Good Monday morning everyone! First off let me announce the winner of the About Art Accents rubber stamp giveaway….(drum roll please)… #78 Anne from France
Congrats Anne! Well that was the highlight of my morning. I received quite a scolding (3 comments worth of scolding) from a youtube viewer on my video Lindsay’s First Lampwork Beads I love it when someone says “I am not intending to be rude….” and then is quite rude LOL, I know I probably misled some people into thinking I was an expert with the title “Lindsay’s first lampwork beads” and by saying I am a beginner I obviously means that I am the end-all authority on the subject LOL! It takes all kinds 😀 So let me make a blanket disclaimer for any video I have ever made or might make in the future “I may or may not know what I am doing, proceed at your own risk, don’t burn your hands off, yadda yadda yadda.” LOL! Sorry to vent folks, OK here’s something fun:
Our wedding anniversary was yesterday, 12 years, wow! I got the idea for the sentiment from a card I saw on Pinterest and since hubby teases me about my “British TV obsession” I thought it would be cute for an anniversary card. My 10 year old son showed me a cool website to make the text (word cloud) background paper, it is a free app/website called Tagxedo and it is similar to Wordle but there are more options and you can save your designs as high resolution JPG or PNG files to use later where as I think you can just print the wordle tag clouds from the website…now, don’t take my word for it…I am not a tag cloud generating expert or anything…proceed at your own risk…I will not me held responsible for any injury resulting from improper tag cloud generation hahahahahaha 😀
I used a British phone booth stamp that I got free from Stampin’ up during Sale-a-bration, stamped in blue to look similar to the TARDIS. On the envelope I used a London postage rubber stamp that I bought years ago (one of my first stamps actually!) by Hero Arts, and the Dalek stamp I made with my Stampmaker. So, you might be wondering if I have any tips for a happy marraige (not that I’m an expert or anything…) but I would say be nice to each other. Really, if you keep that in mind all the time you will be very happy I think. We have been together 15 years, married 12 and very happy. Think of how happy we would all be if we were nice to each other, what a concept…not that I’m an expert…thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!
The Frugal Crafter Blog 
Everyone is having issues with rube individuals on YouTube… shake it off and keep it moving Lindsay. You are awesome and share so much crafty goodness, the good and the bad. We love you and appreciate you! congrats to the winner. I hope all is good in your world. Darla
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Unfortunately, you tube fosters rude comments but not much you can do about it. People who think they know everything come out of the woodwork to belittle others. Funny thing is, everyone pretty much sees that for what they are – rude people with big mouths and small minds. We all love your videos and watch them repeatedly. Keep them coming. Everything in life is a risk – even reading rude comments – makes your heart race and could cause high blood pressure. We love watching and learning from you.
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Happy Anniversary Lindsay! I just celebrated my 20th in June! I really don’t think you need any advise…you are doing JUST FINE! Hey chick-A-dee! My REAL JOB is monitoring/answering comments for my company who has over 1,000 videos on YouTube (my boss happens to be my husband!) In the beginning is was SHOCKING and I mean SHOCKING for this Southern Girl who lives by the “Golden Rule” to see and READ what kind of rude and vulgar and sexually explicit, and terrorist, and violent and so forth, CRUD people actually type on a comment that is linked to a traceable account! It is insane! It really rocked my innocent sheltered world! I was always amazed at what a positive a loyal following you have always had. So don’t sweat the negative people and know you are loved and appreciated! 🙂
Blessings,
Valerie
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thanks Val, yeah, I have great folks reading my blog and watching my videos for sure and I get wonderful feedback good and bad and I appreciate it when someone gently corrects me, I don’t want to give bad info to anyone but man, some folks are mean. As they say it takes all kinds;) I actually re watched the video to see if I led people to believe that I was an “expert” and I truly did not.
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Love all the invaluable advice you’ve provided to my crafty self. Respect you even more for always taking the high road. Grace and Class just never go out of style.
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Really cute card. I’ll have to try that word cloud thing . It is cool.
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Congrats….and you are an expert on your marriage and how it works.
I love British TV as well. I was crushed at the season finale of Downton Abbey….
