Saturday 25 February 2012

If At First You Don't Succeed...



First let me thank those who were so encouraging after I posted my maiden blog a couple of weeks ago. It means a lot to have your support :)
I was lucky enough recently to spend a day learning from the amazingly talented Anouk Jasperse. The aim was to take a rod of silver glass, which dependent on which one it was could start out as a pooey brown or transparent pale blue and make it come to life or 'sing'. I made sure I took notes of her demos and tried my best at the torch, but I left at the end of the day feeling despondent and very fed up. To say what I made was pants would have been kind. I felt I had thrown away a sizeable amount of money and taken a place that someone else would really have benefitted from. After a few days of feeling like this I figured I had two choices  1.wallow in uselessness or 2. give myself a slap and go switch on the torch and try and see if I could encourage but a single note from a rod of silver glass, in this case Clio.
A week on and 5 large lentils later (not including the ones that went in the water jar) I have a bead that I would consider fit for public viewing. Everyone of those practice pieces sang their little hearts out, with varying shades of Barbie pink through to bright fushia. A little practice on shaping and the end result is what you see here. She's not perfect, but she is most certainly worthy of her place in the silver glass line up.
It really was the age old saying "If at first you don't succeed...."

There hasn't been much time for torching this week due to the kids being on half term and work demanding my attention. Hopefully normality will return as of Monday when I can once again ignore the housework and with the company of my 2 faithful doggie shadows I will be found in the garage melting glass, safe and secure in the knowledge that I am doing what I love and enjoy.

Trout xx




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