Tag: flameworking

Flame Affinity Group Meeting Notes: Learning Without Boundaries

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive

GEEX Flame Affinity Group
Facilitated by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith

Notes compiled by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith
Each bullet point represents a comment by a participant and may be lightly edited for clarity.
Entries in quotes are copied directly from the chat.

What does your personalized learning plan look like? How do you identify learning goals and structure your practice?
  • “I did a four-year degree mostly in hot shop glassblowing, and in my free time I tried to teach myself flameworking.”
  • I’ve been involved with glass for a year. I didn’t go to school for art. I went to school for business. Being an artist was never a possibility.
    • Now that I’m an adult and can choose what I want to do with my life, I’m really excited to pursue this. I found some glassblowers and just kept going to their shop until they would teach me something. That space was very uncomfortable — very misogynistic and racist — and I wanted to get out. Now I’m with someone who actually wants to teach, and that feels really different.
    • Previously, I would try stuff I see on Instagram or YouTube. I’m trying to combine in person with online resources.
    • I’ve been wanting to check out Elissa Newmeyer’s Patreon.
  • “I learned from books and literature online before YouTube had videos available at my very basic home set up. And then I also learned hollow work on the clock as a production-ist for a dichro company after moving across the US. I enjoy trial and error learning. And continue to learn through happy accidents.”
  • I got into flameworking through the Bead Project at UrbanGlass.
    • I’m more of an experiential learner. I need to touch it, ask questions, and experience it. More hands on, less YouTube.
    • Working a full time job, and financial obligations limit studio time
  • I’m an autodidact, I’ve never been to school for glassmaking and I learned from books and magazines and other people. 
  • I also was self-taught at the beginning, before there were a lot of videos on YouTube, so I photocopied Contemporary Lampworking and looked at the pictures, which was super helpful, as I’m a visual learner.
  • I got started because a friend of mine who was a little further along in their glassblowing journey helped me set up a studio and showed me the basics.
  • I’m in trade school now, to become an electrician, and I have a BFA in sculpture, but they did not have a glass facility. After that, I took a hot shop class, and then was in the Bead Project.
↳ Importance of Accountability Buddies
  • If you’re not careful, you end up operating in a silo and missing opportunities to connect.
  • Having an “accountability buddy” at the studio to help build community, and to share your experience with. 
  • Accountability buddy is also helpful in terms of safety, especially in the beginning. Helpful in answering simple questions like how do I clean up? An accountability buddy can be a teacher, as well as a peer or a mentor, and can help you stay motivated.
How do you balance technical skills with artistic exploration?
  • I like to learn by doing. I design an object that has the skills I want to learn, and then I make hundreds of them. If I can struggle through the prototype, I know 200 objects later I’ll have those skills nailed
  • I usually focus on the technical skills first, then think about how to employ those skills in my art practice.
    • I have an ongoing list of skills to acquire, and then I’ll design a project that uses those, and then the warmup exercise will reinforce those skills. 
    • Using repetition: timed warm up, usually 45–60 min, focused on repeating one specific skill (ex: side seal) a set number of times. Keep it simple, and what you learn, immediately apply to your next object. 
  • I‘ll take a class and then practice the skills from the class, and use video or photos from the class. Eventually it will make its way into a future project. 
  • Sometimes I realize that I’m too comfortable at the studio, and should try something new. Your comfort zone is where dreams go to die.
    • Someone at the studio threw a book with pictures of beads at me and said pick a page and try something new. That reminder — that you have to shake it up — that was really important for me.
  • I would reserve every Friday night for R&D for a solo date night in the studio. The goal is to try something you’ve never tried before. Eventually friends would join me. Many new designs came from that as well.
    • Building technical skill: almost like a workout regime, or something like a fitness coach, doing reps. Quantity over quality is how I learn new skills.
  • “I’ll do thirty okay ones instead of one perfect one, and I will learn way more.”
    • I struggle with brushing up on certain skills that you don’t use all the time, but feel like you should be able to – for example: goblet making. Practicing one part over and over again is humbling.
  • I do a lot of different styles of flameworking, and switching gears is a challenge, so I try to hone in on the skills I’m going to need for the project, and if possible, try to have a good flow between projects. It helps if the projects are kind of similar and not completely different ways of working. But deadlines don’t always allow for that.
↳ Community Involvement and Motivation
  • It sounds like you have a great community because your community members are holding you accountable for research and development.
  • I love this idea of having accountability through peers to call you out on staying in your comfort zone because sometimes you don’t even want to hear that.
  • It’s a beautiful thing when there’s someone who you trust and who trusts you that can give you clear feedback.
How do you manage your notes, knowledge, information?
  • I don’t have a torch at home, so I always have a sketchbook to capture ideas. When I finally get to a torch, my time is limited, and I don’t want to waste it.
  • I’ve been keeping sketchbooks my whole life. I was just looking at sketchbooks from 15 years ago and realizing those ideas are feeding my work now. My practice is not linear.
  • I have a shelf of sketchbooks, and whenever I take a class I have a dedicated sketchbook.
  • Whenever I’m in a class, there’s always somebody taking great notes and sketches, and I love doing a little notebook swap for a bit. Some people are better draftspeople than others, and I find that to be a hugely valuable resource.
    • One time I was teaching a class and a student who took amazing notes gave me permission to photocopy them. I think it’s a wonderful thing for visual learners.
  • “Those notes are your future work! I did that for years. And now I have a lot of work that I get to select from now that my skills have caught up to my ideas”
    • “Kit Paulson’s notes are spectacular. I was blown away when I saw them. It’s also a fully fledged manual”
    • “Those skills will transfer into so many things. And discipline is huge for working backward to learn new things.”
  • I use a note system called Markdown to organize my digital notes so that you can have them be self referential. I use Obsidian, and I can search my notes digitally and produce a mindmap to look at the info visually.
  • The problem now is: how do I find what I need in all these notes? There wasn’t any info when I started — now there’s too much.
    • Being able to recall the info is difficult. I have tons of notes, but I have no idea what skills you would need to make the thing.
    • For me, it’s been easier to just ask a person than to figure out what terms to search for on YouTube.
  • How do you combine what’s in the notebooks with the skills needed to physically do it? You have to break it down into smaller parts in order to practice. I can break down numbers in Excel all day, but I can’t do it with glass.
↳ Search Terms and Developing a Flame Vocabulary
  • If you don’t know what something is called, how do you even search for it?
    • Different people call the same thing with totally different names, and that really affects how you learn. Example: blind seal, jesus seal, dieter seal – depending on what style of flameworking you’re doing, it can be called at least three different things.
    • Learning the language is a part of it as well. Books are a great introduction to language, and then you can use those terms to search online.
    • “Take a look at the Rakow Library’s Guide for Flameworking to find good books & articles – and you can borrow from them long distance, too”
Digital Mentorship: How do you leverage online resources like video tutorials, online courses and virtual communities (like this one) to enhance your self learning experience?
  • On being a digital mentor: “Sometimes it feels like I just throw info into unknown orbit, but sometimes people will message me and let me know a little thing I said helped them tweak their work in a positive way, and that feels very rewarding.”
  • Cohorts.art: yearlong mentorship, virtual, structured throughout the year to develop a relationship with a professional in your field.
    • There is a cost, but this could appeal to autodidacts.
  • On regular livestreaming: “a good way to keep yourself accountable/consistent. I know I have seen people stream the same day every week”
  • Livestreaming (Twitch, Zoom, IG Live, YouTube, etc.)
    • People are streaming while they work, and you can ask questions in real time. You don’t have to be in the same physical place to learn from someone.
    • Do digital studio visits and get feedback from people all over the world.
    • Use Zoom a lot for feedback on my work
    • Twitch is a popular platform for gaming that could be used to stream live flameworking sessions. That could be an interesting place to turn to for info, or as a way to mediate digital mentorship; pretty open for exploration.
    • Catch live feeds and ask questions while people are working:
    • Live Streams are mostly accessible (free) when they are live, and you may need to pay to rewatch it. On YouTube most people stream for free. Some platforms have a mechanism for a paywall for VIPs.
    • “Glass Man Standing is a frequent competition out of the Glass Smith in Austin and they live stream the competitors working!”
How do you keep up the momentum when you are a self-directed learner? What strategies do you use to overcome challenges?
  • Strategies that you might use to practice an instrument or a sport could work for flameworking, although not everyone has the same access to a torch. 
  • Once you pay for studio time, there’s incentive to show up
  • Most of the glass I have made has been a gift for birthdays or holidays, so that is usually my inspiration/motivation/deadline
  • Working with a friend or group
    • “Having an accountability buddy makes sure I actually show up.”
    • Bringing a friend to the studio makes it more fun!
    • Sometimes you just need a witness — someone to say, “yeah, that worked.”
    • Schedule a playdate
  • Entertainment (books, media, etc.)
    • Finding a good book to listen to when I am working helps keep me motivated and excited to get to the grind
    • Binge watch a TV show only at the studio, not at home, so when you want to see what happens next you have to go to the studio to find out
  • Setting time limits, deadlines, etc.:
    • Sometimes all the little steps to setting up can demotivate me. Especially something tedious like setting up on the lathe, and gathering all the holders and special tools for that can be too much. I tell myself I’ll just do one hour — and once I’m there, it’s easier.
    • Physically block out the time to practice in my calendar.
    • Set an internal deadline just to keep the responsibility of working on something.
    • There’s a difference between saying ‘I’ll go to the studio’ and blocking 12 to 5 in your calendar.
  • Outreach and communication
    • If I’m stuck on something, I might text a friend for troubleshooting, or if it’s a win, I might post a photo online to get some feedback.
    • The Bead Project created a group chat, and we kept it alive after class was over. We now use it to connect with buddies for studio time, and to coordinate sharing kiln rentals. There’s something to be said about being in the studio when it’s popping with energy, and how can I encourage that.
  • Have fun and build a creative environment
    • I’m in a solo studio, so I have been inviting musicians and photographers to share the space so we can all make our art simultaneously and share the space and hang out. 
    • “Play is the higher form of research. And I love to play, so it helps me show up every day.”
↳ How do you stay motivated as an artist in an era of unchecked capitalism?
  • Capitalism will have you qualifying every studio hour. If I’m thinking about money while I’m making, nothing feels as good.
  • I’ve been trying to break out of thinking about cost for so long. It was actively contributing to the work, and at a certain point I just decided to throw all that stuff out. I realize this is a privileged position to make works that are not intended for sale.
  • The value I get out of working on creative works is not a monetary value. You can’t put a price tag on the satisfaction of finishing a piece you worked on for a month. There is value that doesn’t translate into a dollar sign.
  • Money is not the thing that can capture the value that you get from art. The value of art is mainly recognised through empathy. The value of the hand in an object, you can’t capture that in a price tag. 
  • I feel that the whole point of engaging in a creative act is feeling a connection to the world. 
  • The journey of the self-made artist is an internal journey, and you can connect with others who are on parallel journeys, but your journey is really your own, which is why everyone’s path looks so different. You’re searching for something money can’t buy. 
  • It really formats what your studio day is going to look like when the studio breaks down the fee for the studio by the hour. Because it’s too easy to correlate that to the value of the work. 
  • When I changed studios from paying for hourly access to paying for monthly access, it freed me from having to think about how much I have to pay to make art, so I can enjoy being in the moment and it totally changed my work. I recognize that everyone is bound to their own access situation and I am privileged in that I don’t have that tether in the way that I did before. 
  • During COVID we became really clear that art was food for the soul. That didn’t change — we had just forgotten. We were here for the art. 
  • Creatives have to find ways to remain clear as to why we’re making art. We do this because we’re putting soul into this. This speaks to people. It’s a communication that’s needed. It’s beyond words. 
  • Meetings like this are important because sometimes we don’t know where our blindspots are. WE need to make sure that we allow ourselves to continue to be vulnerable, because the best art comes from vulnerable spaces. 
  • Continue to share. We can’t be selfish with it. That’s how we grow as a collective.
  • As much learning as we do, there’s also unlearning that needs to happen. 
  • Community is an idea that we then articulate in whatever format we need it to be.
  • There’s always a way to keep going.
  • “Cost benefit analysis is work, not play 😭”
    • “Making to not sell is a total luxury! So real”
Building Community as a Solo Learner
  • I like to be a part of a lot of different communities because I get a different perspective with every group. It’s less of an echo chamber, and more like quality feedback that I’m challenged by. I do this online and also in person. 
  • Online is great because you can access people in other parts of the world, and keep in touch with people when travel is difficult. Online space has become a valuable meeting place for feedback and mentorship and really meaningful connections.
    • “I DM people when I get excited about what they’re making to encourage them. That’s about my community online. I am very excited to work at Pilchuck this summer to be around glass people again for the first time in two years.”
  • In person and virtual communities collide sometimes, I’ve met people online and later realized we didn’t know if we’d met in person before.
    When we finally meet, we’re already past introductions.
  • ASGS sectional meeting – great way to connect and get educated. It was ten dollars, an hour away, and I learned so much. You can make a lot of connections with smaller groups and get to know people.
  • You don’t need the big thing — sometimes the small local thing is where it happens.
  • Glass connects to everything — ceramic, metal, social practice.
  • Opportunities like Pilchuck are expensive, but it may be possible to connect with someone another way – like taking a smaller class in a local studio. You can do your research online. It’s really cool to get to meet someone that you look up to.
    • “Apply for full ride scholarships always! Just in case! That’s how I have been able to attend craft schools.”
  • I’m a teacher, and correspond with students online before class. When we get to work in person, we start at a more advanced level because we are not just meeting each other, we already have some sort of a relationship formed online that we are just extending into physical space. So it makes the in person time more valuable and more productive in general. 
  • I started an instagram account that is just for interacting with folx from education spaces. It helps me be able to maintain meaningful relationships with more people than I would interact with just in my local neighborhood.

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LINK TO RESOURCE: MEETING NOTES (GOOGLE DOC)

Last updated: 4/6/26

Flame Affinity Group Meeting Notes: Building Bridges

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive

GEEX Flame Affinity Group
Facilitated by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith
Featuring special guest Ghislaine Sabiti: artist, educator, and director of the Bead Project at UrbanGlass in New York.

Notes compiled by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith
Each bullet point represents a comment by a participant and may be lightly edited for clarity.
Entries in quotes are copied directly from the chat.

Learn more about Ghislaine Sabiti:

How have your experiences influenced your approach to bridging cultural gaps in the arts?

All responses in this section from Ghislaine Sabiti, featured guest.

  • Living on three different continents, I try to embrace the three different cultures in my art practice and also as an art educator.
  • Embracing the multicultural aspect of your background & hybrid identity
    • Each culture has something very special and important, as I have learned through my art practice and as an artist. So I need to use it as a tool and be proud of that. I can share with everybody.
  • Students have different levels of background and knowledge regarding glassmaking and business skills.
    • As an art educator and a mentor, I try to understand where they are coming from.
    • I always make sure that the curriculum matches the students’ level, and adapt the curriculum by understanding the needs of every student.
    • Being a good listener is very important.
    • Remembering what it is like to be a student and understanding the student’s perspective and what they want to learn. Sometimes it could be a bit overwhelming, so you need to know how to navigate layers of the knowledge and learning process. 
  • Life is a learning process: you never finish learning.
How can you help experienced makers embrace the courage to be a beginner again?

Responses from this point on are aggregated, quoted text originated in the chat.

