Darragh Brady
Discover the art of flameworking glass and create your own beautiful beads using a wide selection of colours and processes. You will learn the fundamentals of flameworking, also known as lampworking, with demonstrations and plenty of practice time, working from your own torch. Our experienced tutor will guide you through the technique; introduce you to flameworking tools and equipment, the types and properties of glass, styles of flameworking and how to keep it safe. You will have lots of opportunity to express your creativity with the colour and design of your beads. You will work from your own torch to design and Darragh, mentions by one or two good beads by lunch and introduce a second color. Your beads will need to cool overnight in a kiln and can either be collected at a later time or posted on to you. Flameworking glass is both an accessible and addictive technique ideally suited to beginners with an interest in creating with glass. All materials, tools and equipment are provided.
10 AM to 4 PM - Maximum 6 Students
Complimentary croissants 🥐 from Good Taste Epicurean Food Market - 438 Main Street, Franklin, New York.
Darragh Brady’s Bio
I started lampworking creating glass beads on a stainless steel mandrel about 25 years ago. I took a two day workshop, and I was entranced from the very start. The process is simple; you melt glass rods in your torch flame and wind the glass onto your mandrel that has been coated in a clay bead release product. When you are satisfied with your bead, and the mandrel go into a kiln where they anneal and cool down over about a 12 hour period. What takes a great deal of practice is developing one’s understanding of how glass moves when hot and how to control the heat so that you can do complicated designs and patterns.
I built a studio in my basement. Over the last 25 years I have taken two week long lampworking workshops with Kristina Logan at the Corning Museum of glass, studio, and numerous one or two day workshops with many different lampworkers. I am a member of the international Society of glass bead makers, and a retired architect.
