Jane
of All Trades, Master of Some
by Amie
Three years
ago Korana Kelly was attending Colorado Christian University (CCU)
where she had changed her major four times in two years when, standing
in a glass shop, she found her calling. As she watched the glass
shop’s glory hole--a large-scale operation where pipe is used
to pull molten glass out of an oven--she thought: "That’s
the coolest thing. I want to be a glassblower. I changed my major
four times, why not? It seems like the best thing yet. And, it’s
held my interest for the longest."
Currently,
Korana works at Pfeffier Glass in Greece, NY where she makes daily
up to 500 pieces, including graduated cylinders, beaker mugs, and
the occasional specialty work for scientific laboratories. Korana,
who says her job is boring, knows her situation isn’t a creator’s
dream, but says the job is earning her experience for when she can
do her own glass work.
"I’m
not going to be at 50 percent for anything. I’m always going
to be at 100 percent; there’s no halfway. If I like something,
I’m going to love it. At least for a short time, anyway, until
it loses my interest."
"Once
you start heating up glass, whether for scientific or creative purposes,
you’re still learning the properties of glass," said Korana.
Although Korana
has experimented with the equipment at work to make glass creations
such as icicles, hearts, bells, and fish, and will be soon making
Christmas ornaments for Edgewood Free Methodist Church in Brighton,
NY, she can only use the equipment if it is already set up for a
work function that can be transferred to something more creative
and that opportunity, Korana says, only strikes once every two months.
Still, Korana
is driven and has pursued her interest by serving as an apprentice
to an artistic glassblower and taking glass bead making classes
at More Fire Studios in Rochester, NY. With an associate’s
degree from CCU she then entered SUNY Brockport’s art program
for a semester, but when she saw right away that there was no opportunity
to work with glass, she couldn’t justify staying. The glass
program at RIT, however, may be something in her future.
Her main goal,
however, is to have her own glass studio in about a year when her
and her husband, Wayne, who live in Greece, NY, purchase their own
house. Armed with a propane torch specifically designed for small-scale
glass work and an oxygen tank, and by donning didinium glasses and
working on a cement floor, Korana said: "The door’s wide
open. I don’t want to get into trinkets, but more jewelry,
colored glass work, and soft glass."
Until next
year when she moves into her house, however, Korana won’t be
sitting on her hands and waiting. "I have plenty of time to
occupy myself until then," she said. "Time is my biggest
enemy. I think there should be more hours in a day."
Korana has
her hands into many different crafts and activities. "I like
all hand crafts," she said, "anything that I can make
with my hands. I like the idea of being able to create something
that is beautiful or makes somebody else smile."
Her biggest
craft venture right now is card making and she is in the process
of making large batches of crinkled tissue paper and stencil and
glitter cards on bond paper for Christmas. Korana said that she
learned the card making technique at what she thought was going
to be a fruitless evening at a ladie’s craft night at church,
but she walked out thinking: "You know what? These look really
nice. I can make them and sell them." Although Korana’s
small business hasn’t exactly taken off yet, she hopes to sell
her cards in packets tied together with decorative ribbons in hair
salons and masseuse parlors, and may try to sell them at local crafts
shows.
Korana is
also busy with other projects. She made a traditional creamer cover,
the technique of which she learned from a book that would lend homey
charm to any table over the holidays. She has done various projects
in one-dimensional cross-stitch and has recently gotten into silk
ribbon stitching, which uses ribbon instead of thread for a three-dimensional,
more detailed, and more interesting looking project than regular
embroidery. In the future, Korana hopes to make a "crazy quilt,"
and she will continue her work with beads: around votive holders,
on clothes, on anything.
"I
don’t like beads, I love them," Korana said. "I’m
not going to be at 50 percent for anything. I’m always going
to be at 100 percent; there’s no halfway. If I like something,
I’m going to love it. At least for a short time, anyway, until
it loses my interest."
Korana’s
number one passion, however, is not crafting like might be expected,
but it is volleyball. She started playing volleyball in 9th
grade as a setter at Olympia High School in Greece, and then played
two years at CCU as a defensive specialist. Currently, she just
finished her third season coaching for Rochester’s Nazareth
Academy’s junior varsity team and assisting the varsity team,
as well as assisting with both the junior and varsity teams at Olympia
High School, and assisting with volleyball travel clubs, such as
Volley FX. Although she is still able to play pick-up games on the
beach in the summertime, Korana says that her love for volleyball,
since she doesn’t get a chance to play it as much, has shifted
toward coaching.
"There’s
nothing greater than teaching somebody how to love something as
much as you do," she said. Korana, who says she will spend
more time with her crafts as she plays volleyball less, has been
able to reconcile her sports and craft abilities, which often don’t
mix.
"Most
people who are into sports think crafts are a waste of time,"
she said, but she obviously doesn’t believe it herself, she
who says that her "first memory of liking making something
I could sell," was making glue bookmarks in the 4th
grade.
"I
probably have one of the best lives ever," said Korana. "I’m
usually very happy. I have a fabulous husband. I’m just blessed
in a lot of ways that other people aren’t, or maybe they just
don’t have the right perspective."
For more
information on Korana and her crafts, please email her at Korana_2001@yahoo.com.
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Korana’s
Recommendations
Music:
Tori
Amos
Sarah
McLachlan
Natalie
Merchant
Books:
Jane
Austen
"A
Widow for One Year," by John Irving
"This
Much I Know is True," by Wally Lamb
Movies:
Ang
Lee’s Sense and Sensibility
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