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I teach lampwork glass beadmaking and the acid etching
process at studios around the country. Here is some information about my upcoming classes, with links to further details. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Would you like have me teach a class at a glass studio near you? Well then, send me some information about the studio by e-mail and I'll contact them and try to see what can be arranged for the future! Also, it may help to chat with the studio owners about my work and show them my web site, you never know what might work out. Teaching
Schedule for 2011
June 8th through 12th 2011 (one two-day class & one half-day class)
The Bead & Button Show, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Frontier Airlines Center, 400 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53203 Drawing with Light: Part I Wednesday & Thursday, June 8th & 9th
In this class you will learn to create beads with more control, precision, and detail and explore the imagery that inspires you. Students will increase their control of bead form and learn techniques for creating clear pictorial images with glass stringers. You’ll explore techniques for controlling and refining the application of glass to create clear imagery, beginning with floral forms and moving on to drawing controlled linear forms, animals, and other images from your imagination. Special attention will be given to taming temperamental transparents, conquering challenging bead shapes and hollow forms, and exploring color. Drawing with Light: Part II Sunday, June 12th Learn to etch their own unique designs onto glass beads. This class will be dedicated to exploring the many techniques for creating etched designs. Students will use painted resists, stencils, embossed stamping, and wax drawing, all as ways of expressing their own design ideas. You will learn many tips and tricks for avoiding the pitfalls and successfully create beautiful frosted images that glow. Students can use sample glass pieces for etching in class, or their own glass beads or other glass pieces that they have made or purchased in advance. Students will have a chance to try all the techniques, develop their own unique design ideas, and creatively combine approaches. This class is an excellent addition to the lampwork class Drawing with Light Part 1: Creating Pictorial Glass Beads, but all students are welcome August 18th
through
21st 2011
Playing with Light: Creating Glass Beads for Etched Effects Blue Moon Glassworks, 108 West 43rd Street, Austin, Texas 78745, 512-380-0770 Learn
to make beads
with more control, precision
and detail, and explore the fantastic glowing effects you can create
when you
etch transparent glass. We’ll spend the first two days creating
lampwork beads, focusing on taming temperamental transparents,
conquering
challenging bead shapes and hollow forms, perfecting stringer
decoration, and
exploring color layering and custom color blends. The third day will be
dedicated to exploring the many techniques for creating etched designs
using
painted resists, stencils, embossed stamping, and wax drawing. You’ll
have time
to try all these approaches and creatively combine techniques, all as
ways of
expressing your own design inspiration.
The Blue Moon has a fabulous reputation for treating it's teachers and
students like family. They maintain a top-flight classroom
environment,
and are known to feed and entertain their guests like royalty! I
really look forward to teaching there for the first time next
summer,
and I hope you'll join me. Send me
questions,
or contact Jim or Rose Berry at the Blue Moon
for more information about taking classes there. Past Classes:
June 2010, The Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee, WI. April 2010, The Mandrel in Redondo Beach, CA. June 2009, The Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee, WI. April 2009, The Arroyo Road Bead Collective in Forest Knolls, CA. January 2009, Visions Gallery in Lafayette, LA. December 2008, Visions Gallery in Lafayette, LA. November 2008, The Arroyo Road Bead Collective in Forest Knolls, CA. November 2008, The Bay Area Bead Extravaganza in Oakland, CA. September 2008, Visions Gallery in Lafayette, LA. June 2008, The Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee, WI. Overview OF
The Glass Etching Process
For my own beads, I etch images on lampwork glass beads that I create myself. I begin with rods of glass in different colors and then melt and shape the glass around a mandrel in the flame of a torch. I then slowly cool the bead in a kiln, which anneals the glass and gives it great strength and durability. Later I apply the etched designs to the cooled glass bead. The basic principles of the etching process are very simple: The designs are etched on the bead using an acid solution formulated to cut away the glass surface in a controlled, even way. The acid creates a soft matte finish where it touches the glass, and leaves a smooth glossy finish wherever I have protected the glass. After it has done it’s job, the acid is neutralized and washed away, leaving clean, safe, etched bead. In my classes I cover many different techniques you can use to create your own etched design. We cover stencil materials and stencil cutting, applying different painted resist materials, wax resists, embossed stamping, and more. My classes allow time for students to practice the techniques, and learn many tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years that make this labor-intensive process much more successful and rewarding. I cover all of the safety information you need to use this process safely on your own, and my class kit includes all the tools you’ll need to explore the technique further. See my Shows page for a listing of the shows where I’ll be offering classes. For my own etched beads that you see on this web site, you’ll see that I have some designs that use simple graphic elements (dots & lines, etc.), some with much more elaborate pictorial images, and some that have a raised, sculptural relief. Simple graphic designs are mostly created using painted resist methods, although some very crisp linear designs call for using stencils. Pictorial images mostly demand the detail and control available by using stencils. My sculptural designs are created by melting tiny threads of glass onto the bead surface, essentially drawing the design on the surface of the bead with the molten glass, and then selectively etching the bead by applying a painted resist on the raised design (or on the background, depending on the effect I’m after). All of these beads are a great joy to create, as the etching process allows an endless range of images to lay over the many colors of glass available. I’ve been fascinated by the flash and flow of transparent glass since I began lampworking. With the addition of the etching process there’s no end to the combinations you can make, and so no chance to get bored with the color palette or the process! Feel free to e-mail me with any questions! Back to Etched Beads. |