My lampworking really improved when...

[bexrox]

This question was posted once on the polymer clay site that I frequent. The range of responses was fantastic, so I thought I would see what all you fine glass artists had to say. You know how when you go from beginner, and pass some threshold and realize you've really got it? That threshold is my point of interest. Please complete this sentence (feel free to write lots!): :-D

My lampworking really improved when...

[Otter's Flame]

My lampworking really improved when... oh wait my lampworking hasn't improved yet.

Otter

[samnjoe]

HAHAHAH!!! That just gave me a serious case of the giggles!!:koolaid: I'm with you on that, since I'm still counting my torch time in hours instead of months or years. :rolleyes:

Okay. My lampwork improved when ... I stopped worrying about meeting the wrong standards of what defined a "good bead." That definition was my own. I had wrongly assigned a negative connotation to my achievements ... because I couldn't get perfect little dots or designs.

In other words, I actually got better when I relaxed and cut myself some slack by refocusing and realizing that all great beads don't have to have DOTS ... or DOT-BASED DESIGNS. Bead-making really is the ultimate open-canvas.

There isn't a cookie-cutter for standards; but I just hadn't gotten that through my head, until a close friend confided that the draw she had to the beads I was making was based on the vision that my beads were so different. I had always felt that those differences were failure, and I was beginning to feel a tad frustrated with the learning curve.

In a few simple words, my friend taught me that I could believe in myself and that the ony standard I should strive to achieve is the one set by my own goals and beliefs. HOWEVER ... I still need to practice caution, because "my own beliefs" can often bite me in the butt, because I am at the top of the heap of all of the highest-level perfectionists.

As soon as I relaxed, and spent some less self-judgmental time in front of the torch, I discovered that with PPP, even the dot-challenged can do dots. And now that they are becoming a bit easier, it's funny, but I'm like, "oh, well, fine ... so that's what had made me feel so badly about my beads??"

Geez. It's true. We CAN be our own worst enemy. :-({|=

-- samnjoe

My lampworking really improved when... oh wait my lampworking hasn't improved yet.

Otter

[Kevan]

I would say relaxed also, but more like I relaxed and stopped rushing.

[ewdb]

my lampwork really improved when:

-ever i visit LE & WC
-i finally realized that i could turn the flame up and down instead of always trying to work in the full blast of the HH
-i learned gravity is a much better, softer friend than my marver
-i figured out how to add and remove the reduction from glass colours
-i gave up making small beads and started sculpting huge, dripping globs of glass
-i accepted that making the same bead over and over again bores me to tears
-i accepted that my original plan of making beads for jewellery wasn't going to happen
-i put together an inspiration binder of some of my fave art and pictures
-ever i stopped trying to force a design and just relaxed, turned my brain off and played
-ever i complete a custom order. custom requests always seem to push me out of my comfort zone and force me to try/learn new techniques.
-i watched the corina stringer dvd (over & over & over again).
-ever i try/test a new glass colour
-after each torch session

[blong2001]

I slowed down. Period!

Beth

[Lisa]

When I accepted the truth it really did matter how you put your footprint down.

And when I let go and play.

[Tink]

Heat. Control.

:-)

[Lisi]

When I accepted the truth it really did matter how you put your footprint down.

And when I let go and play.

What one of the other Lisas wrote! ;) :D

[Yellow Dog Girl]

Two things. One was taking a class from Kristen Orr. I had already taken a couple of classes, and MAN they worked fast! Kristen works in a very deliberate way. Not slow, exactly, but just carefully and deliberately. I went, "Oh wow! I can do THAT!" So, yes, the slowing down made a big difference. Two was the luxury of having a bit over a year to make beads full-time. Had just gotten out of grad school, and promptly landed the job from hell, which lasted a (VERY long) year. I was so burned out that I took about a year off before returning to a traditional job. That year made a HUGE difference.

[loco]

When I was told: "Slow down the rotation of the mandrel so the heat can sink in."