  • If the student is experienced in another medium and tries glass for the first time, that can be humbling if you’re used to being a master in another discipline.
  • It takes so much courage to become a beginner again. I like to create space for that by inviting students to show images of their work in another medium or discipline if they’d like. Sometimes it’s surprising what I find.
  • Being humble is key to starting something new and being a beginner. Handle yourself. 
  • Fun and experimentation. When you have this mindset of experimenting, you give room for failure, it’s good for you because you are not being a perfectionist. Being a perfectionist doesn’t allow you to excel and be more open to exploring new techniques, new skills, new sizes, and failure. So experimentation is a key for me, and having fun. Don’t stress, because if you’re overthinking and stressed, you cannot achieve anything.
  • Write words on the board in different languages that correspond to the forms you are making. You learn a little bit about different languages.
  • Making room for the students to teach you something. Making space for an exchange to happen, ex: learning new words from another language, sharing food, beads, makes everyone feel comfortable. Then we can teach each other — in addition to the teacher teaching the students.
  • Applying what you know from another field or working with other media than flameworking helps you remember that you aren’t starting from nothing. Even life experience helps because you have to be tough and stubborn to work the glass. You gotta stick with it. 
  • No one taught me, I saw glassblowing when I was a little kid and started playing around with it for fifty years. So the connection of the mind, the eyes, the hands, and the material and being willing to be led by the material. Chase your curiosity through the glass… that connection that you finally discover, that you’ve successfully communicated through the material. 
  • Glass is very abstract, so using metaphors and other things to explain what is happening is helpful. For example, moving from flameworking to the hot shop helped me understand the annealing flame — even though the glory hole and annealing flame were different, there are enough similarities that things started to click. 
  • Explaining the viscosity of glass in terms of sugar for a student who was a candy maker. Finding a common bridge.
  • It’s always about building a bridge between communities, and even in my classroom I will build a bridge by always bringing in mentors and speakers to help the student learn and understand differently. Building bridges through partnership, mentorship, volunteers, and bringing in speakers to share another perspective and help students understand in another way. These connections outside the classroom are long-term and could be a collaboration in the future for an opportunity, an exhibition, or a job, you never know.
  • You can bring glass to anything. I have a guest coming to the glass shop to talk about ancient glass, and how glass traveled throughout the world in ancient times. So you can really connect everything to everything. Not just glass materials, but ceramic, metal: it’s all connected. So you could connect it to other subjects. 
  • Challenge students to pay attention to how many things in your life are made of glass and make a list. It can change your perspective. It’s surprising how much we interact with glass daily, and how those are shared experiences. 
  • Glass can make people more accessible and diffuse racial tensions by focusing attention on the glass and having a shared experience. Having material to talk about in between cultural differences is helpful.  
  • “applying what you know from working with other media/in other fields to flameworking helps you remember you are not completely starting from nothing!”
  • “Being willing to be led by the material”
  • “Use of metaphor to explain/understand glass”
What role has mentorship played in your artistic development?
  • Being an artist, you need an advisor. You need someone who can guide you and tell you the truth, and not just say everything’s fine.
  • A mentor will guide you and align you where you are supposed to be, without giving you all the answers. Being a mentor is not giving all the answers because you have to learn, but it’s to guide you and help you find the way and the tools and knowledge, the skills and the connection.
  • I used to be a mentee, and am now a mentor. Doing both helped me to recognize the needs of what an artist is looking for and also the response. Follow your intuition and your instinct and being a good listener is the key for a mentee, and also as a mentor because you have to listen to the needs of the person in front of you and ask for help and guidance. 
  • For me, building a connection started within a community. Community is key for me as an artist. So my work is focused on community and it is also my everyday life philosophy.  So I was looking for a different community. It wasn’t just in the glass community, it was in fine art, painting, ceramic, and also social justice. I feel that I’m connected, and I use this community to build a network, to build a presence. When you are a part of the community, it’s not just taking, you have to give back. 
  • Being in community could be volunteering, working, or just giving back and knowing that you are somebody and you come from somewhere. So don’t erase your past. Don’t erase your culture. Try to embrace the new culture with your roots. It’s a hybrid, like these two cultures.
  • Mentorship is a way to transfer knowledge between someone with a lot of experience to someone who is just starting. 
  • As a consultant and a mentor, I always think about myself as an immigrant artist living on three different continents and also embracing my cultures. Using your experience and knowledge is key, but 100% understanding and listening to the needs of the person in front of you is important. I always remember what I went through, so I’m trying to have them not make the same mistakes I did in the past. 
  • Offering bilingual mentor sessions in French and English open to a big range of communities. It’s very helpful to be able to touch people all over the world. Some artists can be anywhere in the world and speak French or English in the session. That is amazing, it is global, international, and local. 
  • My mentor and I still get together. He’s old, he’s got a little dementia now, but he’s still a mentor to me. I’m still learning from him, and it’s not just glass that I’m learning. 
  • The best mentors that I’ve had are never just teaching you about glass, they are also teaching you about life and they show up right when you need them. 
  • Building a bridge between students and professionals
  • I’m excited that it’s mostly women here. I’m living in Reno, and there are no formal education centers, so I’ve just started working with a couple of artists in their spaces. It’s informal mentorship. There is another male student who received more attention from the older male mentor, including free materials. They have very similar styles, whereas I’m coming in wanting to make cute pink things, I’m just looking at a different side of glass. Regardless of the discomfort, it is cool that we can share our passion for glass. Mentors teach you about life, and maybe about what you don’t want in life.  Maybe this is not what I want for the glass scene going forward – I want people to feel more welcome. 
  • Having discussions like this where I get to meet people from places I would have never even gotten to know. It’s cool to be able to join y’all and maybe have mentorship from even just this discussion. This level of interaction is just as important as being in a classroom setting. 
  • Although glass is so unifying, it is very isolating in that it’s not accessible and a lot of people, especially with flameworking, will work out of their garage or some random warehouse, unless you’re in an urban center where there are a bunch of cool places that have huge shops. 
  • When I was first starting, I was intimidated by all the people who were my heroes. I see that still with my students. The very seasoned people are happy most of the time to have interactions with the new people. I think that both have a lot to learn from one another, in every sense of the word. How can we bridge the gap between different generations, and do these challenges exist outside of traditional learning spaces?
  • I’ve experienced some of the community, but I’m gonna be a little bit cynical here and say that I’ve run into forces that weren’t so great. I started in flameworking, and was getting interested in color chemistry, and remember just completely getting shut down. Nobody I was able to talk to would give me any information. That’s part of why I got into ceramics, in addition to glass, to try and reverse engineer color chemistry. And there’s still a lot of weird secret-keeping. There’s a lot of cliques.
  • I’ve found that a lot of what interests me doesn’t fit well with a lot of the established systems and hierarchies. I started in a craft center, and I took craft classes, eventually got into an MFA program. I got an MFA and a lot of my experience has been people kind of looking at me weirdly and saying, you’re not doing it “right.” And that cuts me off from a lot of things.
  • I do believe in mentorship. I think that works well if you can find a mentor that works well with you. But there’s also this sense of looking to something that’s already established, that at least for me, shuts off some potential doors to other avenues. When I do something that I find compelling and talk to someone who is established, they look at it and say “What are you doing?” I don’t agree with it, and in odd cases, people can find it threatening. 
  • I’ve been in some places where I felt afraid to stand out or go against the grain. And then there are other places where it feels much more open. 
  • It’s difficult to be a trailblazer. 
  • Every voice is valuable, even if it’s brand new. 
  • “I feel like once you have a mentor, they are always a mentor (in the best case!)”
  • There are lots of different paths of mentorship. I was, or still am, a pipemaker, and how I came into the industry was more garages in the forest and less big box kind of access. Looking back, I had a multi-mentor type of system, instead of having full investment in one because it wasn’t an institution I went to.
  • I had to be careful not to step on the toes of my mentors because it was a small town, and there were not a lot of places to sell, so I had to take what I learned and make something new out of it to keep it from becoming a bitter relationship. 
  • I broadened my search for mentorship and diversified my research to reach out beyond my local community. I learned so much through collaboration and the mentorship that developed as a result.
  • One of my mentors was burnt out on glass, but became reinvigorated with my presence, we shared the love of glass. I feel that as a student, there’s a role to play. Some mentors have been in it for a long time. There’s a lot of nuance, a burden that comes along with that elongated process. A newcomer can bring that new energy to it. I think that mentorship, as much as it helps the student, can help the mentor and that relationship evolves and can make both find new facets of the material that they may not have found before. 
  • Glass has been a unifying thing, because I’ve learned from people who barely spoke the same language. We collaborated, and communicated through the glass, using drawings as a reference and making something together.
  • Don’t be afraid to be shamelessly interested in glass and ask people you admire to have a conversation. 
  • Intergenerational collaboration and diversity are key. Sharing the same space as different people is a learning process, and you need each other to grow, so by being open to diversity and also having intergenerational conversations, you can learn from each other’s wisdom, knowledge, and creativity. This is key to building a community and also good for your art practice on an everyday basis. 
  • “If you’re a researcher, you are your teacher in a way”
  • “It’s important to set the ego aside when you enter the classroom”
What role do young teachers, specifically, play in addressing these types of challenges? (i.e. Going against the grain, being a trailblazer, not having the bridge fully built.)
  • I started teaching at 15, and I was teaching adults. The generation gap was challenging, I even had one guy say “I’m not listening to you, you’re just a kid.” You have to kind of roll with it. Now, I’m the same age as those adults, and the people I’m teaching are like my grandkids. You change how you are depending on your age I think, between your students. 
  • Sometimes it’s hard to bridge the gap with very new students, so I like to team teach with another teacher who has a different perspective, age, skill set, and background to give the students another perspective. Seeing us (the teachers) bridge the gap can then be scaled to us teaching the students and the students teaching us. 
  • From a student’s POV: sometimes the teachers or people in the community can be gatekeepers about certain things. They may withhold teaching certain things (like their signature techniques). At the end of the day, the teachers who are the most open in their teaching, and also open to let you mess up and experiment, play a huge role. 
  • No matter how much experience you have, if you can’t connect with a student and inspire them to feel excited, or not get discouraged, there is going to be a bridge created. 
  • I think it’s really important to learn from people who have different strengths.
  • Sometimes having a young teacher can help connect with the younger students of a similar age. 
  • Being present, understanding the student’s needs, fostering diversity of perspectives and community, and having multiple teachers with different backgrounds are all keys for a successful class and improvement from the student. If a teacher can combine the background and the knowledge it becomes more powerful for the classroom and yields a better result at the end of the semester.
  • As a teacher I never want to hold back information because you never know what people are capable of. If you are withholding info, you’re putting limits on the student capabilities, and judging them before even getting to know them. That’s not fair.  I always think it’s the right move to share info and encourage students to come back again and again because maybe they’re not ready for the difficult moves yet, but with repetition, they’ll build that knowledge and eventually try it. Some are great glassblowers out of the gate, and the teacher has to also accept that as a possibility. 
  • I teach with another teacher who is so different from me. She gives a history lecture on glass that adds a complementary perspective when working with a group. 
  • There is some grey area in the spectrum between the student and the teacher. I’m to the point in a lot of areas I find interesting that I can’t find teachers or students to connect with, even though I am open to sharing all of my information. I rarely have anybody that listens. 
  • I think some of that is structural because there seems to be some kind of hierarchical authority about who gets to be a teacher. I’ve had some personal issues with having my qualified application to be a teacher tested. It’s hard for me to not think about the student-teacher kind of relationship and structure as not also being part of this established hierarchy that is designed to perpetuate itself.
  • I agree with everything that’s being said about best teaching practices, but I’ve had teachers who went against all of those things, and those are the same teachers that I think want to dictate.
  • For a student, it’s hard to find teachers who aren’t promoted (by an institution). If you want to teach, there’s little way that somebody who might be interested is going to find you. 
  • Unfortunately, not all teachers are good teachers.
  • If the institution is set up for that hierarchy, it’s really hard to break through. Maybe look at some of the additional relationships for learning, like skill sharing, and collaboration. 
  • Passing the torch as an art instructor and a teacher, you have to recognize the skill of each student no matter the level of the skills. 
  • You always want success for your students, you want them to be better than you. This is why you teach.
  • If you love what you are doing, you can pass that love onto the students. 
  • Having the feeling like somebody’s going to copy me or somebody is going to take over I think is the wrong mindset of an artist and a teacher. 
  • What are your goals as a teacher? Are you looking for a paycheck or do you want a successful student to be able to make a living with their art? Everybody has an agenda and it’s sad to say that not everybody is a good teacher, but how you can make a difference is very important.
  • Making a bridge like empowering the next generation to do better than you I think is one of the keys.
  • As the community is growing, we don’t want the younger generation to feel cut off. We want knowledge to travel in both directions because all voices are valuable. Sometimes you have a top down approach to teaching, and sometimes it’s more omnidirectional. How do we address building bridges between levels of experience?
↳ Learning from imitation: copying vs. reference
  • Often students as an exercise will copy the master and then go on to make it their own thing. Trust that they will make it their own, and that they’re not going to copy you. 
  • Setting aside your ego as a teacher is important.
  • Teachers need to be ok with students surpassing them.
  • There are people who don’t want to teach certain techniques, and they’re doing it so they can avoid having competition.
  • You’re going to get old, you’re not going to be able to make glass anymore. And if you didn’t teach someone else how to do it, then that died with you. That’s way worse than not passing it on.
  • Some of the things I do are directly copied from my mentor, and we are both proud of that. He trained me to do that, and now I’m training other people to do that, so I don’t think copying is a totally bad thing. The stories flow along with the technique throughout the community. 
  • I did a lot of printmaking in undergrad, and copying is part of the learning process in printmaking. You copied the person that was the lead of the company’s images, and when that person died, then you are the keeper of the knowledge. You could evolve a little bit, but you were charged with continuing the tradition.
  • The evolution of learning a technique and then doing something different with it, making it your own.
  • Copying that can infringe on intellectual property.
  • As an artist, I strive to be original, but I live in a world of reference, and my work will be referential. So then where is that line of copy vs. reference? Where does a copy turn into an evolution and as a teacher, how do we point these avenues out?
  • Accepting copying as a building block, and understanding it as a base to build on and grow out of.
  • Some students get turned off by the idea of making something because they have seen someone else do it before. As a student, do not let that deter you. Don’t copy them, do your own research, and make it your own. 
  • You can reference another artist as a reference and credit them in the piece, or in the statement to give homage, that way it’s not derivative. You’re giving credit where credit is due.
  • I am very afraid, as someone who has not had formal education, that when I’m referencing something I might be copying it. It’s hard to make a distinction sometimes. For me, copying things to learn is acceptable, but copying things for marketing is crossing the line. 
  • “You can also can teach you student about being respectful about intellectual property and how to develop their own designs”
↳ The new classroom: YouTube and Social Media
  • With social media, you have to be mindful about what you see online. The classroom can be anywhere — Instagram, YouTube — so just be open to these new tools and how you can use it for your own good.
  • YouTube is a new classroom. And most of the time it’s free. Established artists can go through and learn a new skill.
  • Social media has exploded our resources for education and even just reference, which is amazing
What are some strategies for fostering meaningful relationships and building these bridges, such as icebreakers, structured conversations, community building, etc.?
  • Tracing bodies of the students and using this space in between us as a template for making neon. It’s not about glass, it’s not about teaching, it’s just this space between us and the trust between us and that’s pretty beautiful. 
  • Encouraging folx to work in pairs or small groups, in class and out of class. Having a torch buddy is helpful for safety, and can also turn into a long term support system that includes peer support, intergeneration and intercultural wisdom, and skill sharing.
  • Communication building is one of the keys. Skill sharing and exchange is one of the keys. Organizing exchanges for artwork, skills, and tools with your friends and coworkers helps build bridges and relationships and improves your classroom.
  • I try to adopt the attitude: “There’s no wrong answers, just variable results.” Especially for beginners. Treat every hurdle with curiosity to make a safe space for landing when they’re in the air. Helping students navigate the unknown. Amplifying that safely makes the relationship with the student feel stronger.
  • It can be intimidating as a student to meet the teacher where they are at (in an institution, maybe with a prescribed technique). Teachers could try leaving the classroom and meeting the students elsewhere where they are at. Both could benefit by sharing what they have to offer. Insider vs outsider
  • There is a big insider faction in glass that can be intimidating and limited in what’s explored. I want to encourage people to go out and play. Don’t focus on inviting people in. Go out and forge the connections for yourself outside and see what else is out there. 
  • Instead of saying come to me at the institution, you can show up and say here’s what I am offering, let’s figure it out. Change the paradigm and remove yourself from the oppressive system.
  • Get out of your comfort zone and into the community. 
  • Regarding glass, there are limited facilities and safety that are needed to make glass. The internet opened up those spaces for teaching and learning in the virtual space. How can we bridge these spaces to bring the freedom of free knowledge exchanges on you tube and social media with the physical spaces (mostly institutions) in order to access students in a physical space for hands-on material experiences?
  • In the 70s, we would set up the torches anywhere, and people would just come. One time we set up in front of a slaughterhouse, the library, and craft shows. Racial tensions could be eased by sharing glassblowing with the public and bringing humor to the situation. 
  • Reinvent the way you connect with the community. Be bold, and think of new ideas to connect with your community. You are always going to find some help, so look for those people. 
  • Local arts councils may have grants for these kinds of things. To bring teaching into the schools and give you the opportunity to get out there. 
  • “cross pollinate with other mediums! Glass can be combined with any other material”
  • “Seeing hot glass blown outside at the renaissance faire as a child is what lit my fire!”
  • You have an establishment that is struggling with inclusion and diversity and wanting to get more people inside. Personally, I’m not looking to go inside, I think it’s a little stuffy. If people want to find some new techniques, new ideas, people doing different things, you gotta come out from where the establishment is. 
  • I have the credential that says I should be able to teach (MFA), but I’m not very interested in teaching in the established venues, because I really don’t get to teach, and some of the ideas are not very popular (incorporating 3D printing into craft material). This is how you get to teach and have a reputation, but it’s still within that kind of structure, and I’m still not interested in that structure. 
  • I resonate with that feeling of being an outsider and looking in at these big institutions. I’ve been a pipemaker my whole career, and going for my MFA was a big decision to enter into the institutions. I thought that by doing this I could try and be a bridge between the inside and outside. When I say something that was missing, I thought maybe I can be the missing thing that can fill that gap.
  • Seeking out where you can be bold. As an instructor it’s important to be bold and to stay true to your guts. 
  • When you’re not ready to teach because you don’t trust the institution, try to find a safe place. How can you make a safe place, even inside an institution where you are working, how can you make it better and safer for everybody? It could be more diverse. Inclusion is always a component to making it welcoming. You can create it inside the institution, and you can do with that also outside the institution. So you cannot do it by yourself. Sometimes you need the community.
  • Building a bridge, having the connection, having the partnership is one of the keys, because sometimes your voice is not enough. You need many voices to make a difference. And one key as an instructor is to teach in a safe place for you and for your student. If you don’t feel like it’s safe enough for you, address the issue.
  • One of the keys for building a bridge, building a community is removing the fear, and don’t sabotage yourself. Always feel like your voice is important and somebody will hear your voice no matter what is going to be here, and you cannot walk by yourself. You need a community. So don’t be afraid to ask for help, any collaboration is the only way you can grow as a human being.

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LINK TO RESOURCE: MEETING NOTES (GOOGLE DOC)

Last updated: 3/19/25

Flame Affinity Group Meeting Notes: Flame Business Practices Toolkit

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive

GEEX Flame Affinity Group
Flame Business Practices Toolkit
February 19, 2024 7:00PM EST
Facilitated by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith, with Special Guest Wes Heart

Business Practices Toolkit (GOOGLE DOC)

Notes compiled by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith
Each bullet point represents a comment by a participant. 
Entries in quotes are copied directly from the chat.

What is the best advice you have received?
  • Learn to do the task before you delegate it to someone else.
  • Always keep learning, never be afraid to ask for help, and never take no as an answer. 
  • As much as you can, get paid to practice.
↳ What advice would you give to someone first starting out (in business, and/or in flameworking)?
  • Be patient with yourself, because it is very difficult to learn flameworking. It takes many years, and being patient with yourself is important.
  • Hours give you powers. Stick with it. 
  • If you want to be good at what you do, you have to spend the time to do it. Lots and lots of time.  
  • In terms of starting a business, product making is only one of the many skills that you will need to hone. So make sure that you leave time to improve at all of the other skills you’re going to need. 
  • It’s all about your community for strength and support – Approach the studio and life with a sense of generosity – who can you help, what can you give? And then that will come right back to you. 
  • Try to branch out and do things alone, like talking to people at conferences, going to studio visits alone to make strong connections and get out of your comfort zone. 
  • The glass community is small. If there’s someone that you want to get to know, reach out to them. When you reach out, do it professionally and show that you are serious about what you do.
  • When you ask someone for advice, follow through. Be polite, and understanding. 
Fair compensation in the flameworking industry

What’s the going rate for skilled and unskilled labor in the flameworking industry? Does it range regionally? What are the rates in the midwest? West coast? Rural vs. urban? 

  • NYC and regional – Unskilled labor (meaning I will have to do a little teaching) $25, skilled (already know how to do the task) starts at $35+
  • Philadelphia – same 
  • Philadelphia – $20/hr cash just out of undergrad (9 yrs ago), special rate for a friend
  • Rural VA – some studios in urban areas, and a few private studios, and solo artists. It’s a really small community.
  • Cities are pretty expensive.

