07837 784576
gingebod@btinternet.com
About me and Gingebod Designs
My name is Lana Goulding, lampwork artist and owner of Gingebod Designs.
After leaving high school I began nursing in small animal veterinary practice and subsequently qualified as a Veterinary Nurse a few years later in 1991, and have followed that career path since, with a few minor changes from time to time; I work part time in a local small animal practice.
I began designing jewellery in September 2011 using old beads I had kept for years in my craft box, you know how that sort of thing happens; I was bored...started sorting the beads and before I knew it a design appeared and I was hooked!
I practiced to begin with by dismantling old necklaces from jumble sales, charity shops, or those given to me by friends and family; the beads were upcycled and given a new look.
My first design, from upcycled beads, called 'Stardust'
Lampwork glass beads were something that I loved to look at and use in my designs; having seen a local lampwork artist, Rebecca Weddell at a craft fair in 2012, I booked into a one day taster class to try my hand at molten glass, learning how to make the beads and discovered that I actually had the knack!
These are the beads created during my tutorial, my first lampwork bead is the one at the top.
I sourced and purchased all the tools and glass I needed to start lamp working and make my own beads, an old outbuilding was converted into a workshop. When I relocated, a bespoke workshop was built for me, so I can work in comfort with everything to hand.
My North Norfolk studio
This is where I create lampwork beads for my jewellery designs. These are created by melting coloured glass rods in a flame onto a steel mandrel which has had the end coated in a special bead release clay, shaping the molten glass to look like a bead using an oxy-propane gas torch that runs at about 1200 C. The coloured glass rods are in the wooden boxes, my oxy-propane torch in the centre and the oxygen concentrator at the bottom right of the picture. All of the beads, when completed are then annealed overnight for strength and durability in my digitally controlled kiln seen below.
Once cooled, the mandrels with their beads on are taken from the kiln, then cleaned out by hand to remove the bead release clay and checked for flaws. Only at this point are the beads ready to be incorporated into my designs.
I now create lots of designs and effects using different types of glass and techniques, my pictures in the gallery show some of my pieces. My inspiration for each design varies, I may see a colour combination that I hadn't thought of before or leaves blowing in the garden, sometimes even a bead that isn't how I intended it to look comes out from the kiln and gives me an idea.