lampwork

Learning New Things Now vs Then

WP_20140107_003This morning on my way to work while wearing my newly knitted scarf, I was appreciating how easy it is in this day and time to learn new things. I went back to when my mom use to knit and thought about how if she wanted to learn a new stitch, pattern or whatever, she would have to go to the library or buy a book. Yesterday I learned a new stitch by typing in a few key words on Youtube. In less than 5 minutes I learned a new knitting stitch and implemented it in my knitting and have made plans for a new project with what I had just learned.

My husband and I have taught ourselves many things thanks richard lampworkto Youtube and the world wide web. We took up lampworking recently and learned everything we’ve done so far from videos. There isn’t much in this day and time that  there isn’t a video how-to for. Within minutes you can learn just about anything your heart desires. What a fantastic time we live in!

Here’s to always learning!

Many Blessings,
Raventalker

Creativity Amuck!

projectcollageAs most of you probably already know … I am a tad bit of what you might call a creative soul. {{giggles}} I can’t help myself, I am always creating something or at the very least, thinking of creating something.

After posting a photo of one my newest projects last night, someone asked “do you ever rest? and do you ever get tired?”. YEP, but resting to me is creating. Do I get tired? YEP! I am often tired but my curiosity to see the finished project and what it might look like when it’s done and the excitement of creating overrides how tired I might be.

For me, going home after work and not creating something is more tiresome than creating things. When I’m working on projects I am filled with the energy from the project, the thoughts of what will be and the process of seeing it come to life from my own hands. THAT is exciting to me and fills me with a type of energy that wipes away the tiredness from my day. There is a sense of fulfillment that comes from creating with your own hands that doesn’t come from anywhere else. To dream a project, gather all the materials, begin the creating process and then to see it finished is a feeling of pure joy for me. If you’ve never given creative projects a try, I hope that you find the time to do so at some point in your lives. Don’t worry about being perfect, don’t worry about failing, just do it. Try something and keep at it and if you don’t like what you’ve chosen, choose something else and try that. Pretty soon you might even find yourself addicted like me!

Many Blessings,
Raventalker

My Lampwork Art

gloine fb bannerMy husband and I started doing lampwork a few months ago and have been busy busy busy learning this new craft. We’ve finally got enough really nice finished pieces to open an Etsy shop. take a moment please to browse through our shop at our newest addiction.. Lampwork!!

Here’s a link to the Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Gloine

We offer a wide variety of one of a kind, handmade glass lampwork beads and artisan jewelry. Our beads are made by using an oxygen and propane torch to heat colored glass rods, rotating the melted glass around a stainless steel mandrel to form each bead. Our beads are annealed as we make them, going straight from torch to a digitally-controlled kiln for durability.

Many Blessings,
Raventalker

Lampwork Jewelry

My newest hobby is making lampwork beads .. and after teaching myself for the past 6 weeks I’ve finally got enough beads made to actually make some jewelry pieces. Still a beginner and lots still to learn but I am loving the outcome so far.

Here’s the finished pieces so far:


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Many Blessings,
Raventalker

Working Out Lampwork

beads1marbles1My husband and I have recently taken on a new hobby… Lampwork!

We’ve enjoyed many hobbies over the last few  years…. painting, weaving, stained glass … and now lampwork.

We did a lot of research online .. ok so my hubby did most of the research but I did read everything he sent me. Eventually we bit the bullet and started buying the equipment  so we could actually give it a try. We tried to find someone locally to give us a class but that seemed impossible.. as everyone that we found didn’t seem too interested in teaching.

Youtube videos have been our main source of learning what to do and what it should look like as we do it. Above you’ll see the results of our very first weekend teaching ourselves this new hobby. Despite having lots of pieces fail, mandrels break, beads burst, shapes not coming out just right and marbles falling all over the place catching things on fire… we are getting the hang of it.

I can’t wait to learn more and look forward to becoming better. My goal is to get to the point where I can make pendents and other jewelry pieces. I no where close to that point now.. but I’m well on my way.

Oh yeah … you only pick up the wrong end of a glass rod once! Many Blessings, Raventalker