Links:

↳ Assistant Labor
  • For me, the decision to work with assistants depends on how quickly something can be made, difficulty, and cost of materials. 
  • I hire assistants to do things that I don’t like to do, are not good at, or that I don’t have the equipment for. 
  • Hiring assistants to make prep. Examples: coil potting color, make tubing, pulling points, make some basic shapes, color match a color. 
  • When I am working with an assistant, I can be doing something else at the same time, and then that shortens the turnaround time for the project.
↳ Independent Contractor vs. Employee
  • Pay assistants per piece, or per project (1099, independent contractor) or by the hour (W2, employee)
  • Independent contractor you hire to do a job and then they bring it back to you when it’s finished. Pay per job. 
  • Employees are paid per hour, employer sets the hours. If working in their own studio, artists need insurance to cover employees. 
  • Consider how to build your business in a way that you are able to support the ethical treatment of your employees. 
  • A group studio can be a convenient place to work, because you are both coming to the studio independently, as an autonomous renters and can hire each other’s labor as independent contractors. 
  • When hiring someone, it’s important to remember that you are becoming a boss, and you pay yourself last. You ALWAYS pay your people first. 
  • If you take care of your people, they will take care of you.
  • Wage calculator helpful to know about and use as a benchmark to shoot for if you’re not already there. 
  • Ultimately, what we’re trying to do when we talk about labor is to arrive at a point where labor is appreciated and valued, and also our employees and ourselves can make a living wage that’s fair. As the economy shifts, that point shifts also.
How do you build a successful online platform to sell your products?
  • Good photos are everything when selling!!
  • Find the right platform for you. Consider complexity/simplicity of site and interface, consider updating your website yourself if you want to change it often.(ex: Shopify, Big Cartel – $25/month for up to 500 items) 
  • Find a site that is the least expensive to run and is functional for your business specifically. Learn to take photos of your work as best you can with the time you have. 
  • Take your time. Start with a few items and change it as you need to. It takes a lot of energy and time to learn to use the software, and you have to tweak it to suit your brand and your goals. Is there an appropriate price range for products selling on an ecommerce platform versus some other platform like a gallery or in person like a brick and mortar type of store? Is there a threshold?
  • My site started as a place to play, and little by little it became more of a business. I wanted to make pieces that were more affordable and accessible for a broader audience to have that experience of something that they loved. 
  • $100 and below is an accessible price point for online. 
  • Markup for wholesale products went up recently from 2x to 2.8x markup, which affects the production of lower price point products, like earrings.  
  • There is a minimum threshold for products that make it sustainable to produce. 
  • Choosing the right platform is important because you can make more of a profit if you can do many of the jobs yourself – marketing, photos, updating the website.
  • Little steps will get you there, you have to start somewhere. If you can get paid where you are to make work, and you are supported, start. 
  • Be careful not to over-edit any photo. (If your piece is flawed, then your piece is flawed.)
  • Typically you will need multiple photos of the same piece, so that a buyer could get a virtual experience of the piece before they purchase it. 
  • Your clients know that your work is handmade, be honest with your buyers, ex: disclose irregularities, etc). 
  • I have used Etsy since 2009, and had pretty good sales. The tags and SEO are important. Fees are high, around 8%, which adds up especially on the low end items. It really made sense for repeatable items. I stopped using it because I was tired of some online platform being a middleman. 
  • My favorite place to sell is at farmers’ markets, table sales, in person art events and demos. 
  • With online platforms, if lots of people want custom designs, it can add up to hours and hours of emails and communication. 
  • Big Cartel will collect sales tax and send it in for you.
  • Third party shipping apps (Stamps.com, Pirate Ship) have deep discounts for USPS and UPS. 
  • Charge for shipping. The box, cardboard, cards, and packing material is expensive!
What’s a fair commission for a gallery owner to take?
  • 50/50%. Some nice galleries take 60/40 artist/gallery. 
How essential do you think social media presence is? Is it essential for every business?
  • I think social media is becoming professionalized. It’s a production. I think it’s likely that it will become increasingly professional, especially with video production.
  • I used to have a great handle on the algorithm, now I never know
  • When I do a good reel and get to ride the algorithm, I sell a ton of stuff. 
  • Hiring someone who is fresh with social media as a professional may become necessary. 
  • When a post gets tons of views, you can end up getting a lot of feedback that you don’t want. 
  • The algorithm (response of lack of) can affect your self confidence as an artist in terms of what goes viral and what does not do well. 
↳ Is your product the glass or the process?
  • Artists and makers are feeling more pressure to make content or process content as a piece is being made for marketing purposes. Social media can be a fantastic way to reach more audiences and be a good way to share the process, but can also be labor and time intensive and makes the process of art making a lot longer. 
  • The Sham-wow did not sell itself – that’s where marketing comes in. 
  • QVC and infomercials use video for marketing and are also content themselves. They are also famous for the remixes and parodies of the video. 
  • “You are also educating your audience with your content.”, “Yes. Edu-tainment.”
  • Reminder that we are living in an age of novelty almost more than ever because it is swipe by swipe. Every swipe has to be something new.
How can technology be leveraged in new ways? Do you use any AI tools?

Is anyone using Artificial Intelligence to streamline functions?

  • I use it for my stories on Instagram to add narrative to my pieces by putting them into settings. 
  • I use narrative to make a framework for a new world. I made an imaginative space where I could just make whatever I want. I kind of made my own playspace that turned into my business. 
  • Using ChatGPT to make images for visual research. 
  • Using ChatGPT as an editing tool during the writing process to run spell and grammar checks and enhance the tone of my writing to apply for art grants, and I landed a bunch. Takes the emotion out of having a friend proofread.
  • “Using AI to stylize your writing style”
  • “As entrepreneurs, we wear so many hats. I like the idea of having a digital assistant to help do tasks faster. Then, I can spend more time in the studio.”
  • “Its a back and forth convo”
  • “I think of AI as a brainstorming tool to speed up making many iterations.”
↳ At what point do you have to disclose your collaboration with AI?
  • Videos for TikTok needs to be labeled if AI is used. 
  • AI-generated images or videos are not copyrightable right now in this moment because the only things you can copyright are things made by a human. 
  • I’ve tried AI out in a bunch of different scenarios just to see what works for me. My general rule of thumb is: change it. Don’t use it straight out of the test box, change it so that it’s more of a collaborative action, or more like a brainstorming tool.
  • AI is a conversation, not an end result. 
  • Using closed AI systems, there is a limit to what they are trained on/can access, so try some different ones to get different results. 
  • AI is never the end result. It can be a good place to jump off, kind of like a writing prompt
  • Using AI in an imaginary space to converse about your ideas and maybe become inspired to do something
↳ Do you feel like AI takes away from originality?
  • Only if you let it. I’m not going to listen to a computer. If you just take the information from it without putting your own work into it, yeah.
  • I don’t have any interest in copying anything, I want to make it my own. I think that’s part of being an artist. 
  • Replication is one thing, but creating something new is another. 
  • Kim Harty’s recent work using images of her own work run through AI to generate images that inspire her sculptures. https://www.kimharty.com/artwork/birthinganatomies
  • AI is remixing your creativity, but you’re not putting your own spin on it.
“Does anyone have any advice for us students that are just learning the flame to start selling decent pieces, best places to post work, etc.?”
  • “Start with your local community. They will want to support you!”
  • “Friends and family are always a good support team.”
  • In-person
  • I started selling small flameworked pendants and paperweights when I was first starting out, 17 years ago. I think things are different now though because we didn’t have online sales of instagram or all that. 
  • “If you are selling online, engage with the platform regularly to boost your visibility. (Etsy, IG)”
  • The best thing you could possibly do for yourself is to find your confidence in your own work, regardless of whether it’s perfect or not. You will draw people to your work if you are confident in your work or yourself. If you’re putting out an aura of, “it could be better,”or “please buy it so I can pay my bills,” that’s not what people want. Instead try, “It may not be what I want, but I love it.” Try to be as confident as you can. It is hard for people to engage with you and your work if you are not confident, even if you are hurting. 
  • Confidence is a skill you have to grow and you do that when you’re figuring out how to be confident on the torch itself. Flameworking can be scary at first.
  • You set the example for how you want to be treated. So if you come in and you take your work seriously and you are not apologetic for how weird or unconventional or not to the tastes of others you might be perceived as, you’re true to yourself. And people who get you will find you and love you. 
  • You will find your audience when you are fully yourself. 
  • It is not the easiest path, necessarily, but you’ll be saving time in the long run from not needing to spend time figuring out who you are after you’ve been lying to yourself trying to please others. 
  • When you’re trying to figure out how to price your work, what do you want to get paid per hour? What are your costs? Not just for your materials, but the overhead of your rent, utilities, and if  you have insurance, if you need to take transportation to get there- there are all these little considerations that add up for a cost. So you should expect that you deserve to get paid $50 or $60 an hour and practice your craft so that you can make it more efficiently. Then figure out: who is your audience, where are your markets? Are you going to be selling only retail or also wholesale, so that you have to cut all your prices in half again? Are you selling through a gallery and you can’t undercut them? These are all considerations you have to figure out for yourself. 
  • Think about what kind of life you would like to have? If you want to live a starving artist life, you will. You are your own best supporter. It is not selfish, it is self-interested. You are interested in taking care of  yourself, you are interested in taking care of your family, and your loved ones.
  • We are doing this because we have something to offer, and we are here to support our families with it.
“How soon did you begin to sell your work in the beginning of your career? Did you wait until you were satisfied or did you take the leap when you had the inventory?”
  • I’m a couple decades in, but when I started flameworking, I started selling at the local bead store, and local art events with my friends, any place where I could get a table to vend. You just learn. You learn what shows are good, which venues are good.
  • As soon as I could sell it, I would sell it. 
  • Sell what you’re comfortable selling. 
  • “As long as they have hot seals!”
  • “(Imperfection is) evidence of the hand!”
  • “There is a market for everyone”
    Sell things that are not dangerous, like cracks, but are whole and nice and don’t be so hard on yourself. Even things that have a small flaw, not a dangerous one like a sharp part, but something that has like a wrong color here or a time little scuff mark – people will often see that as more special because it is handmade. 
  • There’s a market for everyone, and I do sell seconds on occasion, so maybe they can afford those. 
  • Sell what you can, when you can, but be honest and confident with your client. 
  • People aren’t necessarily shopping for something with perfection, if so, they would be getting something that wasn’t handmade. 
  • We have such a high standard for ourselves in the business world and the art world. Nothing large starts large. It has to start small. You put in the effort day by day, little by little. 
  • The thing that really shows success is when you can fail over and over again and still get back up. That is success. It is not a constant uphill climb. 
  • Little successes lead to big successes. 
Sales and Marketing
  • Sometimes it costs you $400 to get into a show and you only sell $100 worth of stuff.
  • Even if you don’t sell anything and it’s a terrible vending session, you can always learn something. At the beginning of the career, that’s the most important, right?
  • Pay attention to the feedback you’re getting from your customers and get used to being ok with your customers not being able to buy your work for whatever reason.
  • There was a time in my early career where I was selling at the bead store, selling individual beads, and then I eventually outgrew that market, and I knew that because my clients would give me feedback. So pay attention to what people are saying whether they’re buying or not. 
  • That feedback is going to tell you if you’re in the right place. You might be in the wrong market. So just keep trying until something sticks. 
  • Try not to take things personally. Even though it’s your artwork, it’s not that the client is insulting your work, it’s that you’re trying to sell in the wrong venue. 
  • I’ve noticed that people starting out are trying to make work that is fast and sellable, making fast art quickly that sometimes replicates other peoples’ work or becomes a generic production item. This can be very damaging to make only work that is not from your soul because you’ll burn out. 
  • There is a point where (generic design production work) will ruin your ability to make your own artwork. You have to learn to start to shift towards making things that come from your own brain. I make a range of production items at different price points so there will be something there for everyone. I try to find a balance. 
↳ Responses when a client says “I wish I could afford your work”
  • “I’m not sure how to respond to that, because I wish you could too.”
  • I try to bring a varied price range so that people can afford my work. Some of the work will take me a week to make, and I cannot afford to personally make it at a lower price. 
  • Another way to respond is to say “I wish you could too, but there are some other ways that you can support me. You can share my website, you can tell your friends.”
  • There are a lot of ways to interact that don’t involve spending money that are still supportive to the artist. 
↳ “What success have you all seen with farmers’ markets?”
  • I have had a lot of success bartering at farmers’ markets.
  • The farmers’ markets in my area also have a handmade craft section, and seem to always be pretty busy! I’m in Brooklyn, NY. Product prices range from $50 – $200
↳ “Wes Heart, how long have you been on IG, and how much time passed before you received a lot of attention?”
  • “Over about 5 years I built my IG to 34K and then this past year it jumped to 82K because of a few viral posts.”
  • “So altogether about 6 years of @blobblob posts.”
  • “It has taken so much time and work.”
↳ “Do you think this way of playing the game is sustainable and really scalable? Like paying a solid mortgage, saving, longevity?”
  • Yes, but riding the wave of novelty is not – you have to ride the wave while at the same time find something stable. For example, stability can come from lower end products that are constantly promoted.
  • Maybe as a component in a more diversified financial plan
  • Glass as a “passion business” meaning you’ll just barely break even when it’s all said and done. 
  • Legitimacy within the glass world and in the world of business comes from setting yourself up as a legitimate company. It’s difficult to do that without a business education. 
  • What is needed in order to do that sort of business that is transferable, that can grow beyond one person? We make money by using our hands. That’s not scalable. 
  • Can a glassblowing business and life as an artist be scaled enough to support a family, have kids, a mortgage, transfer the business, get investors, etc.?
  • The whole idea of being an entrepreneur is finding a spot in the market that you think needs to be populated and populating that space. So it has to do with your vision. And if you have vision and ability and a kind of a unique perspective, I do believe that you can design a company, or a situation for yourself that is scalable as long as you can pivot. Pivoting is an important skill.
  • Geographic location matters –  I worked for many artists in NYC as assistants and learned how studios were run. Those opportunities may be more scarce in rural areas. 
  • If you have a successful body of work or product line, the lifespan of it in the market is probably around 5 years. After that, plan for R&D and the cycle can start over again with new work. 
Advice and Insights
  • You need to stay flexible and weird, and let yourself make things that are strange and new to you. 
  • Nobody becomes famous or popular or infamous by doing the normal thing, right? So when you’re making artwork, if you’re not making things strange, shocking, new, intense, then you aren’t going to get the views, the fame, the money, or whatever you are looking for. You have to be weird. 
  • Fully embrace those oddities within yourself to make the leaps that you need to make to get out of your comfort zone. 
  • Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. 
  • Look for inspiration outside of other glass artists. 
  • It’s important for you to figure out what you are passionate about in life. 
  • The sum of your personal interests is your artistic voice. 
  • Have the confidence to go to another venue and be the only glass person in the room because then you are the novelty. 
  • You’ll see people selling crappy work who may have a million followers. They have built a following, and it’s marketing, right? It’s not the most beautiful work, but they’ve built some kind of platform to sell their work. 
  • Glass shops get requests for things they don’t want to make, and you can ask them to send the clients to you as a referral. If you’re just starting out you can contact shops and ask for their referrals to be sent to you. 
  • Being a part of a designer community, you sell your designs. Put some time aside for research and development and come up with something that is uniquely yours. 
  • All journeys are really fascinating and interesting to hear about. 
  • If you are not moving at a pace that outpaces people trying to copy your work, then you are not moving fast enough. 
  • Competition can make you stay fresh
  • Making new stuff constantly will keep people confused and intrigued.

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LINK TO RESOURCE: MEETING NOTES (GOOGLE DOC)
LINK TO RESOURCE: TOOLKIT (GOOGLE DOC)

Last updated: 4/16/24

Flame Affinity Group Meeting Notes: Teacher Roll Call

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive

GEEX Flame Affinity Group
Teacher Roll Call
October 16, 2023 7PM EDT
Facilitated by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith

Each bullet point represents a comment by a participant. 
Entries in quotes are copied directly from the chat.

Where and what are you teaching?
  • I’m teaching at University of Massachusetts, and also Penland, Pilchuck, Pittsburgh Glass Center and UrbanGlass. I started teaching before I could get paid, and they saved my paycheck until I turned 15. So I’ve seen a lot of changes happen in the glass world, and that’s been really exciting.
  • I teach Plasma Design at Salem Community College. I also teach around the country, various flameworking related workshops. I’ve been teaching for about 20 years. 
  • I teach at Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pilchuck, and UrbanGlass. I also teach on the internet. The focus is primarily plasma. 
  • I teach at Salem Community College.
  • I teach at RIT, flameworking and kilncasting.
  • I am not currently teaching, currently in grad school at RISD, but I’ve taught lampworking at UrbanGlass and Snow Farm.
  • I’m a technician, not necessarily a flameworking educator, but I’ve been working with the University of Washington Glass program. 
  • I started teaching earlier this year, out of Bay Area Glass Institute, they have a really cool program that is kind of developing. I’ve taught there twice, beginner classes. 
  • I’m not currently teaching anywhere, but just got out of grad school at VCU so I was recently teaching. 
  • I teach at Sheridan College, it’s my seventh year. I started teaching in 1999. 
Crowdsourcing as a means to determine class content
  • Crowdsourcing is great way to get in contact with your students before the class even starts so they can have a say in what you’re teaching. 
  • Using the results of online polling, we ended up deciding on a kiln class (for plasma, instead of a hot shop based class). Seeing everyone else lean in that direction helped solidify that I wanted to build that class out. 
  • Balancing meeting the expectations of your students, but also trying to bring your resources to the table too. 
  • Instagram poll for crowdsourcing, and also put a poll on facebook, where it can stand a bit longer. You can also put a longer standing poll in your posts. I find it easier to grab people’s attention on facebook or Instagram than through email sometimes.  
  • New model, where you’re in direct communication with your audience.
Do you have a video policy when you teach?
  • I tell people they can video anything at any time. It’s an open book, and just go for it. If they want to share it, they can, I’m okay with that. 
  • Video is helpful because when I teach at the university, I have them for such a short time, and they can practice forever, right? But if  I’m doing something else while they’re practicing, then they can refer to their video. 
  • I feel comfortable with small snippets of video for the internet. I don’t want anyone to put the entire workshop online. I think short videos are more in line with people’s attention span for the internet. 
  • For my college courses, we record all the demos and we have an archive that students can access for the semester asynchronously. 
  • The one thing I make sure is that whoever is videotaping is focusing on me, and I’m the main focus, and anyone else that’s in the frame is ok with being filmed. 
  • We have people pool their videos and images, so that everyone has access to it – because some people have a better angle than others.
  • If the workshop or an entire demo was entirely online, I personally don’t feel worried about that. Part of the reason people come to those workshops is to be able to have easier access to that conversation.
  • I teach at Salem Community College, and we have a camera for the instructor bench mounted in a bird’s eye view over the torch, which is an incredible angle that no one but you ever gets to see. 
  • I always tell students to come around and stand over my shoulder, it’s ok. But they are really afraid to. It’s hard to get people to come closer. Maybe it’s a post-COVID thing.
    The camera is hooked up to the “Jumbotron”, a big TV screen, and people can watch that. Demos are recorded and uploaded to our institutional Canvas platform.  I also film on my phone with a DidyClip (neodymium filter), making videos that I put on YouTube as well. 
  • Any student who missed anything can review the video.personally,  I’m an avid notetaker, but I can’t always watch and take notes at the same time. 
  • If you put anything online, make sure I look good!
  • The video aspect just adds another dimension to teaching. It’s another hat that we now wear as teachers. 
  • The whole online thing  has changed the way classes have evolved. Now my students can just take video of my demos and have that. It’s really nice. 
How do you encourage students – beyond video – to get them to take notes?
  • I require my students to take notes, but I find that I don’t know if it’s this generation of students, they just stare at you blankly and they don’t take notes. 
  • I started breaking down making each step of a demo that I’m doing  and putting it on a little board so they have each step to follow and that seemed to help. 
  • I have a larger group with different skill levels. I’ve been bringing in related objects that are in process, and I’ll pass them around while I’m demoing during the slow parts when we’re just watching the glass melt, to keep the students engaged.
  • I love doing a little show and tell during demos. Whether or not I feel like they need to  see it up close, it also  gets them involved in some way. 
  • (Note Taking) is a hit or miss for different groups. Some students are just amazing notetakers, and I don’t even have to ask them to. And then with some, I feel like I’m pulling teeth to get them to even bring a sketchbook. 
  • Sometimes I will draw diagrams on the board if they’re simple to replicate. I think that’s very generous and a wonderful thing for a teacher to do. But it takes a lot of time before class to prepare for that.
  • Before a demo I might ask, How would you do this? And we go around the class and speculate on what steps you would take to make it, just to get them talking and interacting with each other. 
  • Tell jokes throughout the whole demo. Sometimes people miss the whole demo because they’re listening to the jokes. But you know, just lighten it up and get interaction between people. Somehow get vocabulary going. 
  • Not everybody takes notes, and I don’t make them take notes if they don’t want to. They don’t want to sketch, they don’t sketch. People learn in different ways.
  • Sometimes I provide handouts if there’s something I really want them to have a reference for.
  • I like leading with an example and then finding ways to shift a mindset. There’s people with different learning methods. 
  • I had a diverse group of people with different languages. I made sure everyone can access my lectures and slideshows before I actually do the lecture and the slideshow. And then I will work with them to see where they’re at, because maybe some people may need to have a text translator. Or they have to hear it again, they can’t just look at their writing. 
  • The major note-taking that happens in the Plasma class was often during the super exciting part, when you’re filling with gasses and lighting it up. Harry (Schwarzrock) had this great sense of how to get students to take notes there, and that’s what allows you to repeat what steps are happening in the process. 
  • I’m working with a few people to find out “What would a notebook look like? How would you organize your notes if you’re going to do that same process again?” It can be challenging to figure that out. 
  • I think most of the drawing happens when you ask a student what they want to make and they draw it so I can help them break it down. And I’ll have them draw each step of the way. Then they can work through it. 
  • Sometimes you just can’t force them to take notes and that’s on them at some point. 
  • “Last summer I taught a workshop at PGC and one of my students took such neat and comprehensive notes, I asked her if I could scan her sketchbook and share it with future students! She said yes! Now I don’t have to make them myself”
Tour of University of Washington Flameworking studio
  • We have an active flameworking class right now, and a visitor here, Patricia Davidson, who just did a demo for KCJ Szwedinski who is currently teaching. 
  • We have 14 stations, each outfitted with either a little torch or a national torch.
  • We have a screen right next to the instructor’s station. 
  • The gas is plumbed down the center. Each table has its own set of regulators and shut-off valves. 
  • We’ve got a couple different annealers and a sandblaster in here. 
Those of you that teach in institutions, how much responsibility do you give to the students to work on their own in the studio?

