Make your own glass art - I did!

I recently completed another one of my new year’s resolutions: I was an artist for about a half hour thanks to the Make Your Own glass program at the Banana Factory with instructor Beth Ann Ballek.

With a degree in fine arts and nine years experience in glass art, Beth certainly knew what she was doing and was very approachable. But I was still nervous because 1) I’m no artist and 2) there were three other people there – for some reason I thought this would be a solo venture.

Beth started by demonstrating everything that we would be doing to make our flowers. Then she said whoever’s birthday was closer to her's would go first. That was me, but I get stage fright when I’m not confident in my ability to do something, so I elected to go second.

Instead of me trying to explain the entire process and butchering the terminology, I found this YouTube video to show you the process instead. The main difference between my experience and this video is that while Beth was there to help me make the prettiest $30 glass flower the world has ever seen, I had more hands-on experience.

Here's another video that gives you a closer view of the actual pulling of the glass to create the flower. Again, I had assistance from Beth in doing this, but you get the idea.

This was a very positive experience for me, but I'm still no artist. So while I may go back to the Banana Factory as an observer, I don't foresee another class in my future. But at least I can say I did it once!

 

Comments

[Tracey]

Jenny - your flower IS beautiful. You should be very proud. Beth Ann is a great teacher and a talented artist. I've always wanted to buy one of her glass flowers at Monsoon Gallery down the street from Banana Factory. I think you were lucky to work with her. Now you need to go back and make a paper weight! I have a birthday coming up in April...

[Jenny]

Tracey - I think I remember you saying YOU wanted to try your hand at glassmaking (wink wink). I bet a paperweight made by your own 2 hands would be much more meaningful than something I could ever do (wink wink). But I'll go with you if you want (wink wi... ow, my eye).