[sunnyone]

when I started making what I wanted instead of what customers wanted! hehe

slowing down......

and tink hit it on the head! heat control!

crystal

[Katey11]

First, when I started playing with colors, techniques, decorative methods and not worry that everything turned out perfect (in other words I relaxed and had fun)

Second when I got the concept of heat control and using different sizes and parts of the flame.
Kathleen

[jeepinwelch]

An experienced lampworker was kind enough to share some time and knowledge with me. I learned everything from books and had never seen anyone else make beads. Just watching her helped me improve in a major way!

[ginko]

when gravity became my friend (which only happens in hot glass, btw).
heat control!

[wendbill]

When I stopped waving the bead and mandrel up and down in the flame.

[jesscause]

when I learned that your bead doesn't have to be molten ALL the time! I also found great heat control info and it saved alot of my colors from burning. Now if I can only get a better torch....

[Rudy]

I'm never satisfied, but, when I slowed down the mandrel rotation! I was watching Samantha's encased bead tutorial (which is wonderful), and I noticed that her rotation was smooth, relaxed, and waaay slower than mine. I tried my new technique and noticed an immediate improvement. I was very frustrated cause my beads insisted on being lopsided...I'm so much closer to round! yippeeee!!!!

[simvet02]

All of the above AND when I quit worrying about being burned and blowing up the house.

[Megan]

when I practiced, practiced, practiced.. When I learned to take a technique and just do it over, over, and over again until I got it right.

I also don't get as much torch time as I would like but have a ton of time to think at work, so as I am transcribing, I sometimes visualize exactly how I would do something or how I would move my mandrel or glass in the flame and that really helps too..

It also improved when I decide before I sit down at the torch what my plan is for the torching session, random beading just doesn't work for me.

[bexrox]

Sounds great, everyone! I'm definitely seeing some trends here in slowing down and heat control. The latter is an area that I really need to work on, although getting better, I must say! Personally, I think I may be approaching that threshold, but certainly haven't crossed it yet! Soon, I want to be able to add my own contribution to this thread I started... Your responses are giving me lots to consider in getting to that point. Thanx a bunch! And keep 'em coming!

Becky

[Rudy]

I love this thread...I'm just smiling, smiling, smiling... Too funny. It's comforting to know that we are not alone! : - )))

I must say that I do feel addicted to glass.....If I had to pick an addiction, I'd pick this one, and I don't to find the cure! : - )

[bexrox]

I love this thread...I'm just smiling, smiling, smiling... Too funny. It's comforting to know that we are not alone! : - )))

I must say that I do feel addicted to glass.....If I had to pick an addiction, I'd pick this one, and I don't to find the cure! : - )

I agree with you, Rudy. I find I think about glass all the time, and, like Megan, I visualize it in the flame with one part of my brain while I do the mundane stuff with another part. I think that qualifies as an addiction! That's how I used to be with my polymer clay and before that, my guitar. My poor red sweetheart (seen in my avatar) sits on her stand in the corner now, only getting fondled a fraction of the time that she's used to.

I know I'll pick up again on all my passions in time, and in fact, might see glass take the back burner sometime in the future :shock:... Oh the horror! I'm so glad to be living a curious and creative life, though. I consider myself very rich (even though I'm broke!)

[Rudy]

Ahhhhhh....we may be poor, but we're happy! Priceless!!!

[sislonski]

My beads became better:

After a lot of practice
After taking a class
when I switched from a hot head to a minor torch.

[kirrakat123]

My lampworking really improved when..........
I learned to control the heat in the bead. My first lampwork teacher taught me to have the glass on the bead you are making always red hot glowing. I had very limited control over the glass flow & shape of the bead. Luckly, I bought the book of "Jim Smirchich & His Amazing Conrol of Heat" (by Jim Kerwin). I first realised I could control the hot glass. Needless to say, I found a better teacher. But I was hooked on lampwork from my first ever lesson. Now I'm a torch-a-holic & need my fix everyday.:p

[cswilson53]

I am fairly new to lampworking - two months -- my beads are improving with PPP and I learned to slow down and keep that mandrel straight. I love my tungsten pick the most -so that when I screw up with dots or stringers - I just rake thru that bead and it looks better!!!

