“Solitude”…a descriptive essay.

 

Solitude

~a descriptive essay by Lori Bouchard~

My favorite place to go is one where I am alone in physical being and thought. It is a place for me to get away from the crowded and chaotic doldrums of everyday life. It is a place where I can escape being a wife and a mother and a daughter and a friend. I am truly free to be myself there. It is a place where I can release my creative muse. This solitary place is my glass studio.

This studio can barely be called such since it is merely a small area in a large cold garage. It is a tiny corner surrounded by car parts, extra tires, and old cars in various states of rest. The smells of strong coffee and old motor oil mix with those of torched silver, glass fumes, and propane. The heater is high in the ceiling rafters and at the opposite end of this space, leaving my part of it chilly and feeling isolated. A large picture window and the glass door are my only connection to the outside world. The old, dusty vertical blinds allow me control over the amount of light as well as the level of outside intrusion into my time here. They give me the option of completely cutting off the outside world.

My old metal Craftsman workbench is the most prominent feature. Pushed against an old gray concrete wall, its top is cluttered in organized chaos. Rods of colored glass, in small piles to the right and others in glass jars like candy sticks along the back of the bench, beg to be made into something wonderful. Drawers down the right side hold colored glass chips, pure silver foil leafs, and strange looking tools which can be reached easily with one hand when at work. My torch is clamped to the top of the bench and seems almost as a brass beacon calling me to light it. When lit, the torch is quite loud, blocking out most of the noise from outside. The earphones from my MP3 player in my jeans’ pocket allows me further isolation through whatever type of music suits my creative mood- sometimes heavy metal, sometimes classical. . My torch is directly surrounded by various jars labeled “Bucket O Mud”, and a shiny steel bowl of muddy water and broken glass. An old rusty coffee can filled with kitty litter holds partially coated mandrels upright while they dry and looks like an old dead forest of steel.

My workbench is higher than a table and requires me to sit on a stool. Mine is an old black plastic covered stool like the ones you find in a small town garage. This stool swivels, but also rocks a bit as both the legs and the concrete floor beneath are uneven. This rickety throne acts like a pivot of action and gives me the agility to maneuver as necessary while pulling hot glass strings or reaching for a new cold rod. From this perch, I can easily reach both my rack of glass rods and my kiln.

The rack of glass rods sits behind me on a stack of old metal filing cabinets. Behind me, it remains convenient but not distracting. This rack was crudely, yet quite effectively, handmade for me by my husband. An old kitchen cabinet without a door holds twelve inch long pieces of PVC pipe all stacked together like a plastic honeycomb. Each pipe holds a different color or type of glass rod giving the rack a rainbow-like appearance. Old photos of beads that I have made hang at odd angles on the side of this cabinet acting as signposts to any who may peer through the glass door and wonder what occurs here.

To the left of my stool, in front of the large picture window, sits my kiln. It sits upon a work table that has been lovingly confiscated from my husband because its legs are easily adjustable. This particular kiln is made of layers that can be removed to change the size of the kiln. The most notable part of the kiln are the bright blue computer on the side, which allows for exacting temperatures and specific heating programs to be run, and the crude looking fabric flaps on the bottom layer. These now fraying flaps allow me to insert rods of freshly made hot glass beads with just one swivel of my stool. The heat from the kiln, combined with that of the torch, quickly heats up the tiny corner allowing me to feel even more at home within this creative bubble of space.

In my studio, I am comfortably segregated from the outside world. I am free to awaken my muse and release her. I can be alone with my thoughts, free to let my mind wander at its will. In this place, I answer only to myself, and have no obligations outside of the flame.

The Art Show Booth…an art in itself…

Wow….let’s see….where to begin this week?  Maybe at the beginning….or in this case at the booth entrance!

I am in the very tedious and never-ending process of a “booth redo”.  I have decided to jump back in to the show circuit, but here in CT instead of in TX.  This means that I need an entirely new setup.

There are many things to take into consideration when deciding on a booth design….. not only the “style” of your products and business, but also what is  practical and appealing for the customers, as well as what is practical and easy to set up.   We also must be ready to setup in both indoor and outdoor events here in New England- while summer may be great for outdoor shows in a tent, the season is short and the winters can be brutal.

So….. I have decided that I want to bring the utmost in serenity and elegance to my booth.  Hmmm….in a white tent in a parking lot you say? lol…yup.  Quite a lofty goal isn’t it?  Well….so far it has been absolutely achievable with LOTS of research, LOTS of shopping, and a bit of ingenuity and creativity.

