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"I
have such an eclectic style in everything I do... ”
Always involved in artistic
endeavors, Debi Manning has been making beads in her very own living
room for over two years now. Debi is the proud mother of a son
named Ryan and four dogs. She also owns a tailor shop and does
custom design work for people. Owning a tailor shop makes sense if
you consider she learned how to sew even before she comprehended
what she was reading. (She taught herself that skill just by
looking at pictures and garments.)
A friend of Debi's showed
her a floral bead set of Barb Svetlick's (a previously featured
artist), and those are what inspired Debi to try her hand at
lampworking. She has come a long way since her initial set of
beads. Debi describes the evolution in her bead quality as "night
and day" and calls her first beads "hysterical." Her son Ryan is a
bit more graphic in his description. He called her first two beads
"alien poop." "How's that for honesty?" Debi laughs.
"At first (my family)
thought I was crazy to put so much money and time into
(lampworking)... Now, I get a lot of Wow’s and requests for jewelry
pieces. My mom in particular just helps herself when she (is) in
need of matching accessories, but she calls it borrowing, then it
just disappears forever more! My niece has a handful of pieces and
comes home from college with requests for friends! My sister is
very particular and will give a color scheme to design her something
when she is in need!" Debi exclaims.
Her family members are definitely not
the only interested parties. Though she had to turn down the offer,
she was invited to the 2007 Tucson Bead Show. "What an honor I
felt. They even called me at my shop to discuss ways of
accommodating me," Debi tells us. (She is being kept on the list
for the show the next year, however, and intends on participating.)
While Debi considers bead-making a hobby, she sells her work on
eBay, one shop nearby and other shops further off, and on her
website www.theartisannook.com. She approximates the amount of time
she spends on lampworking each week to be between 15 and 20 hours.
Perhaps due to the "hobby
status" of her lampworking, Debi laughs off a "signature bead,"
saying, "Not at this time. Maybe never... I have such an eclectic
style in everything I do that it would be hard to say."
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Despite lacking a
"signature bead," Debi does have preferences in what she
outputs. She prefers bead sets to focals "although (she does)
make focals, (she always feels) like something is missing." And
she does single out a favorite bead, saying, "I did a goddess
set some months ago (Goddess Gathering), and was more than
impressed with my own work. They were done (in) rustic, earthy
tones, dabbed with salmon frit and baking soda -- the soda gave
them a fossilized relic appearance. It was a great
accomplishment for me."
Debi's preferences also
include a National 8M torch, soft glass, her favorite tools (a
mechanical pick, exacto knife, and graphite marver), a Sony
Cybershot 4.1, and "Bucket-O-Mud"... She exalts "Bucket-O-Mud,"
saying, "For almost 10 months, I used kiln wash (recommended in
my beginners book) to dip my mandrels in. It was always
crumbling when I worked the glass, or flaking off before it
could get used, and many, many times; I was unable to get the
bead off. I read on WC about this "magic" release and ordered
some... I have never had a single problem since!"
Self-taught, Debi has
never taken a class, though not necessarily due to choice.
"Unfortunately there are no available sources (for courses)
remotely near me!" Debi explains. She researched every avenue
of learning available to her, and through plenty of practice
reached her current skill level.
"One thing I really
would like to learn more about and cannot seem to find much info
on is color reactions and mixing glass colors to create my own
canes," Debi reveals to us. This ambition explains her interest
in meeting fellow artisans Kim Neely and Pati Walton. "I adore
(Kim's) color combos, the way she blends her colors and gets the
reactions that she does," she tells us, adding, “I am duly
impressed by Pati's color mixing and cane making.”
Always trying new
techniques, Debi's creations are most often "free-formed
beads." When asked about any specific suggestions for the
lampworking community, Debi responds, "Any (specific) one? No.
I think I am still at the stage of always have(ing) a swarm of
questions swimming through my head." A
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Please join us in the forum to
congratulate Debi, ask her questions, or just say
hello!
click here to go directly to the thread.
Debi is also our
featured Seller on the Auction Boutique.
Click here to view her
current auctions
You can see more
of Debi's work at:
www.theartisannook.com
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