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Ugh sorry ya gotta deal with ppl like that I LOVE YOUR VIDS shake her off and move on ..Oh ya I went and made a rude comment of my own … 🙂
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Great card Lindsay…and just so you know, you are an expert In my book – especially at having FUN!!!! Happy Anniversary to you and yours.
Paper Hugs,
Jan
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Ho please don’t pay attention to those whom’s life are so useless that they don’t know what do to than be rude and probably jealous from you. We all love you and this is the most important !!
Please continue making a lot of videos !!!
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What a great way to start your week! Not. Happy belated anniversary, and I hope you can shake off the undeserved, unfair negativity. And I love the anniversary card!
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You are the best! Don’t let the naysayers get you down.
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Great card and thanks for the link about the word scramble site. I’m going to check that out for sure.
Now, I don’t mean to be grateful, but……..I love your videos!!!!
I know, not funny! I have learned a lot from your videos – still struggling to get the star shaped card right but I do believe it would be my lack of measuring correctly. So I sure hope you ignore those with hate in their heart and keep on posting.
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Happy Anniversary and I agree with your advice on a happy marriage, and I will be married 30 years in December so I am also not an expert, lol. Don’t let the fool make you question yourself at all! You never pretend to be an expert, you always give honest and helpful advice. Some people feel the need to step on others to make themselves look bigger, sad part is it is only the ones with a small heart and mind that feel that need. Just ignore it, not worth your time. ~Diane PS, love the card and the word jumble, I will have to check that out!
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Love you and your videos. Happy anniversary, just celebrated my 28th and to add to ur advice, dont fight about money. It will be there when u need it.
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Well, I don’t mean to be rude….but I think you are absolutely AMAZING! Your children are so fortunate to have such a crafty, involved mom! Kudos on your anniversary (and I LOVED your card!). You are such a naturally upbeat and happy person — STAY THAT WAY! Too many unhappy and negative people in this world that want to tear others down because they are unhappy with themselves. Big, big, super-big hugs! 🙂
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Lindsey, for a first time lampworker, you did an amazing job! (Heck, even for not a 1st time lampworker.) People get so uppity when they have a “skill” that not a lot of other people do. I heard u mention in your video that u had some problems getting the beads off the mandrel. Did you try soaking them in water? I don’t know why this works; my Mom is a lampwork artist & that’s what we do with her beads & it really helps. (It also helps get the bead release/kiln wash off the mandrel lol.)
Keep up the amazing work!
Also loved your anniversary card! I love that you don’t just stick to one thing…it isn’t all paper crafting & stamping on your blog or YouTube channel.
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Lindsay, just to cover yourself from any legal issues — since the commenter, Jen T., brought those safety issues to your attention, you may want to pull the video – or reshoot with a BIG disclaimer at the beginning of the video. Just a thought… I don’t want someone who has their panties in a wad (Jen T.) to do something that would get you booted off of youtube.
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Happy Anniversary!
What is it about the internet that people show their worst sides? Many of us love what you do and are grateful for your wonderful videos that inform and entertain. Please do not stop being yourself! You are great!
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Some people are just unhappy and B*****y. I love, love, love your videos. You’re the friend next door that will help me out in a jam. Thanks for being you.
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For some people making others unhappy is a way of life! I so enjoy watching your videos and learning new techniques from you, keep em coming!
Happy Anniversary!
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JenT needs to get a life seriously & get the stick out of her bum! Keep doing what you do Lindsay. Haters do what they do because of some deep seeded insecurities. You have a beautiful spirit Lindsay. Your work is beautiful & I am so grateful you share you talents with us. Many blessings to you & your fam!
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I love you more than British TV would be the perfect card for my husband. If there is anything I love more than card making, it is British TV on PBS.. don’t really watch much TV, but when there is a new series from the BBC I am sure my husband feels neglected.
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Love the card – not that I’m an expert. Proceed at your own risk!
Geez, MOST people smart enough to use a computer to read a blog have an ounce of brains and some common sense – not that I’m an expert.
Blow it if and keep ’em coming, Lindsay!
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Happy Anniversary to you and your husband. When you are describing things family and looking at your crafting area I have always pictured him as a kind, understanding man. That was a left handed compliment wasn’t it, sorry. You both seem to work so well together and understand each other. Congrats.