What do different structures for studio accessibility look like? How much access do you give outside of class? What do you feel is necessary for people to accomplish the goals of your curriculum in order to work outside of class?

  • If I’m present, which is whenever the Glass Lab is open, students can come in and work. After their first lesson, they feel pretty confident turning on and off the torch, they each have their own regulators, so nothing’s going to flash back to the other stations, it feels pretty safe. So I just let them work.
  • At the University, I had the science librarians come in, and do a little workshop. Different groups on campus are coming in and renting out the glass shop and I teach them a little bit about glass. You can relate your glass to history, to science, to archaeology, to just so many things. So you can bring those people in.
  • Get as many people into the flame shop as possible, teach as many as you can about safety procedures, and spread the knowledge around.
  • “I like to offer as much studio access outside of class as possible.
  • For beginner students, I usually wait until the first few weeks are over when they have confidence. The buddy system is key!”
  • “We normally require 10 hours per week outside of class. Still trying to figure out the best way to make that possible for our flameworking students.”
  • “A studio monitor is a great standard for an education environment. whether its an academic or public teaching environment it keeps an eye on students of various experiences. This is slightly different compared to a renter of a public studio where someone checks in.
  • The safety may not be the equipment itself, but human error or accidents. Create faster response time with some whose primary is to monitor.”
  • “I would take into consideration any feedback where students would need more time than what is currently being offered.”
  • “I encourage students to always ask each other questions and help one another outside of class (even beginners) because it makes them think critically about the info given in class!”
  • “I have my kids have a group chat together and so they can always find a Buddy.”
  • “Safety posters with basic set up/shut down procedures and leave books in the studio if you can so students can find their own answers”
What have you learned about teaching from being a student?
  • I’m a graduate student and a TA, and I’m twice the age of most of my peers and so I inevitably function as a TA in every class that I’m in, because the visiting artists are my friends and the people in the slideshows.
  • If (students) need to be connected with resources, I can help you build a bridge to all of these artists that you’re learning about or that you should know about. It’s making me realize that I’m so much more qualified to be teaching at this (higher ed) level than I had realized. Because I’ve been in isolation in my studio by myself for 25 years. And to be mirrored by all of the young people around me or not to be mirrored is very fortifying for my sense of self, or helping me understand myself more.
  • I love teaching and I really want to be here. I could teach in the glass department, I could teach in the jewelry department, I could teach in illustration. I don’t know what will happen, but I feel more driven to definitely teach here because my kid just said, “ Oh, I want to go to RISD.” If I’m faculty, they’d get a full ride.
  • My favorite moments (of teaching) is when I can say, “I don’t know.” Because then we can all look at the same thing. It’s important to find a way to have students be able to navigate a problem or navigate learning something. 
  • Some students want a lot of info, and some students just go for it. The students who just go for it and are not afraid to mess it up tend to improve exponentially faster. 
  • I crack jokes, in the beginning of class I always try to have everyone introduce themselves. Just getting comfortable with people in the beginning seems to work.
  • I don’t think I’ve ever not been a student. I learn a lot while I’m teaching. Learning and teaching are always happening simultaneously. They’re exchanging with each other constantly. 
  • “I don’t know if it is about teaching or learning, but about the energy between”
  • “When I teach, I feel like I learn just as much as the students! Teaching is an exchange, and it’s important to make space for the students to teach you too – reciprocation.”
How do you handle frustration and failure in the classroom?
  • Finding ways in the teaching process where failure is going to exist, and to highlight those failures so that they can learn from it.
  • Feedback from my students: when I have failure in a demo, it’s even more valuable to them because they can see how I overcome the failure. You don’t always see that in a master glassblower demo.
  • I used to be scared to mess up on my demos when I was teaching. But now, it’s great that (the students) can see that I mess up and also can see how I fix it.
  • Learning how to fix something is just as important if not more important than learning how to make something. 
  • I teach a lot of classes and can make something quickly, because I’ve done it a thousand times. Students get so frustrated because it’s harder when they do it. 
  • Students: Your goal should be to play around, and not make anything perfect for a few weeks. You have to learn to persevere. 
  • Students suggested bringing in some of my earliest pieces from when I was starting vs. “Don’t show bad early work”.
  • “It’s all about not freaking out.”
  • I’ll blow a beautiful bubble, then mash it up. Then gather the glass and blow another beautiful bubble. Don’t worry, glass is forgiving. You just melt it in, blow it again. Don’t waste the glass, just keep going. 
  • For frustrated students, I have a huge library on glass. So they go into the other room and look through the books for a while and just settle down.
  • I assign technical assignments, making 10 or 20 of something, I found that when there’s multiples it is much harder to focus on the nitty gritty details of one thing. 
  • I think things can get too “precious” with beginning students.
  • With beginners, when they go to the studio in their free time, they might not know what to make, so I assign them multiples. 
  • Make a new one, it’ll be better the second time. 
  • “Quality through quantity!” 
  • These days I’m more focused on 3D modeling with the CNC machining than flameworking, but I think it would be interesting to merge those things together to create some fusions out of it. 
  •  When I teach workshops, I don’t finish my demos. I’ll leave it unfinished because it puts less pressure on the student to try something new. I noticed more people trying the technique when I left the demo unfinished, or messed it up. 
  •  “In class we review all the failures and try to identify what was missed and why it happened and now I find them correcting/reminding each other to say oh remember when we did that and it failed, don’t forget to do”
  • “I love intentionally messing up. Sometimes you have to model intentional failure for students!”
How can collaboration be employed to address frustration and failure?
  • At RISD, we did a “factory day” in the hotshop. Each person did one step on the factory line, so one person is continuously doing one part of the process. The final result, if it’s weird, it’s not your fault, it’s everybody’s fault. 
  • Group project exercise as a diffusion of responsibility. So if the end result isn’t perfect,  the responsibility is shared. It’s not about the end result, it’s about the journey, right?
  • Punti ball – you practice a cold seal, then practice puntying the same piece like 10 times, transferring the punti. 
  • I think collaboration can be a great way to mitigate failure, and play to people’s strengths. 
  • The author can be more than one person. Collaboration and fabrication are also worth exploring. 
  • Make a musical instrument that can be played by many people at once.
  • I collaborated with an art therapist. We gave out materials that I knew were difficult to work with – that were beyond the students skill levels. Difficult color. We all had our experiences, then we regrouped after to reflect and express our frustration. That turned into a much deeper conversation about where the frustration around failure was coming from. The art therapist was able to help maintain the teacher-student boundaries as emotion was coming up. 
  • I try to get students to collaborate with somebody else in another class. How can we bring weaving to glass?
  • Through collaboration, hopefully the students will feel more connected as a community throughout the class. 
  • Collaborative projects can be an icebreaker, so students can feel comfortable interacting. They tend to feel more comfortable asking each other for help, making for a safer environment after hours. 
  • In neon, I’ve heard some classes will do group end to end seals of tubing with teams to see who can make the longest sealed tubing. In neon, you’re always shifting leverage points as you work on the glass, so no one feels the same.
What is your favorite thing to teach?

What do your students want you to teach?

  • I love teaching beginner and intermediate students. I like to teach the fundamental building blocks of techniques.
  • I love teaching networking because once they understand hot and cold seals, they can make anything, or start to go big, work sculpturally. 
  • I’m really into improvising and pushing the envelope: What can be a blow mold? Can we blow into food? I try to introduce this way of working.
  • Right now my class is into hollow sculpture. All the demo requests have been for animals, figures, sculpting from life. 
  • As a student, I’ve found conflicting views. There are many “right” ways of doing things, take all the info and see what you can do with it. I try to remove a hierarchy of technique so that students don’t think there is just one way of doing things.
  • Hollow networking
  • Sculpting and networking
  • From a drawing, break a sculpture down into various blobs and then teach them to hot seal those blobs together. 
  • Teaching beadmaking, I get requests to demo other people’s beads and Italian technique, which I am able to do, but don’t feel a connection to. I would rather make up some new design. Now, I start with a generative design exercise that we can draw ideas from, in order to limit cultural appropriation and give artists agency over their own designs. Re-evaluating what success could be.
  • When I teach ring seals, everybody makes the same little bubbler. Then I tell them, “OK now take those techniques and make something I’ve never seen before.”
  • I began by asking “what is beautiful to you and why? For me that’s often gradients of color, smooth transitions, but there’s so many different answers. Challenge people to think about what they like and why. 
  • “My students always want me to teach them implosions or heady pendant techniques lol. I always save that demo for the end of the semester as a “reward”; because I know some people would only make pendants all semester if I demo’ed it earlier!”
  • “I also encourage healthy competition, we have a marble rolling contest :)”
What is the first thing you teach in a class?
  • Scribble with a glass rod, dripping the glass to make a teardrop.
  • Flame chemistry
  • Gathering with one hand
  • I like to walk around and observe every student. When I see them hanging up, I’ll let them do it, then I’ll ask them if they want help. Then sometimes, I’ll take the rod from them and execute that part they were hanging up on and then give it back to them. 
  • I always try to show encouragement. 
  • For advanced techniques, you might need some more information beyond just having fun and playing around. 
  • Get students comfortable with lighting the torch. 
  • Get students comfortable with messing up in front of one another. 
  • “Anatomy of the flame, then compression and expansions, then making something functional with those compression and expansion”
  • “A stir rod with a round sphere on the end..”
  • “Rings – they can be as creative at you want, and lots of skills involved- hot seal, cold seal, bridging, sculpting, color application, sizing, revising…” 
  • “The first thing I focus on is studio ice-breakers with a simple assignment, this helps me understand where people are mentally and technically, and give me insight on how to teach the course.”
Are there any thoughts about the role of the teacher that we have not considered?

If you’re self taught, are you your own teacher in some way?

  • I think being an autodidact, or being self taught, you are your own teacher. I feel like it requires the same type of focus or structure of seeking out information.
  • I’ve been trying to find a balance between having students teach themselves a little bit and giving tons of information. I want them to be able to think critically for themselves, and find that sweet balance where they can get the info they need, but also empower themselves to ask questions, so I’m not creating the questions and answers for them. 
  • We’re all teaching ourselves, even students. We’re gonna be learning from somebody, but also teaching ourselves that that person is teaching us. 
  • “I suppose the interesting position that I find myself in is that I’m looking at the stuff that hasn’t really been explored before, so I end up doing my own R&D and kind of pushing what I learn without there really being an established knowledge base.”
Insights and Advice
  • I’ve found just being able to keep it short and simple on the demos, but letting them play is what my approach is. It’s a beginner class, so you’re not looking for advanced techniques. I just want them to get comfortable with the glass. 
  • Even though I took traditional flameworking, (when I’m teaching) I’m like, here’s the basics, but also, you might discover something completely new. A lot of my classes are designed around play. 
  • I’m in the process of working on some STEAM proposals, grants for kids of color to do science art camp, with glass and experiments, things like that. 
  • I’m starting to dive more into that world of being able to pass the knowledge on. I feel like there’s a lack in the glass world, OG’s are still holding on to things and still wanting to support them and take their classes, they’re not like, “Hey, let me come through and help support you.”
  • I will be consulting with my first tech company in San Francisco to teach the new employees some simple things about glass. 
  • “I’m really grateful for this conversation and this opportunity because it’s kind of like new horizons for me to explore outside of, making stuff and selling it.”
  • For me, it’s not about teaching glass. It’s just this zone that you get into if you’re a student, or if you’re a teacher, you’re working together in this energy zone that you have. So it could be anything. 
  • I like showing one part of what I want them to learn, but I also don’t want to influence the students creatively to navigate strongly towards what I would personally do. 
  • Sometimes students fly a little too close to the sun, or try something beyond their skill level. Teaching is about keeping the pace and managing expectations. 

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LINK TO RESOURCE (GOOGLE DOC)

Last updated: 11/10/23

Flame Affinity Group Meeting Notes: Equity and Access in Public and Private Spaces

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive

GEEX Flame Affinity Group
Equity and Access in Public and Private Spaces
February 23, 2023 7PM EDT
Facilitated by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith

Notes compiled by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith.
Entries in quotes are copied directly from the chat.
Each bullet point represents a comment by a participant.  

How do you access the studio?

Do you rent a studio? Rent a space? Work in an institution? What is your workspace like?

  • Multiple workspaces:
    • I maintain two workspaces: one is private, and one is community oriented
    • Make monotonous work in the institutional space so it’s easy to interact with others while working, and when I don’t want to be interrupted I work in my private studio.
    • Private flameshop at home, and working out of the places I teach
    • My private studio is limited in firepower, so when I need larger equipment and assistance, I move the project to the school I teach at (Salem Community College)
    • Work at several universities, in group studio spaces, where there are constant interruptions, so it’s nice to also have a home studio when I need quiet time
    • Home garage studio, rent time in a friend’s shop for lathe and cold shop access
  • Private studios:
    • Private, rented, flameworking studio in a building full of flameworkers and I also work as a tech at an institution (Tyler), where there are a lot of interruptions in the workflow
    • Historic studio space — there are limitations of alteration to convert to a flame shop
      • Shipping container — running a kiln off a generator and solar power
      • Bay Area Glass Institute (BAGI)
      • Portable flameworking setup on wheels used for on-site public demos
    • Early on I had a studio in parent’s basement, and now I have a nice studio in my home
    • Turned an old greenhouse into a hotshop
    • Built a flameworking studio in a school bus 
    • Moved to a rural location and set up a flameshop in the basement, which was not ideal, so moved to a better space with a studio in a separate studio
    • We do production work in the mornings, which is team oriented, and in the evenings everyone has a chance to work independently and do their own thing
    • There are no schools or institutions nearby to work at so we built our own shop
    • In a rural location, closest rentable studio is 3 hours away, built a home studio in the garage over a couple of years
    • Home studio with 4 torches, rents out studio space and teaches
    • Background is in neon, and also does a little flameworking
      • Have some neon torches set up in a tractor garage on a rural farm, while pursuing other types of making beyond glass
  • Institutional studio:
    • Works at Pittsburgh Glass Center
      • A public studio can be challenging to access some times of the year because it is very busy with multi-week classes, production glassworking
      • Some limitations with ventilation and the way the studio was designed
      • Have done neon demonstrations outside, with some wind covering, and plan to do more of that at home
    • Glassblower, and longtime “institutional leech” — has always had institutional relationships of different types to gain studio access, but it is a hustle working at many institutions at once; have a university position and access to an amazing facility
  • “I like the idea of occasionally renting out time in a private studio as a form of passive income.”
As a student/co-learner, do you prefer a particular format or type of location? Where do you go to learn and why?

What environment do you prefer to learn in? (For example, traveling to an institution group studio to take an in person class, participating in  a webinar virtually in your home studio and accessing instruction virtually through Twitch/Discord/Zoom)

  • Take classes in the spaces I teach in, and seek out new skills to learn though instructional classes
  • Early on, I attended immersive classes at institutions, and was exposed to many master craftspeople who I got to know in the studio, and also outside the studio. 
  • Started off as an apprentice, traveling and sleeping on friends couches, and living on a budget to have access to the masters. Now, I appreciate peace and space in the studio on a set schedule, and I appreciate the organization of having my own space.
  • Teaching or assisting with teaching allows me to absorb intimate knowledge and gives access to many different perspectives. 
  • I have a meandering path with learning, started with a BFA in ceramics, and then started flameworking, when there were not a lot of classes available at the time, so collaborating and learning from other artists has been a big part of the educational process and to be able to travel and work that way is still my preference. 
  • I think if you take a class with someone you are more likely to emulate what you saw, while if you collaborate with another artist you learn but are able to internalize the lesson and put your own spin on it right away and make a piece that survives. 
  • “My favorite way to learn is applying for scholarships at craft schools each summer with varying success.”
  • “I was initially drawn to flameworking for its individuality and being able to gain a style independently — over time I have come to realize how important it is to have community and external influences on my work”
  • “I like learning something new. Working on another degree. I like learning from older people with 20 more years in their field”
  • “You can learn more about the larger history and culture of flameworking by traveling to other studios and meeting new people”
  • “I learn from the students while I have the opportunity to experiment with new techniques. (while teaching or assisting)”
  • Traveling, learning in new environments and cultures:
    • Like to combine travel and learning; prefer to travel to a studio to take a class
    • I like to travel around the world and take a class in a different culture
    • I love meeting new people in a group setting, and then going back to my private studio to practice what I have learned
    • Taking workshops wherever I could get a scholarship (at institutions like PGC, Corning, Pilchuck) many years in a row, consistently. Scholarships make classes accessible, especially to students on a budget.
    • I like going to a new shop to get out of my comfort zone and meet new people. 
    • Traveling to be with a group of people to learn helps me quite a lot, and I also value one on one mentorship. 
    • I like to take classes at Penland, because the studio space and food are amazing
    • “I travel to take classes based on a subject matter and teacher I want to learn from. I’m not choosy about the facility. Even if it is crappy I’m only there briefly anyway.”
What do you look for in a shared space that makes you want to work there?

How do you assess the safety of a space, and what does a safe space look like to you, socially, emotionally, and physically?

