The Road to Vegas….T minus 7 days and counting!

Full Spectrum Gradient Necklace in progress…

Next Sunday I will present my newest work to the International Society of Glass Beadmakers at our annual conference, “The Gathering”, in Las Vegas. This will be the second time I’ve presented, aside from being on a couple of panel discussions over the years, and it all came about at last year’s Gathering when a few of us (long-time) members were discussing who we’d like to see as presenters in the future and what we felt was missing from the current speakers lineup. Those of us having the discussion have all been glassworkers and beadmakers for well over a decade, some of us more than twice that; we were feeling a bit frustrated that there wasn’t much in the lineup directed towards us working in glass full-time – making a living. Granted, there are a lot of hobbyists and part-timers in the organization, so there is a real need to keep them engaged as well. And as in most volunteer-driven organizations, if you are going to offer suggestions on something you’d better be ready to jump in and participate. Hence, I submitted a proposal to speak – and it was accepted.

In a perfect world I would like to see a conversation started that would develop a strategy aimed specifically at keeping our established members more engaged and involved at a higher level that takes advantage of their knowledge and experience. I think it’s something all organizations run into at some point…balancing limited resources between attracting new members and keeping the long-term members happy. My presentation grew out of this dilemma…. what could I talk about that could be of interest to both groups?

An idea that really resonated with me (and had for a while) came from seeing some beautifully executed metalwork that also incorporates lots of texture and layers of color, using colored pencils as the coloring agents. I’ve been aware of the technique for years and had wondered if it could translate to glass….so decided to take a workshop to test my theory. I found a class in February, signed up and was off to the races!

Overlapping Squares pendant

This new work has been fun, eye-opening and exciting to see develop! I find that when I’m the busiest is exactly the time “Creativity” takes over….and sometimes you just have to go with it and enjoy the ride.