When Judy is not teaching at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts, she may be hip-deep in an Ozark mountain stream looking for the perfect “found” stone for a new bracelet she has visualized. In fact, other artifacts she finds may inform her crafting of a new pendant or brooch to be uniquely finished in 14k gold or silver.

Judy-Lee Carpenter Jewelry Collection

The artist/craftsman will join with her sculptor husband, Sonny, in the creation of a collaborative work to be displayed exclusively at The Jewel Box. No stranger to exhibits, Judy-Lee Carpenter’s fine metal objects have been seen at The White House and Tiffany & Co. in New York City. Linger with the artist during the Second Saturday Stroll, October 11 from 6 to 9 pm.

The Jewel Box, a charter member of the Eureka Springs Gallery Association, 77 Spring Street. Remember to ask about free parking, and visit www.artofeureka or call 479-253-7828 for information.

Stroll the Eureka Springs galleries Saturday, August 9, 2008 through Saturday, September 13, 2008 and you have a chance to win a $500 gift certificate!

Have your card punched at all nine of our galleries between the August 9th and the September 13th Second Saturday Gallery Strolls. The completed card may be left at the last gallery you visit. Drawing will be held on Sunday, 14 September, 2008 at 2:00 pm in Basin Park.

The gift certificate is good at any or all of the participating galleries. No purchase necessary and you do not have to be present for the drawing to win. Winner will be notified by e-mail.

Popular methods of making art glass jewelry include lamp work and fused glass. Lamp work, usually used to make beads, involves melting and shaping glass with a torch. The fused glass method involves firing a piece of glass at three different ranges of temperature to create relief, depth and shape.

Lampworkers use a gas fueled torch to melt the tips of colorful glass rods and tubes. As it melts, they wind the fluid glass around a mandrel, a narrow stainless steel rod. Later, when the bead is removed, the space occupied by the mandrel becomes a hole in the center of the bead.

Cooling beads slowly is a must. To prevent cracks, beads are cooled in a kiln where temperatures can be closely regulated. The beadmaker anneals the bead as soon as it comes out of the flame, leaving it to soak up heat in the kiln so that all glass within it is the same temperature. After annealing, the artist begins to reduce the heat in the kiln, taking several hours to bring the beads to room temperature.

The slow reduction in temperature produces glass beads with fewer stress points, so they’re less likely to crack. Very small glass beads are sometimes slowly cooled between layers of insulation.

Lampworking has been practiced since ancient times (done in the flame of an oil lamp, with the artist blowing air into the flame through a pipe). Only in the 1960s did it become recognized as a serious art form as a result of the work of German born lampwork glass artist Hans Godo Frabel who utilized his scientific glassblowing training to create relatively large pieces of lampwork glass art in borosilicate.

At one time, soft (soda lime and lead) and hard (borosilicate) glasses had distinctly different looking palettes, but demand by soft-glass artists for the silver strike colors on the one hand, and the development of the bright, cadmium based `crayon colors’ in the boro line on the other, has diminished the distinctions between them.

Read about the 3 Types of Glass Used in Art Jewelry

Visit the gallery page to see some of our art jewelry and glass work artists.

These materials at high temperature are in a molten viscous state and will fuse together. They are cooled rapidly to form a rigid structure without enough time to form a crystalline regular structure.

Adding soda will lower the melting point to 1000°C making it more manageable. The soda makes the glass water-soluble, soft and not very durable. Therefore lime is added increasing the hardness and chemical durability and providing insolubility of the materials. Other materials and oxides can be added to increase properties (tinting, durability, etc.), and to produce different effects and colors.

Types of glass

Soda-lime glass

The most common and least expensive type of glass is commercial glass or soda-lime glass, normally 60-75% silica, 12-18% soda, and 5-12% lime. A low percentage of other materials can be added for specific properties such as coloring.

There are many advantages of soda-lime glass and it is commonly used commercially for bottles, jars, everyday drinking glasses, and window glass. The disadvantages of soda-lime glass is that is not resistant to high temperatures and sudden thermal changes.

Lead glass

Lead glass is composed of 54-65% silica, 18-38% lead oxide, 13-15% soda or potash and various other oxides. When the content of lead is less than 18% it is known as crystal glass.

In moderate amounts lead increases durability; in high amounts it lowers the melting point and decreases the hardness giving a soft surface. Lead also creates a high refractive index giving high brilliance glass making it appropriate for decorating purposes.

Neither soda-lime glass nor lead glass will withstand high temperatures or sudden changes in temperature.

Borosilicate glass

Borosilicate glass is mainly composed of silica (70-80%), boric oxide (7-13%) and smaller amounts of alkalis such as sodium and potassium oxides.

Borosilicate glass substitutes boron oxide particles in place of the soda and lime particles found in soft glass. The boron oxide serves as a flux or glue to hold the silicate particles together with aluminum oxide and sodium oxide. Because the boron oxide particles are so small, the silicate is held together more closely resulting in a much stronger glass. The greater resistance to thermal changes and chemical corrosion make it suitable for industrial use and also in the home for cooking plates and other heat-resistant products (Pyrex and Kimax).

Metals and metal oxides are used to change glass color. For example, manganese and selenium is used to decolorized gas, cobalt for blue, copper for red, nickel produces blue, violet or black glass, titanium produces yellowish-brown, etc. Different precious metals such as silver and gold may be used to color the borosilicate glass in some very unique ways.

Read about Lampwork Glass Beads

Here we will be posting announcements about events, new artist and artist works in the gallery and occasionally some tips for collectors and art fans.