing any pictures of myself sweating, huffing and puffing.

So far, I'm at a loss as to what I'm going to do.