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Lampworkers



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 20th 03, 07:31 AM
meijhana
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Default Lampworkers

vicki,

you might look at www.925balisilver.com they have pictures of the
procedure/etc. That should give you inspiration...

Mary
(who is hosting a bulk buy right now from them)


--
Joy multiplies when it is shared among friends, but grief diminishes with
every division. That is life.
Drizzt Do'Urden (Exile - R.A. Salvatore)
================
MeijhanaDesigns - Unique Earrings and More!
http://www.meijhanadesigns.com
"vj" wrote in message
...
i'd like to put an explanation of just what lampwork IS in my flyers
and on my website, so people know what they are buying. but i am
totally unqualified at writing such a thing.

i "stole" some of marjean's and faith's information about Czech
lampwork from an earlier thread. i'll be happy to attribute it if
either of you will let me know how you want it done!

i'd like explanations about Bali silver, American lampwork, Hill Tribe
Silver, and such. the more i can educate people, the better off we
all will be - and it's information i want to include for people when
they buy a piece - so they understand what they have purchased, how to
care for it, etc.

anyone?


-----------
@vicki [SnuggleWench]
(Books) http://www.booksnbytes.com
(Jewelry) http://www.vickijean.com
-----------
It's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;
it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis



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  #2  
Old September 20th 03, 03:34 PM
Kandice Seeber
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Hmmm.

Lampwork beads are made by melting glass and winding it around a metal rod
(called a mandrel). Decorations are then applied using this rods of glass
(called stringer), and painting it on. It's called lampworking, because way
back in olden times, they used to use oil lamps to melt the glass. Handmade
artist beads are crafted all over the world these days - The U.S., Canada,
Australia, Great Britain, Italy, Germany.

Do you want a more detail explanation - or will that work? I am certainly
not a writer, so if anyone wants to attempt a better explanation, please
feel free.
--
Kandice Seeber
Air & Earth Designs
http://www.lampwork.net

i'd like to put an explanation of just what lampwork IS in my flyers
and on my website, so people know what they are buying. but i am
totally unqualified at writing such a thing.

i "stole" some of marjean's and faith's information about Czech
lampwork from an earlier thread. i'll be happy to attribute it if
either of you will let me know how you want it done!

i'd like explanations about Bali silver, American lampwork, Hill Tribe
Silver, and such. the more i can educate people, the better off we
all will be - and it's information i want to include for people when
they buy a piece - so they understand what they have purchased, how to
care for it, etc.

anyone?


-----------
@vicki [SnuggleWench]
(Books) http://www.booksnbytes.com
(Jewelry) http://www.vickijean.com
-----------
It's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;
it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis



  #3  
Old September 20th 03, 11:19 PM
Kaytee
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In article , vj
writes:

I go out of
my way to avoid glass from India, Turkey, and China. Those beads are
usually not annealed and are very weak and prone to cracking and
breakage.


Just a note: at least some of the Chinese beads seem to be OK. I have a couple
on an ID holder neckstrap-- they have been clanked together and against hard
surfaces, as well as dropped on cement, ceramic tile and blacktop for over a
year (maybe over 2 years...) and they are still intact. These are humungous
(30+mm) sized round beads with "painted" type designs on them (look like
Chinese brush paintings, but all done with glass). The smaller
"sputnik"/"Warring States" type beads also seem to hold up pretty well, judging
from unplanned bounce testing.
Kaytee
"Simplexities" on
www.eclecticbeadery.com
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/simplexities

  #4  
Old September 21st 03, 07:10 PM
Dr. Sooz
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Default

Thank you for an addition to the Links List.

http://925balisilver.com/index.php/html/main/how.html



~~
Sooz
-------
"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John
Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance
~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links
http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html
  #5  
Old September 21st 03, 07:13 PM
Dr. Sooz
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This is very, very cool, and so professional, Vicki! Great stuff!

Remember to check in at Bead Notes for any info you might need to add....I'm
not sure what's there myself......
~~
Sooz
-------
"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John
Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance
~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links
http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html
  #6  
Old September 21st 03, 08:37 PM
Steve Richardson
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On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 12:27:27 -0700, vj wrote:

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Kandice Seeber"
:

Lampworked glass beads are not "blown glass", this is a different
technique entirely.


The line can be pretty blurry, though. Big blown stuff that requires a
furnace to make and then to anneal -- that's pretty different from
lampworking all right! But I make small (1-2 inches or less) blown glass
bottles using the same torch, rods, release, and annealing blanket as I do
for beads on a mandrel. The only real difference is that I puff once or
twice down the tube that the glob of molten glass is built on. If my @#$%$#
cats would just leave the things alone when they're finished, I'd have a lot
more to show for my efforts! Small-scale blowing is a huge amount of fun
and everybody should try it at least once.