  • Set-up, architecture, and design for safety:
    • Feeling physically safe in a shared space is important – bench setup, ventilation, proper flooring
    • Good ventilation
    • Important for institutions to model best safety practices (i.e. ventilation), especially since institutions are often the first experience students have with a flameworking studio
    • Modeling best practices at public events, like Glass Vegas and Flame-Offs, that often don’t have any ventilation and are also often the first exposure folx have to flameworking
    • In an institution, attention to details, like having basic first aid supplies available, such as bandaids
  • Awareness, attentiveness and caution:
    • “A sense of organization and care is important for the space to feel safe and welcoming. In public spaces, I feel cared for when technicians or staff check in on renters.”
    • “I saw a CGI video demonstrating how a propane tank can explode or become a rocket and shoot through the ceiling while starting flameworking! A good visual to remember to keep the propane tanks outside at the end of the day.”
    • “Fear in the right doses sharpens your vigilance.”
    • “If I can find it there’s a good video of a stringer removal from someone’s eye…”
  • Communication, attitude and codes of conduct:
    • I prefer not to be around people drinking alcohol in the studio, or cigarette smoke in the workspace, and excessive fuming (heavy metals on glass) without proper ventilation
    • Attitude in a group space, and keeping emotions in check in a public setting, especially when glass breaks
    • Being respectful of personal boundary issues in a group space: being respectful of my time, and of my work (not ripping off my designs)
    • Maintaining good communication in a group space, and if there is dispute, handling it professionally, and promptly so the situation does not escalate
    • My studio is very queer, and I’m hoping to keep it that way. Many studios nearby are female dominated. The institutions keep respect for gender identity and misogyny in check, but in personal studios the situation can vary.
    • Some studios in the 1970s were really unsafe. Having clear rules and a union are helpful when working in the universities to keep things in check.
    • Respect for different cultural traditions in a group space
    • Being around microaggression and aggression in a white dominated space is challenging. Being tokenized and forced to adapt culturally in a white dominated studio space
    • Being considerate of how people are actually feeling in a space instead of making them adapt to what’s going on
  • Concerns in private flameworking studios:
    • In a private flameworking studio, safety can be unchecked. Ex: piles of broken glass around the lathe and hoses, neighbors setting off the sprinklers/fire alarm, people having guns in a nearby studio space
    • In private shops, it can be harder to push back against unsafe situations  
    • In private shops, whose responsibility is it to be the safety police?
    • Limiting how long I let people come and work in our home studio is helpful in keeping a safe atmosphere, physically and emotionally
  • Additional comments:
    • “Great point to reconsider the ‘this was grandfathered in…’ mentality”
    • “I feel like I’ve had to figure out how to deal with the things that go on in the studios I’ve worked in because for me, it’s kind of the price of access.I end up having to figure out what I can and cannot deal with and just manage that on my own. This sometimes ends up being that I don’t work in that studio or that equipment.”
    • “I guess what makes me feel unsafe is when you can tell safety is not other peoples’ priority.”
Micro studio tours
  • Salem Community College (public/institutional studio) 
    • Large open space, two 20-seat benches for torches and shared bank of lathes. Easy to move from studio to studio (i.e. can easily roll a lathe) 
  • Madeline’s home studio (private studio)
    • In her backyard, climate controlled, large windows, small footprint, but high ceilings, custom flame shop buildout
Accessibility in studios
  • Building in a little bit of flexibility in studios: incredibly helpful
  • Prioritize sweeping glass off the floor so it doesn’t pop wheelchair tires 
  • Accessibility for different types of abilities in glass: creating an accessible, inclusive environment for all artists to feel comfortable in
  • Raising awareness for different physical abilities in the studio (i.e. accommodating a person using crutches or allowing a person to bring a stool to sit on during long demos) 
  • Ergonomics in glassworking: paying attention to working conditions so you’re not in pain, like using the lathe for larger pieces, or not hunching over which causes back pain 
  • “I have had to go to shade five (filters) because my eyes are too sensitive for lighter shades (of safety glasses).”
University of Washington: opening a new flameworking studio space
  • Hoping it will be a good example of a well built, forward thinking institutional studio
  • Accessible height bench, great ventilation, ongoing opportunities for visiting artists to teach, ongoing search for full time faculty in glass
  • Auto shutoff manifolds for oxygen, propane tanks on scales
  • Studio is ADA compliant, and two of the benches have adjustable height to accommodate wheelchairs and different body types
  • “Great way to create a space for making where being able-bodied is not immediately assumed or expected.”
  • “UW’s shop will have 15 total stations including an instructor bench and 2 ADA accessible workstations each with 4′ spacing.”
Compensating for limited depth perception, different visual abilities, and other tips for accessibility
  • Add contrast: put something dark (graphite pad) between the flame and the bench
  • Penland offers a movement class, and the movement instructor will come into your class and give advice
  • Using a set of rollers to create a point of reference in the flame can help with depth perception issues, especially when flame is pointed at an angle
    • In a group studio, using rollers can be a way to address depth perception issues or hand shakiness without calling attention to the student
  • Hands/movement:
    • Shaky hands: make a brace for your hands right next to the torch and use a yoke to stabilize the hand
    • What kind of hoses are on your torch? Thick hoses wear out your wrists when working on the lathe
  • Grateful for environments like Flame Affinity Group that prepare me for different abilities that come up when teaching
  • Approaching health topics in a sensitive way tends to make students feel more comfortable and open to disclosing their situation
  • Worked with a person who was deaf in the class who had a sign language interpreter
List of residencies and scholarships available for studios with flameworking access

Pittsburgh Glass Center

Wheaton Arts CGCA Fellowship

Urban Glass

Corning Museum of Glass

Snow Farm

Pilchuck Glass School

Pratt Fine Art Center

Penland School of Craft

Insights

“Studio practice tends to be kind of fluid for all of us over time.”

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Last updated: 4/4/23

Flame Affinity Group Meeting Notes: The Economics of Flameworking

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive

GEEX Flame Affinity Group
The Economics of Flameworking
November 3, 2022 7PM EDT
Facilitated by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith

Notes compiled by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith.
Entries in quotes are copied directly from the chat.
Each bullet point represents a comment by a participant.  

What do you make and who is your audience?
  • Jewelry:
    • Jewelry for the contemporary jewelry collector market and people who like large jewelry 
    • Make jewelry, trying to make things I haven’t really seen before, like unusual glass beads and chains
    • Production jewelry, which has a specific audience (ex. production implosion pendants) and contemporary jewelry
    • Make marbles and implosion pendants. Popular as far as jewelry goes, and a great way to get your stuff out there in the world
    • I’ve done beads and bead shows, did jewelry for many years
  • Fabrication/consultation:
    • Consulting for shipping and crating of glass (particularly delicate and flameworked items)
    • Fabrication for other artists (contemporary art world) 
    • Spent a year making chains for Calvin Klein’s runway shows
    • Make prep for other artists who use glass parts in mixed media sculpture 
    • Fabrication for artists. The audience is the contemporary artist, or whoever their audience is, and that’s a bigger part of my income stream
  • Gig work:
    • Pretty common to diversify your income stream
    • Glass adjacent gigs: public speaking, lecturing and teaching as an advocate for flameworking. All paid work. Audience largely institutional. 
    • I’ve been a gig worker for 25 years; lots of different income streams that are all flameworking related or adjacent
  • Pipes:
    • Making pipes to bring in side-money, because renting time in the hot shop was expensive and I didn’t have access.
    • First Fridays in downtown LA, setting up a table and selling pipes.
    • I would do some consignment at pipe shops, and then also I was just hitting people up on the streets and asking hey are you interested in some glass
    • “Making pipes for a side hustle.”
  • I am doing a lot of stuff around flameworking that I guess a lot of people don’t get involved with.
    • Would say my audience is myself, at this point, because I am really just interested in exploring the medium.
    • I do a lot of research and development, material science, trying to figure out and understand glass. I write up some of the stuff that I come up with so that other people can tread and hopefully use as a jumping off point.
    • Flameworking ceramics and glass 
  • Teach glass and other things
  • In grad school for illustration and making dioramas of handmade glass and laser cut textiles that I’m photographing to illustrate children’s books I’ve written 
  • Sculptures and performance art with flameworking. Try to make my work accessible — the audience is the general public. Wanted to foster a wider entry point to glass.
  • Including bits and pieces that are sculpted on the torch to use in my larger sculptures made in the hotshop
  • Reusing glass from the hotshop to then repurpose and potentially making a product line
  • Make work resembling plants, succulents, coral, etc.
  • I worked at REI, and used to make snails with little pins on them and would sell these to my fellow employees at work. 
  • Scientific glassworking:
    • I work in Research and development in Silicon Valley and that really set me up for where I am now- I have a corporate scientific job with Bruce Suba as my mentor doing glass to metal seals. That set me up to now be in a position to just make my own work for fun, to just be an artist. 
    • Scientific glassworking = flameworking for a living. Getting paid to practice your skills that you can then use for your side hustles. 
    • I still have my own (flameworking) business since the 70s, but I also do scientific apparatus and that gives me the ability to do whatever I want. 
  • My husband and I run a glass art studio in British Columbia. It’s about building a community and learning what the community needs from you as a flameworker. Just find your niche within that.
    • My husband did a lot of goblets. We started teaching and building a community who appreciated art. 
    • We moved to a town of about 5000 people, going from doing big art shows to communicating directly with our customers, with walk-in traffic to our shop. Now we are dealing with distributors (pipes) 
    • Many revenue streams: we do scientific repair for local University, we do upcycled glass work from recycled bottles into reusable goods, pipes, that are sold mostly through distributors and the big trade shows.
  • Podcasting:
    • I do a podcast (Taming Lightning) where I talk about neon and plasma. Skill sets are in the hotshop, but I also use flameworking principles to get a better overall seal in the hotshop and find ways I can use that in the flame shop as well.
    • Podcasting and lecturing as a glass adjacent income stream
    • Provide content for a YouTube producer to make a glassblowing YouTube show (Gather Glass with Wildfire) to educate the audience and community. Doesn’t really make money, but increases exposure. Started with a podcast, then a live show, now it’s monthly. Doing an interview with Marble Slinger who has a new movie coming out. Crosspollinate with other artists and producers. 
  • Recently working on a commission for plasma chops, cups were fabricated, and I filled them with gasses. People reach out to me from IG, Facebook, etc.
  • Portable glassblowing studio that we take into the community to demonstrate and share about glassblowing and flameworking and what we do.
  • “Recycled glass production line.” 
  • “Servicing other studios”
  • Started with selling stuff out of my trunk, but I realized that I didn’t want to live this way.
How have things changed for those of you who have been working through the last few years? Has there been a shift from in person to online? Has anybody had to find new audiences for their work and pivot in the last few years?
  • Impact of COVID-19:
    • When COVID hit there was a huge drop and supply chain issues, getting flameworking supplies and glass was difficult because color comes from the US so it is hard to be competitive with pricing. 
    • During COVID, we lost the ability to connect with our customers, people were not hanging out and sharing glass, that’s what the cannabis community is all about. 
    • When teaching went online it was an opportunity for students to learn about the history of glass. It really opened my mind up. I had everyone look at the history of painting, and look at the glass in paintings, and tell me how the glass was made.
    • During COVID we had to build out communities, both in person and online. Online we can connect with a global audience.
  • YouTube, TikTok, Livestreaming:
    • More and more folks are monetizing their YouTube channel, or live streaming, doing more income generating activities with social media and connecting with their audiences to sell their work through the internet. 
    • I started making TikTok videos – TikTok reached out to me to make educational videos during the pandemic. So I started making glass-related content for the general public as an audience. It has become a significant source of income for me. 
    • For a while it seemed like IG reels were paying a lot of money (“quit your day job’ money) TikTok tried to compete by paying creators. As a creator, I’m trying to take advantage of the giant companies competing with each other. 
    • Making content generates a significant amount of income, and also keeps your audience engaged, and potentially opportunities to sell your work. 
    • For the long run, I think YouTube has more potential for monetization
    • Live streams can be a good source of income, and people will send you gifts and flowers, products, etc.
  • I’ve been talking about shifting towards online, but I was going in that direction anyways. 
  • I did the UrbanGlass hotline where I talked about plasma, and combined a lecture and demonstration. I find that because of how spread out people are in neon and plasma, I have almost no choice but to reach people through online references. 
  • @surfratglass at a previous meeting shared how he pivoted during the pandemic to find a new audience and ended up monetizing his IG account and creating content that way by live streaming and making videos. 
  • The possibility of making objects to sell, but then also being able to monetize that time you are making by having a live stream. 
  • Most of my work is going through a gallery or through a couple of art fairs that I do locally, but by galleries recently retired. I’m looking to get more things on. My online shop. 
Financing Your Art Practice
  • Having a day job, like teaching or fabrication, takes the economic pressure off my art
  • You really need to do what you love and finance it somehow
  • Saving and planning ahead:
    • Spent over a decade in tech, managed to save up enough to not have to rely on making working in the glass sustainable
    • Interesting stuff not going to be sustainable in the beginning — so maybe finding some way to make the money beforehand
  • Last year, saved up and took on a bunch of work so that this year I could take more creative risks and build a new audience with my own sculpture. I would put that in the research and development category.
How do you price your work, content or services? Do you have a formula that you use? Do you just feel it out depending on what the market is doing?
  • For production: think of an hourly minimum rate you want to make, then build in the cost of materials.
    • Develop a calculator: consider how much to pay yourself hourly, whether to hire an assistant, think through the steps to complete the project and estimate the time needed to complete the project.
    • If you work at an institution, factor in studio rental.
    • When selling art, look at what other people are doing for pricing info.
    • For fabrication and consulting: Add 20% for overhead, labor, materials (include shipping)
  • For commissions, customs, fabrication, or services:
    • There’s a lot of R&D involved, there’s email communication, documenting and sending pictures of the progress. 
    • Sometimes clients have a fixed budget, like funding or grants from a museum
    • Find someone doing something similar, consider developing a mentorship
    • When fabricating or doing commissions, I am not doing the selling or marketing. When making my own work, I have to accommodate marketing. So I use a higher overhead because I’m wearing more hats as an artist than as a fabricator.
    • Repairs on a piece can be difficult to estimate (time and cost) if there are too many unknown variables, or if I’m asked to do something that is out of my wheelhouse. In those cases, start with a bigger number because project management is involved. 
    • Add in travel and build it into your contract. Include lodging.
    • Also set down some boundaries. I.E. Make sure they have all the parts first before you travel for install so you’re not wasting your time.
  • Value of mentorship:
    • For a service I call “Technical Consultation” where I go service a manifold and organize an institution’s setup. Rusty Russo helped me first establish an hourly rate ($45/hr).
  • Pricing artwork/jewelry and research:
    • For sculpture in the fine art market, there are some price breaks to know about. Small sculptures (under $3000) start here first. Once you’ve sold in that range, try $3000 to $5000, then $5000 to $10,000. Different collectors in each range. Galleries and art fairs use this pricing structure. 
    • Research who your peers/competitors are, and consider what the market will bear. Look at whose work is selling and for what in different venues like galleries and art fairs. A little bit of market research will take you a long way.
    • With contemporary jewelry, knowing your client and their price ranges so that you can make sure you’re marketing to the right client with your price point. 
    • What does the landscape of the market look like that you are trying to enter? Helps to be realistic about your price point (and confident about it, too.) If you’re not getting a good response to the work, it will be easier to troubleshoot because either your prices are out of whack, or it’s the wrong market for you.
    • Donating your work to auctions can be a good research tool to see what people will be willing to pay for a specific piece (can be incredibly valuable info)
    • I saw on an IG story an implosion pendant similar to mine going for double the price that I was selling at and decided to up my prices in my Etsy store. Learning what the market will bear is a valuable insight.
  • Give yourself a buffer (of a few hundred $) if you need to reschedule or redo something
  • I don’t make pieces as a commodity, and don’t want to put that pressure on this specific work. Tricky to price my performance art/sculpture because there are hundreds of hours on a piece. Ex: an object that is used on the body in a performance, that will be exhibited with the video performance — the price becomes a kind of token of the burden. 
  • To survive: I teach, do production and fabrication. These income streams support my personal art practice which takes up an equal amount of time. 
  • Not everybody is your client, and it’s really important to be able to separate yourself from your work, because it can get emotional when for example, with jewelry a client says “I love your work, but it’s way too expensive for me.” Consider the possibility that your prices may be fine, but this may not be your client/audience for the work. 
  • When work sells at auction, contact the buyer because that adds to your audience.
  • The 10% rule: If you have a business, you should always have sales goals. If you meet your yearly goal, then you raise your prices by 10%. When you raise your prices, you can expect to lose 10% of your clients, who are not able to grow with you. But you will still make the same amount of money. This is one way to build your business by elevating the value of your products incrementally based on sales performance. 
  • “This might be from my esoteric position, but if I focus on economics, I find that it constrains what I can do too much. In order to take into account the economics means that I have to focus on a larger/popular audience… and I am not really interested in either consuming or producing things for that. My interests are very niche, and in order to be in that area, I cannot maximize economics. Those things seem to be mutually exclusive”
How do you handle extras/seconds that are nice but aren’t selling?
  • Should we try to employ the bartering system more?
    • Barter the seconds, buy the firsts.
    • “The barter system is alive and well! I supplement my $ income with bartering.”
  • Seconds sales online:
    • Saw another glass artist live on TikTok doing a studio cleanout sale, everything was around $5. Use the chat to buy, artist will ship it to you. 
    • Doing a clean out sale on social media – you don’t know who is watching.
    • Tempted to do online sales and would love to sell to my friends for cheap, but worried about degrading my prices.
  • Ideas and concerns about selling/promotion:
    • Open house in our studio once a year — that’s the only time we put out the seconds. Connecting with people face to face shows dedication if client’s are willing to show up for the seconds sale.
    • Hide and Seek:
      • Hide your seconds in a park and take a picture to post online so someone can find it – stash and dash, geotagging.
      • Doing Hide and Seek and connecting with people online are about building community, and in turn, hopefully those people will buy your work. Also it helps value your product by boosting your visibility in the algorithm and linking and sharing your account with other people. All of these are marketing tools that we now have at our fingertips.
    • Hosting a dinner party and charging an entry fee and everyone can take an object home with them. 
  • I’ll sell it to a friend for cheap, or give it away if it’s the difference between keeping it or throwing it away. 
  • I destroy the seconds because after I’m gone they might become mixed up with the firsts. We don’t have control over what our legacy is. 
  • I’ll cannibalize pieces and reconfigure them into new pieces of jewelry
  • Being a glassworker, and having to deal with storage of first quality work, in addition to seconds. 
  • Electrician working on my house bought a piece from me. I was excited because it was not my regular audience. I also bartered with the HVAC guy and made him a set of elephants.
  • Recycling glass in a vitreograph kiln – making cane for bead makers, vitreograph paintings. All glass is recyclable, people!
  • “Glass collage”
  • “Brooklyn Glass! Hot Glass Cold Beer!”
Digital Income Streams
  • Cameo App:
    • Pay celebrities/personalities for short custom messages.
    • Could it be an educational tool? On-demand educational videos, or tech support. An information sharing opportunity for custom glass videos. 
  • Rights to content:
    • Consider if you are giving exclusive rights to your content or video.
    • Are you letting a big platform repost your videos for free? That allows others to profit from your content if their account is monetized.
    • Consider a Sole Licensing agreement, where you license rights to your content, but still retain rights to use it yourself as well.
    • I can change the content slightly and license it, or just recreate the content. 
  • “Would this be the time to bring up the issue of how the net is pretty much dominated by a handful of companies, and have enormous amounts of influence on what gets seen and not seen? I feel like depending on these platforms to stay sustainable is a risky bet”
What professional practices topics are important right now?
  • In college, I learned how to make a business card and a resume. The niches of how to make a living never came up.
    • How do you keep up your social media? If you’re not into that, how do you develop a relationship with galleries?
    • How do you enter into a market?
    • What are the different types of markets?
    • How do you balance the right level of professional persona and also personal persona for the internet? How do you seem like a real person but also cultivate your own brand?
    • Teaching people how to be fluid with technology.
    • How to write a cover letter 
    • “I’m constantly surprised when artists don’t understand some tech standards… file formats, jpg tiff png, along with formatted text documents as MS word docs instead of standards like PDF”
  • Documentation:
    • “I finally started to hire people to document exhibitions and it makes such a huge difference. I attribute those images to getting me additional opportunities. So definitely worth the money in the end.
    • Can you use the barter system to have a friend take pictures for you? Documentation is everything.
  • I think it’s important to think about how we are using energy.
    • There is just so much waste and we need to get a hold of that. Glass is an incredibly recyclable material. Are we using it to its fullest potential?
    • What is the right COE for what you are trying to do? Where are we setting our torches? What torch?
    • What is the lowest temperature you can go to create what you want to make? Ex: murrini could be COE 96 or 104 instead of 33.
  • Personal energy and the economics of personal time.
    • How are you spending your time? Do we have to do everything ourselves, or can we delegate? Recognizing when there is a huge learning curve that could be overcome by bringing in a collaborator, jobbing out a task. (tech, photography, etc.) When to spend the money.
    • You don’t have to do everything yourself, especially as your business grows 
    • Don’t waste your time reinventing the wheel — pay a professional to get it done.
    • Ex: Paying for a good photo of your work can then allow you to access more opportunities, and you are also supporting another artist (photographer)
    • Making things with intent (building things that are useful and thoughtful) as a way of talking about energy management.
Media Training
  • Media training used to be done by PR firms in preparation for publicly representing an art center in the media, especially on live television, and in interviews where you are representing an institution. An extension of public speaking.
    • Handy for podcasting and lecturing
    • Also helpful for more spontaneous events, like receiving an award, where you set the tone and language with your audience.
  • Social media, live streaming, “dos and don’ts” 
  • When asked a question, repeat the question in your answer to provide context
How does the impact of economics affect your studio practice?
  • Material costs, cost of gas, inflation
  • Flameworking is one of the most economic forms of hot glass working with much less overhead than other forms of hot glass working. 
  • My middle range of sales haven’t been great, but the lesser priced items do well and the higher priced items do well. So, I’m better off spending my time cutting out the mid range and focusing on the top and bottom of the markets. 
  • Starting a flameworking studio at home to offset costs and increase access to hot glass so I can make things in the $45-75 range, and I can sell a lot of those and they don’t take much time to make. Also, I can prep flameworked parts ahead of time to be used on bigger work in the hotshop. 
NFTs and energy usage
  • NFTs as an alternative to print
    • Make glass lenses that I use on my camera to make digital images. Rather than making them into a physical print, I opted to make them into NFTs so they can stay in the digital realm.
    • Making a tool to generate art: I can blow one lens and use that to make an infinite amount of images.
  • Carbon footprint:
    • Rarible platform allows you to list an NTF for sale, but with no blockchain activity until a sales transaction takes place. This way I can minimize the energy usage up front and be more intentional about how energy is used.
    • Joe Lee did some research and calculated that the gas usage for minting one NFT is about equal to firing two ceramic kilns. Translating into glassmaker and ceramic terminology.
  • Projecting NFTs:
    • I like the idea that it doesn’t have a physical format but can exist into the physical world through projection. I’ve been projecting them onto sculptures. 
  • NFTs have not been fruitful for me monetarily, but have been useful in community building. Value in opportunities to generate conversation.
  • Proof of stake and proof of work on the blockchain
    • “tezos is proof of stake, and very low energy”
Is there an investment (i.e. a piece of stock/tool) you’ve made that you regret?
  • Tools:
    • I’ve bought more pairs of grabbers than I will ever need. 
    • At what point are you just collecting tools?
    • A butter knife is gonna give you the same result (as a fancy tool). My favorite tool is my housemate’s butter knife. 
    • Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.
  • Conferences:
    • At conferences, I always buy the same colors and then never use them. Specifically, it’s a black glass that turns rainbow when you melt it. Apparently I am seduced by this color when shopping in person.
    • India green, it was super cheap at a conference. It is super ugly though. Now that it is out of production is it worth $$
  • I hoard color and tools I’ll never use, just to collect.
  • I think mine would be more like patternmaking. There’s this old type of pattern that neon people use that has fiberglass elements to it. It is noxious, and smells when you use it. Paper and a wire screen is all I need.
  • “I have some lead paint powder”
Relevant Links
Additional Points
  • If you are just starting out selling your work, reaching out to your community is a great way to start. People want to support you. Start small and local, branch out from there. 
  • Hustle is like your building community, it’s you connecting with people, and that’s eventually going to be the people who carry you to where you want to be with glass. 
  • “Support your contemporaries too by sharing their work, there are no competitors. When it comes back, they will think of you.”