To set the mood:  I see white. Lots of white.  A blank canvas if you may.  A punch of color for drama. 

Picture this (Don’t worry…I will post actual pictures as soon as I take some):  A white tent with white walls.  White grids hanging on the walls.  Bright, sparkling silver jewelry hangs on soft grey velvet pads in near randomness on the grids.  Occassionally the scene is broken by a white shelf with a stunning piece on a bust.   Only one lone table graces the space. It is covered in a simple, yet elegant white cloth that peeks a bit of intense and romantic hand dyed rose red from beneath.   If you are lucky you will be greeted at the entrance with a large bouquet of fresh red roses that introduce you to the ambience of romantic peace.

Wow! I can only hope that my booth will evoke a touch of what I can describe.  I will let you be the judge.  Photos coming very soon……

Glass Fusing…. cabs and tiles and plates, oh my!

Glass fusing, while using glass and a kiln like with lampworking, is a very different artform.  Lampworking is considered a “hot glass” medium due to the use of the torch, while fusing is “warm glass” as it is done in a kiln with no flame.

While I am quite new to this medium, I have been reading and experimenting furiously…there is so much to learn!  For fusing glass, I start with sheets of glass rather than long rods as you do in lampwork.  As with lampworking, there are many different types of sheet glass available, and many that are reactive with other colors.  Knowing how each color reacts to the temperatures you are going to submit them to as well as how they react to each other is vital in obtaining the final desired effect.  Of course, surprises are sometimes wonderful!

Pieces of glass are cut or sometimes smashed with a hammer into little random bits (aka “frit”).  I also sometimes use powdered glass in some of my pieces.  (I have lately had alot of fun experimenting with layering sheets of glass with powder and frit in different sizes and colors…..the results can be unexpected and quite interesting!) 

Dichroic glass is something that I use in my lampworking more than I have so far in fusing, but is a very popular glass to use in fusing for jewelry.  Dichroic glass is glass (usually clear or black) that has layers of metal oxides, sometimes in patterns that give special effects when the light hits it.  This method was originally created by NASA for use on satellite mirrors.  Check out what Wikipedia has to say about Dichroic Glass! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichroic_glass

Once I have the layers that I want to use, and they are all clean and free from fingerprints and dirt, I very carefully place them into the kiln.  There they will be heated slowly up to fusing temperatures that allow the glass layers to melt into one solid piece of glass.  (Of course fused glass, just as any glass, must go through the annealing process as well. -see last week’s entry about lampworking for more information on annealing.)

One of the connections between the two processes of lampworking and fusing glass is that sometimes, I am able to get some cool results by creating a bead in the torch, and then later, breaking it in half and then fusing the halves into two flat cabochons.  The effects can be intense and more detailed than I am able to achieve by fusing or lampworking alone.

 The process is essentially the same (of course there is much more to it than I can possibly write here…..) for making tiles or plates or bowls, etc.  To obtain shapes, one must go one more step (sometimes many many more steps) to “slump” the fused glass into a final shape.  The requires slowing heating the glass in the kiln to a temperature that is below the fusing/melting temperature, but high enough for the glass molecules to move a bit and sag or slump into a mold.  You can also slump glass over a mold…  The possibilities are completely infinite!  There are as many more techniques for working with glass as there are artists using them, and as I discover the possibilities of those, I will share them with you!

For now…the weather is warming and my winter long abandoned lampworking torch is calling me!

Until next time….
Lori B.

Glass Lampwork…what is that all about?

Lampwork…..why is it called that?  Do I use a lamp to see my work? Not exactly.  Glass Lampwork is an ancient art.  Long ago before specialized torches were available, glass artists would use the flame from an oil lamp to melt glass into shapes and beads.  Thus,  the term “Lamp Work”.   This term is still used today, even though most artists will use more specialized torches and equipment.  In general the term Lampwork now refers to the art of using a flame to manipulate glass into an end result- usually beads or glass sculpture.

The set-up that I use is one of the most basic and least complicated.  I use a simple Propane torch that was made specifically for glass lampworking.  (Many artists will use a torch that mixes either Propane or Natural Gas with Oxygen from a tank or concentrated from the air with a machine called an oxygen concentrator.  This type creates a much hotter flame than the one I use and is necessary if using harder, more dense glass types.)   Because I use what is considered “soft glass” (It has a lower melting temperature), I am able to use a single fuel torch with no additional oxygen.

