Bobblehead Holiday Ornament Class - Still Room

Hey, if you're going to be in the Atlanta area, I still have room in my Christmas ornament- bobblehead class. You can see that we'll make a bobblehead Elf and Santa is a bobble-belly. Because his tummy shook like a bowl full of jelly!

These are both two part beads that we'll make in a single day. Class is Saturday, November 14th at FlameTree Glass in Roswell, GA. You will be able to use these ornaments as table decorations or I'll also show you how to wire them up as ornaments for your Christmas tree. I even sometimes wear them on change a bead style pendants. We'll make some little stands for them too.

But besides the actual item, we'll work on forming faces, heat control, surface decoration, cased cane hair and other fun concepts that can translate into your other beadmaking skills.

You can click HERE for the rest of the class information, Remember, FlameTree supplies the tools and glass. You just need to pop on over to take it. I'll give you lots of personal attention and we'll have a good time. This class is for intermediate beadmakers. If you want to double check on it, feel free to contact Maureen there too. Call tollfree: 1-800-FlameTree (cool telephone number, huh?)

So hope to see you there. Ho, ho, ho!

Dali Joins The Perspectives Corning Exhibit

I'm so very happy to announce that my Salvador Dali glass bobblehead was juried in to the Perspectives exhibit to be shown in Corning, NY this summer.

It will showcase ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers) members' work. We were asked to submit a bead that best captured our "inspiration, innovation and our personal voice."

The Perspectives' participant slideshow on the ISGB website is filled with amazing beads. You can find it here.

I found creating the famous, not so famous and the infamous as bobblehead subjects was quite fun and rather unique. So that was where I turned when I read about this call for artists.

Dali's unique mustache and dapper way of dressing was unique and easily recognizable. I had wanted to make his mustache 3-D, so that it stuck out, but being so thin and delicate, I worried that it would not survive being shipped across the country twice. So it became surface decoration.

And finally, I wanted him to have a cool beadstand that didn't compete with the form, but complemented it. So I looked to his artwork and chose a color he used often and added a simplified version of the dripping clock that is one of his noteworthy details. Uncomplicated, but you know whose stand it is.

I just had to share my excitement with you and the fabulous slideshow. Have a happy weekend.

Are you left handed?

Studies show that lefties have higher IQs, solve problems better and enjoy larger vocabularies than right handed folk.  Here are some famous lefties: Sir Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso.   And interestingly, every American President since 1981, except the current one.  Even President-Elect Obama uses his left hand.

I'm wondering what percentage of lefties are lampwork glass beadmakers too?  I know I find a high percentage in my classes.  Let us know.  Post here and let's see what unscientific numbers we come up with.

By the way, Alan Searleman, the researcher who conducted this study also added that righties have much better memories than their left handed counterparts.  I knew I could blame it on something else other than my age!

The photo above is my Albert Einstein bobblehead that I made last summer.  Love the 'stache and fly away hair.

Ode to American Gothic

Are there some famous paintings that make you smile? American Gothic by Grant Wood is one of those for me. It touches me as it shows the seriousness of survival and yet at the same time makes me smile and wonder if I ever could have survived in the era.

One of the joys of being a glass artist, is following one's whims at times. This is one of them. I thought it would be a blast to interpret this dour couple's portrait in my whimsical style and as bobbleheads. The incongruity of the subject matter and the bobblehead style totally amuses me.

So keep watching for more odes to famous art pieces or people. I just love melting glass and forming it into pieces to make both you and me grin.

Marcy
ps You can see the listing here... http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14682790

Elvis Has Entered the Building?

Elvis has entered the building? Well, this Elvis impersonator has entered my Etsy shop at least. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14606866

His real name is Erwin Fescue and he plays the small clubs and lounges, but he's always aspired to be an Elvis impersonator in Vegas.

I demonstrated a similar Elvis Bobblehead for our International Society of Glass Beadmakers recently in California at our annual conference. Elvis is actually two beads connected with a spring, so he can bobble or even be worn on an interchangeable pendant.

And here's the rest of the story.
Needless to say, I was a bit nervous about being filmed making these two beads. I had not only had to make the two beads in under an hour, but I had to make him with expertise and not flub anything. I had prepared pretty carefully, by practicing at home. Well the morning of the taping, I thought about those close ups of my hands being filmed and how dry they looked. I didn't want lizard skin on film, so I used some of the hotel hand lotion in my room. Big mistake! Oh the lotion worked well, but perhaps a little too much. My hands were really slippery.

For those of you who aren't beadmakers reading this blog, we make our beads on steel mandrels which are about the thickness of those bamboo skewers that you use for making fruit shish kabobs. My beads are sculptural and not symmetrical like most beads, so the heavy part always "pulls" a bit as we continuously rotate them in circles to keep the molten glass in place. (your basic centrifugal force). Dang, I wasn't sure what to do about my uber-slippery hands.

So I started washing them... a lot. I would have been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive behavior, if you didn't know me. They were still slippery. After more scrubbing with hot water, I finally knew what to do. I took my nail polish remover and wiped them down to get any remaining lotion off of them. It dried them out. I was prepared to use our bead release, which is really drying if that other option hadn't worked.

Luckily, my hands looked okay after all I put them through, I didn't flub the filming and I learned a lesson, which I'm passing on to you.