Nebraska Art Teachers Association Fall Conference ~ Mosaic Glass Workshop

Post by CalyxAnn.

Clinton Elementary School Residency ~ Mosaic Glass Quilts

In December, I spent one week with K-5th graders at Clinton Elementary School in Lincoln, Nebraska. In addition to creating fused glass snowflakes to take home and enjoy, we collaborated on a glass quilt that will hang in the school for all the students, staff and visitors to enjoy for years to come. I'm thrilled that the International Quilt Study Center is going to host the opening reception in May for First Friday. I can't wait for the kiddos to share their experience!

Pre-installation picture of the six 18" x 24" panels

  We spent the week with color theory and worksheets figuring out the quilt blocks we wanted to use, what shapes made up the blocks we chose, and playing with different color combinations to find our favorites.

High Plains Community Schools Residency Recap

During the last week of September and the first week of October, 2012, I was able to work with High Plains Community Schools in Polk and Clarks, Nebraska through the Nebraska Arts Council Artists in Schools and Communities program. AiS/C makes grant money available as matching funds for school and community projects. If you're interested in learning more about the program, their website has lots of helpful info.

Finished mosaic panels : 9th-12th graders
102" x 36", glass & mirror mosaic

For the first week, I stayed with my gracious hosts Peggy and Maynard in Hordsville, Nebraska, a short 10 minute drive to the Polk High School, where I worked with grades 4 & 5 on fused glass sun catchers and grades 9-12 on the mosaic panel pictured above.

Powders and Painted Paper

I just pulled my lastest samples out of "Little Miss," my Paragon Caldera kiln.

I have some materials I've been wanting to play with since the Glass Craft and Bead Expo in Las Vegas last month. The first of which is the Streuter's No Days Mosaic Adhesive, which can be fired in the kiln and come off clean! I used a scrapbooking paper stamping tool to cut out the design from the No Days Adhesive and placed it on my glass. I pressed in it with my fingernails first, to see if it would hold powder without heating. Meh...not really; so I held the glass piece over a candle flame to start to liquify the adhesive. That was the trick! I sifted an orange powder over the adhesive and let it sit for a moment to allow the adhesive to absorb the powder fully and cool down, then I poured the rest of the powder off into a container to be used again.
Next up...Glassline Paints on thinfire...I had a stroke of genius (well, that may be a bit much) while looking over the Glassline Paper product brochure. When I read "fusible paper," I thought of thinfire. Now, why I had never thought of it before I just cannot say. But, I decided to play around with it.

The very first sample I made was simply a piece of thinfire between two sheets of clear. I didn't post a picture of it here; it just looks like white paper in glass. Above is my second sample piece, on which I quickly scribbled out some random lines with the remains of the paints from my class (the first session of the "Sampler Platter Class"). Then turned it over and wrote my name, for the heck of it:
And, instead of just firing it between two pieces of clear, I decided to test out my new dot templates for powdering glass. So, I sifted some orange dots on the top layer of clear.
I'm excited about the new possibilities this could open up in later designs, but am not sure how I will be using it just yet.
The Glassline paints on the paper look like puffy paints used straight from the bottle. The paint that I brushed on has the appearance of gouache, and I may have thinned it with a bit of water...but alas, I don't recall.