I begin by purchasing “Rods” of glass.  These rods come in various colors including many that are reactive and provide interesting variations when reacting with other colors.  Some are simply reactive to the temperature of the flame and some to the amount of oxygen in the flame.  (These reactive glasses are my favorite types to work with and you will them often in my beads).

How do I turn these rods of glass into intricately detailed beads?   The base color of glass is carefully passed in and out of the torch flame to bring it to melting temperature without shocking it.  Once it is glowing red, it is then melted and wound onto a steel rod, or mandrel, that is coated with a release formula to prevent the glass from sticking permanently to it.  (Ocassionally the release will break and I will then be left with a beautiful “plant stake”!)  Onto the base color, I can then add endless variations of colors and shapes to create my design. 

 Many of my designs are encased with a layer of clear glass to magnify the designs underneath.   Adding pure silver foil or leaf to a base color can give dramatic effects.  (This is how I achieve the look of space in my galaxy series of beads.)  Poking holes in the hot glass and then covering the hole quickly with clear glass gives the effect of a floating bubble.  I also pull the molten glass into thinner rods, or stringers, so that I can make smaller details or twist different colors together for even more interesting effects.  Using various tools I can manipulate the glass further and obtain different final shapes to the beads.

Once I am finished “building” my bead, it is then set into a hot kiln to “rest” while I finish my lampworking for that session.  When all beads for that day are in the kiln, the temperature is raised up to 960F and held there for 90 minutes.  It is then slowly lowered over the course of several hours before shutting off the kiln and letting it cool slowly to room temperature.  I usally do not get to see my work finished until the next day.  It is definately an excercise in patience!  The reason for the slow heating in the kiln is that the glass acquires stress points from the temperature changes of working it in the flame.  By slowly lowering the temp in a controlled environment of a kiln, the stress points are removed and new ones avoided while the glass molecules get a chance to “settle”.   This is called “annealing” the beads.  One MUST use a kiln in order to ensure that the beads are annealed.  Beads made in China and by those who use other methods of cooling (cans of Vermiculite, or layers of fiberglass blankers) are not truly annealing the glass.  Beads that are not annealed are much more likely to break, and can even sometimes explode while just sitting on a table! 

The next day, when the beads are removed from the kiln, I can then inspect, admire, and clean the beads.  Those that have survived all the stress of the creative process are then cleaned under warm water to remove all remnants of release that might be left in the hole after removing them from the mandrels. 

 The only thing left to do after all of that, is to add them to a chain or photograph them and offer them for sale for another jewelry designer to use in their work.

If you are interested in viewing bits of this process at the torch, visit http://rosesofonegarden.com/about.html  and scroll down!

Until next time… when I discuss the basics of glass fusing in the kiln….
Lori B.

Chain Maille… for the modern warrior woman!

Ok..so you’ve seen chain maille…you HAVE, really!

So now, you’re thinking…gee…how does she do that?  Where did that come from?

Well.. I think most of us are at least vaguely familiar with the chain maille that was worn by knights to protect them in battle.  Some of us may be familiar with the chain maille suits worn by divers to protect from shark bites….
The principles are the same, as are some of the construction details,…but….the results…are light years apart!

Chain making is an ancient art that can take on many forms.  For this post, I will discuss the chains that I make using small rings made of various metals.  Now..I obviously cannot give away ALL of my “secrets”…but want to make you aware of the basic process and the raw materials involved in making a piece of my art jewelry.

I begin my spending many hours (sometimes) researching the current spot price of silver and it’s recent price trends so that I can make my materials purchases at the best possible price point….(This is likely the MOST sedatingly boring aspect of the entire process…)

Once I have determined a good time to buy…I buy.  Easy right?

What am I buying?  Well…for chains, I begin with long pieces of wire (for the sake of this article, we will assume I am working in Sterling Silver).  It comes to me wound in a very loose coil, usually many many feet long. 

Before I can begin using this wire, I have to determine what weave I will be making and the AR (aspect ratio) needed to make it.  Aspect Ratio is the ratio between the inner diameter of the rings used to weave and the diameter of the wire itself.  Different weaves require different AR’s in order to work.  So…for those who thought they would never use Math again after High School…ha! Here it is…in the artist’s world… alive and well!

So..now I know what I plan to make, and the AR needed to make it.  The next step is to take a mandrel (any long “stick-like” rod that can be used to wind the wire around it) of the correct size and wind a long coil (approx. 4″ long) onto it.  Some artists will use a power drill to accomplish this, but as I tend to be a bit accident prone, I wind all my coils literally by hand!  I find I also have more control over the accuracy of the wind and the amount of “spring-back” of the coil when winding by hand.