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Last updated: 1/4/23

Flame Affinity Group Meeting Notes: The Impact of Virtual Communities on the Field of Flameworking

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive

GEEX Flame Affinity Group
The Impact of Virtual Communities on the Field of Flameworking
June 20, 2022 7pm EDT
Facilitated by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith

Notes compiled by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith.
Entries in quotes are copied directly from the chat.
Each bullet point represents a comment by a participant.  

What virtual platforms do you use to connect with the flameworking community?
  • Tracking independent flame education from the 90s to now:
  • Flame Affinity Group:
    • Connecting with a larger group of people. Allows us all to gather in a way that might not be very practical in the physical world. It is a different group online then in physical space.
  • On WetCanvas and LampworkEtc.com:
    • Faceless nameless people on a forum, people used online names.
    • Scoured glass-bead.org and glasspipes.org for inspiration. Any bit of info was so precious.
  • On self-selecting information:
    • When learning, can be selective in what you choose to learn. That can be empowering to choose your path (as opposed to being tied to whatever info is available)
    • Information overload – too much readily available & rich info out there now
    • The responsibility of having to “vet” information online.
    • “The fascinating thing about the abundance of information is that we’ve become dependent on things like algorithms to “curate” the flood of content, which is a double edged sword due to the biases the algorithms have, as well as the lack of transparency in the algorithms.”
  • On YouTube:
    • Can find high quality videos of almost any technique – great for autodidacts
  • On Facebook:
    • Facebook Groups for a very technical question from veterans
    • For me, the Facebook groups are a lot like what the forums used to be. A good place to go for troubleshooting, to post a question and get a range of answers.
  • On virtual demonstrations and workshops:
    • Virtual demos – much easier to do from your computer than to travel with your whole setup (and having to worry about event/conference hosts having your equipment set up.)
    • When geographically spread out, we can still connect in a meaningful way. A lot of us travel, our equipment is portable, so it suits the community that we are all able to connect in virtual space.
    • I don’t know a lot of lampworkers locally, thankful that [the opportunity to give a presentation online at a conference] happened during covid, or I probably wouldn’t have tried it otherwise
    • Gave a demo for the ISGB, and was able to do that online, and most of the audience didn’t know my work yet. It was when we were super isolated. 
    • Online workshops that are interactive, and not just a presentation still feel relatively new
    • Keep up with what’s going on with the community without risking getting Covid.
    • Took a history of flameworking class online through the Corning Museum of Glass
    • Discord – used it to take a class by Scotty Mickle
      • class platforms used: a mix between Twitch and Discord, interesting that there’s not one platform to support everything yet – it’s still a mix of multiple platforms.
      • day-long class, taught from his studio, students are in their own spaces, can be comfortable talking with the instructor. Other studios just don’t work in the same way, but the format worked well for flameworking. 
  • On Instagram:
    • Use Instagram a lot, as a research tool, to connect with artists and see what they’re doing right now, more behind the scenes stuff
      • Love the instantaneousness on Instagram: less lag time between content creation and consumption as tech develops 
    • In the context of neon/plasma I started using Instagram in 2016, it was the cherry on top of getting info.
      • I learned fundamentals in person, and then added better techniques and tips. Pick up random tricks on social networks. Now I do peer to peer: ask a question, get advice from people I know.
    • With improved quality of tech in IG, can video chat to troubleshoot in real time, peer to peer, great for community. Live tech support.
    • IG to see what techniques are being developed, how something can be made
    • IG Live – in order to boost engagement to get a better place in the algorithm
      • (ex: @bostondistillery – live Q&A for free on Thursday evenings – useful resource, takes requests)
    • Importance of having an IG presence in order to be visible to the (pipe) community.
  • On LinkedIn:
    • Business to business
    • Good for finding jobs, networking with other professionals
What platforms do you use, and for what? Do you go to specific platforms for different things?
  • TikTok to veg out and for visibility, Instagram for inspiration, Facebook groups for specific info because they are easily searchable, but I’ll be a lurker on Facebook. 
  • On FB, lots of people who are very knowledgeable, also people who don’t have experience socializing with people.
  • I have a different relationship with every platform. 
  • I have the platforms linked together for posting
  • I use different platforms to interact with different audiences. IG for peers, FB to interact with knowledgeable makers and get advice from many different people
  • TikTok vs Instagram – videos on TikTok have a wider reach, but I don’t know anyone on TT. Viewers on IG are people I know, so I care more about their reactions.
How can technology address accessibility and equity?
Do online platforms make resources and communities easier to access?
Do we still have the same sort of gatekeeping that can happen in physical spaces?
  • There are grants to support BIPOC now (after [the uprisings for racial reckoning starting in 2020]). I got a shared announcement on IG. Would not have seen the open call otherwise.
  • Equality situation – you might get feedback, but what’s a comment when you’re trying to pay bills, not a lot of value on IG. 
  • LinkedIn – in a professional world – had a show and connected with other people of color, who can buy expensive art.
    • Wrote a story about a piece in the exhibition, great feedback, and hit the target audience.
    • Used the LinkedIn network, resulted in a sale, successfully targeting black professionals who are making money, making change.
  • LinkedIn – I think the algorithm is a little more equal, value does not depend on likes
  • GEEX is a special and unique space – algorithms are not affecting our content in this space
  • I am dependent on social media as a part of my practice.
    • These platforms are “free” and that’s amazing, but what is exchanged – our clicks, our data, our attention, our information.
    • It would be difficult for me to start over and not use these platforms because I‘ve invested a lot of time in the content
  • “Affordability, internships, mentorship, training as a trade”
  • Virtual mentoring
Could your career exist without social media? Could the institutions serving our community exist without social media today?
  • My business does not rely on social media, although I enjoy it, and find it an effective way to keep in touch with friends
  • Because of the age of the people I’m doing business with, I could probably do without social media and still be OK. How big is the role of social media?
  • Teaching a class, and a lot of people know me from social media, brought a new audience to my teaching. This just happened since the pandemic.
  • When the pandemic hit, I made a shift from selling to shops to selling off my own website, and social media has been a big part of that. 
  • Rather than my work being seen in a shop or gallery, my work is seen online. I try to represent myself the best that I can online and in my videos.
  • I’m entering the creator space, and making videos. Now I become the product, when videos attracts enough views they want to pay you to keep making videos of glass.
  • Went from 20K range to 30-40K followers, started getting messages from IG.
    • Set an account up as a business or as a creator and can get monetized status. It starts first with IG Live. I prefer to perform and make a nice video of a product I’d like to sell. @surfratglass
    • What has really helped with boosting that is a combination of TikTok and IG because when something goes viral on TikTok it pushes people to your IG. 
    • You become the product after a little while. 
  • I don’t have a huge IG followers, but I’ve noticed any post or story with my body in it goes to a whole different audience who then want to engage with me. 
  • Having your face in your videos increases your reach.
  • Longer interview style videos don’t get as much of a reach, but when I added food or confusion (ex: ambiguity regarding scale), it attracts a larger audience. Coffee or ice cream, confusion as far as size, what things are for. @surfratglass
  • I feel like “discovery” and “staying in touch” are two very different things.
  • “I use social media mostly for the follow up and the discovery part is something I recently started to experience.”
  • “Word of mouth is super important still”
  • “Great reminder that your target audience might not even be on social media.”
  • “Personal interaction can definitely make more waves than virtual space.”
How has social media accelerated the field of flameworking?
Has social media accelerated the field? What are the downsides?
  • Social media is foremost a tool for visibility
  • “I’m kind of uneasy at how centralized all the platforms are. There’s a lot of influence on the entities that run the platforms that affect the communities, and it’s often done without any awareness for smaller communities like the flameworking community.”
  • “I find that I use platforms out of necessity because so many people are relying on them as a primary source, but I’m anxious to be so dependent on a platform/company that views me more as a product than a customer.”
  • I use social media to raise awareness of flameworking, usually for people who have no idea what glass is or flameworking is
  • My audience is often a non-glass audience, or a beginner studio audience
  • I like the internet because it allows me to see glass through fresh eyes
  • It allows me to stay excited and engaged in the community (through the lens of my viewers)
  • Is it possible to be successful without relying on social media? Has it become an obligation? How do we define success? How can we define success without visibility on social media? Is it worth doing? What are other ways we might define success?
  • Social media has helped accelerate the pipe community. The audience is 18 or 21 years old (let’s hope), but they’re younger and are in a place in life where they don’t have as many bills and are able to buy things, and they are on their phones a lot. 
  • It feels like pipemaking has pushed the boundaries of what social media can do. Capitalized as using the internet for a gathering place and a market place in a way that has given a lot of visibility and also connection which I think makes us stronger. 
  • Success of the flameworking community (visibility) and the timeline of how technology has accelerated seem connected.
  • More ways that people can share their work in the glass community (visibility) 
  • Glassblowers from Blown Away (winners or contestants) have done very well on social media @garmezyglass
  • Flameworking pipemaker situation – at the very beginning I started flameworking with Bob Snodgrass in Eugene, Oregon, in 1994. That’s where flameworking was, for the most part. It was community-centric, in Eugene and also at festivals. Grew to Bellingham WA, and Corvallis, OR. Now there’s a strong presence in Colorado. I think it started in person and then grew.
  • Even before the internet, pipemakers knew of each other, the community was developing in real life
  • Following festivals, there was a whole economy following these touring bands. A lot of glass being sold, and a huge presence of colored glass and then people started showing the glass outside the community. It gave a big bump to the underground community even before the internet. Social media then emerged from that.
  • Boosted visibility through google search engine as a glassblower in Los Angeles (pushing for that boost to feed the algorithm.) Now I’m in a place with a cool physical community with open studios, hangs, etc. 
  • If you put your work online, it encourages friendly competition. They’re not going to be as afraid to respond to it. I have to represent my work to vastly different types of demographics. 
  • Downsides of sharing on social media:
    • Infringement on Intellectual Property:
      • Opens you up to copying — then I have to do my own thing even better 
      • A factory overseas stole the design for one of my pipes — got access to the design through social media
    • Bullying:
      • When a video goes viral, I experience bullying. A lot of mean comments.
      • Impostors, spammers and fake accounts
    • Social media can be a distraction or limit you
    • Clients not all on social media, I have to go to them to find that desired audience
    • Social media does not cover my personality even close – I’m great in person, and I gotta be in the streets.
Do you think virtual platforms have the potential to democratize flameworking?
  • “The field can only be democratized to the extent that the platforms are democratized. I think we need to think about democratizing the platforms/technology in order to further democratize the field.”
  • “Making our own platform?”
  • Getting together with this particular group – what looks to me like a cross section of the flameworking world. This programming is very satisfying. Could we build out more programming to support making work in virtual space? 
  • We don’t have control over the big social media platform, but something like GEEX seems like a safe space with wonderful people. It seems democratized for now.
  • Co-learners have a chance to access a lot of resources
  • As a flameworker, I spent 12 years alone in my studio not talking to anyone — so this is revolutionary. I might see these people once a year, if that, so a virtual community is appealing. 
  • Democratize the platforms in order to democratize the field. GEEX is a startup that we made to function this way. Not all platforms are limited by the algorithms.
  • Could we add more functionality to the programming? How can we build it out? 
    • Discord – a little more unilateral platform. Good place to Push a notification if you’ve posted something online.
    • “LinkedIn is also great because many folx are more likely to moderate themselves in a professional space.”
    • ”Also interesting to throw into this mix the use of glassmaking/glassmakers in promoting sales for other major corps (ex: Cedric Mitchell’s super high profile Nike and Fitbit ads)”
    • “Maybe social media is more useful for maintaining relationships after an in-person or 1-on-1 engagement”
  • “Hard to think of social media as democratizing as its such an influential platform for de-democratization…”
What’s the future of online communities? What is the value of social media and technology in education?
  • Facilitation collaborations to cross pollinate and gain more followers. 
  • How do you integrate technology at the torch? Does this change the nature of torch time?
  • Can you walk through the nuance of using TikTok in the education space? Featuring your students’ products you platform who you’re teaching. How do you reach out to your students to feature their products? 
    • As a teacher, I disclose (about my social media practice) at the beginning of the semester in the education space. Ask about filming in the studio, comfort level – maybe don’t show face, show hands only, video a piece being made in several stages. Ask for consent before sharing. Credit their work, link to school, stages of checking gin at various points. 
    • Student work went viral with 23 million views across the internet. (boosted the student and school’s visibility on IG)
    • This is the landscape we are living in right now. 
  • At school we have an ongoing dialog about Instagram and the value of likes. 
  • Technology in the classroom:
    • Sometimes at school (older generations) require putting the cell phone away. As new people teach, this is a tool that everyone uses, so can we consider how to use social media responsibly (so it is not a distraction)
  • Use social media in a constructive manner
  • Using social media is a professional practice – creating a presence, creating an audience, growing an audience, creating content as a way to bring people into your practice. 
  • For beginner students, social media can be a distraction (selfie at the torch) and also dangerous (safety) how to balance?
  • On marketing/entrepreneurship:
    • Big gap in my education, and was never really taught how to market my work. A lot of people buy consumer direct, and now it’s direct to the artist, it can be a great way to turn someone into a successful artist and keep making money off it. 
    • Business practices class did not cover marketing
    • Professional practice lessons are changing by the year and look different to how they looked maybe 10 years ago
    • Taught Entrepreneurship to artists over the past 20 years, and have only started integrating social media in the past 5 or 6 years
    • Entrepreneurship students use social media to find a specific audience, connect with an audience. Often niche markets (client) who is not easily accessible in physical venues. 
  • I was surprised that my students were able to connect more easily online with their target audience that in person is NYC. The audience can be literally anywhere if you are selling things online. 
  • I think there’s been a shift since the pandemic. Before 2020, in NYC, less so social media, more word of mouth. NYC art community is so small, mostly word of mouth to fill classes. I use social media if the class isn’t filling on its own. I was in the studio every day, and that’s how people found me. 
  • How much do institutions rely on social media?
    • Wider reach geographically and more advanced makers as a result of social media (and I’m at a different school) also depends on what the institution’s goals are with social media.

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Last updated: 8/1/22

The Art of Plasma by Wayne Strattman

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive

Newly published in 2022, The Art of Plasma by Wayne Strattman is the first book dedicated to the medium of plasma sculpture. An invaluable resource to plasma artists of all skill levels, and an illuminating read for anyone interested in the intersection of art and science and the past, present and future development of plasma art.

“Glass, gas and electricity combine to create unique possibilities for artists. Historical techniques are now made modern in this hands-on text, revealing ways to fuse art with science to create revolutionary forms of light art. The history, theory and practice of the plasma artist are all covered to give the practitioner both context and practical information to work within this dynamic medium.”

Wayne Strattman, plasma artist, engineer, designer and author, operates Strattman Design, the leading maker of plasma displays for museums, trade shows and movie companies worldwide. Strattman holds a PhD in the Neon Arts for his research, writings and long advocacy for plasma and neon as sculptural media. Strattman previously edited the best-selling 4th edition of Neon Techniques: Handbook of Neon Sign and Cold Cathode Lighting.

Cover of "The Art of Plasma" by Wayne Strattman. The cover features an organic tree plasma form with a lower blue tendrils, and a brighter, sharper neon branches at the top.

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Resource submitted by Cary Rapaport

Flame Affinity Group Meeting Notes: Collaboration

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive

GEEX Flame Affinity Group
Collaboration
March 3, 2022 7pm EST
Facilitated by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith

Notes compiled by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith.
Entries in quotes are copied directly from the chat. 
Each bullet point represents a comment by a participant. 
Italic headings indicate off-topic conversation threads.

