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Charlotte;
Melting Glass
Making Beads
Loving every minute of it! |
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Charlotte came to me with great determination to learn
to make glass beads. She already had a torch; two in fact! She
had learned a bit about scientic glass blowing in a class she
took a while ago, and was so in love with hot glass that she
got herself a torch, and started messing around with hot glass
at home. She has been working with borosilicates (hard glass)
and in fact, has gotten her 19 year old son so excited about
working with glass that they fight over torch time. She wanted
to make beads out of soft glass (Moretti), but unfortunately,
she couldn't get the glass to stick to the mandrel.
She was frustrated. She was destraught. She was desperate. She
was.......
A WOMAN ON A MISSION!
Charlotte went on
the internet looking for a beadmaking teacher, found my website,
and liked the pictures of the beads some of my students had made,
and the fact that I work with students individually. She emailed
to ask about taking a class. She and her husband came all the
way from Richland, Michigan on a "mini-vacation" to
Virginia Beach so she could take a two day class!
Since Charlotte already
had a background in working with hot glass, we cut right to the
good part -
We started making beads right away!
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Woman On A Mission:
Day One
MAKE IT STICK!
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Once Charlotte
discovered how to make hot glass stick to the mandrel,
the beadmaking just took off ! She is methodical, patient with
melting glass, and knows just how to position her tongue to get
the hot glass to do what she wants.
(*this is a joke. Please do not touch hot glass with your tongue!)
She made these
beads in similar colors, and decided now that she got it to stick,
her goal was to make enough complimentary beads to make herself
a necklace.
Once again, the
woman was on a mission, and no one was going to stop her!
(I certainly wasn't going to get in her way!)
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Cute Little Itty Bitty
Reduction Fritty Beads |
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Charlotte's Beads - Day One |
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Woman On A Mission: Day
Two
Flowers and Vessels
and Matching Pairs - OH MY!
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Another thing
Charlotte really wanted to do was try making a vessel.
I showed her the basic
technique, and she put to good use a couple of decorative elements
I had shown her for florals.
Nice job, eh?
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All that was left
was to make enough pairs of matching beads to put together a
beautiful necklace. With great patience and practice, practice,
practice! Charlotte had enough for her necklace.
(With a few extra Schermo spacers for good luck!)
We went up to THE
BEAD ROOM and after a quick tutorial on jewelry making...
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Wearing her
colors proudly! |
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The Beautiful Beads of Charlotte Brown
A woman who knew what
she wanted to do, and wasn't afraid to light a few torches to
do it!
Great Job, Charlotte
!
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