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Happy Anniversary! I love your blog, your newsletter and your you tube videos so thank you very much for them!!! 😀
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Lindsay hope you had a good one,my husband and I have been married for 39 years. We have been through good times and hard times. I was 17 and he was 23 and my grandmother told my mother not to worry here today and gone tomorrow. She would be proud of us. And don’t worry about people’s negative commits I know how that can be we deal with the public because my husband has a business and I am the office manager (secretary).I have been so upset before I had to go home. So you hang in there we love you and keep up the good work. Patricia
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Happy anniversary Lindsay! I wanted to share an experience hubby and I had about a month ago. We went to a get together with a lot of young couples one evening. One of the young ladies asked me what was the secret to our successful marriage (we’ve been married 43 years). You should have seen all their head turn when I was asked that question! Hubby and I don’t have a magic formula, I said – all it is is love and respect. My husband added – just love each other, that’s all. Amazing! I think you just need to like, and love your partner like your own body. If you love your body, you don’t hurt it with stabbing words, or punches or anything bad – you cherish, feed it, and do all you can keep it healthy!
Lindsay, as for rude people – I admire the way you just brushed it off. Good for you! You are an expert in my book. You know more than me! Thanks for all you have taught me through your videos and your posts!
Love ‘ya
Carmen L
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thanks Carmen and hey, congrats on 43 years! Well done!
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I Lindsay congrat for your wedding annivaisery let the rude person go by they dont no what to say to a person whit much talent as you are have a nice day Lindsay and keep it up we nid person like you
love Paulette p.s/ excuse my fault i’m french not good in english
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Thank you and you English sounds good to me;)
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I wrote such a long comment before and it didnt send – DOH –
Here’s the short version and maybe it will work this time. Firstly – Happy Anniversary! 12 years is a long time, I have a whole lot of respect and awe for couples who are able to make it work and stick it out through thick and thin. It is very rare and must be commended. Secondly – I love British TV, mainly because there is a level of wit and commentary that is unsurpassable! Thirdly – Internet Trolls who post rude comments are sad people who have to do that to make themselves feel more important because they know in their hearts that they could never be as awesome as you! The greatest artists, visionaries and inventors of our time only did the things that they did because they did it the UNCONVENTIONAL way. Also I have noticed that the most prolific (Trollific?) trolls – almost NEVER have anything personal up for public criticism – which leads me to believe that they are incapable of anything remarkable or original. Screw the trolls – we love you and all your fun projects and love you teaching us how to do them whether its the 1st, 3rd or 45th time and the thing I personally like about your projects is that you dont make us feel like we have to have learned the complete corpus of theoretical background on the craft before we “dare” begin attempt it.
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thank you so much:) I just visited you blog and left a comment on your beautiful tag and story, it is taking a white to post so hopefully you get it:) I think the 67 minute story should be passed on to the “trolls” don’t you? 🙂
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Congratulations, Anne! Woohoo for you!
Lindsay, ignore the haters. She’s probably just jealous that you have such a huge following and she doesn’t (gee, I wonder why that is … her attitude perhaps?).
I am constantly inspired by your projects. I’ve tried things that I’ve never done before because of how you showed it and explained it and I still have all my fingers, I’m not blind and my jewelry is not falling apart. 😀
Remember all the positive comments and put comments like that in the compost where they belong.
Hugs,
Snoopy 😀
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hahaha I laughed out loud and so did my hubby;)
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Lindsay we all get those rude comments. I remember the first one I got and I was like…wow, really? My daughter jumped on and was rude back to her LOL not that she’ll ever see it but made me feel good that my daughter cared enough to defend me. 🙂
Thanks for the tip on the word cloud. I will be using that a lot!!!
Happy belated anniversary. That’s a cute idea for a card.
~Deb~
CDAC DT Member
A Look Through My Eyes
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Well, as we say around our house… It may not TAKE all kinds… but we’ve got ’em! Glad you can laugh about it. People can be VERY rude. I, for one, think you do a FANTASTIC job! Yours is actually the only blog subscription I read every time. 🙂 Love your style and what you share and hope you’ll keep it coming, Lindsay. (And Happy Anniversary, too!! Great card!)
