It is... about time I create this page, lol. Today is August 1st, 2020.
If you know something about me, is that I am kind of a savage at many of the things I do. Pincel de Fuego is the best example of this. Here's what happened:
I had just returned home from college and was working my first jobs and settling back in Panama. I bought myself a camera and wanted to paint. I tried painting with my dad in his studio but quickly ran into space and sharing issues.
Then, one day I was having lunch at work and was looking down at a necklace I'd made from seed beads and old glass beads I had from when I was a kid, and I wondered... how are glass beads made? Then I returned to my desk and googled it. ...and that was it. For the next couple of weeks I immersed myself in YouTube videos and discovered Lampwork Etc., the forum where I learned most of what I now know, and met the kindest lampworking friends. Of course, I was obsessed, as I do, and spent every free minute I had researching it. I thought this would be something I could do as a creative outlet, and that also wouldn't take up too much space. So I looked through options, and eventually spent almost $400 on a starter kit from Sundance Glass. Before I knew it, I was like $2,500 deep and having lots of fun. I tell you about the money because I didn't contemplate that part before I got into this, and I think it's important to know that this is by no means a cheap hobby. I was living with my parents, so I could pretty much spend all my money on whatever I wanted, lol.
Nobody was doing lampwork in Panama, and every time I needed something, I either had to order it online (and back in the early 2010's ordering stuff wasn't quite as easy in Panama), or buy things when I was on a trip. And lampworking materials and equipment are heavy.
Now I have the one other soft glass lampworker friend, who lives in El Valle, and has become a very dear friend! There are also now "boro guys" who make pipes.
In 2016, after basically winging it for 6 years, I was finally able to take my first lampworking class in Murano, Venice. I got to learn glassblowing under Davide Penso. It was incredibly challenging, but also the best thing, ever.
Something that makes me really happy about my lampworking journey, is that I have stopped along the way to document and share my progress. I did that through my (now abandoned) blog. And I still link it everywhere because I feel like it has such prime content...
The blog also nicely documents how much I've improved at product photography.
I now blog on Instagram (and mirror to the Facebook page) but sadly, stories go away after 24 hours... in any case, here are just some of my favorite blog posts, in reverse chronological order. Don't worry, they will open to new tabs. You can also just peruse the blog using the blogger tools on the right column, the entire story is there for you to go through.