- Steve R
St Louis


  #7  
Old September 21st 03, 09:59 PM
Christina Peterson
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How about describing it accurately "Artists Lampwork"

Tina


"vj" wrote in message
...
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Deirdre S.
:

]Are you sure you want to make your category for artisan lampwork
]specifically *American* lampwork? That suggests that we are the only
]bastion of artisan lampwork in the world...

you're right. i need to find a different way to do that. since i
have lampwork from Canada and hope to have from Australia, too. [as it
says near the bottom] maybe "Western Lampwork"?????


-----------
@vicki [SnuggleWench]
(Books) http://www.booksnbytes.com
(Jewelry) http://www.vickijean.com
-----------
It's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;
it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis



  #8  
Old September 21st 03, 10:23 PM
Christina Peterson
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Default

Actually, Deirdre, I'd probably refer to the cottage industry (like in
Czech) beads as "artisan".

Tina


"Deirdre S." wrote in message
...
Interesting stuff, Maynard. And a good way to introduce people to what
the terms mean, and the differences in regional styles, techniques and
attitudes.

Are you sure you want to make your category for artisan lampwork
specifically *American* lampwork? That suggests that we are the only
bastion of artisan lampwork in the world...

Deirdre

On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 12:27:27 -0700, vj wrote:

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Kandice Seeber"
:

]Do you want a more detail explanation - or will that work? I am

certainly
]not a writer, so if anyone wants to attempt a better explanation, please
]feel free.

i'm not ignoring you, Kandice - i was waiting to see if others chimed
in. this is what i have so far, [and i did get permission from the
website i stole the first part from to use it] but it's open to
modification, and i'm hoping others can use it, too . . .
---------------
[image of Tink bead] American Lampwork:

Lampwork is an ancient technique of using a flame to melt glass. It
involves the process of melting glass in a hot flame on a steel
mandrel. The molten glass is wound around the mandrel until the
desired size and style are achieved. The flame used to melt the glass
is produced by mixing gas, either natural or propane, and oxygen.
Thus, the flame produced is hot enough to melt glass. A torch is the
primary tool for the flame.

Once a bead is formed and the artist is finished with the actual
creation process, the bead is then placed in a kiln to start the
annealing process. Annealing is the process of bringing down the
temperature of the glass very slowly. Annealing makes a glass bead
very strong and durable.

When a bead is taken out of the kiln, it is still on the steel
mandrel. The cooled bead is soaked in water to soften the bead release
agent. Once the bead is removed, the holes are cleaned and filed.

Artist made Lampworked glass beads are one of a kind, and should be
considered artwork that is wearable. No two beads are identical. If
you own lampworked beads in jewelry you can be sure that you own a one
of a kind piece of jewelry - an heirloom for your family.

What you are NOT getting are the mass-produced lampwork beads that are
imported, unless specified as Czech. [see Czech lampwork] I go out of
my way to avoid glass from India, Turkey, and China. Those beads are
usually not annealed and are very weak and prone to cracking and
breakage.

Lampworked glass beads are not "blown glass", this is a different
technique entirely.

Most of the lampworked beads I use are handcrafted in the United
States, Canada, or Australia by glass artisans, who utilize a high
level of safety in their lampwork process. When you purchase jewelry
from me that contains lampwork, the artist will be specified.

Czech Lampwork:

The glass bead industry in the Czech Republic is well established and
has been there for over 100 years (if not longer). While the
firepolished and pressed glass is made in factories, there are many
factories and none of them would be considered huge by American
standards. The lampwork beads are a completely different story - or
at least they used to be. Lampworking is a cottage industry in the
Czech Republic utilizing many individual families making beads at
home. The techniques are passed from generation to generation
starting at a very young age. These people are VERY skilled artisans
and by their own country's standards, very well paid. They make beads
only in the styles that have been mainstays of the industry for
decades, so they may look 'mass-produced.' For them, the beads are a
product to make well but they are NOT necessarily an expression of an
artist's sensibility.

The beads are contracted for through either the factory owners or
other middlemen - the families rarely, if ever, produce beads for
direct marketing. As for quality, I can only assume that their glass
industry knows how to make beads that last considering how long it's
existed in that area. If they didn't make a quality product, it
wouldn't have flourished as it has.

