My how time flies. In late February, I tried my hand at a brand new craft: making glass beads. I'd never touched molten glass before, so this was a totally new arena for me. I felt humbled by the newness of the material to my hands.
I broke so many beads the first day, I was sure this was not going to be the art form for me. I wanted to MAKE beads, not BREAK beads! But the second day, I kept making, and making. The more I tried out various colors and techniques (dots versus stripes for example) the more excited I got. The beads stopped exploding in my face, and finally, some really neat things started to happen. I wish the workshop had been longer than two days because I had so many visions for other types of techniques I wanted to try. Here are the results of my workshop with a kicker thrown in at the end:
I'm not sure what I'll do with these beads yet. They are sitting right here, catching the light, letting me covet them. The biggest perk of the workshop wasn't these end products, though. Encountering the brick wall of my limitations was such a thrill. And I feel like I'm only at the beginning of what's possible! (And Tara Murray, by the way, is one of the best instructors I've ever had. She's got a talent for encouraging people to step into that space of creative fear and push forward. If you can work with her, go for it!)
PS and yes, you can learn how to make a bee like that in two days flat. I promise you! ;)
