Kaplan Creations Jewelry and Glass Design

The boro glass workshops given by William Hagy are some of the best classes that I’ve ever attended! I attended the Intro to Boro I and II classes (beads and pendants) and then decided to also attend the glass sculpture class. This was quite a learning experience for me as I had only worked on soft glass. I had a lot of trouble adjusting my flame correctly, and wasn’t used to the idea of continually adjusting my flame. William is not only a terrific teacher, but is very patient when having to explain the same thing multiple times! He nicely balances demonstrations with hand-on work and is happy to come to your torch and help you out when you get into trouble. I really appreciated his keen sense of humor as well. Many thanks to Deborah at Glass Firenze for bringing him up to Alaska. Make sure you don’t pass up the opportunity if you are ever given a chance to attend any of his workshops.

I finally was able to get the propane line into the studio, and set up my Carlisle mini CC torch and oxycon. Everything worked great and I was happy to work on something other than a hothead. Was even able to make a small boro bead, although I don’t think the flame was quite hot enough.

I love stone pendants, and will purposely seek them out when I’m at a bead store, or (heaven forbid) a rock and gemstone show. This is a jasper pendant that has swirls of gray, rust, and cream. I liked the idea of using a copper wire decorative wrap, and added a few crystals and copper beads as well.

These lampworked beads are black moretti glass decorated with fine silver and I created this unusual pendant with 18 ga wire and a few more beads.

Someone custom ordered this necklace from me and then decided that she didn’t want it. Unfortunately I hadn’t collected any deposit or anything since it was someone that I know from work. Oh well. Red (Siam) Swarovsky crystals (some vintage), along with Swarovski spacers and sterling silver beads. Will put it in the online store.