Perfecting your Craft is today’s topic on Flaming Hot!  I have to say that when I first started flameworking, techniques came super easy to me.  I was like a fish in water.  It took a few years before I had to practice, practice, practice a technique.  Practice to me was making a bead with a new technique two times…the second time was usually golden. 

My roadblock was when I took a class with Loren Stump during my second year of flameworking.  I totally could nail creating jewelry sized beads and focals…however, when Loren opened the larger world of glass, beyond beads, I was a like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.  One of my favorite chants during class was “it is about learning the process, not about the product”! 

Everything I created in class was really stinky!  I was obstinate and had to do everything on my own…….to Loren’s chagrin….I would not allow him near my work.  I needed to go through the motions myself and make my own mistakes and at the same time learn the process of each technique. And, always, for some reason, I would end up choosing the most challenging subject matter for each technique. 

Why?

Well, most times I found out that what I chose was the hardest after I started working on it.  For example, paperweight roses are one of the hardest paperweight style flowers to create and roses happen to be my favorite flower so, of course, I had to create a rose paperweight. 

The “samples” that I made in class became reference models in my own studio.  They were all far from stellar but the techniques/processes were in each piece for me to refer to. 

Quite a while after Loren I…probably 3+ months…I decided I was bored and needed to be challenged so I went back to the paperweight style rose and created a rose pendant.  I created tons and tons of them before I had one even worth showing to my peeps.  I was frustrated and at the same time determined to get each step in the creation process perfected.  I practiced and practiced and practiced, and practiced some more. First, the rose itself. Then hand encasing the rose in clear.  Adding a loop.  Working off mandrel was a challenge in itself.  To this day I am still challenged by my rose paperweight style pendants.  I have only a 50% rate of success but it doesn’t matter…somedays I just need to create a beautiful rose.
Here is a picture of my first rose paperweight style pendant:

From Webster’s Online Dictionary: Main Entry:

¹per·fect 

Pronunciation:

\ˈpər-fikt\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Middle English parfit, from Anglo-French, from Latin perfectus, from past participle of perficere to carry out, perfect, from per- thoroughly + facere to make, do — more at do

Date:

14th century

1 a: being entirely without fault or defect : flawless <a perfect diamond> b: satisfying all requirements : accurate c: corresponding to an ideal standard or abstract concept <a perfect gentleman> d: faithfully reproducing the original; specifically : letter-perfect e: legally valid2: expert, proficient <practice makes perfect>3 a: pure, total b: lacking in no essential detail : complete cobsolete : sane d: absolute, unequivocal <enjoys perfect happiness> e: of an extreme kind : unmitigated <a perfect brat> <an act of perfect foolishness>4obsolete : mature5: of, relating to, or constituting a verb form or verbal that expresses an action or state completed at the time of speaking or at a time spoken of6obsolete a: certain, sure b: contented, satisfied

Perfect

Function:

transitive verb

Date:

14th century

1 : to bring to final form 2 : to make perfect : improve, refine