A NEW LilianaBead Tutorial Out There - Fancy Ribbon Design

I prefer it when the tutorial is all done and ready to be read, enjoyed and used for guidance.

This tutorial focuses on a design of my own which I call Fancy Ribbon. Layers of color and movement as if it is a fancy ribbon floating in a freshwater stream.

Below are some excerpts - visual and linguistic - to introduce this tutorial to you.

o Learn to detect consistency by studying the heat color in your glass. Red heat color communicates hard clay, orange – soft clay, and yellow – paint. The most advantageous and empowering location is of course on the margins. For example, managing orange-yellow heat-colored glass is much easier.

o After winding discs always hot-fuse them by gently heating them to an orange-red heat color to the side of it rather than from the top. The discs transmit heat unevenly which makes them extremely vulnerable to thermal shock.

o Melt the bead in the upper part of the middle section of the flame.

Steps 15, 16 &17: Encase the bead.

Come Melt Glass and Make Beads at Worcester Center for Crafts

Flames are burning bright at WCC!!!

I'll be teaching two classes this winter and spring in 2010 at Worcester Center for Crafts. One of the oldest craft centers in the nation, WCC has a well equipped lampwork studio and a fresh outlook.

		Begins	Ends	Meets
		01/19/2010	02/23/2010	Tu from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM
		03/02/2010	04/06/2010	Tu from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM

Last night I taught the last class of the fall session. I was so impressed with how in a short period of six weeks each student accomplished so much, becoming aware of and engaged by a new medium. We admired the beads they made, rich in choices of form and color. I felt confident that everyone was well-equipped to continue their new journey.

I enjoyed observing every student persevere at learning from demos, solidifying understandings, and develop his/her aesthetic preferences.

I can't wait to see and share more.

Anti-poverty campaigns during time of war

Have you heard this radio ad about donating hundreds of thousands of G.I.JOE dolls to poor US children? Don't fall for it.

Well, I did and was appalled. My reactions hit me like a rock. I couldn't believe that this apparently well-wishing ad promising to bring joy to all these kids for Thanksgiving was causing my liver to produce more and more bile - I was livid.
Dennis Quaid is the face of this doll and the voice of this campaign. When I heard and then saw the doll, here's what I heard:

We are in time of war. Our soldiers are dying. Let's give G.I.JOE dolls to the children of poor US children while advertising a movie in the meantime.

How cynical can we get?

I plucked this (see below) from a website advertising Quaid's most recent movie.

Hasbro has announced that the "G.I. Joe" brand, the Marine Toys for Toys Foundation and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra star Dennis Quaid will help deliver up to 300,000 toys to children this holiday season:

Over 14 million children live in poverty in the United States. They need a hero this holiday season and here to answer the call of duty is the G.I. JOE brand from Hasbro, Inc.

Hasbro’s G.I. JOE brand, the Marine Toys for Toys Foundation and actor Dennis Quaid are joining forces to help make this holiday season a little brighter for less fortunate children. For every G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra toy purchased at stores from November 11 through November 26 (Veteran’s Day through Thanksgiving), Hasbro will donate a new toy (up to 300,000 toys with a minimum $3.99 value) to Toys for Tots.

My issue is certainly not with giving toys to poor children.
My issue is with the fact that a large chunk of my country's economy is built on warfare and weapons. Children are socialized into ways of being that are acceptable to and drive the economy of war and violence. And, it is in large part the children of middle and lower-class families who end up joining the military as a way out of financial hardship. A lot of them grow up thinking that war is normal.
I think it's important that we challenge these taken-for-granted assumptions.