Showing posts with label freely sharing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freely sharing. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Genuinely Generous #2 - AngelinaBeadalina

aka “Ang” or “She of the wonderful Sculptures”.
Even a quick look at AngelinaBeadalina's Blog will tell you this is one special lady!

One of the first things I noticed when I first started lampworking, whilst wistfully drooling over the glassy goodness in the LE Galleries, was a very personable lady with a very catchy ‘glass’ name.



What made me notice her? On a visual level it was her rather impressive sculptures & their wonderful descriptive names. But on a more personal level it was quite simply the fact that whenever she posted to the daily S&T Gallery she took the time to comment on everyone else’s submissions.

Her comments were always positive, encouraging & addressed to each individual. Ang seemed to see the essence of what each artist had been trying to attain in their work, you could tell that she had paid attention to each bead shown than & given it more than just a passing glance. No small task on some days I imagine.
She was also extremely encouraging to ‘newbies’ & would happily answer questions. She gave the gift of her time in acknowledging the efforts of others.



Later I bought Ang’s 'Winged Isis' bead off of her via Etsy Store & therein got to know Ang a bit better, rather than just a name on LE. I’d made light of an area in glass that I was having struggling in, & in her response I got an unexpected, but wonderful, list of hints & tips, she told of what had worked for her – along with a generous portion of encouragement.
I started following her blog & realised just how much this lady gives. Not only does she do wonderful things with glass, she’s a great photographer & a fabulous writer as well.




Ang has a voice, an abundance of wisdom & talent, both in glass & in her writing. I’m pretty sure that most would agree if you came across one of Ang’s sculptures anywhere in reality or on the web – you’d recognise it as one of “AngelinaBeadalina’s” immediately. Her sculptures are pared down, devoid of extraneous detail, yet full of movement & emotion, encouraging us to find true essence of a piece. In that – we grow as people.



She happily puts herself out there & encourages all to learn from her musings… whether she knows it or not.
She says she’s got attitude - & I might agree. But it’s not a bad one! An intolerance of injustice & arrogance isn’t a bad thing. Insight, compassion & recognition of others is to be much admired.



Thank you AngelinaBeadalina, for your gracious gift of inspiration & encouragement, & for sharing it so freely.



I absolutely adore the above piece, & think perhaps that it my all time favorite scuplture of Ang's. In fact I was ready to pounce on it - had it been listed anywhere. It wasn't meant to be however. Still there is something to be gained from not getting what you want - through this sculpture I first learned of the Maya Angelou poem "Phenomenal Woman".

Monday, March 02, 2009

Genuinely Generous #1 -Seraphim FlameWorks

truly a team of angels to the lampworking community!
Where else can you find such inspiring & exotic glassy eye candy - but on Seraphim FlameWorks Blog.



Right back when I first started perusing the daily Show & Tell's in the Gallery on Lampwork Etc their beads would jump out at me. I can't explain exactly what it was about Seraphims beads that called to me, not easily & certainly not in a single sentence.

The wonderful slender, sleekly sophisticated elegant shapes, the depth they appear to have to them ...a subtle flow that gives the impression of movement, even though I knew they were a solid object. Elegant & Tribal aren't normally words I would use in conjunction with each other, yet the beads that Seraphim show us are all of this & more. The beads that come out of this talented studio seem to have soul - or as is listed in their Etsy Store under the materials used - 'love'. You can certainly tell there is a special ingredient in them.
The best I can do is to say that they have a certain 'je ne sais quoi'!



In the spirit of truly generous & sharing though, Seraphim FlameWorks shines through. Not only does their blog showcase their outstanding beads to perfection - but they also give all of the technical information required should you wish to try something similar.



A brief description of the bead is accompanied by the details of what glass was used for the base, which glasses were used in the twisties or shards & any dots they may have. Added to this are notes of any further facts that are important with regard to reduction & such.

Seraphim were also the first to put images of all the Double Helix test batches & odd lots in one location. Such a handy reference.

If you haven't discovered them already - take a visit to their blog & I can guarantee that even the twistie impaired among you will be frantically writing down combinations to try!



Thank you Seraphim FlameWorks, for your gracious gift of inspiration & information & for sharing it so freely!







Sunday, March 01, 2009

Genuinely Generous People of the Lampwork Community

Once in a while you come across people that are truly sharing. They will freely give of their time, effort & knowledge with absolutely no hesitation & no expectation of anything in return, apart from perhaps the joy of hearing of or seeing that ‘aha’ moment that people have after having not quite grasped a concept. Quite simply they make sharing a gift.

I’ve never thought of knowledge as something to be secreted away & kept from others. If I learn something, even if it is the hard way, I see no reason to make others learn the same way. Quite frankly if I discover a new skill, a different technique, a ground breaking piece of information or a supplier that offers a great product - then I’m so darn excited that can’t wait to tell others, in the hopes that they will get the thrill out of it that I did.

I’ll never forget a brush off & a comment that was uttered to me when I started trying to find out everything I could about lampwork a little over two years ago. Here in a country where information is either hoarded or sold, & people are somewhat precious about sharing their knowledge, skills, sources or suppliers, I was given the impression that I was just another person that wanted information for nothing, when they’d had to learn for them self. In fact nothing could be further from the truth – I would have paid anything to have been able to take a class & learn somewhere….anywhere!
Quite simply it put me off asking when I needed help (& boy did I need help at times!!), so I almost lived on the computer, searching for answers on LampworkEtc. I poured over the tutorials that people generously put up there, joined exchanges & tried to push myself to learn.

Later I discovered blogs & I marvelled at how some people were so generous in sharing their time & their knowledge….putting it out there for everyone to gain from.
To freely bestow the gift of time & knowledge shows a true generosity of spirit… this is especially impressive when it is done by busy people who make a living from their craft & take the time to specifically post information for no personal gain.

This week I am going to feature some of those people, the ones that have helped & inspired me on, & many others, in the wonderful journey from this first bowl of newbie beads…








Stay Tuned!