From Flaming Hot!

We all hang on to the familiar. What is your staple glass object you continue to make and why? Blog it!

My staple glass object right now would have to be something like this:

These are really just very basic beads from boro glass. I start by making a twistie cane of three or four or six colors striped over a clear core. This one was made from Northstar Caramel, Elvis Red, and a green (possibly Glass Alchemy Aqua Azul, but I am not sure). Once I make the twistie, I use it as the core for a Basic Round Bead, and encase the bead with a layer of clear glass. With my average twistie, I can get a set of anywhere from ten to eighteen beads, no two of which are going to look exactly alike but all of which will go together.

Since lampworking is, for me, as much relaxation and respite as it is creativity, I try to keep my approach to it as Zen-like as possible. With these beads, I can get into “the zone” almost without effort, whether I’m going the twisties or the beads. It’s a rare torching session that I don’t either make one or more sets, or at least make the twisties for a set or two at my next session.

This week’s Flaming Hot Blog-It!:

Being self employed has it’s rewards and challenges. How do you manage to get your work done? Blog it.

I’m not altogether self-employed — I do have that “day job” teaching computer science. The lampworking is very much a side business.  It is very hard some days to come home, switch gears, and work on the side business.   If it’s an evening when I need to make something, usually that’s not so tough.  I find that melting glass is relaxing and stress-relieving, and I look forward to doing that unless I’m just too tired to have any business sitting at the torch.

Other things — photography, bookkeeping, advertising — I have a lot more trouble with.  They aren’t stress-relieving; they are stress-inducing.  I tend to avoid them in favor of fiddling around with the computer or something.  I know I’m doing this, though, and one of my goals for the next few months is to get myself into the habit of keeping up with photography so that I can list things for sale online.  I still haven’t figured out the “carrot” for that one, though.

Maybe it’s a matter of comfort zones — things like computing and lampworking itself are part of my personal comfort zone so it’s not hard to convince myself to do them.  The other things are outside that realm, though, which makes it harder to convince myself to tackle them.