Solid borosilicate bead, mandrel formed. Core is cobalt blue wrapped in sheet dichroic which was pre-textured with a pattern of clear rod hobnails. All colored glass is Northstar Cobalt Blue & Aqua.
This bead was made 10 years ago, back in 1997.
I made a batch of 250 of these for Lewis Wilson's annual Glass Bead Show in the Tucson Gem & Mineral Expo back in the late 90's.
Back when this was made, all we had was the GE Dichroic... how things have changed. ;)
This page has been viewed 151 times
by 136 visitors.
(Not including visits today. Stats updated nightly.)
|
|
Borosilicate Production Bead circa 1997
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Bubba Duke Freeman started out in glass back in 1990, when he attended a 6-month Neon Tube Bending course in England at the Masonlite manufacturing facilities in Chatham, Kent. After returning to the US, he landed a job working for the now-defunct electronics chain "Nobody Beats the Wiz", for whom he relocated their in-house neon shop from Maspeth NY to Metuchen NJ. There he produced and repaired all of the neon for the entire franchise. Then, in 1994, he branched out into lampworked art and began blowing and sculpting borosilicates. Over the years, he worked out of Arcata CA, Springfield OR, Underhill VT, and New Brunswick NJ, where he finally turned off the torch for the last time. He has since settled in San Diego CA and is a Painting Contractor specializing in custom & faux finishes.
Throughout the mid- to late-90's he took various classes at The Corning Museum of Glass and studied under such living masters as Emilio Santini and Loren Stump. He was an official vendor at Lewis Wilson's Glass Bead Show in Tuscon, sharing his booth with Jesse Taj. He usually worked alone, but had some very successful collaborations and relationships with fellow glass artists of the day, such as Jerry Kelley, Eric Goldschmidt, and Brett Pierce.
If you have a GTT torch, you might know of Bubba - he was one of the 4 artists on their demonstration video that was included with all of their larger torches. His role was to show the proper flame types for fuming rare metals. But he was probably best known for his borosilicate murrini work, specifically the Simpsons series done in collaboration with Jerry Kelley back in the late 1990's.
He has since moved on, and has not been behind a torch for over 7 years.
Bubba Duke Freeman
San Diego CA 92107 US
|
|
Would you like to post a comment on this gallery page?
|
|
Artist Portfolios
