Eye and I Glass
Eric Nelson
Since being introduced to glass in 1998 by internationally recognized glass artist, Sally Prasch, glassblowing has been my passion as well as my career. This endlessly versatile medium has allowed me a fulfilling lifestyle including family, gardening, and other interests such as recycling and environmental protection
To create each piece of Eye and I Glass jewelry, I employ an ancient glass art form known as lampworking. This style of glassblowing involves specialized torches, delicately balanced flame settings, and molten glass that is carefully worked in the artist’s hands with a minimum of additional tools.
The two main reasons I chose to study and pursue glasswork were that I believed it would provide a continual outlet for my creative energies and would give me the freedom to work and live as I chose. I now live with my family in a small house with an organic vegetable garden and a glass workshop behind it. In addition to glassblowing and gardening, one of my passions is recycling and environmental issues. I try to reduce, reuse and recycle in my daily life and my surroundings and this is what led me to create my line of glass jewelry.
The idea evolved out of “recycling” shards of finished glass pieces that had broken for one reason or another. I would select the most interesting broken sections to bring back into the flame and polish off the edges for use as a necklace pendant. Because the glass piece was a small section of a larger work, the design and patterns would be unintentional, yet appealing for the uniqueness. I found that these sold well and began to think about creating a consistent source for these glass shards rather than waiting for a piece to break. I decided to work with frit glass for its ability to create endless patterns through the melting salt size pieces all the way down to a fine powder. Mixing different types and shades of frit gives my pieces all the way down to a fine powder. Mixing different types and shades of frit gives my pieces varying degrees of color saturation and depth.