Some Things Bring a Smile

A few months back I had the privilidge of giving a couple of 'Introduction' type lessons to a student, Mandy.

I must confess that it was really a matter of her watching me for a few minutes after a bit of a pep talk, then me leaving her to discover glass for herself while staying close if she needed help.
Mandy has set herself up with a Hot Head torch & some tools....& of course the obligatory glass.

I showed some of her beads here a while back, & last week I got some more of Mandy's beads to batch anneal.

Boy was I impressed, this lady is a natural!

I'm going to miss seeing these when she gets her own kiln. It's heart warming to watch her progress, & of course wonderful to have someone to talk 'glass' with.

Mandy's Beads

I'm All Ready

willing & able for day two spent with a student. I'm even well organized....




...for goodness sake, even my marvers are labelled!




A fly by post, as she will be here in 10 minutes. I'll update later :o)

And Then It Was July!

Wow I can't believe that my last blog entry was June 26th!
Time is flying by with supersonic speed these days & I don't like it at all.
I don't like it especially when I realise that another annual increase in age event is about to happen. Hence my silence over the last week.

For me each birthday is a time of very mixed feelings. It has nothing & everything to do with the numbers.
In many ways I wish I could go back to it being as it was when I was a child, when it was simply a birthday & a time to celebrate.

That aside, the last week has been busy & exciting.

My first 'Introduction to Lampwork Bead Making" student was on Tuesday. In a cunningly designed bit of planning on my part it happened to be the day after my birthday, therefore allowing me the joy of being rather too preoccupied about it & whether I was fully prepared & had everything ready for it, to focus too much on the fact that Monday was actually another birthday.
Clever of me eh?

The day went well - exceptionally well in fact. I had the most amazingly wonderful student in Mandy.
We started with a coffee & some sticky bun in a relaxed atmosphere, while I went through through the basics about glass & the safety issues associated with lampwork.
Next it was out to the studio where I gave her her class kit, then demonstrated few things about glass before moving on to stringers. Attentive, eager & having already displayed a great understanding of the process Mandy was ready to have a turn at the torch. She quickly picked up the process of pulling stringers, so after that it was time to demo the process of making an actual bead.


Apart from a quick lunch break & a couple of further mini demo's from me, Mandy was still at the torch 5 hours later! She was a fabulous student & produced some outstanding beads.
I just sat at my torch & pulled stringers, that way Mandy didn't feel as if I was watching over her shoulder, yet I could still see & was there in a split second if needed.

After not having taught an adult for over 20 years I was apprehensive about doing so. Now, of course I want to do this all the time.
It is such a thrill watching the amazement displayed when they produce their first bead or those 'aha' moments on another's face.

It has taken me all week to come back down to earth. I would love to have at least two days set aside for classes each week.

Of course then I would have to upgrade everything. One can only take so many hours of listening to the roar of a hot head....


And just so there is something to look at here .....

Another set of beads using the one of the GafferGirls frit blends & some of that stringer I pulled.



Who'd have thought that I'd ever make 'sets'.