GlassMigration's Blog by Tanya Floyd

I have always loved these beads and of all the beads I have made in the past four years, this set is still one of my favorites.  Something about the the etched rainbow colors, drizzled with Fine Silver (.999), has a beautiful effect.  It was hard letting this set go when it sold,  but I knew I could always make it again. That being said, it is a rarity for a lampwork artist to buy another lampwork artists' beads, but I was flattered when this happened with this set.     

Even though I'm working with a better torch now, I still sometimes feel my beads were prettier when they were made with the less powerful torch, the Hothead torch. The HotHead torch was solely driven by propane, no oxygen involved, resulting in a cooler flame.  A HotHead could mainly only melt the softer glass rods, COE104(Coefficient Expansion) and COE96.  I have since upgraded to a BobCat torch. The BobCat torch creates a hotter flame since oxygen and propane are mixed at the surface of the torch.    Since the BobCat torch burns a hotter flame, I am able to melt the soft glass as well as the harder glass, COE90(BullsEye) and COE33(Boro). 

I intend to post about my studio in my next post, showing pictures of my studio setup and also all my different glass rods from Italy, Germany, and Switzerland.  I will show a couple of pictures here right now,  for those who would like to see the glass in rod form, before being melted into beads.

I never thought in a million years I would be doing anything artistically related, especially in a profession, being the sole owner of my own glass studio.  I graduated for East Carolina University with a 4-year degree in Business Education/Information Technology.  I worked in the medical software field for a long time, as a software and technical analyst.  Needless to say my life led me down an unexpected path, leading to my interest in making lampwork beads.  I should have realized I was bound to show some type of artistic creativity in my life, being my parents are both natural artist's.  It was kind of interesting having a father who double majored in Physics and Math, overseeing a nuclear powerplant, yet when he was home, he would paint some of the most amazing detailed shrimp boats I have ever seen.   My mom was fluent with many art mediums; however, was most well known for her water color pictures.  To this day, anything my mom touches turns into a beautiful work of art.

Since I have already written more in this post then I had originally intended, I better leave the rest for later, in regards to the set up of my glass studio.  My fingers hurt from typing anyway, so until my next post.............................  (: