Beadmaking with Kristina Logan
Corning Museum of Glass Master Class Series VII
$19.95
Beginning students and professional beadmakers alike find themselves knocked back to square one when they compare Kristina Logan’s dot-festooned creations with their own. Witnessing her entire creative process, from sketch to torchwork to her delightfully unexpected silversmithing, betrays no unfair tricks, no unusual tools, not even a compass or caliper in sight—just the calm of a Yoga master and the intuition that comes from having applied hundreds of thousands of dots one by one. Deserving much more that the somewhat simplistic title of “Dot Queen,” Logan reveals herself as a thoughtful artist who pushes her beads far beyond the expected realm.
A visit to the museum’s historic bead collections with Logan and CMoG Executive Director David Whitehouse rounds out the 30-minute Master Class.
This DVD can be ordered directly from the Corning Museum of Glass here.
—Reviewed by Miguel Unson
2 Comments
August 10, 2009 at 5:34 PM
I absolutely love this DVD, however, I think to call it a “master class” might be a little misleading because the video is not about beadmaking technique. While she is filmed working on her amazing beads, Kristina does not “teach” the viewer how to make them, but instead, like you described above, she walks the viewer her creative process and discusses her methods and inspirations.
Anyhow, its great viewing!
August 11, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Thanks for your comment! Because this is billed a Masterclass, I’m not surprised that it would hit the ground running, so to speak. But I agree that a touch more prep discussion would have gone a long way in making this a more rounded video. While we see Kristina Logan applying the first trail of glass on a beautifully prepared mandrel, for instance, there’s no mention of her choice of bead release or dipping technique. (One dip or three?) But given the choice between sludge talk or inspiration, I’d take inspiration any day.