Magic world of glass-bead making

Marilyn Nugent, who has been teaching glass-bead making for 25 years, will present a class at Rehoboth Art League in February.

Students will apply dots, stringers, latticcino and frits to create colorful, Venetian-style glass beads to use in making jewelry and other pieces of art. “They will use a torch to melt glass rods, which come in different colors. Then, we will cool the beads to make sure they do not break,” Nugent said.

Nugent will first work with students on design elements, such as spacing and making dots. Basically, students will decorate a bead as they learn these elements. Nugent said participants might not come home with an art-treasure necklace, but they will know what the process is all about, and they will have the basics. “It is a learning experience. There are things that I would still like to know how to do, and I have been doing it for a gazillion years,” Nugent said.

The class is four sessions, three hours each, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Wednesdays, Feb. 8-29. Nugent will bring all the equipment, and no experience is necessary. “I would say the prerequisites are the ability to focus, good eye-hand coordination and no fear of fire,” Nugent said.

Nugent usually does workshops outside her home, but she is always happy to teach follow-up workshops and arrange more advanced classes. “If somebody has taken the beginning class, has a problem, or just wants to pick my brain and see a technique, they are welcome to come over,” she said.

Nugent taught students as young as 12, but if a student younger than 14 is considering a class, she would like to talk to the parent first.

Glass-bead making can be done working for 20 minutes at a card table, or it can be a passion that consumes five hours. It takes two minutes to turn on the equipment and two minutes to turn it off. “One woman I taught is now selling her work well and is happy,” Nugent said.

An artist who has traveled the world
Nugent has been living in Lewes for 20 years, but she has traveled around the world getting ideas for beads everywhere she went.

Nugent first went to France, and then she lived in Europe for a couple of years, giving her an opportunity to see many parts of Europe. Then, she went off to Egypt, and said for the first time, she experienced a dramatically different culture. “Europe is not a different culture. There are nuances and differences, but it is not as different as Egypt,” she said.

From Egypt, Nugent went to Kenya, Tanzania, Israel, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Burma and Thailand.

“I picked up some beads from practically everywhere,” said Nugent, smiling.

Nugent speaks French and knows American Sign Language. “I actually feel silly that I haven’t learned Spanish, but I found that I can go anywhere  - whether it is Asia, where I cannot even read the alphabet, or Thailand, where I’ve been five times and still cannot get the pronunciation.”

Closer look at glass beads
“My very first lessons on glass-bead making were from Kate Fowle, who is internationally known now,” said Nugent.

Nugent no longer sees her first teacher, but Fowle nurtured Nugent’s interest in making beads.  Nugent began working in her own studio in Glen Echo National Park in Maryland, along the Potomac River. “I did my infused glass work, and I had used a torch by that time. It was a natural sort of adding to my skills,” she said.

Perfect life
Nugent said that she is not much of a marketer. “I do not do very many shows, and I do not market places to sell my work,” she said.

Sometimes Nugent works because she has an idea to play with. She used to work at her craft every day, but now her days are more flexible. She also loves to cook and entertain, and she has a wonderful dog, Rocco, and the two walk on the beach for an hour every day.

Nugent is 71 now. Thirty years ago, she retired, having taught for 13 years. “I realized I was never going to get rich doing that, so I might as well be poor and do what I want to do. That’s what life is all about,” she said.

“I have a perfect life,” Nugent said. “I truly do.”

For more information about glass-bead making class go to http://www.rehobothartleague.org/class_2012_jewelry.html or to the Rehoboth Art League site.