The Scars of a Lampworker

Yes, being a lampworker can be exhilerating, exciting, fun and even exotic to some, but it also has it's risks.  Working with an open flame has it's dangers, but for me, all the cuts and burn scars are well worth it. 

Every scar tells a story, and I am glad to say that I am proud of my scars and that the more scars I build up, the more experience I gain at the torch.

This first scar was my worst burn ever.  It's hard to see, so I have highlighted the area.  The whole side of my hand was burnt from the first knuckle down to my thumb.  I was distracted by my son who came into the studio and ended up putting my hand right in the flame - - duh!  A fresh little burn is right above it and to the left, from a piece of flying glass.  I am surprised this scar is so small since such a large area was burned, but probably just the worst of it scarred up.  I now have a small lighter area there with a dark spot at the bottom.  And, of course, even after being badly burned, I had to finish the bead I was working on!

These are a bunch of little scars I have gotten over the years from little shards of flying glass when rods have shocked when first putting them into the flame.  These are no big deal, some hurt a little, but I just brush them off and keep on torching.

Here's a nice one.  This was a larger piece of shocked glass that flew right into my elbow area.  The piece of glass was triangle shaped so I have a nice triangle scar there now - - pretty cool! 

This is one I got just last week and it's healing up pretty well now.  A hot mandrel fell right between my fingers and both my ring finger and my middle finger were burned, but my ring finger got the worst of it.

And here is my newest wound.  Not from a burn, though.  I was playing with a little boro the other day and have a coffee can of rods I was using. Now that I am back to soft glass, I had the can of rods on the floor by my shelving unit.  Duh!  I walked right into a rod that was sticking out and got a nice gouge on my shin.

I believe scars have a big influence on who we are, whether those scars are visible or not.  And whether you have physical scars or scars of the heart, I hope you are as proud of them as I am.  We all make mistakes, we all slip up sometimes, but the most important thing to do is lift yourself back up and keep on going.