This past weekend I taught my first-ever beadmaking class! My buddy Danielle at Glasslink offered me the chance to teach a class on hollow beads, and on Saturday I took the plunge. Thankfully it was a very small class - only two students - or I would've been a lot more nervous. It seemed to go pretty well, I think...at least neither one of them asked for their money back while I was still there! Both students were very new to lampworking and I was a little concerned that they'd find the class more frustrating than helpful. However, by the end of the session each of them had turned out a respectable hollow bead and seemed to understand the basic concept. All in all, I think it went pretty well!
It was interesting for me to be the teacher. I've been lampworking for several years now, and there are a lot of things that I don't really think about any more, I just do them. How to apply the glass, where to position the glass and the bead in the torch flame, keeping the already-applied glass warm without melting it off the mandrel...almost reflexive for me now, but not so much for beginners. I found myself coaching them about more than just hollows, but I don't think it bothered them.
Teaching this class actually taught me a couple things. First, I really enjoyed working with these folks! It was a lot of fun to help them realize that they could do something they weren't so sure they could do. Second, I found that I don't have to be "perfect" at a technique to teach it to someone else. I make a decent hollow bead, but some of them are still kind of wonky from time to time. Still, like I said, both students turned out perfectly respectable beads by the end of class, which tells me that I was able to convey the concept in a way they could understand and apply. I was pretty pleased with that.
So that's the story of my weekend. Now to get some more beads listen in the ol' Etsy shop....sigh. Pictures again. Blech.
Comments