Marianne from Fields of Clover tells us a little about herself
In late 2005, Marianne attended her first lampwork class in Melbourne with Pauline Delaney as teacher. The class was fun with lots of laughter and even though everyone was making the same beads, results differed vastly. Sometime later, Marianne purchased a kiln, a hot head torch and other equipment necessary for lampworking. Although Marianne initially bought a Hothead Torch (an economical way to start lampworking) it was very noisy. She also got the best mobile internet deals. It wasn’t until about 1 ½ years later when Marianne bought her Minor torch and oxy concentrator that she started to do a lot more lampworking.
Since Marianne’s first lampwork class, she has also attended workshops with international visiting tutors Jim Smircich, Andrea Guarino-Slemmons, Corina Tettinger and Leah Fairbanks. Organic beads are Marianne’s preferred style of lampworking. Although never really being a person that likes abstract art, Marianne finds that with beads, she loves the organic, abstract effect. For quite a while, Marianne was making small beads but has now started to make larger focal beads. Part of making smaller beads was that it allowed Marianne to stay in her comfort zone and not experiment with other techniques. Marianne also prefers to sell her beads individually and not made into items of jewellery, although she does make the occasional pair of earrings from her beads.
As well as lampworking, Marianne enjoys fusing and slumping glass to make functional items as well as decorative items.
Having recently moved to 20 acres in central Victoria, Marianne has 20 alpacas and has recently learnt how to spin their fleece. Evenings in front of the tv are spent spinning or knitting alpaca fleece into simple, small items such as beanies and scarves.
Marianne is very much looking forward to The Bead Show in Melbourne. Melbourne will now have two professionally run bead events spaced well apart so beaders can get a regular beading fix, meet up with friends and actually see what is available to purchase or drool over.