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I am originally from New York and now live in
North Carolina with my husband, David, and my two cats, Charlie
Brown and Lacie. I was in the legal field for 25+ years until
March 2004, when I went full-time with my beads and jewelry. I have
been making glass art beads for approx. 8 years. I am
self-taught, with the exception of the wonderful and very
informative books and cd’s on the subject (thank you Cindy, Jim and
Corina).
I have dabbled in many art mediums throughout my
life, but I have always been involved in beads and jewelry making
(as far back as I can remember). As a young girl, my father
would bring home wonderfully colored telephone wire and I would
fashion the wire into jewelry pieces with various beads for myself
and my friends. Growing up, I was also very intrigued
watching glass blowers make intricate sculptures and designs with
glass. It wasn’t until one holiday season about eight years
ago when I became interested in making my own glass beads and
received a Hot Head Torch and kit as a Christmas present. Melting
and manipulating glass quickly became my passion.
I previously owned a specialty cut flower
business where I grew certain specialty flowers for local florists.
I suppose that is why my favorite beads to make are floral beads.
The beads I have become mostly known for are the sculptured roses.
I'm proud to say that I have finished my first dvd tutorial entitled
"The Sculpted Rose" which was released in November 2005.
A second dvd is being discussed and planned for the future.
Most of my beads are made with Effetre glass,
more commonly known as Moretti as well as Lauscha glass which are
both considered a soft glass. I use gold, silver, copper,
precious and semi-precious stones to enchance my beads. I have
also started working with borosilicate glass (a hard glass) for
larger sculptural pieces and took my first boro class in Spring
2005.
Thank you for taking the time to look at my
website. I hope you have enjoyed looking at my glass art
beads. If you are thinking about lampworking, or already are
lampworking, I hope that my work has inspired you.
Marilyn Peraza-Arce
Lampworking
Each glass bead is created one at a time using
the age old craft known as lampworking. In the Victorian era,
the flame from candles (lamps) were used to heat and melt the glass
to form the beads. Today, torches are used to melt the glass.
Steel mandrels are coated with a special release to wind the glass
around to form the basic bead. Once the glass is wound
around the mandrel and the bead is formed, additional colors of
glass are heated and manipulated in such a way to create designs.
When the bead is complete, it is placed into a digitally controlled
kiln and annealed overnight to reduce any stress within the glass
and to ensure lasting durability of the bead.
More reading on the subject:
Know Your Beads by Ruth Nicholas "Artist Made
Beads" -
click here
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