Happiness

I made a bunch of these small fused glass pendants quite awhile back with the intention of fusing the variety of precious metal decals that I've collected. Then, I had an inspirational moment...and Voila!! I absolutely love this new design and have been experimenting with color combinations. The amber chips on this necklace work perfectly with the faceted purple glass beads, and it truly makes me happy!!

Looking at new techniques...

Have you ever looked at a piece of art and said, "I wonder if I could do that?"
Now mind you, this isn't the question, "I wonder if I could do that and make a whole bunch to sell?!?" That is copying....
I'm talking about the artist who is looking to expand the techniques in their repertoire, see's a new technique, and begins to wonder, "How could I do that?"
Then, the artist tries the technique and expands upon it, or moves on.

Well, recently, I was emailed a link to a video of hot glass artist, Cal Breed working on a piece:
(and if you have time, you should really browse his website, Orbix Hot Glass, because he's got some gorgeous stuff there.)
After watching the video, we had one of those moments that I mentioned above. I say "we" because if you've watched the video or worked with hot glass, then you realize that in order to make substantial pieces as a glass blower, you really need a team of people.
So, "we" studied the video and decided to try out the technique to see what we could come up with. And it was mighty successful, for a first attempt!
Check it out!

The outside:

The inside:

The bottom:

I really love how the addition of a bunch of globs of glass to the outside of the vessel really add to the dimensionality and depth of the piece.

Cutting Little Circles...

with the Teeny Circle System from Morton!
I just taught myself yesterday, and with some practice, I can see some new quilt pattern plates with circles!

Featured by the Lovely LocalColorist...

Another beautiful treasury, for your Easter pleasure. Full of eggs for fertility! Happy Spring!

Treasury!

Yea! Check it out! I'm featured in a treasury on Etsy with a bunch of other creative Californians!

Tapestry Mosaic Coffee Table

The inspiration - a tapestry that my mom picked up on
the streets of Thamel in Kathmandu, Nepal.


I started with the tapestry that hangs on the wall behind our sofa. I knew that I wanted the mosaic to mirror the quilt, but I wasn't sure of the exact design. So, first I started by cutting many, many little pieces of glass in the colors that I wanted to use. Then, I was able to rearrange them, like a puzzle, until the design was just right.

The Process:

Using No Days Glaze mosaic adhesive and a heat gun, I was able to work one section of the mosaic at a time. The No Days Glaze is incredibly convenient. It comes in packages of several rubbery-plastic-like sheets. You lay a sheet down on the surface you are mosaic-ing, place the glass pieces down (and move them around), and fire up the heat gun (on low) until the pieces are hot and the adhesive melts into place. This step is tricky. You want the adhesive to melt, but if you don't heat the glass up enough, the glass will pop off when grouting. Also, if you heat the glass too long, it will start swimming around on the glaze. Then, you end up chasing each piece back into place (with a pair of tweezers, or a pencil tip, and NOT your fingers - the glass is HOT!).
After several days and plenty of movies (a Harry Potter-a-thon and a terrible Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull), I had all of the pieces adhered to the surface of the table, and was waiting for a free day to allow me to start and finish the grouting process.

A dirty job, but I was excited to get it over with....

and to let it dry so I could polish it to the beautiful and intricate table that it is:

Oh! And I finished it just in time to enter the "It Pays" to use No Days Glaze Mosaic Contest!!
They have started another challenge for 2009, as well! So, if you'd like to try your hand at the mosaic adhesive, enter your project for a chance to win $250!!

Incompatible...Glass, that is....

I've been meaning to take and post these pictures for quite awhile, now. So, don't fret yourself by thinking that my gorgeous blue and orange ribbon stitched quilted plate has suddenly shattered!

No, this plate is the first generation plate; the one made entirely of scrap glass, and because of that, alas, I found some incompatible glass laying in the wrong bins at the studio. However, this "unfortunate" incident lends itself nicely to a fabulous learning experience.


Many beginners to glass fusing ask if they can use old stained glass scrap that they've got lying around. The broad answer to that question is "No" due to reasons of incompatibility. You see, glass that has been specifically formulated for fusing "plays nicely" only with other glasses that have also been specifically formulated in the same way. The label "COE," or "Coefficient of Expansion," is the term that describes the rate in which glass expands and contracts upon heating and cooling. If you are using two glasses that have different COEs for fusing purposes, then your final result will end up looking similar to my lovely sample plate:


However, you may not have a disaster like this the first time out of the kiln! For reasons best left to the Glass Gods, this particular plate did not crack until after it's second time out of the kiln. Only when I was engraving the bottom of the plate did it "pop" in two cracks diagonally down the middle. Initially, I thought it was my engraving that broke the plate.
So, I put the plate back in the kiln to fuse it back together at a full fuse, once again. Fortunately, the third time out of the kiln was a total crack up, around each and every one of the orange pieces, allaying my guilt at having cracked my plate upon engraving.

So, what happened?!? By looking at the slivers that have formed in circles surrounding almost each and every piece of orange glass, we can be suspicious that this glass is not 90 COE, which all of the other glass that I was using happens to be. In other words, the rate at which the orange glass contracted upon cooling was slower than the rate at which the rest of the glass contracted. As the glass became less fluid, the only way for it to get rid of all the stress building up inside was to crack!