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TOBLER GLASS CREATIONS
Thank you for looking in on my auctions! Below are answers to some of the questions that I receive.
WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER MY EMAILS? - I'm TRYING, but eBay won't let me. If you've written me through eBay, you MUST make sure that I have YOUR email addy. If you don't UNcheck the box which says your addy will be kept secret from me, I'll get your email with eBay's "UseTheYellowButton@ebay.com" as the only return address. This is a DEAD END address if I hit Reply. It doesn't bounce back to me, nor does it go to you.
Moreover, I often CANNOT reply to you even if I DO click on eBay's infuriating "yellow button" because their "verification code" that I must copy and submit doesn't always work for either my Netscape or Internet Explorer browser. I can sit here copying new code after new code and eBay will never submit my email to you. So, either UNCHECK that damned box or, better yet, just write me directly at w*tobler@tobler*glass.com (remove both asterisks).
WHO ARE YOU? - I'm a middle aged, artistic, animal loving farmwife (with a Bachelor's Degree in Animal Science from Cornell University) who discovered lampworking by accident on eBay in 1999. At that time, only a handful of ladies were selling their lampworked beads in what was then eBay's only bead category and which included mostly commercial strands (wow, how we've grown!). I bought one book (Cindy Jenkins' "Making Glass Beads" - still one of the very best!) and found a local stained glass shop owner who showed me how to make a simple round bead, pull basic stringers, and handle a torch without blowing up the farm. That 4-hour afternoon was my only instruction, and she remains the only other lampworker I've ever met in person! I've never been to a bead show and I'm completely self-taught.
I'm very honored to say that my work has been featured in books, magazines, calendars and screen savers, and I've been asked to teach in studios throughout the country.
WHAT IS LAMPWORKING? - It's a centuries-old term for working hot glass in a torch, which, back then, was called a lamp. Most people think of what we do as glassblowing, but that's an incorrect term unless you literally blow air (through a long tube) into your piece to make it hollow. None of my work is hollow. It's all solid glass, properly annealed in a 970F degree kiln and ramped down over several hours by a computerized instrument which I've programmed to best release the stress in my particular type of glass.
DO YOU USE MOLDS? - Never! I fashion each piece completely freehand in the torch. I'm self-taught and my designs are my own. Even my V-beads and U-beads, which I make with the use of a tool that I designed, are created freehand.
WHAT'S A MANDREL HOLE? - I work with soda lime glass, which is usually referred to as soft glass (as opposed to borosilicate or hard glass) because it's very droopy when molten and difficult to use for sculptural pieces. Consequently, it's necessary to build my work on a skinny stainless steel stick, called a mandrel, which I remove from my bead after the piece comes out of my kiln the next day (with careful wrenching and followed by reaming out the bead release with a diamond paved file). The resulting channel is what defines a piece as a bead, whether it's a simple round shape or an elaborate sculpture. And, like any bead, it allows the item to be strung with cord or wire and worn as jewelry even though it may be a free-standing piece suitable for display as well.
ARE THESE PAINTED GLASS? - No, I never paint my glass. Every color you see is the glass itself.
HOW LONG DO YOUR PIECES TAKE TO MAKE? - Most of my sculpturals take 70-95 minutes of uninterrupted concentration in the torch, with a rare project taking as long as 2 1/2 hours, plus 20-30 minutes beforehand for pulling my necessary stringers. Add to that my pre-torch design time or subject research time and another 20-30 minutes for post-kiln procedures and you've got an idea of how much goes into every piece that I make. Even my buttons average nearly an hour because they're as detailed as my full sized beads, which is difficult to accomplish.
A Word About Me
In loving memory of my fabulous Saddlebred, Thud (in photo with me aboard), who tragically died on 8-17-02.
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