So what does this have to do with glass, you ask? I'm glad you asked!
I had been trying to think of a name for my glass bead business. All the names that came to mind sounded lame, stupid, too quirky, whatever. "Dot Hog Beads!" Sure, but what if I want to do things other than dots? "Beads of Glass!" There is already a book by this name. Er, "Happy Beads!" Nah.
In November of 2008 I took my first beadmaking class at Tiffany House -- I have always loved glass and glass blowers and dreamed of working with it one day, and when I discovered you could make glass art beads on a small torch, I just had to learn.
After my first class I was the proud owner of seven rods of glass and ten mandrels:
That was it. I could hold my entire inventory in one hand. I brought it home wrapped in butcher paper, and dutifully carried it back and forth from home to Tiffany House where I rented studio time.
After awhile I needed to carry the glass in a small box. I had bought several more rods of glass and was acquiring a number of stringers.
Within six months I was lugging two large boxes of glass rods, silver foil, silver wire, frit, you name it, up the steep stairs of Tiffany House's studio.
In October 2009 I was standing in my glass studio, eyeing the immense amounts of glass (estimate: 200+ lbs), the thousands of dollars worth of equipment and hookups, the accessories and the extras, the tools and the everything, and I was reminded of the day when seven rods of glass and ten mandrels were more than I could imagine using.
Since I'm a hopeless geek, the whole process of mitosis came to mind: from seven rods and ten mandrels, to what I have now.
Does my glass replicate when I'm not looking?? Somehow this hobby has exploded on me!
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