Beads, marbles, and paperweights are some of the glass creations made by lampwork artists. There's a vibrant beauty to designs captured in glass. Lampworking has been around for centuries. Millefiori, or thousand flowers, is a lovely name for a beautiful but demanding art. The discovery of polymer clay as an art medium in the mid 20th century opened a new, but different, way to create millefiori.
Polymer clay canes can be simple or intricate. While beads and other items made with polymer clay don't allow light to shine through, their beauty certainly holds their own with lampwork. Carol Simmons is an extremely talented polymer clay artist. Her website is currently under construction, but her home page will keep you checking back for more. She sells her one of a kind creations, a perfect gift for the special woman in your life.
Another talented polymer clay artist, Donna Kato, has published "The Art of Clay Millefiori Techniques: Projects and Inspiration for Creative Cane Work." This book received 5 of 5 stars from Amazon reviewers. Shala Kerrigan writes on Amazon "The introduction chapters have a lot of information about the different clays, working with them, and tools that come in handy for creating canes.
She introduces you to cutters, bead rollers, extruders, and racks. She also explains the best methods for curing pieces, how to keep harmful fumes out of your oven if you are curing in your home oven, and tells you about specialty tools and methods for curing beads so they don't wind up with a shiny spot on them. She also briefly covers the best way to finish a project, and what sorts of glues to use"
The Heat Source is the Major Difference Between Clay and Glass
Lampworking involves working with molten glass which requires fire. Click the pictures below to see a modern lampworking studio. The use of modern torches makes it easier to control the fire for a successful project. Note the PVC pipes in the background holding glass rods. Polymer clay requires no open flame, simply a home or toaster oven to harden the clay after it is formed.
Lampworking and Polymer Clay Canes
The principle technique is the same for both lampwork millefiori and polymer clay. In order to repeat a 2D design, a 3D rod or cane is made of the design. A slice of the rod or cane anywhere along its length will reveal the same design all the way through. This technique is also used to make candy, the hard Christmas candy with designs in the center is a good example.
In all cases, the designs start out much larger than the desired finished size. Glass canes are heated and stretched to reduce them to the required size. Polymer clay canes are gently rolled and stretched to reduce the original cane. Reducing the canes requires care and discipline to maintain the design. Completed canes are cut into slices to become part of the finished work.
Whether you are interested in creating your own millefirori cane designs, or a collector of thousand flower works in glass or polymer clay, the art is alive and beautiful. Clay artists have caught up to the highest standards of millefiori in the new medium.
Corinne Shibley - Corinne Shibley studied sculpture in art history and created her own sculpture on the way to a B.A. in Studio Art. "There's something ...
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