What is the appeal of goddess beads?
 

I guess I'm missing something, but I don't understand what is the attraction of goddess beads? I've never noticed them before until I started learning lamp working and now I seem to see them everywhere.

Do people wear them? Or just carry them?
Is there a story/legend behind them?

Thanks!

Me either.

well, glad i'm not the only one. I feel a bit clueless.:-?

and if i were to wear one to work, i would surely get a ton of strange looks...

Me three. Although I've seen some beautiful ones here!! Just don't know what I would do with one and never felt the urge to make one. Maybe it would be a good exercise in heat control?

I suppose they are one of those things that you like or you don't.

They are based on ancient fertility symbols and can present today as a symbol of female empowerment, etc.

There may be a limited market, but I tend to think they do well. They do take a lot of heat control, and a lot of glass!

This.

I'm strongly attracted to ancient symbols and artifacts of worship our ancestors used (iconography). They are also good exercises in heat control and sculpture and a jumping off point for more elaborate human figures. Since my interest artistically years ago was portraits and the human body that is a subject that I still find interesting.

Joy Munshower does amazing work along these lines. I enjoy it too as do many of us. Just the exercise of getting the tatas to look right will keep you busy for awhile. When I started the ones I did looked like they were filled with helium. :lol: They aren't to everyone's taste but that's what makes lampworking great. You never have to do a goddess if you don't want to. I don't like making flowers, it's just not my personality. It's finding what you DO love about glass that is part of what makes the journey fun.

The full figured goddess is based on a stone figure found in Europe. She is believed to have been used as a female fertility figure.

I went through a goddess phase. They don't sell well for me, you can't really include them as a gift with purchase, and you can't donate them to Beads of Courage.

I did have a custom order where the customer asked me to put a sarong and a lei on the goddess, covering the naughty bits. True story. I used a shard for the sarong and a twistie for the lei. It was sort of cute.

Another true story. A local boutique carries my beads and the owner loved the goddesses and had them on display. An indignant customer called them pornography. Hah.

Thanks Kristin, good to know. I am impressed with the ones I've seen.

I find them really fun to make, using mostly heat and gravity to move the glass. It's sort of meditative.

Maybe I'm not doing it right... Most of mine are tiny! Lol not much glass at all. But I have a few that are wine stopper sized :) it's fun to tell people that "she was sculpted with nothing but an old butter knife, and gravity"

Ps when it comes to goddess beads KEVAN inspires me the most with her lovely flow and use of silver wire.

What can I say, I like them :lol:

They aren't my cup of tea but I do appreciate the work that goes into them.

I don't really get it either but so what??!!.... Whatever makes the client happy... and I have fun trying to sculpt a realistic human torso, male or female.... What someone wants to project into/onto the piece is all them.... I'm just making a nice sculpture, as realistic as I can make it, as large as I can make it to push my limits. I appreciate the human form in all it's various shapes and sizes and it is very challenging... and if someone wants to buy it as a symbol of their new-found sexuality or embracing their adult "curvy" figure, all the more power to them and happy to help :)

I don't need to ask those questions or seek those answers... they aren't about "me"... it's about "their" journey and not mine :)

I like my armored goddesses... Here's the little blurb I put with.

Goddesses are symbols of strength, fertility, and the sheer pride of being a woman. This one stands tall and proud, torn armor showing everything she's bourne and still proud and lovely. She's made of transparent red, which reacted beautifully with the pure silver foil.

http://img1.etsystatic.com/014/0/586...37691_b034.jpg

I like making other goddess beads, too, but I appreciate my armored ones for the symbolism.

Also... Joy's goddesses are absolutely amazing. :love:

Ditto. I don't like opals in mibs, either.

-BEP

I don't like them either. I think it's the fact they don't have a head that puts me off. Occasionally I see some with a head, and I like them a bit better. Still have no urge to make one though!!

I like them a lot, but then I like statues! To me they are tiny statues.

I wouldn't wear one but I love the challenge of making them. I did a "goddess exchange" here on LE once and, wow, it's eye opening how many types of goddesses there are. I think participating helped my own glass skills as I tried to expand techniques I was already using.

At one time there was chatter about a 1-breasted goddess deal to donate to a women's breast cancer center. I made about a dozen, with green twistie as vines, draping over the (single) empty breast space and put flowers over the vines. The donation never happened so they're here somewhere.

I don't think I've ever any goddess though. I keep them under wraps at shows. I mention them if converstations come around to them but other than that, I just have them in case anyone asks.

Sue

Hmmm. Maybe that's part of it for me. I love the mermaids I've seen in here (with all parts) and can see myself attempting one.

I think people read a lot into the goddesses that don't have heads. It isn't an objectifying thing for me. Heads are just hard to make and the neck makes the piece more fragile to wear. It's not impossible, of course. Lots of them do HAVE heads, but the ones I made don't and it's not because I don't value the female mind. It's because I don't like to make heads. Especially without faces and faces are even harder. If I can't do the face right, I'm not doing a head.

I don't like goddess beads enough to work that hard. LOL

They aren't really 'goddesses' to me anyway, they are just little statues.

To me they have no real meaning. It's the same as looking at a floral, dot, organic, vessel, striped, BHB, etc type bead/item to me. Just another facet of artistic expression. I'm sure if you looked at types of paintings, pen&ink, charcoal, pastels, and so on that there'd be similar facets as well. Glass is just another medium.

I find them fun to make and I always have them on display as they attract a lot of attention at the markets. I sell a few but mostly they are there for the conversation. I also have a naked man who I call the Fat Bastard. My thin girls are called the Skinny Bitches and they are just like mean girls in middle school.

Bwahahaha!!

I never really saw the appeal of them starting out. Then I made a bead that was going nowhere really fast and the only thing I saw was a Goddess and she turned out fairly well, to my surprise! I tried to dot a necklace around their necks, but I got too many comments of their nippies being too high! :lol:

I love them. They fill me up with appreciation for the power of a woman's body. I don't make jewelry with them. I use them as a centerpiece in a mobile or a wire wreath, kind of a small altar type feeling of a piece.

My customers have given me really nice compliments about them.

I love making goddesses! I've sold quite a few. But then again, my customer base is mainly feminists and Body Acceptance enthusiasts. The goddesses tie in nicely with my yoni pendants.

This. They are fun and relaxing and have taught me a lot about heat control and sculpting in general, and they are surprisingly easy to make the way I do them.

It is a challenge to get them to look as soft and fleshy as possible--instead of angular and hard. I enjoy the practice of using tools, but using the flame to sculpt as well.

Not everyone likes them, but when someone likes them, they LOVE THEM. Quite a few times, someone will buy a number of them at once to give to their friends... these days, BBW is sort of a fetish, and people celebrate it. I've also sold quite a few to men.
(by quite a few, I just mean more than 2... not like i've sold hundreds)

yup, they're definitely a love or hate piece and very primal. My primary market is selling goddesses - both beads and sculptures - simply cuz they are what sell best for me. For me, they're a mostly just a fun, easy way to sculpt glass - for certain customers though they hold very deep, personal meaning like amulets. I don't really get it either but accept it.

My most popular goddesses are the pregnant ones which people buy for themselves or others if trying to get pregnant or for "good luck" during a pregnancy. Men buy them as personal amulets to hold in hand, keep by their bedside or on their keychain. Women buy them to reflect either their actual or wished for body shape. Interestingly, i've never had a man buy a skinny goddess - just women, LOL. My 2nd best sellers are the naughty goddesses which aren't really, i just add a bit more detail for the less conservative crowd, LOL