Wicked Sisters Art Glass

Who are the Wicked Sisters?

The Wicked Sisters are a pair of wild lampworking sisters originally from Portland, Oregon. Dana is The Wicked Sister of the South. She makes her home in Gold Beach on the beautiful Southern Oregon Coast with her husband, a stray cat and three kayaks. The Wicked Sister of the North is her wonderful sister Sara who still lives in Portland with her husband, two cats, one dog, and two children with all their soccer, science classes, violin lessons, and art camps. The Wicked Sisters share an obsession with their family, glass, playing with fire and creating art where fire and glass intersect. The sisters created their business: Wicked Sisters Art Glass, after taking theIr first classes in lampworking at Bullseye Glass Co where they both realized that they were addicted to glass.

The first wrap.

This is Jean's photo of me begining the first wrap of hot glass as I explain to her what I am doing.
The lower hand is spinning the mandrel while the upper feeds the hot glass onto the bead. It is interesting for me to look at these hands in such a detached way. I think it is a little like watching a training film for sports. I love to see the fluidity of the motion, but look at the bad ergonomics for that poor thumb. If I want to do this forever I better take better care of my hands!

If it takes two days to post each step of making this bead, we should be finished by Easter!

Site is also supposed to be about my experience creating it. I thought I'd share my most recent challege. Yesterday I learned that cutting and pasting from Word to typepad can have fascinating consequences! First I had black font on a black background in my website. Very hard to read. Then I selected the text and changed it to white and couldn't see it in the preview against the white background. Next I changed it to gray thinking I could see it on the white screen, and it would still show on the black background. That worked until all of you received the RSS feed that you couldn't even read. Sorry about that!

Shocking!

It is a beautiful Saturday morning.

Yesterday I promised not to be shocking as I talked about the next step in creating Jean’s bead. Jean selected turquoise and black rods. I began introducing a glass rod to the heat of the torch very gently to prevent it from “shocking” or shattering as it was heated.

Shocking is what happens when glass heats or cools too quickly. Glass expands as it heats and contracts as it cools. The tensions created by the differences in temperature inside the glass as it heats or cools can cause it to react violently, often explosively.

I managed not to send any shards flying into my photographer despite my icy studio. Its only heat is from the kiln and torch when they are running, so my glass has normally been stored in a very cold room all night. With our recent freezing temperatures that glass has had a long way to warm up. After an icy night the glass wakes up quite irritable, ready to hiss and spit tiny, sharp, hot bits everywhere!

Some of my glass, particularly the vintage glass, must be preheated in a hot kiln before it can safely be introduced to the flame. Sometimes I warm rods on top of my kiln. Most of my glass however only requires my patience while it heats. My workspace is often littered with tiny shards of glass from impatient glass warming. I literally have to sweep up the glittering sands of my impatience after an unfocused day's work at the torch.

Lighting up the torch

This is a photo of me lighting my torch to start a bead. I left the propane turned up for a minute so Jean could catch the swirling dance of the flame.
Lampworking is a great medium for people who find themselves attracted to fire. I spent hours as a child gazing into a campfire dreaming. Now I am hypnotized by the interplay of flowing glass and moving fire.

In the background you can see several types of "bead release." These are suspensions of clay in water that prevent my glass from sticking to the stainless steel rods I build my beads on.

For tomorrow ...            I'll try not to be shocking.

My rainbow of glass

Good Morning and welcome,

Starting this morning I am bravely posting photos of my studio and the process of making a bead. All of these photos were taken by Jean Hook as a Christmas gift to me. Jean spent last Sunday with me in the studio trying to capture the magic of glass and fire.

This first photo simply shows the small portion of my palette which is imported from the historical glass making center of the world. This glass is imported from the Italian island of Murano, a short boat ride off the coast of Venice.

Next... playing with fire.

Building my first web site

Today I began a class called Websites for the Commoner. We are learning to build our own websites and I am building a site for my business as a glass artist. My site will be about my glass art, what I make, what lampworking is, and how I create lampwork glass beads and sculptural forms. I will also explain what makes a quality glass bead, how to buy great beads and even the process of building this site. As the site develops I will be able to offer you photos of my work, and a way to shop for my new work. I'm enjoying the journey so far and I'm glad you are here to share it with me.