Squirrel Creek Creations: Feature of the Day #54: Ronsick Originals

Greetings!

Today's feature goes to Ronsick Orginals, aka, Richard and Linda Ronsick and their beautiful lampwork beads.
The Ronsicks are a self-taught father/daughter team who specialize in lampwork. They've been creating for nearly 9 years and have sold their glass at trade shows and bead stores across the U.S. They've gained customers in over 25 countries, and well as every state in the United States. As they say about their designs, "Every piece of lampwork is unique by nature, but we strive to create truly "original" designs." Although their store currently contains only beads, they also make glass pens, pendants, rings and wine stoppers. Each piece is properly annealed in a digitally controlled kiln. To photograph their work, they utilize full spectrum lighting to get the best results.

I've covered lampworking twice in the past, but here's a refresher for those who don't know what it is: Lampworking, also known as flameworking or torchworking, is the process of making glasswork by using a gas fueled torch to melt rods and tubes of clear and colored glass. The molten glass is molded and formed by blowing and shaping with tools and hand movements. Lampworking manipulates glass by the use of tools, gravity, and by blowing directly into the end of a glass tube. Whereas glassblowing uses a blowpipe to inflate a glass blob. Lampworking can be used to create trinkets, figurines, ornaments and in the Ronsick's case, beads. (See full lampworking article here)

Handblown Pen

Borosilicate glass, the type of glass the Ronsicks use, is also known as "hard glass" and is made from silica and boron oxide. It's more resistant to thermal stress so it's commonly used for creating reagent bottles. It can also be found in fish tank thermometers, telescope and high-quality flashlight lenses, glass cookware, and many other items, including the Ronsick's works.
As for the beads, they're wonderfully intricate and mesmerizing to behold. Most of the beads have a similar twisting form, topped with dozens of small glass droplets. I couldn't help but to think of a snake coiling in on itself, covered in dew or perhaps sea foam. The colors are brilliant and the glass is a wonderful mixture of transparent, translucent, and opaque. Even though the piece is solid, the shimmer and glean of the glass gives the air of being on the verge of changing into liquid at any moment. Overall, the glass work is beautiful and thoroughly pleasing the eye.
What do you think of lampworking? What would you put a bead on? Would you use a glass pen? Answer in the comment section below!