WarmGlass.com

Bullseye glass has a "Video Lessons" section that costs $39/year. Does anyone have any experience with these videos? Are they worth the expense? Or is most of this available from other artists on YouTube for free?

"Worth it" is a relative term. The lessons cover basic stuff (many are free) through more advanced ideas and techniques. Which ones you find interesting/enlightening will surely differ from others. There is something there for everyone.

The instruction is well written and delivered. The video is about the process and not the narrator. The photography is excellent and the voice is very pleasant.

I haven't found anything comparable on youtube.

Jim "The Hobbyist"

For the most part, the Bullseye videos are well made. Some contain excellent material you can't find elsewhere, some have material that isn't quite as essential or that can be found in other places. Most YouTube videos are inferior to the ones by Bullseye.

You might want to check out the free videos they have available to see if it's the kind of material and presentation you are looking for. There are quite a few free videos on their site, some of which were originally in the paid video category.

The price is pretty reasonable for access for a year, but keep in mind that you can only view the videos, you can't download them and keep forever.

I think they are worth every penny. They are quality productions with assurance the techniques have been thoroughly tested. None of the YouTube variability in quality or the self promotion.

My experience is that they certainly are worth $39 a year. I've watched most of them and some of them many times over. You can get an idea from the titles if you are interested in trying those techniques.

I would agree that they are well worth the small fee. I've subscribed since they first came out and always enjoy new releases, which are quite frequent. I watch the video and take notes, or pause and make screen captures. For a recent video that demonstrated how to create new colors with a selection of glass, I went so far as to make all 80 samples for studio reference.

They're exceptionally well-done (and I'm on a web marketing team, working alongside a video production crew, so I do have a good basis for comparison--Bullseye's got some talented people working on this stuff), and they can be very informative.

I was in on their informal user testing when they started developing these, and my initial reaction was that I'd absolutely buy them...if they were free. I didn't subscribe until a year or so later, and have renewed ever since. Some of the material is pretty basic, some of it is more advanced, but it's usually very thorough. They're increasingly backing it up with additional reference material and usually have accompanying discussions in their forum community, and they seem pretty responsive to expanding it when they get requests for more.

About the only problem I've had is happening right now--I'm trying to renew my subscription and running into website issues. Not sure if I've actually renewed or not, but that's a problem with the website, not the videos.

I've been renewing for several years now. As others have said, yes, they are definitely worth the $39. With each video they also produce a PDF that has firing schedules, materials used, and other reference material.

Even if you decide not to work with a particular technique, it exposes you to new ideas, which ultimately enhances your creativity in the work you *are* doing.

Dana W.

Morganica wrote:About the only problem I've had is happening right now--I'm trying to renew my subscription and running into website issues. Not sure if I've actually renewed or not, but that's a problem with the website, not the videos.

Cynthia, you may be running into a problem similar to what I had. I have had a Bullseye username/password for about 6 years. A couple of years ago, they changed their username/password system. Somehow, my account ended up all out of whack, where I could only log in to videos if I came into the site from "just the right angle", and at some point I could not log in to the forum at all.

I worked for a couple of weeks with their IT department, and they finally found some issue on their end that straightened it all out.

Dana

Yep, that's about it--I think I was one of the first signups, and they weren't recording last names or something.

Turned out Bullseye had actually fixed it before I reported it, and was about to contact me. My renewal attempts were apparently going through even though the website was reporting that they'd failed. They were a bit puzzled as to why I would renew four times, figured something was wrong, and took a look...

The videos are great but they don't produce a lot of new videos over the next 12 month period.

Peter,
I think they aim for one a month
Stephen

Or, save your money and go through the archives here.

Yes, they are worth $39

Well, I see you have heard from many that they are worth the money. I will also endorse them. They often create questions for me in something they show, but isn't the basis of the film. For example on the clear powder over irid, I'm interested in if the final example is screen printed. But that wasn't the lesson. You can see that they challenge the viewer if they have more to learn, like me. But on the topic presented they are thorough. $39/yr is $3.25 month. I think , even for me, that is very reasonable. And so many others have said there is something for almost any level, and if viewed carefully they will give you a lot to follow up on, such as making samples or tests. Learning is life long and who knows from what you'll be inspired?

Yes, they are.

When I was in graduate school, I was griping about the high cost of books to one of the professors. He said, "If you just learn one thing, or get one good idea, from a book, it's worth its price." And I think I agree. Those videos are a bargain.

On behalf of Bullseye, please accept our apologies for any technical issues playing the videos, and our sincere thanks for the supportive comments regarding the content. We offer more than 70 videos now, some with projects, some with general techniques, and some artist talks, and we are still in production. If there are any particular topics you want us to cover, we do appreciate suggestions.

Our current free videos are available here: http://www.bullseyeglass.com/education/free-videos.html

We love our subscribers--you subscribers make it possible for us to share what we know in a much more accessible medium than technical articles. Without you, Bullseye's accounting department bean-counters would shut down our video project, I'm pretty sure!

Mary Kay

But, if you only get one tip that is useful, then it is a really good investment.

Jim

Peter Angel wrote:The videos are great but they don't produce a lot of new videos over the next 12 month period.

The short answer is YES!