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“
I was always facsinated by glass...”
Four and one-half
years ago, Tammy Osczepinski
was inspired to make beads after attending Disney's Festival of
Masters; there, she took in all sorts of beautiful glasswork such as
vases, ornaments, jewelry, and sculpture. "I was always
fascinated by glass and decided to try it out," she explains.
Prior to making beads, Tammy
and her sisters were always busy with some arts and crafts project,
but their creations' intent was typically home décor. Tammy
has taken many classes. Lance and Maureen McRorie taught her
beginners classes; she later studied under Loren Stump, Leah
Fairbanks, Sharon Peters, Kim Affleck, Kate Fowle Meleny, Ray and
Beth Olson, and Travis Tyler.
Though she is unable to
single out an artist as somebody she'd like to meet, Tammy confides,
"Everyone's work inspires me. I love that we are all so
different in what we do. Give five glass artists the same few
tools and colored rods, and we will all make something so entirely
different!" Having no preference for a specific technique,
Tammy loves color reactions, "drawing" on glass, sculpting via
tweezing with needle nose pliers, and cutting with razor blades.
Tammy's two torches are a
GTT Lynx and a GTT Phantom. She uses Effetre/Moretti, Lauscha,
Vetrofond, Bullseye, and a few types of 96 glass, and borosilicate.
When asked what her favorites are out of her tool lot, she replies,
"I think I would have to say my razor blade, lentil mashers, needle
nose pliers and frog toe pick (tungsten pick)." Tammy's
photographic tool of choice is a Canon Power Shot A85.
Like all other seasoned
lampworkers, Tammy's beadwork has come a long way since she first
began manipulating glass. She exclaims, "There is no
comparison! The shapes, integrity and color combinations are so
totally different." She still has most of her first beads; she
put the ones that weren't cracked into macramé key-chains and
distributed them to her family.
Her family loves Tammy's
beads; they're amazed that she can transform a couple rods of glass
into something functional and wearable. Tammy focuses on
making "a bit of everything" with her glass rods, rather than
favoring focal beads or bead sets. She does fancy making
smaller beads and "lots of frogs!"
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"I think my frogs and my
twister beads are now my signature. It changes from year
to year, so I guess that really isn't a signature. It used to be
my fish that everyone sees on my business card and my magazine
ads. The frog was kind of planned - a friend asked me to
make one, so I made one for her and one for me. Then
everyone else was asking for one, so that is where that got
popular. The twister bead was by accident. I was
just playing around late one night and I came up with it."
When asked about her "best bead," Tammy claims to favor many of
her creations. She is fond of her frog beads and extols her
"frog parade – an order of 60 frogs all lined up, ready to go."
She also makes a silver
change-a-bead bracelet featuring silver lock beads. "It's
great to show off your beads," Tammy says, crediting their
popularity to the ability to change out beads – enabling one to
own one bracelet that will match all their outfits.
Bead-making is her
full-time gig; she spends approximately 20 to 50 hours a week
lampworking in her garage-studio. She advises people to
keep their studios well-ventilated and to keep their glass
easily accessible.
Tammy sells what she
makes mostly at bead shows and some bead stores – Beads at
Metrowest (Orlando, FL), Beads Etc. (Maitland, FL), Down 2 the
Wire (Lutz, FL), Brea Bead Works (Brea, CA), Arts Afire Glass
Gallery (Alexandria, VA), and Unique Bead Store (Davison, MI).
"I also just finished a project for the Orlando Convention and
Visitors Bureau. It was for their Pow-Wow Brunch in
Orlando." Tammy made a lampwork bead pen that was
handed out to guests at the press brunch. Along with representatives from Disney, Sea World, Universal
Studios, the Orlando Museum of Art, the Morse Museum, and the
Orlando Philharmonic, Tammy handed out 356 pens to the
International Press that day. Other public appearances are
scheduled for this fall and spring of 2007.
In addition to her clout
in the market, Tammy has also been featured in Bead Unique
Magazine's Gallery Section (June, 2005). Her frog beads will be
showcased in the Women in Lampworking edition of The Flow
Magazine (2006). Watch for her twister beads in Bead Unique Magazine
this fall and her frogs in spring of next year.
"Any tips and tricks
that anyone can give me are always helpful," Tammy states,
adding she loves to learn everything. While she lacks
concrete plans in this realm, Tammy enjoys selling her work and
doesn't intend on giving that up.
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Please join us in the forum to
congratulate Tammy, ask her questions, or just say
hello!
click here to go directly to the thread.
You can view more of
Tammy's
work on her website,
www.t-beads.com.
Tammy is also our featured seller on the Auction
Boutique, please check out her current offerings
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