What is the role of collaboration in your practice?
  • To put together large projects
  • To share skill sets
  • To make work that is beyond the scope of one artist’s ability to make
  • Collaboration through teaching
  • To make things I don’t feel comfortable making myself as a new artist
  • Access to complementary skill sets 
  • To gain access to a new market
  • In teaching, collaborate on one big piece
  • Conscious, consensual agreement with someone else who has a different background/skill set/cultural context, etc. and it’s something we agree to bring to the table intentionally
  • Collaboration does not have a predetermined result
  • Collaboration is about creating something that could never be done by one person
  • Collaboration generates new knowledge
  • Collaboration makes me feel very small, on the scale of the universe, and I like that
  • I usually collaborate with scientists, making art science work.
  • Started flameworking to work solo, as a compliment to working collaboratively in the hot shop or teaching
  • Collaboration can be intimidating and style might not mesh well
  • Looking for different perspectives on how to enter into a collaboration
  • Interested in the networking technique within the realm of flameworking and what it allows for metaphors of networking and community building to do
  • Collaborative flameworking project – invite non-flameworkers to add to a networked form using map gas torches to build structures that are not predetermined
  • To access the space glassmaking creates where people can talk about differences
  • Use flameworking for collaboration because it is more accessible than glassblowing.
  • Collaborative community building through beadmaking
  • Collaboration is a huge part of the glass pipe industry
  • What I get from collaboration is learning – flameworking can be a solitary activity, when I work with others my work and skills progress with insight from other people. 
  • Social media and market cross pollination resulting from collaboration, can help to build an audience.
  • Find someone in a different studio to collaborate with and make two pieces, one for each of you
  • Working with artists who cannot make pieces they want and hire a glassmaker to do it for them
  • Interesting to jump into someone else’s head, taking yourself out of your comfort zone.
  • Collaboration between different types of glassmaking, e.g combining furnace- and lathe-working
  • Collaborating between science and art 
  • Maybe collaboration can lead to bringing down walls between glassmaking disciplines. 
  • R&D as a collaborative communal contribution to the field
  • Collaborating for efficiency in one’s practice, and/or hiring subcontractors for fabrication.
  • Flameworking is solitary art form for me and collaboration is an opportunity to connect with people
  • Collaboration through performance
  • Relying on other bodies to be part of a vision, give someone a role and ask them to help me create a vision
  • Using collaboration to explore relationships in glassmaking
  • Collab with a chamber music group and flameworking (musical composition based on the act of flameworking and making glass musical instruments)
  • Having the opportunity to work with people I love 
  • Collaboration makes me work outside my comfort zone and try things that maybe I wouldn’t have otherwise felt were within my area of experience in life.
  • Scientific glassblowing in the aerospace industry, collaboration that has to do with engineering, bringing skills together to make the product work. (ex. bring in a welding specialist)
  • Learning opportunities to learn from people with different skills. 
  • We all bring something to the table!
  • Consider how we are going to edit or veto our designs so that we each have a stake in the project that feels fair before starting the collaboration. 
  • CAD: good place for collaborative sketching and for communicating about design
  • Collaborating through a mentoring group put together to set goals. 
  • Collaborate with others on materials or supplies. And the end results are shared. Ex: making pattern bars
  • Being in a group studio or a university can lend itself to collaborations
  • As an educator, collaboration is fruitful when teaching with another artist who is totally different and we have to figure out how to work together outside my discipline. Looking outside the glass world to collaborate. 
  • Collab can bring me out of my comfort zone
  • Collaboration to be playful and try something new to access a mindset that is helpful in manifesting the next moves in life and to access happiness. 
  • Group projects in teaching to encourage collaboration and working together to develop skills and make something bigger conceptually.
  • Rented studio time with a group of people and just had fun. 
  • Make an instrument and then everyone plays together in an orchestra. 
  • You can make career long friends through collaboration. 
  • Collaboration in the form of a response video.
  • Releasing something open source with the hopes of others iterating on the design as a form of collaboration
  • Duets on TikTok (side by side videos)
  • Technology can be part of collaboration, especially in the cyberspace sphere. 
  • Making a composition inspired by the process of flameworking
  • Sometimes I feel like it’s equal, and other times there’s a hierarchy.
  • “Giving over control over your own work is scary”
  • “Collaboration helps me feel appropriately small” 
  • “Because I have a background in STEM, there’s a perspective that I have about collaboration that is one of R&D, where knowledge is shared and built upon to further the field. A lot of my practice is research on materials and techniques that others can then use for their own practice. It’s not a kind of collaboration where it’s between people, but it’s more of a communal contribution to the field.”
  • “Collaboration as a learning opportunity, exposure to new techniques”
  • “Collaboration as exposure to a new audience”
  • “So collaboration can incorporate a lot of risk, not just with letting go of control, but also choosing to use time to “play” instead of “work” (on the clock) … but I love playing. Play time should be incorporated into the budget”
↳ Exploring the role of collaboration in fabrication, subcontracting and consulting
  • “Do we and is it useful to differentiate between collaboration as knowledge building and collaboration as subcontracting (jobbing, outsourcing, fabrication support, etc. whatever the preferred terminology)?”
  • When I work as a fabricator for other artists, I do not consider that collaboration.
  • In collaboration, I share authorship with the other entities in the group. 
  • In fabrication I am paid to execute someone else’s vision, and I am performing a job. 
  • I have to negotiate the specifics every time BEFORE I enter into a collaboration with another artist or fabrication client: division of labor, authorship, and intellectual property, in addition to payment. 
  • In fabrication, I am paid when the glassblowing is complete, regardless of whether the work sells or not. Work is passed on to the client to do what they want with it. 
  • I get paid up front as a fabricator but not (yet) as an artist. 
  • In fabrication I ask for a sketch to make sure I understand what’s in their head. 
  • When you start getting into big projects it’s important to communicate. 
  • Consulting in relation to collaboration/fabrication
  • Consulting gives me access to high paid jobs, and allows access to Silicon valley. 
  • Consulting with professionals gives me experience for my resume so I can make more money. 
  • Make different resumes for different opportunities
  • For consulting you need to know yourself, your capabilities and what you’ll charge for it, and what the other person is looking for out of the consultation. 
  • Sometimes clients don’t necessarily know the limits of the material and production limitations to ask the right questions in a consultation. 
  • It was humbling finding out about what my shortcomings were while doing commission work. 
  • Free half hour for consulting, charge a rate for additional time.
  • Two different resumes needed – one for Consulting and for Art Activities
  • Show your artwork off a little more, and maybe the engineers will respect it more once they see what you can do. 
  • I hide my fabrication work with a hidden link on my art website
  • Outside work $70 to $110/hr, includes private lessons, $40 to $64/hr in house fabrication.
  • Most preliminary consultations are complimentary — charge hourly to do the work
  • Client asked me to sign an NDA before telling me anything about the project
  • Being conscious of paying people for their time
  • “I was wondering that too. It can also highlight disparities, when someone holds more knowledge and power, and uses the “exchange of knowledge” as payment that might not suffice for someone’s years of experience or skill level etc. Without focusing too much on the negatives, I have heard of a lot of “collaborative” experiences leaving one party disappointed. My other note on this is getting to a point where you are personally financially stable enough to hire people, while growing yourself”
  • “I ask for CAD renderings”
  • In the hiring vs collaborating distinction, there is also consulting which can be something a little different from both.
↳ Examples of collaboration
How do you negotiate a collaboration? Is it freeform? Do you have a contract? Is it like a duet? Are you making a body of work?
  • I haven’t made an object in collaboration, for me it’s mostly performance, or music, it’s often freeform and I have the ownership. 
  • Connected on IG after following each other’s work and then collaborated IRL
  • I send my collaborator parts and they get worked into larger pieces, we split it 50/50. 
  • Negotiate the price split up front, be sure to advocate for yourself regarding what your time and skills are worth. 
  • In pipes, it is generally understood that it’s a 50/50 split. 
  • Find out how much your prep is worth and make sure you get that – you can price out your prep individually and maybe your collaborator will need to up their price to accommodate that, which is a good thing for you both. 
  • Is skill level a factor in collaboration?
  • Commission split according to who had more IG followers, value of social media audience is considered. Value of marketing is factored in. 
  • Using creative commons and open source licenses for negotiating collaboration. 
  • I use creative commons licensing to make open source tools designs for the resource exchange. 
  • “I think about how you brand yourself, and also if people know your situation.”
  • “As a personal example, I hired a filmmaker to film and edit a video for me. It was a collaborative process, and I give her credit when I share it/show the film. But I consider that I have overall creative control and ownership of the work. (As just one example)”
  • “Collabricator (TM)”
  • “A friend of mine traveled to, and collaborated with a new friend, to then be told they would only receive 30/70 when the piece sold due to their lack of skill. Just wondering how we can avoid these sorts of situations “
  • “Do the $ negotiation up front and over email so you have a paper trail.”
  • “Contracts protect both parties, if it’s a big project don’t be afraid to make a contract. It can be simple. “
  • “Beginners can be more subject to this kind of unfair treatment when things are not as upfront“
  • “Maybe not specific to just glass, but there are mechanisms like “Creative Commons” or “Open Source” licenses where one can release something that is implicitly intended for collaboration. This might be something tangential to what we’re talking about, but I feel like it could be an interesting model for modes of negotiating collaboration… especially when you’re dealing with a form of knowledge.”
  • “It should be 50/50 because a lot of it has to do with the “name”
How do collaborations start? If there’s someone you’re interested in collaborating with, how do you approach them?
  • Mostly I just hit up my friends because approaching strangers on the internet is scary. 
  • I try to get to know the person I want to collaborate with to get into the other person’s head in order to come up with something weird. 
  • I like to seek out artists doing something completely different from me and find common ground. 
  • What platforms do you use for collaboration? Have you ever met/not met someone you’ve collaborated with?
  • “Anyone feel free to contact me to collaborate… also looking for mentorship.”
  • “Someone to collaborate on making graphite molds!”
  • “I want to see more flameworkers collaborating with institutions.”

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Last updated: 3/28/22

Flame Affinity Group Meeting Notes: The Changing Landscape of Flameworking

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive

GEEX Flame Affinity Group
The Changing Landscape of Flameworking
Dec 16, 2021 7pm EST
Facilitated by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith

Notes compiled by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith.
Entries in quotes are copied directly from the chat. 
Each bullet point represents a comment by a participant. 
Italic headings indicate off-topic conversation threads.

What are some of the areas of specialty that make up the landscape of contemporary flameworking? How do you identify in the field of flameworking? What’s your identity when you’re in the field, and when you’re looking out?
  • “Within the glass community, I identify as a flameworker with specialties in beads and sculpture/fabrication. In the greater arts community, I identify as an artist and represent glassworking in general.”
  • Overlapping identities of performance art, interactive artwork, wearables/jewelry, teacher, ambassador/advocate for flameworking.
  • I self-identify as a flameworker with other flameworkers, but hesitate in outward facing situations to avoid being pigeonholed.
  • I use the term “glassmaker” instead of “pipemaker.” Hesitate to identify as a pipe maker. In the general art world, “flameworker” or “pipemaker” language is not fully understood by the general public.
  • Never identified as a flameworker or beadmaker – “I work in glass” or glassworker. Did not feel comfortable identifying as a beadmaker because of hierarchy when first started. “Pipemaker” can be considered taboo.
  • Try not to identify myself, or even say “glass”. Categories can get in the way of things.
  • Self-identity as Glass Specialist in tech industry, title/specialty matters for negotiating salary. Downplay your specialty as an artist.
  • I identify as an Artist and Designer first, fluctuates depending on project, neon is a micro-niche that is a process driven aspect of flameworking
  • Self-labeled “Glass artist” on instagram, but identify as a flameworker. Can be an unfair stigma against flameworkers from other people in the glass community, who want to avoid “tiny glassblowing” implications. 
  • In the jewelry community, I self-identify as a beadmaker, because it links to the traditions of beadmaking, and honors those who came before.
  • I make a point to identify as a pipemaker. Struggle in the pipeworld to be perceived as female and be identified as a pipemaker at all.
  • There is a lot of exciting potential for flameworking in education, re: realities of energy use and climate change, flameworking lends itself beautifully to that. 
  • A bit of a disconnect in academia – still a bit of a stigma re: pipemaking, although that is breaking down.
  • Regarding not fitting in – in the scientific community, [I feel] too artistic and in the art community [I feel] too technical. But that does not matter to me.
  • There are deep specialties for some of us, lack of being categorized for some of us, for some, overlapping categories.
  • “I’m not a flameworker, I’m an artist who takes advantage of flameworking.” Helps the viewer keep an open mind for what the work needs to be. 
  • “I think I will be happy to be called as a flameworker and an educator who is exploring the boundary of the field. I often fuse 3D rendering & flameworking, screen printing & flameworking, etc. However I am in huge love with the technique, I would say I am a flameworker rather than a sculptor.”
  • “Representation matters!”
  • “As someone who lives in the middle of nowhere, who is completely removed from the glass culture, all of this info of this faction-ing is so interesting.”
↳ Identification through Materials/Technique
  • Specialization in fabrication is helpful for client confidence.
  • Soft glass is ancient, but borosilicate and quartz are new glasses. Listing material as “Borosilicate” instead of glass in artwork can be indicative of a contemporary material and process. Being specific about materials might be a good thing.
  • Listing borosilicate as a material helps give information about the process.
  • In the 70s it was all glassblowing. The term lampworking didn’t come in until the 70s/80s.
  • When you read old materials, you’ll see glassblowing — not lampworking or flameworking. 
  • Is it time to update some of the terminology we use?
  • Sometimes being really specific regarding identity markers can form cliques or ingroups and that may be something to avoid. Reluctant to pick specifics as identity markers because it can hinder inclusion.
  • Getting comfortable with flameworking has opened up opportunities in the hotshop. Flameworking is a tool, and does not need to be defined as one specific thing.
  • What are some of the earlier terms for this mode of working? Could that language be used today?
↳ The Taboo of Pipes
  • When did pipes become taboo? All of a sudden it was shunned. Pipes have always been part of the American lifestyle. I shouldn’t be a separate thing.
  • Maybe from DARE and the war on drugs in the 80s? Before that?
  • American Pipe history – in the 70s or maybe late 60s and when people first started selling pipes in record stores and head shops, the trade shows where this stuff was sold was closely connected to the porn industry. Wholesale events would be together, so pipes became associated with porn, so maybe that’s how “Pipes are bad” attitudes started.
  • American Glass Expo (pipe trade show) used to always be scheduled after the porn convention in Las Vegas. (in contemporary times)
  • In 1970, Sally’s teacher Lloyd was selling fumed pipes at craft shows. Police said he couldn’t sell hookahs but he continued selling pipes.
How can we define ourselves collectively in the field? How do we define contemporary flameworking today? How is it different from the past? What is and what is not contemporary lampworking?
  • One aspect of contemporary lampworking is that there is a lot of collaboration happening, maybe now more than ever. Portability, enabling traveling with equipment
  • Contemporary Flameworking could be an inclusive term used to describe anyone working with glass in this way, any of the subgroups, and including artists/designers who do not identify as flameworkers but use flameworking as a technique in their work.
  • Anything made with a torch should be considered flameworking, even in the hotshop.
  • Contemporary flameworking is more concept driven.
  • Flameworking vs. lampworking? Use them interchangeably? Flamer, torchworker.
  • I use the term Lampworking when talking about history because that was the term used.
  • Titles – just get rid of them all.
  • West coast people say flameworking, east coast people say lampworking.
  • Scale of heat- is that a defining criteria for “flameworking” vs. melting glass stringers with heat from a candle, for example?
  • “I think the contemporary flameworking is more concept-driven.”
  • “I think if you use a torch to manipulate glass in any part of creating a work, that work is tied to contemporary flameworking.”
  • “Flameworking” is a really new term. I tend to use “lampworking” for historical torchwork”
  • “I like lampworking bc it’s older, but got tired of “oh, so you make lamps?”
  • “I usually call it flameworking or torch work and use lampworking as a reference towards the historical roots or the process”
  • “Pipe is for transport/moving material or media… it’s historical”
↳ Color in Flameworking
  • Flameworked glass is a lot more colorful these days because of expansion in the borosilicate color palette. (In the 80s, with a limited palette available, artists mixed their own colors.)
  • “We had blue and uranium green, and everything else we mixed ourselves.” You can fume with red iron oxide. It’s amazing the color that is out there now. Learning curve with the new colors. Sue Ellen Fowler and Paul Trautman were pioneers in making borosilicate color.
  • Because of its immediacy, there is a playfulness to flameworking that is not experienced in other glassworking practices. (Re: mixing colors, trying different glasses, understanding and observing properties of materials in real time.)
  • Past volumes of New Glass Review & “academic glass” – often clear. (Not much color)
  • Data points of what glasswork is most likely to get into the New Glass Review (Zac Weinberg’s project) Flameworking, and art made with found glass was among the least likely to get in.
  • Depending on jurors — in a recent year of New Glass Review, there was lots of flameworking and pipes represented. Micah Evans was the juror.
Where do you think the field of flameworking is headed? Do you anticipate advancement in the field? (What constitutes “advancement”?)
  • Advancement could be increased visibility for flameworking. Showing the different aspects and variety of ways of working to break down stereotypes. 
  • More representation of flameworking at conferences & in the world and in the art world. 
  • More exploration of borosilicate as a plastic material by sculptors inside and outside the glass world. With borosilicate it’s possible to revise, rework, edit and repair. 
  • Exploring borosilicate in a mixed media context. 
  • Advancement could be defined as an expansion of technical and/or expressive applications for borosilicate glass. 
  • Scientific glassblowing is responsible for so many advancements, not just in flameworking but in science and technology and affects us all. (fiber optics, screens, etc.) Opens up more possibilities for art. 
  • A foundation in flameworking can be a great starting point for problem solving, where other methods for glassworking might not be applicable, and especially for thinking through micro-scaled work, or laser welding glass.
  • Advancement could be considered as inclusive expansion of flameworking into the developing world. Potential for flameworking to be more accessible to people who would not otherwise have access to glassworking. Hotshop is so expensive, although there is a point of entry through scientific glassworking that could be expanded. 
  • More interdisciplinary work incorporating flameworking with other components. 
  • More flameworking represented in Biennials and international shows.
  • Flameworking being represented as art without needing to call it out as flameworking. 
  • More representation for flameworking so that eventually it might become so familiar that we don’t need labels. 
  • The state of the popularity of pipemaking and flameworking is a common force driving students to institutions, however, then once they get to institutions they are often shut down. Thinking of flameworking as technical can be a way around this, and can be applicable for the interest of the next generation and a way to talk about pipes. Technique and design can be common ground to bring everyone together in institutions. Would be great if pipemaking were more open in institutions (not necessarily being able to make pipe objects, but to have a dialog about technique and design.) Use pipes to engage the creativity of students and challenge design conventions.
  • Pipes are an entry point into glass. Take away the stigma of pipemaking. 
  • TikTok as a point of entry – link to classes, resource exchange for more info. 
  • Often we have to follow the market, but it would be great if the jewelry market were as lucrative as the pipe market. 
  • Increased dialogue between flameworkers. (Something we are doing with Flame Affinity Group)
  • “I would love to see fluidity in flameworking with multimedia, non exclusionary, open, limitless in expression.”
  • “I think a large area that isn’t explored enough is interdisciplinary work. Incorporating flameworked glass components, or flameworking techniques into work, and even combining it with other disciplines and media has a lot of potential that hasn’t really been mapped out yet.”
  • “I see a lot of quartz being used.”
What could future action look like?
  • Create or use a platform to cross-pollinate and collaborate on new ways of working.
Suggested Topics for Future Meetings
  • Deep dive discussion on increasing diversity in all areas.
  • Collaboration – what sorts of platforms do you use? 
  • Accessibility and diversity
  • Pipemaking – import some of the stories, voices, history into the community 
  • How does teaching happen in the community? Competition pipemaking? Learn about some of the innovative structures that pipemakers have come up with as solutions to not having access to institutions. 
  • “I’d be interested to hear from flameworkers who do fabrication work! Maybe this could be tied into Paul’s idea of collaboration, and provide useful pointers/career development for people who haven’t done it before.”
  • “I would love to hear from other artists who have not had access to traditional or non traditional education who have had to learn in isolation, and how to mingle with their peers who exist in different artistic spaces.”
  • “I count that (pipe field) among the diversity that I was talking about. Diversity in terms of experience, background and perspective fit into that.”

