Lampworkers

OK, using that definition I can see calling the Czech lampworkers who
follow prescribed methods and traditions "artisans", and people like
the RCB lampworkers who come up with designs and techniques of their
own "artists".

Deirdre

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 18:05:10 GMT, "Christina Peterson"
wrote:

The differentiation I've been taught is that an artist practices creative
self expression within a craft, whereas an artisan is a practitioner of "the
art of" or of a craft. Self expression vs technical skills.

Tina


"Deirdre S." wrote in message
.. .
I guess I make fewer fine distinctions between artist and artisan,
though I know there may be grounds for distinction. And I wonder if
some people, like the Czech lampworkers, wouldn't -be- closer to the
definition of artists, if the cultural emphasis on traditional forms
and methods were lifted a bit.

They clearly have the skills, but not their environment's
encouragement toward individual expression, IMO. In a more open
atmosphere, some might experiment more, perhaps be inspiringly
innovative. But, we can't really know that unless it actually happens.
And maybe those artisans who do aspire to artist-like individual
expression find they have to emigrate to explore that path...

Deirdre

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 21:23:59 GMT, "Christina Peterson"
wrote:

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

I am not sure how to name such a category... And I don't think you
-can- know, unless you know the background of particular beads and
their makers. And you can only know that if your suppliers provide the
information, or you buy directly from the artist ... and they share
that info with you directly.

It is like the many discussions about 'real' vs. 'unreal' Bali silver.
A reliable, impeccably honest seller who verifies *their* sources may
be the buyer's only insurance against getting cut-rate imitations.
Especially under conditions (like online buys) where they can't do
close inspection for themselves until the merchandise arrives...

Deirdre



On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 11:44:21 -0700, vj wrote:

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

]link quality to *skills, materials and
]technique* rather than nationality. Less ethno-centric, dontcha think?

okay, that's a possibility.
but how am i going to know?
how would you categorize it?


-----------
@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

I meant I dont't think you can know the good stuff without some kind
of credentials, or close examination.... not that you couldn't know
how to categorize things.

Sorry. Bad sentence construction.

Deirdre

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 19:50:29 GMT, Deirdre S.
wrote:

And I don't think you
-can- know,

It sounds like the distinction would be artists' beads and product beads.
Though of course both catagories include good stuff and substandard stuff.
Another distinction would be puchases from the makers and purchases for a
lot (some mass or number) of handmade beads from distributors. That would
include Indian beads and Venetian hand blown beads.

Tina


"Deirdre S." wrote in message
...
I am not sure how to name such a category... And I don't think you
-can- know, unless you know the background of particular beads and
their makers. And you can only know that if your suppliers provide the
information, or you buy directly from the artist ... and they share
that info with you directly.

It is like the many discussions about 'real' vs. 'unreal' Bali silver.
A reliable, impeccably honest seller who verifies *their* sources may
be the buyer's only insurance against getting cut-rate imitations.
Especially under conditions (like online buys) where they can't do
close inspection for themselves until the merchandise arrives...

Deirdre



On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 11:44:21 -0700, vj wrote:

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

]link quality to *skills, materials and
]technique* rather than nationality. Less ethno-centric, dontcha think?

okay, that's a possibility.
but how am i going to know?
how would you categorize it?


-----------
@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

Sounds like it gets really hard to find a single category that can be
equated with 'good stuff' or 'not so good stuff', doesn't it?

There is a range of quality in each of the proposed categories. And it
isn't easy to find good stuff based -only- on its category.

Does that sound like a fair statement?

Deirdre

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 21:54:40 GMT, "Christina Peterson"
wrote:

It sounds like the distinction would be artists' beads and product beads.
Though of course both catagories include good stuff and substandard stuff.
Another distinction would be puchases from the makers and purchases for a
lot (some mass or number) of handmade beads from distributors. That would
include Indian beads and Venetian hand blown beads.

Tina


"Deirdre S." wrote in message
.. .
I am not sure how to name such a category... And I don't think you
-can- know, unless you know the background of particular beads and
their makers. And you can only know that if your suppliers provide the
information, or you buy directly from the artist ... and they share
that info with you directly.

It is like the many discussions about 'real' vs. 'unreal' Bali silver.
A reliable, impeccably honest seller who verifies *their* sources may
be the buyer's only insurance against getting cut-rate imitations.
Especially under conditions (like online buys) where they can't do
close inspection for themselves until the merchandise arrives...

Deirdre



On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 11:44:21 -0700, vj wrote:

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

]link quality to *skills, materials and
]technique* rather than nationality. Less ethno-centric, dontcha think?

okay, that's a possibility.
but how am i going to know?
how would you categorize it?


-----------
@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

"Christina Peterson" wrote in message
news:1064267680.254326@prawn...
It sounds like the distinction would be artists' beads and product beads.
Though of course both catagories include good stuff and substandard stuff.

Which could be a wonderful marketing point. If Vicki wants to, she can
point out that she has the knowledge to distinguish quality from
non-quality, in effect saying "Here are the distinctions and there is good
and bad work to be found in all categories. However, I select only the
best, so you don't have to worry about that part of it".

Laura

Not just you, either. It is deep water, no matter who is flailing
around in it, IMO.

And I think it doesn't hurt to be honest with consumers about that
fact...

Deirdre

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 15:12:54 -0700, vj wrote:

i think i'm in danger of drowning on this one!

glub

glub

glub

Maybe the best a seller can offer is evidence of how dilligently they
try to find and use quality components. And some info about the
criteria they use in making decisions -- saying "yes" to one kind of
thing, and "no" to another.

Then the buyer can match those criteria against their own and make a
decision about how well they match. Then the 'right' seller and the
'right' buyer end up recognizing each other based on their common
standards of judgment on quality issues.

Deirdre

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 18:35:58 -0400, "laura"
wrote:

Oh, honesty is paramount. I have no idea what level of expertise folks here
have. If she doesn't feel comfortable with the suggestion, it isn't a good
one for her, at least not today.

"Deirdre S." wrote in message
...
Not just you, either. It is deep water, no matter who is flailing
around in it, IMO.

And I think it doesn't hurt to be honest with consumers about that
fact...

Oh, honesty is paramount. I have no idea what level of expertise folks here
have. If she doesn't feel comfortable with the suggestion, it isn't a good
one for her, at least not today.

Laura

SPECIAL NOTE TO LAMPWORKERS:
i dearly love your work. i lust after it. i buy as much of it as i
can. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE when you send me beads, send them with an
invoice! and include your business card!

YES YES YES. I need more than one business card, because I include that card
with the jewelry (and sometimes I make more than one piece from the set). I
want people to know what an *artist* I got these beads from! It adds so much
to their enjoyment (and appreciation) of the jewelry.
~~
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