It’s easy enough to string a few beads together and make your own necklace. But forget making your own necklace, how about blowing your own glass to make the beads that make the necklace? Keeping up? Good. Then let’s get started.
If it’s a rainy day in Nelson, which it was the day I went to Hoglund Art Glass, there’s nothing better than sitting in a nice dry glassmaking studio doing your thing as the rain pounds down on the window.
Hoglund Art Glass – International Glass Centre – is offering classes where you get the chance to see how easy it is to mould hot glass, with lots of fun thrown in too. And the best thing is, you don’t need to be a glassblowing expert, as no previous experience is necessary.
The art of beadmaking involves winding molten glass around a steel mandrel, which is often referred to as “lampworking”. A torch is used, which has a mix of propane as the fuel and oxygen as an accelerant, to get a precise flame which controls the heat in the glass as it melts. Oooooh, well, that all sounds quite scientific, eh?
After meeting my guide in the shop, she showed me through to the studio and went through the basics of how to twirl the glass round on the steel mandrel to make a bead. Once I got the hang of turning the mandrel slowly in the flame so the bead rotated, I could see how easy it was to change the shape and size of the bead. Just not paying attention for a few seconds would mean I had a gloopy bit on the end of the bead which wasn’t always what I’d planned! But the best thing about making mistakes is, you can just put the mandrel right back into the flame and watch it change shape again. Amazing!
Next up, I learnt about adding colours. This was pretty cool as I was shown how to add dots and zigzags to the bead in different colours. It was getting a bit more intricate now, which meant I had to have a steady hand, otherwise those dots would look more like blobs!
"show your friends what fun you had"
The best thing about the two hour glass bead making experience is you get to take the beads home at the end of it. So if your beads turned out great, or even if they didn’t, you can show your friends what fun you had.
Hoglund Art Glass Studio and Gallery is at Lansdowne Road, Richmond, which is a 20 minute drive from Nelson.
It is owned by Ola Hoglund and Marie Simberg-Hoglund, who have worked together as a team for more than three decades to create glass artwork that has earned them worldwide praise.
Hoglund Art Glass is open every day from 10am until 5pm, except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and Good Friday.
The class is two hours plus 20 minutes for the beads to cool.
It costs $75 per person, with a maximum of eight at a time, so no big classes.
For more information call 03 544 6500 or email bookings@hoglund.co.nz or visit
www.hoglundartglass.com
Rachel stayed at Tasman Bay Backpackers at 10 Weka Street, Nelson. It’s a real home from home with a lovely cosy atmosphere. The best thing is, you get free breakfast with toast, cereals and tea and coffee, and every night they serve a yummy hot chocolate pudding with ice cream which is simply devine!
