Do All Artists suffer from ADD??

Today I had a plan. As soon as the temps went below 90, I would go outside and work on testing for CIM (Creation Is Messy). CIM, for non-glass folks is a glass company that produces fabulous glass rods in 104 COE (coefficient of expansion) in dozens and dozens of yummy colors, many of which are not available from other glass companies.

My testing glass, all 2.5 lbs. of it, arrived earlier today so I was gung ho on getting on the torch to play. Well, by the time the temps were low enough to torch I had thought of some other things I wanted to work on. I had wanted to make something special for a dear friend. Then I eyed my leaf press & decided with fall around the corner, wouldn't it be fun to make a nice set of leaves? And truthfully, I no longer remember what else is in there, except that I did manage play a bit with the CIM glass (oh so beautiful!) & hopefully tomorrow morning when I open the kiln I will be rewarded with some lovely beads!

First Beads Made On My New Torch!

I have to say that I am loving my new torch! I hadn't torched in several weeks so when I finally got it hooked up, I sat there & couldn't think of what to make so I played around a bit with some fabulous murrini I got from Janel Dudley. They are so realistic, don't you think? I mean the murrini, not the beads necessarily. ;-) then I made several of my 'signature' beads since there's no thinking for me on those any more. And this is what came out of the kiln earlier today.

My second batch is in there soaking right now. Hope the kiln fairies are good to me tomorrow morning. :-)

Torch Envy

Every lampworker and glass blower out there understands this phenomenon. Well, I got an e-mail today to say that my brand new torch has shipped! A Scorpion! YAY!! This is the newest torch made by GTT. It has the standard 5 inner jets of the Cricket and an additional 8 outer jets and is supposed to work great on concentrators. I can't wait to fire it up!

Here's a photo of the torch I started on, a Nortel Minor. I was so excited (and a wee bit scared) when I got it after taking a lampwork class. I was so afraid to fire it up, but boy how I loved it! Sorry for the stock photo, but I no longer have a photo of it.

 I then advanced to a Knight Bullet Burner, which I bought after taking a boro class. I thoroughly enjoyed the class & seeing all the color variations I can get from the various glass rods, those wonderful hazy, smoky yet bright colors & knew that my minor would take forever trying to melt the glass.

Please excuse the messy workspace, but that's how it normally looks, actually not too bad. ;-) I've loved the heat & power of this "Big Girl Torch", but have been somewhat frustrated at times that I haven't been able to attain the beautiful colors out of boro at times that I feel I should. Mainly because instead of using tanked oxygen I use 2 concentrators. But that's supposed to be the Scorpion's forte. So I will be stalking the mailman till that torch gets here. Stay tuned for (hopefully) some wonderful boro beads from me. :-)