Feeling Like Spring

Glass Bear with flowers by Marcy Lamberson

It's Spring.  And as I always do, I get a little flower obsessed as my trees and shrubs are blossoming here in Atlanta.  The azalea, dogwood, cherry trees are done and just the rhododendron have lovely blooms.

When I have a lot on my mind, often it translates into glass. So recently, I've been making my glass bears with flowers inside of them.

I've always loved the encased florals (as glass folk call them) and it's a nice challenge to add that technique with sculpture.  We don't usually see that, so it's a little different and a lot of fun to learn.  And honestly, I have a long way to go.  These are nice, but I am working towards "spectacular", which might take a few years.  Lol, I'm not in a rush, but do want to make different kinds of flowers inside of beads.

If you have spare time, I have a 48 hour live auction starting in one of the Facebook private groups, "Limelight" starting tomorrow- Tuesday 9am EDT through 8am EDT on Thursday.  Here is the link if you would like to see what it is all about:   "Limelight "

See you soon!
Marcy

Playing with Glass Bears

I'm still making bears.  I guess my friends haven't had their fill yet, because there is still a market for them.  One of the things I love about making them is simplifying the form and playing with colors.

Before I made these, I just hoarded my Double Helix silver glass.  Now I use it with reckless abandon.  (well, safely reckless, I guess.) The top two bears use it and I can't wait to try more types.

I'm using other c.o.e.'s (co-efficiency of expansion) to try their glass too.  See the bottom two bears? Yummy colors, right?  Those are both veiled glass that is 96 coe, instead of my usual 104. (for non glass nerds, the coe generally needs to match when combining glass, or it will have cracks.  This is due to different types of glass heating and cooling at different rates.- a simplified explanation.)

I'm using dichro.  I didn't think I'd be the type, but I am enjoying it.  Just bits here and there add some nice sparkle or sometimes an aurora borealis in the skies.

And before bears, (is that B.B.?), I seldom used transparent glass.  Opaque just works better with more sculpture.  I am really loving the transparent colors and adding layers to make new colors.

What's next?  Wish I knew.  For now, I'll make more bears, and start to work into more sculpture types again.  I love what I do and feel lucky that I get to enjoy my job.