Dee
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Lindsay, I agree, ignore the haters. I read Jen’s comments, and she was out of line. I’ve been making and selling flameworked glass professionally for nine years now, and I would NEVER make the comments to a beginner in the way that she did. That being said, I am going to type you a short novella of completely unsolicited advice that I hope you will find helpful, rather than hostile. If you are ever anywhere near Madison, WI, look me up and I will joyfully give you an hour or three of free flameworking lessons. I love your blog and would love to be able to help you with glassworking in the same way that you’ve helped me with fabulous scrappy ideas!
Things that Jen could (and should) have said:
Safety first: When you are flameworking, you should always make sure to wear natural fiber clothing (100% cotton, wool, silk). Your sweater appeared to me as though it may have been a synthetic blend, and that stuff, if it catches on fire, will stick to your skin while it burns. Nasty, scarey stuff. The loose sleeves didn’t bother me a bit from a catching fire point of view, as long as you are always aware of where the flame is. The drawback to loose sleeves is that sometimes you get a bit of glass popping off the end of your rod as you heat it up, and it inevitably goes up your sleeve (ask me how I know). Same with wearing low cut tops (which I do in the summer, anyway, I just occasionally swear and pick hot glass out of my cleavage). The small bits of glass don’t cause serious burns, it’s about like a bee sting. Unpleasant, but hey, you’re working with a 2500 degree flame.
Make sure to wipe down your workstation when you are done using a damp rag. Sweeping it may get glass dust into the air, and you don’t want to breathe that. It will eventually kill you. Google ‘silicosis’.
Ditto with bead release. When you are cleaning your beads, keep the bead release moist so it doesn’t get powder everywhere, and if you do get powder, clean it up with water.
Always put the rods you have just used down on your table with the hot ends pointing away from you, perpendicular to the table. If it’s pointing away from you, you won’t pick up the hot end. It looked like that is what you were doing, but just wanting to be sure.
Didymium or Ace202 glasses: If you are just casually doing glass for maybe an hour at a shot once a month, you can live without them (although you still want safety glasses to protect your eyes — ever wonder how Chihuly got that eyepatch?). However, long-term exposure to the UV and IR that is put out by the torch flame can cause eye fatigue, and MAY cause cataracts and other bad things to happen. You only have the one set of eyes. If you decide flameworking is something you want to stick with, I highly recommend investing in a pair. They will take some getting used to, because that yellow sodium flare that lets you know when your glass is in the flame… that goes away. On the other hand, you can see all of the details of what is going on in the flame, because that yellow sodium flare is gone.
Ventilation: very important. Again, if you’re only working for an hour or so at a time, a box fan in the window pointing out is sufficient, as long as you also have a door open to let fresh air in. You only have the one set of lungs, and your torch flame is using oxygen and replacing it with carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Also, the glass is colored with a wide variety of metals and chemicals, which you don’t necessarily want to breathe.
Techniques and tips that I hope you will find helpful and not annoying or pushy:
If you run some sandpaper over your mandrels to just slightly roughen up the ends, the bead release will grip better, and be less likely to flake off while you are working. You only have to do it the first time, and then your mandrels are good to go forever, or right up until you bend them, at which point, you swear and buy a new pack.
As someone else said, working at the tip of that inner blue flame is the hottest point. Closer in, the fuel is still combusting, so it is both colder, and dirtier, which will give a better chance of depositing carbon on your glass (the dirty sooty looking junk). You can use your ears as well as your eyes to help with this. When the bead is in the flame, if you move it closer to the torch head, you will hear the hissing noise of the flame increase, as an audible reminder to move your bead back. It takes practice, and especially when you are trying to add detail work, the tendency is to lean slightly forward and draw your hands closer to yourself, but that puts you in the dirtier part of the flame. Also, it’s a bit like working closer to a fan… the gas exiting the torch will actually push the glass outward, which makes trying to place dots accurately more of a pain in the rear. Work further out for more control.
Clean your glass rod ends the very first time you use them. Rods are often cut with grinders, and those grinders deposit dirt and other contaminants on the ends of the rods. If you heat your rods and pluck off that very end 1/8″ of glass, it won’t get yuck into your final beads. I love Harbor freight’s long needle nose pliers for this, they cost $2 and work better for me than tweezers.
When you are adding glass to your bead, try to keep the bead itself out of the flame (usually below the flame). This will give you more control, because the glass already on the mandrel will remain firm.
