lo and behold

Snow Farm started offering open studios recently, and finally, I was able to go this weekend for three hours of torching! It has been four months since I closed down my torch for the “season” in early November.  I felt as excited and nervous and giddy as someone going on first date.  Would I know what to say?  What to do?  How to hold the mandrel?  Is it like riding a bike – hop on and body memory does the rest? 

Turns out I was fine, well, not exactly fine, but surely good enough. My first few “one wrap spacers” were wobbly, but yes, body memory kicked in.  And in the process, I remembered one of the things I love most about melting glass in open flame:  YOU HAVE TO GO SLOW.  You have to be right there in the present moment to make it work.  For me, at least, making beads with melted glass is like a meditation.  It’s repetitive, quiet, and in the moment.  And it works much better with my personality to come out of a meditative experience with a product that I can hold in my hand (that’s probably totally against the point in REAL meditation) than to just benefit by peace of mind.  Torching gives me both:  a product and process. 

As you can see, I was trying some color experiments with the rainbow.  More on that soon.  And, it’s almost 60 degrees today.  That means its practically torching season again in my own little corner of the garage.  YAY! 

You can enter my Happy Friday Giveaway until midnight tonight.  Take a minute more and check it out.