Working near a 1,500-degree flame is no problem for Warrensburg artist Mary Bush as she creates handcrafted glass beads and jewelry pieces at the Missouri State Fair.
Bush will continue to give demonstrations of her art inside the MSF Fine Arts Building through Friday.
“I think she’s been great,” MSF Fine Arts Superintendent Alan Weaver said Tuesday. “I’ve had a lot of fun watching her.”
Bush said Tuesday, while creating a glass bead under the flame, she has been working with glass art for 10 years.
“I used to buy a lot of beads, because I made jewelry,” she added. “I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, and I really didn’t want to pay extremely high prices from them, so I took a class in Blue Springs. That’s where I started.”
She now owns Honey Bear Beads Unique Lampwork Glass Art.
“I’ve taken several classes since, but most of it is self-taught,” Bush said.
When asked what she likes about bead work versus other art mediums, she said although the work can be “frustrating” it’s also relaxing. The flame draws her in, relaxing her, and the repetitive work is calming.
“It kind of chills you out after a long day,” she added.
She said when she designs her work each piece usually has flowers. She often adds little glass rosettes to her beads or art pieces, with each tiny flower created by the heat of the flame.
“I don’t know if you’d call it a trademark, but everything I make has to have flowers on it,” she said. “Pumpkins, cats, birds.”
Her biggest seller is a whimsical, smiling moon sliver, usually made into a pendant.
“Around Halloween I sell a lot of witch hats,” Bush said. “Of course I don’t make traditional ones that are black and orange … I use pastel colors and put flowers on them; (they) are more whimsical. I used to make a lot of fairy houses as well. I don’t make as many now. I did make a couple today.”
After creating a bead she places it in a kiln to cool slowly.
“What I usually do is flame polish it and make sure that all of it is the same temperature,” Bush said. “Then I will put it in a kiln. When I get ready to stop at the end of the day, it will cool down really slowly, and I anneal the glass to make it stronger.”
More information about Honey Bear Beads can be found at www.facebook.com/HoneyBearBeads and at www.honeybearbeads.etsy.com.
The MSF Artist-In-Residence Program is funded in part by the MSF and the Missouri Arts Council.
