And So It Begins
From Furnace To Flame: A Journey in Glass
The journey begins at Lilles War in June of 2012. My fellow household member invited me to go to a lampworking class with her. I was reluctant at first but in the end we went together. In that first class, I became acquainted with the Hot Head starter torch and made my first beads. Over the course of the week, I went back to the glass tent multiple times. By the end of the week, I had made a decent evil eye bead. I entered this bead in the Glass Worker’s Guild Evil Eye Bead Competition and won first place. I would go on to win this same competition the following year. By the time I got home, I had been hooked. I went home and entered some of my early beads into local A&S Competitions, performing less than well. I had also been playing with bone carving so one those items found their way onto the A&S table, too.
I decided to build an at home studio, and by the end of the year I had accomplished this. My first torch was one I got as part of a beginner set from a national hobby chain whose name I will not mention. The torch was as trashy as the company that sold it to me. I very quickly upgraded to a Hot Head Torch. These early torches burned either propane or MAP gas. I stayed with the propane due to it being cheaper to operate.
Before I got a kiln, I would slowly cool my beads using a crock pot filled with vermiculite. My first project was to make a paternoster in memory of my dog Suzie. Each of the large beads was an evil eye bead and each section a different translucent color. I did eventually enter this bead set into an A&S competition as well.
I continued to be fascinated with the making of eye beads. One of my early projects was the production of some Egyptian eye beads. I quickly realized that I wanted to invest more into lampworking and I began to think about getting a kiln and a better torch.
