Saturday, April 6, 2019

I'll be teaching glass at Snow Farm in Western Massachusetts August 1 -4.
COME PLAY!
https://snowfarm.org/workshops/topics/flameworking-create-glass-more





I'm still sculpting glass with torches, and still making huge necklaces. 
Here are four and a detail image.








Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Cultural appropriation and lack of originality aside, 
this is the most beautiful clothing ad I've ever seen.

https://vimeo.com/227064317

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Arthur Szyk

As a kid, I always saw these Polish circus posters
in doctors' offices.
I would stare at the text, not understanding
that Polish word with certainty.
I thought the word for "circus" was the 
name of the poster artist, not realizing there
were various artists.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Arthur_Szyk_%281894-1951%29._Andersen%27s_Fairy_Tales%2C_inside_cover_illustration_%281944%29%2C_New_York.jpg
By Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) - The Arthur Szyk Society, Burlingame, CA 94070 www.szyk.org
CC BY-SA 4.0,

The grandeur of this print was emphasized with gilded accents!

When I was nine, I discovered the work of Arthur Szyk via an edition of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales. I pored over these images and tried to understand how someone could accomplish such feats. How could I focus love to come out of MY hands and onto paper?
I couldn't remember Arthur Szyk's last name because it was not a word or arrangement of letters that I was used to understanding.
Tonight, after years of intermittent attempts to rediscover him (and accidentally searching for variations on the words "Cyrk" or "Czyk") I succeeded after searching for illustrated Andersen editions on abebooks! And I learned that Szyk was an activist!



Do Not Forgive Them, O Lord, For They Do Know What They Do (1949)

He made A LOT of anti- Nazi images, but I can't bring myself to post anything with a swastika on this blog (but here are some klan monsters?!) I'm so thankful to find these images, and so disheartened to find how timely they are. 


Thursday, March 2, 2017


More pom pom earrings: handmade pom poms using yarns 
from Peru, Japan, and the US; lampworked glass, lasercut 
merino wool, and steel. These have gone to live in Barcelona.




Tuesday, September 20, 2016

I made this huge, hollow glass bead a long time ago. The diameter is about 2.5 inches, and I made it on a hothead torch. I wrapped molten glass around a core of kiln- washed extra fine steel wool, decorated it with more glass, and after cooling I removed the steel threads from the interior with tweezers.
Yesterday I realized that I could get this thick felted cord through 
the hole of the bead, and the color matched perfectly!

Thursday, September 15, 2016

I made these glass beads and then earrings at Haystack, 
and the glass necklace was also made recently.

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Some new glass beads I made in the class I recently took 
at Haystack with Kristina Logan!

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Didymium lenses

When flameworking, eyewear can protect one's vision by shielding from projectiles of thermally shocked glass. More uniquely, didymium lenses filter out the wavelength of light in the sodium flare of torched molten glass, thus altering the wearer's perception of certain colors. When people try my safety glasses on at demos, they usually think this is really cool. 

I popped the plastic lenses out of my contemporary safety glasses and used a jeweler's saw to cut the lenses to fit these vintage frames. They're not totally finished yet, but it makes me really happy to customize my safety gear like this.



Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Some new work, and new pictures of some other pieces. I flameworked all of this glass.
Photos by Graham Wheeler, hand by Jess Richards










Friday, March 18, 2016


A variation on the bubblecloud collar posted 
last month, this plays with those proportions


The tiniest seed beads in this are 24°, which 
are the smallest seed beads ever made, and
a very rare example of using beads that I did
not make myself.

I always love playing with gradients of color and size.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Without hand gestures

I made some signs to communicate with other people while we travel in cars. I might not actually use the hearing loss sign, but I can imagine holding the other one up with a smile.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

I'm really having fun making these flower- headed plant people toys!

Monday, February 24, 2014

Dream book title

This afternoon, during a brief nap, I dreamt of a book called Wish You Were: A Cyborg's Guide to Existentialism.  Does this exist, or did I actually dream it up?

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Glass chains for Calvin Klein

My brother finally persuaded me to start tweeting, as I made the glass chains that were worn as necklaces and belts in Calvin Klein Collection's FW2014 runway show today. The New York Times  covers it here!

Also, I put a few glass chain necklaces in my etsy shop. They do match everything.




Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Collages

A new seed catalog arrived, so collages were made from last year's!


Friday, December 6, 2013

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

A weekend show

Some glass rain and lasercut textile plant forms hang at the "Nature Contained" show this past weekend in Providence.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Friday, September 20, 2013

No Mansplaining


Inspired in part by this tumblr, I made some "No Mansplaining" signs.
They're this big. 
If you want want one, write to me! 
JenineBressner (at) gmail (dot) com