by lorigreenberg on January 14, 2009
Buckle up because today I’m taking you for a little ride.
Last Saturday was my first hosting of open torch at Fire & Friends Z Studio in Peoria, AZ. I’m up in Cave Creek and that sounds like a million miles away at 91st Avenue. But I’m here to tell those of you in the Phoenix valley, if you can get to the 101 I guarantee that you will be there FAST. It’s not as far as it may sound. That means it’s do-able for you to join me at the next open torch. But anyway, the tour…
You first walk in and this is what you see if you look right. Lounging reception area and retail gallery space:
Look left and you see a classroom. It’s waiting for you to book your own class to teach or a group event!
See that door opening at the right of the picture? We’re going to walk through there next. And this is what you will find…more classroom space and every single kind of tool you can even imagine for jewelry working. PMC. Wire. Polymer Clay. Etc.:
This place is so huge and stocked that there can be many events going on at one time. What would YOU like to see taught, or teach yourself here? They can host anything. Straight through that back wall opening is the lampworking area and silversmithing space. But we’re not going there yet. Directly to the right of this classroom is a stained glass and fusing place:
Another beautiful spacious room, yes? If you haven’t had enough, I have to show you what lines the countertops to the right in this room. I couldn’t fit it all in the photo but check out all these kilns for use!
And grinders and flat lap stuff galore (there’s even more than I’m showing):
I can’t wait to get my hands on some of that stuff! Then last, the lampworking room at the back. I’m told they even have the stuff for a full ceramics/pottery set up. But here’s my turf:
Is it 8 torches? I think there’s capability for more. Here’s three of our torchers last Saturday. (More about what I do there in tomorrow’s post).
And below is a picture of the metalsmithing area:
There’s also a big old band saw back there I want to try out too.
Is this place awesome or what? Huge. Beautifully decorated. And everything you would ever need for multiple people to have a creative fiesta. I’ll be there again in February on Valentines Day. Sign up now!
by lorigreenberg on October 22, 2008
If you are from the Phoenix, AZ area and would be interested in classes by me, or attending a hands-on social bead making group on a regular basis, please take my survey.
Right now I’m working on organizing a group of people who want to get together on a regular basis and sit around torches making beads and hanging out. I’d demo a little and the rest would be free form. The size limit is 10 people and the cost is for rented torch time.
As that goes on I will be formulating a series of classes and workshops also, when I figure out how much of a need or desire there is for classes by me. These class would be above the beginner level. That is, you need to know how to light a torch yourself and be able to make round-ish beads and pull a basic stringer.
Please take the short survey. At the end there is an area for you to add your email address to the mailing list that pertains only to class information. You don’t have to answer any of the survey questions to have your name added to the email list. This information will help me to serve your needs better! Thanks!
by lorigreenberg on December 14, 2007
For a few years now I’ve been in search of the perfect, plump, heart press tool. I haven’t found it. So, I finally sat down to figure out just how to make one and I have to say, I think I like it much better than it might be from a press. There is something about a bead shaped naturally in the flame that has a sensuality to it. Curves and, for lack of a better term, juiciness. Juicy-ness? You can feel the life in it.
But anyway, this may already be out there somewhere but here’s what I came up with. (If you like this tutorial, be sure to subscribe, maybe even receive updates directly to your email, so you don’t miss a thing).
1. Of course, lay down an initial footprint of how big you will want your heart to be when finished. It may end up being a bit bigger, but not any smaller than this footprint. For this heart the hole will be running top to bottom.
2. Next, build up a cone shaped mass of glass on top of the footprint.
3. Press flat with mashers or between two marvers. Make sure to leave at least one mandrel-thickness worth of glass above and below the mandrel to help avoid thermal cracking. (cracking that happens when the glass is thin and cools faster than the rest of the bead).
4. Use a razor or other sharp knife tool to press in the start of your bead cleavage. Start at the top of the mandrel and press any glass not attached to the mandrel around the hole downward. Be gentle and careful not to break your bead release. Do this to both sides.
5. Begin to build up glass for the ‘humps’ of the heart. It is better to do this in steps until you get the desired plumpness. If you try to add all of the glass at once it will be hard to manage while melting it.
6. Re-establish your crease/cleavage lines with your razor tool being careful to not let the rest of your heart sag.
7. Now the tricky but exciting part. The part where you learn how to use heat and gravity! They don’t call me Bead Nerd for nothing…it really is exciting for me. Start to melt the bands of glass that you just added. I have found that it is best to turn your mandrel quickly back and forth while this glass melts in. Do not spin so quickly that centrifical force changes the shape of your heart. If you only turn one way, your heart will start to sag and droop rather than staying in a flat plane. Although, that could be a cool effect to experiment with.
At the same time you are doing this, every once in a while tilt your mandrel (while still turning back and forth) with the ‘humps’ in the downward position, as shown in the picture, so that they can travel a little up the mandrel and start to round out.
Re-establish your crease marks when necessary. This is important in order to achieve the plump effect of the heart. Don’t worry about the narrow end of the heart. Chances are it will start to get pointy and start to draw towards the top, we’ll fix that later.
8. You can stop here and go to step 10 to finish the bottom or you can add more glass as you did in step 5. This is where the plumping will really start to happen.
9. Repeat the steps of melting in the glass while turning the mandrel back and forth and reinforcing the crease lines. Tilt your mandrel with the bottom of the heart pointing up as necessary to allow the ‘humps’ to travel downward until nice and rounded.
10. When you get the humps to where you’d like them it is time to fix the other end. Add a band of glass to the end of the heart.
11. With the side of a flat marver, roll the end of the bead along it to narrow it to your liking. You can exaggerate this length to make a more stylized heart or work it at more of an angle for a more traditional heart. There are many variations you can explore.
12. Proceed to decorate as you choose but be careful not to distort the shape of your heart. It will be hard to re-shape without disrupting your embellishment. Here is a picture where I made a purple heart with enamels . You can see the finished shape.
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