[KarenBeth]

When I learned how to pull perfectly straight stringer.
When I learned to keep the mandrel moving BEFORE I put glass on it
When I relaxed and did it for FUN!!

[miss-spider]

When I got a Stump shaper.
When I accepted that I don't HAVE to make just one style of bead and it's okay to make everything I want. Making the same styles over and over again would make me nuts. (more nuts!)

[Jeri]

......When Kate Fowle taught me that my bi-cones would have much nicer ends if I kept the bead slightly wider than the flame, that way I could decorate the middle of the bead with out distorting my ends!

[NLC Beads]

* When I switched from working at my kitchen table to my studio.
* When I switched from 1 light bulb that was pretty much behind and above me to 4 Reveal lights.
* When I switched to prescription didys instead of clip ons covering an old pair of glasses so I was using my current prescription for glasses instead of a 5 year old one! (Ok, that was this week... ANY minute now there will be an improvement. Really.)
* After every class when I learn another small nuance that makes worlds of difference.

[lldesigns]

My lampworking improved when I started taking the bead out of the flame a couple of seconds sooner than I thought I should - this goes under the heading of heat control. Knowing when you have enough heat soaked in deep is sooo important for me. I ruined lots of potentially pretty designs before figuring this out. And it was just PPP.

It improved dramatically when I got a kiln!!! Up until then I was batch annealing and lost about 20 percent of my beads.

[AlivELampworK]

when i went to school for two years for scientific glassblowing. because i was stuck in the glass studio.

[AKDesigns]

My lampworking really improved when:

My husband built me a new studio and I no longer had to make beads in the dark, dirty, insect and rodent infested garage. The fact that I can see what I'm doing now has made all the difference in the world.

[DarleenMB]

when I sloooowwwwweeedddd down

[jaci]

When I got a kiln... and I was not afraid that things would break if not made small enough. Also when I got a bulk tank for my HH. I had longer sessions, and beads that I did not get discouraged that they broke!

[pegz]

HEAT Control: I read some where, probably here that: The time you spend out of the Flame is as important as the time you spend in it. That was so helpful to me in getting to understand heat control and everything evenly heated.

Also when making dots, bring the stringer AND the bead up close to the flame for flame cutting -- much more even sizes, and no little pull-offs dropping where they weren't wanted. :0)

[Flonche]

When I started to sell my beads and my first customer left me my best feedback ever: "(...), great craftsmanship". Boy, did I feel some huge pressure to never let a sloppy bead out after that.
Other than that: Heat control. Larry Scott. My honey pushing me for new techniques. etc...

[EmbellishYourself]

I actually stepped away from the torch for a couple months, I was very frustrated. When I went back, there was an instant improvement. While I was away, I still visited this forum and visualized techniques, etc. Everything clicked when I went back to the torch.

[bluecatbeads]

Things improved for me when I stopped caring if my bead was perfectly round the entire time I was working on it, it is much funner to realize that you can fix the shape after you have made the bead. :) Also my improvment was when I tried techniques way above my skill level they taught me more control when I went and did simpler things.

[bjcohan]

- when I went to my first Gathering and watched the demos (my learning curve skyrocketed from this)
- when Jim Smircich taught me about HEAT CONTROL and I became confident enough to work hotter
- when I stopped being so impatient to decorate the bead and started spending more time on getting the shape perfect

Barb

[redbearmountain]

My Lampworking Really Improved when:

1. I upgraded from a hothead to a minor torch
2. Practice, Practice, Practice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3. I bought Scotts Bouwens Electrical Mandrel Spinner!
4. Slowed down and took my time.
5. Will improve even more after my first glass class next fall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!