Once I have a bunch (a technical term) of coils wound..I am ready to bring out the power tools!  I use a specialized attachment on a Dremel that uses a fine jewelry saw blade to cut a straight cut all the way through the top of the coil.  Once this is done, I am left with a pile of beautiful, perfectly cut rings!  After cleaning, rinsing, and sorting, they are ready to weave into a beautiful chain!

Different weaves are done different ways….obviously…but they all have common steps.  Each and every ring must be opened and then closed….one at a time…by hand (well…not exactly by hand…I use two pairs of pliers to achieve this! <wink>)  Each ring is carefully place into position by me and then closed.  Now mind you….some weaves are bit easier than others and some allow for closing some of the rings before being woven in, but in general, each and every ring must be opened and closed at some point…again…one at a time!

After at least a few hours of monotonous weaving (although it is my favorite part of the process…instant gratification watching this chain almost magically appear before my eyes!), I am ready to attach focal art glass made in my torch and kiln,  beautiful gemstones, and touches of silver, handmade by artisans in Bali, into the design. 

The end results are the unique jewelry art pieces you will find on my sites. 

I hope you now have a greater appreciation for all of the hard, and sometimes tedious, work that goes into creating a chain and will be able to use this knowledge to aid you in making informed purchases of artisan jewelry.

Next week…. I will discuss the process that goes into making my Lampwork art glass and Fused art glass pieces!  No power tools..but lots of fire and heat!

Until next time…
Lori B.

Metals…. more than meets the eye…

Rich, glowing, matte, brushed, silver, gold, patina, etc…..metals are the foundation of my work as well as the compliment…

I thought I would take some time to go into detail about the metals I use in my work…. before delving into this arena, I had not even heard of some of them!

Sterling Silver- This is the metal used most often in my work, especially in my chains (stay tuned for next week’s entry when I explain just HOW I make my chains!).  It is composed of 92.5% pure silver and the remaining amount of base metal (usually copper).  This metal is easy to work with and is fairly strong due to the mixture of the base metal. 

Fine Silver- 99.9% pure silver or more is considered to be Fine Silver. This pure form of silver has a bit more depth and richness to it’s appearance, but is more difficult to work with at times as it has less tensile strength than does Sterling Silver. I will use this metal for accents, in my glass beads and glass fused pieces, as well as in the form of PMC (see below).

PMC- or “Precious Metal Clay”- This is a mixture of fine particles of pure silver suspended in an organic clay suspension that gives it the ability to be sculpted like ordinary clay, but when fired in a kiln or flame, burning off the binders and clay, leaves just the sculpted piece in pure Fine Silver. Any of my work that is described as “sculpted in fine silver” refers to my use of this material. This new product allows an extreme amount of detail to easily be sculpted into original jewelry pieces that are as unique as each of us.

Gold-Filled- Most people understand what Karat Gold is. The number preceding referring to the amount of pure gold in the piece. Gold-filled is a different type…. it is a process that permanently bonds a heavy amount of gold to a base metal core. Gold filled is a permanent bond, unlike plating which is notorious for flaking and peeling over a relatively short period of time. Gold-filled metal will generally wear as long and as good as solid Karat Gold as the bonded gold surface would need to literally wear off before revealing the inner core metal. This metal tends to be not only more economical than solid Karat gold, but because of its make-up and ability to wear long and well, is also a stronger material overall in many applications than a solid Karat gold. I generally use 1/20 14K Gold filled wire when a touch of Gold is needed. This means that 1/20 of the total make-up of the wire is 14KGold permanently bonded to the core. (While I am always happy to do custom chain work in solid Karat gold, Sterling silver and Gold-filled are my usual choice of metal).

Copper- Aw..come on …..we all know Copper! Over the last few years there had been much a buzz about the healing properties of copper. Now, I certainly couldn’t even begin to determine if that is true or not, but I simply find that the earthly richness of the metal along with its unique ability to patina over time to even richer hues makes it the perfect metal for many designs, sometimes as an accent to silver, and sometimes as the focal.

Artistic Wire- This wire is used only occasionally in my work. This wire is a copper cored wire that is permanently colored in a very wide array of color choices! Because it is generally finished with a plastic coating, it is perfect for those with metal allergies as well as for those designs that just NEED a wire of a different color!

So …there you have it! A summary of my metal choices, what they are and why I use them!
Until next time… (When I discuss chain making…from the beginning raw materials to the end product…)
Lori B.