So, I must have been told to write a blog more times then I've spent evenings tweezering glass splinters out of my husband's feet (I do keep telling him to wear shoes in the workshop!). I must admit I've been hesitant. Let me explain:
My passion is lampworking and all things crafty, oh and dogs, travel, brownies (but REAL brownies not those chocolate cakes masquerading as brownies) and my new one skipping, which actually seems to just involve trying to limit how many times I whip myself in the face. But mostly lampworking. I am incredibly fortunate that I am able to do something for a "job" that I genuinely love.
However as I'm sure you all know that comes with a whole host of responsibilities which are on varying levels on the old fun-o-meter. If lampworking is a 10, creating social media content is a 6 and doing my tax return is a straight 0. Don't get me wrong, to use social media content as an example again, it has a level of creativity and I can really enjoy it but the volume that's required can sometimes feel like a chore. I'm sure anyone who follows my instagram can see from a mile away the reels which I've just churned out.
So if you haven't guessed it already, this is a long way of saying that when it comes to starting a blog I was conscious of adding another "chore" which takes away from what I love most. However I'm trying to force myself to get my head up more often and allow myself an afternoon a week for the extra curriculars. Also if I stick to doing this once every season as I do with my newsletter then i think it'll actually be quite fun sharing all my latest news and projects with anyone that would like to listen. For example I've just been approached to work on a project with the brand probably most synonymous with luxury in the world, which is quite insane, they don't like to reveal their artists so I can't say explicitly who it is but hopefully you've got an idea!
After that very lengthy and self indulgent intro I thought for my first post I could explain a little bit about my story and what it is I do:
I've always been crafty and creative. As far back as I can remember it's all I ever wanted to do. Annoyingly from a mix of societal and parental pressure I went to Uni which is where I started my first little business "Hearts, Beads and Pretty things" selling little bead bracelets, sewn hearts etc. It was a nice little side gig which made me a little bit of money (one bracelet = 1 bacardi breezer on student night!) but more importantly it made me realise I didn't want the standard graduate job, I wanted to start my own creative business.
In my last year of Uni my boyfriend Andrew (now husband) was working on a fancy golf course in British Columbia, Canada. I'd saved up all my student loan, as I was pretty frugal and didn't eat anything other than pasta all year, and decided to spend it all on flights to spend the summer with him.
While I was there we went up to Panorama Ski Resort where Andrew had worked over the winter. Which is where I walked past Saffire Bead & Flameworks, a lampworking studio which is where I met my first mentors Debbie and Sheenah. I was instantly hooked, it felt like a real art form and something so exciting to learn. I spent the rest of my time in BC getting the bus up to Pano to take classes. I had so many glass beads that I had to fill my pockets on the way home so my luggage wasn't overweight.
Full disclosure I'm going to copy and paste this bit in case you'd like to know....lampworking actually originates from ancient Egypt in 1500 BC, and is more famously known from Murano, Italy from around 1200 where it is still practised to this day.
The basic process involves a torch which mixes propane and pure oxygen to create a flame which burns at around 1200 degrees C. I then choose a few coloured glass rods which are then melted and manipulated through the use of my tools to create beads, ornaments and, you guessed it, glass flowers.
After getting home from Canada I decided lampworking was a skill I wanted to try and master and ideally create a career from. I could go into a lot of depth about my journey, maybe in another blog post. To make a long story short: three name changes, four different workshops, endless rubbish fairs, sleepless nights, awful self doubt, highs, lows and 10 years of hard work later and I'm finally in a place where I have a skill and a brand that I am so proud of. To us lucky few who know exactly what we want to do in life; it'll be harder and at the same time more worth it than you can ever imagine.
I now create glass flowers as an alternative for any situation in which regular flowers are used. The key benefits being that they last forever, they're more environmentally friendly then the cut flower industry and they can be made to any requirement. Want a bouquet of Daffodils in November? No problem!
Flowers regularly play a small but noteworthy part in some of the most emotionally significant days of our lives, whether that's to congratulate Mum on arrival of a new baby, to hold whilst walking down the aisle on your wedding day or to place by the grave of a loved one. It's beyond fulfilling and an honour that my work can be a part of this and something that people can keep forever.
I love that you also don't need a big occasion to enjoy the magic of flowers. A bouquet can brighten any home or garden at any time of the year.
Sorry if that last bit sounded like a sales pitch, I promise it wasn't. I just love and believe in what I do and the work that I can offer the World.
So if you have read this the whole way through, thank you for sticking around and drop me a message. I would love to hear from you.
Thanks,
Donna
xx
