Flameworking: Creating Glass Beads, Sculptures & Functional Objects [Paperback]

Elizabeth Mears (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2005

New in Paper
You can easily form beads, candlesticks, and art objects from just a rod of cold glass and a torch. Heat it, manipulate it a bit, and almost instantaneously beautiful and new figures emerge from the fire. That's flameworking. A top teacher of the craft explains how to do it all, providing exactly the same information and exercises she gives her beginner's workshops. Lavish illustrations capture the entire artistic process. Look into the different types of glass to choose from, and find out how to melt a ball at different points of the rod; flatten it into a disc; and shape it into hearts, wings, butterflies, and the moon. Turn those designs into jewelry, hanging sculptures, and stirrers. The results are amazing!

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Lark Books (August 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579907415
• ISBN-13: 978-1579907419
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book for beginners, April 25, 2003

By 

L. Mark Hoerrner "Syllable Peddler" (Kennesaw, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flameworking: Creating Glass Beads, Sculptures & Functional Objects (Hardcover)

From a technical perspective, this is a great how-to on flamework. Mears details many useful projects which, if mastered, can give the student a solid background from which to create more artistic and creative items.

Some of the discussion on tools, a studio and other equipment is vague - she glosses over specific tools, deferring instead to the old "check with your supplier" for info on torches, tools and other items.

A solid buy at this price, even better if used. She includes a section of work being done by artists around the world that really showcases both the full capability of torchwork and the creative ways in which torchwork is being used with other formats - blown glass, fused glass, painted glass and more.

60 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Titles like covers on books don't mean a thing !, July 3, 2006

By 

PTSideshow "GRP" (Macomb County Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flameworking: Creating Glass Beads, Sculptures & Functional Objects (Paperback)

The big problem with glass art is the way that to many people use the terms from one media to another with out thought and then complain. When they find out that it isn't what it appears to be.

Back in the day lamp working referred to the type of stuff that was done at the malls in the little booth. Also called glass blowing by the signs at the stand. Not that there was ever much glass blowing in the true sense of the meaning. It was was mostly the making and attaching of glass bits to other glass bits to form something.

This book is about hot working hard glass(borosilicate glass) with all the added expense of the large torch and tools.
It is also to bad that on the back cover or the flaps of the book it is never mentioned that it is a hard glass beginners book.

It is done very well for a book covering intro to flameworking of borosilicate glass. Step by steps are done with enough pictures and descriptions that you can follow them.
The description of this book on this sale page doesn't make clear that it is not a book for soft glass(soda lime) I own it and have read it but will only use it if I ever do hard glass.

61 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not useful for typical beginner, October 31, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Flameworking: Creating Glass Beads, Sculptures & Functional Objects (Hardcover)

The problem with this book is that, as the author states at the very beginning, this is a book for those working with hard glass using an oxygen /fuel torch. Thus for the 98% of those beginners who start with the single tank brazing fuel (e.g. MAPP gas) and therefore work with soft glass this book misses the mark. True many of the techniques are similar, but since there are many books out there that are written from the soft glass lampworking viewpoint, why spend time and money on something that misses the mark.