CiM 407: Cardamom

 Another lovely, lovely colour!

CiM 407 - Cardamom is a lovely, peaceful (peas-full?), soothing green. The kind of green that just makes you relax and go "ahhhhh."














So I started with just self-coloured spacer, on the left, below. And having done that, I made a second, and thought - I wonder how if it reacts with Ivory, like the copper-based greens. And so I added a trail of ivory onto the 2nd bead. And it didn't react in the "form-a-grey-line" way that Ivory does on turquoise, sky blue, and petroleum green. But the ivory did seem to bleed and break up quite a bit more that I expected.

 So I repeated that colour combo - this time using a different ivory - the dark ivory - in case it was an anomaly. And again, the ivory and has separated and veined.

 Here we go again, a bicone, with trails of dark ivory on the left and light ivory on the right. The ivory has done an excellent job of imitating satellite photos of river basins!

 Other side of the same bead. This bead was a core of clear, encased in Cardamom, and with trails of ivory.

Lots of interesting possibilities here! I wonder what happens if you put Cardamom onto of ivory?

Congratulations Peter and Jean!

Jean

Congratulations to Jean Robichaud of Nortel Mfg
&
Peter Norton of Nortel Mfg

for their Hall of Flame awards from the ISGB at this year's gathering.

Both your contributions to the art of flameworking are inestimable. Peter - for your torches and tools and understanding of flames and how to manipulate them.

Peter

And Jean, for your understanding of artists, and how to support them.

The world would truly be a poorer place without you both.

Summertime - and everyone is out of town: CiM 509 Poseidon

Everyone I know is in one of three places - and none of those places are here. Three fabulous events are overlapping this year - usually it's just two events - The ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers) Annual Convention and EAA AirVenture overlap every year - forcing me to have to choose between the two. This year - they ram up hard on the heels of the Canadian German Shepherd Dog Championship and Sieger Show. Pfui.

So I have stayed home, and actually, finally, in the peace and quiet of no one being around, got some time in on the torch! Which is lovely - as I have some shiny new CiM colours to try out!

First up, we have CiM 509 Poseidon. Poseidon is described as an "Opal Sky Blue." It is, indeed, a misty, translucent colour, in a soft, pale aqua blue.

In the first photo, you can see the finished beads along side the rod. The rod is quite a bit bluer than the finished beads - but as you can see from the second photo - there is a variation from left to right.

These beads were made from left to right, 1, 2, and 3. With the additional heating and cooling cycles that the 1st bead (leftmost) got (while keeping it warm while making the next one, etc.) - it has developed back into more of the blue colour that you see in the rod, the centre bead is partially blue, and the third is a little greener. This distinction is, admittedly, quite subtle, especially in "real life" and with normal lighting conditions.

This is such a pretty colour, and I am just a sucker for translucence, that this is definitely going on to the must have list.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Tom Stanton and Curt Walton - who got their funding through Kickstarter to raise money for their project to promote a revival of playing Marbles as a kids game.

Holy Rollers - Hand Blown Glass Marbles from Holy City, CA

 With any luck, they'll be successful - and some kids will get exposed to glass and marbles and be fascinated and want to make them or collect them when they grow up. And that will be good for all glass artists!

Buy Vetro

Well - I'm about back - I managed to get a couple of sessions in on the torch this last week - after a month of being off. It's not that the broken arm actually stopped me from torching - it's more that the very aggressive physiotherapy schedule was taking all available extra time.

So nothing new to show you  - but I thought I would let you in on some insider info.

Buy Vetro glass. Stock up on it. Fill your boots. Fill your hat. Buy up those odd lots and hoard them. Candy Apple red - I'm buying it all.

The Vetrofond furnaces are still down, and the last 3 attempts - from what I've heard - have not gotten them going again. I wish I could say "buy direct from Vetro" so they could get a cash infusion to get going again - but they don't sell direct to the consumer. When they do get the furnaces going again, they will probably start with clear or black - so those specialty colours will still be on back order.

My thoughts for Vetro themselves to get going again?  Kickstarter.com. Top level contributors could something like a factory tour and a new colour named after them, entry level reward could be first opportunity to buy the new glass when it comes out.

If you all aren't familiar with Kickstarter.com - check it out. It is a way to privately fund projects - lots of independent artists and well as technology start-ups there. People describe their project and how much money they need, then set a date, and see if people will put up the money. They promise rewards for various levels of committment - i.e. small contributors get a nice thank you card or a sample of the new product, bigger investors get more substantial rewards. If the financial goal isn't met by the established date - then no money is taken from the investors (you use a credit card to pay.)

Marble artists Curt Walton and Tom Stanton are on there right now, fund raising to get to the toy convention and revive the game of marbles. For $35 you can get a set of collector marbles, for $3.500 - the artists will fly to your location and spend the day giving you a private class in marble making. Now that's cool!