Tiny baubles

The delicate world of lampwork beads

by Leon Nigrosh

JEWELS OF GLASS: THE VERSATILITY OF THE HANDMADE GLASS BEAD At the Worcester Center for Crafts, 25 Sagamore Road, Worcester, through December 24.

Glass beads have been around since the time of the pharaohs. They have been revered as religious symbols and used as legal tender, and have served as indicators of social status. Because of their perceived value, the techniques used to create them were guarded secrets, and for centuries were passed down only to family or other trusted household members. It is only within the past decade or so that contemporary, studio glassworkers have been able to replicate these ancient methods and to present their finished work.

Nineteen members of the Boston chapter of the Society of Glass Beadmakers have joined together for this first-time presentation of the jewelry and sculpture they have been fashioning in their separate studios. Several members have been making beads for quite some time, while others have been at it for as little as a year. In all cases, the techniques are basically the same.

Known as lampworking, individual beads are formed by melting colored-glass rods onto a small-diameter steel mandrel being held over a small propane/oxygen torch. Watching a beadmaker at work is a bit like witnessing a combination of alchemy and ballet in miniature. The glass stick in one hand must be heated at the end and be maintained in a viscous, taffy-like state as it is gently touched to the mandrel, which must be kept revolving at the edge of the pointed flame by the other hand. The bead is slowly formed: a solid mass if small, or as a larger hollow globe. Too much heat and the bead melts, too little and it becomes a lifeless lump. And this is just to make a simple bead.

It takes concentration and a deft touch to add dots of different colored glass to the main component. Shapes can be changed by softly pressing or pushing the glowing glass. Metal foil, colored powders, and strips of different colored glass can be worked onto and into the slowly revolving glowing pellet, all while maintaining the proper balance of heat and movement. When the bead is finished, it is placed in a warm annealing oven to slowly temper -- if cooled too quickly, it might shatter. This process has been repeated for every single bead.

While the majority of work in the Worcester Center for Crafts exhibition consists of bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and pendants, there is a great deal of individuality in the finished objects. Hubbardston beadmaker Lori Engle combines opaque cream and pale blue lampworked beads with freshwater pearls and lapis beads to create her elegant "Going Dutch" pieces. Shirley artist Rhonda Hatch-Caissie is showing some of her "Animal Instincts" jewelry in opaque yellow covered with brown leopard spots, including an imaginative two-finger swivel ring. Nancy Simison makes pendants from lampworked dichroic glass, with shimmering patterns that constantly change colors as they move about in the light. Humor takes the forefront with five brooches made in collaboration with Portsmouth, New Hampshire, silversmith Reg Logan. Each zany insect pin consists of a large, spotted or speckled glass bead sprouting with unique wings, legs, antennae, or proboscises fabricated in sterling silver.

Not content with merely stringing handmade beads, Julie Crocker incorporates her stony-surfaced beads into hand-woven baskets made from birch bark and black ash that she harvested and stripped. Also moving away from jewelry, Connecticut artist Cynthia Liebler Saari has collaborated with her artist/blacksmith husband, Michael, to create the first in a series of serving pieces. This ladle is forged brass and steel with a gold-leafed finial and the large, central glass bead has bits of gold leaf sparkling from within. The combination of "hard" metal and "soft" glass in a single piece presents a refined dining statement.

The work with the most potential is Somerville beadmaker Christine Aharonian's wall piece Relucense. A U-shaped neon tube adorned with varicolored glass-bead rings hangs within a silver-leafed reflective box. If the electrical components could be fabricated in some wearable manner, this could be an innovative, illuminated necklace. As fine as all the items in this exhibition may be, the potential for lampworked glass beads is still in its infancy.

The gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 753-8183.