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Last updated: 2/8/22

Flame Affinity Group Meeting Notes: Flameworking in Institutions

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive
A group of flameworkers working together on a shared table for a flameworker performance by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith

GEEX Flame Affinity Group
Flameworking in Institutions
Oct 28, 2021 7pm EDT
Facilitated by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith

Notes compiled by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith.
Entries in quotes are copied directly from the chat. 

How did you learn to flamework?
  • Self-taught 
  • Books and magazines
  • Open access workshops locally
  • Hot head torch kit
  • Fabricating for other artists and designers
  • Classes through a high school
  • Apprentice/ work for local glassblower
  • Making beads
  • Learning from being around other flameworkers 
  • Learning from teaching & working collaboratively
  • Student in a university glass program 
  • Resources from the Rakow Library
  • Bartering – production work for studio access/classes
  • Work at studio for access/classes
  • Watching You tube videos
  • The Bead Project
  • Doing production beadworking/flameworking
  • Learned from a pipemaker
  • Flame bench in the garage
  • Saw flameworking demo at RIT in high school
  • Salem Community College – associates degree flameworking
  • Learning on the job – scientific glassblowing
  • Flameworking in the summer during breaks from school
  • Always had instruction
  • Apprentice with scientific glassworker, developed lifelong mentorship relationships
  • Started teaching right away
  • Started in the hotshop
  • Contemporary Lampworking book by Bandu Dunham
  • Glass book by John Burton
  • Made pipes on the side (of furnace work)
  • Bead classes at a non-profit art center
  • Supplementary workshops
  • Production work – “get paid to practice”
  • “Apprenticeship with Bob Snodgrass”
  • “At a local craft center”
Where could flameworking reside within or adjacent to institutional programming?
  • Within a university glass department 
  • Supplementary workshops at open access facilities
  • Apprenticeships and internships with flameworkers
  • Outreach programs
  • Within a jewelry design program
  • In the context of entrepreneurship
  • Within the context of painting/ mixed media 
  • Setting up a torch at home to practice
  • Scientific glassblowing
  • Related to engineering – rapid prototyping and fabrication
  • Professional mentorship 
  • Scientific shop at a university 
  • STEM programming
  • Scientific – lean on the fact that scientific glass working is a viable path (STEM)
  • engineering (R & D, silicon valley, scientific glassblowing)
  • In a Sculpture and Design program
What are some of the challenges encountered regarding teaching/learning flameworking in an institution?
  • No formal flameworking classes
  • Limited or no access to equipment 
  • Facilities – “a torch in the corner” scenario in colleges
  • Flameworking discouraged in institutions (within context of furnace glass)
  • “Impossible” to get into glass classes at university
  • Hard to vet info found on the internet (you tube) for quality
  • Have to come up with funding for classes (grants, scholarships)
  • Available resources have toxic or “bro-ey” overtones 
  • Experiencing queerphobia in community space
  • Distinction between furnace glassworking/ torchworking can lead to hierarchy/division
  • Only had access to soda-lime glass, no borosilicate
  • Hierarchy where one mode of working is pitted against the other
  • Having to spend a lot of time convincing people in institutions of the value and potential of flameworking 
  • Perceived stigma of pipemaking
  • Flameworking is not regarded as a medium that is relevant in contemporary art or contemporary glass (stigma in the glass community and in the art community)
  • “Within larger art contexts, most people don’t know enough about glass to care which processes are used”
  • There isn’t much exposure to high school students (so folx can get a jumpstart on learning handskills)
  • Lack of opportunities available for flameworking – scholarships, grants, open calls for exhibit)
  • Lack of professional development in the arts (re: making money off our artwork/skills)
  • Being an artist is considered taboo, not economically viable
  • “Making money off your skills in art is still considered dirty and it is stunting the growth of our development as artists and the growth of our community.”
  • Opportunities available to Students coming out of glass programs and also their Peers in adjacent programs (ceramics, jewelry) are often low-wage, hard labor jobs often in glorified factory settings, even with an MFA 
  • Attitudes that making marketable work is selling out. 
  • Little to no skills are taught for how to make a functional or sellable object. Students focused on making conceptual work, so do not develop marketable skills and are often not even viable as an assistants in some situations. 
  • Institutions are not set up to support long term access (‘overstaying one’s welcome”)
  • Toxic environments in some of the factories/businesses/institutions exploit and underpay workers.
  • Lack of women in the field
  • Lack of diversity in the field 
  • A lot of these glass programs are in places dense with cultural diversity (cities, and rural locations as well), but this is not reflected in the programs. 
  • Institutions tend to be old school, old boys club and still want things run a certain way (Legacy). But new generation is not feeling those attitudes. 
  • Institutions don’t acknowledge these changes in the (art) world which is gravitating away from physical tangible things. Cryptocurrencies, NFT;s and digital art and changing the conversion, and the glass collector market.
  • GAS is largely white (though they are working on changing this)
  • ASGS used to have the “men’s tour” – glassblowing and the “women’s tour”- shopping
  • Not a lot of institutional resources to do outreach.
  • In university programs – mostly women in classes. In flameworking community college program – only a few women in the classes. 
  • Instructors at universities may not feel comfortable teaching flameworking 
  • Students have to weed through info on online platforms like instagram and you tube to find usable material. (ex: #lampworking on instagram)
  • Some of the opportunities available to students (jobs, etc. ) are known toxic environments.
  • Didymium glass is very expensive (for safety glasses) so not everyone can have safety glasses for large demos. 
  • What can we do to help people have access who don’t know about institutions or think that existing institutions aren’t for them?
  • Should we focus on fixing the institutions as they are or start making something new?
  • Letters of recommendation, professional images of work, and submission and application processes are direct barriers to accessing institutions who do not have the resources.
  • Gatekeeping in the education system – our job as educators is to teach people skills they can use, not to decide who gets to learn.
Quotes from the Chat: Challenges teaching/learning flameworking in an institution
  • “A big challenge that I see in accessing flameworking in institutions is having issues in accessing the institutions.”
  • “Not necessarily a challenge, but a lot of students want to learn pipemaking. I see why it’s taboo, but learning pipemaking only expands knowledge on vessel making in general”
  • “Lack of access to resources is a massive issue in UK. There is little opportunity to learn even as a vocational course in this country. The postgraduate programme i’m on has no full time tutors who use torches”
  • “the prejudice that hot glass workers have against flameworking carries over in institutions, in my experience I was the only person in my glass program with any significant flame working experience. I once had a professor tell me to stoop flameworking and focus on hot glass.”
  • “Money is a very important topic! What to do after school is a conversation that I did not hear enough about while I was in school. “
  • Business practices for flameworkers! 
  • “Entrepreneurship on how to create a glass business needs to be a class and how to professionally market yourself for high paying jobs in glass as well”
  • “general business classes are not always very helpful to students looking to start their own glass/art business”
  • “The problem is can school find real successful entrepreneurs, you need to know marketing, product design and etc. The class would almost have to bring in a different teacher every other week or something”
  • “Some university programs strongly discourage students making production while in school “
  • “Try not to limit yourself” is a great saying, but there are people out there who have real limits. Like being able to sustain a practice is a real limit that people have to consider, which is where I think a lot of these production/business questions are getting at.”
  • “And it is a shame that the sort of diversity outreach work we need falls on the shoulders of BIPOC most times”
  • “I think a lot of it comes down to a lack of exposure into these communities. So many people just simply don’t know about flameworking”
  • ““Letters of recommendation” are probably one of the biggest barriers to entry”
  • “The most difficult part of flameworking to improvise (that I’ve run into) is the safety part. I haven’t found a good alternative to the didi glasses to protect from sodium flare.”
How do we address the challenges?
  • Making new online spaces from the ground up which are inclusive and supportive (ex: facebook groups)
  • “I end up teaching my fellow undergrads how to work with the torch”
  • Insist on bringing torches and flameworking bench into the hotshop
  • Lead by example by flameworking in the hotshop and cross-pollinating
  • Consider all modes of glass working (flameworking, furnacework, etc. ) to be equal and valid. 
  • Getting more recognition and visibility within institutions
  • Being an advocate for the value and potential of flameworking in institutions 
  • Exposure to younger people could be beneficial to the community as a whole – high school and younger, also so the time they enter college program, they have some skills to build on
  • Educate the community on how to make a living with flameworking (jobs in the sciences – scientific glassblowing, R & D, tech, etc, and also entrepreneurship (pipemaking, etc. )
  • Create more opportunities for scholarships, open calls for exhibitions, and classes offered for glass and flameworking
  • Bring back apprenticeships
  • Bring in post docs, MFA all together in one class to encourage cross-pollination between the arts and sciences.
  • Create classes with more diversity to encourage cross-pollination (sciences, arts, engineering, etc. ) 
  • More university and institutional programming for flameworking (open access) 
  • Try to collaborate with Scientific glassblowers in institutions.
  • Coming together to discuss inequities and challenges instead of dealing with it individually
  • Pooling our resources
  • Find a community college near you or be willing to travel to a community college for access/instruction
  • Educate students about viable and lucrative career paths in engineering, R&D, scientific glassblowing
  • Reach out to companies (silicon valley, engineering, etc. ) to create opportunities to gain experience/training  for students while still in school through collaborative programming (internships, jobs, apprenticeship, professional mentorship)
  • Schools – improve marketing for professional opportunities in glass (engineering, etc.)
  • Schools could collaborate with tech companies, production companies to create opportunities for students
  • Prep students for professional interviews so they can get professional glass jobs in tech/engineering
  • Lead by example – Hire somebody and pay them well (so they can go out and do the same thing)
  • Open up more discussion about professional development in schools
  • Normalize being an artist who supports themselves with their art.
  • Normalize production work and fabrication as a viable way to sustain an income in the arts
  • Teach students more marketable skills – project management, handskills, teamwork, professional communication, budgeting)
  • Teach students to become self employed to support themselves (and  normalize supplementing self-employment  with other work)
  • Teach people to set up an independent torch setup (low cost/overhead)
  • Use the internet to connect with a market – the internet is vast! Harness the power of social media to connect with an audience.
  • Create diversity outreach programs to connect POC in local communities. – you can make a career in glass. 
  • Bring more FREE opportunities for women and BIPOC folx
  • Get a group of artists engineers, makers, together and start showing some other models for what glassworking looks like – maybe online platforms like tic tok
  • Create new models and collaborations that contextualize glass in the context of cryptocurrencies, digital art, NFT’s – 
  • address the changes that are really effecting the next generation and acknowledge a movement away from tangible/physical objects.
  • Create new spaces for the new generation – both digital and physical institutions. 
  • Develop a “Kahn Academy of Glassworking”, instructional videos, maybe use a Patreon page to fund it. 
  • Create programming with business programming geared towards creatives. (ex: program in Boston where students 12-14 yr. had business class in morning, alternated between flame and furnace work in pm and had a gallery to sell work in as part of the program.)
  • Continue building the community when we start to pull people in (through outreach programs, etc. )
  • Make resources available to teachers to make it easier for people to teach flameworking. 
  • Showing examples of artists work to show many different ways to flamework – maybe in an open source online gallery scenario that could be searchable.
  • What is the most basic (inexpensive and simple) systems that can be set up for flameworking and what can be done with that? (Ex. stringers and an alcohol candle, hothead torch, etc. – creativity comes from limitations)
  • Provide longevity within institutions to support glassmakers. (who do not have access to resources)
  • Vet opportunities for students that are safe and not toxic work environments. 
  • Get a diddyclip or didymium filter for your camera and a television and present the demos for the public on a screen so that everyone can safely watch. 
  • Compiling high quality educational videos that are vetted for teaching.
  • Put videos out of instructional demos (even in the context of a business, or product making) – process videos will help your business.
  • Do away with letters of recommendation – direct barrier for scholarships, access to institutions for POC
  • Rethink application and submission processes for accessing institutions to remove the barriers for POC – maybe set up a table in the community and register people at in person events. POC might not have extra time/leisure time so meet people where they feel comfortable – make it easy and remove the barriers for entry. 
  • Build a new system that’s not based off the western (white, privileged) way of doing things from the ground up.
  • “Could GEEX be a viable platform to experiment with making new systems?”
  • “Have your Art Dept. come to your glassblowing area to try things out. “
  • “I think schools that teach glass processes have a responsibility to introduce flameworking as it is the most accesible way to continue glassworking after students graduate and keep their hands on glass”
  • “The glass world needs to lean more into science and engineering”
  • “A new age glass center might be a good idea to create, these older school center are stuck in their ways.”
  • “I think a place like Salem and other organizations could create a youtube channel together”
  • “I like the idea of creating something new. I also feel like the existing institutions have a lot of baggage to overcome and wonder if it would actually be easier to start something new rather than fix what’s there.”
  • “Maybe every few weeks someone create some piece of art and science and Salem post to there youtube”
  • “more women in the field”
  • “I was hoping to create a direct alternative to Torch Talk on Facebook with the Rainbow Flameworkers Coalition. I am afraid of retaliation from them if I name it as a direct foil to that group”
  • “More resources for BIPOC flameworkers, or environments for diverse flameworkers
  • more cross-pollination across disciplines”
  • “How can we create, offer, and expand on free classes for interested students?”
  • “online and in person classes, workshop, pop up store event and exhibition “
  • “There’s a part of me that thinks one of the basic steps of getting the field more diverse is to get more people started in that field. And I think a part of that is to figure out how to get more people started with the bare minimum about of startup costs.”
  • “People of color need to see that it’s possible to make money off of glass”
  • “What about creating a mobile studio and going to underserved areas and doing demos?
  • The other question is, how can we provide free lessons in glass, while still paying the teacher for their work and experience”
  • “visiting predominantly BIPOC highschools in the area?”
  • “You could take a few students and host a workshop at several different BIPOC highschools
  • This is something that would benefit Tyler School to do too! we’re around so many schools k-12 yet seldom visit the shop”
  • “The bare minimum to get started that I found is getting a MAPP gas torch, some stainless steel welding rods, some clay for bead release, and a crock pot full of vermiculite for an annealer. (And some glass, of course)”
  • “And when privileged white folks are the ones reaching out it doesn’t always give the right impression”
  • “mutual aid”
What are some of the resources currently available for learning/teaching flameworking?
  • YouTube videos (playlists, vetted)
  • Workshops at local open access glass facilities
  • Books and magazines
  • Facebook groups 
  • Resource Exchange (GEEX) – open source resource lists
  • Open access programming (Pilchuck, Penland, Pittsburgh Glass Center, etc. )
  • Community College (for cheap access) (Salem Community College)
  • TikTok
  • GEEX Affinity Group
  • Outreach programs like The Bead Project, Glass Roots
  • Community college is FREE in NJ for anyone with Gross Adjusted Income of less than 65K/yr 
  • Supply lists for setting up a basic teaching studio and a solo flameworking setup.
  • A collection of videos showing what flameworking looks like in different parts of  the world.
  • Playlist of Lectures (historical, contextual)
  • https://libguides.cmog.org/flameworking
  • Playlist of youtube videos circulation in pipemaking community (420 videos)
  • https://youtube.com/c/revereglass
  • https://artist.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=9239
  • “I took business of art classes at NYFA and at my local arts council. Check out resources in your area. They covered everything from marketing, websites, taxes, law issues, etc. (look beyond glass)”
  • “torch talk FB group although the culture is moderately toxic” 
  • “GAS was my first venture out into the world of glass beyond Southern California”
  • “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Residency – Corning …https://www.cmog.org 
  • “michigan glass project seems to be doing something right”
  • “PGC offers many opportunities to the glass & non glass community. “
  • “I put my demos on blackboard for the University of Ma. YouTube for the University of Vermont”
  • “I always recommend a hothead torch and beadmaking kit when people are really interested. Could even hand these out”
  • “Love the online gallery idea – great for new students, but also to help the public understand the potential of flameworking”
  • https://www.didyclips.com/product/didyclip “Or You can make one with a lens from some broken glasses”, “also Aura lenses makes a similar product, also one that screws over a DSLR camera”
What Resources would be helpful for learning/teaching flameworking?
  • Make more inclusive and supportive community spaces
  • High quality vetted videos for teaching (especially beginner)
  • Develop a “Kahn Academy of Glassworking”, instructional videos, maybe use a Patreon page to fund it. 
  • Showing examples of artists work to show many different ways to flamework – maybe in an open source online gallery scenario that could be searchable.
  • “Access to maintained torches and equipment better designed for torchworking (Kilns, tools, ect) with my current school specifically.”
  • “residencies & idea furnace opportunities for non glass artists. “
  • A collection of resources, videos about flameworking. Flameworking demos.
  • More videos for absolute beginners – ex. Turning the torch on for the first time
  • A list of technical exercises for beginners to practice on the torch 
  • “More resources for BIPOC flameworkers, or environments for diverse flameworkers”
  • “How can we create, offer, and expand on free classes for interested students?”

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Last updated: 8/25/22

Portable Polariscope

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive

“This is a design for a portable polariscope. A polariscope is a useful tool for viewing stress in transparent materials such as glass or plastic. Using either linear or circular polarization, stress in glass is visible through the polariscope viewfinder.  It is a useful teaching tool for understanding the properties of glass or plastics, and a necessity in the glassblowing studio to aid in the fabrication, quality control and troubleshooting of glass work.”

Image of an illuminated portable polariscope. The 3D printed object features a portable flashlight that reflects onto two screens in parallel with each other.

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Resource submitted by Amy Lemaire

ASGS (American Scientific Glassblowers Society) Midwest Section Video Library

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive

“After substantial conversation and review the Midwest Board has decided to open up our video library to the general public. Please take a look at our Midwest page on the ASGS site which has been updated to include a video library. This will be the starting place for you to find all videos available through the Midwest Section. You can also go directly to our YouTube channel to see thumbnails and titles. If you subscribe to the channel and click on notifications you will be sent a notice when the next new video is available.”

Screenshot of ASGS (american scientific glassblowers society) Midwest Section YouTube page

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Resource submitted by Erich Moraine

Tools and Equipment for Setting Up a Flameworking Studio

by geexadminin Glass Resource Exchange Archive

These lists are meant to encourage institutions to set up flameworking equipment and support co-learners in autodidactic explorations of flameworking. The intention is to provide suggestions for basic flameworking equipment and provide resources for purchasing supplies in different regions of the country, and not to endorse any particular supplier. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather a starting point for building a flameworking studio or workstation.

LINK TO RESOURCE

Resource submitted by Amy Lemaire and Madeline Rile Smith