:: Nancy Peterson
Nancy Peterson of Beaver Island Jewelry (www.beaverislandjewelry.com)
appeared on July 10th to show her flame-worked glass bead jewelry
and to explain the process by which she creates a variety of whimsical
glass artwork.
:: Cindy Ricksgers
Cindy Ricksgers set up the following weekend to talk about
the laborious process by which she makes art. First she creates
a plate from a variety of materials; then she rubs ink on (and
off) before creating prints in her press.
:: Tom Richards
Tom Richards demonstrated his pottery in the Artist’s
Tent, talking about the various clays, kilns, additives, and glazes
that fuel his passion. He was fresh from teaching potting at MadCamp,
and was delighted by those who’d shown a flair.
I participated in the “Meet the Artist” event,
bringing my next-door neighbor from Ann Arbor, Loretta Skewes,
to help. A tent was set up in the yard under a huge shade tree,
with a table for my glass bead jewelry. It was hard to pick
what I was going to bring to show folks since all my pieces
are unique and have stories to go with them! Since I couldn’t
bring my torch, I brought a special poster that I had made depicting
the process of making a glass bead. This 3000-year-old process
is called lamp-working. I start with a wire mandrel coated in
bead release and melt glass rods using propane or natural gas,
with an oxygen concentrator. Then I melt the glass onto the
rod, creating the shape and decoration that inspires me. For
example, when I do the little frogs on a lily pad, I melt and
shape a green or teal rod of glass into a lily pad and then,
with a pea green glass rod, shape the hot glass into a frog.
I put this hot glass and into a 950 degree kiln for 8 hours.
When the kiln anneals or hardens the glass, I have a bead to
use in a piece of jewelry. I talked with many folks about lamp-work
glass, and told stories about my Beaver Island Memories beads.
– Nancy Peterson
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