Long Time, No See

Okay, so I haven't written much for the blog lately. I confess, I've been focusing more on my Facebook page and Etsy lately. But remembered this long neglected space today and wanted to check in. I've been doing lots of shows this fall and creating lots of new pendants. I've tried some new things like adding embellishments and charms to the glass. This seems to work really well on simple dichroic pieces like the one below. This one is in my Etsy store as of yesterday.

I've also been doing some painted pendants using Glassline paint.

I love working on these little bits of winter. They seem so calm and peaceful. I also enjoy the way the snowflakes added on a topper of clear glass give them a 3-dimensional feel.

In the last couple of shows, I've also been working to make improvements to my booth set up. I was really happy with the booth at the show this weekend, but more in that in my next post.

 

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Glass Houses...

Friday, I started playing with a pile of glass scraps, small pieces leftover from other projects. I had been thinking of trying to create some little glass houses, and all the tiny leftover triangles captured my imagination and seemed perfect for doing just that. Below are a few more of the finished pendants. I brought these to full fuse. I think I may do a few soon and try tack fusing them so that the small pieces retain their shape a little more, but I was pleased with these.

 

 

 

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Hand picked pendants

I worked on a few new hand painted pendants over the past few days. I had forgotten how much I love using the Glassline paint to create these little floral pendants. As you can see, I had a little help while I was photographing them to post here. 

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Too long gone...

I know it's been too long since I've posted anything here.

Since I don't have any shows this month, I don't feel quite the pressure to produce as I sometimes do. But I have slowly started to work on glass a little bit in the last few days. In fact, I've created 2 batches of pendants this week. Below is a shot of a hot kiln from this afternoon.

I'm still really having fun with the Paper app. I try to do at least one sketch per day to post. Once a drawing is done, I can automatically tweet it, save it to my camera roll, post to Facebook and post it to my tumblr blog at http://leisaworks.tumblr.com.

This week I was surprised to find that my sketch of Fall's Park in Greenville had been noticed and chosen as a featured sketch by the creators of the Paper app. Cool!

If you'd like to see all of the sketches I've posted, click over to my tumblr blog here.

 

Show Us What You Make or Sell

Today, I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner Show Us What You Make or Sell day. I love it when she does this kind of blog. You get to see so many really interesting things that people all over the place are creating.

I create pendants and artwork using glass that I melt or fuse in a kiln. I'm posting a few of my newer pieces here. You can also look through some of my other posts and even click over to my LeisaWorks Facebook page or Etsy page.

 

Stained Glass

Saturday was a rare day for me. I don't have any impending shows, so I was able to take it easy and do things like clean up my work space. It felt so good to be able to organize my area and my thoughts. I am looking forward to having a little time to experiment and do some of the things That have been percolating in my mind for a while. I did do a couple of small firings on Saturday. I was playing with flat dichroic on a black base with no clear cap. These were 2 of my favorite pieces. They remind me of lovely stained glass windows, I love the geometric patterns and the way the dichroic looks to be softly glowing from within.

This one is a little different because I put a cap of clear glass on it before firing.

As you can see, my work space seems to get pretty chaotic. I bake glass the same way I bake a cake...stuff everywhere. This photo was taken before my weekend clean up and organization. It is much better now...but not for long, I am sure.

 

 

Ribbons of Love

Mother, the ribbons of your love are woven around my heart. ~Author Unknown

Mother's Day is coming up in a few weeks. In honor of my wonderful mother, I am giving away a pendant and a $20 Target gift card on my LeisaWorks Facebook page.

All you need to do to enter is click over to my page and leave a comment about mothers under the post featuring the photo above. On May 1, I plan on doing a random drawing. So, if you would like to win a gift for yourself or a deserving mom, enter now.

My lovely, talented, kind and giving mama helping me out at a recent show.

 

Firing and Finishing

A weekend of work ready for firing.

Loading the kiln

The kiln heats up. A full fuse occurs around 1550 degrees. Although in this big kiln, it seem to fuse at about 1450 degrees.

Fusing complete. The pendants appear to be pools of red hot liquid at full fuse. The original color of the glass will come back as they cool. When you reach the fused look you want, it's important to flash cool the kiln by opening it slightly. You want to get the kiln temp down to around 950 degrees. In this range, the glass anneals (controlled cooling that allows the inside of the glass to cool at a similar rate to the outside of the glass).

The next step in finishing the pendants is attaching the pendant bail. I use a small file to lightly file down any rough spots or edges and then "rough up" the area where I plan to put the bail. I then apply a small dab of E6000 to the bail and press it down on the back of the piece. I let a little bit seep over the edges and then use a finger to clean up any excess glue. It's important to let the freshly glued bail sit for about 24 hours before wearing.

A few of the finished pendants from this batch

 

March 1, 2012...81 degrees

I know I keep going on about how Springy it is outside. Yesterday it was the rainy spring day, and today it's just skipped to sunny summer.

Here's a quick snapshot of my car stereo temp, time and date. It's really unusual for it to be this warm on March 1st, even in sunny South Carolina.

I just had to grab a happy, warm flower pendant this morning before leaving home. I think I may have to lose the corduroy jacket though!