Geeze, I know I have been really slack on my blog lately. I think it is a combination of feeling guilty over taking so long to finish my murrini collection and also (strangely enough) for not blogging for so long. Its a weird thing guilt! Sometimes I get so caught up in life that I can't even melt some glass and torch myself into my own glassy universe. My "Glassverse" is where I work to create a thing in my hands that is at least representative of what I picture it in my head. I must admit that as my lampworking / flameworking skills improve, I am feeling slightly less frustration with the deficit between my vision of my art and the end product...Well most of the time ;-)
I am about to ramp it up to a new level and head off to Loren Stump level II next weekend......aaaarrgh! He is a BRILLIANT teacher, but once again I will be taking a course where I am the least experienced person there and voted most likely to bugger stuff up. I suppose I need to keep my mind firmly fixed on the fact that my journey starts from where I am now and not a comparison with someone elses artistic journey. Last time I went to Loren's course I almost went into a depression of sorts where everything I had made previous to the training was crappy, I could see nothing but the faults and now that I knew better, glass works that had been my pride and joy were now a collection of errors and techical faults I couldn't see past. Its funny, but it took quite a while to drag myself out of the doldrums artistically and yet I could not wait to light up the torch when I got home........ I just sat and stared at the flame, my mind an empty vessel at the time and I walked away many times before I felt brave enough to dip in the toe and actually make something.
This time I am determined to bypass all the self absorbed perfectionism and work through it so I can recover the joy in producing the glass art I love as soon as I return....... hmm, might take some seriously good chocolate to guarantee that though!
Enough philosophising..... I have been making loads of little phone charms lately as a use for all those tiny experimental beads that were testing new colours or reactions of colours. I have been selling them via my Mum for $5 each and I am quite happy with that. She has been selling heaps of them to friends and family, next I will have to pay her a commission I suppose - but she has always been happy to support me in this way. I really am a lucky lady when I look at the big picture!
