So it's back in the saddle again.

So it's been about a month now back at the torch. I still do work and have fun designing and creating dies for striking coins for the SCA, but it was time to get back to the world of glass. Clean the work area again and make sure the torch and the rest of the equipment was ready to go and then start. I have a friend, Michelle, who within the SCA is my apprentice. She was my goad to start up again. She has been able to get time carved out of her schedule and wanted to get a consistent schedule of sitting down and practicing what we know so far and then begin pushing to learn more. I have also had another person join us and she is picking up the basics of creating beads fairly quickly. It is great to watch students learn and be successful, but it also means that I need to find an aspect of beadmaking that I enjoy and can push myself to learn. Implosion (no, not personally imploding) seems to be it. Implosion in the world of glass it very basically is the use of a disk of glass, usually clear, to drag other colored bits of glass in finger like patterns as the clear glass melts and widens itself.

In the example above (which is not my own work), you can note how the glass begins on the left side of the bead and how it was carried across to the right side as the clear widened as it melted. Some artists do amazing work with implosion.

SO, it seems I now have a challenge to work towards. Like any challenge, it will be fun, frustrating, and always full of learning that you can do more than you think you can.