Use the edge of the flame for more control, especially when adding dots. Yes, you want to keep reheating your bead so it doesn’t crack, but that doesn’t mean that you always have to have the glass ripping hot when you’re adding it to your bead.
If you haven’t figured it out already, you can move your hand closer to the working end of your mandrel for more control (same with the glass rods). Both glass and the stainless steel that the mandrels are made from are poor conductors of heat. They take a long time to heat up (but also a long time to cool down). If you hold them closer to the working ends, you will have more control. Think of it as trying to write by holding a pencil at the middle vs. holding it by the eraser… which gives you better control? The mandrel will gradually heat up as you are working, but it will do so at a slow enough rate that you can move your fingers back an inch and keep on going.
If your bead release cracks, it’s often better to just stop working and start a new bead, because as you discovered, the second that the glass touches down on the steel mandrel, you have plant stakes. Most especially, don’t marver your bead if your bead release has flaked off, just leave it round or whatever shape it is. By rolling it on the marver plate, you make your bead wider, and press the hot glass nicely against the metal mandrel, where it sticks.
Frugal tip: Eventually, you may decide that you really like doing this, and then you’ll start to realize that those $15 MAPP gas canisters only last about 4 hours are starting to really add up. Find a welding store and inquire about getting a tank of propylene (not propane, it doesn’t burn as hot or as clean). A tank may have a rental fee of a few bucks a month, will cost maybe $20 to fill, depending on the size of the tank and your welding store, and will last you about 100 hours (again, depending on the size of the tank). You can hook it to your torch using a ‘bulk tank adapter hose’ from the hardware store, the same kind that lets you use a full size propane tank to run your little tabletop grill. Do NOT store or use this bulk tank indoors, it’s against fire code in most places, but you can run the hose in through a window, or work in your garage. Use a chain or bungie to anchor the tank to something to keep it from tipping over. Safety first.
The science of annealing, aka Jen can go take a chill pill:
When glass heats up, it expands. When it cools down, it contracts. The amount of expansion or contraction is called the Coefficient of Expansion, or COE. If glass cools too quickly, it can crack. This is called thermal shock, and it happens when the outside of the bead cools first, which causes it to contract around the inside (hot, expanded) layer of the bead, and voila! You have a crack. If you’ve ever put a hot glass casserole dish down onto a cold counter and decided that maybe you’re having takeout for dinner instead, you know what I’m talking about. When you cool a bead in a fiber blanket, it cools down in about 20 minutes, and depending on the size of your bead, it will develop tiny little microfractures. Bigger beads will develop more microfractures, because of the greater inside to outside ratio. Just like a crack in the windshield, the microfractures may get bigger over time. Your bead may crack entirely in half. It may not. It may break tomorrow. It may break ten years from now. It may not ever break. You’re a beginner. Who freaking cares? If you decide to become a professional beadmaker, you will want to invest in a kiln. The kiln will cool the bead slowly over the course of several hours, so that the inside and the outside contract at the same rate, and your bead does not develop any stress, thus making it stronger. As a beginner, and as a responsible glassmaker, it would be appropriate to inform anyone that you give or especially sell your beads to that they have not been annealed, and let them make their own decisions from there.
Again, I sincerely apologize for Jen the Hater, and would like to assure you that she does NOT represent the majority of the glass community. I don’t either. I am not a spokeswoman for anyone but myself, but I, for one, think that more people should be playing with fire and molten glass. Flame on!
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Wow! Thanks for the awesome tips and advise a d thanks again for helping out with the viewers comments on the video, you can tell you are a pro. I’m going to print off your comment and add it to my instructions from the kit. Thank you for taking the time to write. Great stuff 🙂
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You are very welcome. One last ‘frugal’ tip, invest in a rod saw blade (http://www.harborfreight.com/the-incredible-blade-carbide-cutting-rods-pack-of-2-96274.html)… when you get it, snap it in half (just use two pairs of pliers to put a sharp bend in the middle, and when you straighten it back out, it will break cleanly). Makes a great, cheap, bead reamer to clean the bead release out of your beads (assuming you are using 3/32″ or larger mandrels. If you’re using the skinny ones, you’re out of luck). Just remember to use lots of water to minimize airborne bead release dust. And again, please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I love teaching, and glass is my passion.
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