There is a dynamic difference between the way European glass
beadmakers and the new generation of US beadmakers view 'production
work' vs 'art beads'

European glass workers (they seldom refer to themselves as artists)
HIGHLY value skill, precision, expertise, experience, & the level of
experience/mastery of who they studied with. The common (uncommon in
the states) is generational passing of knowledge and the demanding
perfection that accompanies it. Form and function are of UTMOST
concern - technique is stressed over 'interpretation' or art. In fact
at some points, those in apprenticeship are not considered prepared to
venture outside the level of skill they are currently mastering. Pride
and purpose for many European
glassworkers/beadmakers is to create a technically perfect bead or
item upon demand, over and over, flawlessly. It's a different sort of
'bar' than we think of here in the US where art glass, especially
bead-making, has been born in the warmer glow of expression, personal
statement and variation.

I go out of my way to buy from people I know I can trust -
lampworkers, beads, silver, and finding suppliers. I use sterling
silver or copper wire for wire wrapping, natural stones, Czech and
Japanese seed beads, sterling silver findings [mostly Bali], and
pewter, glass, and porcelain charms.

When you buy jewelry from me, you will often know who made the beads
and where they live.

======================

suggestions are welcome.
i haven't found anything like this for the Bali silver or Hill Tribe
silver yet [couldn't find the right posts]. i do have the link for
Bali i can use on my site, but need to figure out what to put on the
actual flyers that go with my jewelry display.


-----------
@vicki [SnuggleWench]
(Books) http://www.booksnbytes.com
(Jewelry) http://www.vickijean.com
-----------
It's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;
it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis




  #9  
Old September 22nd 03, 04:13 AM
Kalera Stratton
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In article ,
vj wrote:

suggestions are welcome.
i haven't found anything like this for the Bali silver or Hill Tribe
silver yet [couldn't find the right posts]. i do have the link for
Bali i can use on my site, but need to figure out what to put on the
actual flyers that go with my jewelry display.


The only suggestion I would make is that you could elaborate a little
more on annealing... a subject about which little is commonly known,
even to many newer lampworkers. I wouldn't mention it except that your
overview *is* so comprehensive, and it seems like a good place to
introduce another level of understanding about this process and maybe
start changing the public idea of the annealing process. Annealing is
more than just slow cooling; every kind of glass has a fairly specific
annealing point at which it is neither too solid nor too liquid, where
the molecules are "relaxed" enough for stress to be alleviated, but not
fluid enough to move into new stress-causing positions. The piece of
glass must be held at its annealing temperature long enough for the
temperature to equalize throughout the piece. If it is ramped down
through the annealing temperature rather than held there, the core will
remain warmer than the outside and full annealing will not take place. A
piece that is slow-cooled in a kiln will be more stable than a piece
that was not, but it is NOT fully annealed! Glass that has an annealing
point of 970 will not anneal at 1000, and it will not anneal at 940.
Larger pieces take longer to anneal, and to safely cool, because it
takes longer for the core and the surface temperatures to equalize.
However, more is not better; there is no benefit to holding it at the
annealing temp longer than the minimum it takes to anneal. It usually
won't hurt it, either, but it's not really a good selling point; the
soak time for beads is only around ten minutes. Holding glass at its
annealing point for an extended period can cause it to slump or stick
eventually; at an annealing temperature, the molecules *are* moving...
just slowly.

Last but not least, glass also has a strain temperature a few hundred
degrees below annealing temp, at which it is most likely to crack during
cooling. Soaking it at the strain temp can help reduce loss of even
properly annealed pieces during the cooling cycle.

I by no means expect you to include this long-winded explanation in your
overview, I just thought I would put it out there, as information that
seems to be not widely circulated even in lampworking circles!

--
-Kalera

---------

http://www.beadwife.com
auctions at http://www.snurl.com/1sfe
  #10  
Old September 22nd 03, 04:43 AM
Kalera Stratton
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In article ,
Deirdre S. wrote:

I suspect it varies from maker to maker. And well-annealed lampwork
isn't totally immune, either. I had an artisan lampwork bead split
right down the middle the other day.

So ... the reputation of Indian and Chinese lampwork is a
-generalization- only. *IN GENERAL*, it is prone to more problems. But
bead by bead, it may be just fine...

Deirdre


YOu should let the artist know and even send it to them, not just for a
replacement, but because it's possible that they are inadvertantly using
colors that aren't compatible, as with me and my Pink Tourmaline and
Denim sob!.

--
-Kalera

---------

http://www.beadwife.com
auctions at http://www.snurl.com/1sfe
 




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