Lampwork Beads

Very recently I lit up my Bobcat Torch,.and tried to calculate how long it has been since I was last at the torch. It felt like a while and I guessed it would be about 10 or 11 months,.. but to my horror when I checked the date of the last beads I made, I discovered it was actually 20 months!!! .
Where did that time go? How could it have been so long? I know I have been busy as usual but gees,.. I feel ripped off,… like 10months has been stolen from me or something.

Anyway,.. so I continue my beadmaking journey 20months later *snif*…… The first session back at the torch after such a break left me thinking OMG,.. I have to re-learn everything,.. I couldn’t even get a round bead whaaahaahaha. I left the torch feeling like,..hmmm it’s not like learning to ride a bike then,..I had forgotten how to feel the molten glass and get the right balance of glass on the mandrel, the implosion bead was like an imploded implosion with carbon scum inclusions because I forgot how to adjust the gas and oxygen to get a neutral flame,.. why I even thought I could do an implosion bead in the first 5 mins back at the torch when I couldn’t do them well before is anyone’s guess phrrrt!,..so all in all, it was disastrous and I was a little disheartened after that session. I think I suffered a case of overconfidence and underskill,. probably due to the excitment and fear,.. followed by relief of actually lighting the torch again without blowing the studio up.

Here is the result of that first session back at the torch. Don’t laugh….oh alright..you can laugh,..I did.