I'm so excited, last week I set up an Etsy shop, SpaffordGlassWorks, for my husband Robbie's borosillicate glass pendants. As of this morning, he's already had his first sale!
Robbie and I started lampworking at the same time, but since he had a full time job to support our family, I was the one who had more time to devote to learning, making and building my business. Now that I am doing glass full time and he no longer works he has time to work on his art! I'm really happy about this because it has been our dream since we started to both do glass full time.
People often ask how I first started making glass beads. It really all started with a bathrobe. Our first Christmas on our own together Robbie came home with a package for me and put it under the tree. He was so cute and excited that he had been able to afford to get me a present. He put it under the tree and said honey, I got you a present, guess what it is. I didn't really want to guess because I wanted to save the surprise for Christmas so I said, "well as long as it's not a bathrobe, I'm sure I'll love it" At the time a bathrobe seemed like the most unexciting and boring present. Well....his face dropped and he was sad because it WAS a bathrobe. He had thought I would be really happy about it. Ooops! So he went out, returned it, and got me my first torch.
He knew I wanted to make my own glass beads and he did too. The year after I graduated from highschool they started teaching lampworking and jewelry making. I was pretty jealous, but knew I could just do it on my own. At the same time many of our friends were trying lampworking in little sheds and garages throughout town. There was even someone who had a lampworking set up in his van.
Our first torch was one of those little torches that they sell at hardware stores with tiny disposable tanks. We set it up outside in the entry way of our apartment, and our first beads were born! The tiny tanks didn't last very long, we could only make a few beads before they ran out, but we were hooked.
Very soon after we borrowed a welding torch from a friend that came with much bigger tanks. My step dad, Gary helped us set it up and even cleaned up his garage for our first studio. We took over his garage for several years until we had our own home (thanks to Habitat for Humanity!) and built our own studio. THANKS GARY!!!!!
At first we learned from a book, Making Glass Beads, by Cindy Jenkins. At the time there weren't very many books available about lampwork bead making. It was over a year before I took my first lampworking class from Andrea Guarino in her shop in downtown Port Townsend, where I lived. I was pretty lucky to live in the same town as Andrea and Michael Barley, who I also took workshops from later.
It's pretty amazing thinking about how much lampworking has grown since we started. Now their are many many books, tutorials, classes, tools, and glasses. I'm SO VERY grateful for everything and everyone that have helped us get where we are today!
