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Year in Review 2012

Infinity Glass PendantI made this page at the end of 2013, so this is really a retrospective. My computer crashed in 2012, and I lost a lot of photos. But I didn't do a lot of glasswork in 2012 anyway, my obsession that entire year was rocks, opals, and making cabochons. I sold/traded a lot of pieces before I ever took good photos of them also, to feed my rock hoarding obsession. So what you see here may not have been my best for the year, but are a great cross section of the types of designs I was working on.Pendant Frog

I made very few sculptures in 2012, mostly pendants, glass cabochons, and marbles. So here's a large cross section of each type I worked on as representative of the patterns I did, separated by types. I had a lot of fun putting the images together, it gave me a good idea of my glass progression and technical skills.

Frog 2Here's the only 2 sculptures I did in 2012, which was for trade to some wonderful rock people, who traded me special and treasured rocks for these. I hope they still love them, I still love looking at photos of them.

 

 

 

And Newts (can you tell I like blue?)

Glass Newt
Glass Newt 2

I had several special focuses this year. "Phases" I went though. Honeycombs were one of them, and I tried them in muliple forms. Often, when I go through a phase, I make some incredible pieces... then promptly forget how I accomplished it later. This series was one of those... I still can't do it again, but wow... I love how they came out. These remind me of some of Georgia O'Keefe's flowers. That's flattering myself, since Georgia O'Keefe's work is legendary... but I think in a few of these, I caught a small spark of inspiration from her.

The "Blue Honey' set

Blue Honey Set

Blue Honey Pendant 1
Blue Honey Pendant 2
Blue Honey Pendant 3

Another theme I worked on was trying to perfect a design I knocked out of the park last year, that became my 'signature' piece. It was another of those 'inspired' pieces that while I could come close, I could never duplicate again. Still, these came out lovely, and I'm pleased with them.

Blue Tidal Pool

Blue Tidal Pool 1
Blue Tidal Pool 2
Blue Tidal Pool 3

Now these are some soft glass beads I made back in 2009 where I was testing some Trautman soft silver glass I received as a prize at the Gathering in Miami. I don't often make things in soft glass, as I prefer borosilicate texture, but since I only took these photos in 2012, I thought I should show them here, because I'm quite proud of how they turned out, and I regularly wear both of them.

The one on the left is called 'Aliens'. The bead on the right is called Magnolias.

Aliens Glass Bead
Magnolias Glass Bead

 

Then I worked on some shapes. Not very many, but here are some hearts.

Heart Glass Pendant
Heart Glass Pendant 2
Heart Glass Pendant 3

 

Heart CabMorris CabBecause of my rock obsession, I started making glass pendants also. These are designed for other crafters to bead or mount in metal work, or to wire wrap, something else I learned to do this year. If you look at my 2013 Collaboration with Steve Ferenz, I wanted to show just how lovely mixed media projects could be. I love how those turned out!!

Here are 2 examples of cabs I made:

And then, I did some experimentation with different shapes. In the piece on the left, I incorporated a real opal (not a synthetic) in Epoxy. I wanted to bring my stone/opal obsession into my glasswork, and I made several pieces (sold) like this. A whole lot of work, but they turned out really well. I may explore that again.

Glass with Opal

water dropQuestion Mark Glass PendantI revisited my 'water drops' series from 2009... and as with so many of my other inspirations... I simply could not duplicate my precise method again. It's a strange thing how I can get so inspired to make something incredible, and then, I can't remember exactly how I did it. 2012 was just one of those years where revisiting everything I previously tried simply did not turn out as well. And this is an example. It's good, but not great. And here's a quotation mark or a question mark, depending on how you view it, that sums up my feeling about that.

 

 

 

 

The below are representative of the rest of my year. New marble style experiments, where I got better and better at working with silvered glass implosions... and pendants... lots and lots and lots of pendants! Thank you for visiting my page!!

Helen Starkweather
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Silver Glass Marbles

     
 

Silvered Marble 1

 

Silvered Marble 2

 

Silvered Marble 3

 
 

Coral Marble

 

Coral Marble

 

Coral Marble

 
     

Other Marbles

     
 

Implosion Marble

 

Vortex Marble

 

Old Fashioned Shooter Marble

 
 

Implosion Marble

 

Vortex Marble

 

Old Fashioned Shooter Marble

 
     

Pendants (Lots)

     
 
Glass Pendant 1
 
Glass Pendant 2
 
Glass Pendant 3
 
 

Silvered Glass Implosions

 

Silvered Glass Implosions 2

 

Silvered Glass Implosions 3

 
 
Flower Pendant 1
 
Flower Pendant 2
 
Flower Pendant 3
 
             
 

Bubble Pendant

 

Galaxy Pendant

 

New Mushroom Pendant

 
 

Abstract Pendant

 

Black Hole Pendant

 

Baby Mushroom Pendant

 
 
Flower Pendant
 
Red Flower Pendant
 
Blue Flower Pendant
 
 

Mardi Gras Pendant

 

Red Flower Pendant

 

Blue Flower Pendant

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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