Project Lampwork by Southern Flames, Atlanta ISGB Chapter

A couple of months back, Southern Flames, the Atlanta based chapter of the ISGB- International Society of Glass Beadmakers, had a meeting called Project Lampwork. I believe it was the brainchild of co-President, Sylvie Lansdowne. Our meeting attendees were divided up into 4 groups- one per set up torch, and each chose a magazine photo to create a bead that was inspired by it.

The team had a few minutes to make their decisions, grab their glass and then each team member had a few minutes to torch and then had to hand off the mandrel to the next team member. It was such a fun meeting, I'd highly recommend it.

We got to know our other team members a little better that evening. It was great seeing where each person went with their "part" of the bead and watching collaborative beadmaking.

The team I was on had two brand new beadmakers and two quite experienced ones. And having a lot of experience, at first I thought I would be doing some of the latter part of the bead. But analyzing it, my best use was getting the initial glass onto the mandrel into a nice shape quickly, so the others could add their decorations and interpretations. With only a few minutes each, we had to look what each person could do in the alloted time. And you know, it was kind of fun getting my turn out of the way first, so I could enjoy watching the others and seeing how they interpreted the inspiration. Each had different ideas and abilities. Each person stretched in different ways and it was an event that the Flames want to repeat in the future.

See you tomorrow at www.studiomarcy.blogspot.com