Making Glass.....

I've been promising pictures and here they are this morning! I'm combining pieces I make at the torch with fusing/melting the glass in the kiln. The yellow glass in the photo was actually red when I put it in the kiln. I opened the kiln after it had cooled expecting to see red and SURPRISE! Yellow! Nice surprise - it was a monochromatic palate rather than the contrastive one I had planned - but it works!

I'm also working on the painting and fusing. I do this with my beads and now I want some cabachons and buttons that will be available to crocheters, knitters and those who sew (can't say "sew-ers" here - looks like sewers! :-) The buttons and cabachons will be 1 inch or less in size.

Melting glass in the hot weather.....

You're looking at a millefiore - a very small piece of glass "cane." "Milli's" are melted into glass at about 1425 degrees Farenheit. I've spent the last two days melting in the heat and only making it worse by running two kilns at 1000 degrees +! The kiln has yielded button sets and pendants. The milli you're looking at is part of a larger pendant. I've got a nice triangular pendant that I'll put up tomorrow. Yellow transparent glass is what happens when you load the kiln with red transparent Italian glass and heat it. Surprise! It turns yellow!

Monday, July 18, 2005

I'm working in the studio early mornings due to the excessive heat. We've had 90+ weather with 80% humidity making it difficult to run hot kilns at 1000 degrees plus! So I am out early in the morning getting things set up to fuse and then I can be in and out of the studio in the afternoon. I firepolished a set of pendants, cabachons and buttons in the kiln yesterday. I'll take some pictures and post them a little later - errhh, you've heard that before but today I promise! :-) Things take longer than I anticipate and since I have to unplug everything when I'm not in the office (don't ask - that's another story!) - I sometimes don't get back to the computer to post.

The Diva has arrived!

You're looking at a close up of an off mandrel glass pendant done in black and white glass. She's a mythical figure that serves as a talisman. Off mandrel means there is no "beadhole" per se but there are glass bails incorporated into the small sculpture to allow you to make it into jewelry if you'd like.

As I've mentioned on my other website, I have a new name and identity for my line of auction beads. I've gotten a webhost but unfortunately, it is taking me much longer to put up the actual website! I wanted more creative control over the website, but too much means you have to be a professional website developer! There's lots of work to be done on the site and I don't want to delay in getting the word out! The blog will let you know how everything is progressing in the meantime.

I'll be out most of today but have spent the last week with a kiln full of fused glass. I'm working on a line of buttons for yarn shops and sewing. I do alot of crochet and the yarns are just gorgeous! Glass buttons will work very nicely with them. The fused buttons will be a variety of colors but this past week's batch were a transparent cobalt blue with the iridescent dichroic glass floating above it. Gorgeous. I'll get some photos up a bit later.